SpeckledFawns Black Cherry Boulevard in use

This (a Black Cherry Boulevard from SpeckledFawns on Etsy)  is my new ‘me’ binder.

I have separated work and private because it was too unwieldy and counterproductive to have everything in one binder. Because of my hectic schedule and the fact that my client records and schedule take up so much of my life, it is important to have a personal one that is by itself. Using both means that my work is never far away. I am hoping to take some me time over the summer to recharge and this is perfect for that.

In it I have

• pampering to dos
• wish lists
• long term to dos
• personal chores (dry cleaning, hair cut, dentist, alteration and mending, resoling of shoes etc)
• products I would like to try
• health (eating plans, weight graph, exercise graph)
• clothes I need
• journal
• museums and exhibitions I would like to visit
• things I would like to do when work winds down for the summer

I like using lots of insert booklets, and this cover has 14 in it at the moment. The nice square spine means that it holds this many booklets perfectly without straining, as a traditional spine would do. You can choose different options, or no spine at all. This Black Cherry leather is now unavailable (I got one of the last ones) but this same style is available in other leather. This cover is personal size so it is solid but not heavy and is not too big to carry around with me.

It came with brown elastic but I prefer a contrast elastic that is really tight and stretchy so I restrung it with jade green 2mm elastic I bought on Etsy. Restringing is very easy and really gives new pep to a cover you may be bored with. I do the same with coats and cardigans I am bored with – replace the buttons!

And what it looked like before

I was also considering this combination – green for the spine elastics and pink for the closure elastic. All summery and reminds me of watermelon! The green I got from Etsy and Terri from SpeckledFawns sent me the pink as a small extra with the Black Cherry notebook.