discbound » Archive

I made a few travel templates inspired by my sister and brother-in-law traveling the US in an Airstream with their pups. How cool is that?! You can follow along on their adventures at fauxbold.space.


I put together a little discbound notebook to help plan their adventures. I used the clear ARC cover and 1″ rings to keep it really compact – they don’t have a lot of room. The notebook has 3 sections: 2017 months, travel templates, lined paper for notes and lists…

ARC binders
I picked up the gold band at Michaels for a super deal, so cool. Pretty sure it was ‘The Happy Planner’ brand – lots of awesome planner accessories if you haven’t checked it out yet. Be prepared to spend $$ and bring your coupons.

ARC Planner - 8.5 by 5.5 - Travel
Travel templates! The left is a place tracker, to make notes before and after you visit. The right is a rough yearly overview of where you’d like to travel to. Downloads below.

ARC Planner - 8.5 by 5.5
Threw in some day and week templates from here.


AND printed the months from this template.. these are scaled down from the 8.5 by 11 version but are now available in 5.5 by 8.5 (Junior ARC size) – I would’ve used the new version but printer is out of ink, boo.

Travel Templates

8.5 by 5.5 printable template - Travel 8.5 by 5.5 printable template - Travel 8.5 by 5.5 printable template - Travel 8.5 by 5.5 printable template - Lists

DOWNLOAD –>

5.5″ by 8.5″ (half-size/Junior)
ahhh-design-travel-templates.pdf (8006 downloads)

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Happy planning (and traveling!),
Amanda

Make your own handmade, hand-drawn, mismatched DIY Planner full of doodles, goals, life plans and everything YOU. Templates designed to leave lots of room for personalization... Includes: January 2017 – December 2019 monthly, fill-in-the-blank month, fill-in-the-blank daily page, to-do list, weekly appointments, goals & ideas worksheet -- $12 Printable DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printables Make your own handmade, hand-drawn, mismatched DIY Planner full of doodles, goals, life plans and everything YOU. Templates designed to leave lots of room for personalization... Includes: January 2017 – December 2019 monthly, fill-in-the-blank month, fill-in-the-blank daily page, to-do list, weekly appointments, goals & ideas worksheet -- $12 Printable DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printables

Make your own handmade, hand-drawn, mismatched DIY Planner full of doodles, goals, life plans and everything YOU.

These templates are designed to leave lots of room for personalization:

  • try printing them in black & white or on colored paper
  • shrink them down or blow them up
  • use markers, stickers, watercolors …
  • put ’em in custom 3-ring binders, discbound notebooks or leave them looseleaf
  • put together a stack for everyday or just for that extra special project you’re about to ROCK
  • mix and match them with other printable templates by me or your other favorite planner maker ;)

Printable planner pages to make your own awesome planner through 2019, YEAH! ///

Cost: $12
Size: Letter – 8.5″ by 11″ OR Junior – 5.5″ by 8.5″
File type: Adobe PDF, for best results print with Adobe Reader

The planner includes the following printable templates:
January 2017 – December 2019 monthly, fill-in-the-blank month, fill-in-the-blank daily page, to-do list, weekly appointments, goals & ideas worksheet

* Upon purchasing you will receive a download link at the email associated with your Paypal account. You should receive the download link within minutes of purchasing – if you don’t please check your spam folder. If you don’t receive an email shoot me an email and we’ll get it sorted out. :)

The following three photos are of the actual templates for printing:

DIY Planner template by Ahhh Design - 'This book belongs to...' and info pages. #diyplanner #printable
This book belongs to & info page:
The silliest templates included – they remind me of sweet diaries I had as a kid.


DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design - daily notes & blank monthly template.  #diyplanner #printable
Daily Notes
Use the daily notes page while taking notes during meetings or planning out busy days.

Blank Month
I include the blank month in case you love these so much you use up all the pre-dated pages. Just circle the month and write in the days – voila! I don’t always use my planner and even ignore it for months at a time, gasp! It’s nice to have the un-dated templates so I can print out a bunch and only fill in the months I’m actually going to use.


DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design - Day broken down by time & To Do worksheets #diyplanner #printable
TIME (detail)
For those of you that like to plan your days down to the minute, this is a cool way to see the overview of your week. Now that I’m up all hours with a baby again I think I need to make a 24-hour version!

TO DO
One productivity tip you ALWAYS hear is to make a to-do list at the start of the week or in the mornings with 2-3 must-do items. And for that you need a to-do list! I use these for projects and events too.


Photos of the templates printed out:

DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printable DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printable DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printable DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printable DIY Planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #printable

Happy planning!

Love,
A

How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

Now that I’m using my smaller planner I’ve had a lot of questions about printing the 5.5″ by 8.5″ planner templates. I always recommend using Adobe Reader – it’s a free application and I’ve ran into less troubleshooting issues with it than other options.

If your settings don’t look exactly like the screenshots below it’s ok – you should still have all the same options. These were taken from Adobe Reader 11 on a Mac running OS X 10.9.5.

Print Settings

After opening the file select Print underneath File in the application menu. This opens the print dialogue box.

Adobe Reader > File > Print:
Print Dialogue Box - How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

You’ll see that the default set-up is for 8.5″ by 11″ paper. To change this we need to add 5.5″ by 8.5″ as an option. In the bottom left corner select Page Setup.

Print Dialogue Box > Page Setup:
Page Setup - How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

From here we want to change the Paper Size. When clicking on that item you’ll see a big list of common paper sizes. Scroll down to the bottom and select Manage Custom Sizes.

Page Setup Box > Paper Size > Manage Custom Sizes:
The left side will show a list of all your custom paper sizes you’ve added. Underneath select the + symbol to add a new one. This creates an Untitled file at the bottom of the list.

Click into Untitled and type 5.5 by 8.5. Then fill in the area to the right with the dimensions. When you select your printer from Non-Printable Area: it should fill in the top, left, right and bottom margins for you.

Custom Paper Sizes - How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

Select OK!

You should be back in the Page Setup window. Here select your printer under Format For:, under Paper Size: select 5.5 by 8.5 and for Orientation: select the little icon standing upright. Like this:
Page Setup - How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

Select OK!

The adjustments in the Print Dialogue Box will depend on your printer and if you want to print the pages individually or all at once. I print all my templates one at a time onto 5.5 by 8.5 paper as I need them – even the months.

Here I’m going to use printing out the 12 months – one at a time – as an example:

On the print screen select your Printer first and make sure the print preview is showing your template the right direction and fitting within your paper. Under Pages to Print > Pages type in 1-12.

The Page Sizing & Handling area will depend on your printer. I scale mine down to 94% so that none of the page is cut off. Yours might be more or less, you really just have to do a test page and adjust it accordingly. Try the Fit option first, hopefully that will work for you.

Print Dialogue Box - How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

Printing!

Before we hit Print think about the first month you’re printing. If you start with January do you want it to be on the right side of your planner or on the left so that February is directly across from it in a two month spread? Depending on your preference January should be printed on a sheet by itself or with February on the back.

For this example we’ll have February printed on the back of January so that all months are double sided.

  1. Place ONE sheet of paper in printer.
  2. Hit Print!
  3. Take printed month out of the printer, flip it over and put it back in to print the next month on the other side.
  4. Repeat adding and flipping paper until finished.

It’s important to have only one sheet of paper in the printer at a time or else it will keep printing all the pages on a single side. This way it prints once and then the printer alerts you that you’re out of paper while you flip it over and put it back inside. You could always print the months out one at a time – instead of all 12 – but that adds a bunch of extra clicking around.

Bulk Printing
If you’re doing a huge daily dated set for a year I can see how you’d definitely want to print all at once using the even/odd settings. Laura from I Heart Planners has a great explanation (Steps 3. and 4.) of printing all your pages at once or even printing them 2-up on 8.5″ by 11″ so that when you cut them they’ll be double sided in the right order. Awesome!

