Planner Pages For Your Viewing Pleasure

I LOVE LOVE LOVE MY ARC BY STAPLES PLANNER!!!

 I just wanted to show you a couple of pages for the last couple of weeks.  I was raiding my sticky note stash for the page above, along with some Creative Imaginations stickers.  I am continuing my "Stuff. Things." titles for my page of to do's.  I like it.  

 This page sported some stickers by Simple Stories.  

Like a goof that I can be, I threw away the paper for these border stickers...I have no idea who made them.  I did like the quote I added to the right page.  Sometimes I use that blank box for quotes, sometimes for my weekly check boxes.  Oh, if you were wondering...The E is for exercise, the J is for journaling, and the V is for vitamins.  I want to do the journaling and vitamins daily, the exercise at least three days a week.

 This page is the current week.  I tried stamping on this one.  I made a MESS of it!!!  One would think that simple stamping would be easy, I CAN'T DO IT WELL!!!  ARGH!!!  I made a mess of the middle of the page, so I covered it with a page from a notebook I have on my desk.  I think it worked well to cover it up, and give me lines to write on!

 These pages show my page of sticky quotes that I like, and then my master task list for the month.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this.  I just love this book and I use it every day.  I love to decorate it.  I usually spend some time on Saturdays figuring out what the "theme" will be for the next week.  I don't really have one for this week.  Maybe next week will be better!

Stay Crafty, My Friends!!!

Graphic 45 French Country Album

 Hi, All!  I wanted to share this with you.  I was at the Creating Keepsakes convention back in March and at the Pine Cone Press booth they had this kit.  I. HAD. TO. HAVE. IT!  I love Graphic 45, and this kit was beautiful.  It made a pretty large book, with lots of space to add stuff.  I, of course, had to add more stuff and embellish it with more things.

 Heres the cover, I added bling by ZVA Creative, and the sunflower embellishment is by K and Company.

 The spine is 3" wide.

 The pages are 8" tall, 6" wide, and spaced 1/2" apart.

 I went to craft warehouse and grabbed some of the embellishments that come with this line of paper.  I did the kit exactly as they said, except I used black card stock instead of the cream they sent.  Then I embellished with more things.  The flower is by Bo Bunny, the leaves are 7 Gypsies.

 The little envelope opens and two tiny tags are in it.

 The page on the right is built with a cd envelope.  It makes for a lot of room for pictures and such.

 All of the little picture embellishments are adhered so that pictures can slip behind them.

 The cd envelope window.

 More Bo Bunny flower embellishment ideas on that pocket.

 I adhered this flap so that a tag (on the left, black with the face on it) could be tucked behind it.  I also did the right page a little different, creating a bother pocket.  The Bon Appetit card is a tag, everything else created the pocket.

 On this flap on the left side, I also adhered it different so that a tag could be placed behind it.  I used the file folder method that Kathy Orta showed in this video, the idea came from her friend Diane.  Go check it out, if you have an EK Success envelope maker, you need to see what else you can do with it.

 This sunflower is also from K and Company.

 I added some stuff to the back cover.  I created a pocket on the back cover using an envelope/tag and die cut from the paper line.

I also created extra pockets in the pages.  The album is constructed with black card stock pages.  After making these bases and putting them in the book, you cover them with the papers.  Before I covered them, I added large envelopes to the card stock pages.  I sealed them, cut off the end, adhered them to the card stock, then covered them, thus making a top pocket for these large tags. There are 5 base pages, so I made 5 pockets for large tags.

After I finished with this album my brain went haywire with ideas...I am currently working on another mini album of my creation, and will be bringing it to you all very soon.  That one will also have another set of tutorials that I will do on video to show you how to create one for yourselves!!  I'm super excited about it, so stay tuned!

Stay crafty, my friends!

A Box for Mommy

Welcome to the Just a Few Friends Mother's Day Blog Hop!!!  

We are soooooooo glad that you prowled on over to see our purrfectly created projects!  We have all been tearing up our dens in the creation of our box themed goodies, and we hope that you like them!  If you have not started from the beginning, please start with Elsa's Den.  If you have been  pouncing along the blog hop, you should have come to my den from RJ's Den.  I have a list of all of our participants at the end of the post.  Now, on to the fun I have created for your viewing pleasure.

I have a video on YouTube also, please go and check it out!

 This project was made using a Tim Holtz Configurations Book that I bought at the last Creating Keepsakes convention I went to. I bought this paper collection at Tuesday Morning, and it is called the "Social Butterfly Stack".  I am really not sure who put this collection out, but it is beautiful!

 I used Petaloo flowers.  The metal flowers and the metal butterfly were from a bulk bin at the craft store.  My BFF, Jackie, gave me the spray in  a grab bag of flowers and ribbons.  The brads on the spine and in the metal flowers are by The Girls Paperie.

 I painted the box and the inside boxes with brown paint.  Then I adhered the papers in the back of the boxes.  I remmed one section to make a space to house a mini album.  I used the "Never Ending" book style that I have done several times in the past, and used a simple ribbon "belly band" for the closure.

I added a few embellishments in the boxes, but didn't want to over fill them because I thought the paper was so pretty, I didn't want to cover it up.  I added a glitter filled bottle, a flower, a key and wooden butterfly, a metal bird and quote, and some lace that looked to me like a doily on a shelf.

