#CraftyGoals

 Good morning, everyone!

Thank you for your patience as I attempted to get through the studio disaster last week. The progress was slow as I spent four days inventorying my napkin stash.  If you want to see why I took four days, you can check out the video HERE as part of my Organization Series

I came across THIS youtube channel a couple of weeks ago. The video I watched, Amalia was talking about her December crafty goals.  There were several others in the collab and she invited anyone who wanted to join the collab to jump right in.

Well, you know that while I do 'jump right in' to a lot of things, there is also prep involved. My OCD won't let me do things small. :-)

I'm going to include my video at the end of this post as to how I've set up my creativity planner to help me track my goal for the year... but what are my goals?

My list encompasses several things that may not necessarily be 'goals' but items I want to be more aware of this year. So let's take a look at my list:

Track 'craft' finances. 

     This includes my spending as well as everything related to my Etsy shop

5 New items in the shop each month

10 Christmas cards per month minimum

Monthly birthday/ anniversary cards

House scrapbook

Girls' 2019 albums (there is one for each of the girls as well as mine but all similar in layout)

52 Hat/ scarf sets

Take part more in the Splitcoast groups - check in at least 2x per week

Finish the twins' afghans (by April)

Reindeer Club

I'm also either directly in some Collabs or at least playing along:

Monthly Junk Journal challenge

#52tagshannemade - a handstitching challenge on a 2x4 (approx) tag

#Canned Pumpkin - using up our Paper Pumpkin kits

#Case on the 5th - find a card to case. I'll be exploring past SU catalogs

10 on the 10th - Christmas cards

#roxysweeklychallenge - junk journal type of items. 

Smash that Small Paper Pad - 6x6 use it up with Deb Houck's Crafty Cottage

I know that is a lot, thus the reason for the actual planner to help me track them, especially where collabs are concerned. So I don't have to keep referring to the Creativity Planner, I've made it so I can just move the current month into my everyday planner. 

For the rest of the month I want to catch up on the #52 tags as well as Roxy's weekly challenge, since they are quick tag challenges. My first actual collab commitment is due on the 25th with the 6x6 collab then the Paper Pumpkin on the 31st.  I hope to get those items done up this week and videos uploaded.

Here's the Creativity Planner video.  

I will see you back here tomorrow with my first card of 2021.

What are your crafty plans for the year? Please share in the comments below.

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

REINDEER CLUB - Janaury 2020

Image by Marleen Kuiper from Pixabay

So what is Reindeer Club.. and why am I a day late posting this?

Well, for starters... I uploaded a video to my YouTube channel on time yesterday.. just failed to post over here. Keep in mind, I recorded the video 3 different times before seeing the big screen LOL

Basically, Reindeer Club is doing something on or around the 25th of every  month that will bring you closer to a stress-free Christmas.  Check out the video below for all the details:

What projects would you like to have done BEFORE Christmas? What could you do a little bit of every month that would make your Christmas less stressful?

If you could have ONE THING on your To Do List done before Christmas, what would you do? Let me know in the comments below.

Merry Christmas!

WOYWW #503

I apologize for coming late to the party. I took the picture then got right to work. Didn't even think about getting the blog post up. I was focused on wanting to complete 1 project today. 

Bob left yesterday. Not sure how long he will be gone this trip. He said he's going to work as many days as they'll let him. In the meantime, I'll spend my days trying to get caught up and on track around here.  Here's my desk for today:

I'm working on re-dating my garden planner from last year. I didn't use the planner as much as I'd hoped. Mostly because the weather just got too darned hot to want to be out in the garden. LOL Can't be the case this year. I should have my summer gardener (oldest granddaughter) to keep me motivated :-)

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Planner Bag

Isn't this the cutest bag! I found the bag as I was walking through Bass Pro a couple of weeks ago and knew the size and configuration was perfect for the sticker books and other planner supplies I've been acquiring. My plan is to run away from home once a week and sit somewhere to do my forward planning for the week. I just need that quiet time away from the house to enjoy a coffee or a frosty and plan. I know from experience if I try to do the planning at home, it never gets done. So that is part of my focus for 2019. To MAKE time to do my planning so that things will actually get done.

