I am in a couple of planner groups, some DIY, some filofax and some ARC. I like all of them for different reasons, although my heart really belongs with the DIY focus. I think that is pretty obvious. But recently I have been on an ARC kick.
I was an early adopter of the ARC system because it spoke to that DIY part of me. I had the punch right away
began making my own books before staples even considered the "build your
own line." Not to mention binding it across the top. I made that
before staples did... :) There is proof on this blog! (TIP: Want poly covers but not with the price tag of a whole new book? Buy pre-punched ARC poly dividers, cut off the tab and make it flush. Presto a cover!)
And today I feel like I invented something new! Knowing my luck there
is someone out there already who does this, has a you tube channel with
50 videos about it and sells it on etsy...but I don't recall seeing it.
I was thinking about my ARC notebooks. I have about 5 I think, some I have made, some I have bought. I basically use them for work meeting notes. Overall, I don't really use them for planning but I was thinking about how I could make them more useful to me at home.
This AM I was thinking about my cumbersome sticker binder. It is a just a regular binder with protective sheets that i slide my stickers into. It is just a nightmare mess. They want to slide out and all over. They are all goofy sized and most don't have room to hole punch the sides. And I thought, wish I could just attach something to the barest edge of the sticker sheet and then make them into an ARC. Then I remembered I had this notebook of thin thin paper that I wished I could ARC but it is just too thin. The punches are basically mush after a few flips. I have used washi tape, for these projects but I don't want to to gum up my punch and I only have 150 rolls of washi tape, I certaninly don't want to waste it all on edging! What if I ran out?
I started thinking wouldn't it be great to have attachable punched edges. So I thought about it and came up with a prototype.
I bought some double sided sticky tape at hobby lobby and a sheet of lighter weight and heavier weight scrapbook paper. This so happens to be the lighter and it works just fine. I also grabbed one of those mushy thin sheets of paper that I like for meeting notes.
I just folded it in half, punched it and laid the sticky side down from top to bottom. Notice the red? That peels off to expose the other sticky side of the tape. You can see what it looks like peeled in the third picture.
I positioned the paper and stuck down one side, careful to not place to close to the edge of the punches. FYI, this stuff is super sticky. You only get one shot at adhering the paper flawlessly. If you are like me, it took a few times, which is why the paper is a little wonk. Then I just peeled the top side, folded over and put directly in a nearby ARC. The paper turns just fine, and the doubled up scrapbook paper is not too light or too heavy. It is the Goldilocks weight in my opinion.
Feedback and questions welcome, as always!
