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Distinctively Diana

Creating hand-designed touches for everyday life & festive occasions

Custom Created Planner Pages

I am a huge Planner user…I have been ever since I was in high school. Which was many many years ago. That was before anybody really used planners. And I have always used a paper planner, even when all the cool kids moved onto electronic devices and then smartphones. I wanted everything in front of me where I could flip just like that to my monthly calendar and check for a meeting conflict. And now, paper planners are HOT.

And there are such beautiful planners out there. And people are sooooo creative with them. But I’ve always needed to be professional for client meetings. And I have paid big bucks for leather binder systems. So I haven’t moved to prettier, more creative versions. Sigh….yes that is some paper planner lust you hear there.

But a December Planner Page challenge from Kimmie Reid, owner of Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps had me rethinking things. I used my family calendar that I keep on my fridge for that challenge.

That’s where I try and keep everyone in the family organized with their appointments and I put up mine too so they know where I am. I decorated it for the first time. And I loved it! So much fun!!!

So as the new year rolled around I thought hmmmm….is there a better way to do my planner pages?????

I found I wasn’t using the pages I had so well. They weren’t meeting my needs. Time to assess what I was doing and what might work better. Maybe the time had come to try my hand at creating my own pages. So that’s what I’ve just done. I identified what I needed on them to help me be organized and efficient. I decided to go back to using the larger size for very specific reasons, both for how I worked on a daily basis and went out to meetings as well as the ease of 3-hole punching– I already had both binders. I custom created a Monthly calendar page as well as Daily Planner pages. I’m going to live with them for a few weeks to see if I am happy with how they are working and then adapt them as I need to.

And today, I decided I was going to add some inspirational and motivational messages to my new pages. And maybe just a bit of glitz and glimmer! Because us krafty kirls do sweat glitter you know!!

Oh what fun! I used some of Kraftin’ Kimmie’s brand new January release stamps, Happy Thoughts sentiments. They are perfect for this use! I also went through all my stamps and pulled out different ones that I thought would inspire me.

Today, I entered these pages in another Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Challenge!!  

One thing I realized, when you start doing this, there are specific sized stamps and things that suit this purpose very specifically….hmm….I have my eye on Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Planner stamps now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you decorate your planner?

So the other day, Kraftin’ Kimmie of Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps challenged us on her Facebook Page to show her our decorated planner pages. And she showed us how she had decorated her planner. Beautiful!

I have used a planner ever since I was in high school.

I remember getting my wisdom teeth out in Grade 12 and the doctor looked at me in wonder as I said hang on, let me check my calendar and whipped out my planner. He told my mom he’d never seen a high school student do that before.

So, I’m a long time user of planners. And I never left the paper version to go to a digital version. Give me paper!! (More than one reason I went to Journalism school! LOL!)

So this whole resurgence, resurrection and love affairs with planners in the creative community makes me laugh a bit.

But, when Kimmie put the challenge out I thought hmm…

To decorate or not to decorate

I’ve stayed away from decorating my main planner as I take it into client meetings and workplaces and it just might not convey the level of professionalism needed. But then I thought, there’s the calendar I use on the fridge in the kitchen to plan and integrate the entire family life.

And then I did

And last night I decorated it. Oh what fun! I did it very quickly because it was late and I really needed to get to bed. I love it!! And when I came down to the kitchen this morning and saw it…it made me smile. And feel happy. How silly that a decorated calendar can do that. But what a nice little touch to my day.

I think this is something I will keep doing.

And it’s made me start thinking about creating my own calendar for next year…and maybe even my own planner pages….hmm…

 

 

 

 

 

I know it’s been awhile, but I couldn’t see my crafting table…

Holy cow! When did December sneak in the door??? What happened to November???

Ok, if I’m really honest here, I know exactly what happened. I’ve actually spent most of 2017 in Christmas mode.

Bringing Joy…christmasjoy.ca

As a part of the 2017 JOY Christmas Home Tour planning committee, I’ve spent most of 2017 planning, interviewing, writing, and just all round preparing for this tour of eight homes kindly provided to us by local homeowners. We then line up decorators, florists, designers and foodies with each home and by the tour date in mid-November, the homes are amazing creations of Christmas delight. I write the tour booklet which features each of the homes and all the businesses that are involved. The entire project is massive, but the volunteer committee of women does it all for the benefit of Hope House, a local community organization dedicated to poverty alleviation in Guelph. Last year, we raised $83,000 for Hope House. We set a goal of $100,000 this year, really challenging ourselves. And we blasted through that goal; with the help of all our sponsors, and business partners, we sold out again and we have raised $105,000!! We are thrilled beyond belief!!

And Cleaning…and Organizing

Somewhere in the midst of all that,  I had to sort out the portion of my basement that houses the furnace…and acts as storage. (Ok, my husband will tell you my entire house is storage for me, but that’s another story…) That led me to deciding my office needed a deep clean and that meant I’d had enough of the state of my craft studio next door. Everything stopped dead in there. I had to reorganize big time.  So that meant finding better ways to use all the boxes, and bins and tins and other items I had on hand for storage. I pulled everything out so I could see what I had. The entire basement was a disaster!

But, this is also where I store my 50 bins of Christmas decorations…I kid you not. In two different locations. A storage closet in my office. And under the stairs in the furnace area. So everything had to be organized before I could start decorating. Nothing like setting challenges for myself at a very busy time of year.

Oh and it’s exam time...

And add into all of THAT, I also proctor exams at University of Guelph at this time of year. That means I assist and oversee students writing exams through the university’s accessibility department.

Craft Studio Before

So…I haven’t been able to do much creating in my craft studio lately, because you kind of need a table to do that, and I couldn’t see mine. Or much of any other surface. But, I have accomplished the task I set out to do. My craft studio has gone from this:

To this:

Craft Studio After

Please tell me you can see a difference!!

Now onto Christmas decorating!!

My Christmas decorating is almost completed. Just the Christmas village to set up and the tree to decorate — it’s up, just not decorated! Maybe tonight. It’s amazing how my husband keeps missing the elves burning the midnight oil, decorating our home as he sleeps. Each morning he wakes up and discovers another room has been done! Funny how that happens!

So maybe, very soon, I can get into my really organized craft studio and tackle what I want to be doing, being creative.

My very first easel card

Oh…but before I go, I thought I would share my very first easel card that I did. It was a little challenging to figure out how to make the card work…setting it up to stand properly. I had to do it a couple of times. But I’m happy with the result. I used Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps Dear Santa. Love her stamps!!

My very first easel card