Fruity Journaling, Mrs Brimbles Stickers! July 2017

I decided to use my July Brimbles Sticker Club pack in my journal, because I have a little pile of photo's I still need to get stuck into my journal. There were a couple of photos that seemed to fit really well with the theme of this sticker pack, so I went for those!

Before sticking anything down I decided to add some watercolour in the background, just to break it up a bit. Plus a few of the stickers I wanted to use had white backgrounds, so it'd help them stand out a bit. I popped the watercolour onto an acrylic stamping block, and then applied it to the page so it didn't have any brush strokes. This also meant I could create a nice dripping effect when I tilted the page!

I used some of the border strip stickers, and some of the boxes to go in the background. Then I just layered up some of the smaller decorative stickers on top of the photos. I left the red circle sticker blank as I will write the date into that when I add the journaling.

Instead of leaving the bottom of the page blank, I added a little cluster of stickers down there, just to balance to the two corners of the page. You can also see that the orange sticker is covering a staple that was showing through from the back of the page. I debated whether to actually take the staple out, but decided to just cover it and hope for the best haha. It's a bit lumpy, and kinda noticeable, but hey. it works for me, so I'm going to leave it like that!

I was going to leave the top left section of this page clear for writing, but I realised the black and white spotty box sticker would most likely make the writing blend in a bit too much. So I grabbed a few of the arrow stickers and popped them in the gap instead. I'll still add some writing to the yellow water coloured section, but hopefully the arrows will help to make it look less like there's something missing from there.

I love the colours of this sticker collection, and I don't think I could have used any better stickers to document these photos. They seem to reflect the mood of that day out just perfectly!

I still have lots of stickers left over from these sheets, so I will most likely use them in future journaling spreads! I might even try using some in my planner too. 

- Daisy X

Brimbles Box Journaling Pages! April 2016

*Blogpost was originally put together for the Mrs Brimbles Blog*

With this month's Brimbles box I decided to use the contents to decorate my journaling pages.

I recently went to see Zootropolis at the cinema with my brother, and seeing as it was a kind of fun film, the April box had lots of fun bright things that just went really well with what I was journaling about! I absolutely loved working with such bright colours, and fun stickers!

These journaling pages didn't have any photos on, I decided to just use the things I had collected during the day. We actually got given a free sticker book and stickers when we went to see the film, so of course I didn't turn that down. It was a lovely day spent with my brother, and I also beat a few anxiety worries, so definitely a day to be documented! Hence the use of the pink 'Documented' sticker on the page on the left.

I of course kept the cinema ticket to stick in! One of the many reasons I like buying tickets at the cinema rather than online, is because you get a 'proper' ticket. They look a lot nicer in a journal or scrapbook! We also got charged for teen tickets rather than an adult, which was highly amusing. I'm nearly 22 and my brother is 19... But hey! All I said was 'two tickets to see Zootropolis please' so I'm not going to complain if they want to charge us less. I used the cry laughing emoji sticker to represent the 'lols' we got out of that.

I used the rainbow dashed journaling card from this pack of ephemera by Mrs Brimbles, to create a little flap on the page. I stuck one of the stickers we got from the cinema on the front, and decorated it with the purple & pink heart washi tape, and some arrow stickers from the sticker sheet that were in my Brimbles Box. I also used from film strip washi tape that I got on eBay.

On the other side of the flap I stuck another one of the stickers we got, and I popped one of the little sticky tabs from the sticky notes that were in my Brimbles Box. I tend to use any sticky tabs that already have words on, like stickers. Because the film sticker was quite dark, the sticky tab really helps to break up all the dark colours. Without it there, it would have just looked really glum and bland.

I decided to keep my bus ticket from the trip to the train station as this was one of the things I was most anxious about doing. It's a nice little reminder that I managed it, and didn't freak out! I stapled this to the page so it could easily be lifted up, and I could put things underneath it.

Underneath I added one more sticker we got at the cinema, and used this orange 'Admit One' washi tape, which was also from eBay, to decorate around it. I added one of the striped flag banner stickers from the sticker sheet in my Brimbles Box to the corner of the Zootropolis sticker. It felt a little bare without something there, so this small addition helped to fill the gap.

At the bottom of this page I wanted to add a little cluster of washi & stickers, just to help balance the pages out a bit. I went ahead and added some more of the film strip & heart washi, and then added this yummy looking donut sticker! Once we got home I ended up having a nap, watching tv & eating 'crappy' food, even though I didn't have a donut, the donut does represent the type of food I went for, haha!

Once I'd done the journaling I decided to go over random words and phrases with the highlighters that came in my Brimbles Box. I love this technique when it comes to journaling, but I've never had more than two colours of highlighter to do it with. Now I have a whole set, so I did go a little bit crazy! I love how it turned out though, there was so much colour going on around the edges of the journaling, the written section looked very bare in comparison. 

Hopefully you enjoyed seeing how I used a lot of the items from this month's box! I really enjoyed using them to decorate my journaling pages! 

