Rachel Newman's Blog Posts

07.24.18

Hello, from Tarragona, Spain!  This is Rachel, and I am so excited to share a little bit of travel documenting and planning that I am doing in July. My husband and I are on an extended vacation and have made Tarragona, a beautiful, Mediterranean beach town, our home for the month. Of course, I brought my planner (ok, planners!) to document our days here. The hardest part about packing was choosing which planners and supplies to bring! One collection I knew I wanted to bring was the Bloom Collection. I love the florals and black accents in this very feminine collection.

You may notice something a little different about my personal size Robin’s Egg planner and its inserts. That’s right! I have performed a little “planner hack” to transform this ring-bound planner into a B6 size travelers notebook! There are lots of videos on youtube explaining how to do this. I have included a few photos here to share my process.

First, I used a pair of jewelry pliers to remove the middle rivets on the spine mechanisms. This take a little time but, eventually, the rivets will come out. From here, I was able to pop the ring mechanism off. 

Next, I used an crafting knife to remove a few stitches from the bottom of the planner. This allowed me to pull the inner mechanism out. Finally, I threaded some elastic through the top and bottom of the planner for the bands that hold the inserts. To make the inserts fit into the planner, I simply trimmed about a .75 from the bottom and .50 inch from the top of the insert. This travelers notebook size and format is so compact and fits nicely in my smaller purse that I have carried it with me everywhere we go!

Since coming to Tarragona, we spend a lot of time outside. I love all the outdoor cafes and restaurants. And with that gentle sea breeze that is never far away, there is no need for air conditioning! On this afternoon, John and I decided to sit at one our favorite cafes near the Cathedral Basilica of Tarragona with books, drawing supplies and, for me, my planner!

I just love opening my planner to see my pockets filled with Bloom bits and pieces and the 3x4 element cards. I always have my 4x6 stickers on hand for documenting on the go. I also keep the 4x6 photo crop inside this planner for making straight lines in my weekly spreads, trimming washi, and even acting as a study surface for writing inside my planner.

Planning has looked a little different for the month, which is I why I love using this blank grid Bloom notebook to totally customize my planner pages. I have laid out weekly pages toward the front of the insert and daily pages in the back of the insert. The weekly pages are great for planning things like the two mini-trips taken this month. To make this week’s layout, I used the photo crop as a ruler to make the lines and used Simple Stories Letter Stickers for the days of the week.

For both weeks, I decorated with the Bloom washi, the 4x6 stickers, and the A5 Bloom Sticker Tablet. While this collection is very feminine, it is also so versatile and almost neutral in theme, which I really like. You can decorate just about any week with this collection.

The heart of this insert is reserved for memory keeping with daily documentation. I work on these pages after the day has passed. Typically, I use one page per day, although, there were a few days that needed two, and I number the days using the A5 Numbers Sticker Tablet. The beauty of a blank insert is that I can adjust my planning according to my needs!

 

Each day, I like to include a little bit about what we did and a story or two about something unique that happened. One of the lessons I’ve learned while traveling, is to document the little moments as well as the big ones. The details will get fuzzy later if you don’t write it down! So now, I document it! If I’m not ready to decorate a page, I simply write the story on a post-it and come back to it later.

I hope you enjoyed this look into my personal planner turned travelers notebook. Be sure to check out my instagram to see more of my travel documenting!

 

Supplies
07.02.18

Summer Fun in my Traveler’s Notebook

Happy Summer, Planner Friends! Rachel here, and I am sharing my Summer set-up using the Hello Summer Collection in my Traveler’s Notebook. I’m more of a fall and winter girl myself, but this collection has me all excited about that summertime life. A traveler’s notebook is perfect for the summer months. I find myself having less scheduled activities and, instead, wanting more room for lists and journaling. With a month long trip coming up in July, this planner is perfect for documenting all the things while I am away from home. I mean, it is a traveler’s notebook, after all!

Whenever I set up a new planner, I like to start with the pockets. For this setup, I used the chipboard stickers from the collection. To keep them in place, I peeled off a portion of the backing and adhere them inside the pockets. Later, I added in some of the scraps from the paper I used on my notebook covers with a few of the bits and pieces. I have a clear pvc pocket in my notebook that I decorated like a dashboard with a trimmed down 12x12 paper and a card from the 4x6 elements paper.

Do you have an extra notebook with a cover that doesn’t match your planner set-up? Cover it up! I pulled out a Carpe Diem Insert from my stash and covered the front and back cover with my favorite paper from this collection. I used washi to reinforce the spine and another 4x6 element sheet with combo stickers to decorate the cover. Since I will use this insert all summer, I don’t mind having a summer themed cover. If you don’t want a permanently decorated insert, you can always make an insert cover that folds around the insert, like a book jacket! 

