Lady Falcon Travelers
Traveler's Notebook Planner flip-through
At the start of the year I made a set-up video of my planner at that moment. Now after 4 months into the system I'm still loving the current set-up. Although I did make some changes along the way. One change was the addition of a daily pages planner, which I use mainly for daily doodles and quotes. The other one is the recent addition of an A5 planner to keep track of how I spend my time during the day. Especially with a home based business it's hard to realize some time for Family and personal stuff. I hope with this new time management and time tracking system to be able to get a better grip on where and how I spend my time and in a way, to convince myself that it is ok to take some personal time every now and again. Today I made 2 video's. The first with a flip-through of my weekly and daily planner inserts and my journaling insert and the other with the new A5 work planner and the time tracking insert, which is basically a vertical week on 4 pages insert, with stylized time bar. (Still looking for a name for the system). You can find the flip-through here https://youtu.be/waz-CFLeeXA And the A5 work planner with time-management insert here https://youtu.be/TlCTW2pm_U0 Once I have tested the time-management system I will add it to the available inserts we have available through the shop. For now, after just one week of trying it out, I can say that I'm really happy with how it's working and the division between planning and tracking is really nice. It show exactly how you can plan things for the day and then life happens and in the end something else happened entirely. It also helps me to see that I spend too much time on the job and not enough time with my family, which, of course is a risk you run by owning a home based business. 
I'm really hoping the system will help me not only to plan better, by identifying the things that interfere with the planning, but also to help me create more time for my family. After all, when you can see that you already put in a 10 hour day, it's easier to say, "ok enough for the day, time to do something else". Where I might otherwise just have gone on, because I lost track of time... The 2 colors pen also help identify the personal time and the work time. For now I do it all with Frixion pens, but who knows I might become confident enough in the future to switch back to fountain pens, I already have the brown and orange ink for it... 
I'm pretty happy with the current lay-out. It's nice and clean, it has a visual representation of the day, with the larger stripes on the midday section and has a practical bar to the right side to track the actual time spent. The left side, the planning side is smaller, since I think I can manage the planning with key words, whereas I probably need more room to the right, tracking side, for any notes or larger descriptions of the things that have passed. Hope you enjoyed watching the video's with me rambling about planners. Please let me know what you think in the comments, or maybe when you think of a catchy name for the tracking system. Have a lovely week, xoxo Monique
I'm really hoping the system will help me not only to plan better, by identifying the things that interfere with the planning, but also to help me create more time for my family. After all, when you can see that you already put in a 10 hour day, it's easier to say, "ok enough for the day, time to do something else". Where I might otherwise just have gone on, because I lost track of time... The 2 colors pen also help identify the personal time and the work time. For now I do it all with Frixion pens, but who knows I might become confident enough in the future to switch back to fountain pens, I already have the brown and orange ink for it... I'm pretty happy with the current lay-out. It's nice and clean, it has a visual representation of the day, with the larger stripes on the midday section and has a practical bar to the right side to track the actual time spent. The left side, the planning side is smaller, since I think I can manage the planning with key words, whereas I probably need more room to the right, tracking side, for any notes or larger descriptions of the things that have passed. Hope you enjoyed watching the video's with me rambling about planners. Please let me know what you think in the comments, or maybe when you think of a catchy name for the tracking system. Have a lovely week, xoxo Monique
January 2016 setup update...
Just a quick post with a video of my updated Traveler's Notebook Planner setup for January 2016.
I also made some adjustments to the insert listings on Etsy and added a range of lovely designer covers to choose from for you notebook covers or folders.
I hope I made the ordering process easier, by removing the separate listings for each size and style and have condensed the insert listings to:
Aren't they pretty... a true spring collection. Now you can still get them in the plain card-stock covers. I updated those colors as well, so there are more options available.
Hope you enjoyed the video and if you have any questions, please let me know.
Have a great day
xx Monique
I hope I made the ordering process easier, by removing the separate listings for each size and style and have condensed the insert listings to:
- MOTP-WOTP combo insert, with either a listing for a design cover or a listing for a plain card-stock
- WOTP or MOTP insert, with either a listing for a design cover or a listing for a plain card-stock
- Bullet journal insert, with either a listing for a design cover or a listing for a plain card-stock
- Notes Insert, plain/grid/lined/dot-grid/cross-grid, with either a listing for a design cover or a listing for a plain card-stock
Aren't they pretty... a true spring collection. Now you can still get them in the plain card-stock covers. I updated those colors as well, so there are more options available.
Hope you enjoyed the video and if you have any questions, please let me know.
Have a great day
xx Monique
How I'm using my Traveler's Notebooks at the moment
A year has passed since I made my first leather Traveler's Notebook and I've been using this sytem now for well over a year.
I've been making my own diaries and inserts right from the start and have adapted the system to suit my needs. I've used several different lay-outs and setups through-out this period, but I think I have now found a setup that works exactly how I like it.
I have 4 RS TN's for different purposes, one for work, one for art journaling, one for my Etsy store and one personal journal and diary/agenda. I also have a Fieldnotes sized TN for lists and keeping track of online orders and a small Passport sized one that I use as a wallet.
