The Art of Creative Planning
04 MayWe are now in the technology era. In this age, as we may all notice, a
lot of things can be squeezed into your mobile phones or tablets.
Calendars, tasks, memos and reminders apps are very much useful as it
can all be opened and synced on these smaller devices. But in this
digital world, there still has been a blossoming community of people who
have found love again on using the “old school” planners and journals.
And this is not just the simple use of it. Owners are incorporating it
with art as what we call it today as creative planning.
The Art of Creative Planning
To start with, planners and journals are
commonly being used to organize and keep track on plans. What not’s, to
finish, to blog, to read and other to do’s are things planner owners
would usually put on it. With arts and crafts tools come creative
planning. Creative Planning is decorating planners while not losing its
functionality.
On Instagram, you would usually see
wildly used hashtags like #PlannerCommunity, #PlannerEnthusiast
#PlannerGirl, #PlannerJunkie and more. These Instagram users are those
who are in to this bandwagon. I have lived to think that the
“bandwagon” word connotes negativity. It’s like you just want to jump in
because it’s cool. Well, the planner bandwagon isn’t. It’s positive. It is worth a hobby to jump in.
The start…
I started doing this early last year. I am a scrapbooker. One time, I am filling my Belle De Jour Power Planner
with magazine cut outs and stickers when I decided why not I do that
for the rest of the planner’s pages. I looked for inspirations and to my
surprised; this hobby has been going for quite a while already.
How do you do it?
Maybe you are asking what are the
supplies planner junkies use to decorate their planners. How can someone
call it creative planning? To start off, what are the [brand] planners
that we have.? In my case, I have a BDJ Planner which I have been buying
annually for 3 years already; I also have a Kikki.K Medium Cute Planner
which I won from Pretty Planners Birthday Giveaway
and a red generic journal I personally bought for 200 bucks at a local
bookstore. I know for a reader who is not into this hobby would somehow
raise their eyebrows and ask, “what’s the need to have more than 1
planner?” Let’s just look on my case. As a blogger, a specialist and a
part time businesswoman, I need more than 1 planner to be sure
everything gets done. Here’s how I use them. (NOTE: I am not suggesting
to get more than 1 planner and journal. This is just how I want to be
organized.)
- BDJ Planner – tracking orders on my retail business, work related stuff, bills and expenses
- Kikki.K – blog events to attend, birthdays (using the birthday inserts), lists of restaurants to visit (using Kikki.k’s Shops and Restaurants inserts), to blog, to do’s.
- Generic Journal – as this is a journal, this is where I write my article/blog drafts.
There’s also a lot more brands of
planners and journals in the market. Among the common planners my fellow
planner enthusiasts use are Titta Witty Planner, Filofox
FauxDori/Midori Travelers Notebook, Webster Pages, Happy Planner, Erin
Condren, Hobonichi and Love Doki.
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| dashboard/dividers made by @crafty.cathy’s | DIY planner dashboard for her Kikki.K Mint Planner. |
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| Traveler’s Notebook/Journal Kath (@Kikaykraftrina) bought from @notedjournalph |
My usual supplies are washi/paper tapes, stickers, adhesive notes,
colored pens and calligraphy pens. To date, I am recently getting
addicted to stamps and planner clips.
I have recently asked my fellow planner enthusiasts what supply they usually use and here’s what I got.
- Washi Tapes
- Stickers
- Stamps
- Deco Paper
- Doodle drawings
- Printable Designs from Pinterest
- Adhesive Notes
- Cut outs
- Colored Pens/Calligraphy Pens
- Doilies
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| Planner Supplies of momi thinz | Instagram: momithinz0131 |
Jennie Li (spic3_soda) obvious love for clear stamps.
Inspiration
I asked my fellow planner girls on how
they got inspired to be engaged to the hobby of decorating planners and
the common reason is the love for cute stuff, scrap books and
stationery. Some got inspired too when they saw their friends and
relatives happily doing this hobby. Others started doing it when they
saw random videos on YouTube and, simply because they just love writing,
scribbling and crafting.
Ever since I was in high school, I’ve been always a collector of journals and stationery… I’ve seen a lot of ladies posting a picture of their planner layouts, I found it very.. Umm.. I can’t explain. Then I decided to buy a planner from Typo, and [eventually] created an IG account dedicated only to this hobby.
-Zuellen | @plannerxnerd
Why design?
For me, I design my planner because it
makes everything personalized. I love looking at it especially that I
know I did it by myself. Colors make my day lively. Especially bright
colors. When you look at my planner, it will suggest to you a specific
theme.
planner friends’ reason(s)
It helps me squeeze my creative juices on designing.
– Anne
Because I love being functional and creative at the same time.
– Zuellene
Nakakarelax nakakatuwa masaya tingnan.
– Kath
It is more motivating to use when it is aesthetically beautiful.
– Erris
And how do these planners look like after designing? Here are some of it.
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| And then, there’s @acrodil’s beautiful floral week spread. |
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| How neat and lovely staring at craftingmeow’s planner week spread. |
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| my layout for this week. focused on orange and light shades. ♥ |
Being organized and creative combined
Creative Planning is a good way to show
creativity. You get to enjoy scheduling your tasks ahead because you
also enjoy designing and decorating. When people see my planner, I would
usually hear comments like – “I used to do scrapbooking/designing before when I was young” or “I was too busy I don’t have time. ” We must admit that career women/men [of course! Creative planning is not just for girls] and parents are
busy people. I am too. But that’s why a planner is needed. It will keep
you on track so you will know which task(s) should be prioritized or
not. I like scrapbooking/designing too when I was young. The time I
missed doing scrapbooking a lot is the time I decided – why not
incorporate it while planning? That way, I was able to rekindle my love
for crafts.
Take a look too at this hobby and find
the additional joy planner enthusiasts feel. Be organized and creative
at the same time. ♥
Happy Planning!
Thank you so much to my planner sissies who helped me out gathering facts and info for this blog post.
Jam Aledo, Karen, momi thinz, Haniel, Anne, Joy Roldan, Zuellene, Kathm Erin, Catherine, Aya, Jelly, Janica, Jennie and Erris
Hello, planner girls! Get 20% discount anytime, any day for your purchase on Papermela. Use my code AIKA20 to get instant 20% discount. *minimum 500 total purchase*
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| Visit @papermela etsy shop now |
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2 comments
I really love the patience and creativity that comes along with creative planning. I would love to try this one day too. I'll back read your posts and see if I should jump into this trend. Do you allow "observers" on your planner meet-ups? I'd love to be one if you do. :-) Thank you for sharing this post.
ReplyDeleteHi, KT. Yes you can observe. I remember a mommy who brought her kids with her. They observed and immediately got into the hobby. ☺
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