Planners can be fun!

 

 

 

I was introduced to the idea of combining my planner and art journaling into one location by Suzi Blu.  I have always been extremely unorganized and the thought of making my planner fun never entered my mind!  So, after reading Suzi's posts about making a planner, I decided to give it a whirl.  I chose the Kikki K planner after doing quite a bit of research on Filofax and other planners.  It had similar features of the Filofax, but was not as costly.  Plus, they had really good reviews.  When it came in I was soooooo excited, like I was eight years old again and it was Christmas morning! It came wrapped in the cutest white tissue paper that had images of envelopes all over it.  I saved that for my art journals. One of the easiest ways to take your boring calendar pages and make them exciting is with stickers. I had forgotten how much I love stickers. And you can find some super cute ones in the clearance section of craft stores.  Stickers are NOT just for kids, by the way.  The dividers that came with the planner were plain navy blue, so those had to be changed.  I used them as a template and made my own dividers out of cardstock from Hobby Lobby.  I also used washi tape that I got from Office Depot to reinforce the edges.  I didn't buy a fancy six hole punch.  I just used my plain Jane single hole punch.  It took longer, but it wasn't a big deal.

 

Here's a picture of the first thing you see when you open my planner.  I wanted it to be fun and pretty! 

 

 

It makes me smile every time I open it up!

 

 

I found these cute little envelopes and stickers in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby.  I just love them!

 

 

 

Here is a picture of my typical week.  I love the two page week layout.  Everything is color coded to make it easier.  My work stuff is green, yellow is my personal stuff, pink is for my oldest daughter, blue is for my youngest, and orange is for my husband.  It has really worked out well.  I have become so organized that I don't even recognize myself!

 

 

 

 

Lastly, here is a picture of my dividers.  Before I made them I sat down and made a list of what types of things I wanted to keep track of in my planner.  I settled on 5 sections.  My calendar and weekly pages, my notes, birthdays, prayers, and passwords.  Then I added an envelope in the back to hold more stickers.  The prayer section has worked out awesome.  When I'm out and about and someone asks for prayer, I can just put that prayer down so that I don't forget to lift it up to God later.  I also enjoy highlighting the prayers that God answers.  It is really eye opening to see just how much God listens and responds to our pleas. 

I hope this helps to inspire you to get creative with the everyday "have to's" of life.  It has really made a difference for me in how I look at planning my life.  It is definitely much more fun!!!

New Beginning

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything.  Last February I had a depressive episode that knocked me down.  It was only until this past January that I have picked up my art supplies and began creating again.  I hadn't realized how much I missed it!

I first went to youtube and pinterest to help me get my mojo back.  It had been so long that I was a little rusty.  But just like anything else, once I started creating, it became much easier.  With each new piece I am getting a little bit better (artistically).  Mentally, I am doing great!  With the support of my friends and family, medication adjustments, and wonderful counseling, I came through the episode relatively quickly.  (Although, time stands still when your in it!)

So, having said all of that, I wanted to share with you an art journal prompt that really excited me.  It's called What is your totem animal?

One of the things I learned in counseling is that the psyche is aware of so much more than our conscious realizes.  And this is universal.  That is why, for example, the symbol of a bird is used to represent freedom across many cultures. 

American Indians used animals to represent certain personality traits in people.  They are called a person's totem animal and it represents all of the complexities of their personality. 

I was curious to see what my totem animal was, so I visited a website http://www.allthetests.com/quiz10/quiz/1095198776/What-Totem-Animal-Are-You to take a free test.  The results were amazing!  I was actually a mixture of three animals.  The butterfly, eagle, and bear.  I really connected to the butterfly and that is the animal I chose to journal about.  (Technically it's an insect, but whatever!)

Here is what I came up with:

So, I challenge you to take the quiz and then do an art journal page that celebrates your totem animal.

I would love to see what you come up with.