With 2017 around the corner, I thought this would be a perfect time to introduce you to some wonderful 2017 Printable Calendars if you are still looking for ways to organize your year!
2017 Printable Calendars for Your Planner, Desk or Wall
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of Year! Holiday Season! And I have a few Tech and Planner Freebies to share with you to help kick December and the last leg of 2016 off right! Click here to get your Planner Freebies, the 31 Days of Merriment & Cheer Monthly Task List as well as your December 2016 Dashboard. Both are available in A5 and Personal Filofax equivalents from The Charmed Shop!
Don’t forget your Tech Wallpapers as well! I have a nice seasonal design for you that is a little bit different than the other designs this year, but I just love it, don’t you? Download yours here on The Charmed Shop!
I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving if you are in the US and you knowI love when I see your photos on Instagram sharing how you are using and loving your monthly freebies, so make sure to use #CharmedGTD if you post a picture on Instagram or Twitter, and feel free to tag me @MissTrenchcoat as well so I can see you photos and give them a big heart ♥
HELLO OCTOBER: 31 Things to Do in October {Planner Freebies}
OMG October is upon us! This is it, my favorite time of year and my favorite single month other than March (birthday obvi)! There are so many fun seasonal things to do during October and I always want to make the most of the month, that is exactly why I created the 31 Things to Do in October to-do list.
Did you know that this is the list that started it all? This was my first monthly task list ever!
It’s been a minute since we last spoke, hasn’t it!?! As some of you may already know, the last month has been absolutely crazy for me because my husband and I bought our first home and moved into it, which was a massive undertaking that left me a little overwhelmed and kept me away from my work (and phone and computer!) to a degree that I never expected. Well, good news! Things are finally starting to settle down for us, although we have much work ahead of us, I do plan to get back into the groove of blogging and working come August and I hope that I can knock it out of the park with some great new content that you’ll enjoy! One thing I didn’t want to forget, however, was your monthly free downloads, so I am stopping by today to give you an update that they are ready for you to download over at The Charmed Shop! I’ve got your August Dashboard, a 30 Strategies to Make You More Productivity task list and of course, some beautiful August calendar tech wallpapers!
I have to admit, it’s been very weird for me not working much or interacting with you for the past month, so I would really appreciate it if you guys sent me some love and inspiration over on Instagram! Feel free to snap a pic of your inserts or wallpapers in use in your life and tag me @MissTrenchcoat so I can be inspired by your creativity.
Thank you all so much for your never ending love and encouragement, it really means so much to me, and thank you to all those who sent me messages and well wishes during my absence! Your kindness is so deeply appreciated!
Who’s ready for a Mid-Year Refresh & Review? July is right around the corner and with half of the year behind us, it’s the perfect time to take a moment and reflect on everything we have accomplished so far and what we still hope to accomplish before the year ends. So, to help you with this process, my Free monthly task list for July is centered around 31 things you can do to get a fresh start at this mid year mark and get yourself into a positive mindset to tackle everything else left on the to do list for the year! Of course, like always, I also have a new July Dashboard as well, so if you would like to download these freebies for the month of July click here and you can download them from my shop!
Of course, your planner isn’t the only accessory that gets to have all the fun this month, so make sure to check out my new July “Sunnies Out” Tech Wallpapers to give your computer, tablet or smartphone some summer inspired digs for the month! Click here to access my free wallpapers over on my shop as well!
I hope you the first half of 2016 has been good to you, and I wish you the best of luck with your Mid-Year Refresh & Review! If you do download these inserts or wallpapers, make sure to share about them on social media. I love when I see your photos on Instagram sharing how you are using and loving your monthly freebies, so make sure to use #CharmedGTD if you post a picture on Instagram or Twitter, and feel free to tag me @MissTrenchcoat as well so I can see you photos and give them a big heart 😉
Time flies when you’re having fun learning photography, right? Okay, cheesy opening lines aside, the third week of my #CharmedDSLR photo challenge and mini course has come to an end. This past week we covered one of my favorite photography topics, composition. Composition is the bread and butter of great photography and is one of the more creative aspects of the skill. Although I am a vehement supporter of getting creative with image composition, I believe it’s incredibly important to first understand the established techniques and visual rules that have dominated image composition for centuries. Although each photographer may have their own unique styles and subtleties, we are all subject to the same overarching principles of good visual design and image composition. So let’s see how my #CharmedDSLR students did exploring image composition.
