If you have been wanting a Stablo Nomadic Easel or Just Go sketching or painting board it is very easy to make your own clone for a lot less cost. This is great if you aren't sure if it's for you, or you simply don't want to spend the money on a sketching solution. Or even if you want a different size than those available commercially.

My solution is based around a 5x7 sized sketchbook (Moleskine). I have a couple of these in portrait as well as landscape orientation. I wanted a sketch board that was no bigger than the sketchpad, so it would easily fit in a bag. But the great part about this solution is that it is customizable to what you want - so if you like 8x10 or 6x8 sketchpads, it is easy to make your own sketch board in whatever size you want.

What you will need:

• poster board or coroplast cut to size 5x7 (or something stiff, lightweight and preferably water proof for spills)
• business card magnet (the kind with the peel-able adhesive strip) - you only need 1 so maybe split a pack with a friend (alternative flat magnets and some glue)
• double or single dipper water cup with a metal clip
• 2x bulldog or fold back clips (big enough to clip on your sketchbook)

 How to assemble:

1. You will need to notch your coroplast in the centre of the longest side. The notch should be about 1 1/2 - 2 inches towards the centre and wide enough for the spine of the sketchbook to fit in (1/2 - 1 inch). The notched side is now the bottom and should face towards you.
2. Clip the water cup to the opposite side of the board at the top. You can move it around to your preferred side.
3. Position your magnet so that your watercolour palette will have room to open and still sit on the board. After you decide where it will go you can stick it down (but remember you can't reposition it so choose CAREFULLY!).

Sketchboard without palette:

Sketchboard with palette:

To use the sketch board:

• Hold your sketch board with the pages in a vertical position but with the front and back cover horizontally. This is easier to do on a flat surface or your lap.
• Position the notch so that the pages fit in the middle.

• Open the sketchbook so that the pages hold the sketch board in place.
• Clip the two sides so the sketch board cannot easily come loose from the book. The tautness of the pages will hold in it. (note, if it falls out the notch isn't deep enough).

Optional ideas:

• If you have an awl, a hole punch or any type of hole making tool, add a couple of holes for paintbrushes or pencils. My hole punch will only accommodate paintbrushes as the hole is too small for a pencil or pen.
• Clip fold back clips on the edge of the board to hold folded rags or paper towel to wipe off your brushes.
• Don't have magnets or a magnetic business card, try magnet clips instead (position them magnet up).

• Consider making a board out of something more durable. Wood or a piece of plastic.
• Use a piece of elastic to make a band around the short width of the board to hold pens or brushes especially if you don't have a hole punch.
• Position the fold back clips along the edge of the board and flip back the top side clip to use as a pencil holder.

Rootsmagic 9 has been released today. I've been a fan for quite a few years, since Bruce Buzbee reached out to me in response to this blog post. Each release brings something new but the last release (Rootsmagic 8) was a rebuild from the ground up. 

Rootsmagic 9 builds onto this new foundation and introduces the following features:

1. Associations: these are new relationships beyond spouse, child, parent. A list of associations is provided plus you can make your own. Examples, friends, neighbours, apprentice, employee, employer. 

2. Colour code sets: currently I have two colours set in my file - a blue for my husband and his ancestors, and a red for mine. Colour codes let you have up to 8 sets of colours - each set can have quite 27 colours. The example provided was war (WWI, WWII, Civil, Revolutionary etc). I'm thinking it could be used to track Countries or Nationalities (Canada, USA, England, Scotland, etc). 

3. New database tools: Rearrange children or spouses for everyone in the file based on dates; Delete multiple people in a group, combining groups, change or removing fact types from everyone, enhanced property list. Note: BACKUP FIRST! These tools are particularly useful for people who have imported a gedcom into your own file in the past and need to do some cleanup.

4. View media from person view without having to select each fact or source citation. This is filterable by fact. This can be really helpful to identify duplicate copies of media. However, there is still no "merge" feature to merge two citation media together. This is one of my pet peeves with Ancestry source sync'ing as you end up with multiple copies.

5. Saved searches: I have been waiting for this for soooo long. I like to set these up and reuse them as task lists. For example, I have a search that looks for people who were alive and living in England during the 1880 census but whose census I haven't found yet:

The searches in Rootsmagic could still use some upgrading and aren't as good as genealogy software I was using in the year 2000 (Bruce please fix this!). I would like to see ability to add more parameters, ability to reorder parameters, and the ability to duplicate the saved search (e.g. I'd like to make a copy of this for 1870 census and just change the dates).

6. Filter tasks: Again another feature I've been waiting for. Tasks needed to be grouped by place, website, microfilms, books and so on. For example, if I am scouring birth records in England - I may as well be looking for *all* of the missing births at the same time. I've typically managed this with creative naming in the past but this is much better.

7. Citation usage: allows you to see all uses of the citation from the citation source and edit from there.

8. Groups: criteria for adding to people to groups. This feature is *powerful*. It allows you to select from the screen list, a saved search, or criteria you set on the fly. After you create the group you can then filter people from the people screen using the group. So if I use this feature with my saved search above, I can then filter people based on their membership of the search group.

A small ask

Upgrading to Rootsmagic 9 from Rootsmagic 8 is 50% off and comes in at $20 USD. Please support the Rootsmagic team by purchasing a copy and even buying the accompanying book. Bruce has spent years building and then rebuilding this software. Genealogy software is "niche" and large online companies like Ancestry are competing with the smaller guys. I want to make sure my file is available locally and I don't have to share *everything* with Ancestry for privacy reasons. Support Rootsmagic - buy your copy here.