hi guys! i'm excited to share my new planner that i can't use for the next 7 months! isn't that awesome?! lol. but in all seriousness, i wanted to get the new planner with just 12 months this time. as shown in one of my photos below, my current planner (18 months) is already beginning to "alligator mouth", which i'm not a huge fan of. on that note, i also want to express my feelings about the new hardbound eclp's. just no. i mean, if you're only using pen in them, sure go ahead. but if you're going to decorate them with stickers like everyone else... just don't.
so since this makes my second planner, and i got a different format and color scheme this time, i figured i'd talk about the differences between the new planner and last year's (hourly neutral). i'll also leave you
this convenient link to my post from last year to make your own other comparisons as you please. ~Lindsay-chan ^.~
if you're interested in purchasing your own, you can use
my affiliate link* and receive $10 off your order -- which is basically like free shipping, which is awesome.
this time, i got the painted petals planner with personalization, 12 months (Jan - Dec), platinum coil, in the colorful vertical format. also, despite how the photo looks, the planners are the same size. as mentioned above, my current planner is alligator-ing. also notice that the coil is the same width for both years.
the cover is laminated, so that you can use dry erase markers on the inside. after a couple inspirational pages, there are monthly calendars for July 2017 - Dec 2018, goals pages, and a note page with an inspirational phrase before each monthly calendar spread. compared to last year, the notes page was just a lined page. this year, they changed it up a bit and i think this allows for more creativity for utilizing the page space. there's now four circles, two columns of lines and an open rectangular box at the bottom. now granted, i'm still not sure how i personally feel about these pages and how i'll use them, but i'll figure something out over the course of the next 8+ months! also, the paper in this planner is definitely thicker and heavier weighted than last year's. i think this'll be great for pens that are more prone to bleeding. i do also notice that the tabbed pages do not have reinforcement anymore, but because of the thickness of the paper, it should be ok.
sidenotes - the bottom washi provided on the freebie sheet is slightly shorter than the height of the bottom box of the new notes pages. the box seems to be about the size of the notes sidebar on the monthly spread pages. also, something i find odd, but makes sense is that the january tab starts in the third position. compared to my current 18 month calendar that is the correct placement, so it makes sense that they'd not want to redesign tab placement for the different monthly calendars.
something i'm uncertain about with this planner, but i still wanted it anyway was the fact that there's so much colorful ink on each of the monthly spreads. like it's beautiful, but what if i want to put down a monthly kit on top of it? sadness........ as for the weekly spread pages, i appreciate that they got rid of the thankful thought text inside of the top left box. that was really annoying for spreads that i didn't want to put a full box sticker onto in my current planner. you can still put a full box sticker into this box, even though it's slightly bigger than the space they allotted for it... but it's definitely a larger box than what they had for my current planner! they also got rid of the little title bar thing in the left notes area, which i also didn't really use and tended to cover with full box stickers.
the last section in the planner is a notes section, which has several sheets of ruled, dotted, and coloring pages. the ruled pages have little note flags on the top corners, and the dotted pages have a grayscale painted petals design across the top. the next two pages for the 2019 monthly calendars appears to be unchanged, with bullet points and white space to put any future plans. these pages are followed by a four sticker pages, which have been revamped and are more awesome and useful to me than last year's. the first two pages are both full of foiled functional stickers, followed by a sheet of open rectangle stickers, and flag/crinkle edge rectangular stickers (similar to last year's birthday stickers sheet).
lastly, after the sticker pages, there's a storage pocket, where the perpetual planner--among other things--can be stored. on the other side of the folder is another pocket as well as the back cover which can also be written on with dry erase markers. i didn't photograph the outside of the back cover, but it's almost a mirror of the front cover, sans my name.
this year's freebies and accessories are in the painted petals theme. in the first photo is the notebook, sample sticker sheet, ruler, perpetual calendar, and washi tape. the second photo is the things that were in the box or the plan for it pouch. some gift tags, compliment cards, a postcard, coupons for friends, and an extra coil if you want to attach the pouch or other things to your planner.
along with the new planner, i decided to buy the painted petal designer washi tape which was only $3, so why not. i bought last year's separately and it's a skinny washi whereas this is a 15mm tape. i am slightly concerned about this washi because it came with a piece of tape holding it to itself.... it seems like it sticks to paper just fine, but as i sit here typing, the free edge is detaching itself from the roll a little....hmmm...
since i pre-ordered my planner, they were offering their hardbound lined notebooks in turquoise as a gift with purchase. so of course i had to get one *and never use it because it's prettyful and who wants to ruin perfection -- i'll try to use it, but idk when. lol!*. and i love it. it's the perfect purse size notebook, the edges of the pages are a gorgeous blue foil along with blue foil accents in the inner covers (ret. $15). they also threw in a sheet of pretty foiled stickers, i guess instead of the mini sticker book like last year? but i appreciate bottom washi in the painted petal theme. along with the other strips, boxes, and flags.
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