How Did You Customize Your Midori Traveler's Notebook?

[maryannemoll]

Here's mine.

 

The first thing I did was to add a second elastic to the spine, to accommodate the notebooks I wanted. I used black elastic nylon, and threaded it through the same holes in the spine, and knotted the ends at the bottom of the notebook.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7727.jpg

 

So that the knotted end won't stick out, I strung some colored beads through the leftover elastic, so it will look like an actual charm.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7726.jpg

 

Then I knotted a little brass butterfly to the thread bookmark.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7732.jpg

 

Next, I placed my notebooks in. These notebooks are:

 

1. The office landline directory, which I printed onto some Midori TN-sized sheets of paper (I cut A4 bond paper to size). I made a plain cover for this and stapled them all together at the spine.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7711.jpg

 

2. My Chronodex, which I laid out myself, and printed onto the blank Midori refill that came with the leather notebook. I simply removed the stapled binding, fed the pages through my laser printer, and then bound them back into the notebook.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7713.jpg

 

3. Two kraft envelopes, which I treated as one signature.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7716.jpg

 

3. Two card files and one zippered file, which I treated as one signature.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7722.jpg

 

I slipped the Chronodex notebook through the black nylon elastic, because having that much-thinner elastic on the spine is better for writing.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7724.jpg

 

And the card file I slipped through the standard brown elastic. Then I put the office directory and the card-and-zippered file back-to-front and put them together with the Midori elastic band, and then slipped them into the notebook. The office directory is now the first notebook, the Chronodex is the second, the Kraft file is the third, and the card-and-zippered file is the fourth and last notebook.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7729.jpg

 

But my favorite customization is really this. The small brass plate that has my logo/name on it.

 

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/maryannemoll/IMG_7728.jpg

 

I'm eager to see how other FPNers customized their Midori TNs!

Edited April 3, 2013 by maryannemoll

[maryannemoll]

I forgot to include where I bought my Midori and I could no longer edit my post.

 

Anyway, I purchased my Midori from this wonderful seller in Japan. And their Midori TN products are so much cheaper. At 3,360 JPY, it converts to only 35 USD. And EMS (4 days, with full tracking and insurance) shipping from Japan to Manila cost only about 800 JPY or 8 USD.

 

And they have the brown regular-sized one in stock, plus all the refills, and the Star Edition Passport Size, with the special refills. Check it out. I love this seller.

Edited April 5, 2013 by maryannemoll

[ObserveClosely]

There are a gazillion photos of how folks have customized their Midori Traveler's notebooks on the Traveler's Notebook photo pool on Flickr.

 

Enjoy!

[maryannemoll]

Yup! I've uploaded mine to that as well.

[Letsdisinfect]

I forgot to include where I bought my Midori and I could no longer edit my post.

 

Anyway, I purchased my Midori from this wonderful seller in Japan. And their Midori TN products are so much cheaper. At 3,360 JPY, it converts to only 35 USD. And EMS (4 days, with full tracking and insurance) shipping from Japan to Manila cost only about 800 JPY or 8 USD.

 

And they have the brown regular-sized one in stock, plus all the refills, and the Star Edition Passport Size, with the special refills. Check it out. I love this seller.

 

Wow! That price has me wanting a Midori even more. I'm afraid that my wife will kill me if I get yet another notebook sent to the house...

[Writer01]

Mary Anne, many thanks for that. I've finally succumbed to the temptation, and ordered my own MTN this week and now I'm waiting with bated breath (and an enthusiastic Visconti) for the thing to arrive.

 

Can I ask, how are you getting on with the Chronodex, and where did you get the actual pdf or photo for printing? I've seen Patrick Ng's pages, but they appear to be set up for this half year. I was wondering about getting your format - plain picture of the planners and setting them out to my own format with perhaps a dotted background. Any help you can give would be really gratefully received.

 

Meantime, thanks. You've given me some more ideas on how to use my MTN when I get my mitts on it!

[maryannemoll]

Hi, Writer01! I downloaded on of the jpg files from Patrick Ng's site which contains a blank Chronodex layout and I just cropped the image so I can take out just the Chronodex core. Then I placed that file into my layout, and printed the layout onto the gridded refill notebook for the MTN.

 

I did drop a note for Patrick Ng telling him what I did with his file, and then uploaded my Chronodex photos to the Flicker pool. So far he's okay with people tweaking his idea to suit their needs. But I think it's only proper that we give him a link back, and contribute our photos to the pool, and contribute to the discussion as well, and of course it's always good to share a great idea with others.

 

I'm quite pleased with how the Chronodex is working for me. It actually helps a lot to have a visual representation of chunks of time! Very handy when I'm working on creative projects so I can monitor just how much time I am allotting to design work and how much for editorial work and how much for client meetings. (I'm soooo longing to be able to put some "me" time in there.)

