Saturday, May 27, 2017

My blog has moved

I've moved my blog to http://tracyrplans.blogspot.com/... See you there.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Planner bliss

I truly am extremely happy with my decision. Honestly I can't believe how much I love this purple/lavender planner. It is so cute. So I have been really busy getting things set-up. And there are so many things I want to do but there are just as many things I am still trying to figure out what I want or don't.

So here it is....



I love the feel of the planner. In all the time that I have carried a planner or made one of my own; I've never had one that was purple. And the color made me a little worried before I got my order but that isn't a concern at all. I now find myself trying to not match all the dividers and pages to the color of the planner. So doing the forth of July themed weekly pages helped me to not focus on the purple. Well the calendar pages that I had made for the year are still being used. They were part of a Heidi Swap planner that was sold at Michael's last year around Christmas. But I have been eagerly waiting for her to make those pages available for purchase separately...I still am waiting.

The lined notebook paper that I used to stamp my journaling pages for the week are from the Dollar Tree. It's a 6x9 inch note pad. And although everything bleeds through the paper I love and use it because it is perfect for my classic franklin covey planners. I did purchase wide ruled FC lined journaling paper but I don't like it as much. I love having lines without any borders.  I have done this for years and its because I use my planner also to journal my day. I used to have only one sheet placed in between my weekly calendar pages but I now use 2. I also use these for grocery lists or writing letters.

I have also noticed that my FC hole punch is starting to punch weird. I think I damaged it some how bringing it to and from work. I hate that but I'm going to continue to be on the look out for one at the thrift store. I have seen many since I purchased mine, but I will get a new one whenever I make it back to the store. And they usually are between $4 and $6. A huge savings on what they cost new.

Well until my next post...smiles, Tracy

Saturday, June 20, 2015

A new planner...that I'm returning

I wanted to say that I have been super busy at work the last couple of weeks and I was finally getting to a point where things were getting a little better. But my planner has become too stuffed and although I can easily remove pages and make things smaller, that isn't the issue. The issue is that the ring size is too small. It was an awesome find to get this planner last year at the Goodwill for $2.00 but the ring size is too small.
So I have been watching all things planner on YouTube and was super excited about seeing the kikki k planners and colors. Especially the plum planner.

And so I thought about it a little longer and finally decided that I wasn't going to be happy until I purchase the planner. And so last weekend I confirmed my order and believe it or not I got it yesterday. Well actually today. I had to pick it up from the post office. That shipping was amazing. Seriously I am super impressed by that.

And then I opened the box and started to look at my purchase. I immediately wasn't in like anymore. The first thing I noticed was that the tabs were bent. And even a few of them were ripped where you would use the tab to turn the page. That was absolutely disappointing. The second thing I noticed was that the pages at the back of the planner were bent in a c-shape because they were being pushed by the notepad. And then I also noticed that the center ring at the top of the planner was not closed all the way. I know that these things may not see like a big deal to anyone else but to me this was a combination that just said I need to return the planner. Don't get me wrong I know that compare to a lot of planners out there the price was ok. But I have had planners for years and the one thing I have learned is that if there is an issue with the rings... it will only get worse over time.

But I wanted to be informative to others about some of the things that I don't remember hearing while watching so many videos of the planner. The inside material is not leather. It is a very soft pink polka dot material. And it makes for an easily messed up inside of a planner. I imagined immediately the ink pen marks that I would be putting on it. The leather is bumpy. I like that actually. The pen holder doesn't hold any wide pens. So the super cute matching pen that I purchased will not fit into the planner at all. The holes don't match up to any hole punch that I could easily access. Including my nice punch that I found for the franklin covey.

But I can see that this planner would be a great option for some. It just wasn't what I thought it would be and the quality wasn't worth what I paid for it.

So I head over to franklin covey's website and was like why didn't I do this in the first place? They have a nice purple planner with 1.5 inch rings...I know the quality I will get from there and I have never been disappointed. I also know that although the leather might get scuffs and scratches on it, I think it would give that planner character. And there is always leather cleaner. I don't want to worry about how can I clean material. And although I purchased a huge amount of scrapbooking products to decorate my planner, I can use them in the franklin covey too. I'm going to get this one...


She's really pretty. There was an ocean one on the site that was another cute color but it wasn't in classic size. And that is the perfect size for me. There is one other one that is appealing but I have to really talk myself out of it because I've already had a mustard colored planner and although I loved it...oh whatever I might this one too...


