new year, new planner. happy 2017!

I have always had a wall calendar at home to track family birthdays and school schedules. I am so excited about the photo calendar I made using Shutterfly this year - Whimsical Florals style. It's a bit smaller than my normal wall calendar at 8" x 11" (so I have to write appointments really small), but I love the photo quality and how easy it was to customize. Since it is full of photos of my kids I chose not to share the final result here. Trust me - it looks fabulous!

I am also starting a paper planner this year that I plan to use for journaling and memory keeping. I picked up a Heidi Swapp Gold Stripe Monthly Planner (by American Crafts) last year. I'm hoping to add a few photos every month and business cards or other mementos from our adventures. It is also a great way to keep myself accountable for personal goals and to do lists. I love lists!

This was also the first chance I've taken to use my Fuse tool. The Heidi Swapp planner comes with one pocket page for each month and I want to alternate shaker pockets, photos, and matching Heidi Swapp gold foil cards. I botched the first attempt at using the Fuse and had to trim a thin slice off the top of the pocket page. That sucker was really hot and melted right through everything when I went too slow.

I have a bin full of planner "stuff" out on the table to keep things quick and easy. I know if I get more than a day or two behind it will be hard to ever catch up. And the whole point for me, is to capture the special little details every day that may slip my memory.

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope to capture all kind of happy memories and make lots of time for crafts in 2017.