Week eight in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

I love how this week turned out! I got to use lots of fun things, including my new Autumn bunting washi tape (From Cloudy Cow). I achieved a lot, and was just really happy with how the week went.

It's funny because when I start the week, I tend to have an idea of a colour scheme I might want to go with etc. But It always turns out completely different and sometimes even better than I first thought! 

So Monday, I had a very enjoyable shopping trip. The Sunday before I was extremely anxious, I planned to go to Brighton, and to get there I had to get the bus and a train. I'd originally worked out that I could get the bus in from my house, and my dad could pick me up at some point after he'd finished work. It ended up that he popped me into town, as the weather had turned so he couldn't do what he wanted to on the farm.

I got to Brighton, spent money on stationery. Ran out of money and so decided to come home early.

I did set myself a budget and I stuck pretty close to it! Once I'd got the train back from Brighton to my local town, I had ages to kill before my dad was picking me up again. 

So I decided I felt comfortable enough to try and get the bus home. This is the bus I've not been on for over a year (there's two buses, one stops right outside my house. The other stops at the end of my lane, this is the one that I've been irrationally terrified of for over a year), I took it in steps so I went and waited at the bus stop, if I felt okay then I'd stick around and see how I felt when it pulled up. It pulled up and I was still okay, so I got on. I did it. I got on the bus, I was slightly flustered, but it's okay because I'm on. Now all I have to do it sit and let it take me home!

It may sound silly, but it's a big achievement in my head. Monday was definitely a Daisy 1 - Anxiety 0, kinda day!

Considering Monday went so well, Tuesday I felt really positive and just ready to rock on with work!

I did wake up with my whole body aching because of how many heavy bags I was carrying all day yesterday. It really showed me that I should probably get out an exercise more, because my body was just not ready for that sort of crazy shopping trip haha. I took the day at a pace though, got things done and made sure to chill.

Wednesday I spent the whole day filming videos! I got a lot done and it felt good to have videos stacking up. Sometimes I can just film a load and words seem to flow out of my mouth easily, other times I struggle to get words out. I either stumble or I just cannot think of what I want to say.

Thursday was frustrating, we had a guy coming over from openreach to test our phone line and internet connection. Unfortunately there wasn't anything he could do right then. But he said they will have to get the councils permission to replace cables or something, and there was something about getting a dig team in.. so yeh.. whatever that means. I think we are definitely past the trouble shooting advice of "Madam, try turning it off and on again".
I'm grateful for having an internet connection at least, but it's so so slow. It's so difficult to get things done at the pace my brain is going, and at the pace I know I would be able to work at! 

Friday I went to town to get the orders posted out! I got to use my brand new backpack that I bought on Monday in Brighton. I've been using a like side/shoulder bag for ages, and I have been wanting to go back to using a backpack for a while. I'm so glad I finally have, I completely forgot how my lighter everything feels when the weight it spaced between two shoulders instead of one!!

The boxes arrived for the Cloudy Cow bundles, so as the internet was being ridiculously laggy, I got them all made up.

I spend most of Saturday moving stuff from my work room, into my bedroom. I've been working more and more in my bedroom as I have my big desk and overall the room is just brighter and nicer to work in. So it made sense to shift things about.

Sunday I setup my planner with an autumnal theme, I've been meaning to do that for a while, but I finally got around to doing it and I love how it turned out (video coming soon!).

I've decided to take a break from sharing these pages on here. The pressure of getting it all photographed, edited and what not by the end of the week is making it less enjoyable for me. I'll be sure to share the odd photo on Instagram though, and I'm sure at some point I'll share the odd weekly blogpost again. But for now I know I want to take a break :)

- Daisy X

Week seven in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

Week seven! I was quite happy with how this week turned out decoration wise. It was a busy busy week, but I did manage to catch up with sooooo many things, which is always a good feeling.

I always find that I'm much more productive when I have a big list of to-do's to tackle!

So Monday, I had to go to town to request a prescription. I had a lot of time to doss in town so I went to Paperchase and then went to chill on a bench to get some planning done. It was a weird day, I didn't feel particularly anxious, but I also didn't fancy being in a highly public place. Like, I chose to walk out of town a bit to sit on a bench rather than sitting on one in town.

I got home and ordered some things from a couple of shops, it's always nice to know there's some happy mail on it's way in the near future!

Tuesday I headed to town to do some jobs. In the morning though I went out to see the cows in the field next to our garden as they were leaning over and chewing on the rope attached to a go kart. So I decided to move the go kart away so they couldn't reach it, this became difficult when one tried to lick my elbow, whilst another managed to lick my forehead. It was slightly unpleasant but most definitely a laughable experience!

Wednesday I decided to test out my new (well, replacement) camera and so I vlogged the day. Like every other day, it didn't go to plan. The internet had been playing about all day, so I ended up going for a walk. I also went Blackberry picking with my brother for the first time this year which was really nice, and I'm so glad I got to do that before I move.

Thursday I pretty much spent most of the day ticking off jobs from my giant to-do list, which included filming and editing a video, and photographing things for my blog. I did get all the orders packed up as usual to send out on Friday. Oh and I had a Kinder Egg which had a minion toy inside haha, so I was pretty chuffed.

Friday again as usual I went to the post office and got all the orders sent out. My brother came to town this time which was a nice change. I received some lovely happy mail from Mary (or @sailormimzy on Instagram!) which was really nice to come home to.

The weekend was similar to the rest of the week, lots of things got ticked off my to-do list, I wrote blogposts, edited videos etc. I got things planned for my trip to Brighton on Monday which I've been fretting about all week. I know I wanted to go, but I also knew it would be a very draining day so I wanted to make sure it was all planned out and would go as smoothly as possible.

- Daisy X

Week six in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

This week was an okay week, there were a couple of bumps along the way. But overall there were some really good days!

I coincidently found a random glittery rainbow die cut on the floor when I was tidying my room, on the same day there was a really impressive double rainbow outside. So I of course had to use it in this weeks decoration! I got to use some of my new washi tape from my shop, which was exciting. It's always fun using a washi you've not yet used, there's new patterns, and colours to work with!

Since I'd finally got all the photos I needed to take, taken of the UK Etsy Sticker shops, I could finally use some of their stickers in my journaling, which was also a perk of this week!

Monday I really tried catching up from the previous week. I wasn't just getting behind on work things, but hobbies and other things I enjoyed too. For example happy mail! I still had pocket letters and happy mail I hadn't quite finished, and I had packages and things sitting on my desk that either I needed to find addresses for, or I'd done the creative part, but not written a letter to go with it etc. So I knew I needed to get on with some of these things, and get them sent so then it's one less thing on my shoulders. 

Tuesday was one of the bumps along the way, I went to town as I usually do. But on the way home there was a guy in town who put me in a very awkward situation, for someone with severe social anxiety I don't deal well in these situations. In the situation itself I'm fine, I might blush and seem a little confused, but I hold it together. It's afterwards that I start to crumble, when I get my brain is telling me 'so many people saw you go red! Wow you really balls that up! You're so embarrassing!' Etc.

Unfortunately the thing I dread the most (awkward conversations) is something that happens all the time, and it's something I'm going to have to go through.

Unlike most people, my brain fixates on these situations and that's where my social anxiety stems from (I try to avoid any social situation where awkward conversations may happen, out of pure fear of going through that horrible negative thought process that I'm unable to control), sounds silly huh? Yep, it is, but it isn't something I have control of yet.

This tumbled my day really, it kind of went downhill from there.

 I'd bought a camera in town and it wasn't working, I wasted my time trying to get it to work, so got even more behind on work. Ultimately it led to a bit of a meltdown, and I had an awful night.

