Leah O’Neil's Blog Posts

03.07.17

Hi there! Leah here with you today, showing you how I’ve set up my wellness planner. I am calling it my “wellness” planner because I want it to be an inspiring place to track my fitness journey, as well as my emotional wellness. The goal of this planner is to help me work towards strengthening my body AND mind.

I am going to be really vulnerable with you all in this post. I have struggled for the last couple of years to maintain any sort of fitness regime. I have a million excuses I could give, but the truth is, there has been a serious mental block holding me back. Our mental and physical healths are SO intertwined. It wasn’t until more recent years that I realized that I struggle with anxiety. It looks differently for everyone - my anxiety is a lot different than the anxiety my mom has struggled with most of her life. For this reason, I ignored all the signs for years thinking that I couldn’t have anxiety. I knew what that looked like. I saw what my mom went through, and how the anxiety attacks could completely take control of her mind and body. While I would certainly consider my anxiety to be a milder form than my mother’s, I am still very impacted by it in my everyday life and now find myself on a journey to understanding MY anxiety and how it affects me physically and emotionally. I am learning ways to manage it, and hope to eventually overcome it completely. It is a JOURNEY though, and I am constantly trying to remind myself to take it one step at a time and to not be too hard on myself. There will be days where I feel like I have “failed” because my anxiety got the best of me, but I’m learning that on those days, sometimes I have to be willing to cut myself some slack so I can focus on dealing with how I am feeling, rather than feeling defeated by what I’m NOT getting done.

When setting up my wellness planner, I had a few things in mind. I needed this space to feel peaceful and uplifting. Although the Faith collection has a religious theme, I am not using it in that way for this planner. I chose to work with this collection because I find the colors and designs to be very comforting. The collection has a lot of nature-inspired elements and I find a lot of solace in nature, so it felt very appropriate to use in this planner.

I wanted this planner to feel inviting, so I put a little more work into the curb appeal, a.k.a. the front of the planner and what you see when you first open it. The pockets of the planner are decorated with florals and other natural elements that inspire and calm me, as well as several uplifting and motivational messages to remind me to remain confident in my strength and perseverance.

I used mostly die cuts, the SN@P! Pack and the Faith sticker book to decorate the pockets.

I have the planner separated into two main sections: everything pertaining to mental and emotional health is up front, physical fitness stuff is in the back. I am using the Faith inserts in the front section, only a couple of the dividers, and a few of the journaling and “Inspired” pages. I will use these inserts to track my emotional goals (such as meditation/reflection practices), as well to journal some of my thoughts, my inspirations and motivations, and notes on helpful things I have read or listened to.

I decorated a few of the dashboards that came in the Faith Insert pack, and then laminated them so they were sturdy. My favorite is this jar of flowers. I decorated the jar with some washi tape, uplifting sentiments and a couple of stickers.

The front dashboard has a laminated card clipped to it, cut from this 12x12 elements sheet. I laminated it so I can change up what I put on there. Right now, I have a photo that makes me smile stuck to the card with washi tape. The photo can be easily moved. I could also use a wet-erase marker to write something inspiring on the laminated surface.

 

I used ALL of the metal clips from the Faith collection along the right edge of the planner as decoration, but they can easily be used as tabs too. I find that they allow me to turn the pages easier than the paper tabs, so I put one on each divider as well.

Check out how adorable this Carpe Diem planner charm turned out with a few stickers to dress it up!

In the back of the planner, I’m using the Fitness Inserts to track my physical fitness journey. I laminated this clipboard dashboard from the pack so I can change up what I write on it. Right now I’ve written out my everyday goals. They are a mix of physical and mental goals.

I’m using the Doc-It journal tucked into the back pocket for journaling more private things. For example, if I have a bad anxiety day – I am taking time to write about it. This is helping me in so many ways. I’m able to have an outlet for the thoughts that are giving me anxiety, and it’s helping me track anxiety triggers, as well as what worked and what didn’t work as I worked through the anxiety.