 

Just the other day I added some little notebooks into the MTN, which I made myself. I made one notebook each for my two major projects that will span one year. The notebooks will contain ideas and logs and sort of like a rough docket. I will post photos this week once I get around to downloading my photos from my iPhone.

 

Do let me know how your MTN and Chronodex work out for you. Good luck and have fun!

[Writer01]

Hi, Writer01! I downloaded on of the jpg files from Patrick Ng's site which contains a blank Chronodex layout and I just cropped the image so I can take out just the Chronodex core. Then I placed that file into my layout, and printed the layout onto the gridded refill notebook for the MTN.

 

Many thanks for that. I'll have to have a go at it myself. I saw Patrick Ng's site and did download his main paperwork, but figuring out how to adjust etc will take me some time. I do like your idea of pulling the staples from the paper to use real Midori pads, but I don't know that I'll go that far. My needs for a diary are much more limited - I'm a writer - but to be able to have a few sheets at a time in the MTN is very appealing.

 

You've given me lots of ideas - I ordered from Pencils.jp too - a wonderful company, but it'll take an age for mine to arrive, I expect! I'll just have to try to be patient.

 

Thanks again. An excellent piece. I look forward to adding my own photos soon.

 

Happy writing and noting!

[maryannemoll]

Pencils.jp is excellent. And if you chose EMS as your shipping, it will get to you in about 7 days or less, and it has tracking. I share your excitement!

 

I'm a writer, too, but I am very forgetful, and I am an incurable list-maker and note-taker. I'm also rather chaotic, so some of the said lists end up getting lost every once in a while, and most of the time I forget that I even had such lists! A solution that I found was to scan these lists every few days or so, and store it in a folder on my computer. At the end of every month, I email the list to myself as a further safeguard from getting lost.

 

With the Midori's elastics, and a few sheets of blank paper attached to the elastics all the time, there is less chance for loose notes and lists to get lost. What I like about this notebook size is that it's very easy to scan, and a full spread will fit perfectly into the scanner bed. No more wrangling with the spine to get the shadow out, no more Photoshopping to put two images together, things that really put me off scanning my lists and notes regularly.

 

I'm so glad you are giving this system a chance, and I wish it will go well for you. I think it's a really good tool for productivity and GTD. Do share with us your thoughts after you have set it up. Good luck, and have fun!

[penmanila]

hi, maryanne, many thanks for your very informative and inspiring post. i use a midori myself--but just the smaller one, though. bought it in hong kong and liked the paper so much that i got four spare 80-page refills to make sure i don't run out anytime soon. here's my midori (unmodified for now, although i'd like to slip another refill in to thicken it a bit) with my agatha:

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/8688742104_ea336f12ef_z.jpg

[maryannemoll]

Hello, penmanila! I was wondering when you were going to get around to posting photos of your Midori. It's gorgeous, of course, and so is the pen! And so are Agatha Christie's novels. I'm thinking that ink is Diamine Oxblood?

[penmanila]

yes, thanks, it is diamine oxblood looks good on the midori.

[taliesin]

Here's my passport size Midori.

 

On the elastic round the middle I have a button made from a beach pebble, and on the inner elastics I have some beads which spell out my initials, and a chinese coin style bead/pendant. I've got 1 diary, 1 plain notebook and 1 squared notebook, plus the polypocket inside.

[maryannemoll]

taliesin, I love those charms!

[Lovely_Pen]

taliesin, I really love your button made from a beach pebble, it's so unique How did you do that?

 

Here's my Midori. My grandmother gave me a really generous check in April for my birthday and I decided to splurge and buy the regular sized Midori. I'm so happy with it! So far I've only added a boro bead and a brass charm, but I'm looking forward to doing more...and I'm pleasantly surprised by how well the Midori paper takes fountain pens.

 

 

[taliesin]

taliesin, I really love your button made from a beach pebble, it's so unique How did you do that?

 

I've got to admit that although I live just a few minutes walk from the beach, I actually bought this button from a seller on Etsy

[taliesin]

taliesin, I love those charms!

 

Thanks! And I love your name tag on yours.

[apkayle]

I wish I had an actual Midori. : /

 

I made a passport sized notebook out of some scrap leather and filled it with homemade inserts. I took an old folder and cut it up to create a "kraft folder" insert, used some semi-FP friendly sugar cane paper and some construction paper to make a couple notebooks, and some old brass charms for decoration. I added an actual Midori zipper pocket for holding my debit/gift cards, cash, tickets, etc.

 

here is a pic: http://25.media.tumblr.com/29921c5acb0d9d470bfe1980a261b6b2/tumblr_mm1np3CRML1qc3efto6_1280.jpg

 

clearly, not a perfect job but I'm happy with it. I love the Midori style notebooks. Thank you all for posting your customizations

[Lovely_Pen]

apkayle, your midori creation is awesome! I especially love the detail on the cover. You're very creative

[Brian C]

Can someone please explain this chronodex idea to me?