The Collecting of Things and a Little Enabling #ListifyLife

Happy Monday, everyone! Yeah, I know that's an oxymoron. :) So first, before we get to the Listify post, I thought I'd do a little enabling for those of you who love pretty notebooks and planners like I do. (None of these are affiliate links. I'm just passing along the info.)

First, May Designs is having a 50% off sitewide sale today for a Good Morning America promotion. If you're not familiar with them, it's a company that makes lovely custom notebooks and stationary. You can get your notebook covers personalized and even pick from all kinds of layouts, including meal planners, fitness planners, weekly agendas, graph paper, or just regular lined paper. Have fun!

Next, for those watching all the mid-year planner releases, Ban.do is launching their planner today. I wasn't familiar with these at the beginning of the year, but I've since seen some people instagramming them. These are really adorable and fun. Quirky artwork, silly sayings, fun holidays listed. It's a really stylish, modern looking planner. And even though I'm currently working with both my Happy Planner and Day Designer, I ordered one of the Ban.do to try. I've been wanting to try a horizontal layout and the price is reasonable. Plus, they have really great stickers. (Yes, I'm a planner addict. I will freely admit. :) At least it's cheaper than being addicted to designer shoes or purses or something, right?)

Next up, the #ListifyLife challenge. This week is Thing I Collect. I have a feeling my answers will be of no surprise to anyone, lol.

Things I Collect

1. Books - This is both print and ebooks. My TBR pile is somewhere in the 700 range last I checked. Yeah. 

2. Planners - I have two Happy Planners, a Day Designer, a Hobonichi Weeks, and just ordered a Ban.do agenda. I think my perfect planning system would involve changing planners every quarter so I don't get bored, lol.

3. Stickers - This is directly related to the planner addiction right now, but I've always loved stickers since my years of Trapper Keepers and Lisa Frank. :)

4. Pens

5. Cookbooks - I've been doing this since I got married. I cull them every year but still maintain two full bookshelves of them. I love trying out new recipes.

6. Story Ideas - I have way more ideas than I have time to write. But I always keep good ideas in a file because I never know when I might get a chance to write them. 

So that's my collects (*cough* addictions) laid bare. Now I'd love to hear yours. What do you collect?

Planner Peek: The Hobonichi Weeks and a Fauxbonichi Journal

Today is going to be a quick post because I have to get myself together for the RT Convention next week, but I wanted to pass along a little planner p0rn. :)

So y'all know that I have a planner and journal obsession. And the journey to "planner peace" is an ongoing one, which means I'm always poking around the internet and looking at all the options. Well, recently, I came across the world of Hobonichis and Fauxbonichis. What the heck is that?

Well, the Hobonichi is a Japanese planner that has a cult following because of the clever layout and the amazing paper--Tomoe River paper. This paper is very thin but can take fountain pens, watercolors, etc. without bleed through, which means that a lot of people use these planners as art journals. Just go on Instagram or Pinterest and search Hobonichi to see. It's amazing what some people do in them. And even if you don't use it for art, the layout is great. The Techo and Cousin versions offer monthly, weekly, and daily layouts all in the same planner. Hard to find. I'm strongly considering buying the Hobonichi Cousin (which is an A5 size) next year. But right now I'm sticking to my modified Happy Planner for my planning (I've put the Day Designer aside for a while because I missed my weekly view.).

However, Hobonichi has a wallet-sized weekly version. And when I saw that, I knew I wanted one. I don't travel with my planner because it's too big. But I needed something to have with me in my purse for when I make appointments and such. Yes, I could use my phone. But I don't work well with electronic calendars. This Hobonichi Weeks would be the perfect size. Plus, I get the Tomoe River paper and they offer an April start version. So I ordered one, and I have to say, it is really lovely. The paper is almost Bible page thin but they weren't lying about the no bleed through. That's impressive. And bonus, the travel wallet/passport keeper I bought fits the Hobonichi Weeks perfectly so I don't have to get another cover. Yay! Isn't it pretty?

If you want to check it out, Amazon still has a few Hobonichi Weeks left last I checked, though I think pink is sold out. You can also get them directly from the Hobonichi store, but you do have to use a yen to dollars converter to figure out your costs. And here's the wallet. I did a lot of research trying to find one that would be the right size since there aren't a lot of options for covers for the Weeks version. This wallet comes in a number of different cute colors, is well made, and has the RFID blocking to protect your cards and passports from scanning. I was really pleased with it.

On to Fauxbonichis...

But after doing so much research on the Hobonichis, I discovered that people are doing DIY versions called Fauxbonichis to do their art journaling. (MissVickiBee seems to be the one who came up with this idea. Here's a link to her video about it.) This intrigued me because it would give me a chance to try out art journaling before committing to a pricier Hobonichi Cousin. I am notorious for giving up on journals and diaries. I've never been able to stick with one. But the idea of doodling in a journal and using it more as a memory keeper than a introspective diary type thing appealed to me. So I watched some YouTube videos (as you do) and decided to give it a try in a Leuchtturm journal I already had. (This is the one I have if you want to check it out.)

Well, I have been having so much fun with it! I'm hooked. I think it's serving as a relaxation tool like some people use coloring books. I get to draw and doodle and color, but at the same time, I'm keeping a record of memories and making a keepsake. This is also a nice lesson in fighting against my perfectionism because I CAN'T DRAW, lol. I have to accept that it's not going to look like those beautiful art journals I see on Instagram or Pinterest. And that's okay. The process is fun and I get a little thrill when what I draw actually resembles what I was attempting, lol.

So here are a few pages from my journal. The top sort of resembles the layout of a Hobonichi Techo, but I altered it to fit my own needs, including a place for a mood doodle. He's my favorite part. I've named him Moody Milton. :) I also record the weather for the day and use a little washi tape to brighten it up.

The pens I'm using are the Faber Castell PITT Artist pens to make the black lines and the Stabilos for colored drawing. Then I fill in with Steadtler colored pencils. Go ahead and judge me for having all those pens, lol. You can really use any pens you want. Just check for bleed through first because though the paper is very nice, it's not the Tomoe River. Some pens and markers will bleed through.

I use this stencil to make my lines and draw my little suns. 

I've been having way too much fun with it and so far. And if you're intimidated by the drawing thing like I was, I've found that the easiest thing for me is to google, "how to draw (blank)" and once I see simple images, I can reproduce them somewhat. I have a hard time just drawing something from scratch without inspiration to look at. You may have no trouble at all, but if you're drawing-impaired like me that might help. :)

Well, this post turned out longer than I thought, lol. But I hope I've maybe given you some ideas and inspiration. Let me know if you decide to give any of this a try!

Also, I won't be blogging next week because I'll be at the RT Booklovers Convention, so see you in a week! :)

Note: Amazon links are affiliate links. I haven't been asked to feature any of these products. These are things I've bought with my own money and enthusiastically recommend. :)