Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Another pen post- Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

My all time favorite pen for coloring and for planning are the Staedtler Triplus Fineliners. In a 0.3mm tip, these pens come in great colors, are easy in your hands and slide quite smooth. The ink is bold and it doesn't bleed on the PPP planner pages or smudge easily. For around $15-20, you can get a 10 pack of basic colors. There are varying color packs with a large pack of around 20 for more or a set of neon pens. I'd rate these pens a 10/10 for my favorite.

Review of Plum Paper Planner Nov. 2016-Dec. 2017

After the dust from the wedding had settled, I decided to return to my normal planner life and purchased a new Plum Paper Planner for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. Like I've mentioned before, I love how customizable PPP is and they outdid themselves with their new website revamp. Not only do you not purchase on Etsy anymore, but designing your planner is easier than ever.

PPP installed an ability to fully customize and see the customization on the site before purchasing. Now you pick your cover, see what a monogram or date looks like on it, pick how you want your name on it if you do and exactly what fonts you want everything in. I loved the new design station on plumpaper.com. I chose 14 months for my planner. The easiest way to figure out the months is to count how many actual months you want in the planner. For instance, all 12 months of 2017 plus November and December 2016 = 14 months.

I got the 7x9 planner, but PPP also now offers an 8.5x11 planner, notebooks, address books, etc.

Turn around right now is fabulous. I purchased the planner on Oct. 11, it shipped Oct. 19 and I received it Oct. 25. Here are some of my unboxing photos and I'll explain how everything went.

The planner came snugly fit in a cardboard box with the PPP logo on the top. It was wrapped in bubble wrap as it has in the past and in a plastic sleeve. It was definitely safe and sound during transport.





Since my last PPP, the company did change the plastic cover layer over the designed cover. It feels much more durable than the last one which had a tendency to curl. PPP is also offering interchangeable covers now, but your first one comes permanent. I'll have to try out the interchangeable covers if I get bored of this one.

For my cover, I went with one of the wood designs with no year or monogram and with my name along the bottom with a plum background. It fit my style perfectly which was a bit simple, but fun.




Opening up the planner, the paper feels a bit more high class with a higher gloss than previous years. I like the feel of the paper and have been using my Staedler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm pens on it. So far, no runs through the back and no smudges. Smudges are my least favorite thing ever.

The front pages have 2016 and 2017 years in a glance along with pages for special dates, ideas, plans and goals.



Another big change PPP has done lately is the monthly tab pages. Now instead of a blank page behind your month tab, it has a fun three goals for the month, birthdays, events, and things to remember. One of the first things I did when I got the planner was begin plugging in birthdays on these pages and filled out my goals for November.





This year I went with a new layout to fit my changing work schedule- the horizontal. I previously had the hourly, but that was because I went to a lot of meetings and other things at my old job. Now that I'm at a desk while I'm at work, I have a bit more flexibility in my schedule. I also want to track other things such as my horse's training schedule, if my husband or I were going to the barn, the miles on our leased car, etc. I wanted to have a bit more fun with the weekly layout since I heavily use the monthly pages too.



At the end of each month, I added monthly cleaning pages. I wanted to keep track of our apartment cleaning since my husband and I both let things go sometimes. This way I was able to list everything we need to do, how many times a month we needed to and keep track of it all. Then we can also tell what we have been slacking on!



The end of the planner is pretty standard for PPP. Although I could have added some fun sections like a Blog section, I chose not to with this planner. I wanted it to be simple and compact. I have some grid pages for various things, the 2018 year at a glance, U.S. holidays, and I added two sticker pages. I love my stickers and I liked the styling on the PPP ones.



At the very back is of course the folder to keep stickers and other things handy. PPP has done a good job of upgrading the design of the folder and it seems like it will hold up well. Time will tell.



Overall, I adore the Plum Paper Planner. As you all know, it's my only planner. I'm drawn to it because the styling isn't just black, but it's not in your face either. It's practical for a working woman or a mom or both. PPP has a LOT of layouts and options to choose from. And price wise you can't beat it. Monthly planners start at $32. Mine came out to $52 total with shipping, added months, and cleaning pages.

For the value, you can't beat it. I haven't found another planner with this level of customization for this price range.


Plum Paper Planner in no way contributed to this review. I purchased the planner with my own money.





Tuesday, October 25, 2016

An update on life!

I am just getting back to this blog a year after my last post. Sorry followers, but getting married keeps you busy! I will have to make a post on here about how I used my Plum Paper Planner wedding edition for my wedding planning because it was truly a great experience. My planner made life as a bride so much easier!

But the wedding has now passed and it's time to get back to business. Guess what's waiting for me at home? My new Plum Paper Planner for November 2016-December 2017. I got a new layout to try; horizontal, and absolutely cannot wait to unpack it. Don't worry, followers, I'll take tons of photos!