Five Things Friday!

I'm back with another round of Five Things Friday!

At the start of this week I was working like crazy but I've had the last few days off and have done nothing but relax.  I honestly haven't moved off of the couch for the last two days and it's been wonderful!

{One} David's Tea Herbal Sweet Apple Cider Tea.  It's fall.  The leaves are changing, the weather is getting colder and it's the perfect time to curl up on the couch with a good book and a steaming cup of tea.  And what better kind than apple cider tea.  This is from David's Tea Fall Collection.  We don't have a David's Tea in my area so last week my husband and I made the trek to the closest one an hour and a half away.  Needless to say I stocked up on tea and was very happy to find out that my local mall is getting a store this month!!! I'm in tea-heaven.  Now if only I can get my hands on the advent calendar this year! Find my new favorite tea here.

{Two} Martha Stewart Avery Adhesive Metal Bookplates.  I LOVE the Martha Stewart Collection that is sold at Staples.  However, it is being phased out and every time I go to any of my local stores the inventory is seriously lacking. Thankfully, my local store did have these little gems which were perfect for my recent labeling craze.  I picked up these bookplates to use on the edges of our home binders.  We have several that we use (financial, manuals, work, household) and I wanted to be able to tell them apart without having to open them up every time.  I placed these babies on the spine and inserted a label made from my new label maker and they look fabulous.  You can check out how it turned out on my Instagram.   And find the bookplates here. 

{Three} Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Palette.  Like I said, we drove an hour and a half to go shopping last week... it was my birthday.  They have a Sephora there and I have been lusting over this palette for quite some time.  Husband picked it up for me for my birthday and I love it already.  It's perfect for traveling because of the compact size and basic shades.  I have the larger Naked Palettes and I use them a lot for everyday use.  We're planning a Christmas shopping trip next month and it'll be nice to take this with me.  It fits perfectly in my travel makeup bag! Good job husband! Did I mention he also bought me a lady-friendly shovel for my birthday?!?! Find the palette here.

{Four} Bananagrams! This is seriously the best game ever.  We play it at work on night shifts if its a slow night (shhhhhh! I work at the hospital.  NEVER say it's a slow night!).  It's a multi-player word game that is very fast and enjoyable.  Everyone builds their own crosswords.  There is no turns, everyone plays at the same time.  It's a race to the finish and I love it! My husband and I have been playing a lot lately and we even challenged ourselves to themed puzzles.  One night we only spelled words associated with Harry Potter.  It's loads of fun and you can find it here!

{Five} Neighbours on DVD and BluRay.  My husband and I saw this in theatres and we picked it up the day it was released.  We don`t have children yet but both of us can totally picture us as the young couple having their first child in this movie trying to compete with a frat house as neighbours.  It was hilarious and if you haven`t seen it yet you should! Beware of the rating as there is mature content.  Did I mention that Zac Efron is shirtless for a great deal of the movie? Bonus! Buy it here!

Five Things Friday!

Hello everyone!
I'm back with another round of {Five Things Friday}.  This week has been crazy busy as I picked up some extra shifts at the hospital.  Looking forward to a weekend off on the lake and some relaxation. 

{One}  {Two}  {Three}  {Four} {Five}

{One} Lalicious Sugar Kiss Sugar Scrub.  This is the BEST scrub that I have ever used and I've tried quite a few.  I have really bad dry, sensitive skin and this stuff works wonders.  It is a bit pricy but it's totally worth it.  The Sugar Kiss scent is really mild and pleasant and it leaves your skin moisturized and soft.  You can also use this stuff to shave your legs, moisturizing as you go! I love this scent and brand so much that I also have the Sugar Kiss body spray, body butter, lip butter and hand cream.  Lalicious has many other scents and they are all worth a try!  

{Two} The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.  This book is another great summer read.  It's about a socially awkward genetics professor and a quirky, intelligent woman searching for her father.  It's a great romantic comedy and the sequel is coming out in September.  Pick up your copy and read it in time to see what happens next!

{Three} Martha Stewart Avery Removable Color Teardrop Stickers.  If I had to pick one {Erin Condren Life Planner} accessory that I could not live without, these babies would be it.  I love that they are small enough to fit anywhere I need them in my planner and they add just the right pop of color.  I've stocked up on these bad boys because I heard that they are being discontinued.  Good luck finding them while you can, they're totally worth it!

