Weekly Favourites [15/11/2015] Overdue

Sorry I am overdue with this blog post. I have been unwell and our car got hit while it was parked on Wednesday. So I keep going to try and write last weeks 'Weekly Favourites', but things keep getting in the way.


I brought a Silhouette cutting machine this week, haven't spend a lot of time playing with it yet, but can't wait to get making stickers, tabs, stencils and paper clips.
I brought mine from Amazon, here is the link - Silhouette cutting machine



Instagram people I've been stalking:

• mypaperprojects
• lettersinnovember
• byabya
• passionthemedlife
• tessleigh
• lunaarialle
• hobbylane

Bullet Journal blog posts:

• Bullet Journal Set Up: November 2015 by Tiny Ray of Sunshine
• Top 12 Bullet Journal hacks by Bohoberry
• Bullet journal by Soulfulwhimsy
• Day 14 – How I set up my Bullet Journal by The home learner

Blog posts I've enjoyed reading:

• 9 Easy Steps to Cut Printable Stickers With Silhouette Studio by Little blue garden
• Habit stacking by James clear
• How I do my weekly review by Josh medeski
• The To-Do List Conundrum by Msbookish
• Week #43 by Scribblesandstationery

Anyone tried Post crossing?? You send postcards around the world to random people. I tried it about a year and half ago and I would love to get back into it. Just to put a smile on someone's face is worth while :)

Etsy shops I have brought STICKERS from last week:

(Once all stickers arrive I will do a show and tell! So excited!!)

• keenaprints 
• PemberleyPrints
• PlanWithJade
• PinkHedgehogpretties
• CosmicStickers
• ThePlumpPlanner

Other stickers from Etsy shops I like:

• ElleHartDesigns
• EllieBethDesignsUK
• sugarloop
• SeaSaltAndPaper
• TheStickyCactus
• TheStickerAlley
• PaigePlans

YouTube videos been watching:

• Drawing hands - Debbyarts
• 10 Budget Tips That I Live By - Seaweed kisses
• My 2016 Planner Set Up - Journaling Sage
• Silhouette Cameo Vs. Cricut Explore - Print Then Cut - Kens Kreations
• DIY Planner Stickers: Should I get a Silhouette? - Miss Stitchery

Apps you'll want to check out:

• Headspace 
• IFTTT 

Check out my last blog post: Mind Journal

Check out last weeks 'Weekly favourites': Weekly Favourites 08/11/2015

Click on the 'INDEX' tab to see all blog posts!

Please check out my book: My Life in a Book
Follow me on Instagram: (New account) Cherryblossomtreeuk
Say Hello to me on Facebook: Stephanie Stephenson

Come Join the facebook group 'Swap a box around the world'!
Currently the swap is Christmas swap. 
You can find the details on the facebook group and if you would like to sign up for the Christmas swap, the sign up closes Monday 23rd November (night uk time). 

Thanks for reading xoxo

Mind Journal

Aswell as using my Bullet Journal daily (& my Brain dump notebook), I also use my Mind Journal.

Notebook I use: Leuchtturm1917 (A5 size) in Emerald colour. 

Why I wanted this 'Mind Journal' notebook seperate to my Bullet Journal:
This notebook is a lot more personal than my Bullet Journal, which means I wouldn't take it out of the house with me. 

So heres what I write in my 'Mind Journal' ...

Index:

Quotes & Inspiration pages
Bedtime Yoga 
Mood chart
Feelings/Thoughts
On my mind
Balance of life (monthly)
Gratitude list
Mood boards
Reflection 
Life goals
List of things I love
Meditation
Yoga workouts
Apps







Quotes & Inspiration pages -

I like to get my quotes and inspiration from Pinterest. I either write them down or print things off and stick it into the notebook. 

Here is a few of my Pinterest boards related to my Mind Journal:
Write in Mind Journal
Positive thinking/relax/the mind
Mindful/Positive thinking

Bedtime Yoga - 

I know bedtime yoga sounds silly (cause it did to me before I found a blog post and video on it). 

Its very relaxing before bed.

Here is the blog post and video I found on Bedtime Yoga - Click here!


Mood chart -

The Mood chart is good at tracking how stressed out I am, within the month. I have two very active young kids under 5 years old and I do feel that I get stressed out quite a bit. 

My colour code system:
Yellow - Happy
Blue - Sad
Green - Okay
Red - Angry
Orange - Stressed

Feelings/Thoughts -

I write down (daily if possible) all the feelings or thoughts I had that day. 

