Lady Falcon Travelers

but, first I would like to let you all know that we added some extra options to earn points with the Lady Falcon Rewards Program. You can now also earn points by following us on Instagram and by sharing via Facebook.

We also added a punch card system, where you get points for every 5 purchases you make. You can find all these in the Lady Falcon Rewards pop-up. You can find several other ways to earn points and you can redeem your points here.

In addition to this we're working on a VIP system with rewards for our top customers, but I can't say too much about that yet, because we're still working out the details for that.

Back to the Pinks.... there's good news on the pink front. We managed to source some extra pink dye and the day we found that, one of our suppliers emailed us to let us know they received the Pink dye back in stock.

So today we've been making all pinks ... here are a few waiting in the rack... yes, before you ask, those are little white socks, because, well, the pinks are special.

The next pic shows what was on the table yesterday and finished today.

Now it's time to do a little chillin' and enjoy the upcoming Pentacost weekend.... although we will be working all weekend to get all those pinks out the door =)
Do you have anything special planned for the weekend? Let me know in the comments =)

xoxo Monique

You may all have already seen that we started changing the website banners. Here's a pretty pic of the Lady Falcon Traveler we've based the new banners on. There are also some extra changes on the website.

• The note is back on the cart page, where it somehow dropped off after we upgraded to the new theme version.
• The PayPal check-out button has been removed from the cart page, since this was too confusing and took people to PayPal before they could even add a coupon code.
• The Galaxy add-on's have been revised and changed to a generic option and an image based option. Mostly because the image based ones were taking sooooo much time and the images sent were getting more and more complex. Where this wasn't reflected in the cost of the add-on. We hope that this will balance out everything a bit more.

There is also some sad news for the Pink TN's that are in the pipeline. We seem to have depleted all our European suppliers of the pink dye. They are on it and are getting more from the USA, but this could mean a little delay in the #37 pinks that are being made. There are still some pinks in the making and we hope the dye will get shipped soon. I hope you all are having a great week, xoxo Monique

During last month's workshop I made an A5 notebook cover, which I'm now using as my work planner. Yesterday we had another workshop and since I prefer to show, not tell, what the steps are to make a Notebook cover, I made another notebook. This time I decided to go for a size I didn't have yet, A B6 Slim. So now I have all the sizes, A5 and smaller, except B6 ISO. The notebooks I have lined up here, are not all notebooks I have... And not all of them in this line-up are in use at the moment. The notebook in the pic below is is the B6 Slim in Mahogany from yesterday's workshop. I do tend to keep the notebooks I make during workshops. Since I'm mostly focused on what's going on around me, talking a lot, keeping my eyes on what the participants are doing and whether I should aid in any way and not so much thinking about the notebook I'm making.  As proven by the above picture, where I wasn't paying attention an thoughtlessly placed my cover onto a wet cloth for quite some time, while I was chatting away and explaining things to the group. So it now has these watermarks on the back of the cover. Which, really, I don't mind that much. I even think they are quite pretty and inspired me use this cover as a watercolor and sketch book. Another problem solved, because while I do like to have all the notebook sizes (and all the colors), it's not possible to use them all at once. From left to right in the above pic, there are

• A5 work planner
• Large Moleskine Cahier (LMC) daily journal and doodle book
• Regular size (RS) Little Red Dragon, personal planner
• B6 Slim, Mahogany, watercolor and sketch book
• Personal size (PS), custom red, currently not in use
• A6, natural color, daily quick sketches and quotes
• Fieldnotes/Pocket size (FN), Black Raven, for keeping track of online orders (which I've moved into my workplanner only last week)
• Passport size (PP), painted lady, with my passport
• A7 litlle black wallet, with cards and coins (still need to replace the cinnamon wallet insert to a black one, because I'm silly that way and like to match colors)

The only one I'm missing now, size wise is a B6 (ISO) one, but I figure with a new workshop coming up in October, I think I can wait till then, ... unless of course I find a reason why I really do need another notebook before then. Do you have more than one notebook/planner in use at once and if so does each have a different purpose? Let me know in the comments below =) If you are interested in following a workshop, you can always ask for information through the workshop page There are 2 different types of workshops and the one in October will be hand sewing pockets onto the leather like the one we did yesterday. This is how we started out... And this is what we ended up with...   We also have plans to do a planner meet-up in the coming months. This will be an informal meet-up with all notebook and planner enthusiasts, just to talk planners and notebooks and journaling and wot-not, just for fun and to show off all your pretty notebooks. More about this will be coming here in the following weeks. I hope you all have a lovely Sunday xoxo Monique

