Halloween Shaker Planner Dashboard

Hi everyone, Geraldine here. So this month I was asked by Anna whether or not I'd be interested in using some of the Halloween range available on her online shop. Now, I don't celebrate Halloween much these days but it used to be my favourite time of the year. Friends and I would go out for late night walks and take in the atmosphere. It was, as it always is, about community and friendship. Just see how communities use times like this to come together. That's what I love about these celebrations.

So it's not going to come as any surprise when I decided to use the Halloween range to create gifts for people. Now, I can't stand tacky! And there is a lot of tacky Halloween everything out there! But when I saw this range by October Afternoon, I was blown away. I genuinely haven't come across anything as lovely for Halloween. It has a real authentic, retro, look. Creative juices were flowing!
As you will see from the first photo I decided to try my hand at a Halloween themed pocket letter. These are very popular right now but I have never participated in it myself due to time constraints. But I thought the October Afternoon ephemera pack and other embellishments from this range would be perfect for this! Some of the pocket cards were made using some of the Halloween card stock from the Divider Pack. I made a paperclip using a badge embellishment as well as cute cards with ribbon and a button. I also combined word stickers with the larger die cuts as you can see here:

Next, I decided to try another new thing for me...a shaker dashboard for a personal size planner. For this I included Halloween sequins from our local pound shop. I gathered everything I would need together:

Next, I laminated a sheet of laminating plastic, cut to size, punched in the holes, and proceeded to sew three sides in orange thread. Then the fun bit! Filling the pocket!

It took a bit of shaking around to get everything the right way and then it was ready to sew closed:

And voila! One shaker dashboard complete and one very happy lady! I can check this one off the things to try list!

I hope this has inspired you to be creative and try new things this Halloween. You can find all these products, except the sequins of course, on the Mrs Brimble's Online Shop. 
 
Have a very happy and safe Halloween everyone!
Geraldine Jayne
http://geraldinejayne.com/

Geraldine has very kindly sent me (Anna aka Mrs Brimbles) the Halloween Pocket letter that she has made to send to you one of you if you would like it. Soooooo.... I thought that along with Geraldine's PL I would add some of the goodies that Geraldine used to make it, how does that sound? If you would like to win just enter your details into the Rafflecopter giveaway widget below.

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• Open internationally
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• If the winner(s) do not respond to my email within 48 hours a new winner(s) will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meet the Design team - Charlie

Hello, I'm Charlie! You may also know me as seasaltandpaper on Instagram and Youtube. I'm so excited to be hanging out on Anna's blog today and sharing a little bit about myself, and how Sea Salt & Paper came to be.



FYI I'm a planner hoarder, sticky note fanatic - a stationery addict if you will. You know, I'm just one of those people who has to write everything down or things will get forgotten. I live by the sea in Cornwall (UK) with my very understanding family and my very pampered pets. Looking back, no wonder I've ended up in the planner community and turning scraps of paper into things I love. I owe that to the women in my family who have had an endless amount of craft projects on the go ever since I can remember. I guess it's in the genes. Knitting, crochet, clay modelling, paper craft, embroidery. You name it, my mum, great auntie(s), nan, great nan and great-great nan did it all and encouraged me to explore my creative side from a very early age. Little did I know they are all Filofax owners too! All of these things are hobbies, a chance to relax and unwind - I never thought it would be possible to turn them into a full-time venture.



At school, I didn't know what I wanted to be (that's not entirely true, at one point I think I wanted to be a dentist.) It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I spent many happy years working as an early years professional, in nurseries, as a childminder, with very vulnerable children for children's social services and later on in a primary school. I've also dabbled in art therapy. What kept me organised throughout this time? My Filofax! And that is how I found the planner community.



It all started out with a search on Instagram. I was looking for inspiration and ended up hook, line & sinker *pun alert, sorry* As I shared my decorated pages and met like-minded addicts I became inundated with questions on how I use my planner, and so, I decided to blog about it using it as a way to expand on these questions and provide in-depth answers and photos. As time went on, my planner collection grew and so did my blog. Later in the year I was able to open an Etsy shop selling handmade planner accessories. I felt like I was working all day and night to keep everything going. In truth I was.

I really got to the point of deciding whether I could keep it up as my shop became busier. The thing is, it wasn't really about the time it all took, it was about which one made me happier and although teaching is such a rewarding job I took the risk and handed in my notice. That was April this year and I'm currently working on some projects to take my little business to the next level. I've been lucky to have some amazing opportunities come my way especially the one where I get to be a member of Anna's design team and I can't wait to get started!

So that's me - I stay organised and I help people get organised. It's a win-win situation.

Have a productive week - go and create something you love too!

