How's The Planner Going?

Earlier this month I shared with you my plans for using my planner more regularly this year and I showed you some pretties I made for it (on New Year's Day no less - boy, I was keen!).  I thought I would give you an update and show you how I set up this week. I tend to spend a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon to get my diary set up for the week. And I mean a few minutes. It only takes a short amount of time to stamp a few things and update my list and spending papers. Here's this week before I added in some daily to-dos:

As you can see I add little bits and pieces each week for documenting my goals (on the back of the Shine piece). I also stamp something inspirational and encouraging or write down things that caught my eye from what I've been reading or seeing in my week. For example, in The Longest Ride by Nicholas Spark (I really enjoyed this story if you are looking for a book recommendation) I read the following joke: What do you get if you play country music backwards? You get your wife, your truck and your dog back! That joke tickled my fancy and ended up in my diary for that week. This week I used some Heidi Swapp stamps to remind me to shine (Sparkle being my OLW) and focus my thoughts on positive things. The "Let Your Light Shine" stamp also got a coat of glitter paint in the lightbulb to make it shiny - a little product I found in my office de-cluttering (bought at SENZ over 3 years ago!).  A few dots of liquid pearls on the filament topped it off perfectly. Here's a close up:

I'm really enjoying using my diary. I use it to document my day, my goals and gratitude for the day. Confession Time: I'm not very good at being disciplined or consistent with documenting anything (even important things like health issues) so it's a bit of a surprise to me that 4 weeks in I am still using it daily (and loving it!).  It's a new focus for me in 2015 I guess: #plannernerd  #newyearnewme  #tryingnewthings

If you remember back in November I did a 30 Days of Gratitude project. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would do it again. So, I decided to add a gratitude spot for every day. I must admit that I am not as deep or thorough in my daily gratitude as I was for the 30 Days of Gratitude project. For example: Tuesday's gratitude was a float on a hot day (float = soda plus icecream yum!). You might notice that I have stamped gratitude on white card and glued it in place. The reason is that if I stamp it in the diary it shows through on the other side. My solution was to stamp a few of the word gratitude and each week I can glue them in. I do also stamp the word in sometimes and then I use the card pieces the following week (covering up the ink bleed).

I am entering my planner (diary in kiwi land) in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday - New.  The planner craze is new for me and it is also bringing out a new me (diligent to fill it in). Also, the Pink and Main stamps just arrived this week so they had to be used immediately (new) and it was the first time I used the glitter paint even though I've had it for more than three years (new technique). The details are here .
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes. I love it when they do anything goes but it certainly ups the number of entries! The details are here .
Inspiration Emporium - Fresh Start. The challenge description says just get your creative mojo going and create something - the sky's the limit. That's an easy brief to fill! This diary page was a fresh start for the week and using it is something new (fresh) for me too. The details are here .


Materials:
Stamps - Heidi Swapp, Ali Edwards, Basic Grey, Pink and Main, Waffleflower, Recollections; Ink - Stampin' Up!, Ranger; Tag - Kaisercraft; Washi - My Mind's Eye; Cardstock - Stampin' Up!, Frixion Erasable Pens (yup, still love 'em!)

Making Old Things New

Today's project started out as one thing and ended up as something entirely different. I came across a printed vellum stack while I was de-cluttering my stash (shock and horror!) and it had a page with the word sparkle printed on it. (Memory Jolt: my One Little Word for 2015 is Sparkle). I put the piece aside with the intention of making something for my daily planner. I used gold paint around the edges and added gold and pewter liquid pearls. it looked beautiful . Then I hole punched it with my cinch and added it to the front of my planner - it looked so right! I'm so disappointed that I didn't take a picture to share it's perfection with you :(  Sadly, being vellum it wasn't going to stand up to wear and tear.

