Planner Obsession

So this post is a little on the late side and what can I say except........Hello, my name is Maggie and I am a procrastinator. The first step to healing is admitting, right? In any event, one of my goals this year is to get my act together. Mind you, I'm not a total mess. I am aware of the things I need to tackle and they're always in the back of my mind, poking around and popping up from time to time. The problem is, I am a visual person and for some reason I need to see it written down if I want to actually accomplish it. So that's where it all started. All my life I've been fascinated with paper and all things associated with it. I mean who amongst us didn't love getting some Lisa Frank stickers or a Hello Kitty stationary set, complete with those tiny colored pencils. So when I went to search planners on Pinterest, I found a plethera of the most amazingly decorated planners, with stickers and colored pens and funky little sticky notes. I fell in love! The problem was, the planner I wanted, is no longer available and I didn't want boring black. I really wanted an aqua one (my favorite color)!
I couldn't find one anywhere, but I did find a small half size Martha Stewart binder at Staples. Score! I also found a few other supplies there that I thought would work well: some dividers, some lined sheets and a clear pocket for me to put random things in. What's even better is I think I spent less than 20$ on all of it!

Then the next problem, I couldn't find any pre-printed planner sheets that I liked. I wanted them simple and clean, so I could decorate my planner to my heart's content. After all, I would use it more if it made me happy when I looked at it, right? I even looked around on etsy, and whereas, there were some beautiful ones on there, they just weren't what I was looking for. I found some free downloads as well, but when I would print them and punch holes, it always punched the holes too far into the page. Probably because the weren't designed for the type of notebook I was using. So I set off to make my own! This is just a sampling of some of the pages.

Let me premise this by saying I am by no means a graphic designer. It took me forever to get these formatted the way I wanted and even then, I am sure a more experienced designer will find all sorts of flaws. But hey, I am offering them to you for free!
I designed them to be printed front and back of an regular size 8.5X11 sheet of paper. I used a slightly heavier sheet of paper than copy paper, but not quite as heaving as card stock. I believe it was a 62 lb weight.  I printed all the calendars and then fed them through the printer again and printed a To Do/Project Planner Page on all the backs. All the other pages I just printed the same ones on front and back. Cut the sheets down the middle at the 5.5 inch mark and punch holes in the appropriate places and there ya go!
I've been loving decorating my pages to my hearts content! Heidi Swapp has some mini stamp sets that are the perfect size for decorating this size of planner! This is just one example, but it's my favorite!

I've included all of the following pages:
1. Calendar Pages
     A. March
     B. April
     C. May
     D. June
     E. July
     F. August
     G. September
     H. October
     I. November
     J. December
     K. January 2015
2.  2014/2015 Calendar Page
3. To Do/Project Planner Page
4. Contact Page
5. Website Page
6. Monthly Bill Tracker Page (2 months on each page)
7. Monthly Bill Tracker Page (one month per page)
8. Birthdays/Special Dates Page 1
9. Birthdays/Special Dates Page 2
10. Account Information Page

**These pages are for personal use only please!

Until next time.........

Valentine Tag Blocks

Hey there, everyone! I am ashamed to realize that it's been so very long since I've made a blog post.  The holidays flew in like a surprise winter storm and passed through even quicker! Did anyone else think this holiday season was just a blur? I haven't been creating very much lately, but I did get around to making a set of Valentine tags to go on my Words for all Seasons block set that I purchased last year at the Scrapbook Expo from the Little Blue House. If you haven't had the pleasure of shopping there, I highly recommend it! Tracy Pounds and her staff are the most friendly, helpful and creative bunch of ladies. The store is so inviting and the best part about it is the fact that you walk in and feel like you're walking into your very own creative studio. She has tons of great workshops and kits for all kinds of different projects, whether it be page layouts, mini albums or even mixed media projects. Go visit them and tell them we sent you!
I almost always sketch out my ideas. They don't always come out the way I draw them, because let's face it, this is a creative process and you have to be open to how the ideas develop and evolve. That's really the best part about creating, don't you agree? Please forgive my drawing skills, my daughter is the one with the talent in that area. :)