DIY Planners

I love planners.

Ever since I got my first planner in grade 3, I have used one every year. Now that I am out in the workforce though, planners are no longer provided. Sadly, the fancy ones that I am most attracted to are all so pricey (Yep, day-timer and Franklin planners, I'm looking at you).  For the past 6 years, I have been making my own and have been experimenting with many different layouts. As my life changes, so do my planning needs. I tried using just my ipad for keeping track of my schedule for about a year but something always felt a little off. I guess I really am a paper-person.

For this coming year (my work term extends from July of one year to June of the next), I decided to go back to making my own agenda. I focused a lot on the planner layout in previous years (to do lists vs. schedule, one day per page vs. two days vs. one week) but this year, I decided to keep things simple.

The basic skeleton of my planner on my work table.

I printed out full page calendars on ordinary printer paper and then I glued the pages back to back. Making a paper planner, was an impulse I got on call one night so obviously, things had to be basic. I did everything in Microsoft Word.

I carried around the stack of glued paper for about a week while trying to decide how I wanted to design the rest of it. Should I make a fancy folio with pockets and slots? Should I try to make it refillable? In the end, I decided that I should stick to my original plan of keeping things simple and so I glued two pieces of cardboard to the front and back and gave my stack a cover.

It took two weeks to overcome my innate laziness and finally make the whole thing pretty. As I have mentioned several times before, I have amassed a very healthy collection of scrapbooking paper. My problem is, I always feel like saving my favorite craft supplies for some mythical penultimate project which never actually materializes. It took some self-debating but I finally convinced my inner hoarder that beautiful things are useless unless they are used and so I picked some really fun designs.

I struggled, at first, with the sizing of my covers because I did not have any sheets large enough to wrap around both the front and the back. My sister then suggested that I just use two different designs for the front and back and then cover the spine with patterned craft tape. Spicing things up with a little variety! :)

While rummaging through my scrapbooking kits, I came across this "Inspire Me" chipboard and because it was so uplifting, I made sure that one of the papers I chose would work with it.

I made my corners as neat as I could.

Some were a bit more successful than others :P

My inspirational front cover...

...and charming back cover!

Holding the finished project in my hand is so satisfying. I just might go back to making this a yearly thing.