Things that have been playing on my mind or that I think a lot about. 












On my mind - 

I write down whats on my mind at that time.

I might take this out of the Journal as its similar to the 'Feelings/Thoughts' page. 

Suppose its more of a quick glance of whats been on my mind in that month. 

(Ignore the ugly doodle LOL)










Balance of life (monthly) -

I haven't quite figured out how this section is going to work just yet. 

This is what I have so far...

Gratitude list -

This is my favourite part in my Mind Journal. I love writing down what I'm grateful for that day. 

I write 5 things that I'm grateful for that day. Even the smallest of things. 

I also write a reason next to each one. 

Mood boards - 

I haven't started this section yet, so I have no pictures to show you. 

The idea is to collect pictures (maybe from Pinterest) and create a 'Mood board' on the page. Things that made you smile that month or favourites of the month, or even an inspiration page. 


Reflection -

I also haven't started this section as yet, so no pictures to show you. 

I'll have to do an update blog post when I finish the rest of the sections. 

Same with...

Life goals 
List of things I love
Meditation
Yoga workouts

Apps -

Dreamboard
Headspace
Relax Melodies: Sleep & Yoga
Moodtrack Diary: Mood Tracker



So thats my Mind Journal! 

Hope you enjoyed this blog post & hopefully your here for my next blog post: 
Weekly Favourites [15/11/2015]. 


Check out last weeks blog posts: 

Weekly Favourites [08/11/2015]

GTD - Planner weekly review

Check out all my blog posts using the INDEX! 

Please check out my book: My Life in a Book
Follow me on Instagram: (New account) Cherryblossomtreeuk
Say Hello to me on Facebook: Stephanie Stephenson


Thanks for reading xoxo

Weekly Favourites [08/11/2015]

This week I have been looking at the 'Happy planners - create 365'.  If you are not familiar with these, here is the link to the website. (Click here)

I actually ordered mine from Amazon as I live in the UK and I haven't seen them anywhere else. Here is the link to the one I ordered on Amazon.

I am not going to be using my Happy planner as a actual planner. I will do a blog post of how I'm going to use it as soon as it arrives.

Two other things I have ordered this week, is an Index card holder with index cards and a small desk weekly planner. I ordered the Index card holder from Paperchase and the small desk weekly planner from Amazon. 

I will do another blog post on how I will be using the Index cards. I am very excited!

The small desk weekly planner is going to be used to just quickly jot down what happens during the day. Sometimes I find it easier to jot things down quickly on something that's already open on my desk, rather than in a notebook that I have to get out my drawer.

Something I have been looking into this week is the GTD style (Getting things done). I do have the book (the old version), but I actually haven't read it all. 
Please check out my latest blog post - GTD - Planner weekly review


Lets jump into my weekly favourites this week! Please grab yourself a cuppa tea and sit, relax and read :)

Planners I was going to buy (instead of the Happy planner):

• Ban.do planner
• Heidi swap memory planner
• Heidi swap black and white planner (couldn't find it from UK, but think Anna Brim is selling the gold one, I believe)
• Inkwell Press planner - which I don't think is available in the UK.

So here is some youtube videos that made me want these planners:

• Heidi Swapp Memory Planner August Flip 2015 - Christina Weber
• NEW The Happy Planner ($24.99) Overview + Haul | Charmaine Dulak
• Create 365 - The Happy Planner | In Depth Review and Thoughts - HappilyAHousewife
• Ban.do Large 2016 Agenda Unboxing and Review! - Plan with TheRachMark
• Inkwell Press- Memory Keeping Episode 2 - Florence Antonette
• Completed 2014 Memory Planner and My Planning System for 2015 - Chelsey Vorosmarty
• Shop Bando Memory Planner Process Video - Tracey Clem

Blog posts I read up on about Index card system:

• 24 Things You Can Do With an Index Card
• Capture ideas quickly with index cards
• The Pile of Index Cards (PoIC) system

My Pinterest board - Index cards (not much on there at moment)

Inspiring pictures of pretty planners:

• Papertrey Ink: Moments Inked 2015 Memory Planner
• Create 365™ The Happy Planner™ | Today I Choose Joy
• the next bit...

