Answers to your questions!

It's been 3 months since I last did a Q&A video so I reached out in the Facebook group and on instagram and you lovely lot supplied me with some questions to answer.

Here are my responses over three videos (there were a lot of questions!!)

Journal With Me - Be Happy

Welcome to another creative journal process video! I hope you enjoy!

Functional Planner Dividers

Debbie here from Craftin' Chaos. I have not always been a "planner girl" in the sense that I am now. I have always utilized a planner both paper and digital but I never had the fever I have now for planners. I still am a newbie honestly, so I am still continuing to learn what works for me.

One thing I can share that has changed for me is that I made myself dividers for things I found myself needing to track or keep record of and that has profoundly changed my life because now I actually utilize my planner so much more than I ever did.

I have my own Etsy shop so I am constantly writing things on anything I can find on my desk so now I have a designated place to keep all that information! I also created a section for my blog and design team posts, monthly, menu planning, To do, Supplies. These are all categories that I felt I could use help organizing and keeping all things contained to one easy to use spot. Each year I find myself learning more and more about ways to keep myself organized with my shop and all the things going on in my life.

I am very OCD and I have always been an organized person even before I got into planners because it is just my personality. I arrive 10-15 minutes min early to any appointment, I ran my own company and I had a lot of balls in the air so I had to stay on top of a lot of things.

I would say I am an over achiever and pressure myself to get any and all things done that I can. I hate to say no to people so therefore my schedule gets hectic all the time but I seriously love my life being that way because it makes me feel much more alive. Yes things get stressful but I thrive on things being chaotic in a sense.

So if I had to give a new planner any advice it would be to make the planner work for you and set it up to where you will actually utilize it in the best possible way. For me I was not doing that until now. I have learned a lot from all my planner friends and I hope that by sharing tips when I can you can see how it can make things run smoother for you. Here is a pic of my planner and my dividers. Here are some photos of my dividers.

Now to share some goodies with you from Brimbles Stationary Box

I plan to use these cute little folders for pocket letters and let me tell you these washi's I am in love with the arrows!!

Anna's original artwork is always a bonus with the kits. I save all these cards to put in my planners. Such a cute pen and pretty button flairs you can make refrigerator magnets or paperclips with!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tropical Planner Pages

The biggest perk of curating the Brimbles Box is that I get to play with all the goodies in advance of you ha ha! Sorry shouldn't rub it in! Anyhooo I was playing with my pages and thought I would show you to give you some inspiration for your pages and how you can use some of the goodies you get in the box (you don't get the paint though!)


;) Enjoy!

New Art Supplies!!

You guys know that I love love LOVE my Art Supplies and getting creative in my journals, right?

Well today is a very exciting day for me...today is the day that I launch the new Art Supply section in the Mrs Brimbles Shop! 

Many happy dances were had I can tell you because I literally have this in my possession...

I kid you not. The rack loaded with all the paints is sitting on my desk. I want to keep them all ha ha! Just look at those vibrant colours. Lusciousness for sure.

So to celebrate the launch of the Art Supply shop I thought I would offer you guys the chance to shop on me! I am giving away a £15 store credit voucher so you can grab yourself a few supplies to add to your collection or to get your creative journal supplies started. To enter just use the giveaway widget below.

p.s. you see the photos of the brushes and oil pastels, well they are actually my own well used and loved ones he he!!

By submitting an entry to this giveaway you agree to the following Terms & Conditions: 

• Your email address will be added to my newsletter database - I will not sell this to anyone else nor will I constantly be spamming you and you can unsubscribe at any time! 
• Open internationally
• You must be over eighteen years of age or have parental / guardian permission.
• The prizes stated above are the only prize(s) - no cash alternative.
• One winner will be chosen at random and notified by email. Winner(s) will be announced on this page on the rafflecopter widget after the closing date.
• If the winner(s) do not respond to my email within 48 hours a new winner(s) will be chosen

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Project Life & Planner Decoration

Hello! It's Stef from the Noveltea Corner and I'm back on the Mrs. Brimbles blog to share how I used my April Brimbles box. I received the personal-sized planner box and I've so far managed to use it for two projects and could probably get another two out of it as well.

