How I am using the monthly pages...

If you have been following me for a while you will know that I don't actually use monthly spreads. I just don't feel in my life that I need to see a monthly spread. I know many of you find it a must have and would be lost without it but for me I just don't need to see everything at a glance. OK so fast forward to receiving the Color Crush planner...the kit comes with lovely monthly pages. Now I was intrigued and you know me, I love trying out new planning ways and methods so I thought I would give them a little road test.


I am using my monthly spread for scheduling and tacking blog posts and YouTube videos. As you can see I am not using it for my personal life and if I am perfectly honest I can't actually see a need for that purpose any time soon. Never say never though as life is constantly evolving and you never know, I may do lol!

At the moment they are working really well for me. I am using the quick list down the side for jotting ideas down in pencil and then I move them over to the day space when I schedule the video in. I tend to write in pencil mainly as then things can be moved around but I will also write in pen when I know that something is a definite.

Decoration wise I have not decorated in advance, I have just decorated as I have gone. Whenever there was a gap and I had some stickers or washi tape around I just whacked it on the page. The result is something that I love!

Products used for March:
Stickers - From my online shop
Washi Tape - Plain pink is scotch tape. Striped from Websters Pages, Sprinkle tape from Hey Charlie Shop on Etsy, White with black dots from my online shop, black with flowers from my online shop.
PL card: These are the days collection (March) from Websters Pages

Products used for April:
Stickers - were from the April Brimbles Box but have now all sold out
Washi Tape - was received in a swap

Products used for May:
Stickers - From my online shop
Washi Tape - From my online shop

I can't show you the actual spread for May because I haven't done anything with it so no eye candy to look at!

I would love to know if you use a monthly spread and what you use it for because I am intrigued. I don't have any bills that I need to track because everything just comes out of the bank on a direct debit or standing order. Please do let me know because I am nosey and if you fancy sharing a picture or two with me I would love to see those as well. I would just like to know what I am missing out on and why people use them. For me I just can't get my head around a use for them so now I am using them for blog planning I am glad that they are not going to waste!

Pocket Letters Show and Tell

I have been very lucky to be sent lots of pocket letters from you as you know because I have been doing a share here on the blog once a week or so. I thought I would put them all together in a binder and do a bit of a flip through of them so you could get a better sense of them 'in person' as it were.

I have very much enjoyed doing these they have been loads of fun but they are quite time consuming and my craft stash is getting rather low so I am going to fulfill the swaps that I said yes to and then have a break for a little bit. I will be doing more swaps in the future, I just need to have a little break for now!

To see photos of all the pocket letters that have come in and gone out please click here.




Want to know more about Pocket Letters?

UK Planner addicts Pocket Letter Facebok Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/377324022460636/?fref=ts

So the creator of pocket letters is Janette Lane and you can find her all over the intermewebs here...
Pocket Letter Pals™ Network: www.pocketletterpals.com
Instagram: @janettelaneblog & @pocketletters
Blog: http://janettelane.blogspot.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thejanettelane

Looking for a pen pal or want to do a Pocket Letter Swap?

If you are looking for a pen pal or pocket letter swap partner please feel free to use the comments section. In past posts, loads of people said they were looking but no one replied to each other so maybe do that as some people may have already said they are looking. It is best to say whether you are looking for a one off or long term pen pal / pocket letter swap, whether you want international or what Countries etc. I will leave the rest up to you and then you can connect with people and share addresses privately. 

Pocket Letters meet Planners (keeping photos and memories in your planner)

As you know I have been really into my pocket letters of late. I made a pocket letter over the weekend and happend to break one of the pockets and at first I thought 'well that is a waste' and then my brain started ticking over, the cogs started to whirr... and then I had a 'eureka' moment. I decided to cut it down to one and a bit pockets to add to my planner and so I have two nice little pockets that I can add photos and other bits and bobs to for the purposes of eye candy, that or I can tuck receipts or tickets into it for filing away or journalling about later.

