As you know when I post photos on my blog here of my page decoration or over on my instagram, I very often 'stage' these and in that staging is my folio from Websters Pages which matches my Color Crush planner. I don't much talk about my folio and so this has sparked questions from people asking if I actually use it. The answer to this is absolutely!
The folio is a very similar size to the planner itself and so you can hold the two together in your hands very comfortably indeed. They were made to go together, truly they were! I don't take my folio out and about with me, it stays at home usually on my desk or on my kitchen counter.
You wanna see what's inside?
Here I am showing you my white folio because the white planner and folio, I have to be truly honest, are my favourites! The inside is a beautiful pink with a white polka dot design. Here you can see the overview layout when I open this beauty up:
My favourite planning supply has to be sticky notes. I love them in all shapes, sizes and patterns. I currently have these ones in my folio from the Target $ spot which a lovely American pen pal sent me.
In the back pocket I keep my 'tools'. These consist of a single hold punch for when I want to add something to my planner or for re punching holes if I have used washi tape down the sides. I have a crown ball point pen, a multi coloured biro and a pencil as I love to forward plan in pencil. I have never gotten on well with frixon pens, pencil is the way for me! I also have a pair of scissors for cutting off washi tape over hang!
I am a little bit obsessed with project life cards at the moment and I have way too many of them! The ones that I currently have in there are the Foil Kit.
I very often have washi tape samples in my folio too but not at the moment. They are in a pencil case. I decided to make this very 'real' and I literally just grabbed it so you could get a better feel for what I actually use and keep in there.
I was approached by Laura who told me that she had recently started her own business selling cute stationery and would I be able to help her out in spreading the word. Errrrrm cute stationery....gonna have to give that one some serious thought lol!
So you wanna see some of the goodies that she sent me...
Some lovely greetings cards which are all really good quality:
Laura also gave me the following information to share with you:
Why you became an Independent Phoenix Trader
Well, it’s kinda a funny story. I had just been made redundant and was out for a drive in the countryside with my friend Angelina. She had this postcard on her dashboard about Phoenix and handed it to me, withut saying anything. I hadn’t heard of Phoenix before, but knew she bought a whole bunch of cards, gift wrap, gifts, gift tags etc from a lady her Mum knows, so I asked her if this was the company who her Mums friend was a Trader for, to which she said YES!
Angelina knows I love stationery so it was right up my street. I came home and did some research and saw the special join now offer on the website for £75 – so went for it! At the very worst, I got £250 worth of cards and other stationery goodies for £75 – if it becomes a successful little business – then all the better.
When you join up you say which Trader you heard about Phoenix through, and so I put Alison’s name down – having never met her! So she was most surprised to see I had joined her team and we had a good laugh on the phone about how I had heard about Phoenix, and in turn, her!
Alison, and all the local Traders I know, are such a lovely bunch of ladies, from all walks of life and we all went to a Trade Show in Warrington a few weeks ago to see the Christmas range launch, which was a really fun day out #ChristmasInJuly
Why you love the products
What drew me to join up to be a Trader was mainly because all the designs are by British artists and all the products are printed in England! Each artists has his / her own unique style so there is something for every taste. They also do a great selection of cards for the male loved ones in your life, which I am hearing over and over again is very rare to find.
Anything that makes your online store different/unique
Any products on my online store can’t be found on the High Street. As Independent Phoenix Traders, each of us is self-employed and we are your only root to buying the products.
At £14 for 10 cards, we are incredibly good value for money and the quality can not be beaten on the High Street.
Throughout the year, there are new brochures released, so the range is always kept fresh and up to date with current trends.
Then about Sixth Form / University time this changed to notebooks. I still literally can not resist buying a notebook if it catches my eye. With greetings cards, I have always brought these as and when I have seen them, even if I did not know at the time who you be the lucky one to receive it! Phoenix has obviously added to my collection and all my neighbours know where to come if they need a late minute emergency card!
Recently I have discovered washi tape, Project Life, journaling, Ban.do planners, smash booking and all those glorious terms that a few weeks ago I didn’t even know about so, my stationery collection is about to expand and I have been making space in my studio this weekend for the goodies arriving in the week!
So it has been three weeks now of just using one book and one pen for both my planning and journalling. How have I been getting on? if you follow me on instagram you probably already know but here is the low down and the tell all for you!
I love to use social media and ogle over the planner pages that people are often sharing, can we just say that some of them truly blow my mind with their creativity! I have been coveting planner stamps for a while now and have often wondered if I should take the plunge or not. Everyone loves them and really raves about them so I assume that people now class them as their planning essential? I really felt like I was missing out.
I have to say I part of the reason that I wasn't getting any or using any is a lack of confidence. I am not a paper crafter (really), I don't make cards and I don't scrapbook. I create messy, mixed media art, mainly in my journal. There is no room in what I do for precise stamped images and because of that I was a bit scared to use stamps. What if I messed up and didn't get that precise stamped look, my pages would then be ruined! This is the kind of thing I tell people off for when it comes to art yet here I am doing the same sort of thing with planner pages and stamps lol!
I discovered Bella Creationz through my dear friend Deb from Craftin' Chaos and the lovely Stacy was very kind in sending me some goodies to play with...
The sets of stamps that you can see in the below photo from left to right are:
They are all available from Stacy's Etsy shop along with the stickers and hole reinforcers.
