Making a Plan(ner)

Once upon a time in the land of planners....

....I started this year (actually back in December) thinking about what I wanted for a planner or journal or art journal.  Several years ago, I picked up a 5 x  8 journal with grid paper inside.  It was on a sale table and worked really well for just writing, which is all I wanted it for at the time.  I was lucky enough to find a few more pretty cheap over the years, and as time went on, I was adding more to the pages than just writing.  Not a lot, but strips of washi tape I had purchased, tags from gifts, stamped images from stamps I got, etc.

So I started looking for a grid journal for 2017, but struck out at the office supply stores.  I looked at alternatives.  I looked at the Midori Traveler's Notebooks.  I looked at the Hobonichi Techno planner. These were appealing to me, but I was on the fence, since I couldn't hold one first and look at it.  I was only seeing them online.

I finally decided to order a Moleskine grid journal.  I wasn't able to hold one of those either, but I was pretty sure I knew what I was getting.  When it arrived, I was surprised that it was pretty much exactly the same as the cheap grid journals I had used for years, except that it wasn't $5. In fact, it was so similar, I think the cheap ones I've been using are knock-offs of the Moleskine and maybe that's why I can't find them anymore.

I put it aside for the time being, but as 2017 got closer, I started thinking about how I wanted this one to have more, to work better for me and all the things I wanted to put in it.  That reminded me of the Art to the 5th artists and the journal/planner they did back in 2014.  I wasn't in on that year's journal, but remember how fascinated I was with what they were doing. And it led me to sign up for their Documented Life Journal in 2015 and their Documented Life UnPlanner in 2016.
See their 2014 planner (here).

Around that same time, I saw a post on Instagram by Lorraine Bell, who originally came up with the planner they were doing.  I immediately signed up for her $12 class, Plan-Journal-Play, where she shows exactly how they set up their planner.  See her planner (here).

They used a Moleskine planner, but I figured my Moleskine grid journal would work the same.  The only thing I would like to do differently is get the soft cover rather than the hard cover.  This journal is already so thick, I'm not sure it will survive the year-long journey without the spine cracking.  But there's a fix for that if it comes to that, and I could end up with an interesting cover!

So I punched out some tabs for the months, and I added lots of extra fold out pages, attached with lots of colorful washi tape, and I'm excited to see if this works for me this year.

I'm not affiliated with the websites I provided, nor do I get anything in return for referring anyone there.  But I have taken lots of free classes from these ladies (and some paid ones too), and since they have been so generous, I try to throw business their way when I can.

Stay tuned to see where this planner/journal takes me this year!

DLP Week 21

Meanwhile, also back in May... yes, I am jumping all over the place catching up lately!  Monthly theme still Texture.  The challenge was Cheesecloth.  The journal prompt was "Say Cheese."

I was kind of at a loss.  I decided to use a vintage photo that I've had for a few years.  It is very wide.  It covered both right and left side pages, plus I cut off quite a bit on each side.  I originally wanted to fold the ends in and make flaps, but it was stiff and brittle from age, and I just cut off the excess.  It had also been stored rolled for probably several decades before I got it, and it was very stubborn to try to flatten and glue down.

The ironic thing about this photo and the journal prompt is that most of the people in the photo are not smiling.  Some are, but the majority are not.  They are not Saying Cheese at all.

I took a young lad from part of the photo that was cut off, enlarged him and made him smile, even though he was not smiling in the original.  I added other vintage papers and postage, and glued down cheesecloth.  I think I'm done!

DLP Week 19

In my DLP 2015 journal, one page in particular has been bugging me, because it was left unfinished for so long.  In May, the monthly theme was Texture.  I completed the first week for May, with the challenge for Week 18 of Fabric.  The challenge for Week 19 was Stitching.  I had tied the two together by wrapping fabric around the edge of the page and stitching it.  To add texture to the page for Week 19, I glued down braille paper.  I also painted it with blues and greens.  Then it sat there for months.  I had lots of ideas for the journal prompt:  "All I'm after is a life full of laughter."  But the ideas would come and go.  Things I tried on the page didn't seem to be right.  I would abandon it time and again.

 I have been on such a roll catching up, I decided to go back to that page and finish it once and for all.  I used a vintage picture of ladies on some kind of ride.  I have posted it here before in the past, I believe.  I'm not sure where it came from.  But it makes me laugh.  And seeing the sad women in the third row compared to the laughing women in the first row reminds me to not take life too seriously (not sure I could if I tried anyway!)

I have mentioned before that I have the new Dylusions paints.  Having those sitting on my work table inspire me just being bright and colorful!  I had painted some tags and scraps with lime green, and added stenciling with a darker color.  Added some stamping and writing to everything and called it done.

DLP Title Page

I made a title page for my Documented Life Project journal back in January.  But I couldn't post it because I used a really fun napkin on the page, and I was giving some of these napkins as a gift and didn't want that person to see them.  (Napkins from Erin Smith - and by the way, the order came with fortune cookies with custom sayings inside, and her web address on the back of the strip of paper)

So, here's a look at my journal title page: