When this event was announced, I don’t know if I truly believed it was a real thing. It seemed too awesome to have an entire hotel full of people who are as passionate, inspired, creative, and (let’s face it) borderline obsessed with planning as myself. Add to that it was a creation of the (in?)famous 🙂 FB group Planners Gone Wild (PGW as we loving refer to it) and was being hosted in New Orleans… *Mind blown*
So the day of ticket release happens, I log on and 100% not believing I would actually be able to get a ticket and the website would crash because when PGW-ers know about a planner related release, we are well known for overwhelming the internet. To my utter surprise, not only did the site not crash (first sign this was going to be more amazing than anyone could comprehend) but I got a ticket. *CRAPCRAPCRAP* I justified it by the fact that it was occurring the exact same weekend as my birthday and with a gentle arm twisting I also convinced a planner bestie of mine she definitely couldn’t miss out on this craziness. Thank’s FOMO. 😛
There was so much hype prior to ticket release… and it only increased steadily as we waited for that weekend in May. So much preparation on all of our accounts. But I will tell you it still didn’t feel real. Not when I requested off work. Not as we googled hotels and decided we had to stay at the convention center’s Marriott to really soak up the fun. Not when flights were found and booked. Not as I packed and repacked and unpacked and freaked out about packing so I eventually just threw everything I owned that would fit in two bags. Not as I tried diligently to explain what exactly I was attending and why it was even a ‘thing’. I don’t think I even quite grasped what was about to occur sitting on the plane flying to Nola.
What I can tell you is that that weekend was everything. Literally. As Naina (like China but apparently not really!) so aptly put it “I feel like I’m in Vegas and Disney World and stickers all in one place” I still don’t think people will “get” it unless they are themselves a planner but this video goes above and beyond to describe the amazingness that we all got to experience. We were spoiled rotten and amazed by the event coordinators at literally every turn. There was not a single thing they didn’t think of and choreograph like only a llama could.
Every speaker, every sponsor, every volunteer, every attendant, even the staff at the Marriot… it was almost too much to comprehend. We are all so thankful and subsequently in a post-Geaux wild mourning period because there really is nothing like being surrounded by an entire community who GET you. who INSPIRE you. who ENCOURAGE you. who CRACK YOU UP. who make a hobby you have always loved EVEN MORE TO LOVE… It was everything.
I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of the first annual Wild for Planners #geauxwild #geauxwildorgohome #geauxwildconf #geauxwildnola #geauxwild2016 #nosureiwilleverspellgeauxgoagain
THANK YOU TO AMAZING WOMAN WHO MADE THIS POSSIBLE!
THANK YOU TO A COMMUNITY OF AMAZING WOMEN WHO JOINED ME IN THIS ADVENTURE!
THANK YOU FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME!
This video will likely top a million views if not only from Geaux Wild survivors reminiscing and trying to recapture the feeling of being there daily… for the next ~365 days… until we can do it all again!
So at a planner meet up (yes, this is a real thing, planners who get together to drool over each others planners and talk planner talk and say things like ‘you can’t sit at our table’… <3) it was requested that I use my blog to talk about where I get all my crazy amounts of supplies. Today's request was for stamps. So here is you promised blog on Stamps!
I am not the most artistic person but stamps allow you to be faux artistic (that actually sounds pretty posh) and it should ideally help you save money by not buying as many stickers… in my case, not so much, but I can see it helping more logical less impulsive buyers! When it comes to stamps there is a wild world of stamps out there to be bought.
The most obvious places to start are your craft stores… Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Joanns, etc. Joann’s is usually my go to place. For one, they are ALWAYS doing 50% stamping supplies (like right now) and I buy online because the selection is wayyyy bigger. Specifically, they have Versa Magic individual inks (the best ink by far) on sale always for less than $1.50!!! You can go to the versa website and print out the color chart and then pick what magical rainbow of Versa match up for colors coordinated with the monthly themes for EC. I have a copy of it somewhere if anyone is to lazy to look for it. 🙂 Joann’s has Inkadinkado, Fiskars, Hero Arts, Lawn Fawn, Avery Elle, and many more. Those are some of my favorites. They include letter stamps and mostly decorative stamps. There’s also fun stamps like this one Inner Demons To die for!