So for my first Friday Freebie of 2019, I have a video giving you a close-up look at the bag and what I'm storing inside. I hope you enjoy!

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?

WOYWW #458

Okay, so I'm a few weeks late into 2018 to play but here we go. I've missed my WOYWW buds. This week is all about the desk... the disaster you guys seldom get to see. Probably because I've not stamped in a couple of weeks.

I've projects in progress buried under there. The crystal dish with the Pink & Main 6x6 is for a journal I'm working on. The Daisy stamp set from SU is for my post on Thursday. Think dish towels... curious now? LOL

P.S. I'd forgotten about the planner hop I'd talked about last fall. My year just kind of fell apart and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things. I still think it would be an awesome project so stay tuned.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

WOYWW #441 & Something's Coming

This is my desk for the week. I left on Friday for the film premier in Poteau OK and just got home last night. I was only in Poteau Friday night - Saturday afternoon then drove to Eureka Springs AR where I spent a couple of days just enjoying the rejuvenation I always find just breathing the air in that little community. I followed that up with a night at my sister's before heading home yesterday.

So, my desk. Not a lot of creativity. the bag holds the grandgirls' Christmas gifts and part of their stocking stuffers. The Tim Holtz stuff is still there since I can't get to that tub to put them away. My initial plan was for Bob and I to create my Mixed Media/ Tim Holtz storage unit last Friday but then I found out last minute I was heading to OK to the premiere and birthday celebration for author Dusty Richards. This was a chance for me to meet the co-writers/ co-producers of the film... an opportunity I couldn't pass up. 

Something's Coming!

I'm putting this here because I know I have some planner folks on WOYWW and I'm hoping you'll join us in 2018.

I love planners. I can remember being a planner person as young as the age of 10. I guess with my life in such disarray, planning 'my stuff' was my way of finding some semblance of order.

Over the past two or three years, I've found a whole new side to planning through people I've met in the planning community on YouTube. I've also learned there are a wide variety of ways to plan.

First there are the 'pretty' vs 'functional' planners. Some are a combination of both. 

There are also various styles of planning such as detailed planning, to-do list or bullet journaling.

I am a functional planner but I do like to make them pretty. My life revolves around color so any time I can add pops of color to a plain page, makes me smile.

One of my favorite people in the planning community is Alexis aka Miss Trenchcoat.

Alexis is a productivity guru, entrepreneur and side hustle mentor. I love her thought process. One of the things I've learned is while it's nice to have pretty and to have a To-Do list (she is big on finding your Top 3), the idea of Planning brings to mind (at least for me) setting GOALS then PLANNING how to accomplish them.  If I didn't plan my projects, I'd never accomplish as much as I do.

My stumbling block is that I don't sit down and 'plan' every week. There are days I know what I want/ need to do but they don't always become hard in my planner pages. So one of my goals for  2018 is to make sure I UTILIZE my planner(s) to the best of my ability.   

Functional planning lets me do both. Here's a video from Alexis with her explanation of Functional Planning:

I thought since WOYWW is such fun, brings a lot of like-minded folks together, that doing a Planner Hop would help draw traffic, give us another venue to showcase what we do and products as well as get to form stronger relationships within the Planner Community.

So beginning in January I'm launching POW - Planning Our Weeks. I'm still formulating a 'plan' but my thought is that we will post the last Sunday of each month as to what are planners are looking like for the coming month. You will also be able to INCLUDE in your blog post any new products you're releasing. The GOAL is to actually use our planners for their intended purpose... TO PLAN! LOL

We'll also have the opportunity to see how others use their planners, share/ pick up tips, etc. 

By mid-December I should have a POW button you can put on your blog/ website. 

You do NOT have to have either of those to participate. You may link to your YouTube channel video (the actual planning video - not your channel in general) 

If you are interested in being contacted when more details come out, please let me know via the contact form and I'll keep you updated.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

FRIDAY FREEBIE - New Planner

Tuesday was my birthday. I spent the entire day shopping at my leisure. At one point I was in Hobby Lobby thinking I needed to figure out what I wanted and get out.. then I remembered I wasn't on a time table, no one was waiting for me... I could take as LONG as I WANTED!  So I kept looking... and it cost me LOL

Hobby Lobby has all of their planners 30% off through Saturday September 30th (tomorrow) BUT...

and here's where it gets fun... 