Instagram people I've started following:

• Missplannerella - I just love her doodles in her planner!
• Maggie massey

Etsy shop found this week:

• StickelCo 

GTD (Getting things done) blogs that are good reads:

• Productivity 101: A Primer to the Getting Things Done (GTD) Philosophy
• Massive GTD Resource List
• Getting things done

YouTube videos on GTD:

• How to GTD with a Filofax and 43 Folders - Alexis aka MissTrenchcoat
• GTD - Weekly Review Step By Step - Part 1 - Adan Amigo
• GTD - Weekly Review Step by Step - Part 2 - Adan Amigo

That's all this week! Thanks for reading xoxo

GTD - Planner weekly review

So the week has ended and now its time to start 'weekly review' in your planner...

GTD style!

Firstly, questions to ask yourself:

Did you get things done on your to do list?

Any goals completed? or any closer to your goals?

Did you spend your time wisely? What did you do?

Have you learnt anything from the week?

Create an INBOX and OUTBOX:

Inbox - any mail that comes in that needs to be dealt with (I include penpal letters) / or even things that just needs to be sorted out in general

Outbox - things going out / to be posted / taken back to the shop etc...

TO DO:

• Empty your head - I write things down in my A6 brain dump notebook
• Empty INBOX or add dates to your calendar
• Clean up emails/paper notes
• Organise them by priority
• If it takes five minutes - DO IT NOW!
• Calendar update - schedule things that you need to get done for the next week
• Write down things you need to get done in general

Create a weekly review checklist:

1. Mark off completed actions
2. Review action lists
3. review calendar data
4. review upcoming on calendar
5. review waiting for list
6. Review project list
7. Review other checklists you may have
8. Review someday/maybe lists
9. Review goals
10. Review ideas

Use the Trigger list to remind you of things that you may have forgotten

Getting things done trigger list

Here is an interesting video: GTD video

Thanks for visiting my blog xoxo

Weekly Favourites [01/11/2015]

I noticed on some people's blogs that I've come across, do a 'weekly inspiration' blog post each week. So I was very inspired by a few of them blogs and decided to do a weekly favourites blog post myself. So every week on Sunday, I'll post up my weekly enjoyments. Things that I have been inspired by and also what I've been loving in that week. So they might be blog posts, youtube videos, phone apps, etsy favourites, instagram people and so on. 

Every 2 weeks, it will be a themed blog post. (Example: Topic being bullet journals, daily planning, weekly reviews, monthly habits etc...) If it is a themed blog post, I'll put the title up the top saying what the topic is. 


Here is this weeks enjoyments :)

Blogs I'm loving right now...
Decadethirty
Seaweed kisses
A year to inspire
Boho Berry
Tiny ray of sunshine
Paperlovestory

Blog posts I have enjoyed reading this week:
Day 349 | Schedule
Day 359 | Full Happy Jar
How to make a journal index
Notebook stories - reviews on different notebooks
101 important life principles to live by every day
Your Happiness Lies in the Balance

Youtube videos I've been watching lately:
Lavendaire 
Anna Brim  - been enjoying her vlogs 
Pretty Neat Living - also enjoying Jennifer's vlogs too

Instagram feeds I'm nosing on:
live life and create
Boho Berry
Sailormimzy
Yanika717
Tinyrayofsunshine

Etsy - favourite shops at the moment:
Ink Obsession Designs
Lets Paper Up
Pellestudio - brought a Pelledori from this shop and I'm obssessed!

Phone apps I have found out about:
Sol Calendar app
Spotify - Great music app that only found out about lol


Excited about this shop online....
Kikki-k


HALLOWEEN RELATED:
How I Use & Decorate 2 Planners: Halloween Edition| - Belinda Selene
DIY planner pockets
Anna Brim - Vlogtober videos


November Challenges I might try this month:
i-am-project novemeber challenge
paperlovestory - introducing-daily-listing



If you haven't already, please check out the review of my book that Anna Brim kindly did for me :)
My Life in a Book


Thank you so much for reading.
Have a beautiful day!
xoxo

Morning pages? Not me!

Everyone keeps talking about 'Morning pages' in the journaling world! Me, I don't journal at all in the morning, I never have. When I was 9 years old, I started a small Barbie pink journal with a lock on the side. Even then, when starting journaling, I wrote at night before bed.

If you don't know what 'Morning pages' are, then check out the creator 'Julia Cameron' and her video: Morning pages. 'Morning pages' comes from Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's way. I actually haven't read the book, but I have watched the video as I was curious what everyone was talking about.

