Carpe Diem Planner Set up | June 2016

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY POST

Hi Crafters!

I have been obsessed with my planner lately simply because not only does it help me stay organised and keep track of things that I need to get done, it also allows me to be crafty without actually having to create something new.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been using Simple Stories' Carpe Diem Planner in Robin's Egg Blue and even though I have been too lazy to document it, I have this month's pages all ready to show you. :)

If you don't know what the planners look like when they're new, you can watch this video.

You'll see that these planners aren't dated. The monthly spreads have the name of the month and the days of the week printed on them, but the dates are blank. Similarly, the weekly pages have days of the week printed, but the dates aren't. This allows you to start using the planner any time of the year, any year. This also gives you the flexibility to add the dates (or not) any way you want.

Picking the colours

Whenever I start decorating my planner pages, I first pick the colours. Up until May, I picked the colours from the pattern on the monthly tab. But for June, the black and white stripes didn't do much for me. So I created my own colour scheme.

I am annoyed with summer (that seems to not want to end) and I really want it to rain soon. So I picked blues (for the rain), greys (for the dark sky), browns (for the mud puddles), greens (for the greenery that will be the result of the rain) and yellows (because everyone needs the occasional sunshine :D)

Here are the exact colours you can see in the image below:

BLUES
Distress Inks | Tumbled Glass & Broken China

BROWNS
Distress Inks | Tea Dye (though I ended up not using it) & Pumice Stone
Memento Ink | Rich Cocoa & Desert Sand

GREENS
Memento Ink | Bamboo Leaves & Pear Tart

GREYS
Memento Ink | London Fog

YELLOWS
Distress Inks | Fossilized Amber
Memento Ink | Cantaloupe (not in the picture)

Decorating the Monthly Spread

I used the solid square stamp from Calendar2Build Stamp Set by the Stamps of Life as boxes for the dates. I used Broken China for all weekdays and Fossilized Amber for the weekend.

Then, I wrote the dates by hand using a fine-tip gel pen. I also added some Carpe Diem stickers and washi tape.

I have marked dates to show when Blog Posts, Appointments, and Payments are due using Waffle Flower's Stay Focused Stamp Set.

Here's how the entire monthly spread looks.

Decorating Weekly Pages

Even though I have Planner Stamps that allow me to stamp check boxes, I like to juice it up a little bit. I try and use little stamps from regular stamp sets (that usually go unnoticed) and make my check boxes a little fancy. This month my colours and icons are all related to the rains I've been eagerly waiting for :)

What I do every week is:

a. Stamp the date using the Roller Stamp that came with a Smash book I purchased. I've stamped the dates in Pumice Stone Distress ink for the whole month of June.

b. Use a cute little shape as a check box for my to-do list. The shape keeps changing, so do the colours. I do three different colours every week.

c. Add 8 blue dots (solid circle stamp from the Calendar2Build Set) in Tumbled Glass to track my water intake.

d. Add another cute shape (usually a star) for the #FMSPhotoaDay Prompt. The star is a shape from Lawn Fawn's Plus One Stamp Set. Again, a different colour every week.

e. A straight line to separate my to-dos from my deadlines. This is also a stamp from the Calendar2Build Set.

f. Stamp 'Due Today' from the Waffle Flower Stay Focused stamp set, in a different colour each week, under which I note down stuff that is due on that day, like a post, or a phone call, etc.

Earlier, I used to decorate one week at a time, but I soon realised how tedious it was to get all the supplies out every week. So now I do the whole month at once.

Week 1 of June

For my checklist, I've used a Cloud Stamp from this Hero Arts Stamp Set.

The colours used to stamp this are:

1. Pumice Stone Distress Ink

2. London Fog Memento Ink

3. Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

The star is stamped in Fossilized Amber,

the separator line in Broken China, and 

the 'Due Today' in Memento's Rich Cocoa.

Week 2 of June

For my checklist, I've used an Umbrella Stamp from this Hero Arts Stamp Set.

For this week, I have used the following Memento Inks:

Desert Sand, Cantaloupe and Pear Tart.

The star is stamped in Rich Cocoa

the separator line in London Fog, and 

the 'Due Today' in  Bamboo Leaves (all Memento inks).

Week 3 of June

For my checklist, I've used a droplet from Lawn Fawn's Plus One Stamp Set.

I first stamped the drops straight, but then realised that they overlapped one another.

So Tuesday onwards, I stamped the drops a little diagonally.

For this week, I have used the following inks:

Distress Inks | Broken China

(for Monday & Tuesday, then realised it was too dark and switched to Tumbled Glass)

Memento Inks | Cantaloupe and Desert Sand.

The star is stamped in Pumice Stone Distress Ink,

the separator line in Rich Cocoa Memento ink, and 

the 'Due Today' in London Fog Memento ink.

Week 4 of June

For my checklist, I've used a heart stamp, also from Lawn Fawn's Plus One Stamp Set.

For this week, I have used the following Memento inks:

Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves & Desert Sand.

The star is stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink,

the separator line in Broken China Distress Ink, and 

the 'Due Today' in Cantaloupe Memento ink.

Last few days of June

Like the previous week, this week too, for my checklist, I've used a heart from Lawn Fawn's Plus One Stamp Set, just in different colours.

For this week's checklist, I have used the following Memento inks:

Cantaloupe, Desert Sand & Pear Tart.

The star is stamped in Bamboo Leaves,

the separator line in London Fog, and 

the 'Due Today' in Rich Cocoa, all Memento inks.

That's all I have for today! I don't add any more embellishments later, maybe a sticker or two. So once used, the pages won't look very different from what you saw of Week 1. Even then, I'll share pictures of finished pages every Monday for #TheWeekThatWas on Facebook & Instagram. If you're interested, you may check it out there. :)

I'll be back on Sunday, with a brand new project. Actually, it's an old project that has never seen the light of social media. So keep an eye out for that. :)

See you all soon!

Love,

Nikita. :)