KAISERCRAFT PLANNER 2.0 REVIEW

You might remember me reviewing the first ever planner Kaisercraft introduced into the planner world a year ago. Well, guess what? They're now back again, new and greatly improved. And when it comes to documenting your memories, this might be something you want to add to your collection in 2017. There are two different types of planners available from Kaisercraft this year - small and large. The small is similar to a Personal sized planner, and their trifold design definitely made my heart skip a beat. If only I didn't already own 324987 planners. The large is similar to last year's planner, and will be what I'm reviewing today. A full look into the newest planners and accessories are seen in the picture below:

The full range is shown above, but here's my own special spin and review on Kaisercraft's newest arrival: I received the orange planner from Kaisercraft too long ago (it was released end of November!), but with work and holidays filling my days, I've barely had time to play around with it. But now that 2017 is just around the corner, I thought it was best to start dressing it up!

There's so much included in the planner pack, and you'll have everything you need to begin the moment you take it home. All you have to do is crack open the box and the planner contains everything you need from monthly and weekly views, plastic dashboards, monthly dividers and even stickers!

You have pockets on the back of the front cover to store little bits and pieces, and a notebook at the back for notes. Your months are even set up for you to include monthly views, weekly views, monthly reviews, tabbed and all! Your monthly dividers also include a variety of designs made from quality paper for you to customise and add pictures to your heart's desire.

Here's a look at the monthly tabs and January's divider:

All months are set up the same way. On the back of the monthly divider comes your monthly views:

The pages are all undated so you can start whichever year you like. Turn another page and before you get to your weekly view, comes the monthly goals page. You'll be able to keep track of your goals and add in little notes for yourself before the weekly pages begin:

The weekly views are large enough to include photos and journal entries, and if you ever run out of pages, with it being ring binded, you can always add more! Use scrapbook paper to decorate your pages and the sticker sheet provided to spice up your spreads:

And at the end of the month, you'll be able to review your goals with the dedicated monthly review page provided!

And like I said, stickers are provided too!

This large planner is definitely an upgrade from Kaisercraft's previous, and if you loved the last one, you'll definitely love this one too. It's big enough to include everything from photos to memorabilia. Together with the complementary accessories (not provided), you'll be able to create a planner that will last a lifetime.

2017 PLANNERS

It's that super exciting time of the year again: deciding what to use for the new year. I've pondered this for at over a month, trying to allocate each planner I've collected to a suitable role. I've more or less decided on five (for the moment) planners and hopefully, I'll end up with five full ones by the end of 2017. I've learnt a few things about myself when it comes to planning, and I've come to a few conclusions:

1. I like to have everything in one: I know this highly contradicts my aim of using five different types in the New Year, but I like a challenge. So bring it.
2. I need dated planners: For the year of 2016, I've been more or less using the Bullet Journal system whereby you date your days yourself. It worked for a while, but I must admit, it gets annoying doing so, and I'm not really able to plan ahead due to the lack of forward dating available. And because of the lack of dates, I was changing my system up so frequently that my life is now everywhere. 
3. I need a diary just for journaling. It's been quite annoying not having a set place for all my journaling. I think 2016 is the year where my writings have been everywhere. I need my life to be all in one place.

Taking these points into consideration, here's a look into each of the planners I'll be using for 2017 and what I'll be using them for:

