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Guest Blogger: Planning for the New Year by Planning with Emily
January 10, 2022

Guest Blogger: Planning for the New Year by Planning with Emily

It's a brand New Year and we have a brand new guest blogger to introduce to you!!! Please welcome Emily from @planningwith_emily!!! We're big fans of Emily's instagram account, filled with beautiful planner spreads. Emily is also a WashiGang regular and is often picking up planning supplies from us! It's a match made in heaven! Read ahead for Emily's planning process, a few tips for planning for the yew year and editing your planner spreads for instagram! 

Hi WashiGang fam!

My name is Emily from @planningwith_emily and I’m so excited to be here writing my first post for the WashiGang blog! Today I’m going to be sharing some planner tips and tricks for a weekly and monthly spread as well as some currently page ideas! I will also be sharing some tips on how I take my photos for Instagram (which is honestly just as fun as creating the spreads!). 

When deciding on a theme for a weekly spread I am usually inspired by nature or even a particular colour. My theme for the first full week of January was SUMMER and all things bright!Planning with Emily Guest Blogger
I try to pick something I know will bring me joy that week in my planner. The stickers I chose for this spread were from Posh Summer by Live Love POSH and Summer by The Happy Planner. My personal style is very centered around florals and boxes! Mostly because flowers make me so happy! 
My favourite thing to do in a spread is to create ‘clusters’ including layering a couple of boxes and decorative stickers. This is a great way to make popular stickers more unique and more your own style. I loved layering this double box with this cute toucan, flowers, watermelon and quote! 
Planning with Emily Guest Bogger
Here are a couple more tips when creating a weekly spread: 
  • Use baking paper over the top of your planner pages so you can play around with stickers and reposition until you are happy.
  • Experiment with placing stickers ‘off centre’ to create a fun and unique look.
  • Don’t discard any floral (or similar) off cuts as these can be incorporated back into the spread either next to a box or something similar. I reused these little leaves from an off cut and they look so effective next to this pink decorative box! I’ve found the little details really add something extra to a spread! 
Planning with Emily Guest BloggerContinuing my Summer theme, I decided to go with an ocean vibe for my January monthly spread as nothing speaks more to my soul in Summer than the ocean! How cute are these Appree Nature Stickers: Seashell on my sidebar?! I also used My Journal Ocean Decoration Stickers around the corners and more fun decorative stickers from Summer by The Happy Planner! Planning with Emily Guest Blogger
I try to keep my monthly spread pretty minimal as this is a highly functional space for me. I’ve found washi tape to be my best friend in my monthly layouts as it adds colour but still leaves lots of room for writing! Another little tip is to not be afraid to change the thickness of your washi tape! I trimmed this gorgeous Ocean Nature Poetry washi tape down a bit with an exacto knife as it was a bit thick for such small boxes and I wanted more space to write. Don’t be afraid to do the same thing!Planning with Emily Guest Blogger
Next is my currently page for January! What do you use your currently pages for? I always use mine to expand on something that is happening that month. As January is the start of a new year, I decided to turn this page into a January goals page and list all the things I want to focus on and improve upon next year! My main goal is to spend more time exercising and eating healthier! What are your new year goals? 
To create this fun page I used Whimsical Brights Alphabet by The Happy Planner, Summer by The Happy Planner and Posh Summer by Live Love POSH. I also added some little doodles to make the spread more fun! Planning with Emily Guest Blogger
Here are some examples of other uses for a currently page:
There are so many fun ways to use this page! 
Now let’s talk photography! Here are a couple of tips on capturing some great photos of your spread!
  • Natural lighting is so good for photo-taking. You really don’t need any fancy lighting equipment! I take all my photos under a large window in the front room of my house where the most natural lighting tends to be. 
  • Camera: I just use my iPhone to take my photos! I always change the camera setting to ‘square’ or 1:1 ratio as this fits Instagram perfectly and you won’t need to do any cropping. I also find slightly angling the photo gives a nice touch too!
  • Props help tell the story of your spread. As my theme was Summer for this spread, I used as many ‘summery’ things around the house as I could find. Get creative with your props, it doesn’t have to be expensive! I’ve used scrapbook paper, placemats, fake flowers from the $2 store, carpet, washi tape, pens, the sticker book used to make the spread, cardboard, $3 vinyl rolls from k-mart I put onto white cardboard, dividers from my happy planner and I’ve even used a couple of dresses that were the right colour! The possibilities are endless!
Next is editing your photo! I use the free version of Adobe Lightroom to edit all my photos. I play around with exposure, whites, colour vibrance and clarity to brighten up my photos. See the difference in the before and after photo! Planning with Emily Guest Blogger
Planning with Emily Guest Blogger
That’s really all there is to it! I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! If you have any questions on anything in this post or just want another planner friend please don’t hesitate to find me on Instagram under planningwith_emily! Have a wonderful 2022 WashiGang fam and I hope to be back soon! 
Much love, Em xx

Thank you so much for joining us! Make sure you give Emily a follow over on instagram @planningwith_emily to see more of her beautiful planner spreads. 

We're also keen to hear about your goals for the new year! Let us know in the comments!! 
Filed in: Guest Blogger, Tips & Tricks
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Comments

Melissa H - February 3, 2022

I love all the beautiful spreads by Emily!! Thank you for all the great tips, I always look forward to seeing what you create!!❤️

Darbi - February 3, 2022

Heyyyy! @PlanIt.Darbi here! This is such a fun post! You truly have an eye for what looks good and still be functional. The only thing that feels wrong is that I’m over here in the middle of America freezing my tail off while you Aussies are enjoying fun in the sun!!! So jelly!

Xo
Darbi

Kellie Lawrence - February 3, 2022

Thanks for the tips Em. As a newbie I need as many as I can get 🙏

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