Not too big a stack right? Very focused!
On top is my everyday carry. It’s not even a journal really, it’s a date book, I guess a planner. I shouldn’t treat planner like a dirty word, but I’ve been down that road of decorating rather than planning, and I’ve really decided that decorating is for memory keeping, and my carry around thing has to look at least semi-professional. Oh, so what is it? It’s a Hobonichi Weeks, housed in a Chic Sparrow Weeks cover in Golden Maverick leather.
2016, I will not miss you. Yes, there were celebrity deaths that were saddening, but that’s life. 2016, to me, was objectively a really bad year. If you’re reading this, and you had a fantastic year, great! I don’t mean to diminish anyone’s triumphs, successes and joys, but honestly, I’ve lost sleep this year about what a crap year it’s been, from the random acts of violence, to the exposed schisms in our country, to the lunatic that we put in the White House. On a personal level, the year started with a car wreck, nearly killing my brother, but only “luckily” breaking both of his legs. The first few months of the year, we spent hours at the hospital with him, and then in the nursing home. While I have no problem waiving buh bye to 2016, I can’t say that I don’t look upon 2017 without trepidation. It’s no secret I’m a liberal, but it’s not that I fear a Republican in the White House – I would have been ok, not happy, but ok, had a McCain won, or a Romney – I wouldn’t have felt like we were all going to die. But, I truly fear the fascist madman soon to be in the White House. But, what can you do, just hope for the best I guess!
So, without further ado, I’ll unveil my word for 2017 – nope, it’s not hope. It’s Commit. I’m tired of doing things half-assed. If I’m going to do something, I really want to explore if I’m committed. I’m tired of starting things, and not finishing them. Of beginning a creative project, spending a ton of money getting supplies, and being done with it after I’ve completed one project. I’m tired of signing up for online classes, quickly watching them, and then not doing any of the work. I’m tired of saying my diet starts on Monday. And with Commit as my word, the opposite is also my mantra – if I can’t commit, I’m not going to do it. In picking my word, I’ve also picked a few year long projects to which I’m going to commit:
This is an A6 Hobonichi Techo. Basically, its a small, one day on a page planner/journal/notebook. I struggled between buying the A6 and the larger A5, but I settled on the A6 because I thought it would easier to live up to my commitment, and journal every day in a smaller space, and the A5 is in Japanese, and the A6 comes in an English version. I also ordered a used Chic Sparrow traveler’s notebook cover for it, so I’ll report on that when it arrives. If I outgrow the A6, the A5, the Cousin Avec, comes in a six month size, and I could also size up for the second half of the year.
3. Also on the commitment list for 2016 – Hand Lettering! I have decided that 2017 is going to be my year of hand lettering. Right now I’m exploring – I have a dip pen, a Tombow dual brush pen, and a Tombow fude on the way. This is my creative art commitment for the year, because that’s what hand lettering really is – drawing letters. And rather than willy nilly committing to this online art class, or that one, this is what I’m doing this year – and I will hopefully add some watercolor to the mix. To help me along with my commitment, I’ve created an instagram account just for my lettering endeavors – OliveInks. And, to support this commitment, I’m working my way through a class on Creativebug, as well as joining in on some Instagram/FB challenges, primarily this one for now, #ShowMeYourDrills. I’ve also signed up for Skillshare, using their 3 mos/99 cents promotion.
Can I just tell you how relaxing and soothing these drills are!
and 4. Diet, Health and Exercise. I’ve gained 20 lbs since moving to the suburbs. It’s like it happened over night, but it really happened over four years. Mostly this year though. I’m a stress eater. But, I’ve got my smart watch, counting my steps. And, I’ve bought a new bathing suit to start swimming in January. And, I’m going to try to be kind to myself, not beat myself up, acknowledge that this is unlike diets in the past when I wanted to lose 5 lbs, but didn’t really need to lose 5 lbs. Right now, I need to lose the 20lbs because my clothes do not fit. This is a big commitment; it’s not going to happen overnight – but I’m committed.
So, goodbye 2016! For the world in general, for 2017, I can only hope, but for me personally, I am committed to making 2017 better, more productive, more creative, and healthier – if my summer clothes fit, I’m going to call 2017 a success.
Take care, everyone and Happy New Year!
