Happy 2021 to all my planner friends! I just love the new year . . . everything is new and the possibilities are endless. And with a new year comes a new planner. Actually, in my world, every new month brings a new planner and I really like it that way. Being able to start a new planner each month keeps me engaged with my planner and if I have a month like this past month, WHERE I LOST ALL OF MY STICKERS, I get to jump right back into January anew.

One of my favorite benefits of subscribing to the CocoaDaisy kits is how well coordinated all the items are and how they really make your planner shine. And if you have leftovers from one month, it’s pretty assured that you will be able to use those items in an upcoming month. I opted for a white binder this month to show off all the boldness of the New Chapter kits and filled the pocket with the vellum from the Classified: Planner Edition, a couple of layered cards from the Modern Memory Keeping Kit January 2021, and the glitter dots from the Traveler’s Notebook Memory Keeping Kit. And aren’t the polka dot pen and pencil just adorable with this setup?

I decided that since it was a new year, my planner needed some “confetti” so I made my title page a dashboard. Using one of the A5 sheets from the Day Planner Dashboards Kit made this project super easy. I just slipped two dashboards into a pocket protector, added the sequins, and a little decor then fused it all together at the top.

The next New Year’s tradition that my planner needed was some resolutions. This card from the Traveler’s Notebook Memory Keeping Kit is just perfect. I don’t actually make New Year’s resolutions, preferring to choose a word for the year to concentrate on my personal progression. But I couldn’t resist adding this card because it’s color-blocked gorgeousness just calls to me. I laminated it with another card on the backside so that I can write on it with a wet-erase pen or a sharpie.

Every month, I set up this pretty spread. I don’t really use it to refer to what’s going on in my life. I tend to use my functional monthly spread at the back of my planner if I am checking on a time or date. I really thought about whether I really needed this page in my planner and decided that it was worth setting up for a couple of reasons. One, I love looking at it. It makes me happy to see what’s going on in my life and I love the look of these pages. Secondly, the very act of putting the stickers down reinforces the dates of appointments and things that I really don’t want to forget. The combination of tactile and visual learning is the way that I am assured to remember and this is a perfect example of that.

My go-to plan for my weekly spreads is to cut apart a Daisy Dori, which you can choose in many sizes (Inserts Only Kit), and choose 4 or 5 of the spreads so that each of my weeks is different. This is my spread for this week and I am just thrilled with the pink and purple color scheme. With this small addition, I have so much more versatility in my planner and I never get tired of setting up my weekly spreads.

I love the combination of the bright colors offset with the boldness of the black and white patterns of New Chapter. I will treasure this pen and pencil set (the pen is from the Planner Kit and the pencil is from the Planner Add On Kit) and will use them often in the future.

So much of my planner time is spent using the daily pages and yet I hardly ever take a photo of them. Without a daily page, I am essentially lost and I love the Cocoa Daisy loose inserts for this reason. I print the day and date with my printer at the beginning of the month so that I never even have to write the date on them.

If you would like to see more of my planner, please take a few moments and check out my YouTube video and if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Thanks for checking out my blog post and I’ll be back to talk about my next planner soon!

Blessings,

Julie