The Homemade Midori

Or, in reality, an exercise in using what I have, being invent-ful, and saving money. 

The past week or so, I've been in love with the Field Notes size of Midori Traveler's Notebooks. So tiny, yet so useful. And they come in so many colors (seriously, don't go over to Etsy and search for them unless you want to fall in love). YouTube is full of videos on how cute and awesome they are, and I was sinking myself deeper and deeper into having a bad case of the wanties.

Except, I can't spend any money, beyond groceries and gas. I just can't. There isn't any money to spend right now.
And, granted, a Field Notes size Midori would have been, even with shipping, less than 45$, that's still 45$ we don't have right now.
A new "toy" would just have to wait.

Until I had a brilliant idea.

I've seen some made of fabric, some of vinyl, some of cardstock...
Why couldn't one be made out of magazine paper? You know how magazine cover paper is thicker than regular paper, but not as stiff as cardstock...it bends, but can curl up without getting creases.
So, what if I glued two pieces together, and covered it in contact paper?

So I tried it out.

AND IT WORKED!

No, it's not the prettiest thing in the world, as my contact paper-applying-skills aren't so awesome, but I love the paper.
I am subscribed to the LEGO magazine (which is free, in case you were wondering!) and they recently had an extra bit about how they are rebooting the Bionicle line...and this is a picture from that. I love Bionicles, and it just seemed like the right thing to use. I'm pretty sure I was correct in that assumption!

I was a bit worried that the elastic would just tear through it all, but as I had two layers of magazine paper, and then did two layers of contact paper, I'm hopeful that it will last me a little while before it starts to wear out. So far, no issues, but I'm being rather ginger with it, and nothing is strung too tightly.

I made my own kraft folder, out of some cardstock, and added this cut-out from a piece of note paper (isn't the fox adorable? And the hedgehog?!).
All the notebooks are of my own construction as well, but those I've had practice with for Lydia - I've yet to make anything else for her, so all of this creation for this little fella was new to me.

I almost bought a passport-sized card holder.
I have some Amazon gift card money left, I could have bought it, but figured I would try this first. There is a video from Erin Joy on YouTube about how she made "dashboards" for her Midori out of binder page protector pages. I figured I could make a card holder out of trading card pockets.
I was right. It works fabulously. Slightly wider than it out to be, but with a notch in the middle for the elastic to sit in, it's just about perfect. Some scissors and some packing tape, and it's almost the same exact thing I would have spent 8$ on.

I used two elastics for inserts, simply because I could - and thought I would be able to secure the holes better if they were filled more. We'll see how that goes. This is from the same pack of elastic I bought for Lydia (which was a part of the craft store trip I detailed here).

Yes there are ridges, yes there are air bubbles, and yes it could do with a ton of improvement.

But I love the thing.

It is the most colorful cover I have ever seen for a Midori style notebook. I have 6 inserts in it right now, which is actually the most it will hold, but that's plenty for me.
My inserts are colorful and covered in whatever paper I so choose.
I even made myself a little coloring book insert out of images I found on Pinterest.

While it may not be everyone's "cup of tea", it is proof that a little bit of effort can create solutions.
All of this was made without spending a dime. I solved my problem, I created something I love, and, yeah, it took a bit of time, but time that I enjoyed, all while solving a problem.

One reason I wanted to share this project is because I'm super proud of it. I've never made one of these before, and somehow it turned out, and I'm rather pleased with myself over that.
But the other reason is that being resourceful is awesome. I now have a Midori that is pretty much impossible to reproduce. It is meaningful to me, and it is exactly what I was looking for. All without having to wait for shipping (or paying the ridiculous shipping prices!).

Can every problem be solved this way?
Of course not. But it is always nice to get a reminder that, sometimes, thinking outside the box is the best way.

Do you have any stories of this? Any times that making one of your own worked best? Or how the oddest ideas turned into something amazing?

~Havok

[edit 2/9/15:  Linking up to Your Designs This Time and Come Along Ponds and One Project at a Time]
[edit 2/10/15: Linking up to Dream.Create.Inspire]