Friday, September 25, 2015

Planner woes and maybe a light at the end of the tunnel.

Well friends, I'm struggling with my planner.  I think I just got too excited and wanted ALL THE THINGS.  I think I just may have made mine too complicated.  I have a video flip through on youtube of my first set up.

Here you go

I got myself the A5 Filofax Monochrome and I think it's beautiful.  Since this was my first real planner, I wasn't sure what kinds of inserts I would end up using.  I made allllll kinds of inserts and put a little of everything in to see what worked and what didn't.  A side note about me....I don't do things halfway.  I'm a full on -in it to win it- kind of girl.

As I started to see things that weren't working I would pull them out.  Even left with just a few things, it's still not really working.  More than anything, the daily pages are what's killing me.  They're nice and all, I just don't use them the way I thought I would.  I still really like the brain dump and the lists section.  The meal planning is ok I guess, but I don't like that it's separate.  I end up having to write what we're having on the weekly and daily pages anyway, so what's the point of that?  While we're on that, why in the world do I need weekly AND daily pages?

Nope, nope, nope....this just won't do.

I made myself tons of different stickers in photoshop and cut them out with my silhouette.  I got removable labels in small sizes and stamped stuff onto them.  You name it, I probably had it going on.  And guess what......None of it is really working for me.  Breaks my heart.  I've put a lot of time and money into this, trying to get myself more organized.  I've been a list maker my whole life.  Having a planner just seems like a natural thing for a person like me.  Perhaps I shouldn't say more organized.  I'm a pretty organized chick, I just wanted everything in ONE place.  I wanted something tangible, not a phone calendar.  We are living in a digital world, and I'm a tactile girl (great, now Madonna's running through my head)


 
My supply set up
 




A bunch of stickers I made for myself.  They're mostly printed on sticker paper and then cut with the silhouette, but some are just small Avery labels that I've stamped on.


Some of my planner stamps


I even had a cart full and almost pulled the trigger over at Erin Condren.  I was so afraid of throwing that money into a hole and never using the planner.  I ended up making myself some mock sheets and used that for a few weeks to see if it would stick.  No dice.  SO glad I didn't order that.  I love the idea of the ECLP, I just don't do 10,000 little divided sections.  Too cluttered for me.

I see some of these plan with me videos where there's so much going on, I can't imagine how they actually SEE what they have scheduled.  They're pretty to look at, they really are.  I just don't think I could decipher what I've got going on with all of that stuff competing for my attention.

Lo and behold....I may have found planner peace.  In the simplest, most uncomplicated way.  Marcy Penner's planner.  She has a download on her site of an undated page in letter size.  I resized it so that I would have it more like hers is size wise.  I know this sounds dumb and a little premature, but it's been four days and IT JUST FITS.  It FITS me.  In order to try to get some use out of the filo, I'm going to try to do A5 pages with this layout, but I reeeeeaaaallly like the size of this as it is.

It's so clean and simple.  I can use a couple stamps and stickers without it looking like a unicorn barfed on my page.  I've got 4 weeks worth printed out.  I'll give it a good solid 4 weeks and see if there's anything that I'd tweak.  PLUS, I have a bind-it-all, and crazy amounts of pretty paper.  I can totally make myself a planner for 2016.

Any tips you can throw my way would be really appreciated!

xoxo,
Liz

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Bible Journaling - 09/15

Hello everyone!
I'm back with my second bible journaling page. I'm really loving this new craft. I love being able to create art around The Word.

This page is created around the verse Romans 13:11-12

11. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.  For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
12. The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

This verse may have been intended for a different purpose, but it really hit me in a powerful way.  Seeing the condition of the world, and how quickly it is turning for the worse, has weighed heavy on me for years.  It breaks my heart to see and hear about some of the things people are doing to each other.  Evil has always existed, that is true.  But it seems to me that gasoline has been poured over it and it has ignited and has turned into an all consuming darkness in the hearts of man.

I'm a mom.  I fear for my children growing up in this world.  I pray over them constantly.  I pray that the Lord keep them safe, and hold them close to Him.  I pray that their minds are shielded from the soul corrupting force so prevalent in our daily lives.  I pray for their health, their hearts and their minds.  I pray, I pray, I pray.

Even with all of this chaos in the world, I know that He is with us.  God is with me, and He is with my husband and He is with my children.  We are blessed in a million ways, and we are grateful for all of it.  Thank you Lord.




Not shown in the video below, I put two thin coats of Matte Gel Medium on the pages and dried to help protect from bleed through.  As you can see towards the end of the video, I show the back of the page and there is no bleeding.  A little ghosting, but no bleeding.

Here's my process video.  Hope you enjoy it!



Thanks for watching!  Let me know what you think!

xoxo,
Liz