Rachel Newman's Blog Posts

05.11.18

Hello, Planner Friends! This is Rachel, back again to share another planner project! This time, we are talking all things Memory Planning! Don’t know what Memory Planning is? Check out this awesome video series Layle put together with Scrapbook.com! I like to think of Memory Keeping as small-scale scrapbooking in your planner. I typically Memory Plan with sticky notes as the week is happening and then add the photos and decoration after the week has passed.

This weekend was a special one. My husband and I took a trip to California to meet up with his family in their desert cabin. The trip was so great. My favorite part was getting to explore Joshua Tree National Park and spending time with John’s family at their desert cabin, lovingly known as “the shack”. So when I saw the Travel Notes Collection, I knew this collection would be a perfect way to document this trip in my Memory Planner.

A memory like this calls for more space than what is available on the pages of this spiral planner. Now, I’m not one to shy away from a good “planner hack”, so I decided to trim some of the papers from the 6x8 paper pad, punch holes, cut slits in the holes, and add them to this week’s spread. Who said a spiral planner isn’t customizable? Want to know about another planner hack?  I took out the pages from September – December 2017 by cutting slits in the pages and gently removing them. Now my memory planner has just 2018 in it, which I like. Plus, this give me more room to add more pages and memorabilia into the planner when I need to.

I loved using the 4x6 and Combo stickers from this collection to embellish this page. I used the little banners to highlight my husband and his family jumping around on the rocks. Something that I always do when I travel is try to find memorabilia from places we visit. I grabbed that cute Joshua Tree sticker, and my thoughtful husband stamped the date and location on a piece of paper for me! I was so pleased to see how seamlessly these two extra details matched the Travel Notes elements on the page!

I adore the clear stickers and word strips in this collection. My photo editing skills are pretty limited, so having these clears stickers and word strips allow me to easily add some embellishments to my photos. For an added touch, I included a tab with a word strip to this page.

Can we just take a moment and talk about that adorable backpack die cut from the bits and pieces pack? Not only do I love the reference to the great Doc Brown, but I thought it went perfectly with our desert adventure! Believe me, it was quite an adventure just getting to the family cabin that first night.

Here, you can see the back of the added insert page. I added photos of the cabin and some journaling my first time there and its story. I also put some of the details of the week on the luggage tag die cut. The trip as a whole came at such a great time and was such a nice escape!

I like to vary the way I document moments in my memory planner. Sometimes I journal, other times I use a list format, while other times I use doodles and lettering or alpha stickers.

I try to pick up postcards when I travel and this one worked perfectly with the Travel Notes Collection. I decided to make an interactive element with the postcard by adding washi to one side of the postcard and the planner page. When the postcard is flipped open, you can see more journaling and photos. Having a fold out element is another easy way to add space to your memory planner without having to add to the spiral.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at my memory planner! Be sure to check out my Instagram to see more pages from this planner. This is such a fun project and great way to get “scrappy” on a small scale and stay (relatively) up to date documenting all the memories! 

Supplies
04.13.18

Hello Planner Friends! This is Rachel and I am so happy to share another planner blog post with you. Today, I am going to show you my personal-size planner that I use to document daily happy moments.

Can I just take a moment and say how perfect this little planner is? First, the color - if I could only have one color of planner (gasp!), it would definitely be this Robin’s Egg Blue! It goes with everything and makes me so happy every time I look at it! And while some personal-size planners can feel too small, this planner is perfect, with its slightly wider size and inserts. I keep this planner on my bedside table so I can easily work in it at the end of each day.

When I saw the Crafty Girl line, I knew I wanted to give this little planner a facelift using this colorful and cheerful collection. Those pockets were begging for some decoration. I used a few scraps from the 6x8 papers to back up a few of the bits and pieces die cuts.

 

I decided to make some monthly dividers using the 6x8 paper pad, the new personal planner dividers templates, and the tabs sticker tablet with decorations from the Crafty Girl Collection Kit.

I love this quote from Alice Morse Earle: “Every day may not be good...but there's something good in every day”. This pint-size planner helps me document those good little moments so I don’t forget them. Maybe it was a good workout, time with friends, a good moment at work or even just quality time with the husband. Documenting these moments helps me thank my lucky stars and focus on the good, rather than dwelling on the bad.

Something I love about the Craft Girl Collection is its versatility. The colors, patterns, and stickers can be used for more than just documenting your crafty life. But the crafty sayings also inspire me to get my crafty on! I know that spending time crafting helps me relax. Plus, the more I do it, the more I want to keep doing it!

Since I’m usually working in this planner at night, I have a little planner “kit” for myself to limit my supplies. That way, I spend less time choosing decorations and more time documenting.

Along with Crafty Girl Items, I also keep the new Sticker Tablets close at hand for dating the pages and adding little icons here and there.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed getting to peek into my personal “good in every day” planner. How do you document the goods things in your life? Comment below, I would love to hear from you!

Supplies
03.20.18

Hey Planner Friends! It’s Rachel Newman and I am thrilled to be on the 2018 Carpe Diem Creative Team. I am a planner girl through and through, and I can’t wait to share with you all the ways I use and decorate my (many) planners! For my first blog post, I want to share how I used the Simple Stories I AM collection to decorate my monthly and weekly pages in my Blush planner for March. But before we get into the planner pages, let’s talk dashboards and planner pockets!

I am more likely to actually use my planner when it is just the right mix of pretty and functional. When it comes to my planner pockets, I try to decorate them enough so that they are pretty to look at, without over stuffing them. For the opening dashboard, I kept it pretty simple with a trimmed down paper from the I AM paper pad and a planner decal. So pretty and still so functional!

I decided to spruce up my March divider with another trimmed down sheet from the paper pad, which I punched and adhered straight to the divider. I love that I can still see a little of the original dashboard peeking out and bordering the floral paper. If you look closely, you can see that the paper has a typewriter print on it! How cool! Lastly, I added a  Sn@P card from the Sn@P Card pack and some washi to complete this dashboard. Simple, but beautiful!

Now, for the monthly spread! First, I created a faux washi down the middle of the two pages with paper from the collection kit.

Then, I filled in my major events using icons from the sticker tablet. I finished up my decorating with stickers and ephemera from the bits and pieces pack.

The weekly spread is next - which is my favorite part to decorate! I consider myself an equal opportunity planner girl. I love trying out a variety of insert formats, so the fact that Carpe Diem inserts are undated means I don’t have to commit to one kind of weekly planning. This week, I wanted to try out the appointment inserts.

I love that these inserts are lined can be used as hourly inserts or can be easily modified to be a completely blank slate! And I cannot get over how adorable the I AM collections looks with all the great little icons and boxes from the new sticker tablets!  

I love adding little pocket cards into my weekly spread for a little inspiration. To make this pocket card dashboard, I placed two butterfly stickers together to create a tab, and punched the card using the planner punch.

Since I like to plan just about anywhere, I always have a storage pouch in the back of my planner filled with stickers, pocket cards and bits and pieces that I can use throughout the month to decorate my pages. The 4x6 I AM sticker pack will easily last me the entire month, with stickers to spare!

I hope you enjoyed getting a peek into my planner setup and process. I look forward to sharing more planner posts with you this year!

Supplies

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