I have been doing One Book July which I started after I had already decorated a week in my Color Crush planner so I decided that this would be a really good week to try some stamping out on. I wasn't using it as my main planner so if I mucked it all up it wouldn't effect my week. I got everything out on the breakfast bar so I could see what I had and to let me familiarise myself with my stamps. Then off I went. I was like a kid in a sweet shop! It took me a while because I was learning how to use a stamping block as I have never used one before and the ink pad that I have is all dry and crusty so I had to get used to a nice brand new ink pad too. I did get ink all over my fingers which also resulted in a smudge on my page but it was all good fun. I managed to get a couple of snaps of the chaos with my iphone to show you...
So all in all, it took me a while to get used to because I had never done it before but it was super easy and super fun and I really love how it turned out in the end! I really enjoyed my foray into the planner stamp World and I am looking forward to sharing future posts with you!
To find out more about Bella Creationz head on over to the Bella Creationz / Timeless Twine Blog. You will also find me over there sharing this layout too!
PLEASE NOTE: I was given this / these
product(s) in exchange for my honest review and opinion, the fact that I
was given these does not alter my opinion in anyway. This review is my
own personal opionion on the product / company, given in good faith and
has not be sponsored or endorsed. None of the links are affiliate links. Unless otherwise stated, all photography is my own.
I'm often asked about when I bought my first planner or how I got into planning and planners. I have talked about this in many videos and blog posts but I thought I would go a bit more in depth about it with you today.
So I have school to thank for my love affair with planners and for starting me on my planning journey. Whilst I hated school, I loved my planner and to me it was just another way of keeping this little crazy head of mine on track, focussed (a little) and a form of creative outlet for me (although the teachers hated that part!).
In secondary school we had three terms a year: Autumn, Spring and Summer. Each term we were given a thin little paper journal by the school, free of charge to help us with our studies etc.
I used to doodle on the outside and on the inside, adding my own little marks, splashes of colour and anything that I wanted. This was a time, of the free, the time when I really didn't care what anyone thought of my art, I just wanted to use colour and use it I did. Anything went and it was a freedom of my expression.
I used to add stickers (please forgive the 90210 ones there lol!) and random rubbish. Oh and tons of graffiti from both myself and my friends. We used to destroy each others but I am glad we did as they are lasting momentos from my school years.
My teachers were forever moaning about how my planner looked, it is no wonder that they didn't crush and stifle my artistic tendancies forever! I had to cover my journals with wrapping paper or posters and then when I wrote all over them I did it again and again. I think I was always covering my books!
On the inside the planner was really useful. We had space for our timetable so we knew what classes we had as well as a list of period and break times.
In the centre of the planner was a yearly calendar. I have never really used one so I guess somethings never change. I just used to use mine for seeing how long it was until the next school holiday, marking the days off as I went like you would for a prison sentence. Oh I threw in the odd birthday too!
The main thing that the planner was used for was really useful, if I take the time now as an adult to think about it. We had a section for keeping tack of our attendance, a section for notes and reminders, to dos and the like. There was a section for parents to write letters to the school and for the school to comment to your parents on how you were getting on. They used to make us hand our books in all the time for signing and insisted that your parents signed your book every week. What a drag man! Luckily I don't think my parents were that bothered about the state of it, either that or I used to fold it over so they couldn't see what it looked like. On the right hand side we tracked what homework we had to do and when it was due in. As you can see I have always found it therapeutic to cross things off when they were done. Done and gone. Again this is something I was regularly told off for as apparantly teachers should be able to read it. Go figure!
So there we are, that is how I got into the World of planners and a rather cringeworthy look into some of my first ever planners. Oh by the way in case you were wondering, these planners are from 1993 - 1995. Eeeeek!!! I hope you enjoyed - I am off to go stop blushing now!
So it has been two weeks now of just using one book and one pen for both my planning and journalling. How have I been getting on? Well let me tell you!
I've got a bit of a sticker haul to share with you today. As you probably know from looking at my page decoration posts here on the blog, I usually use stickers solely for decoration and for looking pretty. Nothing else. Well I fancied a bit of a change. I fancied having a go at using stickers with more of a planning emphasis rather than just a decoration purpose as i had been drooling over some pages people had been sharing on social media. I recently sold a couple of Filofaxes that I was no longer using / liking / needing and so decided to spend my profits on stickers to use in mu current planners and journals.
You know I did a haul video and opening...
I took some photos but I wish I had taken better ones to share with you. I was so eager to use them that I just took some on my kitchen counter and now they have gaps in them! He he! I was just itching to stick!
The donuts have to be my favourite! I wasn't expecting them to be printed on glossy paper but in doing so the colours are just amazing!
I have long been coverting stickers from Rachel of Ellie Beth Designs UK as I have heard so many truly amazing things about them so I decided to take the plunge and oh boy am I glad that I did! They are truly amazing and the colours are just so vibrant. If you are on the fence about them just do it you won't regret it!
I have very quickly come to realise how invaluable those little arrows are to me! I have been sticking them to highlight important tasks that need to get done!
So that is my sticker haul. I don't know if / when I will do another one, depends on when I can afford to buy more stickers lol!
PLEASE
NOTE: I purchased these products with my own money. This
review is my own personal opionion on the product / company, given in
good faith and has not be sponsored or endorsed. None of the links are
affiliate links