The Petals & Blooms Planners from The Paper Studio are 50% Off because ALL The Paper Studio items are 50% off!

I found this lovely corral.

First, let me say I wasn't shopping for a 'nice' planner. I need a planner strictly for my work with Oghma Creative Media. As the Marketing Director I have to track new releases at least eight months out so that I can work backwards on the marketing campaign for each book. 

Last week while at Hobby Lobby I found a spiral bound of their brand on clearance for $10.97 (originally $29). The planner had Month on 2 Pages plus Week on 2 Pages. For the most part I'm a daily girl but for the publishing thing, the Week on 2 will work best I think. I picked up the planner because it would work great as a Meal Planning vehicle. 

Since I was making the drive back to Poplar Bluff (120 miles round trip) to buy my birthday present, I decided to pick up another one to use for Oghma.. Then I spent time looking at all the new planners! 

As I thought about the difference between the two, I determined that I could spend $10.97 for the spiral that I'd have to pitch at the end of 2018... or spend $20 (normally retails for $39) for this lovely Petals & Blooms that I could REFILL at the end of the year. This one also looks a bit  more professional. 

Now, while this looks lovely in it's own skin, I had to personalize the front just a bit. I thought about the new decals from Carpe Diem but then I walked the bead isle looking for charms and found this lovely from the Poetic Spirit line by Bead Treasures

So Me, fits perfect with Oghma Creative Media because we publish Saddlebag Dispatches magazine - of which I am also Marketing Director. I'm using a thick glue - like E6000 to adhere the charm. If for some reason I am no longer working with Oghma, I will always be working in the music promoting business (which I do and have been for the past 30 years on and off) in Classic Country/ Bluegrass/ Americana/ Texas Swing then this planner will still work for that.. or just ME in general.

This planner comes with the Month on 2 Pages and the Week on 2 Pages:

I like the quality of the pages. They aren't thin or flimsy like copy paper. But they aren't as heavy as the DCWV planner pages either. A nice medium. 

Speaking of DCWV, I purchased a pack of their dailies, thinking I could just insert them in each week. Well... they are too wide for this planner.

 So back to HL they go. I don't recall seeing dailies for this planner.. unless they were just out. Which is a possibility. For now, I'll just insert a daily To Do list when I need to.

I purchased a packet of pockets from The Paper Studio agenda 52 line (I couldn't find these on-line)

I added these magnetic bookmarks until I can make my own.

For a treat, I added this set of stamps:

I have stamps for just about everything in my planner. But this set had some girly girl stuff - reminding me of self-care such as doing my nails and that because I work from home, doesn't mean I shouldn't make myself up once in awhile ;-)

I've already started putting the planner together and using it. We have a lot of amazing books coming out in the next six months and I wanted to get a jump on the game. Also, after taking the whole summer off, my boss isn't happy so when we meet up in October at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference, I want him to see that I am not just getting caught up but ahead of the game as well. 

Are you a Planner? If so, do you have a planner line you like over another? I'd love to hear.

Creative Blessings!

Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Christmas Notebook Time! & a GIVEAWAY! (closed)

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to be planning for the Holidays. I had this laid out last year then got the job offer and in trying to get settled into the new position, Bob with his new job ... well, I was just very unhappy. 

The first thing we do at the beginning of the new Christmas Notebook (CNB) season is to evaluate last year and figure out what, if anything, we hope to improve upon.

Well, my evaluation was that my holidays were very unorganized, very non-decorative and depressing. I know that seems small compared to larger problems in the world.. but my house is my world most of the time and I love the Holiday season. Just 2016  season, not so much. During my evaluation I vowed that I WOULD enjoy the holiday season this year, doing the things Bob and I like to do for others and being able to absorb what should be the warmest part of the year. 

CNB begins September 1 with weekly assignments to help get us to our holiday goal of warmth & cheer. But we really begin in August putting our notebook in order.

