DIY 2014 Planner

Hello everybody!

I am back from my holiday and it seems ages since I've touched my laptop. 

With just a few days left before we welcome the New Year, some of you may be looking for a planner. It is always hard to find that perfect planner be it the design, font or pages. So, this year I decided to make one for myself. Just a few months back, I did a personalized planner for a friend of mine and I was so excited to do one for myself when my holidays started.

After much planning, I decided to have a instagram inspired minimalist theme. I invested about 5-7 days to complete the whole planner, from designing all the way to putting the whole thing together. The design was done in Microsoft Publisher and Adobe Photoshop. Let me take you through what I have in my planner.

To stay true to my theme, I first decided to make the shape of my planner square. For the cover, I used a thick cardboard and covered it with floral embossed paper. To add a girly touch, I pasted floral fabric tape on the sides. Then, I took some of my favourite pictures from Tumblr and cropped it to square images. I printed the pictures in sticker paper so that it is easier to stick on the cover. If I can say so myself, I really love that the cover gives me a soft and feminine feel.

For the front page, I added a binding cover sheet. This is for me to stock up my post-it notes. I am always scribbling notes and errands. I wanted to carry around the post-its with my planner and I thought that this was a good idea.

Year at a Glance.

Birthdays/Dates to Remember. 

2 years ago I had a planner where I had this page to take down birthdays and important dates and it was really useful as it gave me more space to take down information on my monthly pages. I tried squeezing in 2 months per page but due to the size and space I could only only put one month per page.

I used a cardstock paper as a divider for each section.

For each month, I printed pictures of my family and friends in square. Again, I printed this in sticker paper.

2-page monthly calendar.

Weekly calendar.

I like to be organized and I usually write down the things that needs to be completed that particular week. 

Budget sheet.

I like keeping track of my savings and expenses. Having a budget sheet at the end of each month would be really useful.

I am the type of person who loves using post-it notes for some reason. So at the end of each month I added a transparent sheet to paste my post-its.

Schedule Page.

While I was browsing through planners and pinterest for inspiration, I never fail to see schedule pages. Initially I thought I would have no use for it. After contemplating, I decided to add one page and laminate it. The reason for this is to maximise usage. I can write it using a marker and erase it so that I can use that page another day.

Task Page.

Similar to the schedule page, I laminated this for multiple usage.

Meal Plan.

Instead of eating school food, prefer packing home cooked food to school. As I usually plan my meals ahead, this will help me when it comes to grocery shopping.

Period log.

Hahaha, please don't judge. This keeps me prepared. Ladies, I'm sure you would understand. *winks*

Notes Page.

I wanted to keep this as simple as possible. I wanted the empty pages to paste cut outs and pictures.

I made a folder using leftover craft paper to slot in pictures and stickers.

I also added an envelope to store my movie tickets and receipts.

Definitely there were problems when I engaged in this project.

1. I wanted my planner to have so many sections that I forgot to keep track of the number of pages.

2. I used a 120gsm paper instead of 100gsm paper. This caused the planner to be really thick.

3. I should have done my research way earlier as the printing shops do not support hard cover binding. Plus it was too thick for wire binding.

I thought of making my own binder but I couldn't find the right resources and I did not want my efforts to go to a waste so I just used ring binders. This was not a bad idea as I could use it as a scrapbook also. The only problem is that it does not stay as well as most planners but it gives the self-made feel. Despite the challenges, the best part is that it was really cheap to make!

I had a few requests for personalised planners but due to time constraint I did not take any orders. Plus my toner was running low and my laptop needs to be reformatted. I made my planner in such a way that it has almost everything so that if I'm taking orders in the future I have a template to work with.

I am not sure if I will have the time to do another one next year but I am open to ideas and making printables instead.

If you are still wondering if you should get a planner, I will be making another post on how I use my planner. There are many printables you can purchase online if you plan to make one for yourself. Some bloggers are so generous that they provide free printables for their readers.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post! Feel free to comment if you have any queries!

