So, a few days were missed, but considering my daily layout hasn’t changed very much, I think that’s ok ;). What I’d like to focus on today is a decorative/thematic element, which is the palm/tropical… More
Day Two – One Month in My Bujo
Before getting to today’s page/spread, I wanted to go back and highlight yesterday’s to show that it can accommodate a long task list and still have room left over to journal, if desired.
Today, I want to focus on how I use color in my Bujo. Color can be useful to draw the eye or, in this case, highlight important tasks. While I have a section to focus on important events or tasks, there are also others that need to be looked at or started.
I find this more useful than the Important signifier because it gives an increased feeling of importance and something to focus on. It doesn’t always mean I’ll get the task done, but it does keep it in my mental cook stove, if that makes sense.
What alternatives do use to highlight important tasks or gets you motivated to complete them?
Day One of One Month in my Bujo
For the month of June, I decided to dedicate one page to each day:
Each day has a header featuring…
- The day of the week
- The date
- The weather
- And important info such as appointments/events, work shifts and very important tasks that absolutely need to be done that day.
The rest of the page is devoted to my tasks with space to journal. You might be asking why one page for one day and the answer is pretty simple: Over the course of a couple months, I found that I enjoyed journaling even though I didn’t do it consistently. While the spreads I saw for two or three lines a day was great, they didn’t accommodate for the days I had more to write and I was reluctant to break up the spread over the course of a month. After some thinking, I came up with an easy to setup design.
What about you? Do you journal on a daily basis? Do you have a dedicated spread for it or do you journal wherever in your notebook?
One Month in my Bujo (June Set-up)
Recently, I’ve been binge-watching the YouTube channel of Kara Benz (aka, Boho Berry). Specifically, her One Month in My Digital Planner series and I’m inspired to try it myself with my plain ol’ paper and pen notebook. I’m also migrating to a new one for a fresh start (just too many mistakes and spreads glued together that I just didn’t want to open the darn thing anymore without cringing).
Above is my key and the start of my Index, while below you’ll see my reading challenge or, as it’s listed on the Index, the books I’ve read and plan to read in 2018:
I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve become obsessed with Kevin Hearne’s series, The Iron Druid. I’ve added more books to break up the cycle and I plan on re-reading and continuing The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher since I kind of fell off that wagon around 2012.
For June, I decided to go with a palm leaves/tropical theme because it’ll be the start of summer this month. To be honest, though, it’s already starting to feel like summer where I live (ugh, the humidity! T_T).
And that’s it for now! I’ll be posting a Day One entry later today and if not then definitely tomorrow!
Red Heart Yarn – it’s a wrap
I finally found this yarn in our store and I’m super excited to use it! 😃
Has anyone used this yarn? I’ve heard that the colors are joined together via knots – Can anyone confirm this?
Hello February!
As it’s the last full week of January, it’s time to look ahead to February. With a new month, comes a new thing to try in my BuJo and I’m really excited about it!
For the past few months, I’ve been getting the Felicity Jane subscription box and I’m really happy to finally use some of the super cute things that came with my recent box. It features the adorable coffee loving gal, Reagan, who wears a pretty pink knitted cap and light blue sweater. When I opened the box, she was perfect for February since I did NOT want to go with a typical pink/red theme. Continue reading “Hello February!”
Bye, 2017
2017 was certainly a rollercoaster of a year. It was chock full of political, racial/ethnic, and even ethical upheavels. Personally, 2017 was a ride with many ups and many downs. I think I traveled to see extended family and friends last year more than I did in the last five years thanks to my cousin getting married. 2017 brought new life to friends and saw the unfortunate passing of loved ones. Due to this travel and other factors (an inconsistant retail schedule, some physical, some were just excuses), a lot of the things I said I’d do got waylaid, put off, or weren’t completed (I’m looking at you, baby blankets). Inconsistency has been the bane of my existance for a majority of my life and something I struggle with constantly as a behavior of ADD. Thinking of this, I’m reminded of a quote by Thomas Edison that’s always resonated with me:
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Mini Monday & Outlander
This weeks #minimaniamonday spread in my Mini Happy Planner features black, mint/teal, and red colors. Like another planner by the internet moniker of By Rochelle, I like to use a certain type of sticker in one of the MAMBI sticker packs so until I can find an alternative sticker combo for work disignations, I’ll be introducing some more color into my spreads.
As you can see, I’ve used up nearly all the cool hues/colors of these stickers – I guess it’s time to start thinking outside of the box! Or maybe it’s time to start thinking about making my own stickers? Hm… Choices, choices…
Recently, a typical element to my spreads is layering random stickers with the boxes mentioned above to designate my work days. These are usually stickers from The Planner Junkie from Summer’s Junkie Samplers. Out of the few Etsy shops I’ve purchased planner stickers from, hers just seem to be a better quality product and she produces things I prefer and will use so I highly recommend buying from her (yes, I realize her stuff is pricey, but I think it’s worth the money). Some splashes of floral motifs are littered throughout this weeks spread to round it out.
My goal next week is to do more stamping in my Mini to save on sticker usage.
Outlander – A Mini Review
Moving onto the bookish aspect of the blog, I’ll be doing mini reviews instead of full-blown ones as I think having to go back and review an entire book makes my brain overthink things. Splitting up my thoughts through quarterly reviews I think will make the project more manageable. That said, my thoughts at the halfway mark on Diana Gabaldon‘s Outlander:
Pacing/Style – It’s not horrible; Neither too slow or too fast. Gabaldon writes in a style that’s about the same; She’s not wordy and doesn’t spend an unecessary amount of time giving history lessons (which was a concern of mine given that the book is 200 pages shy or so of 1,000). There are a few instances where I found myself eye-rolling, but like real humans, characters are not perfectly written, either.
Story – I’m enjoying it and there are been a few reading sessions where I tell myself, “just one more chapter,” until I realize it’s four-in-the-morning and I have to be up in three or four hours for work. I am at a point where I’d like Claire to make a choice, but given that this is the first book in the series, I suspect the remainder of the book will be spent in this Zone of Indecision for a while longer? (I only assume this based on what I’ve seen in the series /sheepishlook Clearly she made a choice, whether she was conscious of it or not.)
There were some instances in the story and it’s affect on characters that I was uncomfortable with, but those are thoughts I’m saving until I’ve completed the novel.
Let’s Dust This Blog Off…
The last time I posted here was in April showing how I used a discbound notebook with the Bullet Journal system. Since then I’ve gone back to using the planners by Me and My Big Ideas (MAMBI)—The Happy Planner—because I missed doing all the decorating that comes with it. There was also the fact that it was difficult to gauge how much space was going to be used and needed for each week and therefore future planning pertaining to my work schedule (despite the fact that Ryder addresses that issue). The Future and Monthly Log simply wasn’t working for my needs and as a retail worker, it’s very important to be able to refer to my schedule for the next week. That said, I still highly recommend the system to people looking for ways to be productive.
2017, so far, has been a somewhat surprisingly busy year for me. March saw me attending the Spring Scrap Camp even though I wasn’t scrapbooking, but yarnbending—and I was not the only one not scrapbooking this time!—and this year also marked a significant life event. Not for me, but my cousin! Sometime last year (I think?) he announced his engagement to his girlfriend so my mom and I spent one weekend this past May attending his fiancee’s bridal shower and then the end of July we attended their wedding. I am so very happy for him and his wife and wish them all the best ♥!
So what have I been doing in the reading and crafting department? Admittedly, my progress has been slow to non-existent on the projects I want to complete, but I have been picking at them. In the yarnbending department, I’m working on four projects—two shawls and two blankets—and they’re all at varying stages that I’ll post about in the near future. As for my reading endeavors, I have not been as successful at completing books this year as I’d like to be. I’ve been participating in a traveling book project with marginal success, but I’m hoping to get Outlander read this month and reviewed. Yes, you read correctly—reviewed. It’s my intention to make more of an effort to get books read and completed more often so that I can review them.
Other plans I have in mind for the blog are planning related. I don’t think I’ll be doing any tips or tricks because there are plenty of awesome planner babes that do a far better job than me. On the planning front, I intend to use my Instagram as a springboard for more detailed posts here. That being said…
What kind of content related to books, crocheting, and planning would you like to see here? Please comment below with ideas and requests and I’ll see if I’ll be able to implement it on the blog :).
Photo by Austin Ban on Unsplash.
How I Bullet Journal
I start this post on a dreary Wednesday morning after a long, impromptu hiatus. What better time to journal than when the the weather is this yucky? Now, that’s what! Granted, I had started this post a little while back, but as Life so often does, it got in the way. I hope this past weekend treated everyone well and that you’re ready to read my little tidbit of info in the Bullet Journal corner of the Intertubes!
How It All Started
I began using the Bullet Journal system back in August of 2016 after using spending the summer using The Happy Planner (HP) by Me and My Big Ideas (MAMBI). I love MAMBIs discbound planner system. The discs make it super easy to remove pages and decorate, write, plan, etc., and add the page back into the planner. The problem I ran into was that there wasn’t enough space in both the vertical layouts (Classic and later Big) and the horizontal layout of the Mini when it came it out (which is so adorable and handy, y’all!). Pinterest came to my rescue! (Seriously, what would us Crafters do without Pinterest?)
When I had been looking into the HP, I vaguely recalled having seen some info on this other system called the Bullet Journal. But, as I’m sure many others before have done, I got hung up on the word “journal” and passed it by because “planner” hadn’t been in the title. After some research, I regret not having taken the time in the first place to look into it when I began my Path to Planning Peace.
The Bullet Journal (Bujo) system is simplistic in its idea. Ryder Carroll, the creator of the system, designed it to be whatever you needed and to be forgiving if you didn’t get to something, such as a task for example, that day. The even better part? You don’t need to go out and buy a fancy, pre-printed planner; You can simply use any notebook of your choice and any pen (or pencil!) of your choice.
Yes, you read it correctly. Any notebook. Any pen. Boom. You already got the supplies you need to use the system. Now, the more gung-ho users of the system will get really fancy with brush pens, draw, add stickers (or use stamps), and use washi (crafting) tape. Don’t let those things deter you from using the system because you don’t need them if you just need a single place to keep track of all the things you need to keep track of. Some people don’t need the extras to be productive, some people need to use the extras to do the same thing. As the saying goes, “You do you.”
The Notebook Cover
Trying New Things
I’m really excited for October and not just because of Halloween. I recently came across a lovely post (either in one of the Bullet Journal groups I’m in on Facebook or just browsing Instagram) for writing down thoughts for a Book of the Month (BOM) the individual was reading. It’s a pretty great idea so I’m going to give it a shot for the last three months of 2016 and see how it goes! Hopefully, it’ll let me get my points across better for any potential reviews I do, fingers crossed.
Another feature I’m giving a try in my journal is a time tracker inspired by Boho Berry. I think it might be nice–and a good idea–to see what I’m doing time-wise and how I can plan hobbies and fun time around appointments and work. The time tracker will probably need some tweaking to see what works and what doesn’t, but that’s the beauty of the Bujo system! You use what works and get rid of what doesn’t! :D
The cute little bat featured on my goals page is part of an illustration set made by Hanna Stüker on Creative Market.
Books. Yarn. Tea. 