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

In 2016 I started a weekly photo challenge that should've take place every Wednesday ...and didn't... Well it did at first, but got sidetracked due to the large amount of orders that came in starting from May 2016. Something I really didn't anticipate and wasn't prepared for at that time. luckily I found some great help before the summer holiday and managed to get a studio build in the months after the holiday....but still too many orders and too little time to do anything with any weekly challenge whatsoever. I have since made some changes to the website, allowing only a few orders every week, but too late for the weekly photo challenge to take off again. Still I would like to thank everyone that did participate in the weeks/months before things got "slightly" out of hand.   Now I did promise there would be a prize at the end of the year. The prize was a €100 gift certificate to our store, valid for all of 2017. There were 12 photo's selected over a course of 13 weeks. After excluding employees and family members, that left 10 photo's to choose from and I asked the members of the Lady Falcon Facebook group to choose a winner for me. They were all great photo's so it was a difficult choice. The winner selected by the Facebook group members was Emily with this Photo of a gorgeous diary from 1930. Well worn and loved by the looks of it. Emily selected a few items from the shop and since she has by now received them I can safely show them here. I loved doing the photochallenge, however I think in the future, maybe a less ambitious approach to these kinds of things is better...with say a months run time and not a year... If you have any suggestions as to challenges that might be fun for 2017, please let me know in the comments. Have a great Day, xoxo Monique

So for the #weeklyphotochallenge2016 in the Lady falcon Traveler's Notebook group I took a few pictures. Last week i was way too late and only posted the pictures on Sunday.  This week, I was caught off guard, with Wednesday coming so soon after Sunday...but here they are, my pictures for the #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr10, One word. Now with last weeks notebooks in the wild, I was a bit confused about how to make that happen. Especially since the natural habitat of a notebook is often limited to, in house, or  on the move. Mostly on a table in a purse or on a lap. Since they are made for writing, or drawing, or planning, or...well you catch my drift. Anyway, this weeks challenge, One Word is more to my liking! When I got to thinking what my word was going to be, one word kept popping into my mind. Come to think of it, this word has been significant to me throughout my life. Some say, it's because my star sign is a twin and my Chinese year is the Snake. Since I don't believe all that stuff, I just go with the flow and figure it's just who I am. My word is not a big word, or an eloquent one. My One Word is CHANGE, the most important thing in my life and my habit tracker is a big part of my attempts to change things this year. I found the quote that most spoke to me and represents the way I view life. If you don't like something, change it If you cant't change it, change your attitude! By Maya Angelou I even threw in a Don't Panic, because we could all use a Hitchhikers Guide for life in general... I life my life by these words and vowed myself I would never stay in a situation where I was not happy with how things are going. This can be hard at times, because people are prone to get into a static situation and I am no stranger to that....which is of course where the habit tracker comes into play.... Sometimes change can be scary, however I have learned that sometimes it's scarier to not change at all. I have found that sometimes you cannot change the situation or people around you and maybe you're just not supposed to. Sometimes you have to change in order to get to a point where you are happy and healthy. And to change the subject, back to the notebooks in the wild, this here is my notebook in it's wild habitat. My great grandmothers table, surrounded by pens and washi. #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr9 I also took a pic of my notebook in my wild back garden, because well...the sun was shining and someone questioned my  interpretation of in the wild =) If you like photochallenges, come join us in the Lady Falcon Traveler’s Notebook group and enter to win the end of the year overall contest =), you can read about it here.

 

Anyway, I'm off to fill some orders and have some luch and I wish you all a wonderful week and hope to hear all about your #OneWord xx Monique

A while back I was asked if I could make a traveler with a painting by Gustav Klimt. Since I love the paintings by Gustav Klimt, I said yes and started making the Traveler.

With me being a bit insecure about my painting skills and the medium being so different from Gustav's, I didn't get it right in one go. 

I also doubted if this one would be good enough....

So I presented the question to my customer and luckily enough she said she loved it.

Funny thing is, once I knew she loved it, I started looking at it with different eyes and having made the photo's also allowed me to take a step back.

I now feel it is beautiful in it's own right and learned that I really always should take pictures,if only to allow me to look at the things I make in a different light and create some distance.