I loved the Traveler's Notebook style that I showed you last year. I've been doing CNB long enough and it's only Bob and I so I don't need the big 3-ring binder with all the planning. This works for me.

NOTE: This post is picture-heavy. 

Because each require a small description, I opted not to do a video flip-through.

I've changed things a bit this year. Starting with a couple of extra signatures. Last year I combined Monthly/ Weekly pages in one signature as well as Room Pages/ Decorating in one. This year I decided to make each one separate. Here's a view from the top showing the signatures in place.

Four Signatures

Tabs

I used a retired SU tab punch, Recollections cardstock and my label maker - small print.

I used all Martha Stewart Christmas Papers from my stash. I've had this paper pad (okay, I bought 4 on an after-Christmas sale at Walmart 11 years ago)

The Monthly signature is the bulkiest because I printed the monthly calendar from Scattered Squirrel (I think) and glued them to the designer papers so they'd be a bit heavier and pretty. Down the middle of the signature of each month, I taped in a Shopping List so I could keep a list in that month as things came to me in my planning:

Cover

Sun - Wed plus shopping list

Thur - Sat with notes column

My next section is the Weekly

Cover 

(for both weekly & room pages as they co hand-in-hand)

Two - weekly Spread.

Each one has a note at the top as to what the assignment is about for that week.

I use a hair clip as a page marker.

Room Pages

I trimmed notebook paper down to fit

(I bought a case for .10 a ream last year after back to school)

Here, I will make note of what I need to do in each room to get it ready for decorating.

This includes cleaning/ removal of anything that will be replaced by a Christmas item.

Decorating Cover

I chose plain copy paper for this signature. I can make notes or I can paste in pictures of decorating ideas I want to try.

Cookie Tray Cover

Each year (with the exception of last year) I bake and we deliver nearly 100 cookie/ treat trays to businesses whom have served us in some way over the past year.

We live in a small community of  625 people give or take. Most of the surrounding communities with the exception of West Plains and Springfield are about the same size.

We get real hometown service from the business we frequent.

This is our way of saying Thank You!

I used three strips of the 1/2" wide super sticky tape, to add a notepad to the inside back cover of the final signature. ( the same one as used in the Monthly signature) 

And there you have my CNB 2017.  I'm a couple of weeks behind already in the planning but now that I have the new signatures in place, I can sit and get things rolling again.

Have you started your Christmas planning?

What if anything would you change from last year?

I'll pick one comment from the list to send a special Heidi Swapp Christmas Countdown Calendar!

You have until October 1st to Comment!

Merry Christmas!

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Planner

My 2017 Daily Planner!

I am so excited to work with my new planner. As in past years, I put this one together myself using various products available on-line as well as my own creations.

To start with, I'm a vintage gal through and through. I fell in love with this paper from KaiserCraft - their 'Time Piece' collection.  The Proud Product Planner sticker is from The Reset Girl. I love Cori's perspective on things and her vintage line speaks to my heart. I can't remember if the doily is from Cori's sheet as well or if that was from Simple Stories.  The coil binding is 1.25" white from American Crafts. This color/ size was being discontinued so I bought several packages. I have about 10 pages too many for everything to fit comfortably. I do have quite a bit of bulge but I'll explain in a minute how I'm counter-acting that. For the time being, when the planner isn't in use, I'm keeping everything secure with a white elastic headband from Dollar Tree.

Let's take a walk through my planner:

This is my Month On Two Pages that I purchased from Alexis Giostra aka Miss Trenchcoat at Strange & Charmed Whether you are a planner girl, want to succeed with a 'side hustle' or just need some positive motivation, Alexis is the lady you want in your corner. Her YouTube videos and on-line courses are amazing. She has really helped me organize my thoughts and my business. I've decorated the page with a larger Month tag from The Paper Studio 'create your own calendar' sticker pack. I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby near the Happy Planners. The sticker in the bottom is from The Reset Girl through the Carpe Diem planner line. I've placed the sticker for the coming month in the bottom right corner of each month... so February has a March calendar. 