Is the month over? It’s over – at least the work week, in oh, 3 1/2 hours. Counting, definitely counting. I was appointed to this case, and my, I am busy!
But that doesn’t mean I haven’t had time for this and that’s, right!
So, in no particular order
Ssshh!!!! I’ve already broken Passover . . . I just couldn’t take the matzah bloat anymore. I remember Moses, the desert, the boils and the locusts, I’m good. I got it, for six nights. Fini.
So, as I mentioned, I was spacing out my swaps, not over committing, so it wasn’t flipbook overload. I think I’m just over it. I don’t know. I’m over the washi tape, that’s for sure. Whoever called it tape didn’t really know what tapes’ function is. I found myself adding layers and layers of washi to get the washi below it to stick. The pages were actually pretty securely put together with hinges, and glue, but then I decorated with washi – and the decorative washi wouldn’t stick. Oy! In any event, this was a flip I made for a Paris swap through Facebook. I bought the printable graphics on Etsy, and with them, I made journal cards, shaker gatefold flaps (with the fuse tool) (you can see them clipped together in the above photo – when you take the paperclip off, underneath is a pocket with goodies), and a snow globe! Crazy! I finally used my holiday card, snow globe die –
I bought this die two years ago from Papertrey Ink, thinking I was going to make my own holiday cards, with Lemon and Olive in the snow globe. That didn’t happen. I don’t know why I thought Paris and snow globe, but it clicked, and I think it turned out cute. I was in such a creating frenzy, though, I didn’t think to photograph the process until I was all done. So, basically what you do is use the outline die to create a base. Then, you cut the top of the shaker out of decorative paper, and sticky foam. You then layer the base, your sprinkles, the foam, a clear circle vellum/plastic window, and then the top – voila! A shaker globe. For whatever reason, my sprinkle stuff got caught in my sticky foam, so it doesn’t really really shake, what can you do. Be more careful I guess. But, I wasn’t about to rip it open and make another. And for sprinkles – see that circle die? It makes snowflakes, and confetti – pretty cool!
Now that I’m thinking about it, and rambling along, I think that my “over it” feeling about flipbooks is that I’d rather make them for someone who I’m regularly corresponding with then a one-time swap with a passing stranger. I feel like this is something I’d want to make for a penpal after we’ve exchanged a few letters, and I was making something for someone I kind of ‘knew.” Too bad I unceremoniously abandoned all of my penpals after my father died, and my Wendori was lost forever.
I did make one more, that I didn’t photograph, for a swap on swap-bot, and I enjoyed it more because it was an offshoot from another swap wherein the person had asked me to write back, and I felt like the “project” was more of an elaborate envelope than this humungous thing:
All said and done, between the cover, and the flaps, I decorated 10 pages, filled a bunch of pockets, and spent many nights after work assembling, fusing, die cutting and tweaking. The ‘elaborate envelope” was like this, made from one sheet of 12 x 12 paper, with flaps made from simple, creative cutting. This little, hour long project, was fun, and relaxing, and I can see more of these in the future. The ten page, humungous flipmonster – not so much.