'Morning pages' have rules!

1. Write every day
2. Write when you get up in the morning
3. Write 3 pages
4. Write anything that you think of, without stopping
5. Do not read your morning pages after when you have finish

I suppose it works as a brain dump, just writing to clear your mind?

(I actually do 'brain dump' in my A6 Leuchtturm1917 (emerald colour), but that's a notebook I use throughout the day time. So I can take it every where with me)

So like I said, I don't journal in the mornings. I have always done my journaling at night before bed. My mind is on fire at night, it does not stop thinking. So I have my 'brain dump' book for scribbling down anything that is in my mind. Then I write neatly (well I do try to write neatly lol) into my A5 Leuchtturm1917 (berry colour). My journal at the moment is more of the 'bullet journal' system, which I will do a blog post on soon. I also do 'mind journaling' in a A5 Leuchtturm1917 (emerald colour), which I'll talk about in another blog post.

Reasons why I journal at night:

1. I finally get my 'me' time and can relax
2. Its peaceful, kids gone to bed
3. It clears my mind, ready for sleep
4. I tend to think a lot at night, so write it all down
5. Nice way to look at the day you had and be grateful (write down what I'm grateful for)
6. I can write a 'to do' list for the morning
7. Write down my feelings (mood I was in during the day)

Other blog posts related to 'morning pages':

These 3 Pages Might be Your Key to a Clearer Mind, Better Ideas and Less Anxiety

how your morning pages may become a sacred space

750 Words

Write "Morning Pages" by Hand Every Day to Boost Productivity

Thanks for reading xoxo

Swap a box around the world

Hello [Waves]!!

I have created a new facebook group called 'Swap a box around the world'.

I am very excited about it as I love to swap different things around the world and its such a surprise in what you receive. 

Here is the link: Swap a box around the world

Please check it out!! 

Here is the description of the group, to give you an idea:

Hello & welcome to the swapping world! This group is about swapping boxes of goodies around the world. There will be different swaps to join in on, you don't have to join them all. Example of swaps can be sweets, planner related, journal related, stationary etc. I will be the one to let you know when the swap is. The sign up date. The deadline. What the swap is. What price your box needs to contain. Who your partner will be.

I will give you the partner you will need to send to. No one to give addresses on the page please. When you get your swap partner, then email your partner to get their address. I'll make sure your partner is not from the same country so you can get different stuff.

Deadlines will need to be met. If fail to do so , you will be banned from the group. You will not be allowed back in the group.

I will be checking facebook profiles to see if your genuine and stop people faking another account.

Please do not post on here random swaps! I will be one to let you know when a swap starts.

Thank you! 




and here are the rules of the group:

1. You must be 18 years old or older

2. No posting non - related posts

3. No swapping on here. This group is only for the swaps I create

4. No selling!

5. No posting addresses on the group (You will email your partner when you find out who you have)

6. Deadlines need to be met, otherwise you will be banned from the group and will not be allowed to re join.

7. No double accounts

8. Any problems with your swap partner, please email me first! 

9. Swap requirements need to be met! (price of swap, the amount inside the box)

10. Please be respectful! (I will ban anyone who is not). No abuse or harassment. 

Thank you for reading and enjoy the group!!

Brain dump monthly inserts & Brain dump trigger list [FREE]

 

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to write todays blog post :)

Some of you may heard of the book 'Getting things done' by David Allen. (How to achieve stress - free productivity).
I have not read it all yet but I was very impressed by the 'Trigger list'.

Anyways I have created A5 monthly inserts with my own type of the 'Trigger list'.

So its a brain dump system that helps you to get things out of your mind, and written down.


I created a Brain dump trigger list - which has what to focus on (its like to remind your brain)

To Do [Focus list]

• Call/text/email
• Watch/read
• Letters/paperwork
• To cook/recipe
• To clean/organise
• To pick up/to send
• Projects
• Kids activity
• To sort out
• To research

Household [Focus list]

• Clean
• Organise
• Sort out
• Decorate
• Repair
• Paint
• Finance/Bills
• Buy
• Technology
• De clutter

Ideas [Focus list]

• Blog
• Book
• Organising
• Planner
• Journal
• Crafts/DIY
• Beauty/skin care
• Home

Upcoming events [Focus list]

• Special events
• Birthdays
• Anniversaries
• Weddings
• Holidays
• Social events

This is what I wanted on my brain dump trigger list but you can have anything. I might want to add or take off things to update it.