At first I used a setup with a MOTP, a WOTP and a daily diary with a chronodex adaptation to fit a 24 hr day. As time progressed and I was slowly overcoming the symptoms of my burn-out, I found I didn't need a full daily page to keep track of what I was doing. I did however want to keep at least a page per week.
___Warning, picture heavy post___
I didn't like how everything was in seperate booklets and wanted to contain it all into one. So I designed a diary that would do all that, the MOTP, the weekly and a page per week for tasks and stuff.
This month I tried this setup out after having tested it for my work diary.
Here's the MOTP, which is followed by the weekly pages.
I felt the boxes were to dark, so for the new template I made the boxes thinner/lighter...but I'll have to wait till the new year comes around to use the new template...no sense wasting a perfectly good diary, right?
The first week I kept fairly simpel. Used a fountain pen with pink ink, bought originally for my daughter, but I think I'm going to keep it =)
Now I'm pretty sure these pictures are not very interesting for anyone who isn't interrested in diaries and planning and such.
Still, I thought I'd add them, just to give the complete picture ;-)
And who knows you might like this setup, in which case these pictures may give you an impression about how this can be used.
Now we've come to the next month and a few things are already entered in there, among other things, my 22nd wedding anniversary ;-)
As you can see, the monthly pages go before the weekly.
To keep the weeks from splitting I decided to place the monthly pages in front of the week where the thursday was in the new month. Like the way we decide wether the first day of the new year is also in the first week of the new year...
When I feel I don't have enough space or, like in this case, I want something I can move to another page/week, I use tip-ins with washi.
At the end of the booklet I pasted a list with tried and tested menu ideas...in case we run out of things to think of for dinner.
to the right I pasted a list with dutch holidays.
I mark those on the last pages as well, since these are yearly overviews.
In this TN I also have a Midori zipper pouch.
A home made file folder with pen-loops.
A Midori card file.
And a journaling booklet.
Which will be full tonight...
I won't show pictures of the journaling booklet in this blogpost, since this one is picture heavy enough as it is.
I like decorating my booklets, but I'm not prone to using any one style...
I just use whatever I feel like.
Or even whatever I bump into at the time on my desk...
There's a little elephant, an oister I bought from a friend's shop and the remaining wings of a fairy I got in a swap last year...honestly, it was a fairy. It broke off, but as a reminder of the kindness of the person who sent it, I keep the wings on there ;-)
I hope you liked my boring diary pages anyhow and I wish you a lovely week.
I've been making my own diaries and inserts right from the start and have adapted the system to suit my needs. I've used several different lay-outs and setups through-out this period, but I think I have now found a setup that works exactly how I like it.
I have 4 RS TN's for different purposes, one for work, one for art journaling, one for my Etsy store and one personal journal and diary/agenda. I also have a Fieldnotes sized TN for lists and keeping track of online orders and a small Passport sized one that I use as a wallet.
At first I used a setup with a MOTP, a WOTP and a daily diary with a chronodex adaptation to fit a 24 hr day. As time progressed and I was slowly overcoming the symptoms of my burn-out, I found I didn't need a full daily page to keep track of what I was doing. I did however want to keep at least a page per week.
___Warning, picture heavy post___
I didn't like how everything was in seperate booklets and wanted to contain it all into one. So I designed a diary that would do all that, the MOTP, the weekly and a page per week for tasks and stuff.
This month I tried this setup out after having tested it for my work diary.
Here's the MOTP, which is followed by the weekly pages.
I felt the boxes were to dark, so for the new template I made the boxes thinner/lighter...but I'll have to wait till the new year comes around to use the new template...no sense wasting a perfectly good diary, right?
The first week I kept fairly simpel. Used a fountain pen with pink ink, bought originally for my daughter, but I think I'm going to keep it =)
Now I'm pretty sure these pictures are not very interesting for anyone who isn't interrested in diaries and planning and such.
Still, I thought I'd add them, just to give the complete picture ;-)
And who knows you might like this setup, in which case these pictures may give you an impression about how this can be used.
Now we've come to the next month and a few things are already entered in there, among other things, my 22nd wedding anniversary ;-)
As you can see, the monthly pages go before the weekly.
To keep the weeks from splitting I decided to place the monthly pages in front of the week where the thursday was in the new month. Like the way we decide wether the first day of the new year is also in the first week of the new year...
When I feel I don't have enough space or, like in this case, I want something I can move to another page/week, I use tip-ins with washi.
At the end of the booklet I pasted a list with tried and tested menu ideas...in case we run out of things to think of for dinner.
to the right I pasted a list with dutch holidays.
I mark those on the last pages as well, since these are yearly overviews.
In this TN I also have a Midori zipper pouch.
A home made file folder with pen-loops.
A Midori card file.
And a journaling booklet.
Which will be full tonight...
I won't show pictures of the journaling booklet in this blogpost, since this one is picture heavy enough as it is.
I like decorating my booklets, but I'm not prone to using any one style...
I just use whatever I feel like.
Or even whatever I bump into at the time on my desk...
I have 3 bookmarks, that I don't use as such, but I do like to keep some charms on there.
There's a little elephant, an oister I bought from a friend's shop and the remaining wings of a fairy I got in a swap last year...honestly, it was a fairy. It broke off, but as a reminder of the kindness of the person who sent it, I keep the wings on there ;-)
I hope you liked my boring diary pages anyhow and I wish you a lovely week.