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April 2016
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June 2016

Perfect Planner Hacks to make Your Planner Work Better for You Now!

I’m in my Happy Planner this week using my April kits from The Hip Kit Club and I’ve got some tips for you. Now normally these new HP’s don’t start until July, but I was watching Shanni Plannermania on scope and we were all brainstorming ways to be able to use the planner now and not have to wait until July to use this beauty.

In the video below I share my version and my hacks:

  

 

Here are some photos of my week before the pen: Week
Week-bottom
Week-top

 

 I also made some adorable planner clips! :D Clips
I’m completely obsessed with planner clips at the moment ;) Probably because my new planner clip class  at Big Picture Classes opened last week and I'm still making clips for days!!

For that square one, I used a wooden clip from Simple Stories and two epoxy stickers from PinkFresh Studios. I took two stickers that are the same size and shape and backed them on either side of the clip. I did add a bit of foam between them to make up for the thickness of the clip.

Wood-epoxy-clip
Next up are two clips using the exclusive Hip Kit Flair by Kim Watson. Flare-clips
I did add circle punches to cover the glue and top of the clip. Clip-backs

 

If you are as excited as I am about making clips and want to see how I made these and dozens more planner clips, then hop on over to my PLANNER CLIPS class at Big Picture Classes for everything you ever needed to know about making clips!

 


Last little project is a to-do list that I punched (with the dokibook disk-agenda punch) so that I can pop it easily in and out of my Happy Planner. I’m going to use pencil so that I can re-use it in future weeks, but laminating it and using a dry erase pen would work too. It’s made from the ‘to do’ exclusive 4x6 PL card by Kim Watson. To-do
I added a 3x4 card to the back with some washi and rub-ons that matches my spread, and some hand cut hearts too. To-do-back
I hope that this has helped you tweak your planner so that it works harder so that you don’t have to!

 


OMG Where do I Start? Planner Series: How to Make Multiple Planners Work

The planning community is so amazing.  It's fun and creative but OMG it can be sooooo overwhelming!  There's so much to see and learn and obsess over ;) There are so many different types of planners and inserts and stickers. So I've got this great series for you coming over the next few weeks.  It will help simplify everything and make choosing your first (or next) planner much easier.

Today we are talking about USING MORE THAN ONE PLANNER. How many planners is TOO MANY?

Gallery-2-900

The biggest thing to consider when deciding how to use multiple planners is your schedule.  Not only yours actually, but your family’s (or any one else you need to keep track of) as well. I highly suggest keeping all the scheduled things in one planner or calendar, appointments, practices… anything that has a fixed time. You can duplicate specific schedules in other planners, but keeping one master schedule in ONE place minimises any double bookings.  Otherwise things could get really messy! 

If you’ve got little Peter’s hockey practice scheduled in one planner, but all of your family’s medical appointments are in another and your work schedule are in yet another one, you may end up in a meeting that you can’t get out of, at the very same time that Peter needs to be getting his braces on! Keep it all together and keep it simple to keep yourself organised.

click to tweet:
Using multiple planners is super fun, but keep all your scheduled things in one planner so you don't double book.

Pens and/or stickers in a specific colour for each family member (team member, employee, etc) are a great way to separate each person’s schedule within one planner.

Close-up-planner

Maybe you simply have ‘Shiny Object’ syndrome like many other planner girls (raising hand) and want a collection of planners, and every everytime a company comes out with a new style (have you seen the new Reset Girl Carpe Diem's!?!!) you have to have it. If this is you, consider using covers/binders that you can change out, not unlike how we women swap out our bags and purses. You can continue to use the same inserts, just make sure that each new planner you add to your collection can house your planner contents and they are easily switch-out-able ;)

For example, if you like using A5 sized inserts, then, when you see the newest Kikki K or Filofax (or that Reset Girl Carpe Diem) and you NEED to get one, make sure to buy the A5 size.  Or if you are Traveller's Notebook girl, always buy them in the same size, or that will hold the size inserts you use.  So no matter what planner you use, you can switch covers/binders depending on your mood and your OOTD. 

Planner-pretties

Each additional planner can have a specific purpose. There are a variety of ideas and you could have something that is maybe an extent of your main planner (that houses you schedule), but that's not required.