My advice is never buy stamps from craft stores unless they are on sale or with coupons. They will always be on sale sooner or later!
Another great store for planner stamps is Simon Says Stamp they have a great selection and ship relatively fast! You can browse their site but Waffleflower, Penny Black, Lawn Fawn, etc… are all GREAT decorative stamps. They also sell ‘planner stamps’ like the ones from Marion Smith that have icons and lists stamps that are more directed at planner stamping.
Another awesome shop is Pink and Main they have fabulous planner stamps and decorative stamps with super fast shipping.
Some of the more exclusive stamps come from Mommylhey Designs Mommy Lhey her shop is down until the 15th when she is having her new release. You can follow her on instagram and youtube to see some of her awesome designs. She has kawaii icons, decorative stamps, and a whole slew of just adorable one of kind stamps that you will see tons of stamper planner people drooling over. She has a coupon code ‘welcome10’ for 10% off that usually works. She also has a Facebook group for news and sometimes coupon codes.
Some other shops are Studio l2e StudioL2e, Mama elephant (who you can find on Simon Says and sometimes in craft stores), Sweet stamp shop Sweet Stamp Shop, and Sweet V’s Stamps V’s Sweet Ideas.
Then there are some etsy stores that feature stamps including TinyStampsBigPlans (ship from Australia but ship relatively fast), Annies Paper Boutique, Atieler Dreams, MsKimmCreates, Prettyinpinkxoxo, and bellacreationz4u.
My advice is to first join a facebook stamping group so you can see some designs and find out which planner stamps you want ideally. One of the best Stamping Facebook groups is Planner Stamping. Then follow some of the stampers on Youtube because they will show you the stamps in action and you can see some great design ideas! I recommend Meredith Plans and Vanessa Vergara but there are tons more!
As an added addition you can find some of the stamps (Avery Elle, Hero Arts, Lawn Fawn, to name a few) on Amazon so if you are a die hard Amazon freak like me that works out well! 🙂 Lawn Fawn sells sets that come with exact replica die cuts as well if that’s something you need.
I would steer clear from Heidi Swapp stamps, theres a reason they are always on clearance. They just don’t stamp well.
And I googled but couldn’t find the ink splatter stamps you girls were using tonight but I believe, if memory serves me correctly, they are recollections and can definitely be found in craft stores!
If you guys aren’t already on the ebates train, get on it! If you shop through the ebates site you get monies back and they include amazon, etsy, joanns, michaels, etc. Ask me and I can send you my recommendation code so I can get some money back for referrals! Lord knows I need some monies back to my cc bills!
Can’t wait to see what you guys stamp up!!!!
XOXO
Sarah
I have been on an organizing kick lately and so it only seems fitting to post a blog showing my creation space… my office. I made a commitment to myself when I moved back from Florida to keep a tidy office and leave my laptop out of my bedroom and so far I am doing pretty well! In order to keep my space clean though, I feel like it has to be visually appealing. Just like with planners… I am more likely to look at my schedule and to do’s if it is in a pretty planner and fun to look at. So, without further ado, my office! I racked my brain and scoured the internet before posting this blog looking at others blogs and video tours of their planning supply organization and craft areas. I came to two conclusions; 1) I’m not everybody else so I can have my own style 2) I am not good at making videos. At least not yet. So I took some photos instead. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to organize your own areas!
Where the magic happens 🙂 Notice the Target Dollar Spot Haul supplies as decoration!