Wednesday I gave myself a chilled day, I carried on with the hobby related jobs I needed to catch up with and I launched the Halloween stock on my shop as planned. But afterwards I didn't do much work. I made some popcorn, watched TV and just let my brain reboot back into the right mindset.

Thursday I still wasn't feeling tip top, I hated not doing any work so I did get on with a few small jobs. I tidied my desk area, and sorted through things. I got all the orders packed up to be shipped out on Friday, which is always a long process and I hate doing it in the cramped corner of my room. But I actually enjoy the packing up process, and can't wait to have my own office so I can spread out a bit and all the stock I have to store can have it's own place!

Friday was much like any other Friday, I went to town to post all the orders and pick up food and such. I did go to sort out my camera and try to get a replacement (Small achievement, considering I dread those sort of situations!), unfortunately they didn't have any in stock, so I had to collect it next week instead.

I finished the week by reaching 9000 subscribers on my YouTube channel! (Thank you SO much!) Because of this I actually started the ball rolling with planning for my 10,000 Subscribers giveaway, which was exciting!

I got a load of videos filmed for next week, and I felt much more on top of things after that. I've always tried to get all the videos for the following week filmed on the weekend before. I feel a lot better when I do this, and it gives me more time during the week to tackle other tasks.

Sunday was pretty generic, I got a video edited for Monday, planned out next week, sorted through my planner etc.

- Daisy X

Week four in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

Week four was filled with ups, downs and all over the place's!

Overall decoration wise I didn't feel like I was on point. Creative journaling is something I don't plan, I just go with the flow. Sometimes things turn out really great, and sometimes things are just okay. Either way, I'm not going to rip it up and start again a) because I can't do that haha, being a sprial bound planner, there's no going back once the pen hits the paper, and b) I honestly like the variety of good weeks and bad weeks. It gives me things to learn from and I can see how my decorating 'skills' have progressed through the months.

As you can see in the above photo, Monday was a 'meh' day haha. I didn't get a whole lot done, I spent a lot of the day catching up on watching YouTube videos, which is always bitter sweet because I love the videos, but time flies by so quickly when you get on a roll with them. I should have probably got more done, but seeing as I don't give myself official 'days off' hardly ever, I need to not let these days get to me.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty exciting days, as far as mine and Jack's future goes!

On Tuesday he had a meeting with the mortgage advisors and got an application sent in. Then the same evening he found out that the application had been accepted!

Then on Wednesday we found out that offer on the house had been accepted! So roll on the paperwork. It's crazy that we had been sitting and waiting for weeks for things to start looking like they will actually be happening, then boom two massive things happen in the same week!

On Wednesday I started vlogging again, I hadn't done this for a long time and I was a little rusty, but I know it's something I wanted to be better at for when we eventually move because I will want to record the process of doing up the house and share it with my family.

The little emoji stickers were the same emoji's that Jack used when he told me about the exciting news. I love how I can document little things like that with these stickers!

Thursday was pretty mundane, it's the day I get all the orders for my two shops packed up, plus any other things that need to be sent out on Friday.

I used the square stickers from my Pipsticks Pro pack to represent the piles of orders I had stacked up by the end of it! (which by the way you can still use my discount code GREEN15 to get 15% off a Pipsticks subscription!). I also got a video edited for Friday, but honestly nothing else really happened haha.

Friday rolled around and suddenly the UK summertime had decided to show its face again?! It was hot, like not just hot, but hot hot. It probably didn't help that in the morning when I woke up, it was all glum and miserable looking outside so I put on grey jeans ... yep... so I was a heat magnet all the time I was in town! I managed to pick up some prizes for my giveaway on YouTube, and also got a ton of other jobs done in town which was really good.
But by the time I got home I was exhausted, I also think I go mild heatstroke which wasn't nice at all. So I ended up just napping and trying not to stress myself out with too much work.

Saturday was a weird one, there was unfortunately the awful news about the crash at Shoreham Air show. It was just horrific what had happened, and I think it got to me more because it was SO local.