So this is what I received in my planner box:

Whenever I get a planner box I love to deck out my planner, and this month's colour scheme was so fun. I had a ball using the sticky notes as decorative elements, too. I've included the process video below for you as well.

My second project was a Project Life layout, and I've shared a few of these on this blog before, but this time I have a process video for you, too. (It's my first time with a Project Life process video, so it's not perfect, but I thought it would give you all an insight into how I work through a layout.)

I hope this inspires you to stretch your boxes out across multiple crafting platforms. Just because you receive a 'planner' box doesn't mean you're limited to just planner decorating or accessories, and vice versa. The sky's the limit!

As always, you can follow me on Youtube and Instagram for more ideas and inspiration. Until next time, happy crafting!

xx

Stef 

Journal With Me - Courgette Crazy

I have been getting requests if I could start to share some of my journal process videos again. I used to but then got out of it a bit, well time to get back in. I am not promising there will be one every week or even every month but every time I do some journalling and feel moved to turn the camera on and record I will do just that.  My journals are a mix of art, photos, smashbook / scrapbook but to me they are just my journals.

I hope you enjoy!

Most of the products used are from my online shop www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/shop

Project Life Page Share

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to be sharing my first Design Team project with the Brimbles Box, but before I do, I suppose I should tell you just a little bit about myself. My name is Chloé, I'm 21 years old, and I live in Hampshire with my boyfriend, my six pet bunnies and our yorkie puppy, Archie. I was always a creative child, but I didn't really find my preferred hobby until I was 17: Project Life scrapbooking. I absolutely adore pocket page scrapping; it can truly be as complex or as simple as you want it to be, and I can always find time for it even with a busy schedule.

With that being said, I have a Project Life page to share with you today!

(Apologies for the dodgy photo, PL pages are hard to capture lol!) About a month ago, I was lucky enough to attend the Cambs Mini Planner Con that Anna organised. It was such a wonderful afternoon; the perfect event to scrap using my May Brimbles Box. 

I did pull papers and some coordinating bits and bobs from my craft stash, however you can see that I dotted lots of stickers around from those beautiful 6x12 Pebbles sheets, and the "today" flair was the perfect embellishment for a filler card.

I love including memorabilia in my albums; I saved the tea bag packet from our hotel room, and used it as a pocket for some business cards I was given at the event! It's a great way to save space, whilst including all those little bits and pieces we'd otherwise throw away. Plus... who doesn't love tea?!

Finally, those gorgeous mini file folders! I've seen lots of people in the Happy Place group asking for advice about these; honestly, there are so many things you can do with them! I wanted to use one as a 3x4 filler card, AND a place to hide some more memorabilia, so I simply decorated the front (that little bumblebee is from the Brimbles Box!) and then put our hotel card inside. That "welcome" sticker and the bird are also from the sticker sheets in May's box, and I thought they really finished the inside of the card off. 

So there we have it, my first design team post! How exciting! I really hope you enjoyed having a look at my PL page, and I will be back on the blog very soon.

Chloé xx

What's in my pencil case?!

It's been 18 months since I did a 'What's in my pencil case' video and as I my pencil case(s) look a bit like they are over flowing I thought I might sort through it, maybe downsize and show you what is in it as I do that!

If you would like to see my last video and take part in the tag - there are questions to answer you can see that here:

The questions to answer are:

1. What pencil case are you using / do you use?
2. Why do you use it?
3. Where was it from?
4. Do you carry it out and about or does it stay at home?
5. Show us what is inside?
6. What was in there that you had forgotten about?
7. What is your most used / favourite item?
8. Now you have gone through you case what will you leave out? if anything!
9. How often do you go through your case and change things?
10. What are your future plans for your case? New case? New contents? What is on your wish list?

Customising my Travelers Notebook

You may have already seen this on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc as I posted it Friday but I forgot to share here on the blog too!

I decided to paint my travelers notebook from Websters Pages. You may remember I painted a planner last year, well I thought it was time to have another little go and here it is!

Create cards in just a few minutes!

Hi Friends!!!

