Sunday, March 8, 2015

Back with a review

Hey guys!


 It’s been a very long time since I last posted but now I’m back and I will be trying my hardest to post more often and an update. Last time I posted I was using the Erin Condren life planner so I thought I’d come back with a review.  The Erin Condren life planner is very well constructed and sturdy. The binding is strong and hard to bend which made it less likely to get bent out of shape in my purse. The pages are thick enough so that most pens won’t bleed through but I’m sure a sharpie would probably show through the page though.  For reference I use: le pens, sharpie pens, and staedtler pens without any bleed through. This planner is beautiful to look at with all the bright colors and the quotes.


 I have always preferred using spiral bound planners because I felt that binder planners were too stiff and it bothered me that they didn’t lie flat. I have been using planners ever since middle school when we would get a new one at the beginning of each school year. Even then I was obsessed with planners because getting a new planner was my favorite part of starting a new year. The school would always give us spiral bound planners with stickers in the back to mark things off and I am pretty sure this is when my love for planners began. What caught my attention about the Erin Condren life planner was that it reminded of those planners except 100x better. My favorite section in the life planner was the monthly section because the boxes  are so big that I could write as much as I wanted.  I found that useful to track various long term goals or tasks from month to month. The weekly layout however, did not work out for me because the days have little space for my planning needs right now. I liked this planner so much that I tried to make it work for me so I decided to taking it out of the spiral and putting it into a  binder style planner. I used it this way  for awhile but it still didn’t work for me as well as I wanted it to but I didn’t want it to go to waste since its dated and I wouldn’t be able to go back and use it later.


  Around that time my mom started talking about how she needed a planner. I asked her if she wanted to try using  the Erin Condren  and she said sure so I decided to set it up for her in a mini binder. I punched holes in all the pages and bought her one of those mini “better binders” from staples.  It’s amazing how much better the life planner works for my mom because she gets so much use out of it. She tracks her bills on the monthly pages, tasks during the weekly spread, and she uses the pages in the back for journaling.  She absolutely loves it and I am glad she does because this planner is too beautiful  to leave unused on the shelf collecting dust. I have come to find that not all planner setups work for everyone but there is definitely a planner for everybody. It’s just a process you have to go through to find the style that works for you. It took me some time to figure out what worked for me but now I think I finally found a system that’s very functional for me.
                                                    My mom loves angels so she put  some angel stickers on her cover.

                    I added this pocket to her planner and she uses it for her coupons.
     I closed the bottom of the folder with tape so that she can stick things in the          middle of it also.
      She adds mini binder paper in the back for her notes and journal writing.
             The Erin Condren life planner fits perfectly into this mini binder.



Thanks so much for reading!
                        -Linda

P.S. I will be posting about my new planning system soon.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Etsyelly808 Review

I wanted to come on the blog and write about a shop that I recently bought stickers from on Etsy. I only discovered her shop because she was sweet enough to come onto our Instagram page and let me know that she had some stickers she thought I would be interested in. Boy, was she right. Her stickers are adorable, she has a lot of Disney inspired stickers (we all know I love Disney). After a few minutes of looking through her shop, I got right down to ordering. She is amazing and super sweet! She ships from Hawaii but she ships next day (that's almost unheard of).

Below is a photo of the sticker sheets that I bought. The quality is great and the colors vibrant! Her prices are amazing and her shipping is not bad at all (I usually dread the shipping charges but hers were super reasonable). I am very happy with my purchase from this seller, and I wouldn't hesitate to make another purchase.

I did want to let everyone know that she will be having an end of the month sale (announced on Instagram), that would be a great time to try her stickers for yourself. I know that I will also be purchasing more to stock up (I know you can't see the bottom sheet but it is almost all gone).

 
Try her stickers, you won't regret it!
 
 
Instagram: estyelly808
(follow her on Instagram to always be up to date on the latest news/new stickers/sales)
 
My 1st layout I created when I got her stickers
 
 
 

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

March Photo-A-Day Challenge

We are very excited to announce our 1st monthly challenge...


