Hello everyone! It's Zinia here to share with you some little projects I did using supplies from the September Personal Planner Brimbles box.
First I have to say I got really excited when I opened my box. Anna really nailed it last month. The box was so full of awesome goodies I had a hard time deciding where to start.
From the first moment I saw it, I knew this dashboard will get in one of my planners right away! I decided to put it in my Color Crush planner which is my creative planner where I keep all the info about my design teams and other crafty projects.
On the opposite side, I filled my pockets with some of the 2x2 cut outs from the October Afternoon paper pack. I also stuck one of the flair buttons cause it just looked too cute.
For the rest of the cut-outs, I took an old credit card page protector and I cut it to fit a personal size planner. Then I just got some thread and stitched the edges. I also stitched around the middle of the page to create some more pockets.
I made sure that both sides looked nice and then I just popped it in my planner to serve as eye candy.
These were only a couple of ideas on how you could use your Brimbles box goodies. Of course the possibilities are endless but I hope you got inspired to go and make use of your supplies.
I have been loving the flamingo craze (can we call it craze? Yes I think so) and mega pleased that it has also found it's way into the stationery and planner world! I have been using and loving the Bella Creationz Flamingo Dashboard. It is just so beautifully pink and kitsch, I totally love it and it goes so beautifully against the hot pink inside my gold Color Crush planner from Websters pages...
On the planning stamps front I am still experimenting and learning but I am slowly getting there. I am still learning when enough ink is enough ink on a stamp and I am finding that I am smudging less and less now. I have gone from the nervous to the actually really loving and enjoying it stage.
The project stamp is perfect for me for my blog post scheduling. The stamp fits perfectly into the day section which is great. I wanted to use it this week to see how I got on with it and I think it is great. I am not sure that I would want to use it on every day as it might take over but as I am going to be seperating out my personal and blogging and working life from each other, this will be perfect to use in my blog planner.
I did get a little bit carried away as you can see though I did actually forget to stamp the lines for my to do list and it all went a bit wobbly and not straight at all. Some people that would really bother I am sure but I am a bit wobbly so it suits me just fine lol!
I also made myself a project life sized card for extra notes out of scrapbooking paper from my shop.
It's time to reveal what was in the Brimbles Box this month, the month of May!
If you would like to watch
videos of unboxings from genuine customers as well as honest reviews
from bloggers you can watch the YouTube Brimbles Box playlist As I say they are all very honest so you can get a better feel for what was inside.
So what was in the box this month? In April I said "without April showers we would have no May flowers", well no one realised that there was a little clue there for the next box he he! We haven't actually had many showers here this April so I hope we do get those May flowers! This months box has a delightful garden theme.
Of course there is always a postcard from me setting the theme behind the box:
So of course as always we start with a postcard from me:
"Do you remember in April I said that we need those April showers because
without them there would be no May flowers…well we haven’t really had the wet
April that we usually have instead we have had warm sunny days, days that you
can spend just pottering and mooching about in the garden. We have had an
abundance of Spring flowers not only in my garden but also in my village which
has been a very welcome sight.
I love to be outdoors, especially in the garden, I can while away many an
hour sitting in the garden, sipping tea, reading a book and listening to the
birds sing. I like to tinker around
planting seeds and watching things grow and my favourite is growing herbs and
then picking them for tea. Oh yeah did I mention I like me tea! Well you guys
already know that as I mention it so often. I very often paint, plan and
journal in the garden as I find that I am more inspired when surrounded by
nature.
This month I thought I would bring a beautiful garden to you. A delicious
mix of flowers and veggies to get you in the mood for those long Summer days
that are waiting for us here in the Northern Hemisphere (hopefully), and for
you Southies something for you to remember your Summer days as you slip into
Autumn!"
This month was quite hard because there were somany wonderful products, I just couldn't narrow it down so instead I bought everything and then just gave each box a random selection of products. So each box received 6-8 of the following products and the total RRP of the box was £21 so whatever you received it was all worth the same.
Those that ordered a planner box will have received an art (painted by
me) dashboard as well as a planner charm. One of the following
dashboards will have been received (randomly chosen by me) as either
Personal or A5 size depending on which box size you signed up for
Please do watch the above video as you can see all the products much
more clearly and appreciate them better and of course you can learn more
about the products and what to do with them.
I hope you like it, it was a lot of hard work sourcing a collection and
putting it all together! At the time of writing I have some excess boxes
available to purchase as a whole as well as some individual items so
check out my online shop for those. I also have some of the dashoards and planner charms available to purchase in my Etsy Shop.
See you next month for June’s box. Remember if you would like to
order a subscription or a one off box and you would like that box to be
the June one you can order up to and on 30th May from: www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/shop
I thought today I would share with you how I have been using my 'staying inspired' section in my Websters Pages Color Crush planner.