The Brain dump sections list

• To do
• Projects/hobbies
• Buy/order/wish list
• Explore/research/look up
• Ideas
• Household
• Learn
• Places to go
• Reminders
• Upcoming events
• Create/file/print
• Waiting for

This is how the inserts work -

Code column
Which is a colour code system -
Personal - Yellow
Home - Pink
Work - Orange
Partner (Mark) - Green
Kids - Blue
Family - Purple

Focus column
Use the brain dump trigger list for what the focus is, if needed.

Done
Tick - Completed
Cross - Not done
Arrow - Moved to the next month
Line - Started

I'm hoping this makes sense. Seemed hard to explain but in my head its so clear lol.

If you are interested in these inserts please email me @ lifeasweknowit2400@gmail.com

Information you need to know:

• They are A5 size only (sorry)
• You print them off yourself and punch holes in them
• It is a pdf file
• If you would like me to change the colour of the headings please let me know

Any problems email me.

Thank you for reading :)
xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

A5 Weekly Inserts for my ARC Planner

Hello everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, life got busy :)

I do have a list of things I want to post about, but for now I'm posting about my A5 weekly inserts for my ARC planner.

A5 Weekly inserts I've created for my ARC planner

Weekly meals insert

I recently brought a ARC adjustable hole punch and the discs from Staples. Oh my gosh I was so excited to start setting up my new planner with it. I heard so many wonderful things about the ARC system, and had to try it out for myself.

I finally set it up yesterday, it still needs a lot of work done to it (monthly inserts, tabs, dividers, front cover, other inserts). So I won't be posting any photos of the whole planner as yet, until its finish.

I created my own weekly inserts on Excel yesterday. I've never used Excel to create inserts before.
It took me 5 hours to complete. My partner kept saying to me "are you done yet?", as he wanted to use the laptop. Anyways I was happy with the (oh gosh can't think of the word lol, with the.....) inserts.

I made the weekly inserts into size A5 for my ARC planner. I just eye balled it (is that even a word lol sorry guys, don't know where my normal words are today). So I didn't set it to A5, I just eye balled it (lol). I printed it off like 23 times to see if it was the right size for my A5 planner. In the end I got there and it fitted my planner. (Yay! Jumping on the bed like a kid.)

(My 3 year old son actually turned the printer off at one stage when it was printing half way through. I thought he broke the printer lol, but gladly he never :) )

So I then used my paper cutter to cut the sides (oh I had to cut all the way round on every page, because of eye balling it lol).

Once pages were cut, I used my ARC hole punch (yay) and put them into the discs.

I was amazed how easily they fitted into the discs, and it was really nice to see the end when all the pages were in the discs. So the planner looked chunky at the end.

So I am very happy with the ARC system and will make tons of different planners/journals out of my ARC hole punch and discs.

Only thing I would say about it, is that you will need good quality paper. If the paper is really thin the pages might get bit ruined.

[LOL sorry about the real bad words I'm using today, I have just woke up an hour ago.]

Anyways moving on...

I posted the photos of my weekly inserts on Facebook (different groups), making the inserts free for them and that I would email it over to them. I had tons of people email me that were interested in the inserts. 

So... I would like to share my A5 weekly inserts with all of you. Please read below:

For some stupid reason I cannot get a link to send to everyone, and I cannot send you over the excel file for you to edit yourself  (if anyone knows how to do this please let me know).
Anyways I can email you a PDF file but you WON'T be able to edit it yourself, I CAN edit it for you (remember WORDS only, NOT the lines).
So if you email me what you want changed (the words), I CAN EDIT IT FOR YOU and then send it as a PDF file for you.

Hope that made sense.

Please be patient and please understand that it takes a while to email everyone back.

Please don't pass it off as your own.

Thank you everyone!!

MY EMAIL ADDRESS: lifeasweknowit2400@gmail.com

So what you need to do if interested in the weekly inserts:
1. Email me what words you would like changed. (words only, not the lines)
2. You can change the colour of the title backgrounds, email me what colour
3. Once emailed me - please wait while I edit the document for you
4. I'll send you over the PDF file of your edited document
5. Enjoy!


Few things to remember:
1. Its A5 size only (sorry guys)
2. I can only edit words only (not mess around with the lines)
3. I can change the colour of the title backgrounds
4. You have to print it off yourself

Any problems just email me.

Thank you everyone!!