I am so excited for today's post that I can barely stay in my seat (which is a sunbed in our garden actually, if you must ask). But seriously, I am over the moon to present to you: A Hearty Home's very own DIY printable blog planner! It is available in my Etsy shop as a digital instant download so right after purchasing you can start printing and planning! You can choose to purchase the complete blog planner which consists of 25 printable files or you can choose to purchase some of the files separately. This blog post is a tutorial to show you how I put together my planner. If you want to see what each printable looks like, head over to my Etsy Shop and browse the photos of the individual files. So, are you ready to DIY?
Printing the planner
Before I started putting together my blog planner I printed the pages in both A4 and A5 format (half of an A4) to see which would be a better fit for the design of the planner. Turns out, you can do both but in the A4 format the boxes are a lot bigger and the spacing between lines is larger (maybe a little too large). Personally, I like the smaller one better because there's still plenty of room to scribble down every thought and it's so much easier to take it with you everywhere you go without it being a giant bulk in your purse. Once I settled on the format it was time to figure out two sided printing since that's a bit trickier in A5. But fear not, once you get the hang of it, it's actually pretty easy!
When you want to print in A5 you need to print it with setting "2 pages on 1 page". You don't need to adjust the image files, they will turn to their side automatically. If you do this you will be printing two of the same pages on 1 page. For example: if you want to print the blog schedule grid it will come out like is shown on the left (or at least in my HP Deskjet F4200 All-in-One printer it did): 2 of the same right next to each other. To print something on the back the right way, you'll need to put the paper into the printer the way it came out, like is shown with the arrow on the right. Easy, right? No turning over pages in any direction, if you do it will either print on top of what you just printed or it will be upside down. Of course I can't be sure if this method will work for your printer so it's a good idea to figure this out first in black and white settings before you start printing in color.
Normal printer paper is 80g but if you want to print this planner two sided like I did it's best to use 90g paper as it will prevent the black titles from seeping through to the other side of the page. It also makes for a sturdier planner!
To make the blog planner for a whole year like I did you will need to print:
» 6 pages of 2x blog schedule 1-16 with on the back 6 pages of 2x notes
» 4 pages of 2x blog schedule 16-31 with on the back 4 pages of 2x notes (there are only 7 months with 31 days so you'll have one too many)
» 2 pages of 2x blog schedule 16-30 with on the back 2 pages of 2x notes
» 1 page of 2x blog schedule 16-29 with on the back 1 page of 2x notes (only February has 28/29 days so you'll have one too many of these as well)
» 6 pages of 2x to do list with on the back 6 pages of 2x to do list
» 6 pages of 2x brainstorm with on the back 6 pages of 2x notes
» 6 pages of 2x brainstorm with on the back 6 pages of 2x statistics
» 12 pages of 2x every month with on the back 12 pages of planner back (Sadly I haven't found a method yet to print two different pages next to each other so you'll end up with double the amount of month fronts you need.)
» 1 page of 2x bookkeeping with on the back 1 page of 2x bookkeeping (but it's totally up to you to add more if you like)
» 1 page of 2x passwords with nothing on the back (you'll only need one so you'll have one too many of these as well)
I wanted to make my planner sturdy and durably using metal wire binding but searching online made me realize that a machine that can do metal wire binding is nothing I can afford (or would like to spend money on). I was a little discouraged at first and I could have gone the easy route and put it into a 2 ring binder (so can you!) but I love the wire look and I wanted to DIY. So instead of using a ring binder I decided to hack my way into making my own wire bound planner. For this I bought an A5 wire bound notebook for €7, took it apart and used the wire and the front and back cover. The paper won't be wasted either as I'm using it on my desk to practice my writing fonts.
Tools you'll need:
- A5 wire bound notebook
- A4 paper cutter (you can use scissors but I promise you a paper cutter is so much faster and a lot neater!)
- laminator + pouches (A5 of A4 which you can cut afterwards)
- one hole punch (I have a big and a small one, for this planner I used the big one)
- a free afternoon or long evening (it will take a few hours, printing not included)
Prepare to assemble
- Cut every page you printed in half
- Make a pile of every different page, trust me if you don't, you'll be looking for the right page everywhere!
- Laminate the front and back of your planner (if you put it into a ring binder you can also laminate the month fronts!)
- Glue the laminated front and back to the original notebook front and back using instant super glue. Be careful not to glue your fingers together! Usually the original front and back are very sturdy cardboard material and these will hold your planner together perfectly!
- Make a pile of every different page, trust me if you don't, you'll be looking for the right page everywhere!
- Laminate the front and back of your planner (if you put it into a ring binder you can also laminate the month fronts!)
- Glue the laminated front and back to the original notebook front and back using instant super glue. Be careful not to glue your fingers together! Usually the original front and back are very sturdy cardboard material and these will hold your planner together perfectly!
Assemble the blog planner
Every month will consist of 6 pages, 12 sides: example: 0. front - back
1. month front - planner back
2. to do list - to do list
3. notes - blog schedule 1-16
4. blog schedule 16-29/30/31 (depending on the month) - notes
5. notes - brainstorm
6. brainstorm - statistics
When you're a 100% sure that every page is put in like you want it to, only then it's time for the next step. Recheck everything before you get your hole punch out, better safe than sorry!
When you're a 100% sure that every page is put in like you want it to, only then it's time for the next step. Recheck everything before you get your hole punch out, better safe than sorry!
Put the blog planner into the wire binding
This is the step that requires the most strength, courage, pain management and persistence. Maybe if you have a better hole punch than I do this will be be a piece of cake but it took me over 2 hours and a couple of tears to punch all of the holes in all of the pages. Agreed, 75 pages with each 16 holes make 1200 holes needed to be punched (I just Googled that) but I'll be honest, I wanted to give up half way through. My hand hurt like hell from squeezing the hole punch and it felt like there was no end. But persistence pays off and finally I won! (I also felt like a champion.)
The easiest way is to work from back to front and put the pages you punched directly onto the wire. I punched 3 pages at a time (6 was just too hard to punch through). To avoid mistakes I aligned my pages with an original page from the notebook and clipped it together with two paper clips so the pages couldn't move while I was punching them.
The easiest way is to work from back to front and put the pages you punched directly onto the wire. I punched 3 pages at a time (6 was just too hard to punch through). To avoid mistakes I aligned my pages with an original page from the notebook and clipped it together with two paper clips so the pages couldn't move while I was punching them.
 |
| Here's the proof of those 1200 holes. |
And so here it is, the final finished planner! Of course there's nobody telling you you'll need to go crazy DIY lady like me. You can easily put it into a ring binder and print extra pages along the way.
Let me know what you think of the blog planner in the comments below or tweet me @aheartyhome! I'd love to have some feedback, some constructive criticism to improve in the future and of course I wouldn't mind some love too.. ;) Stay safe & happy planning!