Stalk me here: Blog // Instagram // Etsy // YouTube // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest

Planner Sticker Haul (Decorative & functional)

I have a planner sticker haul to share with you today, both the decorative sort and the functional (whilst being pretty) sort! Sheree reached out to me and asked me if I would do a review / share the love of her new sticker business and of course, I am not one to turn down an opportunity like that lol! The lovely Julie you have seen on the blog before and I did a swap with her. I sent her some bits and she sent me some stickers. I thought I would combine the two together to make it into a 'Haul' for your viewing pleasure...

If you like what you see, which I am sure you will please do go and check out both of these ladies shops:

Handcrafted by Sheree: https://www.etsy.com/shop/handcraftedbysheree use code MRSBRIMBLES10 for 10% off your purchase, no minimum spend.

Pinkhedgehogpretties: https://www.etsy.com/shop/pinkhedgehogpretties



and if you would prefer to see stills:

Here are the lovely stickers from Sheree, she even made me my own custom logo stickers which just blew me away!

I think this little sampler is something you get with your order, don't quote me on it though! I love the little hashtags, they are so darling!

And just look at the cuteness of this halloween set! Adorbs!

and then from Julie, as well as some others, she sent me these amazing Autumnal ones...

So that is me all sorted!





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.

Meet the design team - Daisy

Hello! Ahhh how exciting!

So I'm Daisy, some of you may know me as MyGreenCow on Instagram or YouTube. 

I suppose I may as well start with a bit about how I got to where I am today!

(Contact sheet from one of my GCSE Photography lessons.)

Throughout school and college, I never really knew what I wanted to do. I would say I wanted to be a photographer just so I had an answer when people asked, but as much as I enjoyed photography and studied it for GCSE & A-level, I don't think I ever really liked the idea of doing that full time. I knew there were more things I'd love to try.

Because of this I never went to University, the pressure that was laid on during college was ridiculous but I knew I didn't want to pay for a course when I still hadn't a clue if that was actually what I wanted to do. So I ignored the advice of all of my teachers, and boy I'm glad I did.

They had only known me for a few years, I'd known me my whole life, so I went with my gut!

When I left college I still didn't have a clue what I wanted to do, I job searched but due to anxiety struggles I just couldn't deal with any 'normal' job.

Seeing as I had more time on my hands with job searching not being too successful, I started embracing a few hobbies I had wanted to try for years, one of which was making jewellery. 

The first pieces I made I shared on Facebook, and a few of my friends wanted to buy them. I used to play shops constantly as a kiddo, so the fact that I could create something and get real money in return really motivated me! I opened up an Etsy shop and though sales were slow to start with, eventually things got rolling.

(One of my boxes full of incoming mail)

A year or so after I had been running my jewellery shop full time, I came across the crafting/planner/stationery community! Originally I came across them through snailmail and penpalling, I suppose you could say this was the gate I opened to get to where I am today.

I've had many penpals over the years and have made so many new friends through doing so, seeing as I didn't go to University, I never got to experience the social side. So this was a really nice alternative and also less anxiety provoking!

I've kept every letter I've ever been sent, and one day I will go back through them. I'm hoping to keep them as some sort of time capsule, so I can read back over them and reminisce when I'm old and grey haha!

(My full Smashbook on the left, then the one I'm working in at the moment)

From then onwards things just rolled, I came across scrapbookers, stampers, journalers, planners, and I of course wanted to dip my toes in them all! So I did. I had bought myself a Smashbook shortly after I'd started penpalling, which is what lead my onto finding all these other crafty communities on Instagram and YouTube. I never really knew how to use it, or how I wanted to use it but after watching videos and scouring the internet for photos and how other people used them I finally found the style I enjoyed and just went with it.

Smashbooking is what lead me on to start my YouTube channel and since I started making videos, everything has just grown. My stationery 'collection' is quite ridiculous, and my planner collection is just crazy, BUT I love it, they are the things that make me happy, so I'm sure they'll continue to grow.

Thankfully my boyfriend understands my 'need' for stationery and planner goodies, even though I get a few eye rolls here and there.

(My workspace ft. A photo I took of my boyfriend standing on a wooden post haha)

To sum it up I'd class myself as being a full time creative, which is made up of running two online shops and a YouTube channel! 

I thought I share a few randoms just to finish off!

1. I am a farmers daughter, I've grown up with a farming background which is something I'm incredibly grateful for.
2. I don't drink anything other than water or orange juice, that means no tea, no coffee, no alcohol, and nothing that my nose doesn't approve of first. (The same nose approvement goes for the food I eat too haha)
3. I love animated films and cartoons!
4. I rarely spend money on clothes, I have an annual clothes shop and I make sure any of the clothes I buy are in the sale, I'd much rather spend my money on stationery/craft items.
5. Rolling off of the last one, I'm a big bargain hunter. I'm always comparing prices, if I don't feel comfortable handing over the money, then I just won't.