 
 
Well I'm off to make some monthly calendar grids. I will try to start sharing more. I really forget about my blog because of all the other options for sharing.


Saturday, June 13, 2015

Congratulations Grad....One down and three to go...

I joke with the kiddos all the time that once highschool is over that they are no longer my responsibility. But really they will always be my responsibility. I love these kids and will do anything for them. Especially to make their lives full and healthy. This is my ultimate goal. I don't know how I could accomplish this without the Hubs being here 100% and I'm thankful I don't have to. But I say all this because a few weeks ago I flew my Mom in to our oldest son's highschool graduation and it dawned on me how blessed I am to be able to have the ability to do that. And that is really what I'm happy to share. That my Mom was able to come and experience with us this major accomplishment for our child. And although many of the people that should have come weren't;  the people that counted were... Our son is the first male on his Dad's side of the family to graduate from highschool. My father in law and husband both got GEDs and to me that is great too. But my father in law had me thinking about that most of the night. My son was the first.


 Well enough family business. Smiles, Tracy

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

2015...a wonderful new year

I hope everyone's year has started off well. Personally I'm super excited about 2015. I haven't been so excited about a new year and the possibilities since well last year lol. But this year has already started very well for the family. First off no one is sick. Thank goodness because if we get sick again I might just loose it. We had a horrible run of the ...um yucky stomach and it was bad because it also included both ends. I hate to talk about it but I had to bleach down my whole house from the front door to the patio. I kid you not I took half a day off from work to handle that issue. And since then we have all been 100% better.

But on a great and positive note, my employer (who had been pushing me to work from home) is happy because I work from home all the time now. I was fighting it because I love my family but working from home was hard but it has been a great so far. It's only been three weeks and I had to go in and pack up my work desk and get decorations and bring them home. Originally I had been planning on giving away all the decorations to others at the office but when the hubs found out he was like nope you should bring that stuff home. It is very feminine and cute and it should be added to our home so that your space is more your style instead of the gender neutral style it has been. So I packed up that little corner, and moved it basically to our home. It looks like this...




It is a little different from the photo now like I have moved the chickenwire frame over so it isn't straight lined up with the computer. I decluttered the drawers so that I could actually add office/work supplies. And it feels much more perfect. Not that the office wasn't perfect before but the flowers on the desk and lamp and even the frame seemed to make it more cozy. And that is why I have been working more hours I think.  But I'm going to have to try to cut back on work and get to using my scrapbooking desk again. It is missing me dearly. I keep looking at it while on hold and I keep thinking about all those amazing supplies that I need to play with.

On another note, I am not using the 2015 planner that I just had to have and started making. I guess what I didn't realize  until I purchased it is that the Simple Stories binders have 2 rings, which make it hard to insert smaller items. I don't love that at all. The other thing that is somewhat an adjustment is that the planners rings are on the right flap. I never thought this would be an issue but when I'm laying in bed trying to write down my thoughts there is a long flap on the other side that I often poke the hubs with. Sorry hubby. And the planner has been sitting on my scrapbooking desk now for almost a week. I really think I'm going to start using my FC planner again.  The one I got at the Goodwill is so flexible and I can actually fold over the cover so that it's bent like a notebook and it won't damage it at all. That makes for wonderful planning while in bed. I will just have to position my pages correctly in order to cut them down. And that is the only reason why I haven't done it just yet. And it's hard not having weekly planner pages to write on. I've been using my old diary to write in and I just miss writing in a planner. I need to have a place to write out ideas and goals.

 But anyways look what I bought me for Christmas...I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Seriously. This thing is amazing. I love being able to make healthy smoothies. The hubs and I are going to do smoothies for breakfast for a month in hopes to jumpstart our 90 day goal of starting to be healthier. Wish me luck. Honestly I have never ever ever done any form of dieting. Ever so this will be interesting.
         
 
 
 
I'll be back soon. Smiles, Tracy

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

What to share??

What to share this week. There isn't really too much yo share this week since most of my free time has been spent purchasing gifts, watching Christmas movies and just working as much overtime as possible.

But on another note I did take a few time this last week to update the boring bland corner of my kitchen into a cute little area to add to the great room. It was super simple and really cute.

posted from Bloggeroid

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Checking in to show you the calendar pages that I have completed during this relaxing (after all the cooking) Thanksgiving weekend. I love long weekends and this one is really refreshing. 


