Bullet Journaling

Hello hello!

Long time no see.... I miss blogging. I miss having TIME for blogging. This full-time-mum-part-time-teacher gig is a lot of work. And part time teaching is only part time at school... there is still plenty to be done at home on your "days off". And three kids. One with allergies. All the things.
Buuut... I wouldn't change it. I do love it, and it's the closest I think I'll get to finding that elusive work/life balance.

And it's school holidays! And I'm giving myself a whole week of looking at nothing to do with school, so; hello blogging!

Actually, I wanted to check in to share something really cool that I've started recently. A couple of weeks ago I was waiting to board my flight back to Qld (oooh travelling! Fun!! More on that later!!) I was flicking through pinterest, and stumbled across an article about Bullet Journalling. This lead to more searching on pinterest, and googling, and youtube, and before I knew it I had fallen into a giant bullet journalling rabbit hole. And I'm so glad I did!

So what is this bullet journaling you ask? Well; if you want the purist definition, there's no better place to check than this website. This is the official home of bullet journalling, by its creator Ryder Carroll. But the cool thing about bullet journalling is that you can make it whatever you want it to be for you. It's flexible like that. Have a look at this blog if you want to see what got me really intrigued by the whole thing.  Kara from Boho Berry is a crazy-creative bullet journalist, and her blog and youtube videos really got me inspired to give the whole thing a good go.

My spin on bullet journalling (or Bujo, as the cool kids say) is that it's kind of like one beautiful notebook that you use to organise, write lists, make notes, journal, and generally be creative. Does that sound like my cup of tea or what? I love journaling and writing lists; I have dozens of pieces of paper floating around my house with random scraps of thought, and notebooks and stationery are somewhat of an addiction of mine.  I loved the idea of having it all in one place, with a plan to keep it organised, and even better, to hopefully keep LIFE organised. In the end it was a no-brainer for me really.

It's like an organiser, but you get to set it up the way you like it, and you can do it differently every week or day if you really want to. And lists! I love lists. It's like my BRAIN in a book and it's so good to get some of it out!

Anyway, I'm not here to gab on, bullet journaling is much more interesting if you actually look at it instead of just reading it. I've had a lot of fun setting mine up. I used a notebook that I had at home (from Aldi), that wasn't really used, and has lovely thick good quality paper. I gathered up my collection of Staedtler triplus fineliners (my favourite pens), and I got to it!

I"m not going to show you my first few pages.... they were a bit scraggly until I found my rhythm, figured out what I wanted to include and the look I wanted. I'm in a good bujo mojo now.

So here's what this week's spread looks like. A weekly spread is basically just like a snapshot of the week. There's also a monthly spread, which is where you do longer term planning. This was my second weekly spread, and it is HUGELY different to my first one. In it you can see what I"m planning to make for dinner each night, and what the weather is meant to be doing. I've put in birthdays and special occasions, and started planning out the week.

This is how I've designed next week's spread. I LOVE that I can try new things every week. No chance for boredom here! Next week I've added a journal card into the schedule. On the back side is a space for each day of the week, and my idea is to write at least one thing I'm grateful for each day. This is something we used to do every day as a family, and it is a good practise to be in. All in one book is going to help me to keep much more on top of little things like this!

Then you move into your dailies. This is where you get into the nitty-gritty of your days. I list specific tasks/goals for the day, take notes of things that have happened, and do a touch of journaling. That's what that card I've taped in is for. You don't plan ahead for your dailies (that's what the weekly spread is for). It's an as-you-go kind of deal, which is fabulous because you can't run out of space! Some days might only take two lines, and sometimes you want a whole page. I've decided to stick with this journaling card bizzo for when I want to write specific memories or feelings and journaly type things.  Lists work so well for me. It's so much more motivating if I have things in writing in front of me than if I am just filing them away in my ahead. That filing system is not great. And crossing things off a list gives me SUCH satisfaction. 

Then there are the lists. I believe the official word is "collections". There are no rules for these and you can use them however and for whatever you want. They're super handy and the family has enjoyed being involved in brainstorming with me. Although Pete did have a good laugh at the title of this list! A list for lists! Maybe I do have a problem, Ha! Here are some of my favourites.

The kids LOVED making this list with me. It's obviously a verrrrry long term list of dreams! And yay, I'll get to cross something off my blogging list! I'm hoping keeping a list of things I want to blog about will help me to pop in here more often... rather than just those fleeting "Oh I should blog about...." thoughts that fly out of my head as soon as they land there. Time will tell.

The school holidays list is a bit  more populated now than it was when I took that pic! And we have marked off a few things every day. The kids love having a look each morning and deciding which thing they'd like to do. And the yarn projects page is to keep track of what I'm working on. There are definitely more WIP's floating round my house that need to be tacked onto that list.