Let's enjoy the last few days of 2013!

∞

DIY Picture Frame Crafts

Hello lovely people!

I hope you all are doing really good and spending your time doing something you love! I had mentioned in my previous post that my school just started and I've made pretty amazing friends in University. It's really pleasant to see people coming from different backgrounds but at the end of the day we are all working towards the same goal. Along the way, you will be experiencing ups and downs but with the motivation and encouragement from your loved ones, the journey will be a fruitful one. You may think that I am digressing here by looking at the title but (wait!) there's a link.

This particular DIY is something meaningful and I hope to bring smiles to the people around me from this project. TADA!

I do not know what to call this particular project but I guess the you could call it DIY Motivation Board. This was carefully thought out as I did not want to occupy too much space on the study table and I wanted it add some colours to the dull study environment in my room. Most importantly, it encourages the people using the table whenever they feel tired of studying or working.

These are the supplies that you would need:

I love it when Ikea has sale. I bought 2 of these frames (5"x 7") for only $3.80.

In Singapore, we use whiteboards in school. So, me being me, I got so excited when I spotted one in Daiso and I wanted to make something out of it. At that time, I thought I didn't need it and decided to purchase when the time calls for it. I didn't realise what a big mistake that was because it was sold out. *cries* I've been seeing YouTubers using chalkboard spray but again, I felt that it was too expensive and it is really hard to find affordable and value-for-money craft materials in Singapore.

PS: if anyone in Singapore knows where I can get value-for-money crafts material besides Daiso, please share it with me. I would appreciate it!

I would recommend you guys to use a penknife instead because it is faster and you do not have to worry about crooked edges.

Any embellishments of your choice for decoration. 

Firstly, dismantle the picture frame and take out the transparent cover. Place it on the board sheet and mark the edges.

Cut it out using a scissors/penknife/exacto knife. If you are not confident in handling a penknife, seek supervision or use a scissors instead. 

Paste the board sheet to the plastic surface according to the instructions given. I cleaned it with a hand sanitizer. For some reason, I have this thought that hand sanitizers can remove any dirt other than the germs on our hands. Now you can start decorating your frames.

At this moment my camera battery died on me so I couldn't take pictures of each process and I sincerely apologize because I make it a point to make tutorials as detailed as possible. Anyway this is the final product, more details on each design can be found below.

For this particular design, I used some seashells that Roslina gave me while I was decorating my dressing table. So I pasted it on 2 opposite sides. This doesn't have to be perfect because the final look turned out to be pretty. I also applied 2 coats of clear nail polish on the shells so that it would shine and doesn't get dirty and fade. 

For this look, I used a bracelet that I do not use anymore. This bracelet can be used to hang on walls as well. For a more girly look, I used these floral embellishment and created a polka dot look. Thank you Aifaa, Athira and Ker Sien for giving me more craft materials on my birthday!

Now you can write quotes and motivational messages to spur on your loved ones when they are having a hard time on their school work or office work. Alternatively, you can use it to write memos and decorate it to spice up your desk or room. Get creative with colours and design to suit your taste. 

There are so many things you can do with a picture frame. I used one as an earring holder and I did a post on it as well. (Click here!)

I personally thought this was a great way to show your support and let your friends or family know that no matter how hard things get, you will always be there cheering them on because you know that they can do it. You will be surprised how a small action can impact another person. Cherish the people around you and let them know that you care and love them because tomorrow may never come. 

Till then, have a great week ahead!

∞

DIY Corkboard Crafts

Hey everyone!

It's been quite sometime since I've last posted and trust me this particular post has been under my drafts for a number of days already. This week is my orientation week and my mum wanted to do as much as possible in preparation to our favourite holiday, Hari Raya. I've been rather preoccupied and every time I sit down thinking that I have to complete this post no matter how busy I am, my tired body doesn't allow it.