1. JOURNALING - A6 Hobonichi: This is probably my third year trying Hobonichi out, and I hope the third time's a charm. Compared to the last two years, my use of Hobonichi has always been vague - not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it, its use faltered and was soon thrown aside or sold away. In 2017, it's role is plain and simple: journaling. Nothing more, nothing less. The page size should be enough for my daily ramblings and the grid set up will help get my journaling done without worrying whether or not my lines are coming up straight.
2. TO DO - Small Daily Moleskine: I was at first struggling to find a role for this baby. It was an impulse buy, thinking it would fit in the leather cover I bought in Toulouse, but I realised soon enough that I didn't actually have a notebook to replace my daily to do's that used to take place in an undated passport sized notebook. With it being a dated day-to-a-page, together with its small size, it will be perfect to write all my daily to-dos (without cramping), keep track of my activities and plan ahead if need be. Wonder why I never thought of this earlier!
3. EXPENSES & WORK - Kate Spade Personal Planner: I must admit, I was all for using my new Kate Spade Planner (which hasn't even arrived yet!), but then I saw the Filofax Original Burnt Orange Personal size and my fingers are getting the itch to buy them online! Either way, Kate Spade or Filofax, as this will be a ring planner, I'm sure other subjects will be added in once I discover them. But for now, both my work hours and expenses will be kept in this planner to help keep track of my life.
4. VISION PLANNER - Bloom Daily Planner: I won't be surprised if my usage of this falls off eventually. With it being a Vision planner, I know, can be taken in two ways: the literal and the metaphorical sense. As the planner is laid out like an Erin Condren / Happy Planner, it's perfect for me to make planning pretty again by using sticky notes, washi tape and the such. It will basically be the 'hobby' planner. A place to let loose, try out new materials and document my days. It won't be done on the go, with spreads created every weekend (or so I hope). This planner will also be used as the 'Vision' planner it's intended to be - setting out goals for the month, reviewing them at the end, etc. although this will be a minor part of the planner.
5. DAILY DOCUMENTATION / NOTES - MTN: Lucky last, my Midori Traveler's Notebook. It currently holds my week on one page (with grid on the other). Unlike before, I'm going to keep this diary loose. I used to decorate and put so much pressure on the spreads that it ended up being a weekend project (that eventually fell behind). I'm going to use this on-the-go and forget about trying to make things pretty. This will be my thought process (and hence, 'messy') area

And there you have it - the five finalists for 2017. Looking at the list, I could very well have compressed everything into one planner. But alas, my itchy hands have caused multiple planners to be purchased and so my brain now has to navigate through five different diaries to hopefully organise my life. Ha. Let's hope it works!

DECEMBER GOALS

So yes, I am in fact writing this up just as December is about to come to an end. But that's alright. At least I'll now be able to both write up and take a look at how my goals went for the month and for the whole year (because 2017 is just 5 days away !!).

So first thing first, a look at my December goals and how I went:

1. (TICK) Read two books: I managed finish reading one novel (Fantastic Beasts) and one self-help book (The Life Plan) so yes, this goal was in fact reached. Hurrah! I'm currently in the process of reading The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*^k but all is well if I don't get to finish that.
2. (HALF-TICK) Finish up my Travel Notebook: So I've started it... and did some pages... but work has been taking up more of my time than usual. I'm still aiming to finish it up, but I guess it'll only be done in 2017.
3. (TICK) Decide on 2017 Diaries: Ah yes, the usual end-of-year struggle. As usual, I've ended up with more than I need, but for the first time since my planning addiction started, I actually have a function for each of them. Look out for my next post for details on them all.
4. (HALF TICK) No Spend - until Nov 26th: I kinda held back in my spending this month, and there was a whole week where I did not spend a dime! I think for me, that's a great achievement. We'll discard what happened during the Boxing Day sales though...
5. (FAIL) Edit Blog Layout: I tried. Or at least I think I tried. 2017 will be the year, I promise (ha.)
6. (TICK) Keep a Notebook: I almost stopped halfway for my 'messy' notebook, but I think I finally broke through the 'trying to keep the notebook clean' stage and am using it to its full potential - messy notes and all. I'll continue with the notebook into the new year.
7. (FAIL) Calculate Holiday Expenses: But really, do I have to? We all know I spent at least $3000...

I must say, I'm actually quite surprised to know I've faired quite well this month. Not a bad way to end the month (and year). But now, to the big one - let's see how well I went with the yearly goals:

1. (FAIL) Project Life: It was working well, at first; I was up to date and super psyched to use stamps on my images. But then the pictures weren't getting printed and the weeks were passing and well... yknow..
2. (FAIL) Spend less: Well, we all know how I went with this..
3. (FAIL) Launch my digital stamp collection: Gosh, I forgot that I started this. With work 5 days (sometimes 7 days) a week, and a failure to advertise my brand - completely my own fault - this died a very quick death.
4. (FAIL) Create physical stamp sets: Because the Australian dollar never made it on par with the American dollar (and with all stamp manufacturing being in America), this never kicked off, unfortunately.
5. (FAIL) Art: I've dabbled in my art here and there, but nothing too concrete that I can be proud of.
6. Instagram: My Instagram is still full of stationery posts, but I think I'm ok with that.
7. (TICK) Read: Finally, something I can tick off in 2016. I definitely read more than a number of previous years combined, and I'm actually quite proud of myself. Go me.
8. (TICK) Graduate: Must admit, graduation wasn't even all that amazing... =/
9. (TICK) Get a job: It's amazing how far I've actually come this year in terms of finding employment in my profession. I went from a fresh graduate to a contract employee, which made me more confident in what I was doing and now a full time permanent employee at a hospital I love, and trained in more than I hoped for.
10. (FAIL) Use up my stash: Still working on this. Might take me a few more years...

