Midori Travelers Notebook Santa Style

I am very busy. At least, that is what's on the cover of my pink listy notebook I keep on my desk at home (see it right here)...and it's true! I haven't even had time lately to put new lists in it. (sad for a listy girl like me) But, last year, I had started stitching up Midori Traveler's style notebooks, and by the time I sold some of them, it was after the holidays, so I still had SantaDori in my stash. Although I love the upcycled Coach leather Midori I made, it was really fun to switch over to this Christmas theme for the month. 
 See how I upcycled an old leather handbag into a Midori notebook

 One of my favorite things about this large fabric Cahier-size Midori is how I stitched the inside with white felt lining, a cute pocket, a heart diecut from the fabric, and a Christmas tree pin. I had made a lot of those Christmas pins the year before out of felt, and so I just stuck one in there. So cute. At the time, the plan was to make a lot of SantaDori's and use up all those Christmas tree pins. Sigh. Maybe next year.

I'm on the go right now with work and a show I'm in (9 to 5 The Musical), so this notebook is fully loaded and keeping me sane. It has two six-month planners, a list book with every list I need for every thing, a folder packed with diecuts and scraps, a dashboard I made to keep extra posties and washi, a business book with plans and ideas, and a verse and phrase art journal to play in. Plus I have extra Ink Joy gel pens hooked on the side there--I really love those gel pens they've come out with.

Playing in my art journal phrase/verse book

Does this Midori stay with me at all times. Oh yes. Is it like a personal assistant? Definitely! Plus, if I have a little downtime, I've got art supplies.

I love my sugarplum fairy Nutcracker charm on the spine.

And, I have a home for my cute DIY decorative paperclips. They really come in handy here.

Because this Midori has a pen loop stitched on, I can just clip on a few binder clips to also carry around the extra gel pens, and keep my Smashbook marker/glue pen in the loop.

Most crafters probably have all the supplies they need to stitch up a Midori style notebook, in whatever size you wish. Then, load it up with everything you need!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

A Second Life for Your Outdated Planner - A Forever Art Journal

Well it's that time of year when you may be splurging on a new planner! I have to tell you, I've been a planner girl since the only planners out there were boring ones! I made my own from those cute cloth-covered journals back in the day...that's how desperate I was for planner peace before I ever heard that term. Now, you can find beautiful, colorful, fun planners in all colors, shapes, sizes, and prices! I think it is a little hard to spend on the luxury priced planners since they will be outdated next year. And what if you get tired of it before that? What if you didn't find "planner peace" and you spent eighty bucks on an Erin Condren?

So think about it before you rush out and buy the latest planner trend. Think about its function in your life, if you'll really use it, and what you will do with it later? Toss it? Keep it for decades? Do you have the space? It is worth shopping around and thinking about it long term.

I often use an Orange Circle Studio planner, and the one I was carrying in my bag for a few years in a row was small, but the pages were art journal themed. I thought it was gorgeous, and it cost just twelve dollars for the weekly page layout and it was filled with places to write and journal things. So when its time was up, I couldn't bear to toss it. After a couple of years, I took two of these journals and upcycled them into a forever art journal. I stitched and glued some of the unused pages together, added beads, ribbon, and now after having this homemade journal for a while, I realize how much I love it. I keep my favorite bible verses in it, thoughts, and ideas. It's like an inspiration book. But I like to call it, a forever art journal.

See how I upcycled my planners here

So I wanted to remind you, that your planner can have a second life, a restaging, a do-over. Just pick the right one in the first place, and you could enjoy it for longer than it was meant to be. When its time is up, you could rip it apart, take the best of it, and stitch together your own forever art journal. Get out the glue, floss, glitter, buttons, ribbon...whatever you like, and have a great time knowing you spent your planner money well.

In the meantime, Orange Circle has come out with a new version of their gorgeous planners on Amazon, and I've got one preordered that starts in August for around eleven bucks I think it was to preorder. I have no idea what the inside actually looks like, but I have faith because I love their designs. This is going to be my office planner, and after that, well, you know what!


Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

So Many Planners, So Many Days...The Planner Girl Dilemma...What to Do with My Franklin Covey

Planner Progress in my Midori

I have always loved paper, pens, doodling, listing, planning, and knowing what tomorrow holds. Why?