 I did dip dye the ends of my hair a kind of plum purple colour, though the box stated it was 'mystic violet', which is a total lie because it was way more of a reddy purple than a bluey purple. But either way, it was nice to have a change up with my hair for once!

I ordered the first fun bits and pieces for the house, which was exciting. Me and Jack are currently living long distance, and have been since May. Shopping for homey things is something we want to do together, so whenever we are apart and want to buy something we have to double check the other person won't be disappointed haha. I can't wait to be able to be back with him so we can start this little adventure together.

Sunday was much like Monday, not much happened I didn't feel all that great, and I knew I had a potentially stressful week ahead of me which I really wasn't looking forward to.

- Daisy X

Week three in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

What a week ... I was ill for the first time in a long time. Having emetophobia, any time I feel slightly ill, it's made worse by panic and anxiety. I wasn't sick (thank god), but I was terrified that I was going to be for a good couple of days. What a great way to start the week ay?!

Having such a draining start to the week, it took me a while to catch up on sleep and I was knackered for most of the rest of the week, hence a lot of 'tired decoration' throughout the week.

Even though I was ill on Monday & Tuesday I stupidly forced myself to get work done (the downfall of being self employed, there isn't anyway to get away from work and wanting to do things!). I was pretty chuffed though, as I managed to catch up with all my accounts and admin work for my shops! As we had been without internet for 8 weeks, this was getting on top of me and stressing me out big time! But I did feel ten times worse in the evenings.

On Wednesday I reaaaaalllly wanted to use something out of my die cut stash, and I ended up having a go at adding a frame in there. I like how it turned out and it was a great way to section up the day a bit!

The highlight of my wednesday was figuring out how to make a really tasty cheese and ham toasty. We had run out of the normal type of cheese I use, so I used something else and it was just heaven in my mouth. I think the fact that I hadn't had an appetite for the past few days, probably made it just that little bit better than it actually was haha.

I do like being able to highlight sections of my day a little differently to usual though, so I'll definitely consider framing things in the future.

After being ill physically at the start of the week, at the end of the week I was mentally ill, my SAD was triggered by the awful dark & glum weather we've been having here in the UK.

This is the first year I'll be going from Summer to Autumn after being diagnosed with it, so I'm still yet to figure out the best way to deal with it (I've got myself a Lumie light, but I need to figure out when is best for me to use it, and get myself some vitamin D supplements).

So the end of the week was a little tricky for me, but I got through it.

It of course included a lot of sleep and trying to distract myself with work and getting jobs done. Usually my boyfriend is around to perk me up and support me through the shoddy days, but we are currently going long distance again, so it was up to me.

Even though it was a pretty un-eventful and stressful week, I still managed to document it. I feel it's important to document not just the awesome times. Sometimes the mundane day to day events are just as interesting to look back on in years to come, as the fun things are!

- Daisy X

Second week in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

 A few eventful things happen this week, which reflect back into the decoration of this weeks pages!
On Monday the DVD's I ordered had arrived, so me and my brother watched one of them. I chose to document this with some cinema themed washi tape and a film strip cell stamp, inside of this stamp I wrote the film we watched, and what I thought of it!

Other than the small break I took to watch the film, I pretty much didn't stop all day. I had lots of stock and other things for work arrive in the post that I needed to sort, and these sort of busy, stressful work related jobs, carried on into Tuesday! Hence the Minion sticker which I like to think of as a 'YEH I KICKED BUTT AND GOT LOADS DONE TODAY!' sticker, and the 'chill pills' sticker was a good reminder for me that I need to take some time to chill at some point.

Wednesday's decoration was a little more fun. It was my dad's birthday, so out came all the fun birthday stickers and bunting! Considering the day in general was pretty similar to the last two, apart from the added Birthday (being a farmer, my dad doesn't have a heck of a lot of time to stop and celebrate, but we did get him some presents), I decided to fill in a chunk of space with decoration so I didn't have to keep repeating myself. 

