Attic24

Cosy November

Gosh, it's been a whirlwind kind of a week here in the Attic and even though I've been whirling in very small circles close to home I feel as if I've expended a lot of energy somehow. Some weeks just feel especially full I guess - full of social connection (even if it is all digital these days), quiet productivity, high emotion. All the feels here. I would like to say a mahooooosive, big squishy (((thank you))) for all the Meadow love on my last post, thank you for your kind words and your enthusiasm, I absolutely love love love sharing my creative endeavours with you all. The Meadow yarn packs have been selling so fast, flying out of the Warehouse to deliver some happy yarny cheer all around the world. I am SO EXCITED for the crochet a long to begin in January, and to have your company as we wander the summer meadow together. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I mentioned in my last post about planner stickers - this is the fifth year that I've collaborated with Rachel of EllieBeth Designs and I absolutely love the way she takes my colour palettes/themes and produces the most beautiful sticky things to work alongside my CALs. You can find them in Rachels shop ((HERE)) - the stickers can be used on a calendar or in your notebooks/journals if you aren't into planners, and I absolutely love them.

Rachel has very kindly given me a discount code to pass onto you - you can get 15% off any stickers in her shop....

...just use the code MEADOWCAL15 at the checkout.

This past week has really felt like autumn is slipping away and winter is beginning to creep in, and although it's been quite mild (we've not had a frost yet this season), the air has nevertheless looked and felt quite wintry.

I've been enjoying the cosiness of my home, especially the first hour when I come home from the school run. Usually the timing works out just right for me to call at the coffee shop on my way home from dropping Little B, picking up two takeout coffees to bring home for J and me. I do miss my café visits in this locked-down life, but enjoying a really good freshly made coffee in the comfort of home is still a wonderful luxury and I am grateful for it.

Once a week I get to collect my takeout coffee and carry it up to the park to meet up with a very good friend. We sit (socially distanced) at the top of a small run of stone steps, her on one end and me perched on the other end so that we both have this  view out across the park. We can sit and drink our coffees and chat for about half an hour until our butts get too cold and stiff, then we walk a brisk circuit around the park to warm up again. 

This week I have felt very blessed with my friendships, and I have spent a lot of time chatting via WhatsApp on my phone, and on social media. I received a beautiful little parcel through the post a few days ago too, from one of my yarny friends who I used to see once a week at our Coopers knit and natter when life was normal.

She has been knitting little houses using her very own pattern, such a delight! She knit a whole street and very kindly sent them out to her friends, simply to bring a little cheer. Oh my, I was overwhelmed with emotion over this beautiful little handmade gift.

You may know that I have a Thing for little houses, I totally adore them and over the years I've managed to collect and build a small handmade street. Gosh, I've just noticed how terribly dusty my mantel is, please do try and overlook my very slapdash approach to the housework and focus on the houses. Eyes up. Aren't they cute?

It's been all things Meadow here during the past few weeks as I've worked hard behind the scenes to finalise all the colour work decisions. These colours have been bringing me a lot of happiness, a LOT. I think they are magical actually, and I can't wait for you to experience them for yourself in January. 

Lots of time spent in this room as J an I both work here during the days when the Little Peeps are at school. I've started lighting the fire in the early afternoon as the house seems to suddenly feel chilly round about then. We've usually been on our woodland walk, had some lunch and settled down for a few more hours of work before the 3pm school departure, so lighting the fire has given us some very welcome warmth and comfort. Right now I am sat exactly where Tilly is sleeping in the above photo, it's one of my favourite places to sit. I pull the coffee table over so that I can sit on the floor with my legs stretched out underneath it, and lean my back against the sofa. Not a bad working-from-home situation by any means.

As I mentioned earlier, there has definitely been a distinct whiff of winter in the air this week. 

I am so glad of my wellies now as the pathways are very muddy and the most dominant colour of the November woodland is brown. Oh dear, it really isn't my favourite.

Thank goodness for moss, it provides such a beautiful little bright spot of colour in amongst all the murk and I couldn't love it more. I'm a moss-lover, and proud of it.

↑↑ OK, so this happened on Tuesday, I know, I know. Danish pastries are not very "clean eating" but totally acceptable in terms of "wellness" I'd say (please see this post if you don't know what I'm going on about!). I always treat myself to a pastry on new-blanket-launch-days, it's become a little ritual that I have - a small celebrational treat from me, to me. It was still warm when I snaffled it from the bakery shelves and it was utterly divine I can tell you. Di-VINE. 

And so my days whirl along, and I continue to feel very thankful for it all. 

We found out today the this area of the UK will be out of Lockdown next week, but our socialising is still going to be very limited. Our pubs and cafés will reopen and J and I will be able to return to enjoy our morning coffees, but that's only because we live within the same household. I really, really miss my weekly yarny get togethers and was hoping to have them back again next week but sadly it's not happening. Ah well, I guess we just keep on doing our bit to stay safe and hope that little by little things begin to improve.

