Plan With Me: Swept Away

       Hi everyone! I have some exciting news! I’m releasing my first weekly kit on my Etsy shop! It’s created for the vertical Erin Condren Life Planner, but it can be used with the horizontal, hourly, a Plum Paper Planner, whatever you want. It’s called Swept Away and I hope you love it as much as I do. So, in honor of the new kit release, I thought I’d put up a little plan with me using this kit to show you how I use it and to give you an idea of how you might want to use it! You can get your own kit here!

      Here's what my planner looks like before any stickers. It's the Erin Condren 18-Month Vertical Life Planner. 

      The first thing I do is put down the Today labels on the top box. The top box is where I write what I am going to do that day, or the type of day it will be, like “work day” or “lazy day.” It’s the ‘scrapbook’ portion of my planner. 

      Next, I built my sidebar. I started by putting the Schedule label under the flag, then I put the box with the week days under that. This is where I list out blog posts that need to go up, Etsy chores, and things like that. It gives me an at-a-glance plan for everything that has to be done during the week during my work hours, and I can plan accordingly. I usually put more a detailed version in my to do list or under my Little Things. 

      Under the week box, I put the Other label. This is where everything that doesn’t have a plane by now goes. This week, it was the To Do, To Buy, and To clean labels, and the workout checkbox. I usually put the workout checkbox there, but if I know I have a day blocked off for a certain task, then I will put the To Do, To Buy, or To Clean label on that day instead of in the sidebar. Under the workout checkbox, I put another half box, just to use all eight of them. I’m sure I can come up with something to write on there!

      The next thing I do is put the decorative full boxes under the Today labels. This is what I write on, and it gives my planner a pretty touch. 

      I put the eighth full box in the top left corner over the Thankful Thought box, since it has a quote on it. I think it looks nice up there and it gives me a reason to use all eight boxes. This one says “flowers make me irrationally happy.”

      Next I go across the second boxes with the To Do labels, then put the full box checklists under them. This is where I write my to do lists for the day. I’ll usually write part of them a day or two ahead and finish it up that morning. 

      Next I put down the Little Things labels on top of the third box. This is where I put everything that doesn’t really fit under a to do list or in the today box. Sometimes it’s routine things, like walking the dogs; sometimes it’s an extension of my to do list; and sometimes it’s just filled with doodles or little thoughts. 

      Right under the Little Things labels I put my water trackers. These are great for me because I get dehydrated very easily, and sometimes I forget to drink water until it’s too late, so the trackers keep me in check. And look, they match the theme of the kit! How cute!

      Under the water tracker, I put down my half boxes. Sometimes I’ll put them over the full squares in the Today box, but I didn’t want to cover up the full boxes (they’re so pretty!) and I had space so I stuck them under there. The space left will just be extra space for to dos, random thoughts, and other stuff. Under Sunday's half box, I put the Next Week label and another checklist box. This is where I will write things I need to do or things I have scheduled for the next week.

Now that the layout is finished, it’s time to start decorating! I’m going to use the flowers and weekend banner that come with the kit. I’m going to start by stretching the weekend banner over the Today boxes on Saturday and Sunday, then I’m going to start putting the flowers down. I’m going to put one over the flag on the sidebar, one on Memorial Day, and a bunch on June 4. I’m going to a concert that day so I’m going to decorate it a bunch! I’m also going to put a flower by Wednesday, June 1, because the new ECLP is released that day!

      Here's it is, finished, before the pen! I love the way it looks!

Now that I’m done decorating, it’s time to write in it! Of course, it’s not the week yet as I plan this, so I don’t know what I’m going to write yet! Check my Instagram for an “after” photo of my planner at the end of the week!

Love you guys!

Exciting News: Etsy Shop Launch!

Hey everyone!

I know I’ve been MIA for about a month, but it’s been for a good reason! I’m super excited to announce that I’ve opened an Etsy shop! I’ll be selling stickers for planners such as the Erin Condren Life Planner, the Plum Paper Planner, and even the Lilly Pulitzer planners! I’m so excited to be starting on this journey with y’all. You can visit my shop here. Check below to see some behind the scenes pictures and some my finished products! I hope you love them as much as I do!

The very first draft!

Playing the color matching game...got it down for April!

The first official product!

Cutting away!

Celebratory slushie on launch day!

The Ultimate Guide to Bullet Journaling

Since the new year rolled around, bullet journaling has been all over Pinterest and I couldn’t help but try out the fad too. I think it’s going well for me, but I have a habit of being over organized, to the point where I am copying the same thing over and over in different systems, so we’ll see how long this lasts. 

Supplies: 

• Notebook
  • The bullet journaling website recommends a specific notebook for bullet journaling, but I didn’t know how long I would stick with it, so I bought two little Moleskine notebooks on sale at the container store. They’re working just fine for me, but if you are really serious about this, check out the website and see what they recommend. 
• Writing Utensil
  • I use different pens depending on my mood. I like to use black because I enjoy the uniformity of sticking to one color (and I can always find a black pen). I switch back and forth between my Staedtler pens and my Office Depot brand pens (which I buy by the box - can’t ever have enough). Sometimes I’ll use glitter pen if I’m feeling fancy. You can use whatever you want; there are no limits. You can even use watercolor. It might be kind of hard to make lists though. 

Process: 

     The bullet journaling website says that bullet journaling is a “customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary.” The whole premise is based on a system called Rapid Logging, which is basically shorthand without the different language. There’s a detailed explanation of the system here (bulletjournal.com/get-started/) that teaches you how to set up your journal and lists some tips for using it. The first page is your key, which is a list of all the bullet points you use, so you have something to reference while you’re still learning or forget what a certain type of bullet point is for. Make it your own, but don’t make this too complicated or long, otherwise you won’t remember it and you’ll abandon it. The next page is your index, which is exactly what it sounds like. Be sure to number the pages of your journal, whether you do it as you go along or all at once at the beginning. Then you put in a yearly, monthly, and daily log. This is where you actually do the journaling. For the yearly log, I would draw out the months in a chart and number them, like you see in the back of calendars where the list the next year. For the monthly log, I did a page per month and a line per day, so I can write important things for that day down. You could also do a calendar format. The daily log is your to-do list, journal, and diary. Write the date where you want to begin writing, and go to town. 

My Experience: 

Since I already have a planner, I decided I wouldn’t be able to to do the conventional bullet journaling, where you use a to-do list. So I decided I would make it a journal, but then I remembered that I have a five year journal, so I figured that wouldn’t work. I really wanted this to work because I love lists. So I decided to make lists. I make to do lists, lists of this I want to make/watch/eat/etc, and lists of things I know I’ll never do. So my bullet journal is basically a big bucket list, which I love. I would recommend trying this, or weaving it in to your normal bullet journaling, because it’s so satisfying to get little things like this out of your head and down on paper. 

Do you bullet journal or would you like to start? What do you do in yours? Let me know in a comment below!