 A top view of the mini album and its pages.

 This is the first cover page opened...

 ...Then the right page opened again.  I used some leftover card stock to create a pocket for tags.

 The "back" page opens to reveal a belly band type holder that I created to hold a trifold mini pull out.

 Each side has 4x6 mats to hold more pictures.

 When you open the page with the mini pullout, you get this layout.  I added a flap that I punched with a Martha Stewart Edge punch.  The pink paper behind it shows off the pattern.

This is the "middle section of the mini album.  I made a slit type pocket to house two more tags.  

I sure hope you liked my project.  It was so much fun to put together.  Now please pounce on over to Sherain's Den and see what she has come up with, I know you are going to like it!

Elsa       http://justafewdesigns.blogspot.com

Kimi     http://uniquescrappiness.blogspot.com

Suzie   http://scrappingsuzieqtt.blogspot.com

Linda    http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com

Margaret  http://auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com

Rj       http://thriftycrafterdude.blogspot.com

Michelle http://www.creativeoperation.blogspot.com/

Sherence http://proudmommy702.blogspot.com/

Yvette http://daileyscrapper.blogspot.com

Project Notebook

After trying several methods of keeping my project ideas and notes, I have finally, I think, stumbled onto the one that will work.

You all know I love the ARC notebook by Staples, that I am currently using for my planner.  Well, I had a coupon, 40% off no less, and I marched right on over to the store and picked up a full size notebook.

 Sorry the picture is soooooo bright!  Well, the notebooks come with very small rings, so I changed them out to the largest rings.  I love the pink color on this one!  I also like that the covers are sturdy, and will protect my pages very well.

 I bought a pack of grid paper, so that I can sketch out my designs.  I also added several sheets of plain printer paper to the mix.

 This is what I had before, a moleskin that was a mess.  It's very hard to add things to this book.  Although I do love me some moleskin notebooks, this was not a very practical solution.

 There are things clipped to the back of the notebook, again, not a very good system.

 I have a lot of notes.

Since I use the ARC system for my personal planner, the papers are interchangeable.  I can start the idea in my planner, and transfer it into my notebook without a problem.

I just thought you would love this.  This is a gallon size jar, that I have my discs stored in.  I always seem to discover and fall in love with a product, only to have it disappear from the store shelf on me.  So, every time I go to Staples, I buy discs.  I will not run out, for a little while anyway!

So, what do you think?  How do you keep track of your ideas and sketches?  I would love to hear your feedback!

Stay Crafty, (and organized) my Friends!

Mom's Diner Menu Planner

Hi everybody!  I hope that this post finds you all doing great!  I, as you all probably have noticed, have been doing some organizing and planning lately.  My new Arc by Staples planner that I created is working BEAUTIFULLY!  I love it and will continue to use it!

I have also been wanting to plan out my menus and get more organized about shopping and dinner planning. We have recently changed from a low carb diet to a Mediterranean/lower carb type of diet, and it has really changed what we are eating.  I need some help to get my brain readjusted to it.   I came upon this GREAT idea by Ursula, here at her blog, Home Made by Carmona.  IT TOTALLY ROCKS!  Here, let me show you.

 It starts off with a simple three ring binder.  I decorated it simply with this paper I had in my stash.  I think it is fitting.

 Inside the front cover I put some lists of our meals were were keeping track of, this was helping me to write down all of the foods we like.  I also have a stash of post-it notes.  Then, I put the printout of the post that Ursula did.  All of the pages are laminated.  I have a laminating machine, so that made it super easy to do, but you could take these to a Kinko's or office store and have it done as well.  This helps preserve them, AND the sticky notes stick so well on them.

 She includes FREE printouts to help you get your own planner started.  Here is the first week of my dinners. She has three columns, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner...Our breakfasts are usually the same, so there's not a lot of planning.  Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, that we take to work.  Again, not much planning.  So, I decided to use all three columns to spread out my little food stickies.

 The second week plan.  I covered up the empty spaces with the post-its, just because I wanted to cover up the words on the printouts.  You'll see what I mean in the next picture.

 This is the plan, so far, for this week.  I have Wednesdays off, so I plan basically twice a week, Sundays and Wednesdays.  So, now you are probably asking where these little slips of food choices live...well, check this out.

 There are printouts for dinner ideas, lunch ideas, breakfast ideas, and more.  What you do is what she calls "populating" the boxes with the foods your family eats, and maybe even foods you want to try.  Keeping them color coded helps you put things back where they belong and keeps your categories

 Close up view..

 I made my own categories.

That's mine in a nutshell.  It's an awesome system. I love that you can move things around at will and rearrange and reuse everything.  It took a little bit to set it up, but now it's totally piece of cake to use.   I pulled out the weekly meal plan page, went through my categories and matched what I bought at the store.  As I go, I will figure out what I want for the rest of the week and make a shopping list accordingly.  I'm thinking Spaghetti Squash Boats are in my future.  I am going to add some paper for lists so that everything is in one place.

GO CHECK OUT HER BLOG!!!  She has the post, a video explaining the system, and all of the printables you need.  I think you'll like it!

Stay crafty, my friends!