There are only three more weeks left of school now before the Christmas holidays, I can hardly believe it to be honest. 

I took the above photo yesterday on the way home from school, it was twenty past three in the afternoon and the sun was almost down beyond the horizon. It's twenty five more days before we land on the Winter Solstice (it's on Monday 21st this year). I am so looking forward to celebrating that special day of the year, I will be ready and waiting to gather in the greenery, light the candles and celebrate the fact that our days will begin to lengthen once more.

I hope you're having a good week however big or small your circles are, and that there is light and colour and warmth in your days xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

January Slow

Last week I bought two £1 bunches of tightly closed daffies from the supermarket, the first of the season. I plopped one bunch into a small jug to have on the table at home, and the other bunch came with me to the studio to brighten up my days spent there. I've been looking forward to my first bunch of daffodils since before Christmas, it's one of my January rituals that makes me feel just a little bit closer to spring time.

Waiting impatiently for the buds to open, ooooo, the anticipation is real!

As it turned out, it didn't take long at all for the flowers to fully open their petals, my studio is beautifully warm and cosy and all that glorious golden yellow was shining out in no time.

At home I've also got some little pots of narcissus growing happily away on the mantel, another January tradition of mine (just been reminded of this post from 2009). These have been steadily growing away during the past few weeks, shoots becoming taller each day and finally a few days ago, the first bright little flower. I love them so much!

I faffed my mantel a few days ago as it was still looking very bare after the post Christmas de-clutter. I ventured into the Cupboard of Doom to find my bag of winter-themed decorations which mainly consists of some pretty seasonal cards and the simple winter garland I made two years ago.

I went out into the back yard to snip some fresh greenery and bare hazel twigs to go in my newly acquired vase. The vase was a spontaneous purchase, I saw it a little while ago in the window of a charity shop and decided that I would very much like to re-home it. It cost £2.99 which I thought was a bargain, it's just the sort of colour which makes me think of the English sea.

Did you notice the little red and white stitched hoop hanging on my wall up there? I was thrilled to be invited to design one of the projects for the Winter 2019 Craftpod, and this sweet little cross stitch was the result. Jo gave me a very specific brief, asking me to come up with a woodland house with snow and trees, red stitching on white fabric to evoke a Scandi winter feel.

Incidentally, the beautiful little greetings card that sits on my mantel is by the very talented collage and mixed media artist Clover Robin. I've been a huge fan of Clovers work for several years, and couldn't believe it when Jo told me that the Winter Craftpod would contain a paper collage project designed by her. I might have squealed a bit, just a teensy little yelp of delight.

I absolutely LOVE creating cross stitch designs and find it insanely satisfying to work within the confines of a simple grid. I can't tell you why I love it so much as it has certainly been a surprise to me, but cross stitch (both designing and stitching) really, really, really floats my boat. In essence it's a very easy craft to master, and yet somehow the simple business of making teensy crosses onto holey fabric results in something so wonderfully pleasing to look at. I also love that you can't hurry cross stitch, and this greatly adds to the appeal for me. It's a sloooooow, steady, one-speed activity as you can't really go fast or slow with it, it's a pretty perfect winter hobby I'd say.

I've been enjoying the quarterly seasonal Craftpod boxes ever since I first became a fan and a customer back in the Autumn of 2017. The above photo shows you the contents of the current Winter box - you can see my little cross stitch hoop, and the papers to make Clovers' beautiful winter collage. I think there may still be a few boxes available if you fancy a little bit of seasonal creativity yourself - you can buy the Winter pod as a one-off box, or treat yourself to an annual subscription. All details ((here))

January has gotten off to a slow plodding start for me this year, and really that's quite alright. This is our third week of back-to-school routine and I've been trying to ease myself gently back into the swing of things. My laptop broke just before Christmas, not in any dramatic way (I didn't lose any files or photos) but the screen simply stopped working. I was so cross and stressed out about it at the time, but looking back on it, I think it all happened for a reason. Not having a functioning laptop forced me to take a bit of a break away from my desk over Christmas which I most definitely needed.  I've got a replacement now which I was lucky to get in the January sales, and I am more than ready to get back to using it.

Spending time in the studio this month has been therapeutic and I've been writing lists and making plans for the year ahead. I am still in big love with my planner (it's from the Swedish company Personal Planner) and I also got me some new coloured pens, oh happy days! They are unbelievably cute little mini things, perfect to tuck in my bag with my planner - find them on Amazon UK.

I'm still working on my Dahlia blankets behind the scenes, slowly at the moment because I'm having some pain in my hands which has forced me to rest way more than I'm used to. I'm beginning to work on the final design for the blanket border - this part of the pattern will be released in the final week which is 21st February. 

