It's here: Erin Condren Planner Unboxing!!

As a follow up to my last post....guess what came in the mail yesterday!! I came home to a note on the door stating that there wasn't just one, but two packages waiting for me in the apartment office.

I received the Thank You cards I ordered from Shutterfly and a lovely pink, green, and white box with all my Erin Condren goodies in it.

I wanted to document the "unboxing" and I thought Luna would just do her thing and hang out, but no. She thought this package was for her and wanted to be involved in every part of opening it. Hehe. It was cute and only slightly annoying at times, but mostly funny.

So, without further ado....here we go!

That's little Bean's pasty arm having no issue with sliding right in to help mommy open the box.

First thing out of the box:

A free sample pack of stickers I can put on little gifts or whatnot. How cute, right?

Then there was this...

A cute little postcard with a $10 off my next purchase on it. As you can see, I had to pry it away from curious little hands to get a picture. Haha. (I blurred out the coupon code, I didn't think it'd be very ethical to post it to the internet if it's only supposed to be for people who had ordered something.)

Then came the actual order! Weeeee!!! Now, I didn't get to enjoy the actual opening of the package because, as I said, Bean thought this was all for her...

Ta da!!! Shall we take a look? Here are some of the extras I ordered:

1. Some bands that you use to keep everything all nice and together. 2. A set of 6 extra fine fiber point pens (red, pink, orange, blue, green, purple) 3. A pen holder sticker thing that you attach to your planner so you can keep a pen attached.

As for the planner...it's smaller than I thought it would be. I thought it would be like a full size notebook but it's definitely not. It's awfully thick though (I'm not complaining!) so I think if it were full sized it would be quite a beast of a planner.

Here's the front:

I got the quote idea from the blog One Tough Mother. I ran across her blog as I was looking at a bunch of other people's planners online to get ideas.  She has a terrific tutorial right here where she explains how to make the quote sections using PicMonkey. (Which is what I did for mine.) All credit goes to her for that!

((Note to future Erin Condren buyers: Maybe it's just me and my computer, but I had a terrible time with the photo loader and layout portion of the EC website. It was extremely annoying to use and I almost gave up multiple times. I just wanted it to work and the time I spent putting together the planner cover/layout was ridiculous. If I buy another planner, I think I may give up on having photos and just use one of the pre-made layouts.))

Here's the back of the planner:

I love that top picture of the Bean. She's just so silly sometimes. In person you can read what the yellow quote says (well...in the right lighting). Perhaps it was a poor choice to use yellow with white writing. Oh well.

Now for the inside:

 

It has lovely laminated tabs and has wonderful quote pages here and there. (And also some motivating quotes on each monthly layout.

Here's what the weekly layout looks like:

 

I love how it has each day divided into "morning," "day," and "night." There's a weekly goals section on the left hand side and also a little section at the bottom of each day that you can use for whatever. (I haven't decided yet! Maybe craft goals, maybe blog things...the choices are endless!)

Now for one of my favorite parts: STICKERS!

 

Some of these stickers came with the planner, some I paid extra (like the personalized stickers and photo stickers). 1. Little colored stickers that came with the planner and have things like "Birthday" on them to mark birthdays. 2. Some more labeled stickers with things like "Doctor's Appt" on them. 3. Personalized label stickers. I made some that say "Ryan's Day Off" or "Alex's Day Off," some personalized birthday stickers, ect. 4. Two sheets of blank stickers that go in a folder pocket. 5. Two sheets of colored blank stickers that are bound into the book. 6. My favorite: photo stickers! (Here again...the EC photo uploader is quite annoying.)

((Neat thing about the stickers: They are perfectly sized to fit within a day on the weekly planner or the monthly planner. Neat, huh?))

Here are some goodie areas in the back of the planner:

A folder pocket (double sided) where you can keep your extra stickers or receipts or whatnot. A ziplock type pocket (it's quite stronger than a ziplock, though) to keep stuff in. There were little "Let's Get Together" cards and personalized "To/From" stickers in there. The back laminated cover had a two year "look ahead" type calendar layout.

((Not pictured: There are also about 20 blank pages you can write notes and things on. As well as contacts and important #'s pages.))

Whew. That's a lot of pictures. So, there you have it! I can't wait to organize and write all my stuff down. I'll have to take some action pictures once I get started on it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Mrs. 246

My Fancy Schmancy Planner is Coming!

Here's one good thing I've got going for me! My Erin Condren order shipped!! Yippeee!!!

I had no clue about Erin Condren products until about the beginning of August when my friend had posted a picture on Instagram of her and her new planner. Normally people do not do this...but apparently they do if it's an Erin Condren planner. It's fancy and schmancy and more expensive than I care to admit.

I have a fondness for planners and my favorite (which is kind of similiar to Erin's) is no longer in production. So, I searched high and low for a full week for a suitable planner (I really did not want to pay that much for a planner) but I did not find one that even compared. In the end, I splurged. I decided it would be my "back to work" present to myself. (Last year my "back to work" present to myself was a tablet so in comparison, it's quite cheap!) I even bought some fancy little extras.

I've already spent the money before this whole "My-Job-Sucks-And-I-Need-To-Get-Out-Of-It" thing began so what's done is done. At least I'll have something to keep myself organized with while I'm searching for a better fit. ((Good news: I've applied to about 7 different jobs between yesterday and today and I even have an interview already!!)) And thank you to those who left me such kind comments yesterday/today. I really really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. It really cheered me up, so thank you!

Anyways, I'll definitely be posting the unboxing ceremony of my box of Erin Condren goodness. Stay tuned!

-Mrs. 246

A List to Make Me Feel Better

 
 I'm still in a rut. I applied for a lot of jobs this afternoon but I still had that "ick" feeling all over me. I didn't know what to do with myself so I decided I'd make a happy list. I was inspired by all the listing madness going on with the ladies of #30lists. It makes me feel a bit better. (I do admit, I struggled...when I think pessimistically, it tends to hit me full force.)

I'm starting to get this whole "list" allure. I am a frequent maker of to-do lists, but I've never thought of lists as a way to organize memories and such. I think I may be a convert now. If you'd like to join September's list craziness, head on over here.

Hope you're all well!
-Mrs. 246

P.S. I'd like to add a #7 to that list: I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Gobraith (aka J.K. Rowling) and I am absolutely loving it!

Don't Mind Me While I Complain...

“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” 

- J.M. Barrie

Confession time: I'd rather be doing something else. So yea...it's definitely work. I don't really talk about work a lot on my blog and for good reason: you aren't to mix your professional life with your online life. Well, I'm gonna touch on it for just a bit.

I've been a bit down lately which isn't why I haven't been blogging too much. This school year (I'm a school nurse) started off pretty good...crazy, but that's to be expected. Then the workload got worse. Then the work environment got sucky. I think my boss really doesn't like me and I'm swamped with paperwork and other things and there's no end in sight.

Let me tell you a secret: I really don't want to be a nurse. I'm alright at it, but I really think I'd like to be doing something else. When it came time in high school to pick a college and a major it was between pharmacy (which later turned into nursing) and art/design school. I went the practical route and chose pharmacy.

I regret it now but I'm kind of stuck. I'm the breadwinner, with a child, and nothing will pay what nursing pays. It really gets me down, especially when work isn't going well. I'm too young to feel this stuck.

I can't even begin to start making another attempt at work/career change because I have no idea what I do want to do. I really envy stay at home moms. I really do. And sometimes when I read all these blogs (about 90% of them seem like they're SAHM's) it makes me feel even more down.

So yea...I've been a bit in the dumps. I've been keeping busy in my evenings though! Playing with the Bean, hanging out with the husband, crocheting, Project Life-ing, watching Merlin. From 4pm through bedtime it's a really good life. :)

Complaining/vent over. I won't come back until I have a bit more cheer, okay? I just wanted to stop by and say I'm still here. :)

-Mrs. 246

Project Life Update! (End of July - Beginning of August)

Hi again! A while back I did my initial post on my Project Life, but I haven't shown you any more pages than the ones in that post soooo....it's show and tell time!

((You can click on any picture to make it larger!))

The first page above is kind of just daily life. There's some journaling on the back of the photos. The second page is our trip to the county fair. Here's my favorite part from these pages:

The bottom of this one ^ is cut from Luna's very first painting. It didn't seem like it would keep well, so I cut a 3x4 in card of it and laminated it. Now I can have a little piece of it forever!

Here is some more day-to-day life. A couple days leading up to the wedding:

 My favorite part of these pages:

The pictures of Luna and the succulents - they just turned out so good! The little journaling card is from this journaling set of pocket page cards from Me&MyBigIdeas. (I LOVE their themed cards for pocket page things...only $4.99 at Michaels. The first time I got some they were 2 for $5 so I stocked up!) Most of the cards you see used are from the Pocket Pages collections. I just added some washi tape and a "Sunday" sticker from the original Project 365 and voila!