This is my Social Media Tracker. I have everything listed that I need to do daily in the right hand column then across the top, Monday - Friday. Between my job as Marketing Director for not one, but TWO publications, my personal writing, Stampin' Up dem and creative avenues, I have a lot. BUT, here's the thing. None of them take but a few minutes to deal with each morning. I just work my way down the list and take care of the important stuff, delete the junk I don't need in my email then move on with my day. And I have stamps I can use to 'check' items off just to give me some play time LOL

This is my Day On One Page. I've designed this in Microsoft Works to fit my needs. On the left hand side, there are several boxes. The first one is for tracking Writing Group challenges. 

The second box is for personal tracking of New Words written and Pages Edited.  These two boxes are important visuals for me to not get lost in business and forget to do my own fiction writing. 

The third box pertains to creative challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. I participate in 2 challenges and moderate the third one. This gives me a spot to put the Keywords so when I upload cards for the challenges, I don't have to go back and hunt up the keyword.

The fourth box is for personal well-being. The first sticker is from Plan With Samia. I found several great stickers in her Etsy shop.  I especially like the meditation reminder. Most of the time I dive right into work and forget to take a breather.  Below her sticker I've added lines for noting the number of steps, treadmill and Wii Fitness. I don't do all three every day but my CopperFit step tracker is on my wrist every day. The link takes you to HSN but I got mine at Dollar General for the same price. The final sticker (shown) is my water tracker from Glitz Paper Co  Ashley offers a lot of free downloads for planners.. this was one of them. I have a lot of her stickers. Another one I have but isn't shown is a pill capsule. Since the picture was taken I've placed a capsule sticker across from the Plan With Samia sticker as a reminder to take my vitamins every day. Some days remembering is easier than others. I get busy, I forget.. but my planner is always in view on my desk so if I've not marked something off, then I know I need to take care of the task. 

The entire right column is a To Do.. for making notes about specifics I need to do/ calls/ emails that I've addressed. I will be adding a Top 3 sticker to each page. I can't remember which company I am planning to use. but I have several to choose from. That's probably why they aren't there yet... decisions decisions decisions.

I have a book mark that moves through the month.The bookmark has a graphic of my 'daily time table' attached.  

Now remember when I told you earlier I had a plan for whittling down the number of pages? Here it is:

I have placed a note-sheet from a We R Memory Keepers paper slab, part of their Typeset line. At the end of each month, I'll recap the month's events on here, then remove any of the daily pages I no longer need to refer to. As the year progresses, the number of pages will be eliminated, reducing the bulk. 

So how many pages exactly do I have in this planner?

12 Month on two pages (24)

Social Media Tracker (52)

Monthly Recap (12)

Daily To Do (183 -printed double-sided)

Front & Back Cover (2 - laminated)

Book Mark (1 - laminated)

Pocket page (1)

275 pages total! The 1.25 coil should accommodate around 200-250.. so yeah, I have pushed the envelope just a bit. LOL

So that's how I keep on track. What do you use? Link me to your planner. I'd love to see!

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Weekly Planner Makeover

I'm back!

This month has been absolutely crazy! Part of the reason is the inspiration for this project. I believe I told you in one of my last posts that I had been given a regular column in a cowboy/ western theme'd magazine called Saddlebag Dispatches. This past weekend I was added to the masthead as Director of Marketing. To help keep track of people I contact and when, I wanted a planner just for Saddlebag stuff... not my main day planner I'll be showing you soon.

I started with this inexpensive weekly planner from Dollar Tree. Normally, I am not a 'weekly' planner person but just for keeping track of who I contact and when.

A couple of weeks ago when Bob and I were in Springfield, I found this Cowgirl slab from Paper House at Hobby Lobby:

You get a sense of the patterns from looking on the cover strip. Lots of yummies plus a couple of cut aparts with sayings on them. I may use some of those on the inside to pretty the pages up but for now I was focusing on creating the cover. I chose these two:

Since this is a 6x6 pad and the planner is 7.25 x 5, I needed to do some piecing for things to fit. I cut the piece on the right in half horizontally, using just the Born & Raised Country.

Then I added pieces from these sheets:

From left to right... the back cover, front cover (both of the remaining two)  

I cut just the swirls from the one on the right to act as accents on the cover. This is what the finished project looks like.