Please join us by posting your photos and adding the hashtag #marchplanner2015...the picture is above and also can be found on our Instagram account. We look forward to seeing all the beautiful pictures!

Friday, January 30, 2015

1 of my Favorite Shops-TheInkRoad (Etsy)

THEINKROAD

Have you ever purchased from a shop with such amazing customer service that it actually left you speechless? I have been blessed enough, to have had this type of experience with quite a few shops that I buy planner related things from (why can't everyone be so nice?), so I have decided to write a somewhat more detailed post/review about my experience with some of these amazing shops (more so than what I can get into a post on Instagram).

First up, let me tell you about my amazing experience with Lara from the shop theinkroad (etsy) https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheInkRoad. I had been a follower of Lara's instagram account for a while, I loved (and still do) seeing her posts of all the adorable things she had in her shop. I was finally able to place my own order for a set of Lawn Fawn die cuts, that I had been after for some time. Now, I did a whole lot of internet research to figure out where I could get the best deal from(because lets face it they can get pretty expensive). Lara's prices beat everyone else's hands down! So, I placed my order and settled in for the wait.

It took all of 2 days for her to send out my package...2 days!! Now that is FAST shipping, since I live in California it only took another 2 days for my package to arrive at my doorstep. Now, came the part that really floored me...the package was wrapped SO beautifully wrapped that even though I normally rip through packages and I really wanted to see my dies', I had a hard time bringing myself to open it (photo below). Look at that ribbon!! I still have that gorgeous ribbon, as soon as I have a spare moment it will become a beautiful paper clip for my Filofax. Lara was also generous enough to include an adorable package of twine (freebie) and a beautiful card thanking me for my order. I was speechless!


 
I decided to write a review, the second that I could (I am all about reviews). I expressed my appreciation for the care that she took with my package. To my surprise, Lara messaged me (via Etsy) soon after to say thank you for the review. I still can't believe she took such time out of her day to do that, that was truly special.
 
I can't convey how amazing this lady is! If you have a chance to take a look at her shop and find something you would like in her shop...buy it fast! First, because her items tend to sell fast and second because buying from her shop is basically guaranteeing you that you will have an amazing experience to go along with your purchase.
 
To Lara-Thank you so much for your kindness. You are such a special lady and I truly appreciate the amazing experience I had buying from your shop. Can't wait to do it again ;-)

Thanks for reading guys!
-Rebecca

Monday, November 24, 2014

A Few of my Favorite Things

I'm back with a quick (or what I am hoping will be quick) blog post...this post will be (as the title suggests) all about my favorite things. I have picked 3 areas to talk about...

Planner Stamps

At first, I was just going to write about my new planner stamps...which I seem to have a lot of now. Most of them are from a wonderful online shop, Sweet Stamp Shop. Their planner stamps are very cute and very useful. I do say, planner stamps, because they also have a line of non-planner stamps. If you haven't checked them out I suggest you do, their website is www.sweetstampshop.com, they currently have a great sale going on so I suggest you take advantage but really the prices for their stamp sets are amazing regardless (but who doesn't like a sale, right). I have seen some super expensive sets out there and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for them. Thankfully I didn't and found this great company. I got each set for $7.95 and shipping was $3.00 (not bad at all)! They ship extremely fast, if they have the stamps in stock! I do have some photos of the sets I currently own, although I did just place an order this morning for 3 sets of stamps that were released today . 

The sets I currently own and are pictured are: 

Plan everyday, Plan Fitness, Plan to clean, Plan to eat, Plan to go, Plan Holidays

Another company that has a line of planner stamps is StudioL2E. I, actually, just bought my first Studio L2E stamp set, this company is raved about by many bloggers and after buying my first set, I can see why. The website is www.studiol2e.com and the stamp set that I bought was just too cute to be ignored and is called, Seasonal Plans Fall/Winter. I really hope there will be a spring and summer edition because I LOVE these! This set cost $11.95 and I don't exactly remember how much shipping was but I do want to say that it was about/around $3.00, these stamps do take a bit longer than the other shops to send out because she always has so many orders but I assure you that they are worth the wait!