Some ideas for ‘purpose planners’ are Study Planner, Wallet, Christmas Planner, Bible study Planner, Harmony Binder (more coming on this soon), Work project, Social Media scheduling, Goal tracking, Health, Craft projects etc etc. If you want to use a planner you’re bound to find a reason. ;)

Mar-in-gillio

One great use for a planner is to plan out projects.  These could be one time projects or ones that reaccur.  Not only could you plan things out and know when the deadlines are for milestone and map out individual each step, but it’s also a great way to track your progress and know if you are keeping on schedule.

Feb-hustle

Heidi Swapp’s idea of a Memory Planner is not only a fun one, it’s rich with sentimentality. They are a wonderfully detailed look back at life exactly how it was at that time. Instead of planning your time, you are recording it immediately after it happened for a lovely recount to look back on. I have an alarm on my phone that goes off every morning to remind me to jot down a few words about the day before. Then later, I can go back and decorate. With the little bits of journaling added, they can become a rich treasure in years to come. And don’t feel like you need to have Heidi’s actual planner, any planner with enough room to write is perfect. 

 Memory planners are a wonderful, meaninglful excuse to add a new planner to your collection. 

_memory-planner

Planners make excellent scrapbooks for once in a lifetime events, such as an upcoming wedding or a baby/pregancy. I absolutely adore the idea of tracking baby’s first year in a planner, but there are many different options here. You could use it to actually plan the event.  Or pre-decorate one and jot down little things that happen along the way in sort of a memory planner style. Or decorate one, leaving the planner bits blank and give it to bride-to-be or a mama-to be as their shower gift. So that they are the one planning or documenting, but they don't have the stress of having to decorate if they aren't the crafty type. 

If you liked this post you can check out the other posts: 
Newbie Planner Girls START HERE!!
OMG Where do I Start? Planner Series: Choosing a Binding
OMG Where do I Start? Planner Series: What SIZE to choose
OMG Where do I Start? Planner Series: What Inserts do I Use?
  
OMG Where do I Start? Planner Series: 4 things to do Before you Buy All the Things!

And if you're new to the Planner World and would like a free (and pretty) Planner Newbie Cheat Sheet with some of the definitions of those terms and acronyms that seem so foreign to you, but everyone else seems to know what they mean, then just click here:

Planner Newbie Cheat Sheet

I also have a class specifically to help newbie planner girls get started in this slightly overwhelming but fantastic planner world. Click here for more information:

I'm a Planner Noob! Now What?

See you for the next segment of the Newbie Planner Series!!

 


'May' your plans be productive

Hi, Cara here, your go-to-gal for all things planner!! :D This week I'm sharing a post that went up the other day on the Hip Kit Club blog, you can find it here.

Since Spring has finally decided to poke it’s nose out into my little corner of Europe, and pretty, happy colours are everywhere, I wanted to make some bright, happy fun projects this week. The April Hip Kit Club kits are bursting with fantastically happy colours, so which products to choose? The butterflies were jumping out at me, so I decided to do a little fluttery theme.

butterflies

Imagine butterflies lightly landing on your planner. Such an airy, whimsical feel, right?

You can do that with any spread. Cut-out butterflies add dimension and interest. But here’s the kicker! They don’t add any bulk! Just like their real counterparts, they are light and delicate.  When your planner is open you can bend up their wings to have your desk look like magic is happing right there in your planner… what could inspire you more into action to get that to-do list done?

Magical planner butterflies!!

Then, when it’s time to close up your planner they simply flatten down and tuck sweetly and oh so flatly into their pages

…ok, that said, I feel like I need to confess something.

I added enamel dots to my planner!

What!?!!

Yah, I know, bumpy! But in my defence I added them around the edges where I won’t write anything on the backs of them and hey, I’m a scrapbooker at heart and they just looked soooo pretty and were calling out to me to use them!

Ok, now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s look at some planner pretties!

First up is some planner pages! This is my main, keep-me-on-my-toes-and-organised planner so feel free to have a nose at my busy to-do list. It’ll get a lot more full as the week plows on.  It’s the Commit30 planner and I LOVE it!

week

Ok, let me pause here for a moment and just say… Shimelle is a genius!

