It’s Planner time again! It’s hard to believe this is the fourth edition of what started out as simply sharing something I adapted for myself and has now made its way around the globe thanks to the power of the Internet. That is both amazing and humbling.
Like last year, I’m putting the planner up well in advance of the New Year. Not only can you have yours ready to go in time but you might want to assemble an extra one as a Christmas gift or just as a favor for someone in your life. It looks great straight out of the printer but you might want to fancy it up with some pretty papers and fun extras to make it a little more special. That’s part of the fun of creating something, right? More on that later.
One of the best things about a New Year is the fresh start it gives us, and in keeping with that spirit, the pages of this year’s Planner have been redesigned to feel fresh and new. There are still plenty of trees and birds, and the dominant color scheme is blue and green…it wouldn’t be me otherwise. But there are more graphic elements and some cute things to make you smile. Best of all, each month is different.
The pages are a little cleaner as the lined area has been removed. Given the separate Notes page, it seemed a duplication. This left more room for fun artwork.
All the planner files are zipped PDFs formatted to print on 8.5x11 paper, and the months themselves are set up as right-hand pages, two per page. I usually buy a package of white cardstock from Walmart to use for the planner as it’s heavy enough to print on both sides but not overly bulky. The book gets thick enough as it is. After you’ve printed on the back side, cut the page exactly in half and you’ll have a margin on one side large enough to bind your planner. I like using my Bind-It-All but there’s room to punch holes for binder rings too.
There are two introductory pages as well: an inside cover and a calendar for the full year. These are right-hand pages as well.
So what goes on the back (left-hand) side? There are plenty of choices.
No planner would be complete without some pages for lists and reminders and there are three again this year, two of which are shown above. Not shown is the Things To Do page which looks identical to the Shopping page except for the title. The image above is actually a combination of two forms; each file will print two pages of the same design side by side. There are two files for each so you can make them left- or right-handed pages. The files are marked with an “-L” or a “-R” making it easy to tell one from the other. In addition, there is a blank page in both left and right orientation; it has only the blue outline and the tree in the corner. It’s nice to have a blank space to glue something to or to scribble on. You could also set up a text box to fit inside the blue outline and add your own content by running the blank page through your printer again.
Download Notes Pages
Download To Do Pages
Download Shopping Pages
Download Blank Pages
I’ve kept the page to sketch and plan your scrapbook pages but I’ve modified what used to be the Must-Make Pages design a bit. Projects To Tackle serves the same purpose but could also include albums to assemble, card drives to participate in, home renovations to plan or even personal improvement goals. It’s a simple change but one that makes the page more versatile for non-scrapbookers. This image is also a combination of two separate forms with each printing two of the same design and available as both left and right orientation.
Download Page Planner Pages
Download Project Pages
The beauty of so many pages formatted for both left and right is that you can customize your planner to your specific needs…a little or a lot of one form or skip another entirely. Or make a separate book filled with nothing but Page Planner pages. The forms are here; how you put them together is entirely up to you.
A word to the wise: Experiment on some copy paper to be sure you’re loading the paper correctly when printing on the second side before you move to your cardstock. Every printer is different, and I admit I can never remember how my own works when it comes to printing on the back side. I’ve had pages upside down and backwards on more than one occasion before getting the hang of it…but then, I’m a little spacially challenged.
There’s one more file available. It contains some labels and tabs you can use on your cover and divider pages.
You can see how I put last year’s book together here.
I’m not making any guesses about when I’ll get to this year’s book but I didn’t want to delay posting the files so those making Christmas gifts would have as much time as possible.
There’s some original artwork on the pages but most is free Photoshop brushes available on the Internet and I’ve added my own creative touches. Thanks to these generous designers for making their work available: Brushes: Obsidian Dawn, Pumpkins and Posies, Pixels and Ice Cream, IHEA, MelsBrushes and Cheri Mask. Digital Papers: Jessica Sprague, DenaC. Design of Page Planner page adapted from Jessica Sprague for creatingkeepsakes.com.
Have fun getting organized!
Thanks so much for your generosity in sharing this lovely planner with us all!
Posted by: lynne | December 29, 2010 at 10:06 PM
Brenda, Thanks for the planner. The graphics are great, but the quotes are fabulous!!! I've got to start posting them on facebook. Kiwi
Posted by: Kgshort | December 30, 2010 at 09:02 AM
This is incredible! Thanks so much!
Posted by: KathScraps | December 30, 2010 at 10:12 AM
Thank you so much, I printed off last years, and it was great. Looking forward to putting this together.
Posted by: anna | January 03, 2011 at 12:40 PM
Brenda,
This is an awesome page planner, thank you for putting it together.
Maggie
Happy New Year!
Posted by: maggie | January 03, 2011 at 10:00 PM
WOW!
How lovely. thank you for sharing
Posted by: Grateful | January 04, 2011 at 02:56 AM
This is a very neat projects thank you for sharing!
Posted by: Xochilt | January 11, 2011 at 01:37 AM
This is so awesome! Thank you so much for all the hard work putting this together. You are so generous to offer these for free. I'm printing them out right now to finish a planner I started last month but couldn't finish...you gave me exactly what I needed! Thank you again.
Posted by: Messymama.wordpress.com | January 13, 2011 at 04:18 PM
Wow! This is so adorable and it's so generous of you to give the printable version! Many thanks! :D
Posted by: livy | January 16, 2011 at 09:38 AM
Thank you for your time and generosity!
Posted by: MariClaudi | January 18, 2011 at 06:45 AM
Thank you so much for sharing this yet again.I made my first one last year and I know I'm late but I have just finished my fourth planner, for a dear friend who loved the quotes in mine. The others were for myself and my daughter, and one for my son's girlfriend which has "winged" it's way back across the Atlantic to the USA! Jude.x
Posted by: Jude | January 29, 2011 at 07:08 PM
Thank you for the free planner, Ms. Brenda.
Posted by: Tara | February 01, 2011 at 05:40 PM
Brenda, I am so thankful for a person like you who is kind and loving to others. God Bless you always. I love your work. I can hardly wait to show it off to my family and friends.
Alma
Posted by: Alma Martinez-Cook | August 03, 2011 at 12:17 PM
Brenda
this is a lovely planner you put together. Thank you! I'm a little bit late but i hope there will be one for 2012!?
But there are 3 months left so I'm going printing right now :)
Greetings from Germany
Yvonne
Posted by: Yvonne | October 05, 2011 at 07:17 AM
I'm super excited to get my projects going, is your fabulous 2012 calendar in the works?
Posted by: MichelleM | October 31, 2011 at 11:11 PM