Christmas Planner

Yay!  It's the Christmas season!  I like Thanksgiving a lot, but I LOVE Christmas!  I can't wait to decorate later on tonight!

I'd like to share an organizational project that I made last night.

First of all, many of the ideas are adapted from the blog eighteen25 - a REALLY fun blog to read!
They showed how to make Christmas planners out of composition notebooks.  2011 Planners

I liked theirs a lot, but I wanted to change it. I wanted a notebook that would last me several years, where I could keep track of the presents I gave, etc.  I also wanted to use my Zutter machine and make it spiral bound.  Finally, several of their tabs weren't relevant to me.  I don't do the menu planning for any special events, nor do I completely understand what their "Card" tab is for. 

Oh, and I wanted to use graph paper because I hate horizontal lined paper.  I need to write on zero lines (plain copy paper) or too many lines (graph paper).  But that's just me being weird (err...quirky!).

ANYWAY...
I decided on 4 tabs - Calendar, To Do, Christmas List, and Projects. 

• I cut some 8.5x11 paper (copy and graph) down to 5.5x 7.85.  I used the copy paper for calendar and projects and graph paper for To Do and Christmas List.  I stuck a piece of scrapbook paper at the beginning of each section and attached a tab indicating the section.  The paper I cut for the tab was 2x2, but I folded it in half to make it 1x2. 

• I cut two manilla file folders to 6x8 to use as the covers.  I adhered scrapbook paper to the file folder and decorated the cover a bit. I also used some translucent plastic I had for organizing scrapbook paper to serve as a protective cover.  I cut it to 6x8 with my paper cutter.  

• I bound all that with the zutter and 3/4" coil. 

• I attached a bell with ribbon - mostly for decoration, but slightly so I could find it in my bag or diaper bag!  Sheepish grin!

• For the envelopes inside, I bought 6x9 inch envelopes at Staples, but they were a bit too big for my book.  After I bound the book, I cut the envelops on the sides and bottom to fit the inside covers and I sewed around the three edges to keep it secure.

• I printed out the calendar pages from here (same place as eighteen25, but I opted for a month calendar instead of weekly ones).

• Added a few graphics and strips of scrapbook paper, and I was good to go with my new Christmas planner!

It would be easy to recreate with a small spiral notebook or a composition book like eighteen25 did.  Their graphics are really cute, but they are year specific.  If anyone would like the graphics I used, please send me an email to quaint and quirky at gmail dot com or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you the file!  I can put the words in black, red, green, or multicolored like I used!

I'm adding this to the tatertots and jello weekend link up party!