Sketchbooks make great visual diaries. Use them to keep notes about the wild flowers in your yard, keep track of how your garden grows, draw quick studies of the birds at your feeders, or draw a single subject through the seasons. Here's an easy way to make your own sketchbooks.

• Fold a few sheets of paper in half.
• You may want to use a different kind or color of paper for the cover.

Second Step

• Punch six holes along the creases one sheet at a time.

• Mark the holes with a pencil on the first sheet.

• Punch through the marks with a needle. (You'll be going through most of them twice so make the holes large.)

• Use the holes as a template to mark the other sheets so the holes will line up.

• After the holes are punched in all the sheets, stack the sheets together and begin stitching them.

Stitching

1. Starting on the outside, go into the third hole from the bottom.

2. Come around the back and out the next hole down.

3. Then come back around the front and down through the end hole.

4. Go around the back again and out through the second hole from the bottom.

5. Then around the front and back through the hole you stated in.

Don't panic if this goes horribly wrong! You can always pull the thread out and start over again. :)

• Continue stitching in and out until you come out of the third hole from the top as you see in the picture to the right.

• Whew! If everything went as it should, you'll have two ends of string on the outside of the journal that you can tie into a bow.

• And you're done!

• Now, go sketch something. :)

DIY Sketchbook Supplies

Drawing Paper

I like Arches hotpress watercolor paper for sturdy sketchbooks, and Canson Classic Cream drawing paper for lightweight books. Canson Mi-Teintes drawing paper makes colorful and inexpensive covers. (Links take you to Dick Blick.)

String

Thin cotton crochet string works well and it comes in beautiful colors.

Needle

Use a thick upholstery needle.