Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

1 month left w/ my Erin Condren life planner + thoughts on planning in 2015

 

Happy December, readers & peepers! Today is December/day 1. It is the first day of the last month with my Erin Condren Life Planner that arrived at my doorstep back in May 2013. I know it seems silly, but I've been getting sentimental thinking about having only 1 month left with it.

Back when I ordered in 2013 and was waiting the few weeks for it to arrive, I would go to bed with happy thoughts in my head of how I was going to fill it. Yeah. What binded bunch of papers in your life ever gave you happy visions to fall asleep to?  I'm weird, but I think it had to something to do with the timing. The planner's arrival marked for me the promise of a new beginning - as that June I was going to tell my teaching job I was resigning and going to be starting my new journey into graphic design that Fall.

I've captured the past year and a half of finishing teaching, having a rejuvenating summer 2013, starting and graduating graphic design school, landing my first job with We R Memory Keepers, designing two paper collections with them, seeing my dad through two visits to the Emergency Room, seeing my sister through her ER visit, getting my job with me & my BIG ideas, moving to Texas, visiting California, turning 30 years old... What an amazing year and a half it's been!

What I'd do every week is fill it with photos, stamps, stickers, jots, notes, goals, workouts, blog posts, etc. taking it from a blank open page to a collaged, documented art mess of memories. Watch my video on the process HERE.  Quick version of the process below:

So what now?  I very well could have ordered another $50+ life planner (worth every penny in my opinion), but I've decided not to. It seems every body and their mother has a planner out nowadays, and it's getting harder to choose which one is right for you. You have AMB planners, elise joy is coming out with a planner, Project Life's attempt at planner, I just recently found out about this personal planner which looks cool, Caylee Grey's Pretty Documented Planner is adorable, Filofaxes forever (although I never got into them), and The Container Store has a sweet selection of customizables...the list goes on and on...

...however, there's one more yet to be mentioned. One more planner is joining the market, and it's going to be a happy one! (No, I'm not coming out with a planner...but maybe one day...) It's one you'll be able to find at your local Hobby Lobby in the upcoming months...it's in the works, and I'll be seeing it in the flesh at CHA come January at the me & my BIG ideas booth. More on this to come!

my number of notebooks

My current number of notebooks is 7+. The 7 that you see above and I talk about below are the notebooks I write in/make art in daily, but there are plenty more besides these that I often work in as well. 

What is this obsession with notebooks I (and I'm sure some of you reading this) have?  What is the allure of a fresh page of untouched lines or a clean week in a planner? Possibility? Potential? Paper has a pull, doesn't it? It does for me. Couple that pull with the desire to organize my thoughts and plans, and harness my bursts of creativity...and there you have it: 7+ noteboooks goin' at once!

This notebook has been more of a sketchbook - with art filling its pages.  I've been using it as a daily (or almost-daily) creative exercise in watercolor experimentation, stamping, and lettering. I don't have many "rules" with this book other than PLAY. Some pages I create I like more than other pages, but such is the process. I've scanned my best pages in, and played around with color to use as a Project Life insert or an art print or a graphic for this blog. 

notebook info: same sketchbook Leah Reena Goren uses; bought at Blick

This moleskine came in a pack of three, and I love how grab-and-go these are. When Texas became something I definitely was going to try, I grabbed one of these to make my *texas* book.  Inside, there are home decor cutouts, DIY ideas, things I want to remember to do and pack, and places to visit. It's pretty much my steady flow of exciting things about going, in an attempt to counteract the intense anxiety I have about leaving my familiar. Growing up is hard. ♥

notebook info: Moleskine Cahier Notebooks

Oh, my Erin Condren life planner! It's become my mini scrapbook of sorts -- Project Life on a smaller scale. I include the workouts I've done of the week, schedule my blog posts here, make sticker images of instagram shots from the week, etc. I'll fill future weeks with post-its of tentative plans, and onle after the week is complete, go back and fill in which post-it plans actually materialized into activites that happened.  It's a very retro-spect approach to planner organization, but that's kind of why I have the next notebook. ;)

notebook info: Erin Condren Life Planner; peek inside of mine here

Because my life planner is filled after the fact, and has very limited space for writing long, detailed daily to-do lists, I needed a planner for that specific purpose.  This planner is absolutely perfect because of its horizontal weekly columns that spread across two pages.  I write my ToDo lists each day and if something doesn't get done that day, I don't need to re-write it on the next day because I'll see it not highlighted 'complete'. It's sloppy, but I allow that here. It works for me.

notebook info: planner bought at Target; found at bluesky.com

I call these the 'every' pads, kind of the same way Tom Hanks is called the 'every' man. These slender, neon-lined (eek!) notebooks work for everything you coul need paper for.  I go through these like lightning because they are for note-taking, phone-conversation jots, forget-me-nots, grocery lists, random thoughts or ideas, etc. Because they're neon and not too wide, I've cut them up and used them in various art projects. I love them.  Can't say that enough. I usually purchase one or two every time I go to Target, and have a drawer of them as reserves. ;)

notebook info: another couple of Target purchases (found in the gag gifts aisle with the Ryan Gosling journal)

The final notebook I'm going to talk about is my vent pad. I've started writing in a vent pad only a few months ago, and I wish I had started sooner. It's helped me with release. I write down situations that have made me frustrated, anxious, upset, sad, or anything negative, so I don't mull over it in my head. It's that simple. I usually never take a second look at what I wrote down, and when all the pages are filled, I toss the book in the garbage.  

notebook info: unknown source; could be from anywhere

♥ ♥ ♥

Thanks for reading about my current number of notebooks, and indulging in my silly little obsession with paper. NOW CONFESS: what's your current number of notebooks?!?!

tracking my workouts in my life planner

Happy start to a brand new week, all.  Hope you had a relaxing and happy weekend. 

