Jun 16, 2015 | Blogging, DIY
I’m a scheduler, and I love my To-Do lists more than anything. But…life is COMPLEX, and I can’t wander around with a million bits of paper with to do lists written on each. In managing this blog I need to be able to see at a glance all the days in the week – and the month – so I can plan out what I want to (ideally) post here. I’ve tried a digital calendar, which I’ve found doesn’t work for me because I like to jot ideas down on the side, rotate ideas for posts in and out of the hopper, or brainstorm away from the computer. I’ve tried a date book, which is too small for me to see the whole month at the size I need. And no matter what offline solution I’ve tried, I was constantly erasing things and having to rewrite posts on new days if I made the smallest change. Sooooo frustrating!
But now I think I’ve found the best solution to my blog planning problems: a DIY Blog Calendar, that uses washi tape as a way to organize posts once you’ve brainstormed them. No erasing necessary! And it’s super easy to put together. Here’s how to make your own DIY Washi Tape Blog Planner (which is yes, quite intuitive from the photos):
1. Print out your favorite calendar for the month. I turn off all my scheduled events and print a month’s view of iCal just so I can get the structure. I prefer to have a piece of paper for each month as I go, rather than using a laminated sheet and a dry erase marker, but you could do that too.
2. Tear small pieces of washi tape off, folding one edge under about 3/6″. This creates a tab for easy removal. I like to create a theme for my tape colors: one color is for DIY projects or my own designs; the other is for sponsored posts, reviews, or outfits.
3. Now comes the fun part: brainstorm! Write ideas for your posts, sponsored posts, reviews, whatever on each piece of tape. (I found that ballpoint pen or Sharpie worked best on the waxy washi tape.)
4. Then, once brainstormed, schedule into your calendar by sticking into the appropriate days. Some ideas won’t have a place just yet, so I left them floating at the top, ready to rotate into next month if needs be.
5. Follow the calendar for your posting schedule. At the beginning of each week stick your posts into the day you actually posted them (in case you missed any or the schedule moved around). Then you’ll always be up to date – and won’t miss any posts!
I like that this is a permanent way to collect your thoughts and keep your blog schedule on hand, but you can still move ideas around as you go. You could use this for anything; it doesn’t have to be a blog calendar! It could be just general life or a to-do list, and the washi tape makes it look so pretty!
Happy DIY’ing!
xo
Carly
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Feb 9, 2014 | DIY
Last week I shared how to make some easy pastel-colored French macarons, and today I’m going to share what to do with the ones you’ve made. You don’t want them just sitting around, right? How about making them into something even better, like a cute little stack holding a message of love for your sweetheart? It looks adorable sitting on a desk, makes a great gift for children or teachers, and is quite easy to make as the clay is soft enough to poke holes into without power equipment. Here’s how:
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Mar 18, 2013 | DIY
I am the only one drooling over completely-coordinated office accessories? I have most certainly fallen into the rabbit-hole of inspiration with Pinterest’s never-ending supply of inspirational office environments…and my own home office re-do that has been months in the making. I finally settled on a palette of white with pops of gold and cobalt blue for my office makeover, and to follow my own rules of things being easy on the eye and in a coordinating color palette I decided the pushpins for my inspiration corkboard desperately needed a facelift. I know, it’s total obsessing over the details. But it’s these details that can turn something run-of-the-mill into a statement. AND they make a great gift for a special someone. Here’s how to make your own:
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Feb 18, 2013 | Fashion
I’m in the middle of a huge (and hugely stressful!) home office makeover.
Since leaving my job in late January to focus more on my blog and other projects I’m working on, for the first time in 7 months I am now spending the majority of my time at home. For the first time in my I am lucky enough to live in a home that has an extra bedroom – which my husband and I have turned into our shared home office. (Up until we moved here I’ve been using my computer on tiny desks, shared desks, even the corner of my bed because there was no space for it. I was thrilled to have found a house that had an extra bedroom where I could finally have a dedicated space to work!)
My husband watches Stargate re-runs and plays marathon sessions of Warcraft there. And once every couple months dabbles on his flight simulator. [He is a pilot instructor, so it’s not an entirely random pursuit.]
I work. It’s where I blog, DIY, photograph projects, sew and mend, and think up new ideas. To me, it’s the hub of everything I do.
Whilst working at my job I had to bring my laptop into work constantly, so I would come home with it and simply put it on the dining room table to work, then pack it up and get ready to take it away again. Now that I am working out of home again, I don’t need to take my laptop anywhere – and we need our dining room table back. So I went to move it back into the office…and had a bit of a mini-meltdown last month.
Where I’ve had my laptop for years. Pretty horrible, right?
I’ve always hated how our home office looks. The walls are brown…a horrible pinky-brown that reminds me of cat puke. And it’s crammed with stuff! I can’t focus. There’s no space to work. I’ve neglected cleaning up and organizing it for months, even leaving some boxes in the same state they were when we moved in: full of jumbled, unsorted contents. There’s no color scheme or place for your eyes to land. And in a jumbled up, scattered place like this, I can’t be creative or think up anything new. It’s all my fault for just throwing stuff in there as I go. So I had a meltdown, refused to enter the room, and spent about 3 hours staring at it from the hallway, trying to figure out what to do.
(Plus, I can’t work facing the same way as World of Warcraft. I can’t tell my husband this – but there’s nothing more distracting than trying to update this blog and out of the corner of my eye seeing a bunch of warlocks gang up on the undead, beating them to a pulp. Or catching some flight training video of a crash re-enactment with a plane full of screaming people hurtling towards the alligator-infested Florida swamps. Nosiree, there’s no way I can get anything done in this current setup.)
But what makes a good office design? And what to do about my mess? I’ve been searching online, and analyzing tons of photos for weeks to find out the answers to this. And here’s what I’ve discovered are the keys to making your own space beautiful, calming, and inspiring: (more…)
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