For those of you like me who use planners, I wanted to let you know that Dahlia planner stickers are still available from EllieBethDesigns. Remember that Rachel has very kindly set up a permanent discount code for Attic24 readers - you can receive 10% off any EllieBethDesigns order, not just right now but each and every time you need a sticker fix in the future. All you need to do is apply the code ATTIC24LOVE  at the checkout.

A big part of my planning process during these slow days of January has involved looking back over 2019 and taking stock. Last year was not the best for me on a personal level and I have been trying to accept that this is actually OK and not to beat myself up over it. So one of the things I'd really like to focus on as we go forward into a brand new year is to firstly catch up and finish off some projects that slipped through my net in 2019.

The first of these will be my Festive Garland - I've already taken all the photos for the tutorial and am annoyed at myself for not getting this out to you last month. I think these bauble decorations are super sweet and they are fun to make using up scraps left over from other projects - hmmm, maybe a Dahlia-coloured garland would look rather fabulous? Either way, I will be hoping to share this with you very soon.

The other project I want to work on is my Granny Bag - do you remember this from last Spring? I started making these whilst in France last year and would really, really  like to see them come together into a bag shape instead of sitting in an abandoned pile.

Speaking of France, that was one of the other things that was never given it's moment here on my blog in 2019. You might remember that I went away twice last year with Stitchtopia to teach two crochet retreats in France? It was an amazing experience and I loved it, every single last bit of it. I took masses of photos while I was away, but somehow when I got back after the second trip in May I never got around to sharing them. I really regret that to be honest, but on reflection I've been thinking that maybe it's not too late to make amends and that perhaps you would still enjoy hearing all about it? Let me know what you think?

So that's where I'm up to at the moment, slowly emerging into this new year, a brand new decade. I'm hopeful for some renewed energy as the weeks move along as I've been seriously lacking in the energy department for quite some time now. Gently does it though, slow and steady feels like the right kind of pace for January.

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Planner Peace

I first discovered planning in the spring of 2015 when a search for some stickers led me to a whole online community of people who quite honestly seemed to be completely planner crazy. It was like tumbling down the most gloriously colourful, fun-filled rabbit hole you could imagine, with a whole group of new online friends encouraging me to keep on tumbling. I found the enticing world of Erin Condren Life Planners and also the very lovely Rachel who was just starting her own business {EllieBethDesignsUK} designing and making planner stickers. It opened up a fabulous new hobby for me and I've been using Erin Condren Life Planners and EllieBeth stickers ever since. You can read more about the start of my planner journey (here)

As much as I've loved having and using a yearly EC planner, one of the things that didn't work so well for me was it's size. ECLP's are big hefty things, not really portable pop-in-your-bag objects at all. I also found that there wasn't quite enough space each week for me to make notes - I much prefer to make a weekly to-do list rather than a daily one, and there was only a narrow strip outside of the daily columns for me to do this. Combine that with the high cost of an ECLP ($55, plus $20 shipping, plus a rather unpleasantly large customs fee wacked on top) and for the first time in 3 years I didn't rush to order myself one for January 2019. It was odd starting the new year without a planner, and although I had intended to buy myself some sort of a diary I never got round to it and I really did begin to miss it. I've been making lists on scraps of paper, scribbling stuff on the family calendar and feeling rather chaotic without my weekly planning routine. 

In early April I happened to read something about Personal Planner and decided to take another look. I already knew about Personal Planners as I bought one for Little Lady to use in 2016 alongside me and my Life Planner. They are smaller than EC planners in that they are a standard A5 size (well they come in 5 different sizes but the A5 is the classic size). The thing that persuaded me to try it was a brand new choice of layouts which I'll talk more about in a little bit.

Personal Planners are made in Sweden and mine took just over a week from ordering to landing in my hands here in the UK. There is a flat cost of £22.90 for a classic A5 size planner, and this includes FREE worldwide delivery which I think is brilliant.

I was soooooooooooooooo excited to unpack it and see what the cover looked like as I chose the custom option and uploaded one of my favourite hooky photos to create my front cover......... ↑↑↑

I love it so much!!!! 

One of the great things about PP is that you can choose your starting month - they run for 12 months  but you can begin with any month of the year. So mine is running from April 2019 - March 2020 and I'm really happy with that.

The cover of a PP is printed on thick glossy card, with an overlay of slightly opaque plastic to protect it. You can upload your own photo or choose from a range of designs or plain colours. There is an elastic closure to hold it all together and the whole thing feels beautifully neat and compact. I have to say I really like the size of it and already it feels like it'll be a good fit for me on a daily basis.

At the start of each month there is a calendar spread ↑↑ which I find super useful to give an overview of what's going on each month. 