Day 15: Classical Composition
One of the earliest and simplest forms of composition is classical composition, when you take a single subject and center it in your image. Its the clearest way to capture a subject because there is no confusion or ambiguity about what you are supposed to be looking at as the viewer. With this prompt, I was impressed with how many of my students were able to not only take a single subject as the focus but keep the subject in an environment that was interesting and yet didn’t compete for the attention of the subject.
Day 16: Triangle Composition
When it comes to great composition across all mediums, using an odd number of subjects somehow tends to create the best results. With triangular composition you arrange three dominant objects in a scene so that they form a triangle. Of course, there are a number of ways to achieve this composition using layering and perspective and it was interesting to see how my students would manifest the concept in their own images. There is certainly a good amount of variety within these images that goes to show that even within one single concept of composition, an endless number of unique formations are possible!
Day 17: Rule of Thirds
Rule of thirds is probably one of the most popular concepts of composition. Although you may not be familiar with the term itself, most people are familiar with the Rule of Thirds grid that you can use to assist in taking images on most smartphones and digital cameras. With this composition method, placement of objects in the frame can be arranged in a number of ways, either by dividing the frame into thirds or by placing key objects at intersecting points on the rule of thirds grid. As you look at each of these images, image that grid overlaid on the image to get an even clearer understanding of the thought that goes into well balanced images like these!
Day 18: Negative Space
Within each great image there is always a balance between positive and negative space, meaning the space that is filled with a subject and the space that is left open. With this prompt, students were expected to explore negative space in creative ways and again their variation did not disappoint! There is really no right or wrong way to approach negative space, you can do it a number of ways, by leaving a large portion of the image in negative space or by using the negative space to create a shape in and of itself. The point of this prompt was simply to make my students aware of that negative space and not to think only of the subject of the image.
Day 19: Leading Lines
Leading lines are such a direct way to get the attention of a viewer in an image and guide their eye. I absolutely love the first image in this collection with the painted arrow pointing to the dog because it really illustrates exactly what the concept of leading lines is all about; directing the viewer to look at the subject! Definitely had some creative entries for this prompt that I really enjoyed!
Day 20: Symmetry
Symmetry is such an interesting compositional concept because in my opinion its like the rebel of all composition. Generally speaking, a good composition should have variation but with symmetry, we are making an exception to this rule and saying that its okay to create that mirror image effect with our subjects. I do personally love symmetry when its found in nature or through architecture, which some of my students were aptly able to capture, but symmetrical compositions can really be found and created in so many places. The image of the doorknobs above was particularly striking to me especially with the way it divides the light between a darker and lighter side to the image. As to was I intrigued by the picture of the girl sitting because its not entirely symmetrical, but there is a sense of balance in that image as well that really pushes the envelope in terms of composition. Again, I’m just proving my point here that symmetry is the rebel of composition but everyone does like a rebel!
Day 21: Golden Ratio
The final compositional prompt for week three was the golden ratio, which like its cousin, the rule of thirds, relies on a mathematically proportioned formula to predict and guide strong compositions. Rooted in the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio is a naturally occurring mathematical calculation that is known for creating natural spirals. I was glad to see how many students used the concept of the spiral in their images, but one specific image I want to point out is the backyard scene with the foliage. If you look closely at that image, you can really see the formation of the natural spiral in two places. First, the large spiral created by the negative space created by the greenery to the upper left of the image, and then the smaller spiral created by the greenery towards the bottom right. There is a sense of cosmic balance in this image that is not something manipulated by the photographer, instead that natural composition was captured by the photographer who clearly illustrates a great eye for framing the scene! And thats what great image composition really boils down to. You can either style a scene just so or you can see a scene already created and capture it in just the right way so that the natural composition is exposed!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this recap of week three of #CharmedDSLR! Coming up next week I actually have something special planned, a LIVE Photography Webinar event where I will be recapping what we covered in this course and providing some new content and concepts that will help you take better pictures for your blog, business and social media accounts! If you feel like you have been struggling with photography and want to know my exact process for composing, taking and editing awesome images, you won’t want to miss this webinar so click here and request your invitation to the event!
