Planner Archives - the crafty tokyoite

Travel Journal: Set-Up (Pre-Trip)

July 3, 2016

On July 12 – July 21st, L and I are going to LA & SF! It’s a short trip, but one of my best friends is getting married in Laguna and it’s my pre-school’s summer break so we decided to go! We also decided to swing by SF to visit L’as family for a couple days while we are in California. I’ve been making these little travel journals for references & on the go scrapping on every trip we’ve been on and this is no exception. So, I’ve decided to share with you all how I set up these little mini books.

I use Midori’s notebooks to slip into my Traveler’s Notebook covers, along with my little on-the-go calendar planner to help me stay on top of things during our trip. I decorate the cover of the notebooks using patterned paper, stamps and ephemera. On this particular book, I used Paper from Studio Calico, ephemera from Dear Lizzy + Amy Tangerine, and stamps by Kelly Purkey – embossed with Zing embossing powder.Continue Reading

2016 Half-Year Planner Update

June 24, 2016

My 2015 Planner Set-Up is one of my most viewed/searched blogposts on this blog so I took a look at it earlier and chuckled at how much it’s changed. Since then, I have changed up my systems and so far it’s been working pretty well for me so I thought I’d share. I’ve changed it up like 3 times since my 2015 post, so who knows – maybe by January 2017 I’ll have a whole ‘nother system in place but so far? I think I’ve found planner peace. I am currently using two different monthly/weekly planner organizers.

My main planner and catch-all is my currently super famous, super trendy Get to Work Book made by Elise Blaha Cripe. I have the 2016 version which goes from January through December of the year. I cannot wait for her to release the 2017 version because I’ll be jumping on that as soon as it’s released. Currently, she has the July 2016 – June 2017 available with both a black cover, and the classic chipboard cover for $55. Can’t sing enough praises for this planner. I use it for just life reminders and work reminders. I don’t use a “teacher planner” per say, but I have a separate binder I use for all my work necessities.

Month Close Up

Weekly View

Reflection + Goal Setting Page

Project Ideas – I use this both for creative projects + for when I’m planning units for the pre-school

Another Project Planning page

I don’t really spend too much time decorating my planner, unless I’m really in the mood. I mainly use The Reset Girl’s stickers to decorate the monthly page, but otherwise, I just use random Frixon pens to fill in my weekly pages. I’m seriously loving this planner and it has gotten me so much more organized.

My other planner I’ve been using is the Simple Stories’ A5 Carpe Diem Planner in Platinum. I was originally using this planner as a daily planner but once I received my GTWB in the mail, I decided I needed to find another use for this beauty. So, upon my blog re-launch on June 1st, I decided to use it as a blog planner and boy has that changed the game. I use Simple Scrapper’s Planner Inserts (HIGHLY recommended for any creatives who run a blog – or just as a project planner in general). I’m planning on writing out a more detailed post about how I use this planner and its inserts if anybody’s interested in learning more about it – let me know in the comments below if you are!

I made my dashboard using Thermoweb’s Decofoil – I kind of messed up on the alignment (always pencil in your design before foiling. Trust me.), but I love the polkadots on polkadots. Those little banner in the pockets are just printables from Studio Calico that I stored there for as a just-for-now before I put them away. The “Remember” post-its and gold flag stickers were gifts from my dear friend Elyse and it’s from Sessa Vee. I adore her designs. So simple and so chic.

This sheet came with the original Simple Stories planner but couldn’t find it in my heart to tear it out – it was too adorable!

This daily planner notepad also came in my Sessa Vee gift package from Elyse! I find it so much more guilt-free than an actual planner filled with sheets of daily A5 papers – it’s just not my style because I just don’t have the time to fill it out every morning or night. This one comes handy for when I do want to quickly jot down things that are happening during that day and/or things to remember before heading to bed.

That about wraps up the way I’ve been using these two planners throughout the past few months and I’m currently enjoying the way it’s been going… I don’t see myself changing it up in the foreseeable future but you never know! Do you guys use a planner? If you do, how many? I never thought I’d be a more-than-one-planner kind of girl but after taking this blog a little more seriously, it’s been a huge help to have this second planner to help me plan out my projects and blog posts.

Traveler’s Factory Nakameguro Haul

April 5, 2015

First and foremost, happy Easter! I hope you’re all having a blessed day!

This past Thursday, L and I met up after work to head to Meguro River to go see the lit-up night Sakura (separate post coming up next!). We walked around a few times but were overwhelmed by all the people there so we decided to venture around Nakameguro neighborhood. I remembered hearing somewhere that Midori’s Traveler’s Factory was in Nakameguro. A quick Google-search showed me that we were only 6 minutes away…but 15 minutes to closing!! I pretty please-ed to L, asking if we could go and he agreed enthusiastically (I love this man). We power walked through the crowded streets, swimming past the slow walkers and through the alleys. It wasn’t too difficult to find, but the store was tucked away in a back alley in between residential homes. I didn’t get a chance to take any photos of the surrounding area/inside the store because I felt bad the employees were just there, keeping the place open for us. L and I are planning to go back maybe next week because even he enjoyed browsing the store! Anyway, I wanted to share all the lovely things I picked up while I was there.

I’ll be honest – I have NO idea what these little cards are for, but they come in a set of three and L picked them up and said, “You love sh*t like this – here!” Hahaha. I looked at them and yeah, I’m a sucker for all things cute and card-like. I figured I’d find a use for them and threw them in my basket. They were ¥180 for a pack of three, which I kind of thought was a little pricey, but L offered to buy them so I agreed….ha. #hoarders

Do I need any more washi tape? No. But do I need these washi tapes? Yes, obviously. How bloody cute are these washis?! I know Midori TN is known for their Pan-Am collection, but I’m partial to the Hawaiian Airlines collection – perhaps because I lived there for 3 years (two years ago), and it’s where L and my relationship really started. ¥680 yen/ea

This sticker was so unnecessary. But totally necessary. L agreed so mutual agreement = it’s going in the basket. ¥360

Front

Back

Inside

The last of my Hawaiian Airlines collection – an adorable refill notebook. I fell for the words on the back cover. I lived on Oahu and all of those words are familiar to me so it was fun to see it all there!

This notebook is from the Kona Bay collection (Website only in Japanese). Kona Bay is an Aloha shirt brand and I just died over the pineapple print. I can’t wait to use this notebook this summer! I don’t think I’ll get to go to Hawaii but at least I’ll get to see this beautiful print every day!

I really do love the regular notebooks, but with the pictures I include in them, they go real fast. So, I got the 013 notebook. It has thinner pages, therefore more pages. I’m not sure if it’ll work out but I’m planning on using this when I finish with the regular notebook.

Ended up getting this awesome airplane charm for my bookmark. I’ve had the travel bug since I was a lot younger and recently I haven’t been able to scratch that itch. So, I’ll just have to let my mind go on adventures!

Well, that’s it folks! I hope you guys enjoyed this post on some of the goodies I picked up at the Traveler’s Factory! I will be doing a more in-depth post in the near future when we go back, with photos and let’s be honest, more goodies. Let me know if you have any questions! Have a good Easter Sunday xxxx

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!