So here is my desk… God bless Ikea for letting us create our own spaces. It’s as if that place was made for planners. You will see the name Ikea more than a couple times throughout my blog. I love that place. I got two drawer units and a table top from Ikea and made my own desk. I feel like it’s a large enough space to utilize without being overbearing. Of course in a dream world I would have an L shaped desk that took up half the room but this is reality and I am working with the space I have. O:)
My laptop doesn’t leave my desk. It’ s a HP Envy, the first non-Vaio I’ve had, and while I am not a huge fan of the new Windows I like the size of my laptop and it definitely holds it’s own with the amount of damage I do downloading and saving files. Pinterest, WordPress, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+ are all neatly settled in my favorites bar ready for me to surf the internet for hours on end!
I won’t show you all the drawers because they aren’t all planner related. This drawer dutifully holds my electronics; my camera, camcorder, Pringo photo printer, and label maker. It’s also home to my 6 hole punch which is a Japanese import you can easily purchase on Amazon and adjusts to punch holes for all three sizes of Filofax! It can be found here. I also have a recently purchased flag punch, binder clips, pen loops, paper clips (who knew I would one day pine over paper clips), and an assortment of charms as I recently started making my own planner charms.
This is where I display my planners… the highlight of the room! The shelving unit is also from Ikea and is meant for the back of a desk but was repurposed with the help of a good friend to fit on my old dresser so I could show my entire collection! ❤
In this mix we have several Filofax (Domino, Saffiano, Finsbury) in different sizes and colors, a Heidi Swapp planner used as a memory planner, a Heidi Swapp planner used as a blog planner, the Happiness Planner, a Get to Workbook, a gold Lovedoki, two fauxdoris, Websters Pages Color Crush planners, two journaling prompt books, and my Listers Gotta List notebook. And can’t forget some of the most useful money I ever spent… my laminator! Extremely inexpensive considering the use it gets!
In my dresser, I have one drawer full of paper (A4, letter, photo paper. Pringo paper, cardstock, etc) and extra print cartridges [not pictured]. Then I have a one drawer dedicated to my personal size inserts and one for my A5 inserts. Personal size inserts are stored in a mix of Target Dollar Spot accordion folders, a color crush planner box (great for storage!), and an Avery mini binder filled with folders and mini sheet protectors. The A5 inserts are also stored in mini binders with file inserts made from scrapbook paper as shown in a previous blog to accommodate the size of the inserts. I have my Passion Planner stored in here also as I have unbound certain sections and periodically used them in my A5 Filofax. I just used binder rings to bind my collection of dividers and dashboards neatly together. I also store another mini binder in this drawer with sheet protectors containing acrylic stick on stamps sorted by type and a small dollar haul accordion file containing some journal cards that I printed out from Pinterest.
Now this beauty is a new family member… it was actually a gift from a friend and also another Ikea find. It’s called the Sprutt and it was found in the closet and shoe storage section of Ikea. It is a 6 drawer unit that is made of metal like a high school locker. I just found a pretty font and printed out labels glued to blue scrapbook paper for the front label section. The unit goes back approximately 12 inches and the drawers are nice and deep!
The six drawers contain 1) notebooks 2) stickers 3) post its/sticky notes 4) page flags 5) stamps 6) ink.
I’m a lucky girl! I just got this over the weekend and he even built it too! 😛
Then in the corner of my room I have a drawer unit from Hobby Lobby that was in my bedroom in Florida that I have repurposed as a printer stand since I now use my dresser as a display for my planners. And the room would not be complete without my Ikea Raskog. For less than $45, this cart comes in so handy as you can stock it with current supplies and move it around not only your office but your house and it tucks away neatly in a closet when I am cleaning up. I use the top section for pens, scissors, hole punches, glue, etc. The second shelf contains some more stickers and washi tape (all my pink themed stickers and washi as I am going through a phase where I feel it is necessary to have my decorations match the patent cover of my Filofax…. it’s really hard….). Then the third shelf contains small containers (also from Ikea) with all my remaining washi tape. The green container is actually full of black, gold, and tan washi tape sectioned out for when my Nude Original arrives… I am telling you… this color coordination thing has a grip on me right now!