Three ticks out of ten.. uhh yeh.. Let's hope 2017 fares a little better.. 2017 goals in a few days to come!

BLOOM PLANNERS

It's almost the end of the year, and with the silly season upon us, it's never too early to start getting 2017 sorted. Every year, I tell myself to limit the amount of diaries I own, because for one, I tend to find a hard time looking for a reason to use each one. But when pretty diaries show up on my doorstep with layouts that are just begging me to try, how could I say no?

And so, that brings me to the next set of 2017 planners (and notebooks) for review: Bloom Daily Planners. Bloom Daily Planners is an American planner company devoted to designing planners to fit everyone, from Middle Schoolers to moms alike. With cover designs as diverse as the fabulous women who use them, spacious layouts and inspirational features, their aim is to make staying organised trendy and fun. One design which absolutely appealed to me (and to many others apparently from how often it sells out!), however, was their Vintage Floral Collection. Despite it not being too obvious, I love floral patterns, and when I saw this on their site, it was my one and only choice! I had to have them (all)!

Sage from Bloom Daily Planners was super nice enough to send me the Vision Planner from the Vintage Floral collection that I was eyeing and surprised me with a bunch of other goodies from that collection as well (major thanks, girl!). So here I am today, to give you a full review and look through to all the planners, notebooks and notepads I received. There'll also be a little something for readers at the end of this post! So grab a cuppa, sit back, relax and enjoy!

There are 6 items on the list which I will go over, with them being:

1- Vision Planner

Measuring at 7.5 x 9" and weighing 1lb 2oz. this planner might be slightly larger than an A5, but it's sleek design (and not too thick width) means it's still a portable planner you can take with you on the go:

This Vision planner was the one that caught my eye when I was browsing through the list of products available on their site. For one, the gold binding is gorgeous, and the inside reflected that of the Erin Condren / Get to Work / Happy planner without the hefty price tags:

In addition to that, however, with it being a Vision Planner, it also included extra pages to help fulfil your 2017 goals such as:

And:

But I think the best part of the planner is that it's hard cover with metal edges. The insides may be one thing but if the planner doesn't last the every day beatings it will undoubtedly take, what's the point, no? We don't need our planners to fall apart because I'm sure our life will consequently follow!

2- Daily Planner

The daily planner is slightly smaller than the Vision measuring at 6 x 8.25", and 12.7oz, which definitely makes it a portable planner:

It has a very simple design, with monthly tabs, and monthly calendars at the beginning of each month (just as it should be!).

The week is distributed over two pages with simple lines for each day:

And at the end of the planner is a yearly overview and a nice slot for all your bits and bobs on the back cover:

3- Daily To Do (Notepad and Book)

The Daily To-Dos come in two option: a binded notebook or tear-away sheet form. Either way, they both contain similar information (the notepad is just more colourful!). The best part of the notebook, however, is that it too contains perforated sheets. So if you ever need to take your list with you but don't want to carry the whole book, just tear the sheet away and you're done.

Here's a closer look at the notepad and what's included in the list:

4- Stickers

The stickers they had were the next thing that caught my eye after the Vision Planner. I mean, look how colourful they are! I must admit, I'm lucky enough to not be bitten by the Etsy Sticker Bug as I tend not to buy too many planner stickers. But it's fair to say that I couldn't resist these.

5- Notebook

If you're a student, or even if you just love notebooks like I do, this notebook is a perfect addition to complete your Vintage Floral collection:

It's ruled on the inside which makes things a lot easier for writing notes.