The rest of the week was more of the same, work, more work, photographing, recording, editing, posting and the odd break for food! Friday we (FINALLY! After 8 weeks & 4 days ...) got our internet sorted. Again the purple Minion really did sum up how I was feeling after so many phone calls, problems and delays! 

I'm still enjoying this sort of journaling immensely and using this planner as a journal was the perfect thing to do for me! I hope you enjoyed seeing my week two decorations! - Daisy X

First week in my Ban.do planner! (Journal)

So this is new, and I like it!! I had an idea of how I wanted to use and this planner as a journal and how I wanted it to be very random and kinda, here there and everywhere. But like most things crafty/creative, it never turns out quite how you imagined. So far I'm very much enjoying this process, and the outcome!

I know I sometimes get behind with daily projects, so to make sure I don't forget what happens in the day, I have some sticky notes where I just bullet point what I get up to, then I pop that in the blank space. Then when I have time during the week I will go and fill those blank days in!

I decorate each day individually, like a separate mini project in itself. I try to fill as much blank space as possible without making it look like it's overcrowded. I 'go with the flow' when decorating, I have my bucket of creative journaling supplies (so basically a bucket full of fun!), and I pick out things that appeal to me that day. Or if there's something that fits well with what I've written about, then I'll use that. For example the day my unicorn planner arrived, I used the 'party' sticker that came with my Ban.do planner, because I think it was most definitely a day to partaayyy.

These are most definitely early days, and I'm sure I will figure out my 'style' and way of doing things. I can see techniques I use in my Smash Book's come into play when I'm using washi tape etc. Oh and layering! I love a bit of layering in a journal.

It's definitely a stay at home journal, I love the space and that's clear with a lot of my journals and planners, but usually that means they aren't 'on the go' sort of journals/planners. But I work with that, I make sure I have smaller ones for traveling about. But my larger journals and planners are most definitely my favourites.

I think this a style of journaling that is very simple to achieve, pretty much washi, stickers and writing! Who doesn't love sticking down stickers, it's definitely a great way to zone down at the end of the day without getting too artsy fartsy (don't get me wrong, I love a bit of artsy fartsy journaling, but sometimes I just want to get everything down on paper and get into bed!).

The spaces that the Ban.do planner provide are the perfect size. I know the weekends may sometimes be too small to document everything that went on in the day, but hey! I'll cross that bridge when it comes!

I've also started to fill in the 'notes' section that is just before the monthly overview and weekly pages. I've changed this from 'notes' to 'good times'. So if there's anything that happens during the month that is particularly exciting or eventful, then I will go into a little more depth about it here.

I think sometimes I don't appreciate the good times enough, and when they are mashed together with the mundane daily things in my journals, I don't ever look back on them.

Having this section before each month gathers everything good into one place, to be read whenever I want!

I will try to share my pages as often as I can, though I can't count on sharing every week.
Let me know if you are using your Ban.do planner (or any other planner) as a journal! I'd love to check out how you guys are using them :)

- Daisy X

Ban.do Journal share - Hello my name is ...

(Before I start, I just wanted mention that I will leave a list of all the supplies I used on this page, at the bottom of the blogpost!)

Since I still have about a month to wait until I can use my Ban.do journal, I decided to go ahead and experiment a little and kinda 'break the ice' with it. 

I feel like it is always difficult to add the first thing into a journal, especially when it's spiral bound, there's no going back if you mess up, so the pressure is on!

At the start of the journal there is a kind of welcome page/personal page? I'm not quite sure what is was meant for, but I just went with it and used it how I thought it was suppose to be used haha.

The only things that were originally on this page were the 'HELLO MY NAME IS' Label, and the little 'ban.do' branding at the bottom of the page. Everything else I added.