I wrapped her up and sure enough...it got stuck in customs for weeks.

Making me start to wonder if it would ever arrive at it's new home.

Things like that can be nerve wrecking, specially with the painted traveler's notebook, since so much time and energy goes into the making of these.

But it got there in the end and I'm happy to say, this one has found it's way home as well

All I can do now is lean back and enjoy the photo's.

I'm so glad that I do take photo's of my Traveler's Notebooks, because in the end I have to let them al go and all I have are the photo's. However I'm happy to know they find their way to loving new homes and they are special and unique to their owners. It takes some headache and heartache to get them there, but it's so rewarding and I feel privileged that people allow me to make them their unique Traveler's.

Hope you enjoy the pics, have a wonderful week, xoxo Monique

Got a little behind with writing blogposts about the #weeklyphotochallenge2016... Somehow life has a way of getting is the way, but I'm just going to pick up where I left off and post the previous photo's here anyway, plus this weeks photo's nr 8, #Bookmarks. Before I proceed to the Bookmarks, I'll post the 2 previous challenge prompts, #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr6 #Fearless Traveler, I was going to do something awesome, but then life got in the way and I wound up posting a few pics of when I was a Fearless Traveler, backpacking with my best friend through Italy and Greece for 30 days...quite a challenging holiday, but we came home with so many stories to tell =)Of course I wound up sticking one of the photo's in my planner =) Last week #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr7 was a #Shelfie, now I have plenty of shelves, so that was easy...

Snuck in some inks there as well and have since gotten one extra bottle of the waterman ink, a lovely turquoise... So for this week, we are talking bookmarks. Bookmarks come in all shapes and sizes, but I'll just stick to the ones I like to use most. You can see them poking out here on the side.

I have them staggered though-out the booklets, so they don't all sit next to each other and in 1 booklet I have 2. A bookmark is defined as marker placed between the pages of a book to mark a place, well that and a few other definitions.

Here I use glued in tabs to mark the months in my planner, this way I can switch easily and quickly to the months. These are just paper cut from a firm card-stock and glued into place.

The thing I use most and am really happy about is my home designed repositionable bookmark tab, with leather tip.

The one above is my oldest one and it dates back to 2013. Originally it didn't have the leather tip. Which was fine at first, but after a while the tip got so damaged, I would either have to throw it out, which I didn't want to do, or come up with a solution...and I found one in the form of glued on leather tips/tabs. These work so great and hardly add any bulk.

This is also the reason I prefer to stick with my 3 point pamphlet stitch, for sewing the booklets, because that allows me to slide these bookmarks between my pages. The 3 point is strong enough anyhow, most stapled booklets only have 2 staples and that works just fine as well.

This one was plain on the back, so I went and doodled a bit before adding some packing tape to make it stronger.

I have experimented with sealing them, with those sealing machines, but I somehow just don't like that. It's too stiff for my liking and you have to leave an edge on the side tomake sure it stays stuck, so I'm sticking with the packing tape for now.

This one is actually just there, because I think it's pretty...I don't use the template, allthough I did intend to when I ordered it...ah well, sometimes, just having things there just because they are pretty is a good thing. I can still use it a a ruler though, should I need to make  straight line somewhere, because I couldn't draw a straight line by hand if my life depended on it.

These 2 little bookmarks are both magnetic ones and I use them to keep some pages, or a flap, together. They are both souvenirs from places I've been too and I like them very much. They do add a little bulk though, but I'm fine with that, since they do serve a purpose. The bottom one is from The Tarot Garden, from Nikki de Saint Phalle in Italy and the top one is from the Sagrada De Familia in Barcelona.

Then ther are these little pretty ones from Bookdarts. Tiny very cute little bookdarts and I must admit, I mostly just use there because they are pretty.

They come in three colors and are made from a very thin metal, so they don't add bulk to the pages at all. Nor do they damage the pages, a very clever design indeed.

Looks like I might need to order some new ones soon =) lastly I should mentions, that although my notebooks always come with bookmarks strings, I never use them, at least not as a bookmark. I use them as decoration and dangle some tiny charms from them and I used them to pin down the notebooks in my traveler's, although I must admit I haven't really done that in a while and it'll only work with the standard threading, with the slits in the top and bottom.... If you like photochallenges, come join us in the Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook group and enter to win the end of the year overall contest =), you can read about it here. Last weeks photo to have a chance at the end of the year prize(s), with courtesy of Emily, #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr7

Here's a little reminder of the challenge prompts

Hope you enjoyed my little bookmark tour and maybe got some ideas for your own bookmarks.