I was able to get March 2015 completed. The colors look different and match 100% better than on the photo.


And here is May 2015. May is a huge around here because it's two of the four kiddos birthdays and also its when we go on family vacation as well as the beginning of summer. It will also be the first May that we have a son graduating from High school. But here is the beginning of that calendar layout. And since this is my personal calendar I went with fun feminine colors. The papers are actually from the Simple Stories hey mom collection. I saw this collection on YT and was off to find it at the scrapbook store the following day. I love it because it has purple in it. (What I was looking for). Super cute for Mother's Day themed calendar pages.


Here are journaling pages for my two birthdays that are in May. I realized after the fact that I didn't leave a lot of room for journaling but I will journal the main points on here so that I can create scrapbooking pages later. And although this color doesn't match the other colors for the month, it still works perfectly in my planner.


April's page isn't done. I have tried to stick with one color for April but I keep looking through my stash and getting more stuff out. I really wanted to stick with the AC papers but I couldn't. Once I started looking through all these wonderful scrapbooking papers that I still had, I just had to open up the color range.  Well until next time...Smiles, Tracy

Sunday, November 23, 2014

A new calendar is full of potential...

Honestly there just is something really exciting about a new calendar. The pages are empty and ready to be written on. There is so much that you can schedule but my planner means that there is so many more fun things that I get to think about. Like when will we get to go on vacation this year, when will school be out for the summer, what will we be doing for our 15th anniversary? So many fun things to think about. Of course there is also the things that you have to think about like when bills are due, when are doctors appointments and so on and so on.

But if you have gotta use a calendar make it a fun one. I really like this calendar so far. There is so much fun in making calendars every year, but this one has been a lot more fun because I haven't crafted like this in forever.

I have finished January 2014 ....



I really love how it has turned out. I actually am not done with the monthly page but it is real close. I just need to add all upcoming appts and other schedule info and a photo of me on my birthday.

And then I worked on February....this is the most completed month. I LOVVEEE it. What do you think? I love being able to see my hubby and I together on this month. And I can't believe that we will be celebrating 15 yrs of marriage in February. I'm excited about it too. I can't wait to be able to go somewhere special with him that weekend.



I still have several months to go but the months have been printed on their corresponding patterned papers. I love this paper pack just for this reason. It is the Amy Tangerine pack from M's that I talked about in my previous post. I am using other paper lines in the calendar to add to the design. For instance the older WRMK Valentine's line will be used for the weekly and daily pages.

Happy planning scrapers. Smiles, Tracy

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Planning Ahead...

I love finding a great product that inspires me to be creativity. And while exploring instagram I found a photo of a new planner line coming in the scrapbooking world. And immediately I was intrigued. Seriously the line is almost perfect for my style of planner I wanted for this year. But there are things about it that don't fit my style of what I want too, so I sat down at my computer and came up with the monthly calendar that I wanted to use. It wasn't a great design not anything close to what I've designed before using Adobe but it was plain and right now plain is perfect so I can scrapbook it up. And since I'm looking more for a scrapbook that is a planner, the colors where printed in basic black too. I just love it.

I have always made my planners fit my style of planning and added photos and washi here and I've done something similar to this before but this is much more about the scrapbooking and writing it down then the supplies for me this time around.  And I can't wait for that line of scrapbooking planner to hit the shelves but I know that the monthly calendars and the weekly pages aren't going to work for me. I don't like being stuck with certain colors or products.  But even though I haven't seen it in person, I do know which products I want already. And yes I've added those to my wishlist already. LOL  I want January to be all about purple (it is after all my favorite color and also my birthday month) so I got to it....what do you think? It looks pink but there is a shade of purple and pink in there so I can rock purple on the weekly calendar pages for me and purple for the last week in the month for my daughter. Perfect comprise to the purple pink contrast without having it be girlie. I love it.



And yes those are paint sample cards...I'm using them to create the tabs for my months. I know clever huh. LOL I say that knowing that most know that it something that I've done many times before. And the photo sample card I usually use on the actual week of my birthday and put a photo of me on the other side or journaling card. Either way it's a cute element that is just my style. 

This page has changed so much already just from me sitting down to type this up I've decided that I'm going to stamp each day in the colors that match the doodlebug washi tape and I have pulled out some other washi tapes that match these colors to add to the daily pages...so the above pages were printed on plain computer paper but aren't these cute too....




