Today on In the Season I showed some ideas for getting the new year started. (Is anyone else having trouble getting over the fact that it’s going to be 2011? It feels like all that Y2K stuff was just yesterday!).
Lots of people talk about trying to get more organized at the start of a new year so here’s my take on that. This is an organizer that I plan to hang on the side of my fridge where I’ll be able to see all the most important lists and keep up with everything.
It’s made from a metal thing called a “block end” or “end cap” which is a piece of duct work (like for your furnace) that they sell at hardware and home improvement stores. I found mine at Home Depot. They range in size from about 8 inches square to about 8 by 24. This one is 8 by 20. I began using scrap ones that were taken out of my home as a new furnace and ductwork were being put in but they’re very reasonably priced too. The smallest ones are about $2-3 and the largest about $7. After I began working on this idea, I saw something similar done with a cookie sheet. Just a word of advice, if you plan to use a cookie sheet, take a magnet with you when shopping for one because not all cookie sheets are magnetic.
The background papers on this are glued on (my favourite adhesive to use for this to get a nice smooth adhesion is Liquitex Gel Medium. You can also use it over the top of each piece of background paper as a top coat to protect them as well. If you want to change this out seasonally, you could adhere the paper to scraps of cardboard and then attach them to the planner with magnets instead.
Once the background pages were in place, then I put each of my organizational lists on with magnets so they could be changed out as needed. Here you see my “To Buy” list and my weekly schedule.
In the center section, I put a removable frame on magnets so that I could add in a family photo. This would also be handy for things like a motivational word of the week or that business card you really need to keep from losing. Below that I have a monthly calendar. For the calendar, I attached paper to cardboard and then used strips of ribbon as “photo corners’ so I could put the whole stack of calendars on there and just pull off the top one as the month ends.
Here you see my weekly menu plan, my To Do list, and my To Call list. I purposely made the To Do list small because I’m one of those people who makes huge long ones and then can’t understand why I didn’t find enough hours in the day to complete it all. I saw an idea on a blog about writing down your MIT’s – most important things. She had a running list of other things it would be nice to get done but her MIT’s were the top priority items that really HAD to be done. I thought using such a concept would keep me focused on the truly important items and not trying to take on too much. You can see that I’ve used a variety of items for magnets – embellished glass marbles, little clips, and fabric yoyos (more details on making these on the playback of the show).
Hanging from the bottom of the organizer is a covered box where I can store all the little planner sheets to put up on the board, some pens and pencils and other handy items like scissors and envelopes. It’s attached to the back of the organizer with magnets. I’ve put magnets on the back of the organizer so it can go on the side of my fridge but you can hot glue picture hangers on the back or a big ribbon to hang it from instead.
We talked about some of our New Year’s traditions and I showed how to make a “wish box” and some cool techniques for embellishing it as well. Check out the playback of the show to see all the details: http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2010_12_31_10_59_44_186
Lots of people talk about trying to get more organized at the start of a new year so here’s my take on that. This is an organizer that I plan to hang on the side of my fridge where I’ll be able to see all the most important lists and keep up with everything.
It’s made from a metal thing called a “block end” or “end cap” which is a piece of duct work (like for your furnace) that they sell at hardware and home improvement stores. I found mine at Home Depot. They range in size from about 8 inches square to about 8 by 24. This one is 8 by 20. I began using scrap ones that were taken out of my home as a new furnace and ductwork were being put in but they’re very reasonably priced too. The smallest ones are about $2-3 and the largest about $7. After I began working on this idea, I saw something similar done with a cookie sheet. Just a word of advice, if you plan to use a cookie sheet, take a magnet with you when shopping for one because not all cookie sheets are magnetic.
The background papers on this are glued on (my favourite adhesive to use for this to get a nice smooth adhesion is Liquitex Gel Medium. You can also use it over the top of each piece of background paper as a top coat to protect them as well. If you want to change this out seasonally, you could adhere the paper to scraps of cardboard and then attach them to the planner with magnets instead.
Once the background pages were in place, then I put each of my organizational lists on with magnets so they could be changed out as needed. Here you see my “To Buy” list and my weekly schedule.
In the center section, I put a removable frame on magnets so that I could add in a family photo. This would also be handy for things like a motivational word of the week or that business card you really need to keep from losing. Below that I have a monthly calendar. For the calendar, I attached paper to cardboard and then used strips of ribbon as “photo corners’ so I could put the whole stack of calendars on there and just pull off the top one as the month ends.
Here you see my weekly menu plan, my To Do list, and my To Call list. I purposely made the To Do list small because I’m one of those people who makes huge long ones and then can’t understand why I didn’t find enough hours in the day to complete it all. I saw an idea on a blog about writing down your MIT’s – most important things. She had a running list of other things it would be nice to get done but her MIT’s were the top priority items that really HAD to be done. I thought using such a concept would keep me focused on the truly important items and not trying to take on too much. You can see that I’ve used a variety of items for magnets – embellished glass marbles, little clips, and fabric yoyos (more details on making these on the playback of the show).
Hanging from the bottom of the organizer is a covered box where I can store all the little planner sheets to put up on the board, some pens and pencils and other handy items like scissors and envelopes. It’s attached to the back of the organizer with magnets. I’ve put magnets on the back of the organizer so it can go on the side of my fridge but you can hot glue picture hangers on the back or a big ribbon to hang it from instead.
We talked about some of our New Year’s traditions and I showed how to make a “wish box” and some cool techniques for embellishing it as well. Check out the playback of the show to see all the details: http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2010_12_31_10_59_44_186
A fantastic idea, and brilliant use of sheet metal, Cyn. (and it's very pretty)
ReplyDeleteHi Cyn I really love this idea and all the areas one can fine very useful in one place I have to try some thing like this other wise I end up with little notes all over the place
ReplyDeleteThank You so much for sharing this