So, I've been showing you guys a series of DIY organisers for your accessories, and this will be an addition to it. Actually, this particular DIY is multi-functional and you can alter it to your own needs.

As you can see from the picture, it's gonna be a DIY Corkboard crafts tutorial. I chose to use mine for my accessories. Unlike my pretty and vast collection of earrings, I'm not very bold or adventurous when it comes to necklaces, rings or headbands. But I still need a place to keep them so, I thought why not create my own?

I have listed down the supplies you would need below:

You can get these anywhere. Because I live in Singapore, the cheapest I could find was in Daiso where you can get them at $2. However, in terms of quality it fared just average. Like everyone would say, "You get what you pay for". But it was good enough for me as my collection is pretty small and light. 

At times like this, I really want to travel to the US just to get craft materials because most of the things are very affordable from what I have observed while watching lots of awesome Youtubers.

You would need some paint. I chose gold and black to have a very elegant and classy look. Also, it would match my gold makeup holders.

Always get creative with thumbtacks. I easily get bored with the same type of tacky coloured thumbtacks on my Corkboard which I use to pin important documents. Due to budget and time constraint, I bought all of them at Popular Bookstore. (1 set is less than $2)

One trick to spice things up would be through the use of glitter. Although I only own this colour, but I am absolutely in love with the idea of how it makes something so simple into something glamourous.

Some paintbrushes. In this case, the bigger the brushes, the better because the process could have been faster with a bigger brush or a sponge brush.

and lastly white glue. Some would choose to call it PVA glue. I must say, when I first bought this glue I was rather skeptical of its quality. But, for its cheap price, it's faring really well in my opinion. I got this from Popular as well.

So, let's get started!

First, paint the Corkboard with a colour of your choice. 

I would suggest using an acrylic paint instead of a poster paint as the colour lasts much longer.

Apply 2-3 coats for a more defined colour. As acrylic paint dries up pretty fast, the interval between each coat is about 10-15mins.

While waiting for the Corkboard to dry, customise the thumbtacks according to your preference. To stay true to my gold and black elegant theme, I wanted to glamorise the thumbtacks by adding some glitter. Firstly, apply a thin coat of white glue to the thumbtacks.

Next, pour the glitter into a small disposable bowl and drop the thumbtacks inside.

Leave them to dry for about 15-20mins depending on the size of your thumbtacks. At this point, do not worry if the glitter did not cover the thumbtacks fully because you can always apply a second coat.

While waiting for the thumbtacks to dry, you can now start on the border of the Corkboard. If you are happy with the border, you can leave it that way or add some embellishments according to the way you love it. I painted mine in gold and it was really pretty.

After applying 2 coats of glitter and letting them dry, apply one last layer of white glue. This is to prevent the glitter from falling out everytime you touch them. Alternatively, you could use a clear nail polish like I did to maintain its shine. Both the glue and the clear nail polish serves the same purpose but the nail polish gives it an extra shine.

Now, all your have to do is it stick your thumbtacks and use the Corkboard for any purpose. I used mine to hang my accessories like I mentioned earlier. But you could add any notes or reminders. My necklaces, bracelets and headbands are more visible and they don't get tangled anymore. Please believe me when I say I had to throw away 2 of my necklaces because it was tangled and couldn't be saved. *cries*

I feel that if you personalise and beautify you own work space, it makes you really excited and happy. After several DIY projects for my accessories, I find myself smiling everytime I decide what earrings or lipstick I should on wear that day.

Before I end this post, I would like to thank everyone who's been showing your continuous support towards my blog. Although I do not know who you guys are, I hope to hear from you all! So drop me an email or tweet or mention me on Instagram if you try out any DIY projects or food places I've been to.

Also, I'm about to embark a new journey in University so I might be reducing to one post per week but I hope you all could show me continuous support!

I will probably use my dreadful long travelling journey wisely by blogging through my phone. Before I continue  lengthening this post, just want to tell you y'all to have a great day!

∞