This was printed on American Crafts Amy Tangerine papers that came in a stack from M's that was 8.5 x 11 and plain on the back side. Perfect match for both printing on as well running it through my printer.  These hearts are going to be for the month of August 2015. I have a ton of these colored embellishments and such that I can use with so many of our summer photos from 2014. That's why this is the perfect color for August. I'm serious about my planner life ladies and gentlemen.  So this is the beginning of a beautiful thing don't you think?

As for the scrapbook planner line, there are just a few items that I want  but the colors seem to be along the line of deep primary colors. And honestly I'm a bright in the spring and summer and bold or darker in the fall and winter kinda girl. As I type that I thought about explaining that to my boss and co-workers the other day. They seem to be thrown off when I rock all black or browns. It's the season for those colors. And I do love them just as much as bright pink and purples. And although they are awesome colors, I need to have flexibility I want bright fresh and airy feeling for my planner too. So although I'm designing the monthly calendar pages, weekly calendar pages, and maybe notes too; I do know that I want to get the daily pages. And I'm hoping that they will eventually expand on this product brand and lines. It would be nice to have different choices. But  I'm glad that I picked up the  Chevron binder this week from M's using the 50% off coupon and a gift card that I hadn't used. I don't know if M's gift cards expire but I figured I should use it before this year's Christmas came around.  I have had so much fun raiding my stash. I showed a photo of my scrapbook desk (not the entire space) to a co-worker and she said it was a nice little space. I wanted to laugh. Photos never show the actual size of something. My desk is the space of more than half of a 8ft by 13 ft room. And my cabinets are 36 inches and 24 inch kitchen cabinets from IKEA. When most people see it in real life they say your desk is bigger than your kitchen island. Which by the way it is. LOL...
See you soon. Smiles, Tracy

Saturday, November 15, 2014

The office space

My little cubicle at work was really hard to enjoy. Honestly I love my job. I really do. I like the people I work with, and I have some of the coolest knick but and ask questions later kinda bosses. And that is why I think I fit in perfectly. I'm about my business. Well my space wasn't. It was a little cubicle (they are all the same size LOL in my boss's voice) but it felt smaller. Its literally in the corner. It like dark too. But I have been personalizing it for the last few weeks. It needed some personality. And here is the finished project.


I don't love it...but it sure is getting closer to feeling better. I can say right now I like it a lot. Love would be a perfect canvas quote about hard work in some pretty teal purple and black colors. I'll take some close up pictures of things that I made. Like the chicken wire frame, clothespins to hang items and cute flag pins to hang things in the cube. It isn't done. But it is getting there. And I've only spent $15. The lamp was $6.99 from the thrift store. The frame was $3. And I got the chicken wire from Hobby Lobby for 40% off which made it less than $5. And everything else was from around my house. I'm love looking at my space now when I'm working. And yes I work with the lamp on. That light is needed. Now I can't wait to decorate it for Christmas.

posted from Bloggeroid

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Well who can wait a couple of days...

LOL I know that I just posted see you in a couple days but honestly I couldn't wait to share just a little fun I did decorating at work.

It was fun decorating. But next year I won't be decorating for this event. But isn't it super cute?

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Well now I'll be back in a couple days to show off my new decorated work desk and chicken wire frame.

posted from Bloggeroid

My poor little blog

So I came to my blog this last week to show off my previous works of art and share my love for all things crafting/decorating and more and I saw lots of my photos with an explanation mark on them. My heart sunk. Where did all my images go? Did someone mark them as inappropriate? What's wrong with it?? Well from all the research I read it could possibly be an update that I pushed through on my old cellphone or it could be that I deleted the images on a Picasa account. Well first off I knew nothing about having a Picasa account but maybe I had one. And somewhere in my memories I remember deleting images I had on an album because I didn't need them in said album. Is that my fault that I deleted them on one album and it directly affected my blog? I say yes and no. Had I been made aware that said album was directly connected to my blog I wouldn't have touched it. But I had not. I feel frustrated because over several years of blogging about my family, my life, my work and just stuff I drafted added photos but never shared (I wished blogger as a diary while being on bed rest for 2 or my last 3 pregnancies) is gone. Will I be able to recover a lot of the photos. Well yes and no. Yes if I have a way to and no because a lot of them are on my laptop that was destroyed and my hubby wiped and used it as an external hard drive without sharing the photos etc. No because hundreds I mean hundreds of cards and classes and projects that I taught, sold are gone because 2peasinabucket has closed their gallery. So in the mist of all that sad and whoa is me pity party I'm having I thought wow it gives me a chance to start over. To not be stuck on this used to be an amazing blog. Now this could be an amazing blog with a fresh start. I can start uploading old works of art that I have and share the memories of them again but with fresh spins on them. I can start sharing once a week again. So to my followers and fans and people who once loved seeing my work. Sorry it is gone but I am will have more to come. See you in a couple days..