It's Margie, and I'm so happy to be able to share one of my favorite things to create - 

GREETING CARDS!

I am a strong believer of using up all of my scraps and bits from all of my Brimbles Box's, no matter how big or small... or even the packaging! I keep it all until I can find some creative way to use it... 

For my first card, I decided to catch up on my Holiday/Christmas stash - it is a very busy time of the year for me and it is also when I need to have a ton of cards on hand for any given moment: 

a thank you card to one of my kids teachers, a reminder note for a playdate, birthday cards, an invite to meet up for coffee, etc. 

Pre-cut and folded cards are so helpful when creating a quick simple card!

I used a Blue Glitter Notecard by American Crafts - because of the glitter, I used clear Modge Podge on the entire glitter side to seal in the glitter from having it rub off and fall all over the place (I am not a fan of glitter, lol!) I then used another notecard to create a scalloped circle to decorate the snowflake ephemera from Mrs Brimbles Winter Warmers Ephemera Pack. Added a few scrap pieces of cardstock from the Winter Wonderland 6x6 Scrapbook Paper Pad to complete the embellishment - and done! Other than the 15 minutes it took to wait for the Modge Podge to dry, this card took about 10 minutes to create.   

Quick tip: don't dwell on design!

Just pick a theme (Christmas, birthday, etc.), grab a few matching pieces and go with it!

* * *

For my next one - I needed a quick thank you card... 

When you're pinched for time, don't hesitate to use already made embellishments and ephemera - or create your own!

On this card, I simply grabbed a tag from Amy Tangerine 'Bits' Tag set, added some baker's twine to it and mounted it onto cardstock that I embellished myself! 

This card took about 10 minutes to create. 

Quick tip: Take note of your products packaging! 

The checkered background on this card is from the tags' packaging - it matched so well that I just had to use it! Don't let cute packaging go to waste! 

* * * 

Notecards are my favorite cards to create... 

There are some quick and simple tricks to using stamps and not having to color the images... 

 I love to color, but I am quite slow at it. So when I am in a pinch, I use the "paper-piecing" method; for this card I had to stamp the image (from the Documentary Stamp Set) three times: once on the kraft notecard, another on the Winter Wonderland 6x6 Scrapbook Paper and another on some lined notepaper. Cut the two different papers and then adhere them onto the notecard. Having to fussy-cut the image may seem intimidating and daunting, but I promise, it's really not! 

Another card done in just 15 minutes...  

Quick tip: Add your own handmade embellishments too!

For example, something as simple as using a white gel pen to add dots to the sentiment to make it stand out more: eye-catching and fun!

* * * 

And for my last card, I just wanted to create a fun notecard specifically for someone I know! 

  

Again, I wanted to create a quick and simple card with minimal products and hardly any coloring... I stamped my bunny (by The Greeting Farm) directly onto the kraft cardstock, paper-pieced the balloon using a scrap from the Winter Wonderland 6x6 Scrapbook Paper Pad and added a touch of color onto the bunny with colored pencils. I added a matching scrap of cardstock from my stash and a bit of turquoise with white dots washi tape as my embellishment - and done! Another card done in less than 15 minutes. 

Quick card tip: Always remember to just have fun! 

Especially if you're creating something for someone in mind; there's no right or wrong way to create anything! And they will always treasure that you thought of them and made them feel special!

* * * 

I hope that these quick and easy tips will encourage you all to create a few cards using your scraps and bits to make someone smile :) 

Also, all of these products were items that I have received in previous Brimbles Box's!

Please go HERE to see which Brimbles Box will fit your current needs!!!

Enjoy your day :) 

Do you create intentionally or subconsciously?

Here is a bit of a food for thought post for you...when you create do you create intentionally or subconsciously?

Have you ever thought about the colours you are using or intentionally thought 'I will use this colour today' because it ties in with what you want to journal about. That isn't something I have really thought about until most recently.

I do a bit of both actually depending on what it is that I am doing and why.

It has taken me a while to write this blog post as I wasn't sure if I was going to or not but then I thought why not, some of you might find it interesting, thought provoking even. I am only sharing a snippet of a journal entry here that I created at the beginning of the month as the rest is a bit personal and takes me out of my comfort zone for sharing but I am sure you can understand that.

