Happy Days in My Gratitude Journal

When I have the chance to capture happiness I do it! And when you share it and document it, the happiness lives on forever! It's like you can relive the moment time and time again. I guess you could say that I often use my Gratitude Journal as a diary as well, often telling the story of my day. Because, I have learned over my many years, I will not remember the details.

THIS WEEK IN MY GRATITUDE JOURNAL

The Flagship Gratitude Journal
We have a family tradition that Gordon takes each of the girls out for a "Date Day with DaDa" the day before their birthday party. It's their time to hang out, eat lunch wherever they choose and just enjoy the day together.

And this year, Victoria has been enjoying the time she has with her DaDa on their twice-weekly basketball practice rides. It's a 30-minute ride each way and usually involves a stop at Arby's on the way home because she's famished, even though she already ate dinner at home!

I love that she wants G to take her, but will settle for me if he's traveling. It's a happy memory I don't want to forget.

As women, we have to adjust our minds and give ourself grace. We cannot be all things to all people all the time. And we should be okay with that.

Bracket Die Cut Set  |  Shipping Tags

On the back of my Happy page, I added in a speech bubble journaling card and attached it with a strip of washi tape. Journaling cards are a great to carry around in your purse or tote to journal on in a few spare moments and then add into your journal at a later time. And they really don't add too much bulk.

And if you've ever wondered what that "something new" you could be grateful for when you've been journaling for years, let your page be your prompt. Here, the page is stamped with a heart inside a speech bubble, so I went with the them of love.

But not what I love, rather what my Sweetie loves. You could choose what your dog loves, what you love about Thursday's, you get the idea. It was a fun departure and gave me a different perspective on thankfulness.

Journaling Cards on a Ring

I've been working on getting a flip-thru of this fun ring of pretty paper and journal cards completed.I'm just not really all that fond of me and videos. I know I've promised, so I WILL do it soon. 

And you might just see a DIY Kit with a collection of pretty papers and a binder ring to get you started in the shop very soon. How fun will that be?

I continue to be amazed at the accomplished young women we are raising. They really don't let anything get them down, always striving to do more, be more, achieve more. If only I could have had some of their spunk back in the day.

And this little nugget of gratefulness comes from the combination of the LOVE you journal card and the arrows paper below it. I might use the paper below to journal even more or may just leave it as is. Either way, I'm happy with that I documented part of our story.

Set of 4 Journal Cards - includes Love You

In My Filofax Planner
I keep a few gratitude journaling pages in my Filofax planner in the chance that I have a few moments in between this and that. I hate wasting time, and instead of being on my phone scrolling mindlessly, I'll put my time to good use and jot down an idea or two.

Printable Gratitude Journal Pages

WHAT IS #ILOVETHURSDAYTHANKS

What is #ilovethursdaythanks? It's a way for me, and you, to connect with other like minded souls. Those of us that find joy in documenting our thankful thoughts and grateful moments. Those moments that sometimes could be so quickly forgotten, those thoughts that haunt us and won't let us go, those words that touched our heart when we needed them most, those people who made a difference just by being there.

Join us over on Instagram and share your #ilovethursdaythanks.

WHAT I USED

|   Flagship Gratitude Journal   |  Journaling Cards   |   Printable Planner Pages   |

|   Shipping Tags   |   Paper Die Cut Collections   |

Free October Calendar

Your Free October calendar cutie is here!

We're kicking off the first day of October with Fall Break {the girls are ecstatic over the prospect of sleeping in} and pulling out our Halloween bin to decorate the house. It's not my favorite thing to decorate for, but the kids enjoy it so I always play along with it. They've been dying to hang up their glow-in-the-dark skeletons for two weeks!

download

DIY Magnetic Bookmarks

I am always in search of a bookmark. Always. Most of the time, I end up using slips of paper, receipts, candy wrappers or sticky notes. I am not one to turn down a page, I cannot stand dog-eared corners, so I'm always in neeeeed of a bookmark.