How to print 5.5 by 8.5 templates at home by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound #printing

Please let me know if something doesn’t work for you or if any part of this is confusing so I can make it better! Good luck and happy planning! xo

5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound

New planner templates for sale: 5.5 by 8.5! Half Letter! Half size! The size is awesome whatever you call it because you just cut a piece of letter-sized paper in half and voila!

And since we’re all obsessed with the smaller Arc Discbound notebooks now … perfecto. The templates are fairly minimal when printed – plenty of space for notes, doodles, tape, stickers or whatever. The months have the name on top but the rest of the template is blank so that you can write in your own dates and use them year after year. #diyplanner

The Details

Cost: $12
Size: 5.5″ by 8.5″
File type: Adobe PDF, for best results print with Adobe Reader

The planner includes the following printable 5.5″ x 8.5″ templates:

  • Months: January – December, blank (no dates)
  • Daily
  • Weekly – 2 options: starting with Monday and/or Sunday
  • Project worksheet

* Upon purchasing you will receive a download link at the email associated with your Paypal account. You should receive the download link within minutes of purchasing, if you don’t please check your spam folder.

Photos!

5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound

** Printing Tip **
Cut your letter-sized paper in half first and set up your printer to print 5.5″ x 8.5″ – make sure and select fit image to paper in your print settings so nothing gets cut off. These were printed at around 94%.

If you’re looking for how to set the paper size in Adobe Acrobat it’s under File > Page Setup…

5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound 5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound

** Tip **
Print the months on a heavier card-stock. Thinner paper wears out faster when taking it in and out of the notebook. Also, you can put a strip of tape along the edge before punching the holes in the paper. Looks cool AND reinforces the edges.

5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound 5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound 5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound

Cost: $12
Size: 5.5″ by 8.5″
File type: Adobe PDF, for best results print with Adobe Reader

The planner includes the following printable 5.5″ x 8.5″ templates:

  • Months: January – December, blank (no dates)
  • Daily
  • Weekly – 2 options: starting with Monday and/or Sunday
  • Project worksheet

5.5 by 8.5 week, day and month planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound

Thanks so much for your support and happy planning! xo

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You might also be interested in:
Two-page Week, 5.5 x 8.5 – DIY Planner Template
Simple Week & Month
5-day Work Week
Weekly Planning

5.5 by 8.5 week and day planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner #discbound

Spent the afternoon going through old files and decided to repurpose some 4 x 6 notecard pages into new 5.5 x 8.5 templates for my junior discbound planner. Simple week, day and month views. The month is sideways which I enjoy with the discbound because the discs don’t get in the way while writing.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD ->  day-week-month-5.5x8.5.pdf (20982 downloads)

PDF includes:
– 5.5″ x 8.5″ week
– 5.5″ x 8.5″ daily record
– 5.5″ x 8.5″ month

5.5 by 8.5 monthly planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner 5.5 by 8.5 week and day planner templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

Also, looking through all my old posts it looks like I’ve never even shared the 4×6 templates on my blog – how is that possible? I guess that’ll be next! I’m revisiting smaller templates as I’m becoming obsessed with Project Life stuff, thinking of all the ways to incorporate the two. Fun!

Other similar templates available for download here:
Two-page Week, 5.5 x 8.5 – DIY Planner Template
simple week & month
5-day Work Week
Weekly Planning

First some news. I’m pregnant, third-trimester-due-in-less-than-three-months pregnant! I haven’t been feeling well at all this pregnancy and the last 6 months are sort of a blur. A week or two ago though my brain went into panic mode: “I have 3 months left before my life is super insane for a while. Newborn! Two kids?! I should start planning! Where’s my planner?! How have I not updated it since March?! Where did the time go?!”

