how i made my own planner

At the beginning of every year I have big plans. And always, the biggest plan of them all is to be a better planner! And with that in mind I've been reading books and blogs, writing up lists and pretty planner pages as well as dreaming up all the projects that I can possibly fit into one busy year! I've only been using a daily planner for the last 5 or so years - before that life just went with the flow - but I've become rather attached to having one and seeing things set down on paper rather than rattling around in my head!
For the last two years I've made my own and Ive been quite happy with them……but I do like a change and I feel I'm going to be busier than ever this year with extra activities and study as well as keeping track of children's work and play! So I've expanded and reworked and I think I've come up with one I will like.

Here are the previous years versions - I repurposed pretty Country Style and Vogue Cooking magazine covers (truly, there are often the most gorgeous pics on there as well as cool words!) and I printed the pages from Leonie Dawsons Create your Amazing Life Planner. As you can see, it has hour times, the Most Important Tasks for the day and a space for some words of wisdom to ponder over. And it was good. But I wanted more!

Can you see what I mean about pretty pages and good words? In Full Bloom and Celebrate Spring - just what I like to think about! (Excuse the two lousy pics - wrong time of day!)

So, on January 1st, I started trawling through Pinterest for some ideas, preferably with free printables. There are lots but I soon realised that there aren't any that are really me - colourful, A4 size (I have lavish sized writing!) and with  categories that are just suited to my life. Whats a girl to do? Well, me? I just make my own!!! I did model mine loosely on the pages found on this site and have also used some of them as is for now but the ones I use every day I wanted brighter and slightly different. 

I simply drew up a master copy using a thick black texta for the lines of the boxes. Then, after finding a couple of nice colour schemes, I traced those lines onto fresh papers which gave me 5 different looks. Yes, it took a while to rule all the smaller lines into each box but I was on a mission. You can see a plain sheet at the top of this post. 

Then came the fun part - words, colours and washi tape! With not too much effort, I had five personalised, pretty planner pages to use as master copies. I like the different categories although I have found that I run out of room in the 'to-do' section and have extra room in the 'time block' section. Hmm, maybe some more tweaking….!

I also drew up a Goals for the Year page which Ive not done before, having only used a vision board, so I'm hoping this works just as well or even better! Notice the wishful thinking about Christmas gifts? I've never yet finished Christmas gifts until December 24th but I am an eternal optimist!!

Theres a page for each month (not pictured) one for each week with three goals broken down into smaller actions and I've also printed out a ready to go page to use for the weekends when the schedule is a little lighter (and have I mentioned that I like a change?)

There are five sections separated by art works from my children, complete with homemade tabs. Yes, it all looks very official with 'menu' and 'blog' tabs but …ahem….those sections are still empty although I do have grand plans….!!

The cover is from a large children's board book and I've bound it all together using the same rings that I use on my Etsy journals. I'm not sure yet how much I like using these rings as opposed to the sort that come in a ring binder and open with one 'snap' as I want to change the pages daily so I can always see the complete weeks actions as well as the current day and thats a bit tiresome undoing all three separately. The rings work really well for my journal where I may just want to add more pages now and again but not move any around. For this planner, I'm considering how to deconstruct an old ring binder and reconstruct it with a completely different cover style. Will keep you posted. 

 So there it is - my very personalised planner! I did have a lot of fun creating it - although I used quite a few brain cells working it out to my satisfaction - and so far I'm finding it good. My only dilemma is that I'm using a lot of paper and I'm not sure how to fix that. The pages are all only printed on one side -  although I do use the other side to jot down thoughts and random writings that spring to mind every so often and I will possibly use it next year as an art journal by gluing pages together and slapping on paint with joyful abandon!! Any other ideas?

 Oh and if you have a chance to borrow this book, do so! Its fascinating. Although geared towards executives and office workers, it has some amazing tips and techniques and a whole new way of being organised. Highly recommended.

Do you have any planner ideas that I may like to implement? Any books that I may need to read? I'd love to hear from you!

slow living december 2014

Aah, sweet, sweet December, why do I have such ambiguous feelings of thee? Is it the rush to get things done? Is it that I turn another year older each time you cycle round? Maybe its the family, festival and food that rush by at lightening speed? Or perhaps that you are the very last month of the year and I'm always keen for the new one to start? Its certainly a love-hate relationship that we share and while Im delighted that you are a part of the never ending cycle, I'm also always very glad when you've moved on and all the new beginnings can begin!