Well I hope that you enjoyed my photo tour. I am proud to say that no matter how messy I make this room while planning and decorating, I always make sure to leave it tidy before I close the door. This is a big deal for me considering my innate ability to be a clutter bug. 🙂 I take pride in this room though and since it is where I spent a large percentage of my time outside of work and sleep, I feel it deserves to be well taken care of. 😀
I have been neglecting my blog and searching endlessly for inspiration to do something different with my Filo. I love all my Filofaxes. I also get complacent… so changing between different versions keeps me interested and reminds me to look at it often. I feel like I’ve found the end of Pinterest though… possibly the end of the internet. It has been a while since I saw something and had an AH-HA THAT’S AN AMAZING IDEA moment and ran home to recreate it myself. Maybe I am just going through an adjustment period but I definitely miss the idealism I had back in December when everything was new and exciting and I didn’t have enough time in the day to work on the amazing ideas I had for my Filo.
It really hit home today when I stopped by Sam Flax in Atlanta to see if they had any 2015 vertical week on 2 pages for my A5 and the employee who helped me just happened to be the one I spoke with when I drove about an hour to a place outside Orlando just to pick up a new Filofax back in Decemeber. He remembered me as being the Filofax lady. Haha. Turns out his family owns Sam Flax and he relocated up to Atlanta. What a small small world…
So while I wait for inspiration to hit me like a ton of bricks I figured I would share my current set up. I am using my pink patent Filofax Domino A5. I venture away to others… Saffiano…. Finsbury… but I alwayscome back to the Domino, my first love, it seems… so without further ado…
Here she is, in all her glory! I love the bright pink. So much so I use one for my work Filo also. The color is just so bright and cheerful!!! The only problem I have noticed is I want everything to be matchy matchy so I’ve become obsessed with making everything pink themed on the inside. Somewhat overkill but I am enjoying so far…
The dividers were made from a scrapbook collection by Authentique which I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Of course, I had to throw some Alice and Wonderland in there. 🙂
Here is my homemade dashboard with some pictures of family and friends… and a reminder to keep my muchness. Thank you Mad Hatter!
I have a homemade planner charm made from an Alice and Wonderland charm I acquired at Disney World when I went this past spring break and a ‘Drink Me’ charm I found in the jewelry making section at Hobby Lobby in a fairy tale collection of charms that were so cute it was hard not to purchase them all!
In an attempt to make up for the lack of pocket space on the inside cover, I have put my post its in a zip folder I had sitting around and keep that tucked in the big pocket. Problem solved!
I am using Month of two page inserts I had from my old Domino A5 and a Project Life card to mark the current month.
Desperate I pretty exhaustive search, I have been unable to find the week on 2 pages that are vertical so I am working with the vertical layout currently. This is the part where I struggle with having a pink planner and realize why I went with Black as my first planner… I want everything to match (cough*OCD*cough) and its hard to decorate the pages with just pink. Don’t get me wrong, I have separated all my pink and pink related washi tapes in to a separate container and pulled out any pink stickers, post its, and note pages I have and put them aside… but I am not sure I have the endurance to go all the way and decorate the entire thing with pink only accessories. Especially knowing I have a Filofax Original in Nude coming home with my Mum from England…
On the plus side, the pink paper finally made sense… 🙂
I have a goal tracker in place to monitor sleep (I have terrible sleep patterns), journaling, blogging, etc.
And I am also doing a no spend challenge for July! It is wishful thinking but I have to start somewhere!
Finally, this is July’s instagram challenge which I am hoping will be more motivation to be creative. This one if from @Paperheartofgold and so far, ahem day 2, I have posted each challenge!!! I celebrate small wins. 😛
So all in all, I am thoroughly enjoying my pink A5!