I ADORE every last bit of her Star Shine line from American Crafts.  That is why my week is covered in Shimelle goodness! I’ve got die cuts (including that amazing globe, OMG!!), and lots of stickers. I even cut up one of the sticker strips that had little stars to use as a check list, see them cuties at the bottom of Tuesday? :D

globe-plus-star-checklist

I also added some butterflies punched from some of the papers from American Crafts, plus the butterfly from the cut apart sheet (by the lovely, and very talented, Kim Watson).

cut-apart-and-punched-butterflies

Oh, just as a head’s up, please don’t glue the bodies of the butterflies down with hot glue… they’ll just pop right off, use liquid glue instead. Um… yah… please, don’t ask how I know this ;)

I topped the spread off with the clip I made last week and one of the flag paper clips from Heidi Swapp.  Oh yes, and those enamel dots, we’ll just pretend they are flat, mmm ‘kay? thanks! ;)

Next up is my May spread, again in my Commit30 and again with the beautiful butterflies!!

IG-mayfull.jpg

This time they are fussy cut from the ‘flutter’ paper from Crate Paper.

may-butteflies

I punched a circle from the spotty blue PL card from the kit and added the back of the branding strip of the Elle’s Studio ‘all my heart’ paper to get the teeny black dotted paper.  There are a few more of Shimelle’s stickers and die cuts and some cut part bits, along with rub-ons from Amy Tangerine and her sparkly pink washi as well.

may-bottom.jpg

Alright, moving along to my Gillio… this is my wallet and I had been noticing that the back pages were getting a little messed up.

back-pages

I think it was Angie Jarboe that I saw first make a dashboard for the back of her planner to keep those pages neat.  One of the unique things about the Hip Kit exclusive papers is that there is a bit of gloss to them. I’ve been finding that this helps my dashboards stand up to the constant wear and tear, they really can take a beating. So I reached for that paper first and lucky me it matched my Gillio!

gillio-back

I trimmed down one of the PL cards and added it to the other side, that is also a bit glossy and decorated it with a bit of fun stuff, Shimelle and glimmery washi anyone? And a sweet little butterfly. I think I may have to flip to the back of my planner more often, just to take a look at her ;)

butterfly-dashboard

I may or may not have saved my favourite project until last.

mini-shaker-dash

As soon as I saw these Heidi Swapp frames, the first thing I though of was shaker dashboard!  I actually was planning on adding them to the front of a larger dashboard, but I like this mini guy even better, it fits perfectly in my little pocket wallet planner. I simply used my Fuse to make a little pocket from a page protector, sizing it so the seams would be hidden by the edges of the frames. Along with the sweet little stars that are exclusive to the kit I tossed in some random sequins I had on hand. I stuck 2 pieces from the cut apart sheet back to back, as well as 2 of the Shimelle word stickers and added those in and fused the top closed. I used my glue gun to stick it all together. On the outside I added enamel dots and one of the epoxy bits from Pink Fresh.

Here's the other side:

mini-shaker-fancy.jpg

Ok, but here’s my favourite part! I didn’t want to punch holes directly in the shaker, so I had to figure out a way to get it in my planner. I ended up hot gluing in a piece of packaging from enamel dots (you know that little plastic bit that the enamel dots are stuck to) and punching holes in that. I picked up some glare so that you could see it better here:

mini-shaker-holes.jpg

The plastic is pretty thick and should hold up to wear and tear and the hot glue is holding it in there pretty strong. I’m in love and I can’t wait to show it off next time I whip out my wallet at the grocery store.

Cara Vincens-2

NSD Online Crop Graphic

I hope you are having a fantastic week and don’t forget to pop into the Hip Kit Club facebook forum this weekend for our online crop interNational Scrapbook Day! And planner girls, don’t think that because you are not a scrapbooker, this isn’t for you! I did a pericope yesterday with lots of ideas on how us planner girls can take advantage of this fun, creative day. The scope is no longer on replay, but I've put it up on youtube for anyone who wants to check it out, because you’ll want to know these tips so that you can play along with the crafty scrapbookers.  I'm @caravincens on periscope, please follow so you won't miss any future scopes. :D