DIY Life Planner Part Two--Making It All About You

If you missed part one of making your own homemade life planner with your pretty stash of scrapbook papers--scroll back down to the June 23rd post. Find the supply list and how to get started.
Now that you've created your weekly and monthly pages, what else will make this life planner all about you?

Think of the things you love and what you want to do every day.

I want to write, stitch, cook, garden, and get some things published! I think my life planner can help me do all that with the following.

• To do lists for every week
• Pocket folders that provide a place for printouts and clippings, an in-box/out-box, and mail
• A post-it note dashboard in the front where the grocery lists live until I go shopping--this gives me a place to note if I have a coupon for that item and I can even pull it and put it with the list
• Long-term lists including my master make list, writing projects in the works, and new ideas
• A weekly menu planner
• A little printed-out section of my favorite recipes in the back
• A quote section--I collect quotes
• A few sheets all about home organizing and projects for my house

Now you know why my life planner is so big! And also, this is why I needed ultra customization you can't buy.

I put my go-to recipes in the back of the planner with this mason jar patterned paper in front of that section. The magnet clip also marking my recipe section is a DIY from scattered squirrel. It was super easy to print  this out--there are also magnet clips for the months--and trim it, score it and fold, and then for the magnets on the inside, just cut up some of those squares of promotional magnets that you get everywhere for free. I actually used some old magnet calendars from my auto repair center! At this point, I'm feeling like an upcycling queen.

I love these organizing boxes from the dollar spot at Target, and one is now dedicated to my planner accessories that include my homemade ribbon paper clips, post-it tags, and those DIY magnet clips.

I used washi tape all throughout my planner making--it's super cute and it's repositionable.

Obviously, I love mason jar art. I'm a canner, and mason jars remind me of childhood with my mom and grandma being great at canning. In the middle of my life planner making, I found these half-price--it was a must have. I also created a planner for my daughter, and her likes and loves, and I actually had her planner spiral bound for just a few dollars and picked up some planner stickers as I created a whole kit for her planner. She loved it even more than I thought she would.

Pretty velum paper on the left, and a patterned paper to make a list on the right.

Speaking of binding, for my giant life planner, I used a three hole punch for all the pages, and then ended up just binding at the top and bottom with the clip rings. It actually works great for me and I can easily add and remove things.

 This is the most unique page in my planner. It is just there for decoration and for me. It is two vintage embroidery pattern packages sewn together. They belonged to my mother, remind me of her, and remind me how precious handmade things really are. I love looking at it. This is what your planner is all about--what you love, what motivates you, and what you want to look at every day.

sewing this vintage packaging

Maybe the best idea I ever had was this weekly menu planner to go in the big planner. I just created it myself in Word, and this way, I can go back and see what we had in the past weeks to motivate myself to actually use my recipes and have fun with food again.

It also helps me create the grocery shopping list, and magically, who knew, when you have the right ingredients, you can follow the recipe!

I have been getting my crockpot out a lot, I have to say. It's because of my planner. Slow cooking in the summer is just the best. You don't heat the kitchen, you can do other things and then, wallah, dinner's ready.

I have a lot of patterned paper pads that have pages with these fun boxes, meant to be trimmed out and used in your scrapbooking and journaling. They provide some great little places throughout my planner to just jot down and journal about something that happened, or something I just don't want to forget. So cute to have them in here, and so me.

You might be amazed at how a homemade life planner can make life better! Don't depend on a company to know what you need. Store bought planners are so generic. But there are a few planner makers who are in the business of customization. You can go that way--which is a little pricey, but worth it if you don't mind paying seventy or eighty dollars for a planner--or you can have fun concepting and creating your own customized life planner with your stash and things to upcycle. Make it the size you want. Mine, as I said before, does not travel, so it's big and has it all. Make it the look you want. Find some sturdy covers to upcycle and tailor them for your new book. Make all the lists and pages that apply to everything you need every day.

This was a super fun project, and I'm so happy with the results, and it also resulted with my making a special planner for my daughter.

Making a life planner is all about you--be selfish with those pretty papers for a change, and enjoy it!

See you next Tuesday with a new scrappy stash busting idea.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Plan




 

Bust Your Scrapbook Paper Stash and Make Your Own Life Planner

I love my scrapbook papers. Period. I love looking at them, and thinking of all the fun things I want to make with them. Scrapbooking and cardmaking are at the top of my list--but, scrapbooks stay closed and cards are given away.

I needed a new academic-style planner recently, which made me think: I look at my planner every day. And that's when I decided to make my own life planner, a little inspired from those wonderful Erin Condren planners, using my gorgeous patterned papers that I'd also like to look at every day.

The front and back covers are upcycled

Here's part one of my DIY Planner post--all the things you could pull together to make one and how to begin. I wanted an expansive planner, tailored to my life, wouldn't travel but stay on the desk at home, utilize pretty scrapbook papers, and keep my home life organized and my creative pursuits motivated. I decided to tackle the basic calendar part of it first.

To make your own homemade 8-1/2X11 life planner, here's a few supplies you might want to include:

• Hole punches: three-hole and crop-a-dile
• Patterned papers--I used a 200-page pad of 8-1/2X11 coordinating patterned papers
• Patterned paper scraps
• Printer paper
• Stamps and stickers
• Plastic pocket folders
• Markers
• Ruler
• Paper cutter
• Rings 
• Washi tape

I decided to create weekly pages, by hand at first, on my typewriter, on printer paper I had cut down so that when attached to the scrapbook paper there would be that pretty border of the patterned paper. Just decide on a size and then trim your 52 papers if you're doing a weekly layout. On each week I have the days of the week on one side, and a to-do list on the other.

Doing this on my typewriter with hand-drawn lines was fun for an hour. But after a couple of hours I took this to the computer. I created a table in Word, and inserted little online pictures--different ones for each month--and I like the look of this better. So much faster this way. It's all good though, and it all works either way.

I found some great monthly layouts at scatteredsquirrel.com along with some creative planner inserts as well, and it's free. Funny the things you trip onto when you're working on a project.

Yes, it's huge and I use it every day.

Finally, for today's DIY Planner part one--the covers. I really wanted sturdy covers, but I'm making my own thing here. So, I dug out some old office planners and realized what great covers they had--spiral bound. I trimmed them and was able to punch my holes with the crop-a-dile. The trimmed edges were a little sharp, so I covered them with decorative masking tape (orange with polka dots from Target). I added some cute stickers, and some scrap paper to eventually title this thing, and some washi tape here and there. The one thought in my mind: why didn't I do this before?

See you Thursday for the rest of this monster DIY Planner part two!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Plan