I decided to entertain myself and my 5 year old with some surprise craft boxes from one of my favorite stores, Little Craft Place in Houston (Spring), TX! WOW y’all, were we ever surprised! SO… MUCH… FUN… STUFF! Run, don’t walk, over to that website and get you one – so worth it and so much fun! What a bright spot in our kind of crappy, stuck at home day! She has boxes for adults, and also has boxes made up for girls 4-6yrs, boys 4-6yrs, girls 7&up, and boys 7&up!
First unboxing was Tatum’s. She’s five and LOVES crafts! We didn’t get to open these until later in the evening so she didn’t get to participate in her unboxing video, but she can’t WAIT to start crafting with all this tomorrow, and I even bribed her to go to bed with it. LOL!
And after she went to bed, I unboxed mine! WOW, I swear Eunice must be the world champion at package Tetris because this box is PACKED (I mean, they both were, but wow!) with goodies!
Needless to say, I’ve already jumped on and ordered both of us second boxes. Ha ha ha!! Hope this helps give you some great crafting ideas for both you and your little ones during this social distancing! So happy to see small business thinking **inside** the surprise box, and what a wonderful way to market your business and all the wonderful things you offer once you’re able to safely get out and about! <3
I went to my first “real” planner event this weekend, and I have to tell you I got some weird reactions to that from a bunch of my family and friends. I had asked my hubby for a ticket for my birthday this year and I was super pumped about going. My hubby told me “I don’t know why you’d want to do that, but if it’s what you want then go for it!”
So I was thinking to myself last night, how to explain to the non-planner WHY exactly I love planning. Brace yourself for the shocker, it’s NOT primarily organizational based like you would think. Far from it (though it is a nice side perk!) I enjoy planning because for ME, it is a creative release.
I am not particularly artistic when it comes to drawing/painting/etc. I’ve never had, nor will I probably ever develop that particular skill set. My stick people look like maybe my 4 year old drew them. I’ve always wanted to be super artistic, and I’ve tried and tried to draw/paint/sketch, but the reality is… it’s not going to happen.
When I’m working on a spread or layout for the week in one of my planners, not only am I reminding myself of the things I need to do and appointments I need to keep, but I’m creating a visually appealing way to look at my life the next 7 days. I thoroughly enjoy putting stickers, washi tape, and colorful pens/markers down in a collection of thoughts that speaks to me. It’s soothing, and it’s fun.
That being said, sometimes I am also like a squirrel surrounded by shiny objects when faced with the sheer collection of planner stuff I’ve acquired when trying to plan out my week. When that happens I try to sit back and look around for something that inspires me. I have a lot of stuff hanging around, and generally there’s always something I can create an idea from.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I headed off to this planner event. I consider myself somewhat of an “Introverted Extrovert”. I love people, love meeting new personalities and experiencing moments from their point of view, but I also get nervous and a little anxious at the beginning of a social situation, especially when I don’t really know anyone. I tend to cling to people I DO know like a rat to a sinking ship until I can get comfortable enough to be myself.
I really shouldn’t have worried at all. Planner people have this “You can sit with us” mentality that is truly refreshing in this socially stunted world. Everyone is open and friendly and excited to share. I also THOROUGHLY enjoyed the speaker, Heather Kell, from @kellofaplan on Instagram! She took a fairly mundane, everyday object like a sticker book full of icon stickers and transformed it into a glorious assembly of creative ideas, and her excitement and passion for what she was doing was infectious! I couldn’t WAIT to get home and start creating things using the creativity she had inspired!
So that’s why I plan – it’s a great group of people, and honestly, they’re on to something! I find organizing my thoughts and getting it down onto paper centers me and soothes my anxiety, plus the added bonus of rarely (I’m not saying it never happens) forgetting some thing I’m supposed to do or somewhere I’m supposed to be. =)
That being said…. it’s been a month since I posted here. Maybe I need to start planning out my blogging a bit better!! ha! <3
Here we go with yet another planner post! Sorry you guys that aren’t into it – but ironically enough ever since I became a Stay at Home Mom my schedule has been a lot tougher to organize than it was when I was working! I know that seems odd, but it’s true. AmIRight Mom friends?
I’ve been kind of all over the place on the planners that I use…. I have gone through several different brands but none really had the flexibility on space that I wanted. I tried the bullet journal only and I still really like my BuJos but not necessarily for scheduling/planning because I’m not artistic enough and I enjoy a “clean” looking planner.
Enter the 2019 Scribbles That Matter A5 Bullet Planner. I was skeptical when I saw it but wanted to give it a shot. I’ve been using it for several weeks now and I REALLY LOVE IT. I think I’ve found “Planner Peace”! It has pre-done weekly spreads with a dot grid background that please my “neatness/pretty” side, and a bunch of plain bullet journal dot grid pages at the end of each month and the end of the book that please my need to have more space. I can add stickers or Washi, but still write like a bullet journal. It’s awesome!
It also looks super fabulous in my Chic Sparrow A5 Creme Chocolate folio, and I have a feeling I’ll eventually start using this as my every day carry. Totally loving it!