And then I took a long nap and woke up feeling relaxed so I redesigned my website, of course. I also decided I’d like to make a new set of 5.5″ by 8.5″ planner templates to sell before the end of the year – which is exciting. So far I have the monthly template done and want to include to-do, project, goal and daily templates. I might do a new 8.5″ by 11″ template too, or freshen up the one I currently have up for sell [DIY Printable Planner Templates].

Discbound Planner by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

I made a new cover for my planner out of a sheet of scrapbooking paper. I cut it the same size/shape as the plastic tab I was using for the cover and added some decorative tape and a paperclip to stick them together, super simple. I love how customizable the discbound is.

Below are the monthly templates that will be available to buy in the next few weeks. There will be one for each month but I’m leaving the days blank so they can be used anytime.

Monthly templates below are available to buy here: https://ahhh-design.com/planner-templates-5-5-x-8-5-12/ » »

Discbound Planner monthly templates by Ahhh Design #diyplanner 8.5 by 5.5 weekly planner by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

Weekly Inserts

AND I have a free download for you too! It’s two weekly tracker templates, both in 5.5″ by 8.5″ to fit your small discbound planners. I also made an even smaller version – print it out on 5.5″ by 8.5″ and then cut it in half so it’s half the size of your full page (see below).

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD -> weekly-5.5x8.5-ahhh-design.pdf (5925 downloads)

PDF includes:
– 5.5″ x 8.5″ week template with squares
– 5.5″ x 8.5″ week template in a pie chart
– both templates in 4.25″ x 5.5″

4.25 by 5.5 weekly planner insert by Ahhh Design #diyplanner 8.5 by 5.5 weekly planner by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

Happy Planning!

xo,
Amanda

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Other weekly templates available for download here:
Two-page Week, 5.5 x 8.5 – DIY Planner Template
simple week & month
5-day Work Week
Weekly Planning

Last week I mentioned making a custom cover for my discbound planner. Here’s my first attempt – I might find another solution for the spine, it’s a very thick card stock and doesn’t slide around on the disc as well as a thinner paper. Hmmm….

The notebook closed from the front (left) and the back (right):
Custom Discbound Cover by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

The cover is made from a paper sample book I’ve had forever. It was already the right height and I only had to add two folds. Any kind of heavy paper would work though, or a light cardboard like a tissue or shoe box.

I collaged mine with paper, black ink, white paint and a few stitches on the sewing machine.

Custom Discbound Cover by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

I definitely want to cut off the extra flap with the vertical pocket on the right (pictured above). It’s too bulky, especially because it sits open on my desk or nightstand 99% of the time.

Custom Discbound Cover by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

The spine width should be just a little bigger than your stack of papers, not including the discs. Once folded, if your paper is thin enough, you can put each fold inside the hole punch. Then use an x-acto and cut out the rectangle shape on the front cover side. My cardboard wouldn’t fit in the hole punch so I did it on a thin paper first, traced it to the cardboard then cut it out by hand. Do a test first so you don’t accidentally punch your nice cover wrong!

Custom Discbound Cover by Ahhh Design #diyplanner

I’m totally loving discbound, read all my other posts about it here: https://ahhh-design.com/tag/discbound/

My Printable Planner Template through 2015 are available too, get ‘em while they’re hot!!

Back in October 2013 I declared my love for Discbound. I’m putting together my plans for 2014 and I’m still loving it, almost. I’ve tried professional planners before and I swoon at photos of Filofaxes just like everyone, especially the hot pink and gold ones. In the end I always go back to handmade though – I love the crafty feel of a handmade, hand sewn, hand glued cover. Hand-drawn templates and textures and a collage of paper and tape make me happy.

So, I ditched the blue leather cover that I originally bought. It was too stiff and boring. I haven’t found a solution yet, as I’m currently using cardboard in the back and a plastic divider in the front. It works for now.

This afternoon I started mocking up a cover that would create a spine for the notebook. I’m pretty close and think I want to make something similar to this old diy cardboard binder I made a couple years back.

