Link Roundup

I probably won't get around to much more blogging before the end of the year, so this might be my last link roundup for 2012.  Have to see how things go, and how much time I have for surfing the 'net next week.

This week's list is heavy on websites that offer advice/templates/discussions about blog planners. I'm trying to come up with one of my own, so I've been looking for ideas.  Lots of good ones out there, but so far none of them suit my needs exactly, so I'll just have to keep thinking about it.

GENERAL STUFF & FROU-FROU

• End of Year Review (@Stationery Happiness)
• Candy Canes and Holly Journal Stickers and Labels (@World Label)
• Stick 'em On (@insideout.topshop.com)
• Handmade Books: Easy Inside Pages from Office Supplies (@clothpaperscissors.com)

PENCILS, PENS, INK

• More pictures of very rare Edwardian Pencil (@This Bug’s Life)
• Feeling Blue, Washable Blue (@The Well-Appointed Desk)
• How Far Will a Ballpoint Pen Write? (@Tiger Pens Blog)
• Gifting: The Cross Click Gel Pen (@From the Pen Cup)
• Pentel Libretto Pen & Pencil Set -- and GIVEAWAY! (@No Pen Intended)
• Noodler's Has the Best Blues -- Inks, That Is (@Inkophile)

PLANNERS, CALENDARS, JOURNALS

• New arrivals - meet Luxe, Malden, Guildford and Cuban! (@I love my stationery)
• Alternative Filofax Markers (@Whimsicality)
• 2013 Full Size Planner (@The Happy Card Encouragement Factory)
• My (be happy) Plan for This Week (@The Peaceful Mom)
• Free Printable Christmas Planner Pages (@Botanical Paperworks)
• Free Printable 2013 Monthly Calendar (@Botanical Paperworks)
• Filofax Therapy (@Thoughts & Exploration)
• Starbucks Coffee Journal by Moleskine (@StarbucksStore.com)
• In the beginning... (@vanilla folders)
• Filofax for 2013 (@Homemakers Daily)

BLOG PLANNERS

• Blog Planner - An Effective Way to Organize and Manage Your Blog (@Tackling Our Debt)
• Free Blog Planner Printable (@Barely Mommy)
• My 2012 Blogging Planner (Free Printable) (@Mama Jenn)
• My Daily Blog Planner (@iHeart Organizing)
• Blog Planner Printables ~ Organize Your Blog Planning (@Homeschool Creations)
• Free Printable Blog Planner by Infarrantly Creative (@BlogHer)
• Blog Post Organizer: Let's Get Started! (@Homeschoolin’ Mama) 
• Free Printable::My Blog Topics (@just call me b.)

WORKSPACES

• The Custom Cabinets Workspace For Two (@lifehackerAustralia)
• 15,509 Home Office Design Photos (@houzz.com)

Plannerisms Planner Giveaway

Just a heads-up: Over at the Plannerisms blog, the amazing Laurie is hosting a worldwide giveaway of one of her new Going Places planners. You can see photos and read all about the planners and the giveaway here. Great opportunity to try one of these lovely-looking new items.

Weekly Link Roundup

I've been keeping my own private "links of interest" list for a while now -- a little roundup of the interesting blog posts, videos, articles, and websites I find each week. This week, I thought I'd go ahead and share it.  I'm hoping to make this a regular blog feature in the new year.

1. Fossil wallet plus DayTimer 2PPD (@Sense of Gravity)
2. Using the Plannerisms planner as a Goals workbook (@Plannerisms)
3. Old Art Journals Rediscovered: Collage Journal (@A Penchant for Paper)
4. A Virgin Planner (@Bits of Me)
5. I Will Catch Up (@My Supply Room)
6. New Premium Line of TUL Pens from OfficeMax (@No Pen Intended)
7. Notebook Addict of the Week (again) -- Kara (@Notebook Stories)
8. Review: Bound Custom Journals (@Notebook Stories)
9. Avery NoteTabs Heart and Apple Shape (@OfficeSupplyGeek)
10. Web Finds -- 8 December 2012 (@Philofaxy)
11. Beyond Transportation and Stationery (@Scription)
12. Going to give my personal size a go...Again (@Planning Is Nirvana)
13. Permanent Apparently Doesn’t Mean Forever – Sharpies Fade (@Tiger Pens Blog)
14. Finally! Tabbed Inserts for the Compact (@Well Planned Life)
15. The Tell-All Planner (@Well Planned Life)
16. DIY Planner Cover-First Look! (@School Supply Dance)
17. Diary testing: 2PPD (@Living with Liisa)
18. Free 2013 Calendar Inserts Available for Download (@Journaling Arts)
19. ARC Customizable Notebook System From Staples (@Inkophile)
20. Raider of the (not really Lost) Arc (@the zeitgeist of zoe) 
21. Cahier Bookmark (@My Moleskine)
22. Living With A Traveler’s Notebook (@Recording Thoughts)
23. DIY Planner (@Stellaire)
24. Blog planner (@Little Lovelies)
25. DIY Planner (@The Tiny Nest in China)

New Filofax Set-Up (What, Again?)

Just spent a very pleasant morning organizing the new set-up in my Personal size Finsbury.

I've gone back to Finny after a torrid but brief love affair with the Erin Condren Life Planner. The Condren planner is gorgeous...

and really fun to use (love all those colors and pithy quotes):

But it weighs a ton and is just a little too big to conveniently throw into my handbag and take along.  And at $50 plus shipping charges, it really does require complete commitment. Ultimately, though, I just got frustrated with not being able to move things around in it. Same problem I always have with bound planners -- I'm attracted to them, but in the end they always let me down. Planner love hurts.

Which reminds me -- I need to do a blog post about all the planners I've tried this year.  More on that later.

Right now, I just want to do a little Filo show and tell.  For my 2013 system, I'm going with both monthly (month on two pages)

and weekly (week on two pages, horizontal spread) diary pages.

That seemed to work pretty well this year, so thought I'd try it again.  And next year, for the first time, I'm going to give these Filofax day-planner pages a try:

That means monthly, weekly, AND daily scheduling and notes, which definitely could be overkill. Especially if I'm going to go on keeping my separate daily diary, too. So -- not sure how long that will last.

And I finally decided to go ahead and do a little tab editing.

Up to now I've just used the tabs that came with the Filo (Diary, Notes, Projects, Information, Financial, Addresses), but I've never been really satisfied with those designations (I never really used the Financial tab at all, since I don't keep financial info in my planner). So I got out my trusty P-Touch and printed up some labels with my own categories, and pasted them on. 

"Monthly" and "Weekly" are obvious. The "Daily" tab will house those day-planner pages (at least until I figure out if they're usable or not).  "Lists/Info" is also self-explanatory; I've cleared out all the old lists, so right now all I've got is a list of movies I want to watch, and a few shopping notes.

The "Projects" section is a bit of a catch-all area. At the moment it's mostly taken up with lists of household projects and plans. But I'm hoping to use it for various craft projects too, when I get around to doing crafty things again.

And the "Addresses" section remains the same.  Won't show any photos of that, since I'm using it to store a few passwords and personal info, too.  All in code, of course, but even so....

One of these days, I really want to make my own tabbed dividers using decorative papers or cards -- something a little more colorful and interesting than these generic manila dividers. But that's a project (and a blog post!) for another day.