The June Simple Stories Printable  is so cute and matched perfect with the Hello Summer Collection! I used this adorable summer graphic to cover the inside of my insert. On the other page, I have the monthly overview from the printable adhered to one of the notebook pages.

I love that the printable comes with a dated monthly calendar that I can stick right into my insert. I decorated the calendar pages with some of the 4x6 stickers and washi. My monthly page is typically pretty empty until the end of the month. I like to go back and fill in highlights when the month is over for memory keeping.

See that? That’s right! We are going to Spain! We will be staying in a Mediterranean beach town, so this sticker seemed pretty applicable!

This insert comes with lined pages, which is perfect for making your own weekly planner pages. I “eyeballed” the daily columns and used the 4x6 Photo crop to draw my lines. Remember that paper I used on the cover? I used scraps of the paper along the bottom of the page to create a faux washi effect.

Do you have something on your planner pages you want to remain private? Or, do you just want more room to decorate? Try making a flip up! For mine, I used paper from the 6x8 paper pad and adhered just the top of the paper to the insert and decorated with a box stickers and a word strip.

The following week, I decided to change up the weekly layout a little bit by having the vertical daily columns go half-way down the page. This allowed me to create a section for lists and some end of the week journaling.

For the month of June, I challenged myself to decorate using mostly the 4x6 sticker pack. Y’all, there are so many stickers on those sheets that even after a month of weekly decorating, I still have stickers left over! I also used a few stickers from the Planner Basics and the Calendar Stickers Tablets. I honestly cannot get enough of the sticker tablets. I can always find a sticker in these tablets to match whatever Simple Stories Collection I am working with.

As I mentioned before, my goal was to stick (haha) to these sticker sheets for my weekly spreads. To make sure I always had them on hand, I performed a little “planner hack” by trimming down a 4x6 pocket page and turning it on its side for sticker storage in my planner. I am not an avid pocket page scrapbooker (I’m learning! ) but I do love using pocket pages for all sorts of things in my planners. Don’t be afraid of the planner hack. Make your supplies work for you!

I hope you enjoyed a look inside my summer planner set-up. I will post more completed pages from this planner throughout the summer on my Instagram, so be sure to check it out!

Supplies
06.07.18

Hello Again! Rachel here, and I’m am so excited to share my setup for my work planner in my Black Speckle A5 planner using the Good Vibes Collection. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I cannot get enough of this collection. I am in love with the pink, aqua and bold black and white accents of this collection. I feel like it was MADE for me! What better way to spice up my work planner than with some good vibes from this fun collection!

Let’s start with the pockets! As a planner girl, I love my planner pockets! Sometimes, it can be hard to keep all the cuteness contained in the pockets, so for this pocket setup, I adhered the chipboard stickers with removable tape to trimmed-down pocket cards for the 4X4 Elements paper. I like to mix up the background shapes in my pockets. For the circle, I used one on my favorite tools, the circle photo crop, to trim the circle out of paper from the element paper. I loved opening my planner this month and seeing these beautiful pockets! For the front divider, I used one of the 12X12 papers and the divider template to trim down the paper, and hole punch the paper to make a perfect divider (no measurments needed!). I decorated the front divider with 3X4 element cards and the combo stickers. The sentiment on this card is a good reminder at work to do my thing (which is, be friendly and help students!).

I used the same steps to make two more dividers for notes and important documents. Since this planner is for work, I need it to be very functional. But that doesn’t mean the dividers for each section can’t be fun!

  For this divider, I added some of the bits and pieces and the word strip stickers from the 4x6 sticker sheets. Again, some good reminders on these word strips stickers - “Work hard. Be Humble. No bad days. Let your life shine!” I work with college students every day and these sentiments remind me that I do my best work when I put the students first, and try to make everyday a good one.

I rarely decorate my monthly spread in my work planner but with this collection, I just couldn’t help myself! I started with that fantastic washi on the top and bottom and then filled in the days with stickers from the 4x6 sheets. I love how the box stickers fit perfectly in the daily squares.

My favorite decoration for the month was on the 30th. That’s right! In July, my husband and I are headed to Spain and I can’t wait!

While I do use weekly inserts in my work planner, my daily inserts are the real work-horse. Here is where I write down “all the things”. Sometimes I decorate them, other times I don’t. Either way, the daily sheets give me plenty of space to jot down notes, to-do’s and document the people I have spoken with throughout the day. This is super helpful for the reporting I have to do for my job. When I have time to work on my monthly report, I simply look back through my daily pages to update the report.

These pages are functional first, but I also love getting to decorate them, too! For this day I cropped a scrap of paper using the circle crop so that the “yes, please” was still included. I added stickers for 4x6 sticker sheets and even added a journaling 3x4 element card for decoration and function.

 

I hope you enjoyed getting to see a peak into my work planner. I have really liked this setup for the month of May. Tell me, do you use separate planners for specific areas of your life? Comment below and let me know!

Supplies

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