I'm joining in with Linda at Greenhaven for her monthly Slow Living posts again. There doesn't seem to be much to tell about December although I know for sure that it was packed with busy happenings and was certainly not a 'slow' month!  

Nourish - In some ways we have been nourished well and yet in others I feel our nourishment in December leaves something to be desired! The raspberries have produced abundantly for the first time and we have eaten a lot  but the strawberries not so well - I'm wondering if they need moving and new ones planted *note to self, check this out*. 

Of course last month culminated in the usual end of year food fest and while we enjoyed vegetarian lasagna and Greek salad for our festive meal, the amounts of sweets and sugary items made me cringe (yes, yes, I know I made too many biscuits but its tradition!!) 

Prepare - The end of the year always sends me scrambling to make my new planner in time for a fresh new start on January 1st. This year I've made my own again - a bigger one than last years and with a bit of colour because I do like 'pretty'. I'm feeling quite prepared with my handy dandy day planner and will do a more detailed post shortly. 

Reduce - we have a new craze at our place…….downhill mountain biking! Every day the boys head out into the paddock and practise jumps - over and over again! Somedays they even drive to a local bush track and actually practise the real thing too! And this new craze has necessitated some new equipment which has in turn necessitated some lateral (and green) thinking. Fortunately the tip is close and the tip man is very friendly, so they've brought home an old wooden bed frame for this jump you see above, as well as numerous other off casts such as pallets and metal frames. 

Green - so this month wasn't really a very green month. We used too much wrapping paper, ate too much food in packaging and used up too much fuel driving here and there for Christmas activities. I realise this category is meant to be for our successes but I'm keeping it real here as well, and from my point of view all of the above are just the nature of the Christmas season. I do my best but I also refuse to do more than I am comfortable with or less of what makes my family happy. After all, there are 11 other months of the year when I aim to tread lightly on this beautiful Earth we live on and overall I'm happy with my achievements in the 'green' area. 

Grow - The food in the poly tunnel is growing well, really well. Its truly so gratifying to venture in there and enjoy the warm pungent smell of tomato bushes and moist soil and I often make a quick trip out there just for a deep sniff! The first tomatoes were just turning red for Christmas and we've had a couple of cucumbers but its this month of January that everything is really taking off. 

Outside in the garden there are the first potatoes to be grubbed out and fresh juicy garlic to add to salads. Onions that were planted in winter have graced the table; lettuce, parsley and the last spinach have been enjoyed. 

Create - I didn't have much time to do a great deal of painting or collaging other than the painting for my secret person gift, but I did however sew up a little fabric pouch for a Sweet Pouch Swap I took part in. And there needs to be a card too, right? 

Discover - December was the month I discovered that there is a Visual Arts course at the TAFE college. Quite by accident too. I overheard someone speaking of it in an art shop and I raced home to look it up online. I rang up, booked an interview and was accepted all in the space of three days!!! Now I'm feeling apprehensive and unsure if I can manage everything at home, let alone study as well. 

Enhance - nothing to report in this one. Well…….maybe I should have let a child fill this category out as I'm sure they feel rather enhanced at this time of year!

Enjoy - So much to enjoy this month - first up there was my Fairy's ballet concert which made this mama very proud of my sweet baby girl. Then there were some lovely friends visiting for a week, along with my birthday which was celebrated over three! days due to various reasons. Not that I minded ;) Christmas came next and all the food and lazy days and friends and children that come with it. Yes, yes, there was much to be enjoyed in December! 

And so, with a rush and a lot of fun, December is over once again. In fact another year is over once again. Life seems to be rushing by faster and faster as I get older and I find myself wishing I could hang on to the little things that make up our days for longer. Fortunately, we have such an easy way of documenting those little things via blogging or Instagram or any number of other computer based programs. And of course, thats what I'm hoping to achieve by using this space to air a few thoughts and share a few events. As always, thanks so much for stopping by.

a handmade christmas retrospective

So the Christmas tree has been packed away, all tinsel and fairy lights taken down and the biscuits almost entirely consumed by various visitors and family members. Its been a lovely relaxing after-Christmas-week and a not quite as relaxing first-week-of-the-new-year week! 