1-I like to be organized...I think I have the organization gene

2-Paper, paper, paper love...when I was in high school, and this was the late 1970's people, I bought the pink and sometimes multicolored notebook paper. Everybody else had white.

I am on the computer a lot for both my day job and personal business. Ink on paper is a respite from that. Therapy. Like my stitching and knitting is therapy. Scrapbooking is therapy. 

But pretty much since the 1920's, it has been predicted that our society would be paperless by now, and we are anything but that!

Maybe we don't really want to live our entire lives digitally? 

I don't know. But what I do know is there is nothing like a gorgeous, brand new crisp planner in your hands. 

In the past, when planners came in black or brown with very officey pages, I was making my own planners out of things like those fabric covered journals, notebooks covered in fun paper and stickers, and making my own custom pages for the ring bound planners I had.

Over the last few years as the planners have gotten pretty and more creative, I've tried different ones. The planner community calls it "planner peace" when you arrive at just the right combination for organizing your days, months and years. There are many who have upwards of four, five, or six planners at a time.

My homemade home planner

I don't find that peaceful or practical. For my daily planner, I like having all my stuff together in one place. My planner operates as if it's my personal assistant, and I really like that. I call it "Planner Progress." It's something that works well if you have a ring binder with different sections and plenty of room, or a Midori Travelers Notebook, as I prefer, with my five booklets inside dedicated to different purposes, and a nice six-pocket folder.

I actually made an 8 1/2X11 home planner. It is big and bulkly on purpose. It could be a life planner as I first called it, but it became my home planner. It has folders for mail, bills, recipe clippings, a recipe section in the back and everything to do with the business of running my home. I made planner pages for it, but they are all about life at home, and it still works really well. You can read more about how I made it here for part one, and here for part two.

I turned two older planners into an art journal.

But back to why so many planner girls like so many planners! I think on YouTube it is their job. They review them, so they have to buy them, sometimes getting them to review for free, try them, and set them up for the camera. And that's understandable. And I doubt they actually use most of them. Many end up having giveaways which is especially nice when they receive free product from the company. I love planner videos!

In real life, I think there are people who are sort of addicted to all the pretty planners and they divide up how they use them. And this is really what you would have to do. Here are my ten ideas for some of the things you could use different planners for:

• Memory Keeping/Scrapbook Style of the days
• Travel Planner
• Journal Planner--writing down a sentence or two about each day
• Homekeeping Planner (like my big homemade planner above)
• Craft Planner--perfect to keep in your crafting area, keeping track of your makes, supplies, crafty wish list, craft shopping, and crafting business
• Diet/Exercise planner
• Bible Planner--sermon notes, favorite verses, daily inspiration
• Recipe Planner--menus, recipe notes, shopping lists
• School Mom Planner--everything having to do with children's activities and schedules
• Happy planner--writing down something you're thankful for every day, something that brought you joy, and your future plans for happiness!

I'm sure we all need more reasons to buy more planners! (of course I'm kidding...remember I'm the frugal one who made her own planners) Planning isn't what it used to be, remember that. You don't have to have daily appointments to have a reason to have a planner. If you love pretty paper, stickers, diecuts, washi tape, and being happy...you could have fun with a pretty planner.

Check out where I turned my past planners into an art journal/junk journal--I still love it.

So the other day I was going through a box and found some of my old planners, including this Franklin Covey compact style planner. I remember loving this fat little thing! And I had everything in it. I still like it, and would love to use it. I'm just too happy with my Stitchydori to convert it over to a daily planner.
 

New setup for an old Franklin Covey planner

That won't stop me though. This red compact planner was last used in 2006, and it is in excellent shape! I'm not even sure if it's real leather or faux! I don't think I paid that much for it though. Franklin Covey planners are America's answer to the Filofax, and you can still get them. And they sell this particular one on Ebay because they don't make it anymore. The rings are high quality and the cover is durable. I love the zipper pocket too.

So I'm setting it up. Using scrap paper (I'm still stash busting this year), and I have to say my little corner rounder punch does very well for this kind of project. Check back later in the week and we'll see how this old-to-new-planner setup is going and what I plan to use this guy for!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch