Archives for January 2015

Project Life Title Page

January 13, 2015

So here it is, I’ve finally created my title page for my 2015 album. I can’t say I’m 100% happy with it, but it is what it is, right? As I impatiently await my arrival for my January kit, I used a lot of products from Studio Calico‘s December Kit (Park Ave. Project Life Kit). The first card on my page (Twenty Fifteen) is a freebie from Caylee Gray (LOVE HER STUFF). I love the stickers I used – the camera & the little suitcase. They are from a Japanese company I absolutely adore, Midori. They are also the creators of the Traveler’s Notebooks. The stickers are from the Paper Craft Museum and oh my goodness, they are to die for. A little on the pricier side for the amount they come with but in my opinion, so worth it. You can see all their products here (Japanese only). How are you all doing on your title pages? I wanted to wait for my January Studio Calico kits to get here but I just couldn’t wait! I’m so excited to start the year off right and stay on track so I’m not spending the beginning half of NEXT year, catching up!

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Photo Dump | Week 2 & my One Little Word

January 13, 2015

As you can tell by the lack of posts, this week was a whirlwind of craziness! L’s return, pre-school starting again and a reunion of sorts with friends which ended up being an ending-at-5:00 AM karaoke session. I tried to make some time for some crafting but that proved to be a disaster.

This week was really an emotional week for me, in terms of family relationships. But it has lead to me to choose my one little word for the year: trust. Before this week, I had chosen blossom, but now, trust. Trust in God, trust in myself, trust in my family, my friends, and trust in that what’s meant to be will be. It felt so good to go to Mass on Sunday after a hiatus at our regular church, probably because the priest was on vacation, ha! It really calmed my nerves that have been on edge all week and now I’m feeling refreshed to face the week. Working on both my 2014 and trying to keep up with my 2015 album is proving to be quite the process but I’m enjoying it nonetheless. Will share pages as I finish up. Today, I finished my Title Page so I will be sharing that later today! Also, working on a giveaway to commemorate the starting of this blog and I’m excited to get that set-up!

2015 Planner Set-Up (and some history)

January 6, 2015

My planner adventure started a LONG, LONG time ago. When I was much younger, we received “agendas” for school and this was basically our bibles. We loved customizing our agendas, writing our assignments in colorful pens and stickers, writing each other notes in them, etc. Living in Japan, where it’s basically a hub for all things cute stationary, we all wanted the newest and hottest new stationary. So, that’s where it began. Fast forward to when I found Cathy’s blog, Inside the Crafter’s Studio and her post on her Filofax. I was hooked. February 2014 was when I purchaed my first Filofax (the original personal sized Filofax in Yellow), and it was love at first sight. I loved the buttery color, the feeling of a stiff, brand new leather planner, and all the beauty that came with it.

In October, I travelled to Australia for my best friend’s wedding. We went shopping and I stumbled upon the kikki.K store. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything in this store was. Seriously. I was drooling. I originally went in, wallet in my hand, ready to purchase the Leather Personal Planner in Lilac, as I had been eyeing it online before my trip to Australia. But, as fate usually does, the store we visited in Brisbane was all sold out. Needless to say, I was bummed but then this beauty caught my eye. The Large Lilac Leather Time Planner. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL. I was worried the large size and the rubber band closure would throw me off, but boy am I so glad I got myself this little gift. As it is quite large, I don’t carry it around with me but I have a little notebook I carry with me to jot down notes or dates that I need to transfer when I get home.

The leather is soft, buttery (and perfect, seriously). The color is gorgeous and who can say no to gold accents? The rings are large enough to hold all my unnecessary crap, and oh boy oh boy I can’t even.

I use the Pilot brand Frixion pens to write in my planner, as they’re erasable, perfect for my bullet journaling (more on that later) and the colors are pretty cute (in my opinion). I used to use washi tape (a la Cathy Vee) to plan but it just takes too much time for me.

My dashboard is made from a transparency I ordered off Studio Calico a while ago. My dividers are simply patterned paper cropped to size that I had in my stash.

In terms of decorating, I don’t really do much. I truly admire everyone on instagram and Pinterest, who can use such beautiful products to pretty-fy their planners, but I guess it’s just not for me. I just slap on some washi tape, some stickers (if I feel like it), and call it a day. My inserts are from Marcy Penner at Hello Forever. I use the 2015 Weekly Calendar in Grey, along with all her planner add-ons.

I took a class by Marcy Penner over at Studio Calico called Agenda, which talked about planners and gave you tips, tricks, handouts and information on how to make your planner work for you. I can’t tell you how helpful that class was; it really helped me to maximize the use of my planner. Upon getting this bigger size planner, I decided it was time to add some sections into it, other than just my calendar. Here are the tabs I have:

Home
Meal Plan
Online Purchases
Work
Meeting Notes
Finances
Notes
Live
Fitness
Goals
Create
Blog Schedule
Blog List
Ideas

Of course, Marcy’s Add-Ons on her shop contain more sections but these are what work for me. I don’t really do any Project Life planning in my planner.