When I put together this planner, I knew there may be some days I have to open it when I’m not in the best state of mind. One thing that helps my anxiety is taking time to create. However, on high anxiety days, I often find myself pretty tired and very easily overwhelmed by too many choices. To help me with this, I’ve packed up a few essentials that I plan to bring out only when I am journaling in this planner. I punched holes in the packaging for these brads so I could put them right into my planner. I also tucked some extra stickers into this pocket insert.

 I packed up the Faith SN@P! Pack and Bits and Pieces die cuts into a Simple Stories planner pouch. Again, limiting what supplies I packed by sticking with one collection so I don’t overwhelm myself with too many options.

I’m carrying all the new Simple Stories washi tapes in another little pouch.

And then both of the pouches above are tucked into a larger pouch holding the Faith collection sticker book and the 6x8 paper pad, the Fitness collection sticker book, and other basic tools that I use often (a few roller stamps, stamp ink, adhesive, watercolor paints and a water brush, doilies, a wet-erase marker, a hole punch, mini stapler, scissors).

I hope to show you more details of the inner workings of this planner as I start putting it to use. I am really hoping it will serve its purpose in helping me strengthen my body and mind. I know there are a lot of other women out there that also struggle with anxiety. It can be uncomfortable to talk about, but I have found that for me, giving anxiety a label and talking about it more openly helps give me more control over it. If you are struggling with anxiety, please remember that it looks differently for everyone which means there is no one perfect cure for all. I’m definitely not an expert on this topic, as I am still on my own journey, but I hope you will remember to allow yourself some grace as you confront how you are feeling and determine the best way to manage it, for you. You don’t have to do it alone – never hesitate to ask for help from friends, family, and/or a medical professional. Whatever it takes to help you through it.

You can follow me over on my Instagram, www.instagram.com/sunny.leah,  to see more of this planner as I begin to use it. There is also a ton more inspiration using the Faith and Fitness collections over on the Simple Stories and Carpe Diem planners Instagram accounts. Please be gentle with yourselves friends, and remember to take time to take care of YOU. 

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Supplies
02.06.17

Hello everyone! It’s Leah again, here to show you how I have used the Love & Adore collection to set up my Carpe Diem planner for February. Wowza, January was one heck of a month for me! It was a month full of firsts and trial and error, as I worked really hard to pull together my very first online class (coming to Big Picture Classes in March!). I learned how to film and edit video tutorials too! Now that I’ve gotten the hang of filming, could this mean new adventures with YouTube? Only time will tell! Meanwhile, I am just so relieved to have completed  the class. There is something magical about seeing something come together that you have worked so hard on. After accomplishing such a big goal of mine, now I am feeling SUPER motivated to spend some time laying out my goals for 2017. February 1st feels like January 1st to me. I am kicking things off by setting up my planner for February!

I started by getting creative with making a February monthly divider. I tried something new with this project. I used graph paper from the Basic Inserts pack and got messy with my watercolor paints! Word of caution here: I have used watercolor on the Simple Stories planner inserts a lot and never have issues with the page warping too badly, but you have to be mindful to not use too much water. In this case, I disregarded that. I used more water to get that drippy effect you see. I basically puddled the watercolor toward the top of the paper and then stood the paper up to allow the paint drip down. As a result, I did end up with a pretty wrinkly page but I actually like how it looks, feels like a page out of my at journal. I also glued it down to the existing cardstock divider for February which helped weigh the warped paper down a bit.

This project actually started out as me playing with watercolor just for fun, but then I liked how it looked and decided to turn it into a monthly divider. Since February is “the month of love,” I focused on a love theme. I used three die cut hearts from the Love & Adore bits and pieces pack and I arranged them in the order of the paint colors – blue heart near the blue paint, yellow heart above the yellow paint, and the pink heart near the pink paint. The colored phrase stickers are from the 12x12 combo sticker sheet. I matched the color of the sticker to its corresponding heart. Then I used enamel dots in the same colors on each end of the phrase stickers.