Now for the final planner stamp set that I would like to talk about and this was the first stamp set that I bought when I got into planning. This stamp set, comes from an etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/shop/bellacreationz4u these stamps have worked hard for me and are still my most used! I can not get through a week without these, because even if I do not have time to stamp in all the adorable pictures of my tasks or adorable check list icons, I do need lines to write on and a checklist to ensure that I can tick off the things that have been done. The price for this stamp set is $11.95 and I really don't remember how much shipping is. 

I will be very honest, I LOVE seeing how people go all out decorating their planners on the internet, but in total and complete honesty I don't always have the time to do so. I don't always get to use the cute planner stamps that aren't necessary to mark events or appointments in my planner. Of course, when I have some time, I go all out and stamp out the whole page! I will have an example of that later on in the post.

Stamp Ink

Depending on how long you have been reading this blog, you know that I, Rebecca, have been having a whole set of issues with ink on my stamps and planner pages. They bled through, coverage was bad, or they stained my clear stamps. Then I found Versa Magic Ink (Jo-Anns) and that issue has been solved. I still find that certain colors stain my stamps but not as badly as the other stamp pads I tried did. So if you're having issues with your ink and haven't given those a shot, I suggest you do. Go to JoAnn's and use a lovely coupon while you're at it. 
 
PenGems

Pengems...what can I say about Pengems! They are the best! If you follow us on instagram you know that I am constantly posting about these pens and always have one in my planner but that because I love them so much! I also thought I should mention that I have bought and paid for each and every one of my pengems and am not affiliated with them in any way. I have currently 6 colors of these amazing sparkling pens. They are ballpoint pens, but write so smoothly you almost wouldn't know it. They are available in 21 different colors so far (I do believe she has more colors releasing soon) yay.

Angel (Shop owner) is the sweetest person ever! You will never regret buying these gorgeous pens, I know that I am only at the beginning of my collection and I can not tell you how excited I get when those packages come in. So go ahead visit her shop, on top of getting amazing deals on pens she posts on her instagram, follow her @pengems, if you become a member of her newsletter you get a 10% off code to use whenever you place an order. Did I mention that she ships SUPER fast, like next day fast (most of the time) and its FREE shipping! It doesn't get any better than that and there really isn't anything that I could tell you to describe how much these pens glitter and sparkle and who doesn't like or need some sparkle in their life? 



Well that completes my post of my favorite things, hope you all enjoyed it and were inspired to try some of these vendors if you haven't already!

Thanks for stopping by!
-Rebecca

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Decoration Post #1

Hello there! One last post for today! I just wanted to to post up a quick decoration post, Nov 2014. I will try to get these done more often.

This photo can be seen in the decorated pages gallery...

Page Information:

Inserts: These pages are from KiddyQualia (etsy) she is currently only opening on weekends due to her school schedule. 

Stickers: Leaf stickers (Sticko-Wal-mart), Gemstones (Studio G-Jo-ann's), Washi tape (No brand-Wal-mart).

Stamps: Bellacreationz (etsy)

Ink: Versa Magic (Gingerbread)

Extra notes:
I put glitter on the leaves, as they came without any. Although some had gold foiling on tips or leaf veins. 

I hope you enjoyed this decoration post! Thanks for stopping by 

-Rebecca

November 2014 Planner Challenge

Hi everyone! Just wanted to take a moment to write in the blog about our progress with the November 2014 Planner Challenge created by Instagram user @my_planner. 


As most of you are aware...there are 2 authors to this blog and honestly we have both tried many photo challenges and quite frankly tanked just as many times on these challenges. This month however, we have both been really good about it (maybe its our love of planners)! Linda has kept in time with ALL the challenges! YAY Linda! While I (Rebecca)...will admit that I fell behind 2 days BUT made them up and am currently up to date! Feel free to take a look at our challenge photos they should be updated on our Instagram gadget on this blog OR find us at @itsaplannerslife on instagram. Don't forget to add us! 

These challenges are a ton of up and everyone who participates are super nice. So if interested give it a shot! The dates and topics are up above! 

Thanks for stopping by!
-Rebecca