I write in birthdays, appointments, meetings and holidays - anything which has a fixed date. For me, this is a functional, practical calendar and I don't bother to prettify it or worry too much about how it looks. I just get the info in there so that I can see what's going on, and where I'm supposed to be!

Now shall we talk about the all important Page Layout? I think this is the thing which really determines whether a planner will work in the long term and it's a very personal choice. PP now has 8 different layouts to choose from, with three of them being new this year. It was these new layouts which combine a diary on one side with a blank/lined page opposite that really grabbed my attention......

.....see??? This ↑↑ just seemed perfect for me.

I have enough space in the diary side to put in birthdays, meetings, school stuff, appointments etc and the opposite side can then accommodate my rather sprawling weekly to-do lists and notes. You get to choose whether to keep the pages blank, or have lines, squares or dot grid.

Along the bottom, these are called "modules" and PP offers 20 options for these module spaces which include things like to-do lists, menu plan, quotes, notes, colouring, fitness etc. As you can see, I chose the meal planner, the weekly motivational quote and the little colouring option which I absolutely love! 

At the end of each week when I sit down to think about my week ahead (usually Sunday afternoon or evening) I take a little time to indulge in some simple colouring therapy....it's just the nicest thing to do!

Planners are pretty personal things and I don't always feel comfortable about sharing them with anyone. I've bravely put this week up for you ↑↑ although I've blanked out a few names to keep privacy. You can see that I still like to use my stickers but I don't worry too much about the aesthetics of it to be honest. I just need to be able to see what's happening on each day of the week (the left side) and keep a track of what work and errands I need to do each week (the right side).

These pages are unbelievably good at keeping me grounded and helping me to focus on what needs doing. As I work by myself for the most part and my days are pretty fluid, I can so very easily become distracted and get behind with things - although I value the freedom of my days I don't like to feel too out of control or chaotic if I can help it. 

Each Personal Planner comes with a fun sheet of stickers, although having been a planning girl for three years now, I have a fair sized collection of sticky things already. There is a section at the back of the planner ↑↑ which has 20 extra notes pages and you can choose to keep them plain or have them lined, dot grid etc. You can even choose colouring or Sudoku for these back pages if you so wish....it's all good fun!

I've got the same set of pens that I've had for maybe four years now and they are still completely brilliant. I adore them - the colours are gorgeous, they write beautifully and they have a very fine 0.3mm tip which is just perfect for those dinky little colouring in things. Priorities and all that......haha! You can find them on Amazon (here), I can highly recommend them.

Now we can't talk about planners without talking about stickers, the two things go hand in hand in the most beautiful way. I am mainly a functional planner so the stickers I use the most are colourful box type ones. The ones above are quarter boxes and I also like half boxes too which are twice the height so have more writing room. I also use some headers ("To Do" being the most used) and a few little round icons every so often (coffee cups and yarn balls mainly - the stuff that makes up my daily life!).

I confess though, it's blinkin' hard to resist the lure of the decorative stickers, and although I try and sit on my hands when Rachel releases her new collections, it's really difficult to stay away. Want to see my latest splurge????

Take a look at these beauts................

These are from a collection called "The Sea is Calling", aren't they beautiful?

The colours and shell/beach theme match delightfully with my Dune blanket colours, and it won't surprise you to know that Rachel is also a crocheter and we do email back and forth and chat about colours and design ideas etc. It's always a lovely surprise when we find ourselves in creative sync with each other!

Rachel gave me another lovely surprise this week when she told me that she's set up a special discount code especially for Attic24 readers, isn't that great? You can receive 10% off any EllieBethDesigns order, not just right now but each and every time you need a sticker fix in the future. There is no underlying reason for this other than the fact that Rachel is a super lovely person and values her online planner buddies. All you need to do is apply the code ATTIC24LOVE at the checkout, or click on the following rainbow link and the 10% discount will automatically be applied at the checkout for you......

ATTIC24LOVE 10% DISCOUNT

So that's about all my planner and stickerish news wrapped up for now, I hope you've enjoyed peeking into my pages and seeing my efforts at keeping myself together. I always seem to have a lot of balls to juggle and using a planner definitely reduces the stress factor and helps to minimise the daily chaos to a certain extent. I will always be very forgetful and very much on the ditsy side, but I can't change that (and I wouldn't want to) - planning just helps keep me on track in so many little but important ways.

Over the years I've often read the phrase "finding Planner Peace" which refers to the way in which it takes time (often years) to find what works for each individual and what makes planning a personal success. There are dozens of planners out there to choose from, all different shapes, sizes, construction, layouts and functions and one size definitely does not fit all.

I'm so very happy with my Personal Planner - the size and layout, the choice of starting month, the price, the overall great quality and slightly quirky little design options makes it a winner for me. I think I may just have found Planner Peace with this one.