Have a lovely week xoxo Monique

Now I don't know about you, but when I get out my planning gear and settle into my little corner, I feel the best thing is when one of our cats comes and joins me in the planning fun. This morning and right in time for the Weekly photo challenge in the Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook group, our little godess of youth, Idunn, joined me for the fun. Every Morning I take a little time out after I do my morning tasks, sit down with a cup of coffee and plan out my day. This morning Idunn decided she would join me. Idunn is our second youngest cat and is a rescue kitten, with quite a few hang-ups. She was found when she was 3 weeks old, thrown away in a hedge and left there to die with her brother and sister. They were saved by the police and an awesome cat-shelter and has been with us ever since.

She likes her little spot near the box with a few planner and art journaling supplies. Which, judging by the photo's, really needs a serious clean-out! Although my little princess doesn't seem to care too much. I think she even prefers it a little messy, because that means there are bits and bobs and pretty papers to lie on.

I'm pretty sure my cats are no different then others, but as soon as I have some paper lying anywhere, they will come flocking and try and get a spot on top of the paper.

Good thing my office is off limits to the cats, because with 4 cats, that would drive me crazy. Just like they are not allowed in the bed rooms, because truth be told....I'm terribly allergic to cats.

If they were allowed in the bed room, I would not be able close an eye and would have to sit up straight all night trying to breath. Still I love my babies and could never part with them. I also managed a quick shot of our panther-like youngest cat. Isn't he gorgeous. Meet Fenrir, the wolf. When he was a baby he had a grey-ish fur and he reminded us of a wolf. Our 2 oldest cats, Loki and Freya, are out on the prowl, so I'm afraid I couldn't shoot any pics of them today. Yes they all have Norse gods names. After having a Merlin when I was a student, joined by a Pixie later on and a Ticus even later still, we decided all our cats should have Norse gods names, like the dog my parents used to have when I was a kid.

Last weeks winner of the #weeklyphotochallenge2016 in the Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook Group, winners I should say, because this time the likes, on 2 of the entries with the most likes, were a tie...Thank you Kitty and Nichole for your lovely photo's. Your photo's now have a chance to win one of the 2 prizes, either the members prize, or the admin prize, at the end of the year. We don't know what the prizes are going to be, but they are definitely going to be legen...wait for it... dary =)

Speaking of prizes, the winner for the 1500 member giveaway has been selected by rafflecopter and announced. The notebook is on it's way to her as we speak, hope it reaches you soon Tara. Just a quick reminder of the challenge prompts. Join us if you like in the  Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook Group for a chance to win or just to see some awesome pictures. Post your photo and tag it with this weeks tag,

#weeklyphotochallenge2016nr5, Planners and Pets.

Hope you have a wonderful week. xoxo Monique

This weeks #weeklyphotochallenge2016, Notebook & Beverage,  should be right up my alley, since I do like making shots of my Notebooks and I love my beverages...specially my coffee. Being Dutch, coffee is a thing that is the pride of every home, at least that is how I remember it from when I was young. Besides, ... making coffee in those days really was a thing. You'd have to measure the correct amount of coffee and add just the right amount of water..., but, as it is with any beverage, people get used to a certain taste, so the only right coffee is the home made coffee you'd drink every day, with a certain blend and a certain strength...

Well I must admit, I am glad that this has gotten so much easier over the years, now with those pre-portioned coffeemakers, there's really nothing to it.

Obviously there's still different blends and different tastes. Which means that in our house there are at least 4 different blends, since we all like something else.

I love that you can do that with the coffee makers of today.

Now Back to the Notebook and beverage, there's a little thing with me and my coffee. I used to drink coffee all day long. Being in IT, there was no escaping that. With my high blood pressure however, my GP told me I should drink less coffee. So I made a little rule for myself.

I can only drink coffee in the mornings and only after 10 o`clock...

and now that I run my own business, I have added some rules to it and am only allowed to drink coffee after I finished the first tasks of the day and get to sit down with my notebook and planner, to plan out the rest of the day.

 

I kinda like my little rules, they make life easier and following up on those gives me the satisfied feeling that even if I didn't get anything else done like I planned that day, I still did those things on my everyday list and it still feels like I accomplished something. Really it is about the little things in Life, especially when recovering from a burn-out, which is still something I deal with everyday.