Seeing as Sparkle is my OLW for 2015 and the vellum was so pretty I had to come up with another way to use it and see it every day.  I was using an old metal pencil case for my Frixion erasable pens (have I told you lately how much I love them?!?). It was blue and had a picture of Shrek on it. Unfortunately I didn't take a before picture but here is a picture of the base to give you an idea of what it looked like (minus the Shrek image):

I decided to add the sparkle vellum piece to the lid and then added some bling to the cinch holes.  I used it like this for a few weeks but yesterday the ugly bits sticking out from the sides just bugged me to the point I did something about it. I pulled out my paint pens and covered them up. Then I added washi - there was only one in my stash of over 100 that was thin enough to go around the rim (can you believe that?).  I love how it looks:

Pretty no? I guess I better add a coat of modge podge to protect the paint layer. I'll get on to that soon.

This piece fits a few challenges so I am entering it in the following challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - Personalize. This pencil case has been personalized to suit my tastes and theme (OLW) for the year. The details for the challenge are here .
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday - New. First I made a new embellishment for my planner with the vellum then I re-newed an old pencil case making it prettier making the vellum embellishment into something new. The details are here .
Southern Girls Challenge - Sparkle and Shine. The vellum says Sparkle and I added gold and silver paint and bling so that it really shines/sparkles.  The details are here .
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes. A nice and easy theme! The details are here .
Inspiration Emporium - Fresh Start. The challenge says just get your mojo going and create; the sky's the limit,  so I think this definitely fits that description.  The pencil case has been given a new life (use) and a new look so I guess you can say it's been given a fresh start too. The details are here .

Materials:
Vellum - DCWV; Paint Pens - Zig; Bling - Papervine; Liquid Pearls - Ranger; Washi

Fresh Start and New Beginnings

It's that time of year again. The new year tends to get us thinking about the year ahead and what we want to achieve. I don't usually set new years resolutions but this year I did write down a list of things I want to focus on this year. I hope I look back at it from time to time and see where I am at with the goals (or focus points).

One of the items on my list is to get into the Word and Ministry more - ie,  read my Bible! I saw this goal when I was transferring my focus list (note avoidance of words: New Years Resolution) to a layout I did recently and it gave me the kick in the butt to actually read a chapter (I did two). Truth be told, I hadn't actually read anything from my Bible since compiling my list in the new year! One of the things I have been looking at recently is the idea of #illustratedfaith and #journalingbible.  I was introduced to the concept via the blog of Shanna Noel (the link to her blog is here ).  I am so amazed at what these ladies are creating in their Bibles! As much as I admire their faith and work (and commitment to reading the Word which I seem to lack!), I am not ready to paint in my beloved Bible! Besides, the pages are wafer thin in mine so everything will show through. However, after reading my Bible recently (Mark 7-8), after getting the guilt trip from reading my focus list, I had this idea to document my understanding through art/craft. In layman's terms, I was busy doing something else when my mind kept turning the idea over in my head of just simply adding a heart to my Bible in the section I was touched about. Then it snowballed into: what if I made the heart openable! Bingo! I put aside the task I was doing and got to work. 5 minutes and I was done and satisfied. I had done #jounalingbible and #illustratedfaith for the first time! It was on a much smaller scale than others do but I did it, and I enjoyed it. Here's my proof:

If you are wondering I was touched by Jesus saying that it is not the things outside of man that man takes in that defile us but rather it is the things within man, within our heart, that defile us. Basically, it is not the keeping of ordinances that defile us but the person we are within ourselves, our heart, that defiles us: sin, anger, covetousness, adultery etc. That's a very brief description.

I am entering my little creation in two challenges this week:
Inspiration Emporium - Fresh Start. The new year is a time to have a fresh start and make resolutions (read the Word).  The first time I have done #illustrated faith too so that's definitely a fresh start as I can see myself doing this again in the future.  The details are here .
Southern Girls Challenge - New Beginnings or Firsts. This is the first time I have done this and the new year brings in a new beginning with new resolutions (read the Word). The details are here .

Materials: Paper (from my scraps), Punch, Pen (American Crafts), Adhesive (Xyron).

The Nicest People

Sometimes it seems like terrible things happen to the nicest people.  I recently found out that a lady I got to know in the NZ scrapbooking world has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was deeply affected by this - who wouldn't be? Even though I've only known M for a short time and I hardly get to see her in real life very often, I know that she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. At times like this you think: What can I do?  As I don't live in the same city I can't just pop over and help out with whatever needs doing but I can make and send a card letting her know that I am thinking of her.

