My 2017 Life Planner

I can hardly believe that I first started planning my days way back in July 2015 and am now nearly at the end of my eighteen month Life Planner. Gosh, it's been sooooo much fun!! I am really happy with the way I've learnt to make my planner do what I need it to do for me, and that these pages really do work. I have a daily and weekly planning routine and honestly it's one of the best things I've ever had for keeping me organised (well, within my own scattered limits that is). I also really enjoy being a part of the creative planner community where I get to feel inspired by others and play around with colourful stickers and washi tape. Oh, how I love love love the stickerating aspect of planning!! It's a hobby that has had a very positive impact on my daily life, and I am so grateful for it.

For the past 18 months I've been using an Erin Condren Life Planner  and as you can see from the above photo, my planner cover may look familiar to you. I used a photo of my Colourblock Cushion to create a custom cover for my planner and I can't tell you how much pleasure that has given me over the months - I absolutely love it to bits.

You can see more pictures of my planner and read about my planner journey on my blog here.

If you would like to know more about the EC Life Planners, you can look at the Erin Condren Website here. And if this is all brand new to you and you haven't a clue what I'm going on about, there's a little two minute video which gives you a lovely visual overview of the current Erin Condren Life Planner - find it here.

With my 18 month planner coming to an end, a few weeks ago I began to think about what I'd like for my next planner. EC Life Planners come with removable and interchangeable covers, so I could have kept the ones I already have......but where's the fun in that??!! Nope, no sense in keeping it the same when I can get all giddy over creating something new! So I formed a plan in my Creative Mind, gathered together some oddments of Drops Karisma DK from my stash (a pure wool yarn in lush, rich colours), and got busy hooking up some stripes......

....yuuuuummmmmmmmmm!! Stripe-tastic!! These are single rows of UK treble stitches, the colours worked at random as I went along. The actual piece of crochet is about the same size as a sheet of A4 paper.

Now as lovely as these stripes are unadorned, in my mind I had pictured stripes and flowers. Because I remembered about the woolly flowers that I had sitting in a little bag just waiting to come out and play......

The above image is something I created for Yarndale, a simple arrangement which I photographed so that the image could be used for the Yarndale Calendar*. I designed the flower pattern myself and loved how they turned out - they are quite simple and graphic if you get what I mean, and photograph really well.

I also remembered that I had a little crochet bee tucked away somewhere - it took an age to find it (it was nesting in the Shelves of Doom), but eventually out it buzzed......

......and so my visual idea began to come to life. Colourful Stripes + flowers (and the little buzzzzy bee)....

......oh yes!! Just as I had imagined it!

I photographed the above image to use for the front cover....

....and then had another little play and made a second image to use for the back cover.

I placed my order on the Erin Condren website the weekend before last and then had to endure the wait while it was printed and shipped all the way from the US. The waiting part wasn't all that easy!

But it all happened quicker than I expected, and exactly eight days after my order was placed, there was a loud knock at the door and a nice UPS fella stood on my front step with a pretty pink patterned box in his hands.

Gosh, I have to tell you I was so nervous to open the box, my tummy felt like it was suddenly full of moths.

Eventually, after much flapping around in state of nervous excitement, I managed to open the box to stare at the blue tissue paper packaging inside.

I desperately wanted to see my new covers, but felt worried in case I might feel disappointed in some way. There is nothing worse than excitement and anticipation followed by a thudding disappointment, is there?

I'm ready to look now.

Would you like to see?

Ok....

....lets upwrap the tissue.....

....and take a peek.....

....

...

..

.

...................Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I am THRILLED with my new cover!!!!!!!!!!!!! The stems and leaves have come out a little bit dark in the printing process, but the rest of the colours are beautifully vibrant and it really does look fab.

 

And here is the back cover (I LOVE seeing my spotty crochet hook there!)

As I did last year, I've uploaded both these images to my Flickr account and am more than happy if you wish to use them for personal use. Download the full size images and use for journals, notebooks, cards, or whatever tickles your fancy.

{ATTIC24 FLICKR PHOTOS}

So now I'm all set to continue my planner journey into 2017 - can you believe there are less than six weeks left of this year???? 

I thought that perhaps you might like the pattern for these flowers, in case you might need something floral to pretty up something woolly. Stitch them to bags, hats or cushions, string them into garlands, make them into brooches or gift tags - they are very versatile little adornments, quick and simple to make.

You can find the pattern here on my blog in the left hand side bar, I've named them {FLORA's FLOWERS}

*I used my woolly flowers to style the August image for the 2017 Yarndale Calendar, in fact, you may recognise quite a bit of Attic24 influence going on with the Yarndale calendar! The calendars are in the Yarndale online shop, £8 plus p&p, with worldwide delivery. There are 12 lovely images to brighten up your wall with a whole year of yarny goodness.

{YARNDALE CALENDAR}

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps If you have any planner questions, please feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer. And in case you were wondering, I went for the colourful/vertical layout. I'll write more about how I use my planner in a few weeks time x

EDIT to add >> Just to be clear about this post and the links - I'm not sponsored by Erin Condren, this is just me writing about my own planner journey and providing links to give you information if you wish to read more. I would let you know if I were being sponsored or paid for recommendations.

However, Yarndale is a for-profit organisation and I am one of the five organisers, so I do need to let you know that. You can read more about the Yarndale set-up here.

 

Comments

[Linden]

Really lovely covers for your planner, Lucy. At the moment I write my things to do down in notebooks. But I keep mislaying them so I have about 3 on the go. However, I usually find that when I come across them again and look at what I wrote, a surprising amount of the things have indeed got done.

[Shirley Flavell]

Totally inspiring, love your cover photos. Your talent knows no bounds:)

[jenny finck]

What a great project. Love it. Congrats. well done

[Little Quiltsong]

Oh - absolutely LOVE your new planner! Love how it turned out!

[tinke]

Love the way it turned out Lucy. Exactly the way you work. Colourful and creative.I would be lost without my planner. And all the little notes I leave roaming about my table.Can't imagen there are human beings living without one and still get things done.

[Crafty Cath]

Bloomin' fantastic!