Diana Trout's blog

How I Set Up My Travelers Notebook (and why :)

I love this planner revolution! I've tried out a few over the last few years, including the Recollections from Michaels. I've used Day Timers in the past. All great systems. But I've wanted a Midori for awhile now. They have a rustic elegance that speaks to me. 

I tried out the Recollections brand from Michaels last year to see if the system would work. And I liked it muchly. I have a 3 notebook system and you'll see more in the video of what, how and why. 

Just unpacking this notebook was a delight. And it's a beautiful thing really, but not precious. 

Enjoy the video here on Youtube (like, subscribe, share). 

Or here ...

 I ordered both the camel and brown and finally decided on the camel. They are both just beautiful. My son might get the dark brown for his birthday.

You can already see the signs of wear. The scuffs, and color shift. It will become more beautiful with age. If that isn't your bag, though, it seemed like the brown was less susceptible. 

I'm not a particularly organized person. Have you noticed? (LOL, Barbara M). But I'm spinning a lot of plates and my planner is a lifeline. When ideas strike, I have a Master List and sketchbook always with me. 

There are many deadlines and due dates in my life and I'd be lost without my planner. I use it in conjunction with my computer calendar since most of my deadlines come in on my computer. Every Sunday, I look at my computer calendar and put any deadlines (from others or self-imposed) into my planner. This is what works for me and maybe some of this will help you? 

Amazon sells this but doesn't stock them. They come from Japan. Jetpens does sell them and they have free shipping. I'm "friends" with JetPens - not affiliated. I have a special link you can use 

My Link to Jetpens.com

For the Starter Kit (the cover, band, and an single notebook) go here

The notebooks are all numbered.

Refill 012 - Regular Size - Sketch Paper
Refill 014 - Regular Size - Kraft Paper
Refill 019 - Regular Size - Weekly Planner Free

Organizing in My Studio Sanctuary

Hi all, I'm popping in with a video on organizing. I'm still at the beach and it is heaven! Before leaving, I spent some time giving my sanctuary a good tidy. I'd been looking for better lighting and found some at Ikea. 

I use pan racks to hold file folders with cardstock and paper pads. It's cheap, effective and accessible. Here's my comfortable and messy little nest. I love this space.

The pendant lights are new, from Ikea. I've been looking for an easy solution for good video lighting for a while. Everything is linked below. I think that the lighting is better! And it's awesomely cute.

I love little bowls and containers. They aren't the best solution for tons of storage but they do look so pretty. The gel pen holder came from Target. 

Two Roskog carts came home with me from Ikea. These are as great as I've expected and I may need a third. 

Here's the video. At the end, is a personal note to all of you who follow me: a great big thank you and a message about my upcoming surgery. I actually have a very good feeling that it may not be as bad as "the big one" in November. Fingers crossed. And I'm back to vacation mode. Love to all! Wish you were here. Affiliate links are below the video.

Affiliate Links: In which I get a kickback from sending you to these products. It doesn't effect you but it does help me keep the lights on.

 

Art Bin Prism Box, 1 Compartment	In Out Box	Boon Desk Organizer	Studio PRO Full Spectrum Lightbulbs, 4 pack	HEMMA Cord set - IKEA
KRUSNING Pendant lamp shade - IKEA	Interdesign Storage Container	Interdesign Storage Bin	Clear Storage Cases for Rubber Stamps	Avery Elle Pockets for Stamp & Die Storage
Magnetic Bowl for Dies	File Folders	Pan Rack for Holding Paper in Folders

InLinkz.com

Plan With Me!

Hello everyone! Thank you all for so many good wishes. I am still recovering from my surgery last week and am feeling better everyday. The pathology reports were benign. We are slowly shifting into a lighter mood around here.

I was up in the studio today relaxing and playing with my planner so I turned on the video camera. Planning has helped me to keep my stress level down and be more productive. Like so many of you, I tried using my computer calendar. There is nothing quite like paper and pen.

 Using some fun stickers and washi in my planner keeps it fun. If it's fun, I'm more likely to do it.  

 On Sundays, I sit down with my computer and planner and fill things in. I keep a little notebook tucked into the back of my planner so that when, for instance I mention Patty Kelly's Etsy Shop in connection with some stickers I showed in my video, I can make a note to myself to be sure and link her shop.

These clip are simple to put together with die cuts, buttons, charms, tassels. If I'm using paper, I laminate it first so that it's more durable. If you don't have a laminator, put some Glossy Accents on it and that'll make it stronger. GA is a thick glue. It adds a thick, very clear, glossy coating to your item. I also used Superglue, a glue gun, regular paper clips and paper scraps to assemble. Washi tape makes quick page markers too. It's not high art but it sure is fun.

I hope that you enjoy my play session and that it's a help to you. I'm not exactly a "Planner Girl" but who doesn't love stationary? Enjoy the video! If you choose to watch it on YouTube, please subscribe and give me a thumbs up. That's how YouTube knows that you'd like to see more from me. And I love comments :)

Stencil Wrangling

Thanks for all of your input on my Practice Art post! I can see that this topic resonated with a lot of you. I'm thinking about what the next step could be. Thoughts? Art Practitioner sounds a bit over the top. "I Practice Art" ? 

In the meantime, I'm moving back into the studio and it was a big mess! Hubs cleaned the floors for me over the weekend and I did a bit of a tidy up. I got these spice racks from Ikea. Heck yeah. I can organize. It's just a bit of a challenge

 I wound up wrangling my stencils into a box - also from Ikea. Have a look here ... 

I'm really making an effort to stay tidy lately. It really does save on time. How do you keep your stencils organized? Let us know in the comments. 