I wanted to play about with the new Washi Tape I got, (some of the new stock that will be available on my stationery shop when it's relaunched!) as well as some of the bits and pieces I'd got for my birthday last month. I had a rough idea of what I wanted it to look like, I know I wanted some photos on here and lots of uplifting colours etc.

I raided my die cuts too! I tend to use my Sizzix machine to cut out a load of shapes at once when I've collected a ton of small scraps, instead of cutting them as I need them. Figuring out where to put die cuts can be tricky, but unlike stickers they can be moved around and 'tested' in different places before being stuck down.

The 'Sunshine' die cut was so fragile and difficult to stick down, I was tempted to use a Sunshine sticker there, but using the word 'sunshine' filled the corner a lot better.

Working out how to place the die cuts so the colours mixed nicely was also somewhat tricky. But playing about with colours on a page is something I thoroughly enjoy, and it comes relatively naturally to me.

The photos in the little film strips were probably the part which took the longest to do on this page. 

I started off my stamping out the film strips, and then I cut out the gap in each cell with a craft knife and ruler (I'm always completely terrified of slicing my finger, so I take my time with this).
I found a folder of old Instagram photos (seeing as they were already square, they would be easiest to resize!) on my laptop, and started to create a table in pages. I measured the size of the gaps I'd cut out of the film strips, and made the squares in the table the same size. I then dropped my photos into the table and made sure they fit in there nicely, printed them, cut them out, and stuck them behind the film strips.

Above is how the whole page looks! It's busy, but not too overwhelming (for me at least!). I love how it all turned out, and I love to open my Ban.do journal up to look at it!

Supplies:

ALL Washi tapes - Cloudy Cow

Heart Die - Lawn Fawn
Flower Stickers - June Brimbles Box (from the writing set)
'Sunshine' Die - Hobby Craft
Film strip stamp - Hobby Craft
Banner Die (under my name) - We R Memory Keepers/Scrobby
'Daisy' Alpha Stickers - The Glitter Pot/sn@p studios

Anything not linked, I couldn't find online.

- Daisy X

How I will be using my Ban.do Planner, as a Journal!

Before I saw Anna (MrsBrimbles) post about stocking the Ban.do and Kate Spade planners in her shop, I had never heard or seen of either in this style ever before!
I looked through the photos she shared and fell in love with the large floral Ban.do one! The colours, the style, the quirky things inside. It was like it was just made for me, I had to have it.

Seeing as it was a planner, and I already had a ton of planners, I was reluctant to buy one straight away. Plus I had just paid a ton of work expenses so I couldn't just fling my money about.
It is a beautiful planner and I wasn't sure if it would make sense using it for it's intended purpose (planning). Because my planners are used as tools rather than a main creative outlet, I felt like it would be a waste.

Then I sat and had a think, and figured I could use it as a journal. I wouldn't feel bad about making it pretty, because I would be keeping it forever.
It was definitely big enough to sum up my day, or even to print off a little photo to stick in there. It made a lot of sense, as I had a variety of different journals but I was using them all slightly differently to how I was thinking of using this one.

The monthly pages are the ones I will most likely struggle with using. I was debating whether to get my hands on some of the 'Emoji Stickers' you can find online and using one to sum up each day, or even doing a doodle a day! I'm not sure yet but I'm sure I will figure it out. Maybe I'll even do both, OR something new each month!

Some of the fun and quirky things the planner has inside is a pocket page, so there's a pocket on either side of the page. I will be using this to store any fun stickers or other flat supplies that I hope to use in this beautiful planner. Plus it will come in handy if I pick up any little mementos from the day that I want to include, but don't want to loose!

Also the super fun artwork and quotes throughout are just beautiful! They are all so colourful and fun, and it is one of those planners that really makes you smile when you look through it, and this is how it is when it's empty! Imagine how awesome it will be when I fill it with daily memories and fun times!

I hope you enjoyed having a nosey! I can't wait to share the progress I make in this journal, with you guys, I can't start using it until at least the very end of July, which is annoying but at the same time I'm excited!

- Daisy X