{Four} Patch Adams, starring Robin Williams.  This week one of the greatest actors of our generation committed suicide and it is truly a tragedy.  It has recently come out that Williams was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson's Disease.  This week I took the time to watch one of my favorite Robin Williams movies to pay my own personal tribute to one of my favorite comedians.  I'm a Respiratory Therapist and a lot of the lessons Williams' character, Patch, discusses in the movie really resonate with me.  I love working with my patients and sometimes if swimming in a pool of noodles will make you patient feel better, it's what you've got to do for them!

{Five} Too Faced La Crème Lipstick in "Marshmallow Bunny".  I'm not an everyday makeup kinda girl but every now and then I do enjoy getting done up! My favorite makeup brand would have to be {Too Faced}.  I find that their products last and are great quality.  My skin is sensitive and I never have any problems with their product.  This lipstick has great color pigment and is a subtle pink shade without being too over the top. 

Washi Stickers and Squares

I love to highlight events in my {Erin Condren Life Planner} and was using washi squares and shapes to add color and make certain events *POP*. 

I had been buying the shapes and squares off of Etsy but while I was on vacation I found some 6X6 adhesive washi squares by We R Memory Keepers (Find them here! )This meant that I could use a punch and cutter and make my own!

I didn't think to look for punches while I was away and am regretting that now.  The only punch that I can find locally is a one-inch scalloped circle.  This means that I'm scouring the internet trying to find the coveted flag and bracket punches. 

The punch that I did end up buying is by Martha Stewart.  I found it at my local Michaels for $16.99. 
 

You can see the scalloped circle punch in the above picture and find a link to it here. 

 

All I did to make the washi scalloped circles was use my punch on the adhesive washi sheets.  I ended up punching out an entire pad of the We R Memory Keepers Adhesive Washi in the process.  I had purchased two different designs in the adhesive washi while I was on vacation and felt that the bold colors and less patterned washi was the best choice to punch as I plan on writing on the circles. While punching, I made sure to keep my circles as close together as possible so that I could make sure I got as many circles as possible.  In the end I ended up with very little waste.   

 

Some of the finished product!

 

Making the washi squares was a bit more work.  To do this, I again used a We R Memory Keepers Adhesive Washi pad.  I also grabbed a pair of scissors, a pencil, a permanent marker, a ruler and my paper cutter.  The paper cutter that I have was purchased at Winners for $9.99.  It is the first one I have purchased and bought it just for this project.  I wanted to make sure that I liked using a paper cutter before I went out and bought myself a really nice one.  I must say, this particular paper cutter did the trick nicely!  You can find paper cutters at your local craft store, such as Michael's, or here and here. 

Once I had all the supplies I needed, I put on a movie, sat down and got to work.  I began by measuring the weekly squares in my {Erin Condren Life Planner}.  I jotted down my measurements and also made indications on my ruler of the height and width of the boxes with a permanent marker.  This ruler was a spare from back in my high-school days so I wasn't too attached to it and didn't worry about ruining it. 

The paper cutter that I purchased had black lines and black ruler markings making it very hard to use it to measure and cut anything without pre-marking it.  If I had of had a different paper cutter I would simply have used the attached ruler to cut the washi paper into the desired sizes without having to do an extra step. Because I didn't trust my eyes and that ruler together I decided it was safer to take the long way and mark every sheet of washi individually.  This was a bit time consuming, but I wanted to make sure that I got my measurements correct and that I didn't waste a pad of washi that I spend a good chunk of my vacation hunting craft stores for. 

I used my ruler to mark out a height and width grid on each piece of washi.  It looked a little something like this:

Each 6x6 washi sheet gave me 12 washi squares.  It also gave me 4 smaller washi rectangles that will also be put to good use in my planner!

 

Next, I used my paper cutter to easily cut along the lines on my washi sheet.  This part of the process went very quickly since I had already measured everything out.  I was even able to stack multiple pieces together and cut them together to reduce my time even more. I kept my scissors on hand for those times when my paper cutter missed a piece.   

 

 

 

In the end, I ended up with 24 washi squares in each color and 8 of the smaller rectangles in each color as well. 

 

I just finished this project so they're not shown in my current weekly spread but I did stick some on my birthday as I knew I'd want to highlight that in my planner.

 

 

I typically use washi tape to cover the morning/day/night sections of the weekly spread.  It'll be nice to have more color to play with in my planner as I tend to keep it relatively simple and functional.  Do you use washi squares or punched shapes in your planner?  I'd love to see how you use it.  You can follow me on Instagram to see how I'm using my new washi!