The problem is that I can't always remember my page number because it's not all that unusual for me to be reading three, or six, different books at any one time.

LIGHTBULB MOMENT

And then I had an idea that would cost me aboslutely nothing...DIY magnetic bookmarks!

If you don't have a stash of those freebie magnets we all seem to pick up from time to time, you can also find magnetic blanks at craft stores and online.

SUPPLIES YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN BOOKMARKS

• choose your favorite paper
• grab a glue stick
• some scissors
• and your stash of freebie magnets*

I suppose you can use any adhesive, I just like using a glue stick because it allows me to line up my paper and move it around just a bit before it becomes permanently adhered. You'll see what I mean once we get started.

And, if you don't have a stash of those freebie magnets we all seem to pick up from time to time, you can also find magnetic blanks at craft  and discount stores and online.

TUTORIAL

1. Apply adhesive to your cardstock, I like using a glue stick, being careful to only apply glue to the area where the magnet will be attached and to also leave a gap between your magnets. This will be where your bookmark is folded over.

2. Now we'll trim along the longer straight edge.

3. Along the two shorter edges, you'll want to score the cardstock lightly so as not to pierce the paper. You just want a light score to help you fold over the two sides of the magnet more easily.

4. After folding your magnets over onto each other, we could call it done, but...

...if you're a crafty DIY'er you'll probably want to do something to make your magnets a little more unique. You could use your corner rounder or your scissors to make it a cute little pennant shape. I didn't add any other embellishments, just because I didn't want extra bulk, but you could layer your papers like this: 

WAYS TO USE MAGNETIC BOOKMARKS

Now, your cute little bookmarks aren't just for holding your page in your favorite book. You can also use them...

YOUR PLANNER

Even your tiniest little scraps of pretty paper can be utilized for tons of sweet little magnetic bookmarks. I'm using this one as a page marker that helps me to flip to TODAY whenever I need to.

When I open my Filofax, I can see where my bookmark is and know that that's today's current calendar page.

Oh, so you saw that larger polka dotted bookmark, too?

That's the bookmark I use for my month on two page for my forward planning.  I only keep a few months of my daily pages pages in my planner and with this larger magnetic bookmark, I can spot it in an instant and am able to flip right to my monthly calendar pages.

YOUR TRAVELERS NOTEBOOKS

I often photograph my travelers notebook pages for monthly listing challenges and these magnetic bookmarks work beautifully when wanting to hold down a page. Or even as a bookmark to find the list for that day's journaling.

You can see more of the lists in this travelers notebook journal here and find fun patterns and solids in  the sizes Standard Midori, A6, Field Notes, Pocket, Passport and Mini in my shop here.

YOUR BIBLE

When I do my devotional reading, I sometimes take notes, underline passages and want to make sure I can find my place again.

AND YOUR MEMORY KEEPING PROJECTS

You know how much I love mini books and these little magnets are a great way to add texture and a whole lot of fun. I have so many fun mini books in my shop here.

If you make your own magnetic bookmarks, tag me on Instagram, I'm @iloveitallshop, with the hashtag #iloveitallshop so I can take a peek at your cutie pie magnetic bookmark creations. Or leave me link in the comments so I can take peek at yours.

Printable Goals Worksheet

In my last post I added a printable Goals worksheet, link at bottom of post, to my personal size Filofax outlining a few of my intentions for 2018. The download has sizes ranging from Micro all the way up to A5,  so I printed out one for my A6 Chic Sparrow and my Field Notes journals as well.

Printable Goals List for Filofax + Travelers Notebooks

Projects Lined Notes | part of a 3 sheet set

Personally, I haven't made resolutions in years. But, I do like to set goals and writing them down is a way for me to "remind" myself of my good intentions. If you're the same, print out a sheet or two to tuck inside your planner or journal as personal reminder to yourself make 2018 a very good year.