I have already started a pinterest board for gold/cream, black, and white themes and purchased gold pens for the Nude Original though so, as is always the case, I am sure change will be coming soon!
I have been neglecting you. I have been neglecting my planners.
I have, in turn, been neglecting myself.
I have signed up for some new adventures in hope of getting a rejuvenating boost of motivation. I just sent in a bio piece to Steve at Philofaxy and submitted an application to be part of Mrs Brimbles Creative Planner and Journal Design Team! Wish me luck! I could only dream!!!
I also signed up for a class through Rukristin called “Find Your Voice” which is a 6 week course to scrapbook your story.
Hopefully these things will help! I miss being creative. I have to make time or I’ll lose it! 🙂
So when it comes to planners I am far from the worst but I definitely have an established problem.
I am tried and true Filofax lover which has been established. I bought the Kikki K… received it on a Friday… then sold it before the weekend was out. I thought for sure it would Filofax only from then on. I had been eyeing the color crush though. Webster, being more scrapbook than business, pulled me in with pretty colors and shiny things. But they were always sold out so it was never a problem… until I discovered scrapbook.com. And, of course, they had the white planner with gold interior available…. my college football team colors… how could I resist!?!? So there is a new member of the family… let me introduce to you Goldie… my Webster Planner Color Crush Planner…
Then comes the process of deciding what parts to keep and moving in….
Turns out Webster does dividers and calendar pages pretty well so I keep them…. and had too much fun decorating pages for the twentieth time this year… 🙂
The month pages are embossed with the month in gold and then just plain so I used a polaroid stamp and gold ink and printed off some meaningful pictures to personalize the months.
At the end of every month, there is a “this and that” section with the dates just listed. I used January for “big things” because it seemed like there was a lot of special moments that month and then February for a gratitude journal because I was bursting with gratitude moving to GA. I am using this to keep track of instagram challenges for this month.
This planner was definitely made by a scrapbooking company which is a positive because the pages are divine. But the tabs just weren’t practical for what I use my planner for so I covered them with gold washi and made my usual tabs. I am trying to use pretty paper for all my notes and keep it decorative and scrapbook-y…
So all around I do like this planner. For the price, it is a great starter planner. The rings are far from Filofax quality and need some encouragement to stay closed at the very top as I have found with all non-filo’s. But it’s so pretty it’s actually forgivable. It has the inside pockets just like my beloved Domino but with the exception of the credit card like slots they definitely don’t budge as much so it seems they are much more for decoration.
There is a little notepad in the back that it very convenient. And it definitely holds a lot. The rings are just slightly larger than the personal domino. I will be using it for the time being. I know I know I will end up back in a Filo but I will be taking the vibe of the color crush with me for sure!
Now if only Filofax did a white planner with gold accents…. And don’t get me started on the gold Filo that Facebook keeps reminding me I love because I looked at it one two many times on ebay but can’t justify spending over $150…. maybe one day. 😛 So overall I am having a fun “vacation” from my Filo but I know I will always find my way home.
I had some followers ask about my cousins Filo and how its coming along… since she doesn’t have a blog of her own I thought I would share her work. I am super impressed and continue to realize how strongly we are related each time she shares! 🙂
There is nothing like a neat filo….
The inside is beaming with personality!
She has gotten addicted to Project Life as well (that one wasn’t me) but she is so like me and it absolutely makes sense.
She is planning a trip to NY later in the year so she had to find room for this!
And she’s decorating like a pro!
She reads the blog so if you guys have any suggestions, comments, compliments, I’m sure she’d love to read them!!!
Sarah
xoxo
P.s. Ordered my first Fauxdori this past weekend… can’t wait for its arrival to share!
So I was browsing through Michaels with my hands planted firmly in my pockets so as not to pick anything up and buy it when I found the Heidi Swapp Memory Planner at 40% off… so I cracked.