The rose-colored heart paper was cut from an 8.5x11 sheet I've had for ages. The embellishments are from Karen Foster. If you look in the bottom left of the screen you'll see a spot.. That is actually one of these:

I used the brown cowboy hat with the pink band (top center) and cut out a shape to match from a brown scrap from the back cover. I sandwiched lengths of brown and white embroidery floss left over from SU Paper Pumpkin kits between the hat and the matching shape to create a bookmark. I glued the tail onto the spine of the planner before adding the heart paper binding. 

I am not playing a lot until this manuscript is off to my editor.. the same editor who gave me this new job. LOL  Casey and I think alike and have the same work ethic.. nuts LOL

I did get a couple of cards made over the weekend that I'll be showing in future posts. For now, I have a manuscript to edit.

When you leave a comment, tell me what you're working on. I'd love to live vicariously through the rest of you. 

Creative Blessings!

CHRISTMAS PLANNER!

Since Christmas is four months away from today, I thought this would be a good time to talk about my Christmas planning. That, and the planning outline I'm about to introduce you to begins on Sept. 1. While I think about Christmas all year long in some aspect, September 1 is when I really kick the official Christmas planning into gear. 

Without looking back in one of my early Christmas Notebook binders, I am guessing I've been a part of the Christmas Notebook yahoo group for almost twenty years.

The Christmas Notebook was formed by Rhonda Coulter. I call her the Queen of Christmas. She has worked hard to fine-tune being prepared for Christmas BEFORE the holiday arrives. The concept allows you to enjoy the Holiday season seemingly stress-free. Like anything else, the Plan works when you Work the Plan. She provides the program and each participant makes it their own according to their family, traditions and how they want to celebrate the Christmas season. We learn to evaluate what works and what doesn't and how to enjoy the holiday.

Traditionally, Rhonda has us start with a 3-ring binder and tabbed sections. I've used a binder every year until this year.

While doing my pre-planning evaluation I had an epiphany. I do not need a big binder. For the most part there are only the two of us for the holidays. I put together Christmas packages for my daughter's family in Washington, I send out approx. 60 Christmas cards every year. Last year, with Bob on the boat, I finally took my sister up on her offer to spend Christmas with them. So on occasion that happens, I can still incorporate the gifts for her family in my new smaller version.

I still use this full-size binder to keep the weekly assignment outlines from Rhonda but the new Travel Journal is just for my personal planning. 

While taking advantage of the awesome clearance sale of the Bohemian Travel Journals, I picked up a red one. I also purchased some Christmas charms at HL (40% off). Add some stickers from The Paper Studio (50% off) and came up with this:

The concept behind the CNB Notebook as we call it includes the following:

To Do List - brain dumping all the things that come to us about what we need to remember in our planning.

Monthly Calendar - A place to track specific events as they come to you so they can be transferred to their Weekly Planning Page.

Weekly Planning Pages - A place to incorporate things from the To Do list into weekly tasks, insuring things are done ahead of time.

Room Pages - Where we take each room we want to decorate - one room at a time. Making a to do list of things that need done ahead of time for each room to be ready for the holidays. Everything from cleaning, to decorating. This may also include where decorations for each room are stored. Rhonda has over 120 Rubbermaid tubs. Each are numbered and she keeps an inventory of what is in each tub and which room they coordinate with. 

Gift Giving - Keeping track of who we need gifts for. This can include sizes/ color preferences, etc.

Food - Seriously. It's the holidays. There has to be food. Everything from cookies/ candy to meals for the big day. This may also include prepping meals ahead of time and popping in the freezer for those nights when you need a quick dinner, like church or school event nights. You can include tried and true favorites as well as recipes you want to try - ahead of time. 

For me.. I also included

Cookie List - I deliver over 30 cookie trays to area businesses each year. This is where I will keep my Gift Tray recipient list as well as a list of cookies/ candies I'll be making. I have a separate recipe binder just for the recipes.

The CNB travel journal is small enough to take with me when I'm shopping or want to sneak away to a coffee shop or lunch to work on my planning. And large enough to incorporate the the things about the holidays that are important to us.