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ps just to reassure you this isn't a sponsored post....I bought my planner and stickers as an ordinary customer and they weren't gifted or sponsored.

pps if you are looking for some online planner buddies, I can really recommend the EllieBethDesigns Facebook group. It's super friendly and welcoming, whether you are already a planner addict or if you are looking for advice on how to get started, it's a lovely place to share and be inspired xx

 

 

 

Time Slowly Flies

It's the last day of February today, and I've been reflecting on this tricky Winter month and thinking about how long it has felt. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I think if I'm honest with myself I find I am enjoying this time of semi-hibernation, relaxing into the long hours spent indoors doing very little. I like to rant a little against February simply because it's not May (!), but really these days have been gentle and kind.

The year is only a little over eight weeks old, isn't that an odd thing to realise? The year is still a baby! So many weeks of possibility stretching ahead, which makes me feel hopeful and optimistic.

I flew up into the clouds last week, quite literally! I often find my mind is in the clouds, but to actually physically be up there was staggeringly brilliant. I absolutely love love love flying. I was persuaded to take the plane instead of the train as a) it was a lot cheaper (I know!!) and b) it is very much quicker and c) because I could. I flew from Yorkshire to London where I was scooped up by my younger brother and whizzed along the miles to Dorset in his snazzy little Mini Cooper Sport. Oh, that car - cripes - the Extreme GoKart Mode made my stomach melt down into my socks and my heart fly up into the top of my head.

 

Dorset was..............interesting. Not quite what I had hoped for on the relaxation front as we had some unexpected family drama to deal with whilst we were there. My family background is complex and baffling, an emotional roller coaster for the most part. It was draining to be honest. But....I was glad to be there, to add some emotional support where it was needed. 

But on my last morning, I said to my brother that I would refuse to get into his Mini Cooper Sport unless he agreed to take me to see the sea. I marshalled everyone together and treated them to a late breakfast, coastal stylie.

Oh yeah............now that was a seriously good decision, sitting in the warmth of my favourite cafe on the beach, inhaling a mug of mighty fine cappuccino whilst filling my tum with the above plateful. Eating breakfast out is a wonderful holiday treat and very much appreciated I can tell you.

The few days I was in Dorset saw Storm Doris pass through, gosh it was windy and wet and downright depressing at times. I hunkered down in my Mum's old cottage and felt the damp chill right through to my bones. But on Friday morning the storm had cleared and the day was utterly delightful, the best kind of Winter weather. West Bay was at it's finest - quiet, fresh and unspoilt. I love being at the coast in wintertime, there is such peace and tranquillity to be found.

I was happy to travel north again though, landing back on Yorkshire soil and having the pleasure of J and the Little People throwing themselves at me as I stepped out of the airport. They missed me, and I was glad to be home again.

Today I was back in my studio, and it felt wonderful. I started the day with coffee and a warm croissant, a little welcome-back indulgence.

I spent the morning pottering about, reconnecting with my creative space. I stuck some pretty stickers into my planner and made some plans with coloured pens. A short to-do list for the week, a longer to-do list for the month of March which begins tomorrow. I love the feeling that my planner gives me - it allows me to think my thoughts out onto paper, to empty some of what's jiggin' about in my mind, to give myself prompts and reminders for the many, many things that make up my days and need my attention. It's about remembering not to forget, whilst appreciating the complete delight of stickers and coloured pens. 

Today was a day of sunshine and showers, both in the extreme. The sun shone so brightly in through my window for a short while, closely followed by a dark grey noisy, torrential downpour. I planned and pottered, arranged some fresh daffodils in the jug on my table and tidied my yarn shelves. 

I thought about my work load for the month of March - a blanket to complete, along with it's printed pattern and full tutorial, a design commission for a magazine, a tutorial to make for some "Baby Bunting", two interviews to write, some promised social media and blog work to complete. 

I feel just the right kind of busy.

Just.

I think that March will feel very much faster than February.

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Save

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}

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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.

 

Loving the Sticky Things

Question of the Day >> What is it about sticking things that makes it so enjoyable????? Anyone????? Is it the nostalgic link to childhood activity do you think?? Or is it the simple pleasure of indulging in a speedy spot of creativity?? I just love to stick things, like reeeeeeally love it. So satisfying, so absorbing, it makes me so happy! Remember my Decopatch craze? I sincerely hope you are reading this and nodding with recognition, please tell me you get the sticky thing?!

I bloomin' love stickers, I've had a love affair with them since being a child. Having my own brood has allowed me to indulge in this pleasure by actively encouraging my offspring to engage in all manner of stickerating activity over the years. We have a mahoosive tin of stickers as well as a large pile of sticker books here in the Attic. Oh, and then I discovered washi tape.......lordy, that was a momentous day indeed. For those who don't know what washi tape is, it's a thin, decorative paper tape (a bit like a thin masking tape) from Japan. It comes in a variety of widths from super skinny 4mm to super wide 30mm, and the variety of colours and patterns would stretch to the moon and back probably. I've never really known what exactly to do with it, although there is a tonne of washi inspiration in Pinterest if you want to hurl yourself down that particular rabbit hole. I just like to have it to hand, you know, in case I need a quick sticky fix.

