Sunday, November 24, 2013

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Holiday Planner

Ho, ho, ho, everyone!  It is time for Holly to organize herself, now that we are down to 4 weeks left until Christmas.  I still have quite a bit of shopping to do and plenty of cards yet to make.  I found this Holiday Planner at The Cutting Cafe' and just love it. I used it for years prior to my computer crash of 2012 and I really missed it.  I used the cheery Cosmo Cricket "Jolly by Golly" digital line to make this.

I kept the entire album flat, including the cover, as it will be carried in my purse and embellishments would have been likely to fall off.  I use Julie Fan-Fei Balzer's idea of the wrap closure where the ribbon is glued to the book, then wrapped around the brad. In hindsight, a thinner ribbon would have worked best around the snowflake brad, or a round brad with this one would have been better too.  But the snowflake was too cute, and I just love pink and gold and bought the gold polka dot ribbon just for this album.  I used ring binding to keep the planner flexible enough, where I can add pages if needed.

 
I am famous for forgetting when I am going where during this season, so I made a calendar section where I could see the month and keep a list of each party and their dates

Regina thinks of everything. She even included the list pages for you to print and add to the planner. I like to keep track of which card went to who each year, so I don't duplicate the ones I send to individuals.  I make different cards for each person each year and it  is impossible to keep track as to who already got what designs already.
 
My gift list allows me to track where each gift was bought, so when I am piling through the receipts for returns, I know what store I am looking for. It also helps me know what I am shopping for.
 
 

I found it very useful to have a notes page, for I can't go to a party without leaving with someone's new cell phone, address or recipe.  I also note things I would like as I am shopping and ideas for holiday things to do as I hear about them.
 
Now, no planner is complete without a place to tuck receipts. I made a pocket going the length of the cover to place programs, pictures and tickets in the front for scrapping and, receipts  will go in the back. I made a special  envelope for my hubbie's gift receipts to hide them later in the event that he goes rifling through it to look for one for someone else.


So now I am ready to go for Friday's shopping mayhem.  Wish me luck!  For now, I am going to head over to the Cafe' blog to see what the other designers have created. I just love seeing what inspires them.  Seriously, can you get enough ideas at this time of year?.... LOL.

I wish all of you and your families a wonderful Holiday week. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
 

4 comments:

Regina Easter said...

holly what an amazing planner, the papers you use are so pretty to...hugs

bumblebee creations said...

this is brilliant!! I really need to make one of these!!

Julie Odil said...

Holly, I NEED this planner! I love the idea!

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