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!

A shimmee and a sketchbook

I made some more books for my etsy shop, which I'll be building up some more this summer. I loooove these books. I made several for myself and I think they are perfect as sketchbooks or journals. The pages are gridded and are great for drawing and sketching designs. Or you can ignore the grid completely.



I'm giddy over this one. The paper is to die for if you love vintage fashion.



Quaint and Quirky Etsy

Henry VIII

Memes Memes Memes...... I love to be tagged for memes. I've been tagged for two of them currently. Here is the first one:

Literary Meme - tagged by Emma and Johanna at A Banner of Crimson

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence

4. Post the next three sentences

5. Tag five people.

The nearest book was The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. I've been interested in Henry VIII since visiting the Tower of London on my honeymoon in England. She also wrote The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

p. 123

#5It had not been forgotten how Dr. Mallet had celebrated mass in Mary's absence. Shortly afterwards a Master Benett of Ware told the Council that he had heard of a Catholic conspiracy headed by the Earl of Shrewsbury; he believed that the Lady Mary would join it.

#6Mary, of course, was not involved, but the councillors were fearful that her house might become a focus for disaffected Catholic nobles.

#7It was mainly for this reason that they did not want outsiders to be admitted to mass.

#8Late in April 1551, Dr. Mallet was arrested and sent to the Tower.

{Yikes, that was a dramatic ending to my four sentences -you don't want to be sent to the Tower!!!!}

I don't like the tagging part so much, but this one is pretty simple, so I tag:
Joan at The Paper Handmaiden
Sarah at In a Nutshell, Anachronism
Rachel at The Amber Gatherer (who tagged me for the next one I'll post!)
Hillary at The Gleam of Rose Tea

Play if you want to!

Paper Anniversary

"I am not at all in a humor for writing; I must write on till I am."
~Jane Austen in a letter to Cassandra
October 26, 1813

Here is my paper anniversary present. It's a set of 19th century Jane Austen novels. Pretty great, huh? They are in beautiful condition. I almost hate to touch them. (I said almost).

Here is one of the delightful illustrations from Pride and Prejudice:

"I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, & how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know."

letter to Cassandra, on Pride and Prejudice's Elizabeth Bennet
January 29, 1813 [79]

My husband the deal finder found them on Ebay (of course) and they came from a book store in a castle in England. Can it get any better than that? I was blown away with this incredible present. Merci beaucoup mon mari!

The second anniversary is the cotton anniversary. . . Ooh la la!