At first I wasn't sure what to do with these pages and I know I am not alone as I have had comments and questions from you guys about it too. To be quite honest I could just leave the pages in there and not physically do anything with them because they are just so beautiful to look at. Your comments to me have been the same so I know everyone is in love with those pages. Some of you weren't really sure what the point of them is but what you have to remember is that Websters Pages are / were, first and foremost a scrapbooking company so it stands to reason that they would bring elements of scrapbooking and memory keeping through to their planners. As a journaller, this aspect is really appealing to me as you know that I like to memory keep myself. I don't scrapbook in the traditional sense but then I think that in itself is a dying trend with smashbooks, project life, planners etc becoming more and more popular.
As you know I am a bit of a nerd and I do enjoy experimenting and playing around with new things in my planner. It took me a while to know what I wanted to do with the pages though I have to say so you are probably not alone too! I had my planner out on my desk the other day whilst I was doing a spot of journalling so I had a load of ephemera out on my desk as well as some instagram snaps and then the idea hit me. I don't know why it hadn't before! Of course, these pages are just personal sized scrapbook paper so why not do a bit of scrapbooking / smashbooking on them. I know revolutionary thinking huh! So anyway that is what I did, you wanna see...
I also have a video showing my pages off and talking a bit more about them:
So basically these pages can be anything that you want them to be. Here are my ideas:
Use the papers to add photos and collage elements on so you have photos of your loved ones to look at when you are out and about
'smash' bits and bobs that you have like ticket stubs and receipts on the pages for memory keeping
Stick paint charts and other bits that inspire you on the pages to use them as a mood board
Laminate them and use them as dashboards
If you don't want to use them in your planner take them out and add them to your journals as background papers or wrip them up for use in mixed media projects
If you find the paper 'too chaotic' just keep the 'staying inspired' tab in your planner and put other paper behind it for jotting down ideas or things that inspire you.
If they really don't work for you, don't sweat it, just take them out. Just because they are in there does not mean that you have to use them OK
A lot of people see that a planner should be a planner and journals should be journals. I know the whole decorating your planner thing can sometimes get mixed reactions. Plannerisms wrote a really interesting article on this recently so if you haven't seen that do go and check it out. I personally do very much enjoy decorating my planner. For me it is another creative outlet. I find it really relaxing to stick stickers down, I have said this before I know. I like the cross over with planner / journal / memory keeping and this is something I want to explore more myself. Suzi Blu is a mixed media artist and this is something that she does with her planners and I love looking at her pages! Again this is another reason why I truly enjoy the Websters Pages Color Crush Planners, because it allows me to get more creative or give a little spark that I wouldn't have neccessarily thought of before.
So come on how are you using your pages? Please show me because I want to see!
Welcome to the FluffyFax show and tell he he! OK so I call it a Fluffyfax because it houses all of the information regading my fluffies health and wellbeing. When I say fluffies I actually mean my three bunny rabbits and my two guinea pigs. And it is actually the A5 Filofax Domino in patent turqoise which I have shown you before.
I have always documented and tracked various things for my fluffies. It started out as just a section in my daily planner (A5 and then Personal size), then it moved into a personal size all of it's own and now we are on A5. I decided to make the move from personal to A5 because the two vets that I take my girls too either give / send their invoices and information in A5 or A4 size. I wanted to start keeping some of these so it made sense to upgrade them to an A5 size. Prior to the Dominos I had two A5's, one being used as a home management binder and the other as a journal so it was a nice excuse to ask for a Domino for my birthday!
Let me take you through the planner so that I can show you what I have in here and why.
Of course as we are going to be using something so beautiful as the turqoise we may as well put some other beautifulness in and of course I think my girls are beautiful so expect to see some photos of them in the following pages. My little bragging book he he!In the secreterial pocket I have some of the spare inserts that I am using in the planner. The dashboard actually serves no purpose other than for prettiness. I just love Belle and Boo products as you well know particularly as Boo looks so much like my little Florence Tinkerbell. Aesthetically my planner is quite bunny heavy and that is because I have yet to find anything really with guinea pigs on so if you do, please point me in that direction and I will love you forever!
In the first divider I have general informaion pertaining to all of them so I have details on the vets that we use and who goes where. The two new additions go to a different vet than the others because they had a bundle deal on microchipping, vaccines and health checks. A tad confusing but then that is what a planner is for, to keep me in check.
When we go on hoiday, Jon's parents usually come and stay at the house to look after the girls, they like staying and call it a mini break, they live in the town and although we are not a million miles away from each other they like to come out to the Country! The folks are quite well versed in the fluffy care but I do like to leave them with notes just so that they can refresh their memory if they forget something. I detail when to food and bedding etc and I always like to leave them with vets details. The beauty with the fluffyfax is that it is altogether all of the time so I don't have to write it down each time, I can just leave the fax out on the side when we go.