I remain supremely happy with my present, the leather just keeps getting softer, and a bit more scuffed with loved. But the calendar insert that I printed for myself is set to run out in June, and I have to decide where my planning is going next. So, I fell down the crazy, deep internet whirlhole of planner communities. At first, I was seduced by the Happy Planner, and joined a half dozen Happy Planner Facebook groups, without actually buying said planner. After a few weeks of watching everyone sticker up their months, days and weeks, I decided that wasn’t for me. I also became less transfixed with the Arc system of rings – it seemed hard to flip the paper, and heavy, really heavy. So, I unjoined all of those groups, and joined Christy Tomlinson’s Planner Society FB group, because while almost everyone is subscribed to her Planner Kit Club, everyone is in a different planner. I then became enamored with the Kikki K’s, the big ones, the A5 size. Hmm, do I really want that big thing, I thought, and if I do, do I really want it for planning? I mean, that’s a big thing to whip out in court and check a date. So, I did some soul searching, and realized, yeah, I am supremely happy with my TN, why would I change? I must be yearning for something else. And, that something else, I concluded was more of a memory keeping journal, to help me along with my Project Life, and to be more of a daily journal/diary. In my original post about my TN, I mentioned that one of my inserts was a “Morning Pages” booklet. Er, that didn’t last long. And, since I had pasted a copy of the sentencing guidelines (because everyone has that in their planner!) in the back of my calendar, I had started leaving it out on courtroom tables, and I became concerned that I might lose it a la the Wendori, and then my morning thoughts would be out there for everyone – what thoughts they were, I wasn’t exactly a daily journaler. So, the solution, it seems is to have a planner, my TN with a new calendar insert, and a big thing I can keep at home, beside my t.v. chair, to update daily.So, I wistfully looked at everyone’s pretty Kikki K’s, and could not bring myself to spend that much money ($90+ shipping) on a planner, even a pretty planner. So, deciding to plan within my means, I begin investigating the Webster’s Pages Color Crush Planners, which right now are on super sale on Blitsy (with the Mother’s Day coupon code). They’re similar to the Kikki K’s, but faux leather, and not quite a true A5 size. But, there was just something about them that I didn’t like. Well not just something, the guts of it – the inserts. First, the calendars are dated, so I’d have already lost nearly half the year. And second, it has a snap closure. I want to punch holes into things and stick it in my memory planner, and I don’t want to be constrained by a snap. So, while I had an A5 Color Crush planner in my basket on the Blitsy site, and post coupon, it was only $42.95 with shipping, I couldn’t hit the commit button. Instead, I got sucked into the youtube planner channels, and after not careful, but “I want that” consideration, I decided to go with the Heidi Swapp Memory Planner.
There it was – right in it’s name – the memory planner. Exactly what I was looking for. A kind of planner, a kind of abbreviated scrapbook, a kind of journal. That’s the right planner, I thought. So, that’s the “I want it” part – the careful part – well, I threw careful to the wind. The online reviews of the planner aren’t so good – that the holes all have to be repunched because they were punched too small, that the binder feels cheap, etc. But, you get what you pay for, and after my 40% off coupon at Michael’s, and a free shipping code that Michael’s gave me after I left the planner sitting in the cart overnight (so smart of them! push me over the edge into purchasing with a shipping code!), it was only $20. So, I reasoned, if the binder is crap (and all of the warning signs are there that it just might be), I can always put the inserts, which, along with the photo sleeve inserts are the reason I was buying the thing anyway, into another binder, like this one from Dokkipaper, a kind of faux Kikki K, faux Dokibook, which is also snapless. ah, but you may say, how will you do that because Heidi Swapp’s isn’t really A5, and it has only 4 holes. Solved that one – I’ve already seen someone on the Planner Society FB group punch the extra two holes, and put it in a traditional A5 planner, so I think I’ll be good. So, for now, I’ll try out the cheap binder, and see how it goes – and I’ll let you know.
All of that rambling has left my exhausted, like poor little Olive after playing with her ball outside all day, and then scarfing down her dinner.
Definitely a hard life for the little Boston!
Have a great weekend!
Hello my friends! It’s been awhile, I know, but I’ve just been prepping for back to back trials since the end of October. Two ended up pleading, and one went to trial. I have one more to go in January, and then it’ll be easy peasy sailing for awhile.
I’ve been a total knitting machine, finishing up the Stephen West KAL (uch – why???? gifted to my MIL), finishing up Water (gifted to my mother), a few other holiday gifts, and a sweater I started awhile back for me. Joe broke is foot back in September, and we’ve really become sedentary t.v. junkies. Hopefully, in January, he’ll be cleared for regular duty work (he’s on light duty now), and the treadmill, and we’ll be able to peel ourselves away from the time suck t.v. I intended to do a few top ten end of the year posts – movies, t.v., etc., but I didn’t – so here are my Bests of the Year (I am totally off the cuff rambling – I had intended to just post about my new planner – and I’m totally flying stream of consciousness here)
And that’s about all I can think of right now. So, what about that planner?
Last year, I made my own Midori Traveler’s Notebook, a Wendori just for me. I found a leather company online that kind of giggled about how little leather I wanted to order, followed a few tutorials, and viola! I made my own inserts, and it was really the “vessel” for all of my penpaling. And then – disaster struck – I lost it. I’m a clumsy person, I break things, but it really isn’t my nature to actually lose things – and the few things I have lost, I haven’t lost forever. For instance, I accidentally threw Joe’s high school ring in the ocean – and a year later, someone found it, and returned it to his parents who live at the beach. I really really expected the planner to find it’s way back to me. And, while I waited, I didn’t get a new planner, and I didn’t write any letters – because all of the letters I had to answer were in the Wendori, as well as all of my addresses. True, I easily could have rebuilt my address book, and started with fresh letters, but again, I was convinced, any day, the planner, which contained my business cards, would be returned.