Here's the inside of the card. This time I added the small message on the bottom left hand side of the card rather than on the right hand side.

In my stash I have a stamp set from Amuse Studio which was designed to support breast cancer.  They only charged shipping on the stamp set - not for the stamp set itself. I think shipping was only $2.95. When I decided to make a card I knew instantly that I needed to use that stamp set. I love the phrase: Fight Like A Girl. Only women understand this threat and fight so I thought it was appropriate. As a side note, there is an online campaign, I believe was started by Jennifer Garner, about stopping the negativity behind the phrase "like a girl". It is never used in a positive way like: you fight/throw/play like a girl. When I read about it I really understood where they were coming from. Let's change our thinking one person at a time. So my friends: fight like a girl - I mean that in the best, most positive way.

When I made this card I just went with inspiration. I didn't have a challenge in mind but it just happens to fit a couple of challenges. Here's my dilemma: does it make the sentiment behind the card less if I enter it in online challenges? I truly hope not!


The challenges are:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make New Friends But Keep The Old. The challenge is here .  This card is for a newish friend and I used items I already had in my stash (old friends).
Inspiration Emporium Challenge - Fresh Start. The challenge details are  here . I'm making a fresh start on using my stash. My 2015 resolutions include using up my stash and not adding to it (hard to do when I already want to order some of the new dies Tim Holtz is releasing at CHA this week!). This card uses items I already had and nothing new was bought.

Materials:
Paper (by Allison Kreft for Echo Park), Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Ink (Stampin' Up!, Ranger), Stamps (Amuse Studio), Journal Tag (Bella), Embossing Powder (Celebrations of Australia), Doily, Twine, Ribbon.

It's Official

It's official - I'm a planner nerd. It happened overnight. I saw all these brilliant ideas on Instagram and wanted a pretty planner for myself! I would love a fancy KikkiK or Erin Condren planner but all I have is a spiral bound diary my mum got for me. I am planning on using it as a diary/memory planner this year. I want to document the every day, my spending, my activities, gratitude as well as play with ink and pretty things. So far it is going great! On the first day of the year I set to making a couple of pretty paperclips (first try) and a dashboard (I think that is what it is called). I stamped up some notepads for the dashboard (one for 'To Do' and one for 'Spending") and will change them out as I need to. I also ordered some erasable pens online - yes, erasable! They are awesome. So awesome that I had to get the only other colour available at my local stationers  as well (pale blue). So far I have: black, dark blue, pale blue, purple, red, pink and green.  I wish we had more colour options available in NZ - The set of 6 I ordered online from USA.   Here's the whole set up:

I don't know why the photo has rotated - sorry,. I'm not technical enough to fix this (it is in the right orientation in the original file!)


This year I purchased a Cinch machine and I was worried I might not use it enough - boy was I wrong! I use it regularly for adding things to my Heidi Swapp Memory Planner (just snip the holes to make a removeable item that also stays in place) and I intend on using it in the spiral bound diary as well (I can always add a bigger coil if it gets a bit too much). I used the cinch to make holes for the dashboard and I see myself using it to add little items in as the year goes on as well as photos. As you can see in the first photo I have already pre-punched the holes on the 'Spending' paper [pad] to add it into the diary when I am done with the week (it is adhered to the back of the dashboard). Excited much!

As you can see I can now tick "blog for SSS anything goes challenge" off the list!

One thing I made that I adored and still do is my sparkle page. I decided that Sparkle will be my One Little Word for 2015. Originally I was going to add this into my diary/planner but I think I will use it in my HS Memory Planner so that I can move it every month and still be reminded to sparkle. Don't you just love it?

Here's the back - a Project Life card from a Gold Foil pack

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge has extended their Anything Goes challenges so I am entering these items this week. The Wednesday Challenge details are here  .

Materials: Heidi Swapp Ephemera, Maggie Holmes Ephemera, Becky Higgins Project Life Card, Stampin' Up! Stamp, Basic Grey Stamps, Teresa Collins Washi, Tim Holtz Stapler, Pilot Frixion Pens, Bling, Gold Paint Pen.