It’s no secret that I love notebooks and paper

I’m not a scrapbooker but ever since I bought my first pad of scrapbook paper, I’ve been hooked.

The colours, the sturdiness, the ease of using it…

I decided to make some scrapbook notebooks after I saw a tutorial for something similar on a blog (in the days before pinterest) otherwise I’d link to it.

What you need:
scrapbook paper
hole punch
twine
gift tag (if gift)

How

1. Take 4-5 sheets of scrapbook paper
2. Fold them in half and tear down the middle. This is a great craft for recovering perfectionists. You will twitch at first at the thought of not cutting neatly but when you put it together and see how cute it looks and how the torn edges add to the cuteness, you’ll smile.
3. Fold all the paper in half again.
4. Punch along the folds (spine of the book) as far in as your punch will reach.
5. Thread the twine through the holes (I’m afraid I was experimenting mostly and I still don’t have the exact method…) – keep going until your book feels secure. I don’t like flimsy so once I think it’s okay, I thread one more loop through.
6. Make sure the twine is on the outside.
7. Tie a lovely big bow and call it a day.
8. I tie a gift tag to the twine with a “made for you by Marcia” note.

Quick, easy and very, very pretty.

What to use it for:

1. A standard notebook
2. A book of lists
3. a year in review book (I’m keeping one this year and it’s been fabulous – I will blog at the end of December)
4. Little scrapbook
5. Journal

(all of these for you or a friend, of course)

Do you love notebooks and scrap paper too?

What do you use scrap paper for besides scrapbooking?

I’m learning a lot about myself through this book-writing process.

I’ve said often that I’m a recovering perfectionist and now I’m learning that when I’m under pressure, Perfectionism wants to rear her head.

An example…

When I thought about what I wanted to include in this book, I thought about who my reader might be. Someone who is likely overwhelmed due to disorganisation.

Such a person is not going to want to pore through every single thing I know about organising.

Bear in mind, I could quite easily write a short book about paper, another about email, etc.

So I purposed to keep it short and to the point.

I wrote the book and all was well.

Now in the reviewing process, I find myself wanting to add reams and reams more and I’ve had to reel in that perfectionistic streak and keep to my original purpose.

Just thought you’d like to know that I go through the same things you do.

Living an intentional life takes work. Hard work.

I’ve got some good momentum going now and I think it’ll only take another 4 – 6 hours before I am print-ready

I could be wrong but I’m not going to put myself under pressure as it’s all self-induced

Although it would be really nice to have this whole thing off my to-do list before the end of the year, right?!

Are you a perfectionist?

Do you still think it’s a good thing to be one?

Which of your goals do you want to cross off your 2011 to-do list?

PS Do you need help?

Did you see my post about the washi tape binder clips on Friday?

I kept to my word which means the reason I was able to post is that I finished the 3 things on my book to-do list.

Yay me!

The public accountability worked so well (because I did a few extra things too) that I’ve decided to let you help hold me accountable again this week.

This week I need to:

1. format the content according to guidelines
2. add some additional information (I noticed they want some extra bits and bobs)
3. merge two sections that have similar content into one

I’m giving myself until Friday

Until then, have a wonderful week!

How are YOU doing on your November goals?

So I’m very slightly addicted to washi tape at the moment.

I get my packages delivered to work.

A package of lovely orange tape arrived for me and I couldn’t wait to start playing with it.

This is why all my boring black binder clips are all sporting orange at the moment.

So quick and easy and I did them all while chatting to a client on the phone

What’s this got to do with organising?

Well, we all know organising is MUCH more fun when things are pretty and when you’re happy to use them.

Do you like washi tape?

Have you decorated any of your office supplies yet?

Sometimes I’m slow.

This would be one of those times.

Some of you know I’ve wanted to write a book.

The book was done in July this year and still needs a couple of things done before being ready to publish:

1. proofreading
2. write back and front matter (ha! it doesn’t even have a name yet)
3. buy ISBN number
4. book and pay designer to do the cover
5. someone has to format it for the Kindle
6. someone has to put it onto Amazon
7. the book needs to go to print

Of course, aside from all that, I have to do some marketing of the book on this and other blogs, etc, etc.

Anyway, there are things on that list that I can do… I just haven’t.

And it’s just occurred to me – I need to make myself accountable in a public forum to get those things done.

The thing that most motivates me is accountability – how about you?

So here it is – I’m not going to blog on this blog until 2, 3 and 4 are done. The rest of those items are dependent on other people.

My aim is to see you back here on Friday…. wish me well.

We had a photo shoot done recently and I’ve got to tell you… I am in love with it.

Not from a vanity point of view but just that it is so me.

Of course it does help that everybody who sees the pics says they love them

I’m still deciding which to have printed on canvas.

Part of my process is to print 10 X 15s of the ones I’m thinking of printing BIG just to make sure.

It’s much cheaper to spend R3 a pic to make sure you’re happy with the quality, colour, etc. than to spend R500 on a canvas and it is not exactly what you had in mind.

Last year after looking through pics on my computer I thought I’d have a particular pic printed on canvas. Good thing I had the small prints done because I changed my mind.

Back to this year’s shoot.

I loved so, so many I had 150 printed.

And it has been the best thing ever.

I had an album that takes 100 pics so on Friday night I sat and arranged the best 150 in the album.

Let me tell you… I can’t stop looking through it.

I’ve said before that I think we all (a collective all) don’t print enough pics now that we’re digital.

E.g. When we visited Australia in 2004, we had about 8 rolls of film developed. That’s 288.

Most of those except the obvious duds – I’d say about 250 – are in photo albums.

When we visited Thailand in 2006, we also took hundreds of pics and I have 2 printed. Yes, you read that right – TWO!

And yet I love looking at them.

So I’ve decided on a little project once my Christmas organising is out of the way.

I’m going to haul out those discs and get our travel pics printed and put in albums.

Do you have your photos printed regularly?

How do you display them?

Photos taken by Jeanette Verster (click through to see a few of the others)

When I wanted to write about Christmas this week, I wondered if it was too early.

Then I saw two Christmas posts on a couple of my favourite “intentional living” blogs and I felt like I was in good company.

So… onwards and upwards.

When you think about Christmas, what are the aspects that overwhelm you and stress you out?

For me, it’s not knowing what’s happening.

I’m a girl who loves a plan and I like to know who’s hosting the lunch and what I have to bring.

I also like to have clear in my mind what we’re doing about gifts and cards.

Here’s a quick list I made just to get my high-level thinking going:

1. Who will we send Christmas cards to? Do I have enough or do I have to buy some more?
2. Who are we buying gifts for? What is our budget per person/ family?
3. What are we doing for Christmas lunch?
4. How much decorating are we doing?
5. Which activities do we want to participate in?
6. What caused us too much stress last year that we want to let go of? (too many socials, too much spending, etc.)

Does this list help you?

I suggest you print out these 6 questions and take 5 – 10 minutes over a cup of tea to answer them honestly.

Your answers may not look like those of other people but if you embrace YOUR vision, you’ll be a lot happier.

Personally I found that reading too many decorating blogs around this time made me feel inadequate as I’m very minimalistic!

That’s one thing I’m going to let go of

And a quick announcement

I’m doing a free workshop called Organising for a meaningful Christmas at Christian Family Church in Atlas Road, Boksburg on Mon 21 Nov from 7 – 8:30.

We’re meeting at Solo’s restaurant and everyone is welcome. Please bring R20 for your Christmas planner.

How do you get ready for Christmas/ the holidays?

I found these absolutely adorable name tags and knew they’d be perfect for our kids’ church bags.

I typed their names, printed, laminated, cut and punched.

At this point you could use ribbon to attach them to baskets, school backpacks, etc.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

They would also make very nice gifts for kids if you already added the binder rings.

How have you used free printables lately?

pic from our recent photo shoot – I love it!

An interesting thing happened the other day.

I’d been wanting to get some new black sandals for work for awhile but since I really don’t like shoe shopping (bags are more my thing), I’d procrastinated.

Well, within two days, all three pairs of sandals broke.

And I was forced to go get a new pair.

But then while in the shop, because I was desperate, I just took the best pair to suit my style.

I wasn’t in love with the shoes but I needed them.

On Sunday night when I thought about what I’d wear the following day, and thought about wearing the new shoes, I felt myself deflate inside.

And then I realised something.

These shoes don’t make me feel happy and I probably won’t wear them much.

Can you guess what happened next?

I took them back yesterday and now own another pair of shoes that do put a spring in my step.

What was the point of telling you all that?

Live intentionally.

Don’t settle.

If something’s not making you happy, do something about it.

And only wear things that you love otherwise you’ll be wasting your money

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Is it time to get your home organised for the holidays?

Do you need to take action so that your house welcomes you again?

Stop making excuses. The first step to fixing anything is admitting there’s a problem.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of.

You can work through the online e-course at your own pace and go as slow or as fast as you want.

Have a look here and remember to grab your free sample on that page

And for any orders of anything for November and December, you’ll get my free Christmas Planner.

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Are you settling for anything in your life?

And on a less serious note, do you like shoe shopping?