My washi stash (above) is modest, in that it sits happily in a small plastic tub and doesn't require multiple drawers or complex shelving to contain it. But oh, I do love it so. I bought some very pretty rolls a while ago from Kate at The Homemakery, she has a rather drool-worthy section full of sticky things on her gorgeous website.

More recently, I've discovered that washi tape goes hand in hand with using a Life Planner, and no respectable Planner Girl is without a stash of this pretty sticky stuff. It's an easy way to add a band of pretty colour and pattern to planner pages, and has added a lot of stickerating pleasure to my Sunday evening planning sessions.

There are a tonne of Etsy sellers who peddle washi tape and stickers, there are oodles of them all over the world. If you go to Etsy and search for 'washi tape', you get 56,076 results. Seriously. I love to support small businesses and although Etsy is a global market place, I do especially like to buy from UK sellers if I can. Today I want to share a good'n' with you, a lovely lady called Dominika who is based near me in Yorkshire. Her shop CwlCrafts boasts an amazing array of stickers and tapes.....oh it is rather heavenly to stroll through those virtual shelves of sticky products!  I came across Cwlcrafts by pure chance and was so delighted by the designs which appealed to my colour-loving soul. I went for a standard 15mm width (Domnika currently has 170 designs in this width, haha, I know!!) After a delicious amount of browsing, I chose the six tapes shown above. Aren't they just a bit lovely?!  If washi tape and cute stickers are your thing, I can highly recommend this shop - it's worth keep an eye on her Instagram too {@cwlcrafts} for discount codes and news of new products.

Since I started using my Erin Condren Life Planner almost a year ago now, my passion for stickers has definitely moved up a notch. I try hard not to go completely bananas with it (not easy) but every so often I do allow myself a weeny splurge. I get all my functional planner stickers from EllieBethDesigns (a lovely UK seller and my Planner Guru) as I LOVE the colours that Rachel uses and she has everything I need to keep my week on track. But my creative heart does love a bit of pretty-pretty and I can't resist adding colour and pattern to my planner pages.

I fell in love with these floral banners from CartaPrintea (I'm having a major crush on all things folk-floral at the moment), and it tickles me that they come all the way from Poland! How cool that we have such a magnificent global market place to shop in, Etsy really is amazing. 

These ones are a bit closer to home, from UK Etsy seller Dream Big and Plan. More flowers and bunting to decorate my pages, I am very predictable I know.

Rachel at EllieBethDesigns is still my favourite sticker-provider though, she does seem to have a knack of reading my mind and designing stickers that tap into my Personal Sticker Wanties. The above stickers were part of her new Summer collection released earlier this month, and made me ooooooohhhhhh with pleasure when I first saw them. They are perfect for celebrating my forthcoming holiday jaunts (nothing exotic, the usual UK seaside stuff for us again this year).

My Life Planner delivers me a huge amount of pleasure these days, it's become a wonderful hobby (yay for sticking hobbies!!) as well as giving me a super friendly online community to be a part of. But aside from the love of sticking stuff and creating pretty pages, I'm finding the habit of planning my days is becoming a very useful thing indeed. My health continues to be a bit up and down (still got some brain fog going on, and shocking lack of memory), so aside from enjoying my planner, I actually really need it.

I know from reading your comments and messages on social media that a good many of you have been inspired by my planning story and have taken the leap to find your own planner heaven - I'm so happy for you all!! The brand new Erin Condren Life Planners launch next week, on Wednesday 1st June, which is an exciting day for planner addicts all over the world. The 18 month planners will run from July 2016 to December 2017, if you are thinking of going for it.

Also on 1st June, EllieBethDesigns will be holding a big one day sale to celebrate Erin Condren Launch Day, I've marked it in my planner already of course. 

Right my lovelies - I'm stepping away from my computer now and picking up the hook for a bit - I've started a new blanket and am completely in love already. More of that soon. Please do pop back tomorrow though, I'm going to show you more of the teeny mice and their flowery bower - squeeeeeeek!!!!

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ps, just in case there is any doubt, this is not a sponsored post.

 

 

 

 

Life Planning

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will probably have gathered that I have a dreadful memory, and that I am also quite chaotic in the general way I go about things. If you were being kind, you might call me a Free Spirit, but really I am a prize procrastinator, I leave everything till the last minute, I constantly forget things, I am scatterbrained, disorganised, forgetful.  I go through periods where I try really hard to change my bad habits, try to pull myself together, organise myself, write lists, make plans, but I have never really found anything that worked for me long term.