posted from Bloggeroid

Saturday, February 15, 2014

I just wanted to come and say hello. I have been really busy working on my new planner and it has been a lot of fun. I can't believe how much I love writing in this planner and it really is shocking to me because I thought that I would really not like it as much. But I really do love it. I haven't even thought about the ARC system at all. My son however is loving the planner.

And I haven't done any scrapbooking lately but I have been using many scrapbooking items on my planner. I have been stamping and creating all over the place. I absolutely love the fact that I have been using my stash on something that I want to use it on. And that is perfectly ok with me.

I wanted to share a couple of the pages that I recently completed. I really like having something to write in that is so fun.




On another note...we just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I have to honestly say that I love my hubby so much. And it has been an interesting 14 years and I can't wait to see what we will share in the next years to come. I look forward to every thing that we will do and share together. Mostly because he will be by my side, that's what really makes it worth it.

And here is a photo of us then...
 
 
And a photo of us now...

 
Smiles, Tracy

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Love at first sight...

Since it is February, the month of love, I decided that it was time to tell you that I got a new planner. Well I haven't changed anything over or gotten rid of my ARC yet. And I had no plans of doing that until recently. But while roaming the thrift store and finding absolutely nothing that I came for, I was about to leave out of the store without anything. And then I thought well go look at backpacks because;I need a nice tote to use when we go to the lake again. Well to my surprise all the planners were in that area. And I almost screamed when I saw this Franklin Covey classic sitting in the bin... She and I feel in love immediately.




She is beautiful although the strap is missing. I think that I could create a new binding. Or completely take off the ring altogether. But for $2, I wasn't going to pass it up. It truly was love at first sight.

I know that I was excited about my ARC planner but honestly I haven't bonded with it. And I have been using it since early December 2013.There is one thing about it that I haven't liked for day one. And honestly I haven't mentioned it because I wanted to see if it got better, and then I wanted to get bigger rings but then I thought that I didn't want to spend anymore money on accessories when I really didn't like other things about it too.

I use my planner everyday several times a day and the fact that when I lay it flat and then try to close it, it's hard to close. I have never experienced this with any other planner so I know that it isn't because it's stuffed. Something is off. I don't know what and I have made many books and used several types of binding options but this one has some issues. The pages never come out or at least they haven't for me, but I can't stand that when I attempt to close it or turn to another section it's hard to do. But I have been trying to deal with it until I figure out what the issue is but why should I just deal with it for the rest of the year? But I bought the punch...well I guess that Staples store credit will be nice for purchasing planner pages. And if I decide to get rid of the planner, my youngest son has already said that he wanted it. So it won't go to waste. I just have to figure out if I want to keep trying to make it work or just move on. And so I decided that I should just move on at this point. I have been working on her cover page and deciding on scrapbooking pagers for her binders. I really can't believe that she was so inexpensive since she really is in great condition. And here she is again with some of the supplies I found in the sections that I will be keeping.
  

posted from Bloggeroid

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Chalkboard paint and finally a look into that office supply drawer...

I have been saying that I wanted to paint my pantry doors since forever with chalkboard paint and I even bought the paint about 4 months ago. And it sat in the garage for the whole time. And I although paint isn't something that I'm afraid of trying, this project intimidated me a little mentally because I didn't want it to look bad. Or make my kitchen look less than what I wanted it to look like long term. I want to do some major changes to the space, but those plans are long term. And although the idea of the chalkboard walls/doors seems practical for our family, I just wanted it to feel classy or something. I can't really explain it, but I wanted it to be pinterest quality I guess. Well finally I decided to do it last week. And I absolutely need to do some touch ups to the paint job because I didn't follow directions and let it cure for a week (so the chalk pens I used originally on it have left a permanent staining) but here is a photo of it all painted and decorated for my seven year old's birthday.