Plan On It

This is looking like a busy week between finishing up Art In Layers (coming VERY soon) and a Wine & Art MeetUp on Friday. I've used a planner for years but some weeks it is more crucial than others!

Erin Condren's planner has been on my radar for a while and when the 2015's  went on sale for 40% off, I bit. I'm really happy with it. There is more room to write and the size of EC is the same as my previous planner but there is more space (since the other was a binder).

The paper is thicker, I like the side bar and there is space for dinner menus down below (often my downfall at the end of a busy day). You can see plenty of videos over at YouTube on planners. Planning has become a hobby like scrapbooking. 

I do have some washi and other bits and bobs to use in it. I may have just purchased a stamp set. Ahem. I have serious stationary issues. Why not make it fun?

Do you plan? Are you a planner addict? What kind of planner do you use? I feel that planning really lowers my stress level.

Have a good week everyone! 

Related articles

Art in Layers: Coming Soon Online

Art History | Lyonel Feininger

Time Keeping: Planners 2

Welcome to the New Work Year (ouch). Over the weekend, I spent some quality time with my planner and journal. Business first. You can see another post and video about my planner here.

Ahem. Does adding a washi tape tassel to your planner qualify as "business?" I also added a page to the beginning of the month for "Dinners" with a column labeled "get ingredients." I'm in charge of planning and shopping around here. Not necessarily cooking and definitely not cleaning up :)! 

I received some great Blue Q pencil cases and labelled them. Eleanor is now holding all of my planning bits and bobs. Which is not much: Keep It Simple.

While I was at it, I did a little more labeling by attaching a paper clip to the zip tab and sliding in a piece of washi. 

Time Keeping: Planners

 

It's that time of year when I review my planner from last year and decide whether it's working for me. This system is working really well for me.

Several years ago, I went paper-free. It was  inconvenient and unsatisfying. One day in Office Max I found Avery's 5.5." x 8,5" binder and all of their planning and calendar inserts and grabbed it.

The folks who are using their planners as little daily journals inspired me to make planning a bit more fun so I dug through my stickers and post-its and some Smash book stuff to add to my planner.  Here's the video and below I give a bit more explanation. 

I trimmed pieces of scrapbook paper for some of the tabbed pages. 

Avery's plastic envelope inserts are great for reminders, business cards, notes-to-self. 

Smashbook envelopes were hacked off and adhered to the inside front cover. A small composition book fits nicely for brainstorms. That book and the Frixion erasable pen (which comes with an extra refill) are both from JetPens.

All in all, this planning system is flexible, fun and working for me. The only drawback is that I can't find a set of weekly calendar pages with the dates/months already entered. I have to do that myself :(

As emails come in or appoinments made, I enter them directly into my computer calendar and then either Sunday night or Monday morning, I transfer everything into my paper calendar and plan my week. 

If I'm planning a long term project, after the initial brainstorming, I break everything down in dates in my Omnifocus (this is a great app for businesses). Omnifocus is hooked up to my iCal. 

 I slipped a piece of paste paper and a tag into the plastic covered front cover

I hope that some of this info helps you. Small business owners have a lot of plates spinning. My system works for me and it's been a long time in the making.

Let us know if you have any ideas about organizing your time. 

If you want to make this more of a hobby, there are TONS of videos on YouTube. Search any of the following: Filofax, Midori, Erin Condren, Kikki K. 

My Favorite Notebooks

and it's Monday. Again. 

The first studio clean up since the "troubles" with my hand happened over the weekend. That's been three months so you can imagine the mighty dustballs. It's tidy and clean again at least on my personal tidyness factor. Which is plenty good enough for me. 

I made a few little ATC's, glued some things into my journal and recovered one of my old composition notebooks along the way. I just rip out old pages if there are only a few or turn the book upside-down and backwards if there are a lot of pages used in the front.

No matter how great the computer app, composition books are irreplacable to me. I like these notebooks even better after they've been worn in a bit. And any idea that includes washi tape seems like a good one to me. And as soon as there is space in my washi tape box, I buy more. Or at least that's the mighty flexible rule. 

Organized for Art

Cigar boxes are a great way to organize supplies, especially if they are in your living space. You can usually get these beautiful boxes at your local cigar shop, at flea markets and Ebay has them too. 

And isn't it a great idea to put these brass labels on the cigar boxes? This idea came to me from Susan Cohen (and you should check out her Pinterest boards).  I went to town with this idea.

My Zentangle supplies may just need a bigger box. 

Such a simple way to class things up. I had a whole bunch of these label holders leftover from journal making.  Google "brass label holders" and you should come up with some suppliers. I superglued them onto the front of the boxes. It is easier to put my toys away now! 

This just in ... some really nice label holders over at Amazon.

Inspiration Addict

I am a sucker for inspiration. OOOOOO! Isn't that cool, beautiful, clever, magical?! OOOO! I wanna do THAT! 

But wait a minute ... what about all of the ideas that I already have? Chopped liver? REALLY?

I sat down the other day with my journal, a pen and a pile of index-worthy scraps. I found loads of ideas right there and didn't need my computer or a book. 

The de-stash is going well. I've winnowed my fabrics down to about a third of what I had. Ruthless, I am. The rubber stamps that have been taking up a ton of space are outta here. I am down to my handcarved, a couple of sets of alphabets and a few miscellaneous. Just what I use for art journaling and classes. 

If you are in the Philadelphia area, come to the de-stash giveaway event, Sept 22. Let me know if you are interested. I will send you the info. Nothing for sale, bring what you want to give to someone else and we'll all get this stuff to anyone who wants or needs it. Not me, though :)

Doing more with less.