Some other goodies I keep stashed in my planner are post-it’s, stickers, and a tag, which I write down my key for my bullet journaling. This is what I use in the calendar sections of my planner to help me keep track of what’s going on each week. They’re pretty self explanatory, but if you want more information on bullet journaling, check out Ryder Carroll’s website about the original concept of Bullet Journals. That about sums it up! I hope this was helpful for those of you who are new to the planner world and of course, if you have any questions, let me know!

Photo Dump | Week 1

January 4, 2015

I want to start a series of posts every Sunday that serves as a kind of photo diary for me. Maybe nobody is interested, but it’s something I’d like to keep up so I can look back and see what’s been going on in my life without having to pull out an album. I’m trying to come up with another title (other than Photo Dump because that’s so unattractive) but the creative juices just aren’t flowing today.

Quiet, slow week in our household as Japan is pretty much dead during New Years. Lots of food, decorations around the house, and the cold weather. Spent quality time with my mom, as L is home in San Francisco, but returns tonight so that’s really exciting! Life will be hectic starting tomorrow as Japan will come back to life and we’ll all be busy with work and life in general. Here’s to a successful 2015 for everyone!

2014 December Daily

January 4, 2015

Like everyone and their mom (literally), I embarked on the December Daily (DD) journey this past December. As I only began Project Life-ing in 2014, this was a new and exciting project for me. For those of you who don’t know what December Daily is, be sure to check out Ali Edward’s information on it. There is something so magical about the month of December — even on days when there’s nothing really holiday oriented happening. Just seeing the decorations in the house or around the city, gives me a tingling feeling that can’t really be explained. After my dad passed two years ago, I was afraid our family could never really love Christmas the way we used to. It’s still hard on my mom, but having L here has definitely made it a memorable holiday once again. Enough blabbing, let’s get on with the photos. I won’t go over each of them but if there’s anything you want to know, such as where I got my products, certain techniques, etc, just let me know! Most of my products came from Ali’s December Daily kit (yes, it was pricey. Yes, I was sweating when I clicked Order).

I won’t lie – keeping up with my DD was a little tricky. On regular weekdays, after showering and getting ready for bed, I was so done for the day. Some days nothing happened (like, I sat in my room crafting and/or cleaning and/or working. That’s it.). But that was okay, I still loved documenting my days and I can’t wait to look back at it in the future!

PROJECT LIFE PLANS FOR 2015

January 1, 2015

I’m figuring the most appropriate post to start on this blog is my plans for 2015. I was inspired by Marcy Penner‘s post about her plans for 2015, so I figure I would write out a list of things that were working for me, that weren’t working for me, and what I’d like to do more of. I was going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth (you get it) for the past month about what size I would go with. I love the idea of an 8.5×11 album, but cutting and sewing page protectors seems like a drag for me and I have so many 12×12 protectors, I don’t want them to go to waste. I won’t even deny how lazy I am when it comes to the tedious aspects of crafting like that. So, I decided to just stick to my 12×12, despite how large and space-taking it is. I’m going with WRMK’s Black Classic Leather Album.

WRMK Black 12x12 WHAT’S WORKING FOR ME ::

Design A Page Protectors, especially when I’m in a rush. It helps me plan out my photos to print without spending ages trying to see which photos fit which design.
Not being obsessed about weekly, monthly, whatever.
Using multiple platforms in terms of printing — sometimes I use my Selphy if they’re “whatever” photos (I know, that sounds terrible), but using my computer printer when they’re photos I really love. I know the American Selphys don’t print true 4×6’s, but the Japanese Selphys photos are SO TINY. I don’t know how to get around it. Ugh.
Using Studio Calico‘s mood board sneaks to choose a color scheme for the month.

WHAT’S NOT WORKING FOR ME ::

Like I said before, obsessing over monthly, weekly, whatever. I used to trip out about having enough photos each week, or if I had too many. Seriously? Who cares. You’re not going to look back 10 years later and be like, “So I wonder what I did during Week 48 of 2014?”. Seriously.
TRYING to scrap in my home office. I run a pre-school, so honestly, my home office is cluttered with papers, bills, folders, etc. I attempted this in the beginning but it just. Doesn’t. Work.
Falling behind and being too scared to catch up. I have most of the summer + November & December left to do in my album.
Scrap-envy. AKA going through the Member and Creative Team gallery at Studio Calico and getting frustrated my albums look nothing like theirs. Worst habit ever.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO DO MORE OF ::

Simple pages with more focus on the story. I look back and my journaling is so snooze worthy. Like, “today we made dinner and it was great” status. Uhhhhh ZZZZZZZ…… Seriously gotta work on that and telling MEANINGFUL stories about our lives.
Finding a way to incorporate memorabilia into my pages. I always keep so much crap, but I end up just tossing it because I forget about it, or feel weird about gluing them to cards or whatever.
Since I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas, I’d like to practice using it to incorporate it into my pages.
MORE SPARKLE!

So, that about sums it up. Now that I put it out there, I expect you all to hold me to these “resolutions” and call me out on it if I’m slacking. I’m excited for 2015 – “the best year yet!” 😉

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