Can I say that this is the second best small thing I have done to this builder grade spec home to make it feel more like my own. I have had a chalkboard/message board in our homes in the past and it finally is starting to feel like this is something that is truly my style. Ok the office is the first thing but I should say the first thing in the kitchen. Those walls are still builder beige, which is another project that I have planned on working on before 2014 is over. Hopefully I'll have the space completed by then.

I mentioned before in other posts about the top drawer of my desk being only office supplies. And honestly I had no intention on showing that drawer to anyone, but while on twopeas the topic was brought up and I thought why not show it. It isn't messy, there isn't anything wrong with a person having 20 packs of post it notes open in all shapes and sizes Right? LOL well if you use them in planners and on school binders and all things organizational, then yes it is absolutely perfect. So here is a photo of the drawer.


 I have to say that most of the items were purchased during school supply sales. Or at the 99cents only store while I was on my lunch break. That place is great to walk while trying to deal with stress at work. Well only if you spend less then $5 that is. And I didn't buy lunch each day (because I packed my lunch) but I would go and get a tea and check out the office supplies. And I could say that these are all the stash that I have but that would be a lie. There is still a front pantry closet of school supplies for the kids and then I have a small stash in my cabinet above my desk. I honestly have run out of post it notes so I try to stock up when I see them on sale or really cheap. I have to say that it doesn't take much for me to follow the organizer/planner/Filofax obsession since I already was a office/school supply/scrapbooking one.  And honestly it is kind of nice to know that there others out there that are just as nerdy and silly about paper, planners, and post-it notes as I am. I can remember buying my school supplies for high school with my Target paycheck and how I loved the fact that I got all that I needed, what my brothers and sisters needed and still had enough money and supplies left to donate some supplies to my best friend (as well as have over half my paycheck left). I love supplies but I especially love good deals! Well until next time. Smiles, Tracy

Friday, January 24, 2014

Planner update...

I promise that all my future posts won't be about my planner. Well not all of them. But I wanted to come and give some feed back for anyone that may be considering an ARC planner.

I still like the planner. Although I'm wondering about the wear on the covers. I have had my planner for a little over a month and a half and plastic cover is rounded now. And that is ok. But it is something that I think about when I look at my planner. I am not in love with the paper quality of the monthly calendar/weekly pages. They don't fall out but I feel that I must washi tape the edges because they aren't that strong feeling. Although not one page has ever fallen out.

I also have decided that whatever planner I get in the future must have 2 page per week and also notes too. I'm finding that I need more writing space (as I thought I would)and the only way to solve that issue is add a note page.

So I went to the thrift store recently and while in there just looking, I saw that there are several Franklin Covey planners there that look nice. They are all black, but still in really good shape. Two of them were $2.99 and another was $4.99. I decided to wait until I check a couple other stores because I would like a larger sized one if I'm going to use these again? I'm still debating because the rings bother me, but the more I use this planner, I realized that I still have the same issue with these rings. So really unless I'm going spiral bound for 2015, a ring is a ring is a ring. I have been doing a little more with the planner lately. I have started to stamp on pages now. And it is fun. I got to pull out stamps that I didn't even remember buying (there was a time while working fulltime that I was stressed so I'd go to M's for my lunch break). I also realized that if I purchased a planner it doesn't have to have lines because I have a ton of journaling line stamps. It is nice to actually use my supplies again even if it isn't for scrapbooking. Here is a photo.


Oh and the heart shaped small post it notes are diecut using my spellbinders dies. I was thinking about purchasing some heart shaped post it notes but most of the time the shape is off or is too big and this size is perfect. The actual lined paper is from the thrift store I got a pack of Franklin Covey and Daytimer lined notepaper for 25cents each. And I cut them down to fit into my planner. It is very thin, but that's ok for now.


I hoped to have completed my wall of Valentine's Day décor but since I am now preparing for my daughter's birthday I'm going to finish working on it after next weekend. Well I hope that everyone is having fun making crafty things no matter what the craft is. Smiles, Tracy

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Valentine's Day already?

I can't believe that is has been a week since my birthday. But what I couldn't believe is that I went shopping and there was Valentine's day items out already. It was really without a beat that we moved from one holiday to the next around here. So this weekend I finally started packing up Christmas. Speaking of Christmas here is a photo of the family on Christmas Day at my Father & Mother in law's place.




