Midori Traveler's Notebook Setup 2016

Hey all! I'm finally finally finally getting around to this long-requested update on my Midori Traveler's Notebook! I really have no excuse, except the usual -- life happened. (How many times have I said that here?) Seriously though, a lot of stuff has happened since last year when I first got it. We moved, and now I'm pregnant! Those are huge life changes, so I guess I really have an excuse, huh? 

Anyway, if you've been reading this blog, you would know that I got my Midori Traveler's Notebook last year. It was my husband's Valentine's Day gift to me. I did a massive post on my setup then, so it's about time I did an update, since it's a new year and all. Actually, the first part of the year is over, so I've been using my book for more than a year now. Okay, enough of my rambling. Here we go. 

The Happy Planner 2016-2017: Sugar & Type

Today I got some happy mail, and it's a really good one! This is the 2016-2017 18-month Happy Planner by Me & My Big Ideas. It starts from July 2016 all the way up to December 2017. I also ordered the Hello Magnetic Page Clips to go with it, and everything's too pretty for words.

The Starbucks x Moleskine Planner: My 2016 Work Planner

TGIF! The first work week of the year has just ended, so it only seemed appropriate for me to post about my 2016 work planner -- the Starbucks x Moleskine Planner.

Last year, I used the Starbucks Planner as my work planner. This year, I'm doing the same. I didn't plan on it (pun not intended, heh), but ever since I started collecting this planner I always wished Starbucks would collaborate with Moleskine. This is the year that it finally happened, and I couldn't resist. I had to get it. 

The Erin Condren Life Planner: My 2016 Life Planner

Now that we're in the last month of 2015, it's time to talk about planners for 2016. It has been a year of planner love for me, and I'm still obsessed. I try to keep it practical though. I want so many -- Kikki K, Kate Spade, Filofax, Rifle Paper Co, the Happy Planner -- it's ridiculous how many cool planners are out there. However, I can't stand not using a planner for an entire year, and I just can't think of collecting planners and never using them. That's why over the past month I thought long and hard about what worked for me and what didn't work during the past year, and I had to pin down exactly what I want to use for next year. I decided that I will be using three like I did this year -- one for work, one as my journal, and one as my life planner. [Check out these posts -- Midori Traveler's Notebook: My Life Planner + My 2015 Journal and Work Planner.] Next year, it will only be slightly different. I'm merging my life planner and journal, then using a separate work planner like always, and I'm starting a separate creative pursuits planner.  

Let's start with my life planner for 2016, the Erin Condren Life Planner. I've been using my Midori Traveler's Notebook this entire year and I still love it to bits, but I felt like I needed more space. Next year, it will be my planner for all my creative projects, but for everyday things, I'm moving to the ECLP. I've been wanting this planner forever actually, but it's pretty pricey, and for the longest time I kept holding off on buying it. Then I told my friend Clang about it, she loved it, and we thought we could save a lot on shipping if we order together. When we checked the website back in November, we saw that the limited edition rose gold planner was back just in time for the new year. When it first came out several months ago, I let it slip by even if I was so tempted to get it, because I still had my planners for the year and I didn't want an 18-month planner. The holiday release sealed the deal. I wasn't going to let it go again. 

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - What's In My Kipling 100 Pens Case

My pen collection has grown considerably lately, what with all the scrapbooking and planner stuff I've been doing. I heard about the Kipling 100 Pens Case, which is well-loved by the creative community and immediately thought -- that is so perfect! As it turned out, I know someone who works at Kipling, and she was a huge help in helping me get it. [Thanks Ate Millet!] It's not available locally, so it had to be sourced from Hong Kong. I got it a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy with it.

The Kipling 100 Pens Case is, as its name says, a case that can fit 100 pens. I love that it's so roomy, and not only do I store my pens in it, but it also holds the tools that I use most often. Here's a peek into what's inside. 

Midori Traveler's Notebook - My 2015 Setup and How I Decorated It

Hi! I'm J and I'm a planner addict. Well no, not really. I'm just really obsessed with my planners, especially my life planner, the Midori Traveler's Notebook. In my last post, I talked about how I chose it as my life planner, and what I got for my initial kit. Now I'll be sharing my setup for this year, and how I decorated it.