The 'next visit' page is for when you think "Oh, next time we go to x store we really must get some...." Because I don't know about you but I'll always end up at x store and think, "What was that thing I said I wanted to get again??" No more!! The Chore Score page is probably my new favourite invention.  The kids work on this together. Each time they do one of their 'jobs' (without any grumbling or complaining) we colour in a square. It's a teamwork thing; they need to get all the way to the centre, and when they do we get to go on a family date! It's been very motivating for them.

The kids also had a lot of input into this list. The idea is to collect the meals that we all really love, so when it comes to menu planning each week, we can easily get ideas. The Food For Reuben page is for my facebook page.

This is another of my favourites. It tracks my steps each day, weight loss, my sugar-free days (we've gone a bit lax and I'm working hard to get back on track), and my cycle.

 I've always kept lists of the books I've been reading, but it's funner when it's pretty! And yes, I"m re-reading my Anne books. I've also got a page in my journal of my favourite quotes from them too <3 p="">
Anyway, that's just a small taste of my little foray into bullet journaling so far... I hope you enjoyed it! I know I sure am. So much so that I was motivated enough to tidy up the dumping ground that was formerly known as my desk!

 It's kinda wonderful to have a creative space again. I'm determined to make this stick!!

So what do you think? Yay or Nay. Does bullet journaling float your boat?? Would you give it a go?

Talk soon!

Zoey x

Make a Quilt!

Seriously, I have just finished a quilt for Reuben’s cot (which he’s moving into soon!) and I thought I’d show you how to do it so you can make one too! It’s the easiest quilt ever… if you can sew in a straight line then you can make it… and seriously it wouldn’t even matter if you couldn’t sew in a straight line, you could still make this quilt look good!

Also, as far as quilts go, it’s quite inexpensive to make, since it’s made completely from flannelette. So as far as I’m concerned, you have no excuse not to give this quilt a go!!

I’ve made other quilts using this technique but always smaller. I have a rainbow one that I use with Reuben.. it goes everywhere with us and sits in the pram or highchair or on the ground for a playmat if we’re at a friend’s house. They’re soft and thick enough to be comfortable. They also wash and wear really well, because the more you wash them the better they look!

Okay. So the first thing you need to do is choose fabric. I got this cute cot panel with jungle animals a few months ago, and decided to chop it up for the purposes of a cute quilt. For this blanket, you need to cut out lots of squares, all of flannelette. The quilt is made of four layers. So make sure each of your patchwork squares is a stack of four layers.

To be honest with you I didn’t even use a tape measure for the project. The size of my squares was based on the animal pictures from my original panel. The other blankets I have made had much smaller squares. You can do it however you want! And I ripped my fabric. I don’t usually do that because it makes your fabric fray (especially with flannelette) but in this quilt, that turns out to be a good thing, so go ahead, tear it. It feels good, doesn’t it? Okay. So make your stacks of squares, and lay out your quilt to get it into a design that you like. Now you start work on the squares. Half of your squares are going to have your fluffy, frayed design, and the other half are going to be plain. Obviously, I made my animal prints the plain ones, but like before, do what suits your fabric!

For your plain squares, you want to sew across them, from corner to corner like a big X. This really is just to hold all of your layers together. You don’t want them to come apart. If you are using printed squares, choose a light coloured cotton that will blend in. If your squares are plain, you might like to choose a funky bright colour to make it part of your design.

Your alternate squares are going to have the funky fluffy frayed look. To achieve this you have to follow a couple of steps. In all the other quilts I’ve made like this I’ve only used this diagonal idea. Basically, you need to sew straight lines about 1.5cm apart. They can be narrower or wider if you want, but you need to make sure you can fit your scissors in-between the lines.

Because the next step is to cut in-between each of your sewed lines.

For the love of God, please don’t cut straight through your square. You need to make sure that your bottom layer stays intact, you only want to be cutting through the top three layers. Otherwise, your whole square is going to end up in pieces, and you will probably end up in tears. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.

Once you’re done, you’ll have a sore hand, and a square that looks something like this. See the pretty blue layers in-between showing through? Make sure that your inside layers are a nice contrasting colour, because you will see them.

For this quilt I got a little shmancy and sewed some different designs in my fluffy squares. You can do pretty much any design you want, just remember that you need to be able to fit your scissors between the lines.

Trippy huh?

Next, lay out all your squares and get ready to sew them all together! I like labelling my squares, because I have a three year old who likes to rearrange things.

Okay. Sewing together. The thing with the quilt is that you don’t want to hide your seams. They’re part of what makes the thing look so darn great. So when you piece your quilt together, the trick is to sew with the ‘wrong’ sides facing each other, and the ‘right’ sides out.

You probably want to give about a 1.5cm seam allowance. Make sure you’re catching all of your layers, and try really hard not to let your cut strips bunch up or fold over.

I usually sew up each row, then sew the rows together. Make sure that you have your rows facing the right way up when you put them together, because there’s nothing more frustrating than having to unpick a row when you find you have an upside down giraffe. Again, not speaking from experience or anything!

