This week's top 5 Friday is all about crafting tools.

Since my crafts tend to revolve around paper, my tools are all pretty tame. I don't do a lot of fancy techniques, but the tools I use have to be good quality, they have to work the right way when I need them, and they have to last a long time.

Here's my list:
* Paper Cutter - I'd be lost without this - I can cut a pretty straight line without it, but it saves so much time! I use a rotary trimmer from Fiskars.
* Corner Rounder - When I started Project Life, I bought a cheap corner punch from Michaels (the blue one - you know the one), but it hurt my thumb to use it for more that 2-3 photos in a row, so I researched and tried different models. I've firmly landed on the Creating Keepsakes corner rounder. I'm not even sure if they make these any more - I got mine at a garage sale for $1.00!!!
* Cutter Bee scissors - small, sharp, precise, perfect (and yellow!)
* Heat gun - this is a fairly new tool for me - I've just begun embossing recently, so I have not had to do much research on heat guns. The inexpensive one from Michaels is working just fine right now.
* Tombow adhesive runner - I am in love with this tape runner! I've never found another adhesive that works as well that is as portable, easy to refill, and easy to find as the Tombow one.

Ok, I'm done.
Your turn!
What are your favorite tools for crafting? (Keeping in mind that crafting could mean paper, woodworking, jewelry, yarn, fabric, photography, drawing, painting, anything!)

Happy Crafting!

I've always been kind of a plannerd (planner nerd). In high school, I used a simple student planner I got from probably Target to keep track of my assignments. In college, I got the official planner for our college (it had the college logo on the front and important campus events already listed inside) and I used that religiously for years. In fact, that's where my color-coding planner system began and where I first fell in love with post-it notes. I used the highlighting post-its color-coded for classes. The assignment would get written down and 'highlighted' on it's due date, then when I completed it, I would take off the sticky so it didn't stand out anymore.

Once I graduated, I went back to a basic planner on and off for a few years, then switched over to electronic calendars (Google, color-coded, very pretty!), but I never really found a good system to keep track of everything I had to do. I had a place for appointments, sure, but what about my to do list? Where was I supposed to put the note that some time this week I needed to call my grandma or go to a certain store? And when I got to said store, how was I supposed to know what to buy? My list was most likely at home on a sticky note on my desk. 

*sigh* This was not working.

Then last summer, I started finding Facebook groups and blogs and You Tube videos about Filofax and other planners. I was intrigued. Could I function effectively in a filo-type planner?

I had already made my own lesson planner for my preschool teaching, why not make one for my home life as well? So I started putzing. And printing. And tweaking. And reading. And the more I worked and actually used my planner, the better I got at developing a system that worked for me. And I think I've finally achieved "planner peace"!

Here's what a typical week look like in my planner before anything goes in it. It's very minimal. I put a strip of washi tape down the middle to break each week into 2 parts - appointments and to-dos. 

(I just realized I used the same washi tape for both of these weeks - one is from May, one is not till October!)

I use the outside edge for appointments - things that happen at a specific time or only on a specific day. Things like holidays, birthdays, work schedules, appointments, and events go here. The inner edge of the pages are for to-dos. I use color-coded post-it flags for my to-dos. This lets me see at a glance what kind of week I'm going to have - heavy on personal stuff, work stuff, errands, craft, etc.

I keep all my post-its on a divider in my planner and I have a fly-leaf opposite so I can stick re-occurring events there (like going to the bank - I know I'll need to do that again, just not sure when. So I keep it back here).

The nice things about the post-it flags are; 

1) When I'm done with an activity, I can just take it off and throw it away - so satisfying!

2) If I don't get something done on  Monday, I can just move it to Tuesday, or Wednesday, or whenever I have time to finish it on another day. And I don't have to keep re-writing it every day.

3) If there is a repeating event (grocery shopping every Monday or paying the phone bill every month), I can move the post-it to the next instance of that event when I'm done with it this week/month.

I also use the slightly bigger notes for lists of things I need to buy or get from a certain store or person. Or things I need to bring to school the next day. Or any small list that isn't a to-do.

So that's the calendar portion of my planner. I've been using this version of it since April and it's worked really, really well so far. I've made a few minor tweaks, but it's pretty much as you see it here. I'm going to make a video soon walking you through my calendar so those of you who like more visuals can see everything!

And if you've read this far, thanks! I know I can be quite verbose at times. As a reward, here's a free download of my planner pages:

It's for half-size paper (8.5 x 5.5), so cut your paper in half before sending it through your printer.

You can decorate it any way you want! That's the beauty of blank planner pages!

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want to see more of my planner or if you want clarification on anything. I hope to be sharing more of my planner in the future, so stay tuned!

Happy Crafting!

New feature!

Each Friday, I will try to post my top 5 picks in different categories. I may add commentary, I may not. I may add links, I may not. I'm hoping my lists will inspire people to come up with their own lists and join in the discussion.

So here's week 1's topic: Colors

My top 5 colors (in no particular order):

* Mustard Yellow
* Brown
* Maroon
* Rose Pink
* Olive Green

What are your favorite colors?

August is a busy time in my family. Cramming in last-minute summer fun, shopping the back to school sales, the MN State Fair, and both my mom and sister's birthdays.
Usually, I pull cards from my stash to give to them for their special days, but this year, I decided to make very personalized ones.
My sister loves purple. And blue. And paisley. So when I came across some purple and blue paisley paper, I knew I had to do something special with it.

I used the gold in the paper as inspiration and I embossed the greeting and the edges of the paper in gold embossing powder.

She loved it, of course!

While I was out shopping for my mom's gift, I found some amazing wrapping paper sheets that I could not pass up - it was covered with drawings of donuts! My mom (and I!) LOVE donuts. I made sure that the box I put her gift in was small enough that I would have some paper left over after wrapping it so I could make a card.

It was perfect! I managed to get a piece left over with a half-eaten chocolate frosted donut - her favorite. The card and wrapping paper was a huge hit! And I have some of it left! I can't decide if I want to make more cards and add them to my Etsy shop or if I should just give donut cards to my mom for every occasion.


Since I do project life, I like to keep track of cards and projects I work on, so with the scraps from each card, I made  3x4 project life cards to slip into my album along with any pics from their (joint) birthday lunch.

I love making specialty cards for people, especially people I know will appreciate them and love them as much as I do (ok, maybe no one loves them as much as I do...)!