And that's the end of the list! If you're interested in any of the products, just head to Bloom Daily Planners here. Do check out their other collection too as it sure won't disappoint! I hope you enjoyed this review and have another set of choices for your 2017 planning!

CURRENTLY #20

TIME: 4:59pm

LOCATION: Bedroom / craft room / office

FEELING: Super excited that my holiday begins in just 4 days!

LOVING: My new Bailey Nelson glasses

READING: Dan Brown - Digital Fortress

DRINKING: Water

ANTICIPATING: The start of my on-call shift tonight. Hope it's not too crazy :(

LISTENING TO: DNCE - Toothbrush

WATCHING: Vampire Diaries

PLANNING: My holiday - it never ends!

LOOKING FORWARD TO: Friday, Friday, Friday!

CREATING: Catch-up pages in my November daily MTN

NEED TO FINISH: Packing!

WISHING: My holiday can start now.

MAIN GOAL: Finish up holiday planning. Wash the car.

BRUSH LETTERING (WITH OLIVIA)

Along with scrapbooking / memory keeping / Midori Traveler's Notebooking, I try to expand my creativity with different art mediums and techniques. Recently, I've picked up brush lettering after seeing so many great artworks on Instagram. For me, when it comes to brush lettering, it all depends on the brush pen you're using (and occasionally the paper). There are hundreds of different types on the market, but I've found that the Tombow dual brush markers works the best for me.

Now to the actual lettering bits: I know that some people find it hard grasping the concepts of thin and thick lines, joining alphabets etc when it comes to calligraphy writing, so I've teamed up with Olivia from Brush Lettering Practice to create some calligraphy phrases you can practice with (for free!)

The first phrase she made for us is a little phrase I think everyone should be adapting in their daily lives: Keep a notebook! Here's a little peek into what the sheets look like and how I've lettered it using my Tombow markers:

You can also check out the full (sped-up) lettering video I've done for these phrases on my Instagram!

Do check Olivia's site out (here) for more lettering sheets you can practice with. She also has a whole package of alphabet lettering sheets you can purchase in her store! But if you're interested in just this practice sheet, the download link is right below. Feel free to download the sheets and practice, practice, practice!

PERSONAL PLANNER REVIEW

Oh, it's almost that time of the year again - deciding what notebook / planner / diary to use for the new year. I've been spoilt for choices this time, being fortunate to pick a number of different types. Not all will make the cut, of course, but that doesn't mean I won't be reviewing all of them for you so that you can make the right choice. So for the next two months, look out for 2017 diary reviews right here as I'll be looking at a number of choices before the new year begins!

The first one on the review list is the absolutely customisable Personal Planner diary. You can find a link to their site here. This company is basically one to fill all your needs in terms of size, writing space, what's included, front page photos, back page photos and even your ruler colour!

I decided to pick the A6 size for work, which will be big enough to fit my work schedule. I designed my front cover with an artwork I did recently, picked my elastic band colour and settled for a simple black colour for my back page. This is how it turned out:

The colours were super bright and vibrant and represented exactly what I had in my original artwork. I was thoroughly impressed.

The insides were as much fun to design as were the outside. I was spoiled for choices and there'll be much more choices if you go for the A5, square, or wide sizes due to the bigger size format to fit more things in. It's actually amazing how much you can choose to include or exclude in your pages and I just had to try all the options. Who knew designing your diary would be so much fun?!

You can select the theme of your borders, dates included, and what you have on the bottom of your planner. This way, you won't have unnecessary categories clogging up your page when it could've been used for something else instead.

The back pages are reserved for things like the wolrd map, additional ruled / lined / grid pages and yearly overviews.

It's a perfect little planner that you can use on the go. It's made of sturdy materials and includes a hard plastic flyleaf on the front and back of the planner. They even include a plastic pocket, a coloured ruler of your own choice and a sticker sheet full of fun little emoticons! The best part is: it's not even expensive for the service and quality you get!

So if you want to create your own customisable diary for the new year, do check out Personal Planner. You won't be disappointed!

