January Goals and Organizing

The 1st month of the new year is almost behind us and I've been busy organizing and setting goals, both in my personal life and my business life. I've spent the month scouring the web for free downloads to help with my organizational needs and have put together 2 binders that I hope keep me on track for the  year.

Here are links to some of the free printables I used in my binders for both home/family life and business:

Printables Your Way

Get Buttoned Up

Grocery List Printable

The Peaceful Mom

Polaroid Frame by Splendid Fiins found HERE.

One of those sites, linked above, has a video showing how she organizes her binder. It was way too involved for me. I really just wanted a central place to keep everything for important family matters. I do have some detailed grocery list sheets and menu planners in there that I can pull out when I need them. Usually I just use my iPhone Calendar for our family schedule & the Note app for smaller grocery lists. But when I need to do a huge grocery shopping event, I do pull out that printable grocery list. My business binder is the more detailed one that I find myself using every week to stay on top of my to do list and projects. When you work from home, time management is key. But all in all, I now have a place to keep track of internet passwords for myself and the kids, a place for my business schedule, all my To- Do lists & home projects and can see my business goals at a glimpse. It has helped. Big Time.

With January being the big planning/organizing month for me, Febuary is usually the big DOING month that follows all that list making. I know I have lots of closets, drawers and a home studio that need a good cleaning. We'll see how that pans out! Is it spring yet?

Good Things are coming...

Just wanted to let you know JessicaSprague.com is having 20% off sale starting Black Friday, Nov 26th and it runs all the way through Dec 31st. Sweet! And ... the new free class starts Monday the 29th ... hope to see you in class.

Fruit Smoothies {Cosmo Cricket}
Early Bird Candy Candy
Early Bird Paper Pack
Early Bird Elements

{Kitschy Digitals}
Vintage Cabinet Cards
Fresh Blooms Digital Kit

{Creativity by Crystal}
You Are Awesome Mini Kit- kraft paper
Office Supplies Element Pack- staples

Fonts: Yelly, SpillMilk

Menu Planner & Shopping List I'm a list maker ... I *need* lists to survive. I often plan my meals for the week on a scrap piece of paper and make a grocery list for those meals, only to find I've misplaced my meal plans after my shopping trip ... and then my scattered brain cannot remember all the new recipes I had panned to try out that week.

I had been eyeing up Cyrstal's Meal Planner kit in the store for a while now. And Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird collection was the kick I needed to put this together.

I just put some papers and elements from Early Bird together to make a cover page to slip into my 3 ring binder. Printed a few of Crystal's Meal Planner papers, punched holes and I was done. I like the binder because I can keep it in my kitchen and not worry about it getting dirty as it is easy to wipe down. It has little pockets where I can stash the new recipes I print out.

But... I also needed a little pocket Grocery List so I made one with chipboard covers and binder rings. (Easy to fill with new Grocery Lists as I use them up.) I also added some Coin Envelopes (found at Staples/Office Depot) and will use them to store a few coupons. The size is perfect to stash into my bag. I used the polygon lasso tool to clip out the Grocery List side of Crystal's page and just added in a few fun Cosmo Cricket Early Bird elements. ~ Thanks for looking!

{Cosmo Cricket}
Early Bird Candy Candy
Early Bird Paper Pack
Early Bird Elements


{Creativity by Crystal}
Crystal's Printable Daily Schedule & Meal Planner
Crystal's {Doodley-Doo} 12x12 Borders
Crystal's {Playful} Font

Santa, I've been a Good Boy! New Merry & Bright Quick Pages by Crystal. So cute & perfect "as is". Love the Kraft paper. This page has just a few little touches ... & let's the photo & memory shine. Crystal has a few of these QPs coming out this week. You could use them to do a whole December Theme album in record time. Here I took a not so great photo & followed Jessica's recipe for a soft glow as seen in her latest Photoshop Friday #26 Soft Glow. Then I did some darkening of the background to "cover up" the distracting background. This is definitely one of my favorite PSFs!

{Creativity by Crystal}
Merry & Bright Quick Page #2
October '09 Sweet {Eye Candy} Elements