- Daisy X

Paperchase Blogger Event, Journaling Pages

After going to the Paperchase Blogger Event at the start of the month, I of course had to do a bit of journaling about the day. This is how the double page spread in my Lyra & Co Lyradori turned out!

So the colour scheme I went with was inspired by the photo of my yellow converse, and my train ticket. I got out my watercolours and whacked down some yellow & orange in the background. On the right hand page I stuck down some of the fruit tape I'd bought from Paperchase about a month ago, because the colours on it were very warm, so it fit with the other colours very well. I got my photo's printed, and gathered together all the things I wanted to include on the spread. Then I figured out where I was going to place things. This is sometimes the hardest part, so if you are struggling, don't panic! I still do too sometimes, just stick with it!

At the top I decided to stick the photo of me, Anna & Chloe. I used some different tapes to help frame the photo (Yellow Star Washi Tape & Thin Gold Glitter Tape, from Cloudy Cow). I also used some grid sticky notes from a set I'd got from HEMA. The 'Hello Friend' sticker was from a set I'd gotten ages ago but I don't remember where from, and the Camera & Heart stickers were from a Simple Stories Carpe Diem sheet.

I was debating whether to stick down my train ticket, or make it into a flap on the page. Whilst I was trying to decide I paper clipped it to the page to keep it in place, and ended up just really liking the look of it. I think it helped that the paper clip was shaped, so it made it look like it was meant to be there, rather that just like I'd pegged it there temporarily. I've found a new love for using Paper Clips in my journal, these heart ones are by American Crafts & I got them from Paperchase.

I used some Yellow alphabet stickers by Doodle Bug Design Inc, and chose to title the page at the bottom instead of the top.

As I had printed off quite a few photo's from the day, I decided to add in a journaling card as a flap and then stuck on some photos. I rounded some of the corners so it made them fit in with the shape of the card a little better. I added another heart paper clip at the bottom to hold one of the spare photos I had onto the other side, which wasn't stuck down. On this side of the flap though, it just looks pretty!

At the bottom of the page I added the words 'blogger event' in some of my favourite typewriter style alphabet stickers, from Hobbycraft. Along with the date of the event and the date I created this page. To fill in the blank space I decided to stick down a heart sticker from one of the Simple Stories sticker sheets. Hearts and other generic 'pretty' shape stickers like that are very handy to have in your stash for times like this, when you just want to fill in a gap on a page without something too distracting.

Underneath the flap I have a lot of journaling, along with the spare photo I had paper clipped onto the inside of the flap. I have the tag from the Pineapple cup I got in my goody bag which I stapled to the top of the page, and then covered the staples with some gold glitter tape and some washi tape from Freckled Fawn which says 'remember today'. The 'MAR' circle is plastic so is slightly transparent, I just stapled that down in the corner. Then I added a couple of stickers at the top of the journaling section.

I'm very happy with how it all came together! If you are ever struggling with figuring out a colour scheme to go with, take a look at the photo's you are going to include on a page and see if you can pick out some colours from those.

- Daisy X

*Please note, some links in this blogpost are affiliated.

Japan Fun Box Journaling Page!

If you saw my most recent vlog (here), you will have see the unboxing I did of the Japan Fun Box. Well after opening it and trying all the goodies with my family, I decided to journal a little bit about it because it was just so much fun.

I suppose you could count this as a kind of review at the same time, because I wrote down all my thoughts on the box, in my journal.

I did find this page a lot harder to put together because all the photo's had so many different colours in, but used what I hard available and I'm happy with the outcome!

I decided to use a double spread, as I had quite a few photos to stick in. I printed them off in a few different sizes on my Canon Selphy printer. I decided to have my favourite photos on the outside and then put the other ones underneath. 

I used watercolours to incorporate similar colours on both sides, and kind of bring the two pages together a little better (I highly recommend getting yourself a set of watercolours for journaling, it's amazing what a splash of colour can do to a page!). I went through my journaling card stash and pulled out some that went with the colours in the photos. I then did the same with my washi tape stash. Once I had lots of things in front of me, I went ahead and put the page together!

I used this frame card to go over the bigger photo collage of my dog. I didn't want to stick it down completely because it would have hidden some of the shots, and I didn't want to lose them. So instead I attached it as a flap using some strawberry washi tape (here). I planned to have my photo of the strawberry sweets on the bottom section of the opposite page, so putting this strawberry tape up here helped to balance that a little.

I added two dates to the page (I tend to do this a lot with my journaling pages), the first date is when it happened, so when we all sat down and went through the Japan Fun Box together. Then the second date is when I decided to journal and put this page together.

(Emoji Stickers are from eBay. Thin gold glitter tape is from Cloudy Cow. Triangle Paperclip is from HEMA. Font stickers are from a Lah De Dah set from Hobbycraft. Yellow arrow sticky note was a gift.)