Midori Traveler's Notebook: My Life Planner

If you haven't noticed, I've been planner-obsessed lately. I fell down the rabbit hole into the world of creative planning, and found a new hobby. It couldn't have happened at a perfect time. I've been feeling stressed, and planners have become one of my outlets. I actually have three right now: a journal, a work planner, and my life planner -- a Midori Traveler's Notebook. 

My 2015 Journal and Work Planner

In my post introducing my love of planners, I promised to post about the planners I'm using this year, so here it is. Last December, I somehow ended up getting enough stickers for both the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Giving Journal and the Starbucks Planner. I resolved to make good use of them both, and so far, I've been able to do that.

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - Sticker and Pen Storage

Hi! In my last post, I talked about rediscovering an old love of mine, the planner. I touched on the stickers and pens I use with it, so this time around, I decided to make a quick post about how I store my stickers and pens. Over the past months, my sticker and pen stash has grown, and until now, I've just been throwing all of it into a Muji bag along with my scrapbooking paraphernalia. The stickers got smooshed, and I had to rummage through the bag every time I needed a pen, so it eventually came to a point where I just had to get organized and find decent storage.

This is what I ended up with! 

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - The Start of Planner Love

2015 has been crazy so far, but luckily, I've been feeling crafty lately, and that's becoming a great outlet for me. I joined the wonderful world of Project Life (a type of scrapbooking), and I decorated my office cube (with a bunch of doughnuts). I'm surprised at how much fun I've been having!

My most recent creative activity has become a daily one. I've discovered the very stress-relieving art of planner-using! It's a new year, and that usually means I have a new planner, since December in the Philippines is all about collecting stickers for planners. I'm always in coffee shops so I never had any problems getting the coffee shop planners, and it has become kind of a tradition for me to get planners every year, ever since Starbucks started the whole planner thing. However, last year, it was the other way around. The planners ended up as an excuse to get coffee as a break from the office vending machine, which has become too familiar to me. As a result, I got both of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Starbucks planners. I've been using the Starbucks one as my work planner/notebook, while the CBTL one has become my daily life planner. I'll talk about that more in another post though.

Erasable Pilot Frixion pens from National Bookstore

For now, I want to share how I've been using my daily planner. Let me tell you, it has been such an outlet and a time management helper for me! I've always had paper planners and journals because I remember things better when I write them down. I've tried using my phone or my old HP travel companion as a planner, but that didn't work out. I need to write things down.

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - My Doughnut-themed Office Desk

The creative bug bit me pretty hard lately, and I've just been tinkering with a lot of things around me. A few months ago, I saw that my officemate's desk (I don't know her name) had a silver and white theme, and felt inspired to decorate my own desk. These are pics of my first cube at my fairly new workplace. I've since moved, but the decor is still the same. 

 Doughnuts!

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - My First Project Life Album aka My First Foray into Scrapbooking

Hello! Happy new year! It's been a while, I know. The last part of 2014 was incredibly busy for me, and I really didn't have any time to spare for The Blue Purse. I felt bad about neglecting my little corner on the Internet, so I'm back, with a new year's resolution to always make time for this site. I hope I get to stick to it!

So it's a new year, and with new beginnings come new things. My new something is scrapbooking. It has always been in my life, because my mom made tons of scrapbooks for recipes, pictures, newspaper articles she loved, and the like. I loved it. I'm quite relentless about documenting things, and I really wanted to do some memory-keeping of my own, but I always thought it was a lot of work. There was too much cutting and pasting and whatnot for me so I never got into it.

Then last year, I discovered Project Life, and my thinking changed. With it, all you have to do is get an album, insert cards and photos into pocket pages, and you're done! If you're feeling more creative, and you want to do some cutting and pasting, you can too, with embellishments and other accessories. Project Life made scrapbooking so easy.

Over the past few months, I've slowly been collecting supplies. I looked for local suppliers because I really hate having to deal with customs and international shipping, and I'm so glad I found a few. I just got stuff I need for a basic album just to test it out and see how I like it. I also dug up the DIY supplies I somehow accumulated during my wedding preparations (cutters, alphabet stamps, Muji pens), then I bought a couple of Sharpies, pens, and stamps, and I was good to go. I had to wait until I had the time to actually do it though, and I finally found the opportunity during the long holiday stretch.