So if you have spare or broken pockets laying around you now have another use for them! Of course you can do the same sort of thing with the business card inserts that Filofax sell but I actually like these because the sections are bigger meaning you can either put more in or you can put something in that is bigger. Does that make sense? It does in my head! I also like the way it feels in my hand. I am a very tactile person and I love to touch things all the time. The business card slots are very often quite rigid thick plastic, very durable and perfect for keeping cards secure etc but I like that this is just a bit floppy he he!

It kind of reminds me of keeping photos in your purse / wallet. Do you remember the photo booths at Woolworths where you used to go with your mates or your boyfriend and get a strip done to put in your purse? The photo that I have in my pocket at the moment is an instax and it fits absolutely perfectly!

Products shown:

• Planner and inserts / dividers shown are from Websters Pages, this is the White Color Crush Planner. 
• Pockets are baseball trading card sleeves which are widely available on Ebay and Amazon.
• Arrow paper clip is from Websters Pages
• Ephemera shown is from my own stash but I do also sell these in my shop. I sell these because I love them so!

Strawberry Shortcake - This weeks pages

I have a busy week this week (again) but then some just are like that aren't they! Anyways on with the decoration...over the Easter weekend, Mr B and I headed to the coast for the day which was so nice. We were having a mooch around the shops and I nearly didn't go into one shop because it didn't appeal, it seemed full of what can only be described as beach tat. You know what I mean, there is always at least one shop like it on a UK sea front. At the back of the shop they had some books and I squeeled with delight when I found a Strawberry Shortcake sticker book for only £1. I knew instantly that it was mine! I love Strawberry Shortcake, I used to get called that all the time when I was a kiddo (for obvious reasons lol) and I still love her now.

Oh these pages make me so happy!

Oh as you can see I am back in the white again. I love the white, it just goes with everything. As much as I love the other colours, the white really does draw me in!

Products Used
Planner: Websters Pages Color Crush Planner in White with matching folio
Planner Inserts: Websters Pages week on two pages
Washi Tape: Websters Pages
Stickers: £1 shop by the coast
Paperclips: Ribbon Bow - Hey Charlie,

May Brimbles Box Reveal!

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

Planner Page Decoration Flip Through

I have consistnently decorated my planner pages every week this year and as we are a third of the way through the year I thought it would be fun to do a flip through of the pages. As you know I always share my pages here on the blog on a Sunday usually so you may have already seen most of them but this is what they look like with all of my scribbles on them!

London Stationery Show Roundup / What is the future of stationery?

As many of you know from my postings around social media, I visited the London Stationery Show in errr, London yesterday. Some of you asked if I could take photos and / or vlog my trip yesterday. There were two reasons why this was not possible. Firstly I have only just ordered my new vlogging camera (the old one broke!) and that should be here today. Secondly it was a trade show with companies showcasing up and coming products so photography was not allowed. Such a shame I know because so many of you wanted a virtual trip. As I mentioned it was a trade show so not open to the general public, reatailers, designers and manufacturers of stationery only. There was nothing to buy at the show but I did walk a way with an armful of brochures!

I went to a trade fair earlier on in the year where I had already met many of the suppliers that were there but it was nice to go back and chat with them to re-confirm that I love their products and also to re-confirm the inclusion of the products in future Brimbles Boxes. With the boxes I do so much behind the scenes work, researching and sourcing products, coming up with themes etc. It is hard work but I do love it else I wouldn't be doing it!

Many suppliers don't actually let you or like you selling on platforms such as Etsy so I have an online shop on my direct website now with many scrumptious new things coming that I am just so excited about. I have an order on its way from a BIG US brand. Huuuuuuuge but I don't want to tell you about it just yet, I want to make sure that the stuff actually gets here first and is OK before I do. All I am saying is that it is a well known, high end fashion brand who also has a stationery line and it is hard to get hold of here in the UK. Some of you may have guessed so if you have just keep it under your hat for a while so as not to ruin the surprise for others. I know I am being a little bit secret with many things. Believe me I really do want to tell you but sometimes these things take a while to put in place with lots of talks with companies so until it is all finalised it is pointless getting your hopes up incase it all falls through! I don't think it will but you never know. I also like to keep things secret with the box so as not to spoil the surprise for you because I know how you love to be suprised when it gets to you.