So that's me in a nutshell, thank you so much Anna for choosing me to be on this awesome Design Team with an amazing group of ladies!

I'm looking forward to the next year of projects and lots of crafty adventures!

Daisy X

Customising my notebook cover

The lovely people of Nu Notebooks reached out to me to ask if I would be interested in doing a 'hack' of one of their notebooks. Of course being the stationery lover that I am I had to seriously think long and hard as to whether this was the sort of thing I would like to do...errrrm, no not really, I jumped at the chance!

I was able to choose my own notebook from their website, one that 'spoke' to me. I instantly fell in love with the Nu Elite in Kraft. I absolutely love Kraft products, I don't know what it is about Kraft but I really do love it. When I saw the notebook, it didn't just speak to me, it scream "I am a blank canvas, have me and paint on me"!

As an artist I nearly always paint or doodle on my notebooks and I always have done even when I was at school, despite constantly being told off by my teachers, it didn't stop me from doodling and I still love to do it now.

For me when I customise the cover of a notebook, it feels like I put a piece of me into it. A bit of my life, soul and energy into the book so it is all ready for using. I know that may sound a little 'hippy trippy' but to me it has kind of already started your journey with the book. It makes it so inviting to create inside.

So along with Kraft I also love bunnies and am notorious for drawing and painting bunnies on everything and anything. I filmed the creating of my notebook cover so you can see how this came to be:


I am really happy with how it turned out. Part of me wanted to keep going and to embellish it further but then I think sometimes you can over do it and less is more. I will live with it for a while to see how it 'speaks' to me further and then decide.

The notebook itself is divine! I am not just saying that because they sent it to me but because it truly is. The cover is amazingly good quality and the notebook just feels right in your hands. It's a feeling that I can't convey in words, only a notebook lover will know what I mean there. The paper inside is smooth and luscious, I just wish they made a plain page one as then I could have one as a sketch book too. I will sketch in this along with writing but sometimes it is nice to just have plain pages for sketches.

Now to get that pen on to paper...


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.

Get to know the Design Team - Stef

Hello from Australia! I’m super excited to be a part of the wonderful group of women who make up Mrs. Brimble’s Design Team this year.

Let me introduce myself: my name is Stef (aka Noveltea Corner) and I’m a twenty-something year old primary school teacher from Melbourne, Australia. Five days a week I get up early and head in to work with my wonderful class of 23 five-six year old students - which is a wonderful job that requires a lot of dedication and creativity. Which is perfect, because for as long as I can remember, I’ve been the crafty sort!

I’m forever looking at new and fun craft activities (for me and my class) and road testing them and trying out new skills. I’m definitely a paper girl - give me paper and I can guarantee I’ll turn it into something - who loves planners, Project Life, water colouring, drawing Zentangles and experimenting with hand-lettering.

Last year, in 2014, I discovered the planner community. (Also, Youtube. Yes… I am a later comer to Youtube. Please don’t judge me!)

My mind was completely blown. I was completely amazed by the planners and planner decorating craze that really picked up in 2014, which inspired me to go out and purchase my very first Kikki.K planner.

I actually had no idea what to do with it. I plan a lot as a teacher, but I didn’t keep a personal planner for myself. In fact, I hadn’t kept a paper planner for many years, so it took some getting used to again and a bit of dedication.

Since then - I confess - I’ve gone a bit planner crazy and the thing I look forward to on the weekend is sitting down and creating a fun new layout for my week. Somewhere in that time frame I started a YouTube channel, and in the last few months it’s really become my place to share my planners and planner decorations with fellow planner fans. I also set up an Etsy store and a new (crafty) blog.

I’m a big fan of using what you have. (I’m also really bad at buying all the Pretty Shiny Things… but I’m trying to get better at saying no, I promise!) I know lots of people are bit fans of planner stickers, but where possible, I love to create my own. Pinterest and Google are full of amazing images that you can print out for your own use on sticker paper (or even plain paper, if you’re happy to glue it in your planner!) and it’s very cost effective in the long-run, not to mention super customisable to your own needs. I’ve become obsessed with teaching myself to hand letter (in my own way) things just to add a bit of variety to my skills.

I also make my own digital background designs and printable pages for my planners - and yes, I’m at peace with my current planner situation! When I’m not using my own creations, I’m raiding my scrapbooking/Project Life supplies for all sorts of fun elements to add.

