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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Calendar progress

Well this calendar idea is a great idea (this is a pep talk for myself..lol) but seriously I like being able to make calendars and notebooks because I seem to use so many on a daily basis. And personally there hasn't been a calendar that can do all the things that I need it to do at a reasonable price and also at a size that I love. But enough about all that. I can't believe how much I actually have accomplished in the few hours that I have been working on this project.

The calendar pages are done, the menu planner pages are done and I have decided to have it be effective and also a reasonable size to carry around in my purse, I need to only do it from August to December and then re-evaluate how I have it set up and what I am using it for next year.

I have decided that I no longer want it to be a bracket shaped album, especially since the point on the bracket shape would eventually be destroyed. And then the shape would like weird.

Here is what I have completed so far...

I love that I my "draft" allowed me to see that I really didn't love the look of the stamped undefined sections of the original design and so I really needed to make sure and make it look cleaner. I know that many don't use calendars or planners but I have since forever and I haven't just made one or two in my day. I originally made calendars when I was a teen by using printer paper and a ruler. And the stamped date section really felt like it was just too unorganized for my taste.  I say that to say, it doesn't matter what your calendar is just as long as you like how it looks and know that it will help you. And too much undefined space would surely get cluttered to me (especially since I love to write).

I cut all the pages from the cricut using MTC (my most favorite go to tool) and before I could blink I have a really neat looking planner. I am now going to cut down some college ruled filler paper and add a notes section. And I am still debating on having the bill paying section after each month or having a separate section (tab) just for that.

Well I gotta get some laundry done, some kids fed, some calls made and... until next time!

PS...I have huh duh moment while working on this project. Originally I was cutting the rounded rectangle on my cricut and then running it through my printer on top of the a previously printed word doc to get perfect alignment but after I thought about I changed the margins of the word doc, and then put the previously diecut cardstock directly into the printer and then printed on that directly. I couldn't believe that all that time I had spent re-taping a next cardstock piece on top of the printed image and then printing one side and then un-taping and doing it on the other side. I completely forgot that with my new printer that I could adjust the size that I was printing...huh duh! LOL!

PS#2...I really can't believe some of the other things that I have forgotten about since moving into this house. I completed decorated the office a certain way (on a budget) but honestly I don't love it. I love that there is an office, but really am not loving that the kids (especially the girls) get into everything all the time. And I'm trying o figure out a way to make my stuff not be so accessible. Well I opened one of the cabinets that I haven't been able to get into because the youngest one's desk blocks it, and I could have slapped myself. I mean I knew that my felt was in there and mini album stuff and old homeschooling stuff but I'd completely forgotten that I had 2 band spanking new 8.5x11 American Crafts 3 ring (alterable) albums...really how could I forget that? I have been postponing working on the girl#1's  album because I didn't know what size album to make for her. And school will be starting soon and I just knew that I wanted to be prepared for Kindergarten pictures. But  my budget doesn't allow any spending on scrapbooking stuff right now...well I don't need $$. I also couldn't believe that the albums had $2 stickers on them, but then I remember that I got them from the garage sale at Scrapbooks, ETC before I left MN...oh I miss local scrapbook sales where you can get 8.5x11 new albums still in plastic for $ 2.00! At that price it is a bonus and a treasure to loose them and find them again when you really do need them!

The calendar is done, but the cover still isn't!

I forgot to upload pictures of the calendar that I made. I truly thought I knew what I wanted to do to the cover but then I got distracted and started working on another BIA project. I don't have the cover done for my personal/work/scrapbooking calendar but I really like the calendar pages. Here are a couple of them. I use this alot and it is big (8x6) I can fit it into the diaper bag which I will be carrying for the next couple years or so.

I think this BIA machine is a great idea, but I surely can see me making tons of these calendars and mini albums just for fun!