Do you remember last Spring, I shared with you my 'Book of Days'? I managed to use this book successfully for about 5 months at the start of last year, and it really did help me to feel more organised. I used it as a diary/notebook hybrid, making notes and to-do-lists with daily, weekly and monthly reminders. It was very homespun - I made my own calendars and glued them in, stuck in post-it notes and scribbled my way through the pages with coloured pens. I found I really enjoyed doing it though, I used to look forward to sitting down at the start of each week and making little colourful lists to keep myself on track. I discovered the satisfaction of ticking things off a list too - oh yeah, feels good! I am in control, I can be organised, I can get things done!!

Sometime last Spring when I was in full organisational swing, I found myself searching online for stickers - I decided I'd like some colourful stickers to help me organise my lined notebook pages. I tried Amazon first but couldn't find anything other than coloured dots, so I hopped along to have a look on Etsy and suddenly a whole new and brightly coloured world opened up to me. Oh the stickers, pretty, beautiful, colourful stickers!!! But not only that, these stickers I found were functional too, designed for some such thing called a Life Planner. Intrigued, I went in search of more information and discovered that a Life Planner is a cross between a diary and a journal, something that can be functional but also an inspirational and creative way to record and remember pretty much anything and everything on a daily basis. There are many different types of planners made by different stationery companies, and many, many thousands of devoted Planner Addicts all over the world who use them and love them to distraction. There was one particular planner which kept cropping up and seemed to have a very large number of world wide fans, and that was the Erin Condren Life Planner.

Erin Condren is an American business specialising in personalised stationery products, although they are probably best know for their Life Planners.  The planners are fun and quirky with bright colours and an almost irresistible charm - there is something about them which makes you feel like your life is incomplete without one. If you've got three and a half minutes to spare and you've not ever heard of this product, here is a cute video which will give you a good idea of what it's all about {Erin Condren 2015/16 LifePlanner}.

Now the first thing to point out is that these planners are not cheap, in fact when you first clock the $50 price tag it's more than a little bit alarming. Then when you add on some hefty shipping costs (Erin Condren manufactures all planners in the USA), this becomes an expensive investment for us British peeps. I spent over two months deliberating my purchase, and during those two months I ummed and ahhed, watched an awful lot of YouTube videos (the Erin Condren Planning community is HUGE on YouTube), chatted to other UK planner girls online and tried to decide whether to commit my British Pounds. In the end, I did the maths....an eighteen month planner costs roughly $75 if you include shipping, which is approximately £53. Divide this by 18 months = less than £3 a month. Am I worth £3 a month? Well obviously, I really do believe I am!!

It takes about two weeks for planners to be printed, shipped and delivered to the UK.

It's a little bit painful doing the waiting.

But eventually you get a fella from FedEx rock up at the front door, presenting you with a pretty box.......

....and oh the excitement as you open that blue tissue paper is rather hard to describe - it really is exciting you know!

As you can see from the above picture, when I ordered my Erin Condren Life Planner I chose the 'create your own design' option which allows you to upload your own photos for the covers. I bloomin LOVE that you can do this, it was a huge thrill to see my cover for the first time and feel overwhelmingly smitten with it.

I chose my colourblock cushion for the front cover....

....and my Granny Stripe blanket for the back cover.

I've put both these photos onto Flickr, so please feel free to download the high-res images if you wish to use them for yourself.

I was surprised how big (and heavy) my Life Planner was when it arrived - it somehow seemed more substantial in real life than it looked on my computer screen.

And because I chose the 18 month option (much better value for money, being only $5 more than the 12 month version), you can see it's quite a chunky number, probably about an inch thick I'd say.

I'm not going to bore you by showing you the entire planner from front to back  - there is a tonne of this on YouTube if you want to go and search it out and see what exactly is inside one of these things.  The above spread shows the page layout that appears at the beginning of each month.....

....and this is what a week looks like with the vertical layout.

As you can see, over the past year I've built up my own little collection of planner stickers, oh my word, these things are sooooo addictive. You have been warned, my friends. If you are used to shopping on Etsy, you will know that it's a truly global marketplace - you can order stickers from the other side of the world and as if by magic they will arrive on your doormat in about a weeks time.

However, my very best discovery last year was a wonderfully talented UK Etsy seller who had recently started up her own small business designing and selling planner stickers on Etsy. When I first found EllieBethDesigns in March last year, Rachel's business was only one month old. I immediately realised I had found a fellow colour-lover, and her designs really appealed to me. But more importantly than the array of rainbow colours, I found that her stickers are useful and I had high hopes that they would help me in my quest to be more organised.

The stickers that Rachel designs for EllieBethDesigns fall into two categories - there are functional stickers and decorative stickers. I love the functional ones and use them a lot in my weekly planning - the check lists and little boxes get the most use, with weekend banners, menu-planning and laundry reminders also used every week.

