Making Field Notes storage envelopes

For those of you using Field Notes, Moleskine Cahiers or similar pocket notebooks, here's an easy DIY job to protect and store your valued books.

The "please-make-one-for-me" post - buying my notebook covers

** Edited January 2017 to update prices **

I'm a big fan of the Midori Traveler's Notebook. It is simple, functional and beautiful. It's also a little on the staid side.

I thought it would be easy to make one myself, perhaps with different-coloured leathers. I did it. And then I thought other people might like to see how it is done and make their own. I made a video:

People liked the idea of having such a notebook cover, but many told me they didn't feel confident enough to make one themselves. Could I make one for them?

I made lots of them. Over a hundred. In all sorts of colours and in different sizes. I sent them all over the world. People seemed to like them.

If you want me to make one for you, I'd be happy to.

You have choices. First, you need to settle on a size. You can choose from three sizes:

My prices are £35 for full size and £25 for FN and PP sizes. There's no additional shipping cost to anywhere in the world.

Available colours will vary from time to time. Email me and tell me what size you're thinking about and give me some idea of your colour preferences and we can home in on your colour from there.

You might also like your name (or someone else's) stamped on the cover, and I can do this at no extra cost. Here's what this looks like:

Once we've got all the details agreed, I'll ask you to pay through PayPal and then I'll get started. Some time shortly afterwards, your cover will arrive in the mail.

Email me to get started.

Meal planner booklet - just the main plan

When I posted my Meal Planner booklet, a reader asked me for a version without all the budget and other sections, a booklet just of main planner tables like this:

This allows the booklet to span 31 weeks of planning. You can download this insert here.

What you'll download is a PDF file, in 'pre-shrunk' format. This is ready to print straight away, without any need to use booklet format on your printer. Just print this straight to A4, with duplex set to flip on the short edge (I'd recommend you print just one or two pages first to make sure your printer deals with this correctly and make adjustments as necessary.)

Once you've printed out the pages, you can bind them into a booklet and cut to size using these instructions or these ones.

I'm aware that some of my readers like to roll their sleeves up and play with the source Word file, so here it is.

Print your own Weekly Meal Planner booklet for the Midori Traveler's Notebook

I've adaped my Filofax A5 meal planner to create a new Traveler's Notebook booklet.

The booklet allows you to plan and budget your meals on a weekly basis over 15 weeks. Each week begins with establishing a starting point for the week, looking at your budget and what food you have to be used up:

You can use this page to track your spending through the week, too.

The main part of the planner is this two-page spread:

Here you can plan out your week and decide what you'll be cooking for the week ahead. There's space for each of the main meals and special boxes on the right to capture any ingredients you'll need to buy.

On the final page, you can note any non-food shopping you need, look back at the week's menus and forward to some ideas for next week.  

You can download this insert here.

What you'll download is a PDF file, in 'pre-shrunk' format. This is ready to print straight away, without any need to use booklet format on your printer. Just print this straight to A4, with duplex set to flip on the short edge (I'd recommend you print just one or two pages first to make sure your printer deals with this correctly and make adjustments as necessary.)

Once you've printed out the pages, you can bind them into a booklet and cut to size using these instructions or these ones.

I'm aware that some of my readers like to roll their sleeves up and play with the source Word file, so here it is.

Project setup planner - now for the Filofax Personal

Some time ago, I made available a Project Setup Planner for A4 ad A5 Filofaxes. A reader requested a version for use in the Personal size, which presented some challenges. The nature of this sort of planning is that it needs space and flexibility, less easily earned in this smaller size.

What I came up with was two pages, both configured in landscape mode.

The first page starts with the mind map template:

On the reverse is a table to log initial actions:

You'll note that there's not an awful lot of room here for recording actions - only ten lines. That's where the second page comes in. It's a continuation page, that has further action tables on both sides:

Both pages will print double-sided, two-to-a-page on A4 paper. You can download the pages here:

   First page - Word file or PDF file
   Continuation page - Word file or PDF file

If using the PDF versions remember to set your printer settings so as not to shrink the pages.

Each file should be printed double-sided with the duplex set to flip along the short edge. You can then cut out and punch individual pages as outlined in this post.

Giveaway: we have a winner

There were a lot of people hoping to win this one, the prototype A5 traveler's notebook:

It took quite a while just to get all the names in a hat. Here was the name pulled at random:

Congratulationsm Jean-Michel. Please contact me with your address and I'll get your notebook to you.

It seems there's quite a demand for these. I'll work on making htem available to people who want one. Watch this space.

Giveaway: A5 Traveler's Notebook

To celebrate both the new year and the recent passage of this blog through the 1 million pageviews barrier, I have a special giveaway to host.

A week from now, one blog reader will have won this A5 size Traveler's notebook, complete with an exquisite Studio Oh! lined A5 insert.

Although somewhat bigger, this works like any regular Traveler's Notebook; you can add multiple booklets using rubber bands, for instance. Because of the size, it's made from some really tough leather and will take a fair amount of punishment.

I have only ever made two of these. One is in my desk drawer and enjoys the occasional trip out with me to business meetings. The other can be yours.

For a chance to own this, comment on this post by the end of Tuesday 7 January. Please comment only once (anyone making multiple comments will be disqualified.) I'll draw one comment at random, and the commenter will receive the item. I'm happy to send it anywhere in the world, so absolutely anyone can enter.