Ta da! Now there are only three more steps…. the first one is that you need to sew a ‘hem’ around the entire edge of your blanket. Not a real hem, this quilt is far too cool for boring things like hemming. Just sew a line about 1.5-2cm all the way around the edge of your blanket.

Your second-last step is to do little snips around your ‘hem’. You want to cut about 1.5cm apart or so, and don’t cut into your hem line. This step just helps make the fraying on the outside not get too out of hand.

Your last step is to wash your blanket. Seriously, this is an important step, as it starts of the fraying process and makes your blanket look awesome. If you can put it through the dryer too, even better.

And there you have it! You might like to tidy up some of your edges, and some of the longer strands on your frayed squares will need to be trimmed. This is seriously one of the easiest quilts you could make.

{And in case you’re wondering this is what the back looks like}

Now, what are you waiting for?? Go sew!!

Fairy Garden

In an effort to counteract some of the not-so-fun times Maysi Bird and I have been having lately, I am trying to invest some real quality time in her. Thing that are just about her and me, and things that she loves. I think some of her recent behaviour stems from her trying to adjust to her new role as big sister, and her now having to share Papa and I. So I’m looking for ways that we can make special memories and have some time out together.

Today, we made a fairy garden.

Yesterday, we ventured out in the rain and gathered our goods. Mayana chose plants and fairy stones from Bunnings, and we went to a little local garden-pot store who I knew sold little fairies. We found two fairies and a little glass clown, and some other little goodies that looked like they belonged in Fairyland. I think about spent about $20.00 all up, and we used a pot that we already had at home.

This afternoon, after her rest (during which no powder was distributed this time…) we went out to the veranda armed with garden gloves and spades and set to work.

Our fairies have a little bush of delicious smelling marjoram in one corner, a special fairy tree in the other, and six little fairy flower plants. I really hope they don’t all die! I gave Mayana the choice on plants, within a range of fairly low-maintenance varieties. They have a fairy footpath, lined with fairy stones and paved with silver glitter, and a special glass garden bed to sit in.

A fairy garden can never have too much glitter!

Mayana’s brilliant imagination kicked in straight away. I hope this can be a positive outlet for my over-imaginative little girl!

Our fairies also have some secret hidden treasure.

And I have one very happy little girl. I’m looking forward to adding bits and pieces to our little Fairyland, and watching our garden grow (fingers crossed!!).

And Reuben…? Well he was happy to be outside of the house, hanging out on the veranda in his cool highchair watching all the goings-on.

I love my kids.

Make it Yourself {Ribbon Board}

I saw something like this at the markets the other day, and instead of paying the $20+ they were asking for it, I decided to have a go at making my own. I’m so glad I did, because it was super incredibly easy, and cost me next to nothing.

All you need is:

* A Canvas (mine is 30cm x 30cm, and cost me $3.99 at a discount store)
* A piece of cute cotton-print fabric to fit over the canvas (I used some I already I had)
* Thumbtacks ($2.20 for a box of 200 from a Newsagency, I used about 20 of them)
* Some ribbon and ric-rac (I used some I already had)
* Some hooks (I used these ones from Ikea, which I already had. These hooks have plain hooks, as well as hooks with clips attached- they are meant to be for hanging shower curtains)

Cut the fabric to the right size, so that there is enough to wrap around the edges of the fabric and pin to the back. I cut it with pinking shears, to keep it neat and stop it from fraying, without needing to do any sewing or overlocking. Then you simply pin it onto the canvas.

The frame of the one I had bought was reasonably soft wood, and quite easy to push the thumbtacks into. I pulled the fabric nice and taut as I pinned each side, so that there were no creases and the fabric was tight across the surface of the canvas.

I made sure the corners were all tucked in and folded neatly.

Next, I picked a variety of ribbons and lace and ric-rac from my collection, and arranged it in a way that I thought looked good. I ran two lengths of fabric vertically down the board, but you could do more if you wanted. Again, I cut these long enough to wrap around to the back of the canvas, and pinned them in place with thumbtacks.

I plaited together three colours of ric-rac, and pinned them horizontally along the top of the canvas, to hang the clip-hooks from.

I used the thumbtacks to secure five of the normal hooks along the bottom of the canvas.

And that was it! All that was left to do was to clip Mayana’s hair clips and bows to the lengths of ribbon, attach special hair-ties and headbands to the clip-hooks, and hang her hair-ties on the bottom hooks. I attached it to the wall Command Brand Picture Hanging Strips (which are completely fabulous for renters, I’m totally in love with them at the moment!)

Mayana loves it, and for once all of her ‘hair-candy’ is in the same spot, and easy to find. And – bonus – it also looks *really* cute hanging on her bedroom wall.

So have a go! This would have to be one of these easiest projects around.. no sewing.. not even any glue! I reckon these would make great presents for little girls, and all for about $5.00!