 I wish that I could say that we had a great holiday well we we did have a great time after everyone got over the food poisoning that they had. It was truly a bad cause of it here.  We went to several Christmas parties in our neighborhood and none of them made us sick, but a neighbor came and gave us some cookies and my littlest one got into them. I honestly told my hubby to toss them because we didn't know the neighbors well enough to eat their food and the wife usually doesn't even speak to me or my kids at all when we speak and wave to them. So I asked him to toss the snacks. He didn't listen and he gave some to our youngest and he had some too. They both were sick within an hour (maybe more like 30 mins) and it was bad. Real bad. So my rule of tossing things like that will be honored because he now understands.

Well I went to several stores because I wanted to get some items for our mantel and get it decorated why I was motivated to do Valentine's Day because usually Christmas would be up until the end of the month and then I would just do Spring. Not Valentine's Day but because our anniversary is two days before I decided that the mantel this year needed to celebrate our day of love. I'm working on it...it is a process honestly. I really want it to look nice and somehow that in my mind includes a bunting, a couple of frames, photos and more. I'm excited because I haven't done much with photos of our wedding. And somehow I have been consumed with getting this mantel done. I have also been reorganizing my space. I have also been sucked into the washi tape world too. I do have to say that I never got the whole washi tape craze when it first started but using it on the edges of my planner pages makes it a necessity now.LOL.

But here is the start of the mantel that I'm working on. I realized something today. I have lost my picture taking skills. Photos that I have taken all seem to be blurred somewhat. I think I need to learn my new camera, but really I also think that I haven't been taking photos so I have lost a really good skill of not taking blurred photos.


I also see now that I need to finish painting and correct some paint issues. I think this is going to be cute and most items were things that I had around the house. I will add more photos of the finished product.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Years!!

I enjoyed our family's New years celebration this year. It was spent at home with our immediate family, snacking and listing to music. I also got to sneak off with the girls and we went to the office to craft a little. Well they came to paint and I came to work on my planner. And I accomplished a lot of more that I had planned on doing tonight/this morning.

So this is what I have completed so far, there isn't much done. But the cover is finished.



all the photos of each family member is added to their birthday month/actual day of their birthday.
And here are a couple inside pages as well. Not a lot going on, because if you can't tell from my scrapbooking style I'm a less is more kinda girl. But I do like cute stickers (on my planner only lol) and while working on this planner I'm realizing just what I'm going to change next year...well that is if I still love this style planner in December??







And of course I started my wishlist and supplies that I need to order for 2014. It wouldn't be my planner if it didn't have that section in it lol.


Sunday, December 29, 2013

A new year means a new planner

Every year I go through this search for the perfect calendar for the upcoming year. I have written about on my blog a few times. And some years I find the perfect premade product on the market and some years I have to pull out the scrapbooking supplies and get to work on creating my own. And honestly when it's all done, for that year that calendar is absolutely perfect for me. So I have been searching online for the perfect calendar, and there is one that I like because of all the trendy colors but honestly I know that it would not serve its purpose for me. One of the biggest things a calendar has to do for me is allow me enough space  to write things down that I want to write, sometimes that means a thought about something that I want to do or scrapbook, or sometimes that means the spending I want to do for a house project.  I need the space to write. And the planner that I love because I saw thousands of videos on, doesn't allow me to write horizontally and that would drive me nuts. And I can't stand writing vertically. It doesn't make sense to me. So it wouldn't work for me. It also has the days separated by morning, afternoon and evening and that wouldn't work for me either because like I said I like to write and most times it has nothing to do with the time of day or a scheduled event. I write appts./ meetings on the monthly calendar section of my planners and so times are not important to me when I am writing weekly info. And the cost of the planner honestly didn't bother me too much because I have bought Franklin Covey planners in the past and to be honest it makes perfect sense to spend the money on something that I  like; especially if it serves an important purpose for my everyday. But it has to function for me. And the one online doesn't, Franklin Covey planners used to be ok, but to me they are now to boring. Sorry but they are. And I don't want to have to decorate it all up if I paid a lot of money on it but I honestly know that I would end up doing just that. But the most important part to me is having enough writing room and I don't want too many stickers and all that on my planner pages because to me it's all about the writing.

