Hi, it’s Cara and I want to talk a bit about planning, but it may not be what you are expecting. 😉

I think that a lot of people pride themselves in being busy. Being able to list off all the things we need to do, or a long list of things that we were able to cross off on any given day is like earning some kind of busy badge or medal of honour.

But, I want to you to think about adding some white space to your day, today. Not only in the design of your page, but actually in your schedule. If you are anything like me, you are forever trying to fit in just one more task or one more errand before an appointment or pick up time for your kids. I usually end up late, or stressed that I’m going to be late, and both of those make me cranky! What a way to greet my children right? 😛

When I take the time to add in white space, a mid morning cuppa, leaving the house with lots of time to walk to the bus, or get the errands done, I’m a much calmer person.

We tend to overestimate what we can get done in a day. So I am challenging to try and not jam pack your day with a million tasks and obligations. Give yourself some breathing room. Work it into your design. Leave literal white space on your planner page, which can, not only be white spots that are left blank, but also stickers or die cuts or anything else on your page that makes you smile.

On my page for today, I not only left space around each of my plans, I also added lots of goodies from my HKC August kits. Especially die cuts (both the Exclusive Ephemera, designed by Claudia Van Rooijen from the embellishment kit and the Amy Tangerine die cuts from the main kit). It all started with that awesome, giraffe by the way! There is a bow clip from the Crate Paper small embellishment pack from the Main August Kit. I added the black foil stickers from Dear Lizzy from the embellishment kit.

I love the ‘a million tiny things’ sticker. This little guy packs a punch and has quite a few jobs on this page, and his friend ‘Life is now’ lends a helping hand. First, it’s pointing out all the small tasks that I need to get done today, my task list. But also, paired with the large giraffe, it’s a hint to me to look at those little everyday moments as more than just things to cross off of my list. Those little things are what make up life. For me, it’s not so much the birthdays and vacations, but being with my family and shaping my children and myself with this daily activities. I love my memories of the children stealing food as I cook it, and playfully batting away their hands with my spoon, or an older child explaining life to a younger one. Or even just being able to give my mind some white space as I do the dishes or the laundry, monotonous tasks that allow my mind to wander and dream.

This quote also reminds me to watch out for these tiny little things. Keep my eyes and ears open for those moments so that I can stash those away in my memories to pull out later when the children are fighting…again.

Next up is this funky exclamation point clip. It comes from the American Crafts Thickers by Dear Lizzy in the main kit. I just hot glued it to a paper clip, cutting out matching pieces for the backs. I was careful to only glue the dot bit to the inside part of the clip so that  the clip was still functional  in my planner.

This last project is a little out of my comfort zone, I’m not a big card maker, but I will make them when occasion calls.

From the August paper kit, I used white cardstock for the base of the card and layered vellum, the Saturday ‘Metro’ paper from Dear Lizzy and the ‘Cheery’ paper from Crate pepr’s Cute Girl line. I fussy cut some flowers from the ‘Central Park’ paper (also from Dear Lizzy). I dug into my Project Life kit to finish off the cards and used my favourites products, the enamel dots from My Mind’s Eye, the wood shapers from Dear Lizzy and those adorable bird stickers from the Amy Tangerine sticker book.

I hope you have a wonderful day, filled with white space!

HAPPY PLANNING!