For my planner followers… Have you found your “Planner Peace”? Be sure to share in the comments or on social media using #MindYourBiscuitsTX! <3
Tomorrow I’ll add a “real post”, I promise, but my kids have been killing my mental health this week (I love my kids, but holy cow a sassy 4 year old and a sick 20 month old can be super ridiculously draining sometimes!)
In the meantime, I wanted to share this SUPER AWESOME bullet journal that I found on Amazon – came to my door yesterday for a whopping $9.53 + free prime shipping!! It’s AMAZING quality for the price, and I love the gold foiled accents on the cover. It’s going to look fantastic in my collection. ha ha ha!
If you’re looking to try out a Bullet Journal for the first time, or maybe even just looking for a pretty one to add to your lineup, I’d totally recommend it. A5 Sized, the cover is sturdy and has gold foiling mixed in with some lovely vibrant colors, and the pages have a nice visible dot pattern and are a really nice thickness. Doesn’t look to bleed or ghost too badly according to the reviews! Just thought I’d pass on for anyone interested!!! Click here to go straight there!
***This post contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at NO additional cost to you.
A lot of people have asked what I am using to display my planner pens – I have both the 36″ version and the 24″ version of these awesome ledge shelves! Really easy to install and they hold the pens well boxed. I haven’t tried them unboxed but I’d think they’d do ok considering there’s a ledge at the bottom!
Here’s the exact shelves I have on amazon! I really love the way they look in my “happy space” (aka, my desk LOL)
For those of you who have the HP Sprocket photo printer, Amazon has a really good deal going right now for 1/2 off the paper packs! $5 per package – make it yours!!!
This dude got a LONG overdue haircut today, and while it was kind of like wrestling a guinea pig on steroids, we managed to get it done! I didn’t realize how long it had actually gotten until I did the side by side. He looks like a mushroom on the left. 😂
In other “I’m an amazing mom and wife” news, I tried out this Cuban Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Bowl recipe this evening from Half-baked Harvest. I’d seen a recipe of hers that a friend tried and started following her blog. This one was yummy AND healthy, and everyone (except the kids of course *sigh*) seemed to really enjoy it!
And in planning news, check out this awesome states tracker I got from Caffeine Queens on Etsy! I only have 8 states left to check off my bucket list and I’ll have been to all 50! I think Wade and I should start just planning some long weekend trips and get those crossed off, don’t you?
Tomorrow I have an awesome memory keeping video to share with you… if I can figure out how to rotate it 90 degrees before I post it. 🤦♀️😂
It’s been a long, overrun by four year old attitude kind of day so I’m not in the best mood now but it was fairly productive.
Took Tatum to Home Goods to get a journal she wanted. Had to take it away five minutes later because she wouldn’t listen. Gave it back to her at lunch, got taken away again by 4:30. *sigh*
It’s always amazing to me that she can remember the exact location she had an ice cream cone 6 months ago when we pass it, but she can’t remember something I told her 25 seconds ago.
I can hear my parents laughing from here…
So while we took a breather from one another for a bit I worked on a “motivational board” for my craft room I’ve been wanting to do with this vintage frame I got. Got it all done, super proud of myself, stepped back, looked up to admire it…
…it’s crooked.
So now my “motivational board” is becoming more and more demotivating every time I look at it. #OCDproblems – I did manage to straighten it as much as I could which helped a ton, but I guess this is the first exercise in learning to be ok with being “Perfectly Imperfect”.
The kids were even more difficult after nap, so I just let them run amuck in the house with Biscuit (the original Biscuit!!) and tried to get through cooking dinner without losing my cool. I’m happy to say that I got there, but it wasn’t the most pretty thing ever.
Once we finally got everyone to bed I worked on another project I’ve been putting off: my Memory Keeping. This was on my list of resolutions for 2019 and I failed on day two 😂 – I spent some time thinking about how I might could make it easier to keep up with and I decided to start doing just “A page/photo a day” in these standard size booklets from Cocoa Daisy and my HP Sprocket Photo Printer. Of course I had to start back on January 2, because I’m lame, but I made it through Jan 11 tonight and I’m hoping to do 10 more tomorrow and Thursday until I’m caught up! Since they’re small pages and I’m just making little notes/captions about the day instead of journaling a whole bunch of blabber, it’s going a lot quicker and it’s a lot more enjoyable/fun to do!
I went to film a video for y’all on the first 1/3 of January I had finished, but then Wade walked in and embarrassed me so I quit filming 😂 I’ll try again tomorrow when everyone is out of the house!
This week’s “Before The Pen” in all three places 😂 Technically it’s two since the insert and Bujo are both in my Chic Sparrow Deluxe Claire Outlander! Yellow Paper House is my desk planner, love the combo of weekly and dot grid, I don’t feel so constrained! My Chic Sparrow travelers notebook goes everywhere with me in my purse for on-the-go planning and notes/journaling! I’ve decided I really need to buckle down and use some of these sticker kits I’ve been hoarding so I busted out a few adorable ones from Pink Limeade Designs – loving them both. The bullet journal spread is flamingos, because, well, why the hell not. 😂😂😂
MOM POST coming next for those of you who could care less about my planner!! 😂😂