I cut a white piece of cardstock into a small tag shape, punched a hole, and threaded the same three colors through the hole. On the tag, I used alphas from the Combo sticker sheet to indicate the month. Even around  my photo, I used paper scraps to layer in the same color pattern, blue on the left, pink on the right. I really love how matching up the three colors all throughout the layout made it come together so nicely and cohesively!

Every year, my February monthly layouts always end up being my favorite! This year is no exception. I used the Love & Adore collection to decorate.

I have always used my monthly view to write in things I need to schedule around. Since January was so chaotic for me, February does not have too many pre-planned obligations. Yay! So I went a little heavier on the decorating. Just a note in case you’ve ever wondered: occasionally, I cover up days with embellishments and because I tend to decorate first, I sometimes end up having to write in a little note and then add an arrow pointing to the date where it SHOULD go. For example, my dad’s birthday is on the 23rd, but I have that day covered up with decor. So I wrote it in a close-ish spot and drew an arrow to where it should be written in.

For the February title, I used a pink doily chipboard piece and then used black alpha stickers to write out the month. I’ve got an Avery index tab on the side of the page with a word strip sticker. The “all of me loves all of you” is one of my favorite pieces from an element sheet in the 6x6 paper pad. I layered a pink piece from the same page behind to help it stand apart from the white background.

When decorating any monthly layout, I always use lots of stickers from the 4x6 sticker pack in whatever collection I am using. Same goes for this layout. All of the embellishments in this layout are from those stickers, the combo sticker sheet, the bits and pieces pack, and the Love and Adore washi tapes.

All the décor on the right side of the layout is using the same supplies, but that strip of paper covering the notes section, is cut from a sheet in the 6x6 paper pad.

I still feel like there is a decent amount of writing space left on my layout, should anything else come up that needs to be scheduled.

I always love adding larger embellishments in the bottom right corner. Love how this February calendar looks with that huge floral piece!

Last but not least, I put together an easy bookmark using a piece from a 12x12 elements sheet. When I cut the paper down to the size I wanted, I had to cut off the part that said “you will,” so I added the words back using yellow alpha stickers. This bookmark is quite simple to make, I just cut and glued down half a doily and then layered a couple of washi tapes and a floral sticker on top. The bits and pieces pack had a couple of ticket shapes that I used to create a tab for the bookmark and then I laminated it all.

I didn’t add any embellishments to the reverse side of the bookmark because that paper is pretty enough on its own! I like laminating bookmarks because I can stick sticky notes and page flags to them. For example, pictured below are some sticky notes that I have written a grocery list on.

I love how this bookmark tab looks peeking out of my planner!

I am absolutely in LOVE with the Love & Adore collection and cannot wait to keep using it throughout February and beyond. The florals, bright colors and all of the hearts are perfect for the Valentine’s Day season, but I could use this collection any time since I love the style of it so much! Check out the Carpe Diem Planners Instagram account for more inspiration using this collection. I will also be posting more projects using it over on my Instagram as well. I hope to see you there!

Supplies
12.31.16

Hello crafty friends! Leah here to show you a few super fun decorations I’ve made for my Carpe Diem planner using the Happy New Year Simple Set. I really want to show you a few of the MANY ways you can use any of the Simple Sets to decorate your planner on a budget, with very few supplies; they include six 12x12 papers (3 designs, 2 of each) and a 6x12 sheet of cardstock stickers.

The kits come with a cover page that shows you what products are in the kit. Many people throw this sheet away but I like to repurpose it and cut it into a bunch of little ephemera pieces. I use these pieces to embellish my planner.

Much in the same way, the 12x12 papers in the collection kit are very versatile. They can be cut down to make dashboards, dividers or pocket pages. You can also punch out different patterned shapes, or use scissors to fussy cut some of the designs to create more of your own die cuts.

After I created all of these die cuts, I used a few to make decorative paper clips. Some were as simple as gluing a couple of shapes together with the top of the paperclip sandwiched in between. I embellished the clips with gold sequins, washi tape, string and a few cardstock stickers from the collection kit.

