Planner Series: Part II - Getting Started

**This is a pretty long post, but I think I've covered up all the basic things a starter should probably know about, so try to read everything! and gettttt involved! yippee! ;-P**

1. What is this planner thing?

-This whole planner craze is just about being creative &  "vamping up" our daily planners. As in the usual daily & PLAIN planners. You might just not realize it, but you might have planners you can actually design. When i understood the idea of this whole thing, I kinda laughed at myself, because I realized that all my planners wouldve become useful to me if only i had known that i can actually become creative w them.

2. So, ANY kind of planner can be used for planner designing?

-A big fat YES. All the planners used by the planner communities come in BLANK, PLAIN, BORING PAGES. You just have to look for your creative side, and beautify it. And that's where the planner-designing addiction begins.

3. Are there different types of planners?

-Yep! There are different types of planners systems you can choose from.

A.   DISC BOUND PLANNER. Discs bind the pages together in this planner system. Pages are removable for this type of planner. There's a different kind of puncher for this one though. The paper holes are also different from the usual ring binders, as they have an open end. See picture below. 

photo from www.prettyneatliving.com

popular brands: 

Me & My Big Ideas' The Happy 365 Planner. (Me & My Big Ideas is also called "M.A.M.B.I" by most planners. http://www.meandmybigideas.com/; Arc Planners is another brand too.

B.  RING BOUND PLANNERS, or sometimes called the RINGED PLANNERS or RING SYSTEM. It is when planners have... ummmm RINGS! :-P It's usually a set of 6 rings. Im sure you’ve had what we call "notebook binders" in highschool, where you can change the pages, and dividers for your subjects, by opening the rings. Thats basically how the ringed planners work. You customize the pages  or what the planner community would call "INSERTS” (see number 7; letter A)

Most popular brands are: Filofax, Kikki K, Webster's pages, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton and a lot more.

C. COIL-BOUND planners or the spiral bound planner. Just like the normal spiral notebooks we usually buy for school. You cant change or add pages, but you can always design the pages. :)

Most popular brands: Erin Condren, etc.

D. BOOK-BOUND planners or the fixed planners are the ones that you get from Starbucks, Coffeebean, and other coffee shops. The ones you get from the regular local bookstores. These are the ones you CANNOT CUSTOMIZE/change their inserts, BUT CAN design the pages.

Most popular brands: Moleskine, etc.

E. TRAVELLER's NOTEBOOK a.k.a "TN" -- It is the type of planner where you wont see any rings, but an elastic rubber band to hold the notebooks/inserts. Ringed planners, and TNs differ from sizes, too. 

Most popular brands: Midori Travelers notebooks, etc

4. So, there are sizes for these things?

-Yep! Planners come in different forms.

For ringed planners, there are these sizes:

Pocket or Small - pocket sized planners, usually made for TNs.

Personal or Medium or A6 - Remember, & Dont get confused: Personal, Medium and A6 are the same. Some brands refer to this size as "personal," while some "medium" or "A6."

These are the ones where you can carry anywhere, just like the pocket planners -- but in a bigger size, but can still be carried and put in your handbags.

Large or A5 - These are the "DESK PLANNERS." usually just for your home desks/tables, a little big for you to carry around when going out.

5. Brands? There are brands for these? Any specific brand that’s good?

-Well, as i have said, ANY planner will do. But there are these famous brands for the ring system like Filofax, Kikki. K, Happy Planner (sometimes called 365 planner or "Mambi" planner), Websters Pages/Color Crush, Erin Cornden, & some local  etc.

While for TNs, there's Midori, Happie Dori, Faux dori, all kinds of dori's! Haha

Hobonichi is a famous one too. They’re from Japan.

6. What's a "PLANNER PEACE?"

-haha! I asked this question, too. But this is how i understand it: You know that movie "KUNG FU PANDA?" where Master Shifu would say, "Anything is possible when you have inner peace?" The idea is just like that. It's the contentment. It's when you're finally comfortable and happy with the planners that you own. 

This one though, is almost impossible to attain, because I'm sure WE WILL ALWAYS WANT MORE. HAHA

7. What are the things used to design/decorate planners with?

a. INSERTS - these are the pages, dividers that you use to cuztomize your planner. 

photo from @stationerygirlcebu

Here you can see that the owner decorated her originally empty planner with these lined page inserts.

These are inserts for TNs. They're basically notebooks, and are kept together by a rubber band.

b. PENS - many planner girls use different kinds of pens to decorate their planners with. Some may even apply their calligraphy skills by using brush pens if their papers are of good quality. Some use colored pens to color their pages/spreads with.

c. WASHI TAPES - Washi tapes are probably the thing that all panner girls go crazy for. It's every planner girl's must-have. Usually used to decorate the borders, corners, lines of the spreads/pages.
These tapes also vary in sizes. There's the big, regular and slim ones. In this video, you will see how she decorated her pages with different washi tape sizes :)

what the ULTRA SLIM washi tapes look like! photo from @bjmastura 

d. STICKERS - there are so many stickers available that's especially made for crafting, and people use these to decorate their planners. A lot of online sellers (both in Etsy and instagram) customize kawaii stickers! (i will post instagram sellers in my next blog post)

Stickers from Kikki K

e. STAMPS - Staaamps! I'm craaaazy about stamps! I live for them! Ahaha! Stamps come in different kinds - clear rubber stamps, and wood stamps! Wood stamps are usually the cheap ones. While the clear silicon rubber stamps (photo below) are a bit pricey. 

*How to use the stamps?*

To be able to use these stamps, you need 3 things. 

1. The Stamp

2. An Acrylic block - stick the adhesive side of the stamp to the block - the block will serve as the handle for you to be able to stamp it. These are clear blocks, so you can see exactly where you're stamping the paper.
3. An Ink Pad
4. Colored pens (optional) - some use coloured pens to colour the stamped image :-)

Here is a quick video on HOW TO USE THE STAMPS. Please watch!

STAMPS & STICKERS pros and cons:
These two basically have the same concept. 
But here's what you have to put in mind when deciding on splurging on these items:
with STAMPS, you can stamp the images for as much as you want to. Unlimited stamping! I personally like to use stamps for words that look like hand-written. Also for list stamps, and border stamps. while STICKERS are much cuter for image decorations. Stickers usually achieve the full colour of an image, as well as the exact copy of let's say a cartoon character or exact image of a sushi! or burgers! fries! coffee! --i know most of us will always want to document what we're eating and stuff like that. BUT! stickers are limited. You will eventually run out of copies of each image, not unless you buy loads of sticker sheets with the image you want to design your planners with -- which will definitely cost you a lot! 
So thats basically the difference between the two. 

f. CHARMS - They use charms to simply make their planners look cute, and sometimes these serve as an item to identify ownership of one's planner.
Here's what they look like:

a replica baby charm for my Filofax butterfly!

these are the charms i got from @bitstopieces.

There! I think those are the first FAQs you first need to know about! I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info! But I think that's already a pretty good roundup for a starter! :-) 

Im leaving you with this quick video of the basics on how to decorate your planners! I like this video a lot because it's short, and it shows how to decorate with washi tapes and stamps! :-) please watch!

If i missed a question you'd like to know the answer to, please let me know and ill try to answer it! :) Or if I missed anything, or if theres something thet needs to be corrected, lemme know! xoxo

Mara