So show us your Notebooks and Beverages in the Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook Facebook group and tag them #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr4.  Every week the photo with the most likes will be chosen for the group banner and that photo will get entered in the contest at the end of the year. This weeks winner is Robin with her Well Worn Fabric Traveler

There will be 2 prizes for the weekly winners, one audience favorite prize and one admin favorite prize, so please tag your photo correctly so we can choose the photo with the most likes every week! Hope to see you (and you beverages) there and I wish you a wonderful week, xoxo Monique

This weeks #weeklyphotochallenge is prompt #3 from the list...Well worn.  For this I have chosen my almost oldest Traveler...which was from before I threaded the edges with a sealer and just used Bees wax to polish the edges. It has this very deep dark brown color and it makes me happy to look at and hold. The cover is treated with both Bees wax and oil and this gives it this lovely sheen.

However, before I elaborate on this here Traveler, I'll post the challenge prompts again, so they are easy to find.

and show you a sneak peek of this weeks winner in the Lady Falcon group for #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr2, Notebook essentials.

Thank you for participating Robin. You can find her photo's in the Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook group. This weeks challenge prompt was about a well worn Notebook

This one is indeed a well worn one and has been in use as my shop's planner for almost 2 years now.

With me opening the shop in 2013 on DaWanda and starting making Traveler's in the second half of that year, it's seen quite some changes already.

With new notebooks added once in a while

Sometimes having to transfer ideas and stuff from one notebook to the other, resulting in pages and pages scribbled full of stuff I would like to make...

Still my old and trusty Zipper insert from Midori, which has my silver leaf project, which I'm not sure if I will ever finish, because I'm just not a jewelry girl...

I had to take out my daily/weekly worksheet and tasks insert, because it was full, and have yet to replace it with a new one. This gives a nice view of the leather card holder I have in there with lots of business card, in case I need one.

With the back side of the card holder you can get a good view of the pen-loops, which are essentially the same as the pen-loops I glue onto the folders, only these have been sewn on. I think they look very nice and classy =)

And the rear view of my Shop Traveler...this side gets to endure the most, I guess. I do think with 2 years of constant use, and no additional conditioning and stuff, it still looks good

The spine has a little wear, however the original elastic is still going strong. Since I've been adding double elastics for quite some time now and this one still has the single!

And of course the obligatory extra bookmarks with tiny charms...because I like to play...or fidget as some might say. There you have it, a well worn Notebook. I love it to bits! Hope you join us with the photochallenge in the lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook group. I'd love to see you Well Worn Travelers. Use #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr3 to eligable to enter into the contest and have a chance at one of the 2 prizes at the end of the year (read all about that here)

Have a great week xx Monique

Last week we had the first of 45 weeks of photo prompts for our challenge and we saw some pretty amazing planner stacks. As promised we will select the one with the most likes every week to be hosted as the weekly Group header photo. This week it was easy to pick out one from the entered photo's in the group, but as the year progresses, it may become harder and harder with just the one tag for the challenge, therefore I think maybe a special tag per week may be needed to find the correct weekly photo. So next to the #weeklyphotochallenge2016 and #weeklyphotochallenge we need a numbered one to discern the weeks. Since the prompts are numbered we'll call it #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr1 and with this being number 2 this weeks will be #weeklyphotochallenge2016nr2. This weeks photo challenge  favorite was made by Anjes, with a pretty awesome planner pile all of her own. This weeks challenge is about Notebook Essentials, so I gathered a few of my favorite things. Things I would consider Notebook Essentials. A pencil case with pens, pencils, eraser, scissors, glue stick and pencil sharpener. My pencil wrap, with my favorite doodle pens, waterbrushes and of course brush tip pens. And of course a little stack of washi. Because you never now when you need to tape something down Or might need to cover something up, or just plainly pretty up a page or booklet... So here are the challenge prompts again, as a reminder for you all and also a reminder for the giveaway we're having in the Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebook group as a celebration of reaching 1500 members. You can Find more information about this here. Don't forget, at the end of the year there is also a prize for this weekly photochallenge. Two actualy, a Peoples award, which will be chosen by the members of the group and an Admin award, which will be chosen by the admins of the group. They'll be chosen from the weekly challenge winners. So come join the fun for a chance to win at the end of the challenge. Have a wonderful week and good luck with the challenges! xoxo Monique