I bought a Midori! We have a trip coming up next month and I wanted to bring a journal with me, so after much thorough research (as in, watching tons of YouTube videos :) I went for the Midori - it just seemed aesthetically beautiful, and so useful to fit in everything you might need. Then I ran into the issue of wanting to have my watercolors with me. One option was to make a little tin to hold them, but that meant I would always have to bring it, and that wasn't good enough - I wanted something that came with the Midori automatically, without having to pack it. The next option was to purchase the Peerless watercolors - they come in paper swatches that you can make your own little booklet out of, and insert into the notebook. I searched for a good deal, but didn't manage to find one. Also, I felt like I would be spending a lot on them, and might have second thoughts about using "too much" or "wasting".
So that brought me to thinking I needed to come up with my own idea... and that's when I realized I could use flat discarded packaging and the Tim Holtz gears packaging was perfect. You use the inner insert that holds the gears in place - it is virtually flat, but has just enough depth that it can hold a Lot of watercolor. The circles are large enough that I ended up pouring a lot of paint in them, so it should last a while. Best thing is it's totally refillable. I have the 18-pack of Holbein professional watercolors, and I picked my favorite 12. So I have professional-grade watercolors that will permanently come with my notebook. I insert it into one half of the Midori kraft folder.
I used a piece of watercolor paper for the cover and did swatches of the paint on it. I then did an inner insert of plastic to protect the pain, and when I open it, it lies flat and that side becomes the side I mix the paint on. I used my old 7Gypsies gaffer tape to hold it all together - it's very strong, has a nice texture since it's made of cloth, and is very pretty. All I need is my water brush (I love those!) and I'm ready to paint on the go, any time, anywhere. And rather than spending money, I'm making good use of what I already have in the house!
If anyone wants an actual video tutorial, let me know, and I will make on for my YouTube channel, and take you though the process of cutting the materials, properly filling the "wells", etc.
And here' a YouTube video to give you a better idea of how it looks:
I'm so happy to join the design team for Creative Embellishments (CE)! They have the most adorable chipboard and wood veneer embellishments, and also rubber stamps and stencils. There's a new challenge on the first of every month, and of course a prize to go along with it. Check out the July 1 challenge HERE. Here's my LO to go with it (my first LO in 6 months!). I used lots of wonderful CE goodies - the constellations "Out of this World" stencil, wood veneer stars, chipboard cherries, bird, and of course, the gorgeous stars chipboard frame. The paper is BoBunny :)