You can pretty much follow all the reviews along the way and most of them sing the same tune. It’s clunky, the pages don’t turn, it has four holes, even more difficult than Filofax in the US!, and it for how huge it is, there isn’t much content. I went through and kind of made it a quote binder. That’s about all it will be good for. For goodness sakes, the decoration pouch that came WITH it didn’t even fit the rings. I will say it is pretty on the outside and I am facing outwards on my bookshelf (I won’t mention that when I first put it up there it jumped in the trash can…hehe).
I found an awesome website called Tatter Tots and Jello that gives you advice on how to print your own instagram pictures. They even have a word template you can download for printing. Find it here The site that loads your instagram photos is Instaport and it connects to your Instagram and uploads your photos to a zip file for a donation. Totally worth it. I’ll be taking the mason jar brain dump idea over to my Filo. Sorry, Heidi, you do scrapbooking wonderfully… but Filo is a planner for planners.
Bringing me to my new beauty, I scored a light pink personal size Finsbury online and I adore it. The rings on this are much better than the Saffiano. I thought I would be a Domino only girl until this beauty.
And, because we all know planner peace never really lasts very long, I have switched over to DIYFish inserts!!! I am using Series 3 Version 3.
Things I love: the times down the side to stop myself from double scheduling, extra space all over for writing and doodling, the fold out bullet planner style. Things I’m not so much a fan of: hard to decorate (I am not that great of a doodler and stickers and washi like you would a filo page make it too busy, small space to write appointments (so I have switched down to the Pilot Frixion Slims I got around Christmas, it takes up a lot of room and you can only really keep 1-2 months in at a time, the cost (but hey I paid it). If anyone has any ideas for decorating, I am looking viciously all over pinterest and not finding much so I am open to ideas! Anyone else use DIY Fish? Feelings?
Want to start taking bets on when I order a new set of pages and start all over again? Maybe I should make my own ideal page…. I mean everyone else seems to. Mental note to self: write task in Filofax to find information on making own inserts!
Oh and before I sign off, I scored a Create a Sticker maker for cheap and I am having a blast making stickers of my friends faces for when I hang out with them. 🙂 🙂 🙂
xoxo
Sarah
p.s. I was browsing Hey Charlie’s Etsy shop and saw this… she literally is selling a dashboard that perfectly matches the background I use on my laptop. Great minds think alike!!!!
This year has been about goals and we all know how I love my Filofaxin’…. so I am opening up an Etsy store! I love the Filo community and want to share my creativity with you guys. It will also help my promote this site and get some more pennies to do more contests and RAKS because we all know we love free planner stuff!!!!!!
The Store name is appropriately called PlannerAddiction. Find my shop here.
I hope to see you guys visit as I build the shop. I am always open to suggestions and consider you all my muses! I would like to especially thank Charlie who is not only an awesome person but one of my Filo muses! Check out her blog http://heycharlieblog.com and her etsy store at here.
Thank you for all the support this year!
xoxo
– Sarah
So I am opening up an Etsy store! I love the Filo community and want to share my creativity with you guys. It will also help my promote this site and get some more pennies to do more contests and RAKS because we all know we love free planner stuff!!!!!!
The Store name is appropriately called PlannerAddiction. Find my shop here.
I hope to see you guys visit as I build the shop. I am always open to suggestions and consider you all my muses!
The topic of buying beautiful post its that don’t post very well came up and I showed you my creation in a previous post. It got me thinking and my creative juices flowing and I have made a couple things since then. Mostly decorative paperclips and post its put together and laminated so they can not only be used but reused with a washable board marker. Here are some of the things I’ve come up with……
I also found some Disney postcards and came up with some mock dividers (Winnie the Pooh – A5 and Alice In Wonderland – personal)…
My question is would any of you be interested in purchasing things like this or should I just keep it a hobby? Clearly I would need a better camera. 🙂 Opinions welcome!!!
I'm British, So Filofax 