FRIDAY FREEBIE - Planner Find

While grocery shopping at Walmart a couple of weeks ago, I found these planners on clearance. 

Regularly $19.95, they were clearanced down to $5. Imagine my surprise when I checked out and they rang up at $3.50! WOW!

Don't let the '365 fool you. They are NOT Happy Planners. They are by CraZart - a company that sells a lot of different types of craft and activity kits. 

Okay, first off let me explain. I do NOT need another planner. However, there was a method to my madness. I DO need ARC rings for some ARC-bound. The closest place for me to obtain these was to either drive 2-hrs round trip to Hobby Lobby or order on-line and pay shipping.  I couldn't do either of those for the $5. At HL a package runs around $4.98. Then there are tons of bonuses in the kit:

Aside from the UNdated planner pages, there are:

3 Pocket Dividers

12 Monthly Dividers

72 Weekly/ Monthly Calendar Sheets 

10 Journal Pages

2 Yearly Calendars

75 Note Pages

6 Rolls of Washi - In MY planner color scheme!

2 sheets of date stickers

1 sheet of appt/ monthly, holiday type stickers

2 sheets of page flag, decorative stickers

6 binder clips 

6 - gel pens

WOW! That's a lot of bang for the $3.50 Even at the original $19.98, when you compare with Happy Planner - that's a bargain!

The Washi, Binder clips and Gel pens all coordinate!

Because they are undated and a steal, I went back and bought three more last week. 

They had other 'art journal' 'journaling' kits but they were $9 - and not near the bargain of the Planner.

I already know what I'm using two of them for. One is going to be my new Bill Organizer. When the girls come this summer, I may give one to Adrian and let her keep track of what we do throughout the summer so putting her summer memory book together will be easier. 

Incidentally, since these are undated, they'd make great Christmas or back to school gifts for later in the year. 

What would you use this planner for?

CATALOGING COMPLETE!

Apologies for being behind in getting this post up today. We got home from Oklahoma last night later than I thought (but prior experience should have taught me better LOL) I've been trying to spend as much time with Bob today as possible as he leaves out again tomorrow for another 3-4 weeks. 

DONE!

I have not counted these stamps. Have no clue how many sets or collections I have, but at least they are all easy to find. The red boxes are Christmas stamps. With the system I have in place, I didn't need to have a specific color but I liked the pop of color. 

As you can see each box is labeled. Here's a close up of a box.

I stuck with the 4-Section System we use for the Scrap Rack. Alpha/ Numeric, Themes/ Calendar Year. Now, while Christmas is SEASONAL.. I have a lot of Christmas so kept them together. as their own group. The rest of the calendar year falls under SEASONAL.

Seasonal includes stamp sets that represent more than one holiday, such as this one:

Aside from having all of my stamp sets in the photo boxes, flip-file system, Every set has been photocopied and is in a binder. I wound up breaking this into 2 binders. Calendar Year and everything else.

Here is the coordinating page for Greeting Card Kids:

If you look close at both pictures, you'll see a little sticker in the upper right corner (Technically it is in the upper right of the stamp set because the stamp set stores horizontally in the box)

Rather than flipping through all of my stamps, I can go through the binder for inspiration. For this set, the tag in the catalog will read SEA 1 - 9  That means if I go to the photo box marked SEASONAL 1... I will find that stamp set. It is #9 in the box. 

This system also allows me to keep track of any sets that might get misplaced. I do NOT have to keep them in numerical order, but if I have SEA 1 -9 in the catalog, then that stamp set should be in the coordinating photo box.

I have done this for every stamp set. I also grouped my single wood-mount stamps together according to theme (birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc) in the stamp storage boxes from SU (both the old clam shell and the new DVD style) and added them to the mix, freeing up the drawer space I use to keep them.

MAGNIFICENT MONDAY!

This is a step away from my Mixed Media Monday because I have something MAGNIFICENT to show you:

After months of sorting, embellishments...

And paper, by theme, calendar year and color....

Getting everything into the perfect page. Making sure not to over-fill the spinder...

Setting up the 3 bases, and adding extra industrial strength velcro over the seams..

And TEN YEARS of knowing I wanted a ScrapRack....

I am finally at THIS point....

This is 3 bases.

Here are a couple shots of the back:

A close up shot showing the spacing/ staggering of the spinders....

After trial and error, we found spacing to be critical. I counted up the number of spinders I had then started in the middle... working my way out to either end so that they'd be balance. I have to tell you - STILL didn't work. I still have room on the right for at least one, maybe 2 more spinders. Hmmm. I'm thinking Project Life. That will free up 2 book shelves :-D

This is the 2nd biggest project in the studio. The first was cataloging all of my stamps. I'll show that post next Monday.

I have things to do this week. I'll be here for WOYWW on Wednesday then not again until Monday.

Creative Blessings!

Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Documented Life Planner....

.... Ready for business!!

As you can see, I've still not done much with the cover. I'm not sure I'm going to. This will not only be on my desk but be in my bag and taken with me every where I go. The one thing I thought I might do is to add some cut-outs and stamped images then do a clear seal. That would protect the items while still letting me have a bit of fun. I'll keep you posted. 