I look forward to sharing lots of projects with you in the future! Feel free to follow me on all the sites listed below.

blog. noveltea corner

youtube. noveltea corner

instagram. stefgalvin

twitter. stefgalvin

pinterest. stefgalvin

facebook. noveltea corner

Supplier Spotlight - Cloudy Cow

It's time for another 'Supplier Spotlight'. You have seen Cludy Cow on the blog before BUT you can never have too many cute stationery items right?

I took part in a 'stock swap' with some other ladies who run, well, errrr shops obviously lol! I showed you My Pretty Week last week and today it is time to share the goodies that I got from Daisy aka Cloudy Cow.

So the first thing she sent me was this super cute washi tape with lots of wellington boots on it. I mean seriously cute! I love it and it is going to work perfectly with journalling about the garden (or festivals if I should be lucky to go to any lol). It will also inject a bit of colour into Autumnal pages as I like to wear my wellies when we go for woodland walks. Perfect!

 The second thing that Daisy sent me was this super cute ice cream pen in lilac. I love slimline pens like this as they slip into your pen loops nice and easily. I also love the fine tip on them as they are great for writing small.

Don't you think it looks right at home in my purple original Filofax!

Please do go check Daisy out and show here some love... Places you can find Daisy / My Cloudy Cow:

Shop: http://www.cloudycow.bigcartel.com/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mygreencow
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cloudycow and also: https://www.facebook.com/mygreencow instagram: https://instagram.com/cloudycow/ and also: https://instagram.com/mygreencow

I asked Daisy if she could tell us a bit herself and the shop...

I’m Daisy, I live in the UK and am 21. I became self employed at 18, and since then I’ve managed to set up two businesses, and I also started a YouTube channel (MyGreenCow). I’m a lover of all things stationery/craft related, and share this love via my YouTube channel and other social media. I’ve always been a creative person, so it’s amazing to be able to incorporate that into my full time job! I set up Cloudy Cow so that I could offer cute stationery items you can't find as easily in the UK. But I do offer worldwide shipping! At the moment the shop has three different sections! They are as followes: 

WASHI TAPE- Here you will find a wide range of washi that is available. Not ALL the washi will be in stock at ALL times, but I do my very best to keep the shop well stocked.

POP UP - Here you will find random stationery items! It's called the 'pop up' section for a reason. The items listed here won't ALWAYS be available, they may only be available for a limited time, there will always be limited stock and they may not come back again, so grab them whilst you can! I decided to add this section, because it adds variety and a bit of fun to the website!

OTHER - Here you will find others items which will be a permanent fixture on the website, these will not be going anywhere and will be restocked regularly, much like the Washi Tapes.The recent re-launch gave me time to full revamp the website and ‘mould’ it into shape a bit. 

I’m extremely happy with how it’s turned out and this should hopefully be the start of a long journey for Cloudy Cow!


PLEASE NOTE: I participated in a swap with this other small business owner. 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.

My Autumnal Planner Set Up

It has been ages since the last time I shared a planner set up with you. The main reason for this is that for me my system does not change. I found planner peace a long time ago with the way in which I planned and also what I needed in my planner. Planner peace for me is about my system rather than the actual planner I am in.

So a couple of weeks ago I talked about my planning mojo was having a bit of a slump. Well I decided to move away from the Ban.do Florabunda and back into my Malden. I do still love the Floradunda but I just felt like I wanted to go back into rings again. I was using my Florabunda for planning as well as journalling which was working well for me but, I don't know, for planning, I just found it too large. I am still using it but solely for journalling and we still have a strong love affair!

Now I am back into my Malden, my mojo is also back into full swing too! Autumn is my favourite season and I come alive in Autumn and find that I really get my 'craft on' too. The Malden lends itself perfectly to snuggly photos so expect to see a lot of those in the coming weeks and months over on instagram!

Obviously I filmed a video of my set up so you can hear and see me talk about it:



I don't know about you but Autumn to me means even more warm drinks so it wouldn't be Autumn without a little Starbucks charm now would it!

When I am in my Malden I do tend to use the card slots for my cards, the layout just lends itself perfectly for a purse / wallet. I took the cards out for the photos though. I also have a couple of paperclips too. I can never have enough paperclips! Also peeking out you will see some cute little notecards from My Pretty Week.

I have affectionately labelled myself the dashboard queen as you know I am always making dashboards and my planner has at least two in it at all times! Pure eye candy mostly!

The page marker I made last year by laminating a sticker sheet has of course made it's return!

As for the sections in my planner; I have my diary, to do, notes and addresses. This is my daily planner for my personal life and our home / family life. I don't need anything to fancy or high tech. I use another planenr for work and blog scheduling. For this, I like to keep it simple and for me having my planners split like that really works and helps keep everything in some kind of logical order.

The inserts and dividers are all cut from a Paperchase notebook which I think was from their 2014 Dreamscape collection.