I had slated January as my month to relax - to read aloud some long awaited books to the younger children and to lounge on the sofa reading copious piles of interesting books to myself! But alas, I also wrote out a list of goals for 2015 and they seem to have taken precedence over my relaxing….oh well, at least the shed is tidy and I've made inroads into the backlog of to-do lists left over from the Old Year! 

Actually that wasn't what this post was going to be about at all…..what I really wanted to show you was the various handmade gifts we made and received. Way back in July 2011 (I wonder why I wrote a Christmas post in July??)  I explained a bit about our secret person gifting and shared one of our more extravagant handmade gifts. I don't think we've had one quite as marvellous as that one but this year everyone put lots of thought into their make and there were some very pleased recipients. Sometimes its a struggle to find just the right item to create - it has to be within the makers expertise and ability and still be something the recipient will find funny, useful or beautiful. I write about our gifts to remind myself of whats been gifted and also for anyone of you lovely readers that may need some inspiration for your own handmade gifts next year. 

If you are anything like me though, you will have long forgotten reading this by December 2015, so I will endeavour to put a link in my sidebar sometime this year, with all my Christmas posts. Thats the plan anyway!! Now on with the show and tell…...

My Golden Girl was delighted with the metal candleholder that her dad bent and welded for her. He's made a few now and we keep telling I'm he ought to make a whole lot more and sell them.

This one is a person-with-no-spare-time handmade gift! Our boy in Melbourne is busy building up his business but still managed to find a space to do something for his dad on this very fancy flask - the leather has been inscribed with a few words of wisdom using a wood burner. It came complete with an expensive bottle of Laphroaig Whiskey (which tastes like old leather and wood smoke - yuk!)

Son #3, in the party hat down there, is named Djwal, or Dj for short (unusual, I know - he was named after a Tibetan mystic) Now what do you think he wants to be when he grows up? Yep, a DJ!! So one of my almost daughter-in-laws appliquéd this dancing skeleton wall hanging for him. She did such a neat job of the machine appliquéing too! 

Nina had pulled her partner out of the hat, so she had inside information and made a sweet little fishing journal to record all the fish he wished he caught!! She used watercolour paper scraps left over from my journal binding as well as other paper off cuts.

Its fortunate that we have such a range of skills in our family - having a welder father makes it easy to conjure up gifts for men! This camping BBQ plate was welded up by The Dj for Layla's partner Dan. He's an outdoor man and loved it!!

A sweet strawberry dress for the Small Elf, sewn by her mum.

These cushions covers were made entirely from repurposed clothes - I love this! The black was a skirt with those pretty snowflakes along the bottom edge and the red was a large size linen dress. A few passes with the rotary cutter and cutting board, a bit of measuring and sewing and two eye popping cushions appeared. This one would have to be my fave end result - you know how I love to reuse old things and these covers looked standout special!

Theres a large blackwood (acacia genus) log that one of the boys brought home a few years ago and is now nicely seasoned ….. and oh boy, its had pieces sawn off for gifts for the last three Christmases! There was a chopping board one year, a heavy duty coat rack last year, a smaller hanger this year and now a picture frame/candle holder! This photo doesn't do it justice but it does look pretty flash!

And I couldn't let Christmas go by without a little bit of arty goodness, so my secret person (who was our lovely tall, dark and handsome son #2) received my very first painting on canvas. Wow, it took me ages, working on a tiny bit here and there, day after day and although I'm happy with the result, I'm looking forward to gaining more expertise in the large scale painting department. He was happy and will hang it in the bedroom in his new house….. and he's already commissioned another one for the lounge room!

So, theres another Christmas worth of hand made goodness. We all decided that even though most of us leave the making until the very last week, it is the best part of the whole celebration…… well, except the food of course!! The secrecy of trying to gain information without giving away who your secret person is, the anticipation of seeing how your gift is received and even the stress of finding just the right item to create and gift, is all quite exhilarating! I would encourage anyone to do the same!!
I think I've said all I need to say about Christmas now and I'll get back to other more useful and maybe more mundane topics in my next posts. 

Did you get any handmade delights this year?