I am so excited to be sharing with you the new Everyday Life™ Planner from Close To My Heart - decorative planners are so on trend in the world of papercrafting and this one is very hard to resist...truly who could resist something as pretty and practical as this??!!??
- not ME!
Setting up and decorating a planner is a huge part of the fun for planner addicts and there is nothing quite so appealing as a bundle of blank pages - they not only represent a new year but new beginnings and a whole lot of "new" crafting opportunities. However, if you are new to this form of practical crafting they can also be a little daunting and with this in mind, I thought I would share with you my tips for getting started and a peek at my pages.
My first tip is to gather together your supplies - pens, roller/date stamps, washi tape, post-it notes, stickers, Picture My Life™ cards, etc and store them together in easy reach. My supplies are all bundled together in the My Acrylix® Mini Stamp Organizer - they all fit in nicely and this is the perfect container to leave sitting out on my desk. While some of these decorative items are optional - I personally think they make the whole process so much more fun! - and yes, the pic you see below gives you a little look at some goodies being released 1st Jan... that are going to add even more fun to embellishing your planner!
While I am a self-proclaimed "stationery junkie" and I have a huge collection of pens ( mainly pink )... highlighters, gel, fineliners, texta, erasable, correction - Yep!... you name it, I've got it!! I do however, find a single black pen is all you really need. Some people like to colour code events in their planners and write in a variety of different colours (eg. personal appointments in pink, sporting events in blue, housekeeping tasks in green etc). I find this a little time consuming and not so easy to keep track of. I never know if I will have the correct pen colour on hand when I need to write something and if I wait until I do; I know I will ultimately forget what it was, I wanted to write down! It is simply easier for me to write with my Black Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen - and use the stickers that are included in the Everyday Life™ 2016 Planner Pages as a form of colour coding for any events, I wish to highlight.
The next thing I like to do when setting up a new planner is to make time to sit down with my current planner and transfer across perpetual and annual events - such as Birthdays, Anniversaries, Public Holidays etc. Then I add those appointments and important events already scheduled for the new year - eg. the 6 monthly visit to the dentist or the start of the school year, holidays etc. I also find another great way to stay organised is to start marking down reminders in my planner too. An example of this, is the annual medical appointment I have in October, that I can't schedule 12 months ahead. Often when I do remember to phone and make the appointment, most of the convenient times are already gone or I am so late the appointment gets pushed out until November or in the case of this year, December! I have learnt the best thing to do is to schedule a date a month or 2 months earlier in my planner as a reminder to phone and make the appointment. While I don't manage my husband's or my daughter's appointments I do want to add reminders in my planners for them as well - a reminder to remind them LOL! If you are a goal setter or have monthly or annual housekeeping tasks such as air-conditioner maintenance, pool cleaning etc add them to your planner at this stage too. Taking the time to sit down and include these things in your planner now... for the coming year, helps you keep on track and removes some of the organisational stress from your life.
This is a little preview into my month of January - I love that the Everyday Life™ 2016 Planner Pages come with both monthly and weekly views. I use the monthly view as a form of diary/calendar with everything I have scheduled for the month written beside the date. This is just so I can see at a glance where I may have a spare date to schedule appointments, workshops etc. I then use the weekly view to add in the actual appointment times and any extra details I might need listed, such as what I need to do to prepare, what to bring, goals etc. There is more space to write on the weekly view pages and this is where my real planning happens. You will see in my example below where I have colour coded events using the stickers that are included in the Everyday Life™ 2016 Planner Pages. I also like to add notes to the monthly view pages for events I would like to combine & schedule with family & friends for that particular month... this is so when we do get together to co-ordinate plans, I can see quickly where I have a day available. I do like things to be colour co-ordinated and as you can see any "decorating" I do does match the planner's colour scheme. I tend to store any unused stickers, papers and embellishments from my other projects into colour groups... and as you can see on these pages - I have used pixie and glacier stickers from the Fundamental Stickers Whimsy Pack and the Kaleidoscope Complements along with some gold stars from the Gold Fundamental Assortment. Planners are great place to use all your left-over or excess treasures! My stamped Happy New Year embellishment was created using images from November Stamp of the Month - called Cheers... I am so glad I collect each month's Stamp of the Month as each set is so universal they can be used over and over again. I make sure I never miss out on ordering these stamp sets!
One of my favourite additions to this Everyday Life™ planner system is the My Crush® Everyday Life Pages and pocket style Memory Protectors (they come in 2 sizes - 4" x 6" and 4" x 3"). I really admire the planner addicts that have the time to basically scrapbook their weekly diary spread but I am afraid for me to do this I would be spending way too much time making my planner look "pretty" than actually doing the things I have planned!! However, with the inclusion of the My Crush® Everyday Life Pages and pocket style Memory Protectors I can incorporate a little creative scrapbooking, display my memorabilia and journal my thoughts, adventures and experiences - a perfect mix of everything I love to do! - photo below, courtesy of the Close To My Heart art department.
Right now! is the perfect time to get your hands on the Everyday Life Planner™ - not only are we getting ready to commence another new year of plans, events and appointments but Close To My Heart have an amazing bundle offer available until the 31st December - click HERE for more details - you can save over 15% off the retail price and get your 2016 planning well underway!
Over the coming months I will share some of my "not so personal" planner pages with you and pass on more tips and tricks for bullet journaling, memory keeping and embellishing your Everyday Life™ Album... stay tuned for this creative journey - planning your year has never been more FUN!
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