Friday, July 24, 2015

A Look At the Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner

Happy Friday, Pink Bow readers! 

Today I've decided to forego my usual Friday Favorites for a look at another one of my favorites: the Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner! (This is not the newly-designed one, which, if you ask me, looks pretty similar to this one. This was purchased during the teacher appreciation sale!)

As a high school art teacher, I want something that works for my planning style and is aesthetically pleasing.

This will be my second year using this planner for my classes, and I could not possibly love it any more! It's perfect for how I plan my lessons, plus it's super colorful which is a must-have for me. 


Last year I went with the Party Pops in a custom colorway. I had them switch the Red and Goldenrod colors for Hot Pink and Aqua.
This year I chose the Paisley design. I also love the watercolor shine and watercolor palette, but (if I remember correctly), they weren't available when I ordered.
Here you'll see newbie and oldie together: 

The cover of my planner held up really well for how much I carried it around. I'm not a gentle person. It was on my desk literally every single day--I was painting, gluing, drawing, crafting, sliding it around and that's how the cover looks. There are a few scratches, but it's a lesson planner, not a car. :)


When you open up the planner you see this Holidays and Dates to Remember page. I rarely used this last year.




Next up you'll see the "Absent" tab. I didn't use this last year either because my school uses Powerschool--an online way of tracking attendance. But I DO plan on using this in the upcoming school year to track habitual tardies and absentees instead of having to log in to Powerschool to do so.



The "Graph" tab is just as you'd assume--a graph. I just used this page to doodle on and test some pens and pencil colors. Since I see 7 classes every day, I don't have a set seating chart.



I am very excited to utilize this "Year Plan" spread this year. Last year I just put holidays and art shows in it. This year I'm doing a Cultural Unit that coincides with the theme of my room and each month my artists will be decorating the school in a different way with art from the culture. In addition to that, I'll be doing something different with my approach to art history, so these pages will also be used for that.




After the year plan, you have a spread for each month. I know a lot of people are annoyed that you have to fill in the dates. I kind of agree with this. It's not really that big of a deal to fill in the dates, but if they came pre-printed, that would be ideal!
The quotes at the top of each page are cute and add a little pop of color to the already lovely spreads, so I can't complain about the aesthetics of these pages at all. They're fabulous.

Here's August, whose dates I've filled in already:



And here's Febraury, dates left blank:



Next is the real reason I buy this planner. The "Lessons" tab. Here's the page before the Lessons pages begin--a nice big note (or in my case, doodle) page and a quote page. (Am I the only one that doesn't like this quote? I don't understand it for the life of me!)


Here are how the lessons are laid out! This is PERFECT for my day because across the top I can put the names of my classes, "Art," "Crafts", etc...and then just plan down for the week.



The next tab is "Checklist."
Last year I chose to add all the extra checklist pages I could, but I didn't use even half of them. This year I just went with the minimum checklist pages. I used them to track who had their supplies, who had paid fees, etc...



The end of the planner is full of four pages of stickers. The pre-labeled ones don't really work for me as a high school teacher, but I plan on using the blank, colored stickers to keep track of my Cultural Unit and Art History plans.







I also adore the laminated pocket, clear sheet protector and zip pocket. They work great for keeping track of seminar schedules, etc...things that I'm always referring to, that if I stuck in my desk would disappear into the mysterious black hole, never to be seen of again.



I plan on using the Erin Condren Teacher Planner for many years to come, or until it no longer meets my needs. I adore the colors, the lesson layouts and, if you buy it during the sale, it's really affordable for how awesome it is!


Wanna buy your own?
Use this link  and you'll get $10 off!




*I was not given a planner to review. I purchased this planner with my own money and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

{Planner Lover Giveaway!}

Happy Saturday, gals!

It's a scorcher here on this Kansas morning. The neon colors of my Fluro twins are perfect for this summery day!
I think planner bands are so darn cute, so I just put this one around the front cover of my Fluro for a little added flair! 



It's way too hot to be outside, so I'm busy shipping Etsy orders and thinking about breaking out my Erin Condren Teacher Planner (review and flip-through to come!) and planning the first few weeks of school. It's hard to believe school is just around the corner. It marks the end of summer and the beginning of another hectic, fast school year!

What better way to celebrate my awesome summer and thank YOU, dear follower, than to host a teeny-tiny giveway? (Answer: there IS no better way. Giveaways rule the world.)

I've put together all of my absolute favorite items--paper, stickers, clips, stamps, washi tape and the Love Notes 4x4 Instagram album from We R Memory Keepers:


Yes, those ARE flamingos you see on that adorable Dear Lizzy washi pack! 

These self-inking stamps are PERFECT for planning on-the-go! 
Want to win? Here's how:

(This is the OFFICIAL "Giveaway Image!") :) 
a Rafflecopter giveaway


The winner will be announced on Monday, July 27th and your package of fabulousness will ship out that day!

