Books

I love books! Novels, journals, sketchbooks, old books, new books, you name it. I read every night before I fall asleep, I used to write my own picture books when I was younger, I'm addicted to used book stores (sadly, there are none within 100+ miles of where we live). I love books!

When I saw this picture on Quilt Dad's blog I decided that I wanted a graph paper sketchbook. As I said, I love sketchbooks, but the blank pages scare me. When I see all that white my mind goes blank. I like the lined books, but the lines often draw my eyes, and mind, off the page. Graph paper is great! It keeps me on the page and I can see shapes form within those little squares. And I can keep everything in its proper proportion, which is important to me.

After checking out the few stores in the area that might carry a graph paper sketchbook/composition book I realized that I was probably going to have to make my own.

So that's what I did. I picked up a couple of packs of graph paper and got started. I should have taken pictures of the process, but I didn't. What started as a 20 sheet booklet of 8.5" x 11" graph paper turned into this...

The Opal Owl one is mine and the bandanna one is Jake's.

Lays flat when open, which is nice.

I've never bound a book before, but I had a lot of fun designing and making these. I think I will be picking up more graph paper packs the next time I'm in town.