NOVEMBER GOALS

I actually cannot believe it's already November. Wow. Two more months and it'll be the end of the year. Already! It's going to be an exciting month this one, with me going overseas for the first time in a long long time and possibly a few workplace changes too. Either way, here's a look at how last month's goals faired and a look into this month's too:

1. (TICK) Read at least two books:
   - Girl on the Train
   - How to be Parisienne
2. (HALF TICK) Research up and document all things Paris!
   - I seem to be changing up notebooks every time to plan my days in Paris, but with a week left to decide what to use, I think I'll be sticking to one notebook now...
3. (HALF TICK) Test out the Contax G1 + film photography
   I'm still in the process of testing it out and I so badly want to finish up my film so I can process it and see how the pictures turn out, but I'm finding it hard to find subjects to photograph! I guess it'll be a long while before I get to see the photos.
4. (FAIL) Save
   To be fair, I've been basically working every day and will be working every day from last week till next week, so I guess that makes up for all the spending I did...

As for November's goals:

1. Read at least two books:
   Knowing I'll be on the plane for hours at a time, I think it'll be a good time to catch up on some reading. I can't possibly be bringing my books with me along though, so my kindle app on my iPad will have to do. But before the trip, I'm going to try to devour the rest of Dan Brown's Digital Fortress since I've already started that.
2. Finish planning up Paris:
   I can't delay this any further or else I'll end up with half a dozen notebooks of Paris planning that aren't complete!
3. Keep a notebook:
   As easy as that sounds, it really isn't. Sure I've kept dozens of Bullet Journals / MTN diary, but a notebook filled with random quotes, notes and doodles? That seems to be the hardest for me. I need to start a notebook out simple, quick and without expectations. It seems like only then will I be able to keep at it without wanting to start another fresh book
4. Document my travels on the go:
   I still can't believe I'm going off on holidays this month and this will definitely be the biggest and probably most difficult goal to accomplish. I seem to leave my travel documentation till the end of the trip when I have all my tools with me at home, but let's hope I can do things on the go this time! Not to mention, take all the pictures!
5. Update my blog layout:
   I think it's taken me a whole year to do this. I seem to always get sidetracked and do other things instead. Oops.
6. Continue with my November Daily Notebook:
   I started a daily entry book in November last year and promised myself to continue it the year after (which is this month!). It's going to be nice to see how much has changed since then

Exciting times ahead!

MIDORI TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK: UPDATE

I don't think you'll be surprised to know that I haven't actually stuck to one documenting style in my Midori in the past few weeks. I've kept up with some weeks of my MTN diary, but nothing too concrete. If you follow my Instagram (@lettersinnovember), you would have seen the variety of pages / spreads done up but never really followed through. So instead of creating multiple posts regarding all the projects I've done in my MTN, here are some pictures and notes on some of them:

In regards to my MTN diary, I've done just two extra pages since the last post (which isn't great, I know). I missed out most of September, and have only started it up again for design team projects. So don't be surprised if it dies out again right after:

I started a Chronodex booklet when October began, needing something dated in my life for once. Initially, my (not too great) bookbinding abilities led me to put away my Chronodex booklet, but after letting it sit on my desk for a while, I decided to pick it up again and start in it. Because the booklet started from the end of June, I had half a booklet of empty pages to waste. So instead of keeping it blank, I decided to fill it with memories collected from my days in October, and here's a look at some of the pages I've created in it:

When it comes to creating pages in regular notebooks, I've done some here and there with nothing absolute solid:

I'm still in the process of creating a notebook for my trip to Paris in November, but because I haven't decided which notebook (grid / plain / kraft?!) to use yet, it's still in the works.

HERO ARTS BLOG HOP

Hello hello and welcome to the Hero Arts blog hop! I'm super excited to bring this fun blog post to you filled with all things planner and stamping! There are lots of new stamps in this release by Hero Arts and Kelly Purkey and I'll be giving you an overview of how I use them in this post. All of the stamps used here are available now in the Hero Arts store, which you can purchase here. And if you stay till the end, there'll even be a chance for you to win a little something something! So without further adieu, lets get to the fun part of using these stamps! I decided to use all of the Kelly Purkey Planner stamps in my Traveler's Notebook diary. I love love love that there's such a great variety of planner stamps that's suitable for anyone and everyone:

Here's an up close look:

Here's a list of all the stamps I used in this spread:
- Kelly's Everyday Sticky Notes
- Kelly's TV Planner
- Kelly's Winter Planner
- Kelly's Girl Talk Planner
- Kelly's Adventure Planner
- Kelly's Reading Planner
- Kelly's Shopping Planner
- Kelly's Take Note
- Kelly's Flags Stamp + Cut
- Kelly's Coffee and Donuts
- Kelly's Travel Day
- Kelly's Outdoor Inks
- Kelly's Urban Inks
- Kelly's Fashion Inks

And now to the most important bit! Hero Arts will be giving away three $25 shopping sprees drawn just from the comments left across all the blogs in this blog hop. Comment by Wednesday, October 19, 11:59PM PT and the winners will be announced next week!

