Are you letting a book made of paper dictate your life?

Let me paint a little picture for you...  You absolutely adore this planner craze and have so much fun decorating your planner, but there's just something that's not working right.  You missed Janie's eye doctor's appointment last week and keep kicking yourself for it because she needs new glasses and she has to wait another week for an opening.  And really, you feel you should be on top of these things!  You are the mom after all! And your daily to-do list, which is so long, never gets done or even chipped away at!

You feel like you are spinning your wheels.  

It's all because of that stupid planner!  Everyone was ranting and raving about it, and gorgeous photos of it were all over Instagram. And how many videos did you watch of people flipping through it on Youtube and Periscope?  Sigh, it looked so pretty! You drove 35 mins with the kids bickering in the backseat the whole way to the outlet store in the next town over and then stood in line another 15 minutes while the Finn struggled and protested very loudly about being strapped into the stroller after being in the carseat for so long.  But, in the end you had that coveted, beautiful planner in your hands! You were sure this was it.  After so many planners, you found THE planner.

This was the planner that would bring you planner peace.

You were so proud and couldn't wait and snapped a photo right then and there in the store and posted to instagram, gloating just a little.  Then, you went and bought the whole gang ice cream to celebrate and you didn't even mind that it got all over the carseat.

But now, it's a month later and it just isn't keeping you organised. It's hard to keep track of appointments and such because you really prefer a weekly spread not this daily thing, where you can never see what's coming up.  There's no room for your to-do list in that tiny little box so you try to cram in all your tasks plus the kids' activities with your teeniest writing and it ends up a big jumbly mess and you don't know if you are coming or going!  

'Argh!' you think, 'Why can't I ever get myself organised?'

Can you relate to any of this?  
Have you ever been so frustrated by a planner?
Does the binding, size or shape drive you crazy?
Or maybe you aren't using it at all anymore?
Are you decorating it, but not actually planning anything in? 
Are the boxes or spaces too small or too big?
Have you ever given up on a planner and let it sit collecting dust only to run out and buy the lastest pretty planner on the market?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, keep reading!

For less than the price of yet another new planner, I can help you find the right planner for you.  THE planner, that will, not only keep you organised, but, keep you sane and less stressed and HAPPY as well.  

The right planner will not only keep you organised, but sane and HAPPY too! (click to tweet)

To stop the insane search for Planner Peace, click here to join me in my class Practically Perfect Planner.  Read more to find out if this class is for you.

 

Let's talk about Planners!! - the Paperclipping Roundtable

You can listen to us here!

I thought I'd share some photos of my planner :D

It's a faux-dori, or more specifically a fab-dori (made from fabric) and I got it from Cake Paperie on etsy :D  It came with a plain elastic but I added some ribbons and a Tardis charm to make the cover a bit prettier.  There's still a bit of elastic on the back so that it's easy to open.

There are 4 elastics inside to hold my books and right now I have a take along, and 3 moleskines. The take along is for my trip to Paris in a couple of weeks, one moleskine is for planning my days and household stuff and another is for projects, blog posts, and other ideas I have for products and classes.  The last one is empty but I'd like to use it to document fun things the children say and do. I covered the moleskines with patterned papers in my favourite colours and everything I add makes me smile.

And of course, what kind of planner girl would I be if I didn't plan for the recording ;) Here are my notes.  And even though I don't usually add things to my pages, I felt I should decorate these pages :D  I save the page decorating for my Heidi Swapp memory planner.

Thanks Noell and Izzy for inviting me, I had so much fun!
Paperclipping Roundtable

27 Ways you can use one of my Take Along memory keepers

As a Scrapbook:
These little books make great mini albums.  You can document as you go and the book can act as the scrapbook.  Or it can be the holding place for your notes, photos and memorabilia until you get a chance to scrapbook it.

Use one to document:

1.  a small event.
2.  a baby's birth story.
3.  a milestone birthday.
4.  a milestone anniversary
5.  a child's milestone.
6.  any theme.
7.  cute things your children or grandchildren say.
8.  day in the life or week in the life. aliedwards.com
9.  a trip.