The headband is working out well. I cut the headband in one spot and used 2 snap eyelets on the back to hold them to the book. I'm sure this will be a trial/ error thing as I continue to use the journal to see how they hold up.

Keep in mind, The Documented Life Planner is normally done in a Weekly Moleskin journal. I don't work by the week. I work by the day. Trying to compile an entire year by the day in one journal would be impossible. So I have broken my DL Planner into quarters. I have one composition book for each 3-month quarter of the year.  

Let's peek inside....

Any trips I plan or things I want to do with Bob are planned around his schedule. As a riverboat Captain, he works 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off. So I've used the 2-page Month - At - A - Glance section of one of the Monthly calendars as a tip-out in the front of each quarterly journal so I can see when he's home and when he's out for his 21 days without having to go to that month. This will be particularly handy when I'm in this quarter's planner and need to know when he's home say in the last quarter of the year. I've attached this with Washi Tape so I can move it from one planner to the next.

At the beginning of each month I've added one of these plastic pockets. They come in a 5-pk at the office supply for around $4. They are made to fit the standard 5.5 x 8.5 dayplanners. This will be a great place for me to keep track of receipts when I travel as deductions are important come tax time.

 For the months of April and May, I had been using a full-size spiral notebook to track my daily activities while these books were in the gesso stage. When the books were done, I cut those pages down to size and adhered them into the DL planner. Thus the line frame you see here. But the important part of my planner is the Time Block sheets I've attached to each page as a fold out with Washi Tape.



Here's a close up:

Similar to the dayplanner pages marked out in 1/2 hour increments, I have blocked out my day. This helps me keep track of how much time I am spending on any one task. Since implementing this I'm no longer working 12-15 hour days trying to get everything done.  Unless I want to work on my novel - which I try to do for a couple hours each night after supper, the computer is shut down by 6 p.m. every day.

When you fold out the time block sheet, this is where I keep track of what I've done, who I've called or emailed. For my Texas trip, I used this space more as a journal of my trip.

Lastly, I have multiple blogs and tasks that are Must Do each day - though they may differ from day to day. So I've created these colorful bookmarks. If you click on the picture you'll see a detail of my blogs and my topics for each day. Again, just a visual to help keep me on track.

The Documented Life Planner is also about art and one of the reasons I latched onto this concept. With the gessoed pages each day I can safely play with markers/ water colors, etc. I also have a place to attach pockets to hold memorabilia or anything else. 

Now that the journals are put together, I'm going to travel backwards, incorporating the Art to the 5th Challenges. 

Creative Blessings!

GET ORGANIZED CHALLENGE - The Rainbow!

Can you see the rainbow? Trust me, this rainbow was easier for me to grasp then how I could incorporate the RAINBOW in the Scrap Rack 4-Section System. But after the third time of watching the video, something finally clicked.  BLING!

After meeting Tiffany several years ago I am happy with how my Embellishments are stored. I found getting little things out of the 2x2 zip bags irritating for me. So the boxes I showed yesterday in their custom-made drawer works the best for me.

But then Tiffany showed me things like this:

This type of bling is carded - usually on an acetate sheet. Removing this from a pocket on the ScrapRack would be so simple compared to how I store them now:

The bottom box is all peals and vintage embellishments like the metal flowers or the brads shown in the picture above. The Pooh container was a gift from a Secret Sister - Maggie and holds all the other bling. The little box in front holds pre-carded SEWING themed ribbon I got from the $1 tower baskets at Michaels. Guess what? These go in my THEME section under 'sewing' with the DP and clear stamps! 3 more boxes off my desk! Of course I'll have to find other things in the house to use these cute boxes for. 

So what is our RAINBOW Section?

RED

ORANGE

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

INDIGO

VIOLET

WHITE/ BLACK

NEUTRALS

Anything solid in color or with a predominant color that does NOT fit a theme category goes here. You know, like that aqua paisley print or the Monet inspired 12x12. I have almost no 'color' DP except for what goes under GIRLS - Abby or Adrian because those papers were purchased for their albums specifically.

But the BLING... yep. Now I have to add some pocket pages to my order to cover the Rainbow.

What's in your rainbow?

Creative Blessings!

TEAPOT TUESDAY - On Delay

Happy Tuesday!

Until this back issues settles down and I've completed the Get Organized Challenge, I will not be showcasing any of the Teapot Tuesday cards. I am keeping track of them and plan to still make the cards but this will take a few weeks yet. So hang around.

I pinched a nerve in my back a week ago and although the 'pain' is gone, the muscles are still sore and enjoying heating pad time  - a lot. :-) Of course, this is slowing my progress on the Get Organized Challenge. Thankfully Week 1 was all about Defining our Benefits of an organized space, making our themes list and gathering everything to be sorted in one location.

Week 2 begins today and is all about sorting paper. I don't have a lot that needs to be sorted and will talk about that next week. What I do need to sort, I'm going to have Bob set up the 4x8 table downstairs so I can sort on that. I KNEW there was a reason I cleaned the adjoining utility room - hehehe

Thanks to everyone who stopped in and viewed my slideshow. Showing off my room in it's present condition was scary but a necessity to showing how far I will have traveled on this 8-week journey.

Maybe tomorrow my desk won't look so scary for WOYWW. I hope you'll come back to see.
Creative Blessings!