So I was thinking about this since mid-September when my current planner broke. And this is the reason why I'm not buying that planner type this coming year.  The planner was awesome. It had a perfect hard pocket on the front that I used to make a scrapbooking page of some of our favorite photos from years past. It was perfect. It laid flat so I could write in it while laying in the bed at night, it gave me more than enough space for writing but it wasn't durable. It first broke in May and then in September the front cover was completely off and I was using a huge pink binder clip to keep it together... Here is a photo of it next to my new planner for 2014.


But once again it was perfect it broke.

But I also couldn't get it to fit into my purse anymore either without damaging it more so I decided that I needed a smaller planner. Smaller meant that I would loose out on writing space and the calendar squares would be smaller; but I was ok with looking.

Well it is December and the perfect time to set-up my new planner is now while I'm on vacation. So I felt like I had to rush and make a decision cause the holidays and new year is fast approaching.

So today I want to Staples and picked up an Arc notebook and refills for it. I also got some Martha Stewart products that have the same disc system and I decided that I really wanted to dress up the planner. It is the smaller version. I decided on that one although I love the bigger one because once again I can't get that bigger one in and out of my purse so easily.

The upfront cost seems like a lot to me because you really aren't getting a planner that's premade but after a few shopping trips for other home things, I decided to check out the 99cents only store. And they had planners from 2013-2014 for you guessed it $1.00. I wasn't purchasing them to use for the actual planner, but the acrylic to make the plastic cover that I wanted on my new planner, and a long plastic tab thingy. I also went to Hobby Lobby to find some more accessories and I saw the BH 12x12 dated plastic tab things for Project Life. But that cost was way too much.

This new planner combines the best of two things for me, a planner and it allows me to be creativity too. I love cutting down the acrylic to make the things that I need to be organized. I purchased the punch because honestly if I don't like the planner in 30 days I can return the punch per Staples no questions asked. Here is the inside of the planner, the pouch and was purchased but the quote was actually on a two pocket folder sold at the 99cents only store that I cut down in order to use the scripture.


The original images weren't showing up...reloaded images. Planner on the left was 2013 planner and one on the right was the ARC planner for 2014. This is the cover before I decorated it.
Front cover after I decorated it.
So do you use planners? Do you make your own? Do you purchase pre-made ones and dress them up? Share what you do...I'm curious.

Monday, December 9, 2013

There once was a woman who had a blog...

and she believed that she would be able to post on her blog daily. And her posts would include beautiful pictures of the scrapbooking/cards that she made and sold. And she would update her blog with photos of all the updates and redecorating projects that she started and completed. And she would keep her family updated with all the things that were going on with the family. And then that woman got a fulltime job that sucked the creativity out her. That exhausted her mentally and honestly she did redecorating projects but she didn't do anything crafty really. Just little things here and there and very few if any of those things that she did that was crafty was actually scrapbooking or card related. And there sat her beautiful space unused, unappreciated by her. It was a space that almost taunted her because she felt guilty that she didn't want to be in there but to sit in the chairs and watch TV or get on the computer. That woman blamed her lose of creativity on her job, on her space being so neat that she didn't want to mess it up, and the biggest excuse was that she didn't have a laptop anymore to use with her die-cutting machine. But really none of these reasons where really the issue. She just didn't feel like crafting honestly. It was sad but it was ok to her, because she knew that one day, when it didn't make any sense at all, she would start crafting like a crazy person again. And it would be like she never even stopped.

That day still hasn't come but that woman would like to say that she loves reading craft blogs of others. And she has been doing that lately. And although she hasn't done much scrapbooking that woman made a Christmas card today in 30 minutes using products that had been sitting on her desk with dust on them. How could she have dust on her scrapbooking desk? It was the strangest thing for her to see and she cleaned it up but she really was motivated to at least come into her space once or twice a week and dust at least from now on...

So that story is over...lol
I wanted to show you the card that I made. It is cute and simple. A perfect start to a card since I haven't made one in forever. But honestly I'm still going to be sending it to a co-worker. I hope that she likes it.


 




I really need to make Christmas cards this year. And since I have several hours of PTO I must use before I loose it; I got some free time on my hands.

But I do want to also show you our mantel that I did this year. It needs something?? But for right now it is absolutely perfect. I hope to have much more to share in the coming weeks. I know that this time off will fly by fast so I have made a daily schedule that includes a little crafting every other day. I hope to be able to keep up with that schedule.