We sat in on a talk about design trends forecasting over the next months and even up to two years away. It was really interesting to hear from a design forecasting agency that specialise in this aaaaaaand I have to say that I am bang on trend lol! How do I know this? Well the Brimbles Box is actually planned out months in advance. At the beginning of the year I plotted out the themes for each month. I don't have all the art work for the dashboards completed yet but I did just send off the artwork for the July box to the printers on Tuesday and am working on the art work for August and guess what...BANG. ON. TREND. Whoooooop Whooooop! I was really excited about that and had to restrain myself from fist pumping in the air lol!

So what can we expect design trend wise emerging in the stationery World? According to the forecasting agency we can expect to see...

1. Olympics / Brazil inspired with lots of bold colours and patterns which intentionally clash. They really are so clashing that they kinda just, well, work you know!

2. A sporty influence, again keeping in mind the future Olympics things.
3. Nomadic living, the idea of travel and being free to move around.
4. Summer, pastels and all things floaty.
5. Surrealism with lots of juxtapositioning, all inspired from the release of the 'Alice through the looking glass' movie in 2016.

6. Play. Play is big, lots of interactive things, more adult colouring books.
7. Nature particularly with an urban feel.

8. Oh and technology. Lots more technology interface. It is out now but I really like the idea of the Livescribe where you can write with a smart pen and it automatically sends it to you device. Nice.

Some interesting concepts there, some of which I have mixed feelings about and others I am really excited for. I think you stationery addicts will agree that there are some exciting times ahead of us especially with more and more fashion houses extending their ranges into stationery lines.

What I can say is that all in all it was a really good show. There were not as many traders there as I thought there was going to be and there were a lot more 'corporate' type items there which isn't really us. I mean they have their place but the style of stationery I like and I know many of you do is the more cute / quirky / kawaii or fashion led type which there was less of but luckily I had already found those people at a previous show so that was all good!

Watch this space, as I say some lovely new products will be coming to my shop TODAY and also over the coming weeks and months. I will still have my Etsy shop as that is my first love but not all companies will work with me if I have that and there are some companies out there that just have products to die for so I have to have my direct shop because I cannot pass those goodies up!

Mr B took the day off work to come for a jolly. I like to bounce ideas off of him and he is not one to pass up on a trip to London. We are only 45 minutes away on the train but we don't go all that often. We were only at the show for a couple of hours as it wasn't that big so I decided to treat him to a cake at Choccywoccydoodah. We love it there and always go when we are in London. It is when I say that I am only 75% vegan because I do love my choclate I am afriad. I am good 75% of the time and 25% of the time I cave to chocolate and cheese. If you have never been and you ever find yourself if London  you just have to try it and it is also a great excuse to look at the fab shops in Carnaby street. I could drool over the Irregular Choice shoe shop for hours!

We had a little mooch around Oxford Street, went to our favourite vegan restaurant (to counter balance the chocolate!) and then made our way over to Victoria where I convinced Mr B to let me go in to Hema. He hates the place, he likes shopping but isn't keen on Hema.

I must say I don't love Hema stationery, even though I know a lot of people do but I am not massively keen (don't shoot me!). I did make a purchase though and this is my little Hema haul...

I told you it was little. We then went to see Wicked the musical. We first saw Wicked for our first wedding anniversary 7 1/2 years ago now but we were poorly and coughed and spluttered our way through it. We always said we would like to see it again and on Tuesday night we were planning our trip and decided that whilst we were in London we should perhaps take in a show. Wicked popped up on our research so we decided to book last minute tickets. It was an icredible performance and didn't disappoint and I would so go and see it again!

All in all we had a fab day!