Next on the hop is the amazingly talented Kari Stiles. Be sure to check out her blog as there'll definitely be more inspiration coming your way! You can also find the links to all the designers on the Hero Arts blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

FILOFAX PERSONAL COMPACT HERITAGE REVIEW

It's been a while since I've done one of these, especially for a Filofax. I think my love for ring planners started dwindling this year, after my obsession with Midori grew exponentially. I guess there were a number of reasons for my change in preference: for one, I didn't actually need a planner; I didn't need dated diaries. Eversince finishing uni (and the end of assignments) Bullet Journaling and creating the days as I go by was enough for me. I didn't exactly need to plan ahead (because I was more or less generally free). For another, the size of a planner and the fact that rings took a chunk of the page annoyed me. I needed the page size to be bigger but still portable. Not to mention, ring planners, as they suggested, wasn't bounded. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it, but I guess I liked my spreads stuck together. And lastly, eversince the Malden, I haven't actually found another planner that I wanted to use as much as I did the Malden. Well, not until I got the Filofax Heritage Compact planner, that is.

I've been eyeing this planner ever since it came out, and thought I was able to last till November when I took a trip down to Paris. But nope. I went searching online and found it for a pretty reasonable price on John Lewis. I actually wanted the Personal sized Heritage, but since they didn't have it in stock and I wasn't planning to keep much in it other than the diary, I decided to go for it. It arrived relatively quickly from the UK, and apart from the Malden I don't think I've been this excited to receive a Filofax till now.

Opening it up, it was beautiful right from the beginning. It came in a nice, sturdy box that Filofax planners used to come in (before they changed it to just a lousy plastic sleeve!) and it was divine once picked up and handled. The leather is thick, supple and you just know that it will last through and through. It's absolutely hard to describe how gloriously luxurious the leather is. I've read about how different the leather is on different blogs, but wow. It's definitely one to inspect in person. Here are some pictures of it up-close and personal:

As it says on the Filofax website, it doesn't contain any pockets on the front or back, but rather just a leather flyleaf on the inside containing a pocket and an elastic pen loop (which really doesn't serve any purpose):

Apart from that, the insides are the usual diary, notes, etc pages that comes with a new Filofax. Overall, I love the feel of this one. It has an inconspicuous look and really gives that heritage feel. It's safe to say that I can't wait to use this beauty when 2017 comes around!

MTN: CHRONODEX

At the start of October, I decided to take the plunge and use a Chronodex. This system was created by Patrick Ng, and you can check it all out here. I needed something dated in my life, and since I didn't want to buy something that I'll probably only use for a month, I decided to go cheap and create my own booklet. It took a whole lot of getting used to as I didn't actually like my handmade book at first, but it grew on me, and I'm glad it did. Seeing I've only used it for a week and a bit, there aren't too many pages to show around here, but nevertheless, here are the ones I've done so far:

See, the thing with me is, I tend to overthink things. I decide over the layout of my page longer than needed, causing me to not create a page eventually. I'm trying my hardest not to let my Chronodex be the same and actually updating the pages as the day goes by. I'm still ending up with a bit of catching up by the end of the week, but there's always next week! And here's hoping it's not going to lose its lustre after a month of usage!

KELLY PURKEY SEPTEMBER REVEAL

Happy happy Monday! Hope everyone's been checking out the newest release from Kelly Purkey because they're another perfect set of stamps! It's all about the upcoming Autumn weather in the Northern Hemisphere, home touristing, single life and happy things. Here's a look at some of the spreads I created using some of the stamps:

And of course, you can check them all out in Kelly Purkey's shop here. Happy shopping!