10. Or give one to a child to use as a scrapbook.

As a Planner:
I love to use a Take Along to plan things, one time events as well as my everyday life.  It's ever so practical :D

 Use one to plan:

11. a small event.
12. a trip.
13. a scrapbook.
14. any project.

15. Use one to try something new before committing to it in your daily planner.
16. They are perfect to keep papers and things as a holding place if your daily planner is too big to take along with you.
17. They make a pretty addition to your midori, fauxdori or traveller's notebook :D 

As a Journal:
The Take Along books are great multi-media, multi-purpose journals. Lots of room to write, but the pockets and the photo album to make it all the more rich.

Use one as:

18. your daily journal.
19. an art journal.
20. a prayer journal.
21. a pregnancy journal.

As a gift:
Do you know someone who loves to papercraft?  Or maybe someone who you think might like it?  Give them a Take Along as a little present :D

22. Give an empty one to a scrapbooker, planner girl or any paper crafter.
23. Give one to a child going on a trip or staying away from home, especially if the child will be staying away from you.
24. Give one to someone who you'd like to turn into a scrapbooker, planner girl or paper crafter.  They make a wonderful 'gateway drug'!
25. Fill one with advice for a new mother and give it to her for her baby shower.  Better yet, take a blank one to the shower with cards that fit the photo pockets (or any of the pockets) and let the other guests write their advice.
26. You could do the same thing for a bridal shower. :D
27. Send someone one as a 'happy mail.'  Write a nice letter in the journal part, add some photos and papercrafting goodies in the pockets and make someone's day when they open their mailbox!

So, what are you waiting for? ;) Make yourself a Take Along today, or grab one in my etsy shop.  If you don't have my free class, you can sign up in the little green tag right below!

A Planner Challenge with a CUTE hockey style Face-off :D

 

domesticraft.com

 

Here is what I've come up with!!
Nancy won't know what hit her, the Battle of Cute is on! So, how did I alter this comp book?

First, to create a base colour, I covered the front and back covers in strips of green washi tape, and with orange thread ('cause that's fun!) I went around the edges to prevent the washi from curling.  I also stitched a doily on the front that was cut to fit.  I used the same orange thread with some messy stitches.

The bunting was next and oh so fun!! I picked out my very favourite washi tape from my stash and folded over little strips to make the banner pieces. I cut a variety of shapes and then took them to my sewing machine.  Now, here is where it helps to have a steady hand or teeny fingers.  It's insane that I can't, for the life of me, sew a straight stitch on say something simple like a curtain hem, but I can stitch these bitty buntings together :D  I made sure to leave lots of excess thread at the end of the stitching so I could make cute little trendy string messes at each end of the buntings.

Last, I wanted the binding to have a vintage book feel to it.  After watching my boys tape their hockey sticks, I got an idea. Hockey tape is almost as cool as washi tape. They twist the tape up on itself, spiral it down the top of the stick and then tape over it.  They say it's to get more grip, but I think it just looks cool!  

So, I took this idea and used it on the spine of my book in 4 spots for that vintage binding look.  I actually braided 3 twists to get them big enough.  Then I covered it all with the blue flowered washi and I cut small strips of gold washi to go over just the 'bumps'.

You know, this only took about an hour to do... actually, it would have only taken an hour, but I originally used pink on the spine but it was too bright, so I ripped it all off and started again with the blue floral. :D

So here is the challenge for you:

1. Using only the supplies we used, washi tape, doilies and a sewing machine, alter the cover of a book (not necessarily a planner).
2. Post a link to it here or in the comments in Nancy's post at domesticraft.com before Feb 6th and you will be entered into a draw to win a spot in my Practically Perfect Planner class.  Remember this is a 3 part challenge so the more challenges you participate in the more chances you get to win.
3. Sharing on social media will also earn you chances to win.  Use the hashtag #practicallyperfect and come back here and let me know where you shared.

You can also get another chance to win a spot in my class at SarahShotts.com and while you are there you can check out my guest blog post there too! 

3 Free Planner Tutorials for You!

 

The first video come out tomorrow so you don't want to miss out! To get the videos just put your name and email in right here and you'll get an email from me tomorrow:

 

You can go here to learn more.