A couple of years ago I was trying to find some travel sized sketchbooks for my new found love of white and black charcoal on toned paper. I had begun forming this sort of technique the year before that, but was in grad school and wasn't really drawing on the go too often, so the big fancy colored paper from the art stores that I cut to size myself was perfect. Later on, when checking local art stores and even online for sketchbooks with my favorite paper, I could not find ANYTHING that contained multi-toned, nicely toothed paper and could actually fit inside an average sized tote bag.

Although I am prone to always asking, 'Can I make/do/fix that myself?' at the prospect of any new purchase (thank you for that, mom), I had never considered making my own sketchbooks. It was simple economics really, sketchbooks aren't expensive - why take the trouble?

'Cause if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself!

After a little research, I finally decided to bite the bullet and create my own, and I honestly love them ten times more than I even expected. These sketchbooks hold my favorite paper and because they have their binding on the short side, I never have issues with my hand not have space to move. Love it.

So to kick off a BRAND NEW semi-weekly blog segment, 'Tutorial Tuesdays', I am going to walk you through the step-by-step process of creating beautiful sketchbooks like those pictured above, utilizing any kind of paper your creative heart desires.

I'll be using cloth-covered foam board for my upcoming tutorial, but the world is literally your oyster when it comes to book-making materials; here are a few brilliant examples from some other artists to get your creative juices flowing:

Any kind of random funky patterned paper would made great book covers

Cannot believe the level of adorableness in this walnut shell book

Seeing these reinvented material projects and a bunch more I Pinned makes me look at each scratch paper or found object in my studio just a little differently...

I can't even begin to understand how these woven binding techniques are accomplished - so impressive! It's one of those things that builds on itself over time, I'm sure.