These ones are from the day before and the day of the wedding. I'm not doing a lot of Pocket Page/Project Life for the wedding since I'm planning on making a Shutterfly photo book as soon as I get our photographer's pictures back. More cards in here are from the Pocket Pages (except the green one which I believe is from SN@P books).

Here is Saturday (the day after the wedding) and Sunday while Ryan's family was still here. :)

 I don't plan on doing full pages for every day...but there was family in town and a lot going on so I did a page for each day during this time. I am going to do a couple pages of just the wedding and ceremony as well...just waiting on pictures.

((Reminder: You can click on any picture to make it larger!))

Here is the next Monday (we went to Lake Tahoe!) and then Wednesday. (There isn't a Tuesday since Luna and I stayed home and the rest went off to San Francisco for the day.)

My favorite part from these pages:

I love the little journal card from Pocket Pages (it's from this travel-themed pack) and I love the father daughter picture: Luna throwing her hands up, playing in the sand, Daddy sitting back, relaxing and drinking a beer.

Some pictures from the last night Ryan's family was here and then it was back to normal day-to-day life in the beginning of August.

 More of August life. A lot of the pictures also have journaling on the back. On this second page I started putting text on the pictures in the editor. (I use PicMonkey because it's easy and doesn't confuse me...it's been a long time since I've taken that Photoshop class in college.) Originally I didn't really want to do this but I've been inspired by some other Project Life pages I've ran across on the internet lately.

 See how neat it is? I love the black and white one of Ryan and Boo.

Alright, last one! I started another page but it isn't finished yet. So you're left with this:

Whew! Alright...we're all caught up! I'll have to start updating the pages as I do them.

If anyone else has Project Life pages they've done recently, feel free to leave a link! I love seeing what other people are up to. It gives me so many ideas.

Hope you all had a tolerable Monday! Hehe.
-Mrs. 246

This Moment (#5)

A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savour, and remember.

30 Days of Lists!

Hey there! I've been MIA for a couple days but I've been busy with work and crafting, not wanting to take a blogging break, but I'm back! What have I been up to, you ask? Let me tell you about it!

I ran across "30 Days of Lists" on the internet and since I'm suddenly into paper-crafting type things lately I decided to join.

What is it? It's a site/group that you join that gives you a list prompt for every day for 30 days. You can make or group your lists in any way you please (digital, scrapbook, mini-books, ect) and there is a community aspect where you can share your lists and what you've created with other members of the 30 Days group through Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, or Twitter.

The creators "put on" the 30 days prompts twice a year. The next "session" is for September so members are revving up and getting their books and titles and everything set to start making lists for September. Past prompts having included things like "Weekly Rituals," "Least Favorite Words," or "Today I Saw..."

You can learn more by going to the site: 30 Days of Lists. 

If you'd like to see some other examples check out these boards on Pinterest or simply search for "#30lists" on Instagram.

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How will I be making my #30 days lists? I have all the Project Life stuff so I'm going to incorporate mine into my PL book. I haven't decided whether I'll mix the lists within my September pictures and journaling or make a separate section for just the lists.

I'm trying not to buy anything additional for this project so I had a good look at my PL cards and decided I wanted something different. I had bought this 6x6 in mini pad of scrapbook papers on clearance last week (they're just so cheap and pretty!) so I decided I'd make cards out of that.

$1.97! Good, right? It's an "artist" themed pack so the colors are kind of paint themed and bright and colorful, which I love. I made a good mess on the dining room table cutting the pages up into 4x6 and 3x4 in cards:

 Then of course I sat there with my corner cutter and rounded all the corners. (I love how the rounded corners look...so finished!) The most important part is to watching Merlin while you craft. (I'm on a Merlin kick! I'll be sad when it's over.)

Look at all the pretty papers! I made way more 4x6's so I could have them or cut them in half if I needed them to be 3x4.

I couldn't wait to get started so I made my "title" card for the project...

I love the mish-mashiness of it. Nothing I have for papercrafting matches much so it's good I like things mis-matched. (It's the Weasley in me, I'm sure.) I got all the letters from my surprise pack that I got from Luna's day care provider. There were a lot to choose from.

I've never done any online-crafting group other than Craftster so I'm kind of excited! I feel so comfy at Craftster it's like branching out into a different city or something to be crafting with other people.

So...expect lots of posts come September to show off my lists! And please do consider joining! Do I have any other list-lovers out there? Sometimes I even have lists for my lists. I've never considered them an "art" or activity like this before, though.


Hope you're all well!

-Mrs. 246