Have a beautiful weekend, planner friends!
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Friday, July 17, 2015

Friday Favorites! {Flamingo Edition}

If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed a recurring theme with me: flamingos. I can't get enough! So for this edition of Friday Favorites, I've located some of the best of the best for you to create a planner perfect spread full of pink flamingo goodness! 
{Source}
First, let's start with some neon pink washi tape, shall we? This is GORGEOUS! I love neon and the price on this roll is awesome! 

{Shop here}

 I really loved this set of stickers when I came across it because it's not traditional pink (even though pink is THE color of all colors) and I know everyone doesn't love pink as much as I do. These would look so cute throughout the entire year in my EC, so I could implement my flamingos in every spread!

{Shop here}
The ultimate in pink flamingo planner stickers, this next set (of 56 stickers!!!) is so darn sweet it gives me a toothache! Pink and aqua got together and made a baby and here it is:
{Shop here}
I'm not sure Lora Bailora has a washi tape that I'm not completely in love with. This is THE ULTIMATE pink ombre. If you haven't already, dart over to her Etsy shop now and check out all the fabulousness that is her washi tape. 
{Shop here}
 Pink flamingos are my signature animal right now, and they go hand-in-hand with pineapples. This set is perfectly colored in a palette of summery colors that are sure to make you smile.
(And this product photography? Fantastic. Confetti for the win!)
{Shop here}
 Of course you have to have some paper clips to clip all of your fantastic planner goodies together--and it MUST be a flamingo. I was so excited to add these to my shop yesterday! Come to mama, cutie pie!
{Shop here}
I hope, if you hadn't fallen in love with flamingos before this post, you'll at least consider enjoying some of these fantastic Etsy finds!

Have a beautiful weekend, friends! (And make sure you follow @pinkbowplannery on Instagram. Something exciting might be happening this weekend...but it's our secret, okay?) 

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Friday, July 10, 2015

Just for you, blog readers!

Here's why I love the planner community: I continually meet incredibly genuinely nice, inspiring, creative individuals. Those are all the same reasons I love Etsy--good, hardworking people who provide me with things that make my life more beautiful. Can you imagine how excited I was when the owner of the OliBlock company messaged me with a coupon code for you, dear readers? SO excited. 
USE: PINKBOWOLI for 26% off your order! 

I LOVE OliClips and I know you will too, so head to the OliBlock shop on Etsy and get your shop on! 



I am in holographic heaven with these beauties! 



P.S. If you decide to use the coupon code, don't forget to also follow my blog on Bloglovin':
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...and follow @pinkbowplannery and @oli_u_clip on Instagram!

Friday Favorites!

I have seen so many beautiful things on Etsy this week, which makes me even MORE excited to share this week's Friday Favorites with you!!! 


I came across these adorable tassel stickers, which led me to the ItsPlanningTime shop. SO many adorable things...

 
If you're a planner lover, you're no stranger to the OliClip--a rubberized magnetic paperclip. This set of holographic beauties caught my eye...big time. 

{Shop here}

If you're into making your own dashboards, dividers, anything, this next set of papers is a must-buy! Of course it's covered in flamingos which makes it about as fabulous as can be in my eyes. I feel like if you have a pear Saffiano Filo, this is calling your name, too! 

{Shop here}

It's Planning Time does it again with these adorable summery stickers. This color scheme makes me want to lay in the pool and drink a summery drink! 

These adorable Hema tapes are perfect for summer. They have a really modern, sophisticated, yet fun color palette that I just love! 
{Shop here}
That's it for this week's favorites! Perhaps you'll find yourself supporting some of these awesome shops this weekend...

how to: move the tabs on your ECLP to the top

As I'd mentioned in my last how-to post, I am loving my ECLP inside my fluorescent pink Filofax, but when I first put the ECLP inside, I noticed that the pages were too big for my Filo to shut properly, so once again, I pulled out the paper cutter and started choppin'! 

To do this, I simply cut the tabs off with the paper cutter. 

On the actual "planning" side of the page, the laminated tab is slightly less than a quarter of an inch into the white. Cut the WHOLE laminated piece off. 


Your cut-off tab should look like this:

You then want to cut the excess paper off. Again, use the laminated section as a guide. 


Now you're ready to glue! I recommend this style of glue-runner. The traditional style of glue-runner proved to be a bit messy. These dots were much better. 
Run your glue along the white section of the tab. 

Then stick your tab on the page at the top. Ta-da! 

The easiest way to do the tabs so they're even is to work in 4 months at a time. Do the first month (ex: March, as pictured above, was the first month in the set "March, April, May, June.") followed by the fourth month. 

Then you can evenly space the two middle months between those outside tabs as shown here:

Once you're done, you'll LOVE IT! These tabs are even with the top of my Filo, so no more too-big pages sticking out the side of my planner. I use my planner several times every day and this tab-movement has proven to be very sturdy! 

Have a beautiful weekend, friends!