Guest Post: Little Panda Crafts // Just My Planner

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Hello! My name is MJ and I blog over at Little Panda Crafts. I'm a girl crafter who loves stationary, sewing plushies, paper planning, pandas, and all things kawaii. Thanks so much to Abby for letting me take over her lovely blog for this post! :)

Today I'm going to be showing you all a few tips or just what's my planner like. I don't own a Filofax, but there are many other things that you could use as one--other planners, or notebooks. I have my own planner, but it has day-on-one pages. I don't like the big space, as I find it hard to fill in a page just for one day. So although I may keep a few decorating supplies in my planner, I don't fancy it up like someone would do with their planner. I just pencil in what I find important in my schedule, and refer to it later.

However, I do have another planner..it's basically a notebook I use as one. (Both my day-on-one paged planner and this notebook are roughly the size of a compact Filofax). I sewed up a felt cover for the notebook's metal one. You should probably do this if you don't have a Filofax, yet you still want to customize your planner. Felt is available in many colors and designs, both online and in stores, such as craft stores and even Walmart. 

If you are interested in how I made my cover, know that I cut a sheet of felt large enough that when I folded it over, it was approximately the same size as the cover. Then I sewed the top and bottom with blanket stitches. Afterwards, I just pulled the felt cover onto the notebook's cover from the side. 

This is the planner where I do my week-on-two pages. Whether you make your own pages as I do, or you find printable inserts for your planner, you may want to use the week-on-two pages. I use these because I have spots for Sunday through Saturday, and I have an extra space for writing down notes of the week. 

You can tell by the photo of my planner pages below that they are lined. Since I make the spots for each day, I have to draw my own lines. I do so using an ink pen (it doesn't bleed through). However, I don't trace the lines already printed on the paper. The lines wouldn't turn out as straight. So, I tend to use a ruler right over the lines.

Sometimes when I want to flip right to a page, I use tabs, which I remove later. These tabs are available online, and you can find ones like these--or even other kinds of tabs--at stores like Target or Daiso. If you want to purchase these cheaply, you can get them from a trusted seller on Ebay.

But--if you don't have stores like those near you, and you don't like ordering online, you can print out these cuties. Just look up "kawaii sticky note memo" or any animal, and you can print, cut, and use them as your tabs.

I like gluing down sticky notes or even pretty paper to doodle or pencil in important events. You don't need any fancy kind of glue--a regular glue stick will do just fine. I use an Elmer's glue stick and it works well for me--none of the papers have been turning up at the edges or anything like that.

 Just know that in the photo below, I actually glued the cupcake on the cap--the glue stick doesn't come like that! Ha ha, I like to make my supplies cute ;)

One last tip I have for you is more of a planner photographing tip. You will notice the kawaii bubble tea plushie I used in the photos. When photographing your planner for an Instagram or blog post, you may want to add in small things, such as plushies, to add in a burst of color. It also makes a very cute photo! :) Since I like to sew, I am always making plushies to share in my photos. 

Little things can make a big difference! 

So that was my guest post on a few planning tips ;) I hope you find these useful if you own a planner, and if you don't, here's to hoping that you found my planner interesting! ;)

Thanks so much to Abby again for having me over! She is such a great blogger and I love reading her posts. ^_^

For more inspiration, you can visit me at www.littlepandacrafts.blogspot.com.

love love love! MJ