Here’s a photo with the test spine:

I was pretty proud of myself because I figured out the right shape to cut so that it still lays flat and the cover doesn’t get in the way. Yeah!

Download the above monthly templates here: 2013_week-month-8x11.pdf (15201 downloads)

My kid wanted to share her Santa stickers with my notebook, they crack me up. Keep an eye out next week for a new template!

My Printable Planner Template through 2015 are available too, get ’em while they’re hot!!

This is a super simple 8.5×11 month, week and 2-week template. Not sure if I’m sold on the 2 weeks at a time yet – I love the idea but think the layout needs some work. Might be posting an update soon! Also included in the download are the templates for printing 2-up – cut the paper in half and you’ll have 5.5×8.5 (pictured in my planner below).

DOWNLOAD -> 2013_week-month-8x11.pdf (15201 downloads)

Enjoy and let me know what you think – xo

month and single week diy planner template, Ahhh Design month and double week diy planner template in use, Ahhh Design 2 week diy planner template, Ahhh Design 2 week diy planner template in use, Ahhh Design
Discbound DIY Planner

When it comes to planners, for the most part, I’ve been DIY for years. If I was using a store-bought binder it was a cheapo 3-ring because I liked the color. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested in the fancier planners on the market, they just seemed too stuffy or complicated for my tastes.

Earlier this year I stumbled upon this post on ‘I heart organizing’ that mentioned the new line of Martha Stewart planners at Staples. I think I actually went to staples that very same day, I mean, who doesn’t love Martha Stewart? And now she’s making planner supplies?! *swoon*

Although I loved all her little pieces and parts that come with the binder, I wasn’t in LOVE with the actual binder. I don’t go to office supplies often so I spent a good 2 hours just browsing around – and that’s how I discovered the arc, customizable notebook system by staples. WOAH. Even more discbound goodness. I picked out my favorite notebook in about a split second and headed over to the Martha Stewart section to see if it was compatible. Amazing, totally compatible! In doing research for this post I also saw that it’s compatible with the Levenger system as well – it’s rare for planners to be compatible, which I’m sure they do on purpose, so this is pretty spectacular.

So, I had my arc notebook, Martha Stewart dividers in fab colors and was set. But WAIT! Even if I’m using a fancy binder there is NO way I’m using their boring templates. After much discussion back and forth in my head I shelled out another $40 for the Arc hole punch so I could easily make my own.

I used my new awesome planner a bit and then, like usual, forgot about it. GAH, why do I do that?! Anyways, I’m back on it. I’ve been working on a big project for WAY TOO LONG. This past weekend I broke it up into manageable to-do’s and am telling clients I’m out of commission until it’s finished. This little notebook has goals, dates and important things to remember from 30×500 for launching in it so far.

runningI’m also running my very first 5k in a few weeks, so I plotted out all my runs leading up to that. I’ve been training the last 2 months using a couch to 5k app and recently finished the program – I’m on my own now. EEK!

My current planner:

Arc DIY Planner

I’m using a little wooden box to carry planning essentials – ok, maybe not essential. But it has to be pretty!

Arc DIY Planner

Above I’m using my goal template as a project overview. See all my downloadable planner templates here.

Arc DIY Planner

And, of course, I used my kid’s scribbles as dividers to liven everything up.

Want to know more about discbound planners? Start here! :)
Martha Stewart for Staples
M by Staples, arc
Staple’s Arc Notebook by Dave Seah

Amanda Hawkins

Amanda Hawkins

Take care of little humans,
stare at tiny computer,
scribble on paper,
daydream.
Maker of DIY Planners and 🎨 artist; front-end web developer and designer well-versed in CSS & WordPress. Make music with RBK & as Love Morris. Check out littlebird.ahhh.co if you're interested in hiring me for WordPress dev. Subscribe to a newsletter I never send out. Connect on Instagram & Twitter.

Ahhh Design 2023, unless otherwise noted. Powered by WordPress & .