The decorative stickers are hard to resist mind you - Rachel designs new sheets every month, some of which co-ordinate with the monthly colours in the Erin Condren Planner, and some which are seasonal. There is something so nostalgic and pleasing about sticking stickers into a book, it transports you back to childhood days whilst being a perfectly acceptable hobby for a forty-something busy Mum. It's a huge amount of fun, this planning lark. You get to stick stickers and use coloured pens, what's not to love?!

These are the other stickers I use regularly in my planner - which makes me laugh actually 'cos you can clearly see what my days are made of - yarn, coffee, shopping and home, oh I know how to live! Rachel made the yarn stickers especially for me back last year when her business was still growing and she had time to work on custom orders. These days, EllieBethDesigns is a thriving business with one very busy Mum-of-two at the helm, and custom orders are a thing of the past. However - one of the things that I most love about Rachel is her true passion for using planners, and the time she has for the planning community in general. Last year she established a Facebook group which has become a lovely community of like-minded ladies who really enjoy sharing their planners. And I think that's one of the great things about owning and using an Erin Condren Life Planner - you get a creative hobby to indulge in, but you also become part of a worldwide club which feels rather nice to be a part of.

Oooooooooo what do we have here, are these more yarn stickers???

Yes, they are indeed (and I love love love them) - these crochet stickers are brand new and I couldn't be more delighted. I promise you I didn't beg for these really I didn't. Rachel is building up a small collection of hobby stickers (some super-cute Gardening ones have just been released this week), and I know these are going to get a lot of use in my planner.

I can't really show you too much of my planner pages cos there is a fair bit of personal stuff that I jot down, and these things I prefer to keep private. But you can see the above pages are set up ready for next week when the Little People go back to school and I go back properly to work in my studio. I usually make a general weekly to-do list in the side bar, then each day will have it's reminders, appointments and to-do's added in. I menu-plan at the start of the week and write those in for each day (this is soooo useful) and optimistically jot down some vague housework tasks in the hope I might feel inspired to actually do them. 

I am what is known as a "functional planner" and usually end up with quite a bit of white space on my pages. I really need my planner to work for me, to help me remember things and organise my days, and on the whole it does a pretty good job. Others plan in a much more decorative way (with loads and loads and loads of stickers) and their planners become inspirational journals - there is a whole creative journalling community out there to tap into if that might be your thing.

The above planner belongs to my Little Lady, I asked her if I could show you and she said she didn't mind at all. I bought her this Personal Planner for Christmas after many months of her begging me, and in January she joined me as a little trainee Plannerette. She adores stationery, pens and stickers as much as I do (actually, I think she possibly loves them more)  and it's become a precious shared hobby. Sunday 6pm is officially our planner-time, I even let her share my stickers, I know, I am so kind. We both really look forward to it, and I know that she uses her planner most days to help her keep a track of her homework and school assessments, proudly ticking things off as she completes them. It's a good habit, and I hope truly that she will adpot it for life and not end up a scatty airhead like her mother.

I have a serious crush on these pens you know, I've been using them constantly for over a year now and they are brilliant for using in my planner. The box that they come in has a bit that folds back so that you can make it stand up on the desk - I love little things like that, don't you?

You can find these pens - Staedtler Triplus Fineliners online {Amazon UK : Amazon US}, I can highly recommend them.

I wonder how many of you use a Life Planner? I don't know anyone else in real life who does, which makes my online planner friends even more special cos they totally get the thrill of stickers and coloured pens. I am really, really enjoying the fun of weekly 'stickerating' but more importantly, using this planner is really helping me to feel less disorganised and a tad more on top of things.

Here are some links which might help/enable if you have an interest in planner and sticker type things :

EllieBethDesignsUK - hundreds of decorative and functional stickers. On the first Wednesday of every month (known as #WhatsNewWednesday), Rachel releases a whole heap of new designs. You can also find lots of her planner videos on YouTube.

EllieBethDesigns : Facebook group - this is a closed group so you will need to become a member. Here you will get news and previews of new releases, plus the opportunity to give feedback/suggestions to Rachel (she is soo good at listening to her customers), as well as lots of lovely general planner chatter from a super friendly group of ladies.

Erin Condren.com : if you are considering investing in a Life Planner, there is one release date a year which is always in June. You can choose an 18 month 2016/2017 planner which will start in July 2016, or you can go for a 12 month planner which won't actually start until January 2017. After the launch in June, planners can be ordered throughout the year.

Erin Condren : Facebook - news, blog updates, motivational quotes and creative ideas.

HAPPY LIFE PLANNING!!

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ps this is not a sponsored post, just me sharing my new hobby and my attempts to be more organised. Ever hopeful on the latter.  x