So I was sat on the sofa with my 'bag of tricks' by me and I reached in and grabbed the first distress stain that 'spoke' to me. It was green. A colour that I won't say I dislike but one that I certainly wouldn't naturally gravitate towards because it doesn't normally 'speak' to me. Well I thought OK just go with it, if it is calling out to you just go with the flow and use it and use it I did for a nice wash over the page. The second colour I used was an orange but again not a typical colour for me.

I kind of liked how they looked on the page and I knew what I wanted to journal about, I just wanted a bit of colour underneath it for some visual interest. I had a bit of a hard time in April to be perfectly honest with you. I was very stressed and felt burnt out from pressure that I had put on myself as well as from a situation that is going on in our personal life at the moment. It is a situation that I am in, a process that I am journeying along but one in which I have no control over what so ever. I just have to go along with it whether I am happy or comfortable with it or not and there is very very little that I can do to change the outcome. I felt very de motivated and depowered (is that even a word? I dunno! But whatever the opposite to empowered is, I felt that!). I basically felt as though the life force had been sucked out of me and all my creative juice had dried up and my life force has gone. I felt like a shell of a person which proved to be so toxic that a week later I fell ill.

As it turns out being ill is the best thing that happened and I will talk about that in a later post as I have another one in the pipeline talking about my authentic self.

I journalled my little socks off! On the left of the page I wrote a bit of a summary and on the right hand side I wrote some affirmations for myself. I felt pretty pleased with that and like a release had happened. I then started to wonder about my colour choices. As I said, green and orange aren't my usual go to colours at all! I decided to Google the meaning of the colours and this is what I found out:

So I was pretty blown away by the results the search came up with! I think that pretty much sums up how I am feeling or was feeling at the time of creating that page and also what I need to work on. It is also interesting to me how the orange is at the bottom of the page, to me that ties in with the definition that the joy and sunshine has been suppressed and needs to rise to the surface again.

Of course internet research will bring up other meanings, some contradictory and some more in depth but I kind of like the first ones that came up for me as they resonate with me for sure. I think if you are into that kind of stuff like myself, you will just know if it feels right, if it resonates or strikes a chord with you it was probably meant to be for you.

When I create with a piece in mind I know what colours I want to use usually and use them but for me I definitely want to try and be more open to just going with gut instinct or what I am drawn to at the time to see what results it brings up. Whether there is something to learn from it that I didn't think of before or whether it fits with what I thought. Whichever one it is, there is always something I can learn or take from it as I am on my life journey.

Making Mixed Media Inserts for Travelers Notebooks

I was sat at my desk making a mixed media insert for my travelers notebook when I thought I would turn the camera on and have a chat with you whilst I do it and show you what I did and how I put it together.

Decorating my Happy Planner

Hello everyone! It's Zinia here and I'm joining you today to show you how I used my May stationery Brimbles box to decorate the monthly spread in my Happy Planner. Before I get to that though, I want to take a moment and say that this is my most favorite Brimbles Box to date! I mean who can resist to these gorgeous Pebbles stickers!



The monthly calendar for May in my Happy Planner is actually purple. That makes it quiet hard to find matching decorations since purple is not a very popular colors in the craft world. The thing is you don't necessarily need purplish things to decorate a purple page. Actually It's way better if you don't since the page has enough purple by itself. So the best color to compliment purple is obviously it's complementary, yellow.



I used some of the gorgeous yellow flowers and floral clusters from the 'Home Grown' sticker sheet and also a little bird sticker from the 'Front Porch' collection. Those few stickers alone made the spread feel magical.



To add some more fun elements to this spread, I decided to use the gold confetti washi tape (my new favorite) and add small strips in the days that I have projects to publish. To finish off my planning, I used my self-made color coding stickers to add my projects and deadlines. I think it's really fun to color code your monthly spread because it is a sort of decoration by itself and makes everything look prettier.



So that's it. I hope you got inspired to do something fun with your Brimbles box supplies, see you again soon.

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