This is the other strawberry section I was talking about. This flap was originally the backing to a pack of stickers, it had a wood effect (which you will see when I show you the inside of the flap) and on the back I decided to cover it with some 6x6 paper which looked a little bit like newspaper print.

I added a photo of my two favourite things from the Japan Fun Box! I knew I'd like the strawberry sweets from the get go, but the Alfort chocolate biscuit things surprised me! As soon me and my brother took a bite we looked at each other and knew exactly what they tasted like. They basically tasted like childhood in the form of chocolate iced gems.

Anyways I added some washi tape decoration some stickers, and a little caption on a yellow arrow sticky note.

(Meh heart sticker from Ban.do. "Yay!" sticker from Anke Panke. Totoro sticker from Cloudy Cow)

When you open the flap, this is what is on the inside. I decided to add another little journaling card under here as a flap, because I wanted to make sure I had space to stick down all the photo's I'd taken.

There were a few things in the Japan Fun Box that I wasn't too keen on, and funny enough no-one in my family was up for trying the wasabi nuts!

On the right hand side I attached one of the sweet wrappers to the flap with a triangle paperclip. It had some adorable little characters on it so I wanted to keep on as a memento. It's a really casual way to keep something on a page, but I love attaching things with paperclips.

I attach all the flaps into my journal using strips of washi tape, I know there's multiple ways to do this but I simply have a strip on the front and on the back! I was tempted to add some thin washi or little corners to the photos on this mini flap, but there wasn't a ton of space so I didn't want it to end up looking messy. I think there's enough going on around it to keep your eyes occupied!

For a change I chose to handwrite some little captions straight onto the page. I've not done this in a while (mainly because I've got so many awesome stickers to use in my journaling stash) but also because I'm always so terrified of ruining it! But I've realised that I'm not scared of going into to a project with no plan, so I shouldn't be scared to just try out any ideas I have for the page! If it turns out rubbish and bugs me I can always glue the pages together and try again.

(Typewriter font alphabet stickers from Hobbycraft. Pig sticker from Pipsticks.)

So yeh! That's how my journaling pages turned out for the Japan Fun Box. I've left the journaling on the pages un-blurred so of course feel free to read about it.

Overall I think the Japan Fun Box is very reasonably priced for the amount of stuff you get in it, the variety is great (it's not just sweets and chocolate, there's savoury items too!) and of course it's free delivery which is great. The only reason I wouldn't want to subscribe to the original sized box right now is because of the amount of stuff that didn't get eaten. I would consider the smaller size though as the whole experience was absolutely hilarious. The foods we have in the UK are so different and it was really nice to get a taste (literally!) of Japan!!

If you'd like to check out the Japan Fun Box then you can do so here.

- Daisy X

*Please note, even though the Japan Fun Box was sent to me free of charge, this does not sway my views and opinions. I will always share my honest views on the product and company.

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

Swci Stationery - UK Etsy Shop Share!

This is the last UK Etsy shop share I've got from the Sticker haul I did! (Of course I'll have other shares in the future, this is just number 5 out of 5 from the recent haul).

Say hello to Swci Stationery! This shop is run by the lovely Lorraine, who doesn't just sell stickers. There's a range of different stationery items available on her shop, so make sure to check our everything she has available.
But I'm here today to tell you about her stickers!

Lorraine actually sent me some extras in my order to share with you, which should give you a better idea of all the adorable stickers she has available!

These are the ones I chose and bought myself! I chose three sheets:

♥ Popcorn Sticker Sheet (£1.75)

♥ Piggy Bank Sticker Sheet (£1.75)

♥ Donut and Coffee Sticker Sheet (£1.75)

As you may know by now, I have a thing for popcorn stickers.. It's a snack I love, and I like having a variety of stickers available when I'm journaling about film watching and popcorn eating!

The Donut and Coffee stickers were definitely an 'omg they are so stinkin' cute' purchase. I'm not a coffee drinker, but considering these aren't specifically designs as coffee cups I think I'll be able to use them for other things :)

The Piggy Bank sticker sheet I really liked, the main reason being that the money was in pounds! Something you rarely come across when there's so many sticker shops that aren't from the UK. This means I can use them, and they will make sense. I plan to use these in my journal when either I've spent a lot or made a lot of money (lets face it, I'll be using them more for when I've purchased something haha).

These were the extras that Lorraine included in my order! (Thank you so much again for all the loveliness you sent!) My favourite out of them all has to be the cameras, again by now you should know that I love my camera stickers too. I find I use them a lot, so having a variety to choose from definitely comes in handy!

These stickers give you a good idea of the range she has available, they are definitely more on the adorable side of the sticker scale, yet they are still very practical. They could be used for decorating or planning.

Lorraine has provided me with a discount code for you all to use!

You can get 10% off any order of £5+ with the code DAISY10

(this expires at the end of September 2015)

If you would like to see the original sticker haul video including all of the shops I shared, then take a look at the video below:

- Daisy X

*Please note that some of these stickers were sent to me for free to review/share. Though I did buy some with my own money. All views & opinions shared are 100% my own.

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