Today I'm posting about how I started tracking my workouts last month in my Erin Condren Life Planner. There's a "goals & notes" column on the far left hand side of each weekly spread where I started tracking my workouts each week.

I label Monday through Sunday on the side.  Bright green is my workout marker color, so any day that I completed an intentional workout, I highlight the day in green, and write in green the workout and duration.

This neon green makes it easy to spot and tally how many days I worked out.  In May, I worked out a total of 15/31 days. In June, I'll goal for a lot more.

I've been enojying using my Erin Condren Life Planner since I got it over a year ago. I usually print photos of the week and stick them in my planner, write down what blog posts are coming on what days, and track major events in my life planner. See that process here. ♥

We R 2x2 Instgram Album cards into my planner

Hi, readers and peepers from the We R blog and beyond! 

Thanks for stopping by. I'm Amanda Rose Zampelli, and I was recently hired by We R Memory Keepers as a product designer and as a bonus: I get to blog a bit for them too!

Today I'm sharing how I took the 2x2 Instragram mini album cards and used them to embellish two pages in my Erin Condren Life Planner. 

Above are some of the cards I used, and they are a mix of the Inked Rose, Jet Set, and Sheer Metallic Instagram kits.

I've been printing and adding photos to my planner since July 2013 (see my pages in this video). I find that as an avid and consistent pocket scrapbooker, completeing these mini versions in my planner help me organize my larger scale albums. By quickly adding these cards as a bonus this week, however, my planner became a mini scrapping project in and of itself - which was fun.

Thanks for visiting, as always. You can find me on instagram | twitter | pinterest | bloglovin', or pop in every Friday to see my crafts and fun things in collaboration with my new work family at We R Memory Keepers. ♥ Have a great weekend!

how I incorporate photos into my life planner

As per many requests, I have made a video demonstrating how I incorporate photos into my Erin Condren Life Planner.  I tried to make the video as concise as possible, with music breaks in between. However -- sorry for the poor production value and occassional rambling (I said "okay guys..." about a 100 times).  This is my first video tutorial, and I imagine the more of them I make, the better they'll be. Right?

Without further ado...here 'tis...

Thanks for watching!  I hope it helps.  

If you still have any questions, I prefer you leave them in the comments section instead of e-mailing them to me so that others who might have the same question can view it too.  ♥ Have a nice day!

my weekend with my Erin Condren LIFE PLANNER

Well...look what landed in my lap Friday evening: my Erin Condren Life Planner.
I told you it would arrive any day.

A bunch of this past weekend was spent getting to know this planner, and testing out all sorts of jottings, pens, recording techniques, figuring out what I liked, didn't...you know the deal.  

Here are some shots from my weekend with my Erin Condren LIFE PLANNER:

top, left: I chose the 2013 life planner - collage cover which customizes the front and back of the planner with pictures you upload.  It looks a lot like my current header, as those are the things most making up my life right now.  I personalized it with my name, and the sentiment I'd most like my future plans to propel me toward: "She believed that she could, so she did."

top, right: I marked my first May week with my planner by printing out instagram shots from those days.  I really like how they look and how it ties the day to an image, so I'll probaly continue that all throughout December.

middle, left: a close-up look of the instagram I took once I had my new planner in my lap, with a little bit of journalling around it

middle, right: a quick weekly BLOG POST sticker I designed to match the month and function as a spot to plan the posts for that week

bottom, left: I love that just two days with this planner has brought my stamp mojo back! Maybe by summer it'll inspire me to whip up some new stamps for the shop! Who knows?!
(Those used above are Amy Tangerine's.)

bottom, right: I don't really like to "attack" my planner in advance.  I like to write/scribble/fuss once the week hits...so I'm big on removable stickies.  I'm already thinking about July (duh!) and labelling my weeks of project life. ;) (Those arrow stickies form Target.)

---   ---   ---   ---   ---   ---

I decided that I'm going to experiment with this planner -- no holds barred -- for the rest of May and June -- while school is still in session.  THEN...when the ever-loving SUMMER STARTS on June 27th (last day of school is June 26th) I will have developed some sort of system to make this work for me.

I'll let you know when I know!

Adios, amigos!

Erin Condren LIFE PLANNER Inspiration

I received an e-mail yesterday informing me that the personalized Erin Condren Life Planner I created for myself at the beginning of the month has been shipped and is on its way to me.

...any day now, any day now...

In the meantime, I've been obsessing over how others around the world have been using theirs. I've been gathering inspiration -- usually right before bed -- and drift to sleep with visions of my new planner and the future plans I'll fill it with dancing in my head.  

I'm a total paper-geek, but it's more than that...

I think I'm excited about what the planner symbolizes.  To me, this planner means thinking ahead and planning how to make the most of my summer...it means zeroing in on what I need to do once this school year is over (YES! 30 more work days)...it means propulsion...it means preparing for design school. EEK!  Not to mention, it's friggin' adorable. The design inspires me. The layout inspires me.  Erin Condren herself inspires me (as a woman, as a designer).

So hurry up, little planner companion!
I'm ready to fill you with future.

P.S. - Spy my current planner in this post. It's over in June. I was so due for an upgrade.