And it wasn’t. And I stopped writing letters. And, I didn’t get a new planner.
Until now. I thought about making my own again, but I didn’t have anything to tell my mother-in-law to get me for Hanukkah, so I went shopping on Etsy, and found this really inexpensive fauxdori on Etsy from a Japanese seller – normally, I would just say no because of the postage, but the cover was on sale for $15, and it came with five premade booklet inserts, a craft file, a clip, and a bookmark. So, the postage was more than made up for in the price and the extras. And, I have to say – it’s awesome! The leather is really soft, It has a nice leather thing that holds my pen, and it also came with extra elastics.
The cover looks a little scratched up, but that’s because the leather is so soft! It’s definitely developing character right out of the box.
So, right now, I have three inserts, and this felt card holder, that also came from Dokipaper. Unlike my Wendori, in which I printed and bound all of the inserts myself, the only insert I made this time is the calendar –
The PDF for the calendar is from BohoCottage. The blocks are a tad small, but the next page which I didn’t photograph is a week on two pages, and there’s a week on two page spread for each week of the month. I could have gone for something a little boxier, with more room, but I wanted it to be pretty. For the cover, I just took one of the stapled premade inserts that came with the leather cover apart, and sewed that cover onto the pages – which was nice, because I could trim the pages to the craft cover with confidence that they would be exactly the right size.
Next, I have a bullet journal. As you can see, I’ve decorated the craft file folder (which also came with original package from Dokipaper) and taped a photo on the cover. But, let’s be clear, Bullet Journaling is nothing more complicated than a day by day to do list. That’s it. With that said, it’s kind of amazing that I got sucked down the internet rabbit hole of bullet journaling – pinterest, youtube, Facebook. Which then lead to down the path to planner creation, decoration, etc, looking at one Erin Condren, Happy Planner, whatever, after another. At the end of it, I came to the conclusion that more decorating does not equate to more planning, and it’s more time consuming, and more work, to have stickers, sticky tabs, washi tape, whatnots, whatever than to just make a good ol’ list with whatever pen I have on hand. I get that it’s fun to decorate your planner, but honestly, I can only decorate so many things – and I’ve committed myself (at least in my head), to get the Project Life going again next year. Also, I can’t pull out a washi’d up planner in court. I’m already regretting the stickered up craft folder, even though it does label what’s in the folder – ephemera for the newly reborn pocket scrap project.
So, here’s my bare bones bullet journal. As you can see, I have dated to do lists. When I complete a task, I check the box. When I decide to move a task to another day, I draw an arrow through the box. When an item sits, I leave the box blank, and at the end of the month I’ll decide whether they’re really still “to do” and then move then to the next month. or I’ll cross them off. The page before this list is an index, the facing page, is a “collection” – a list that’s not a to do list – but has a theme. So far, in my bullet journal, I have “Sentencings,” “Where are the Addi’s” to keep track of where my interchangeable knitting needles are, “Things to Sew in 2016,” “House Projects” and “Waiting on” which is an itemization of things I’m waiting on – things that are supposed to come in the mail, things people are supposed to hand in to me at work, things I’m waiting on in my cases, etc. And that’s it. Easy peasy. If it’s a daily to do, it goes on a list, if it’s a random thought, idea, whatever, I create a collection. The collections are logged in the index so I can easily find them, and that’s it. Would I like it to look spiffier? Maybe, I don’t know. I really don’t think so. I think this works, and that’s it.
And then I have my morning pages insert –
The morning pages booklet is just a lined booklet that came with the cover. I really find the practice of free writing in the morning so helpful in so many ways. Scattered thoughts find their way together. I find myself remembering words that I don’t use when I speak, but always used when I wrote – words that remind me that choosing the right word is so much more rewarding that using the same lazy words over and over again – see, redundant popped into my head right away – such a better word than over and over.
So, that’s my system going into 2016. Good luck with your own system, or no system, or whatever 2016 brings!
Happy New Year everyone!