Nutrition is very important to them as it is us but for bunnies and piggies there are lots of foods that they can't eat and some that should only be fed in moderation. My girls do have their favourites so I pretty much know what to give them but every now and then we may have something new in and I wonder if they can eat it, well I have it here printed out for quick reference and saves me going online all the time. I use the PDSA to obtain my information as it is supported by my vets. Please note that this is a guide to help you out and I cannot be held responsible for any of the accuracy of the information that it contains. Please ensure that you do your own research or you check with your veterinary surgeon that food you are giving to your animal is safe. OK that was my little disclaimer!
I also keep the information of where I have purchased snuggle items so I can refer back to them.
Moving on then to the other dividers. Each divider has a photo of the fluffy that it refers to so that I know who is whos section, that and it is an excuse to have another photo of my girls! This Mumma does love her girlies. In my old fluffyfax I had names on the dividers and laminated over them but I am doing it this way so that I can change sequences if I need to / want to (not because I am expecting a fluffy to depart us anytime soon - "touch wood")
Each of the sections contains a sheet with further information about each fluffy. As our girls were adopted there are some gaps as we don't know everything.
I keep a log of their nail trims so I can work out when their last one was and when to book the next, they usually go around the three month mark. I also like to keep check of their vaccinations.
I find keeping a health log really useful. It is useful for us so that we can see changes and improvements and monitor conditions and we can also see when it was things occurred. There are always times when we can say "when was that". Again if we are going away, this is useful information for people to have in case there are flare ups or if care giving is still needed.
And that is pretty much that. It keeps us well organised so we know what is what and it is working really well for us. Do you track your pets health and welfare? I would love to know and I would love to know if you have any suggestions on things I should be doing. I have had bunnies and piggies all my life but there are still things that can be learnt.
This is not a selling post, I am literally just doing a show and tell of my set up and hopefully inspire you to track your pets health if you don't already but if you were interested in any of the inserts / dashboards I do sell these in my Etsy shop.
I hope this has been a useful and interesting read and I will catch up with you all soon x
Even though it is dark and gloomy with rain battering against my windows today, I feel in a really Spring like mood. I am so ready for April but more importantly I am so ready for Easter next week!
Products Used
Planner: Websters Pages Color Crush Planner in White with matching folio
Planner Inserts: Websters Pages week on two pages
Washi Tape: MT Brand but I can't remember where I purchased these from.
Stickers: Hobbycraft - I bought mine in store in the Easter aisle, they don't seem to have them online.
Journal Cards: Websters Pages - These are the days 'April'
'Art' Postcard: Unknown, sorry!
Paperclips: Ribbon Bow - Hey Charlie, Rabbit shape - Paperchase, Gold Bow - Kate Spade
Creme Egg Planner Charm - My Etsy Shop
Belle & Boo Stationery Set - My Etsy Shop
Dashboard - My Etsy Shop
There was a whole great big yummy mess on my desk which I just scooped up and arranged a little bit nicer for a photo he he! Such a nice way to spend a wet Sunday me thinks!
Easter chocolate here we come...
Planner problems huh...I love all these cards and can't decide what to use when and how lol! I like to pop a card in between my pages for prettiness and extra notes and the like but oh I can't decide, I like them all!!
Well I don't know about where you live but here in my part of the UK (Cambridgeshire which is in East Anglia) we have been having a really warm and sunny week. So warm that I have been putting my washing out on the line and it has been drying nicely, the bunnies and piggies have been frolicking in the garden, I have been sitting in the sun with my tea and a book and our daffodils are popping out. Yes folks, Spring is here. It really is. Our entire village is bursting with beautiful yellow cheery daffodils and it has put me in a marvellous mood it really has.
So for this week I decided to change out of the gold and go for white because, well, it just seemed more Spring like. For those of you who often ask 'what do you use all those planners for?' well the answer is some of them are in use but the others I change in and out of like any other accessory you might use.
I am not actually using a dashboard at the moment because one of the things I love about the Color Crush is that it comes with a beautiful quote and well quite frankly I like having that touch of inspiration every time I open my planner!
That bunny clip is just stunning don't you think and just so me!
When I saw these stickers on a recent Hobbycraft trip I just had to have them because the little bunnies reminded me so much of my cute little critters! Luna and Florence the two babies are crazy critters that tear around all over the place so I had to put the one at the top upside down. And of course you know I love to do a 'peeking' something!
I also posted a photo on instagram of some amazing goodies that my pen pal in America sent me from the Target $1 spot. I just love all the Spring and Easter-ness of it all so I will be certainly be putting a dent in some of those goodies for sure!