A few of my goals for 2018 are:

• read more | I read mostly for pleasure and 2017 was a great year for that. I read more books than I have in a very long time. As much as I love holding a real book in my hands and turning the pages, reading on my Kindle Paperwhite {make a Kindle cover for under $1.00 with my easy peasy tutorial} has allowed me to read and finish more books than ever. And, without those pesky overdue fines from the library because I didn't make it back into town in time! 
• spend more time outdoors | Being a small business owner responsible for all aspects of making it run smoothly, I tend to spend more time in my craft studio that overlooks the creek than I do outdoors splashing and splashing IN the creek. I must change that, life is too short to work all day without a little play time.
• date night | I am so often reminded that a little "we" time goes a long way in making our family time all that much better. Too often we think of the family unit and forget that we need time alone together to make it all work.
• think first, then speak | Yes! I too often speak my mind when I should just allow what is on my mind to remain unspoken.

I have more to add, but they're for my eyes only, wink, wink.

Countdown to Christmas Calendar | Free Download

A countdown to Christmas calendar and list of lists all in one? Yes please, sign me up. Holidays always ramp up my need for lists. Lists for gifts, to do lists, lists of things to buy, you get the idea: lists to keep my life organized. If you're the same, I'm so happy to share this Christmas calendar with you. Just print, trim and enjoy your holidays knowing you have a list.

PERSONAL SIZE PLANNERS

After trimming your Countdown to Christmas Calendar, just fold on the light grey line and fold to the back. You don't have to embellish with washi tape, but I like washi tape, so I do. It's one of the few things I do to decorate my planner pages.

Crochet Heart Paper Clip

I love it that I'll have one place to track all my lists. I can even use the back side to add more lists. I used 28 lb. bright white paper to print my Countdown to Christmas Calendar, which is thick enough for pens not to bleed through but not so thick that it adds too much bulk to my Filofax.

If you don't need the list page, just trim off the flap page {there's a line to guide you} and you're all set to tuck it into your planner as a dashboard, especially if you print it on cardtstock.

A5 AND HALF SIZE LETTER PLANNERS

Download the full size page calendar and trim to size for your favorite planner. Here's what it looks like trimmed from the full size page to fit inside a half-page planner notebook.

Set of Colorful Shipping Tags

CLIP IT UP

The kids can have their own Countdown to Christmas Calendar, too. After printing, slip your freebie under a clip board and use one of the Command Strip thingies to hang it low enough for the kids to color in each day that passes.

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT

Download your free Countdown to Christmas Calendar and enjoy the season.
Find the Spring Countdown here, more free downloads here and Filofax and Travelers Notebook posts.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

See this post from 2014 for more how-to ideas.

Christmas Embellishment Kits

Don't call me crazy, but I've loaded so many fun and colorful Christmas Embellishment Kits to the shop, it's just cray cray. Can I get a Ho Ho Ho? The countdown is on, just two months until Christmas, and now is as good a time as any to begin formulating your holiday memory keep projects. Use the coupon code IWANTIT20 to save 20% off your order of 2 or more items.

CHRISTMAS LABELS EMBELLISHMENT KIT

Christmas Labels Embellishment Kit | stickers, labels, ribbons, paper clips and tags

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EMBELLISHMENT KIT

Happy Holidays Christmas Embellishments | Pom Pom + Camper Paper Clips, Chipboard Die Cuts

CHRISTMAS BAGS EMBELLISHMENT KIT

Bags Embellishment Kit | Rhinestone Stickers, Canvas Tag, Crochet Heart

CHRISTMAS KIT WITH GOLD WASHI TAPE

Christmas Ephemera | Gold Washi Tape, Journaling Cards + Die Cuts

LABELS + LETTER STICKERS CHRISTMAS KIT

Green + Red Embellishment Kit | Ribbons, Stickers and Journaling Spots

More Christmas goodies in the I Love It All shop:  ART  |  MINI BOOKS  |  MIDORI INSERTS

Save 20% on your order, use the coupon code IWANTIT20 on 2 or more items at iloveitallshop.com