The balloons and party hat are both fussy cut from a 12x12 elements sheet. I used a superglue gel to stick a paper clip to the back.

The circle paperclip is double sided and it’s made with circles punched out from the 12x12 elements sheet as well. I used a 2¼ size circle punch. Rather than just gluing the circles together, I wanted to add a little more interest by adding some cute string from my stash. Whenever I need things to REALLY stick, I always use red line tape. I lined the edge of the circle with the tape and then wrapped the string around the edge.

I failed to get a photo of the next step unfortunately, but all I did after this was use a glue dot to stick the top of the paperclip to the inside of the circle and then I stuck on the other circle die cut to hide the mess.

The other two paper clips were made using pieces cut from the collection kit cover page. Since they are made of thinner paper, I made them double sided. My favorite paperclip is the one with the little banner at the bottom. That was so easy to make! I just cut a few triangles and banner shapes from patterned paper and the cover page of the kit and glued them along the bottom. Because this clip is double sided, the part where the banner pieces are glued on is hidden, as is the area where I glued the paper clip.

I really love how all of these turned out and I can’t wait to make more! I purposely chose designs that I can re-use after New Years as well, for any party/celebration or count down marked in my planner.

The next thing I made with the Happy New Year collection kit is a little shaker card. I made this using a couple of 3x4 cards cut from the 12x12 elements sheet. I used a 2 ¼ in. circle punch to punch a circle into both cards; I punched them both at the same time so that the circle was in the same place. These will be the front and back of my shaker card. I then used my 3in. circle punch to cut two vellum circles. I made these larger so that I have room to add glue around the edge of the vellum and stick it over the open circle on the 2x3 card.

Then I added glue around the edge of the second vellum circle, but not all the way around. I left the top part of the circle unglued and stuck the circle down on top of the first vellum circle. This created a small vellum pocket (with the top open) that I then added some glitter and sequins into. After that, I glued the other 2x3 card down to the back to cover the mess. Then I embellished the front of the shaker card using washi tape, more of those banner pieces I cut earlier, washi tape, some string from my stash and couple of stickers from the collection kit.

Here are what all the decor pieces look like in my planner. I still have tons of this kit left to decorate my January pages too!

The bright colors in this collection kit really inspired me to get creative with my watercolor paints. I made a dashboard for the front of my planner to inspire me for the New Year. I cut down this 12x12 paper from the kit because I LOVE the confetti pattern. I used the colors of the confetti to choose the watercolor splashes I wanted for the background. I had to mix a few colors to get the shades I wanted but this palette from Michael’s makes it so easy to blend colors.

I used the packaging technique to create the background. For those of you who are not familiar with this technique, it simply involves adding paint and water to a piece of plastic packaging and then turning it over onto the page and “smushing” it down (how is that for fancy terminology?).

I put a couple of paper towels over the top and put the page under a couple of heavy books while it was drying to help flatten out the slight warping. After it was dry, I added a doily and started layering. Normally, I wouldn’t add quite so much dimension to my planner pages but since this dashboard will be in the very front of my planner, I added as much dimension as I wanted.

I added another banner here, tissue paper, a couple of the die cuts I created earlier, some stickers, sequins, string, washi tape…lots of embellishing. I have the MOST fun creating mixed media layouts like this! I am absolutely in love with this dashboard and it is the perfect thing to greet me when I open my planner. All of the vibrant colors are so inspiring and the message reminds me that 2017 is my year to sparkle, which for me means pursuing more creative endeavors, taking more time to create, and hopefully inspiring others to create.

Have you been thinking about what your goals are for 2017? I would love to hear what they are! I am hoping to finally launch my blog I’ve been putting on the back burner for all of 2016. I am also currently working on video content, which is a little scary and intimidating. I hope you will pop over to my Instagram and the Carpe Diem planners instagram for more creative inspiration for your planner. I will talk with you again soon!

 

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