Manifestation is such a powerful tool in my life and business. I realize to some, the idea seems far fetched, but its a practice that I’ve seen work first hand and I think that its one of those things that can be so simply integrated into your life that its worth a shot to give it a try, even if you aren’t a believer just yet. I don’t tend to practice manifestation in the typical ways, I’m a little bit of a rebel and I just don’t have the time or patience to sit in mediation each morning chanting my goals and dreams, wishing them into reality. Instead, I use a few key high tech methods to keep my goals in focus and slowly meld them into my subconscious. You see, the way manifestation works, more or less, is that you need to keep a mental focus on that which you desire. It doesn’t have to dominate your thoughts 24 hours a day (although, maybe that helps?) instead, you just need to be so familiar with what it is that you desire, that it slowly transitions from something you want, to something you believe you already have. Once your brain makes the transition, believing that your goal or dream is already accomplished, your subconscious begins to act in a manner to support that expectation and then one thing leads to another and suddenly you’ve made small but key changes to your mental state so that actually making that goal a reality happens nearly effortlessly. Some people call this “the secret” or “the law of attraction.” Some people say its a placebo affect and others swear by it. Either way you look at it, it’s simply enough to get started for yourself as long as you keep an open mind. So, here are the three methods I suggest for manifesting your dreams, using your gadgets to help support you and keep you on track!
1. Turn your goals into your passwords
I learned this trick from reading Sophia Amoroso’s #Girlboss earlier this year. In the book, Sophia explains that she would take things like her sales goals for her business and manipulate them into her own secret code that she would then use as her passwords for her business accounts and email systems. To me, this was genius, so I immediately started implementing this trick and I have to say, it really works wonders. So, to give this a try for yourself, start by thinking of a goal that you really want to accomplish. This can literally be any goal, a physical, financial, emotional or spiritual goal. It can be related to work or your family or your personal life, it doesn’t matter. Just write it down on a piece of paper. Look at the words and the letters and then create a secret code for yourself. Perhaps you will want to remove all the vowels in the goal or maybe you will switch around some letters to form a secret word. Once you have your goal converted into your own secret password, start using it! Switch one of your gadget passwords to this code, or change your email passcode, anything you can do that requires you to use this password on a daily basis (hopefully multiple times per day) is crucial! What ends up happening is that this password becomes very important to your life because it guards your iPhone, email or bank account, and it’s always in the forefront of your mind. Eventually, you won’t have to think about the code anymore, it will become second nature to you to type it in and each and every time you do, its like your saying a prayer to the universe to give you that thing you want. Day after day, it will grow deeper and deeper inside your subconscious until you are actually motivated in small ways to take action on it, until one day you have achieved it.
2. Keep affirmations on tech wallpapers
If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that I love creating custom tech wallpapers for my devices and I always end up sharing those with you all via a blog post. This was a practice I started implementing a while ago so that I could actually keep my daily affirmations front in center in my life. Affirmations are one of those things that really only work if you say them over and over day after day, so putting them on pretty wallpapers that I use on all my devices was a perfect way for me keep them in front of my face multiple times a day. You can do this too! Either by using my free downloadable tech wallpapers or by creating your own. You can very easily search a site like pinterest to find inspirational quotes or affirmations that you can use on your own devices or you can take your favorite image and then add your own custom text via an iPhone app like Over, or even a web app like PicMonkey. What you use to create your wallpapers doesn’t matter, but what is key is that you use an affirmation that speaks to you and forces you to confront your goals and aspirations. Then of course you need to make sure you put that wallpaper on any and all devices you spend time with throughout your day from your phone to your tablet to your computer screen. The more screens and the more times you see your affirmation throughout your day, the more successful you will be in manifesting your dreams!
3. Set alarms for mindfulness
The final way you can implement manifestation into your life via your technology is by setting yourself a few reoccurring alarms on your phone to go off throughout your day to remind you to be mindful of your goals. I’d suggest setting two to three alarms, spaced out across several hours of your day that you can utilize as small breaks from your work where you focus for a few moments on your priorities and how you will make your dreams a reality for yourself. I think when it comes to manifestation, many people dismiss it because they think practitioners are expecting a magic trick of sorts to occur where they get exactly what they want, just by thinking about it. But that really couldn’t be further from the truth. The purpose of practicing mindfulness and manifestation techniques in general is to bring the center of your focus back to your goal and acknowledge that this is a priority and it must not be forgotten about. When it comes to manifestation, things don’t just happen on their own, you need to take action, but the idea is that by practicing techniques like these, you will be more encouraged and empowered to take action because you are imbedding the idea of your goal or achievement so deep into your psyche that not taking action just isn’t a choice. Use your mindfulness alerts wisely throughout your day as short periods of time where you can meditate on your goal, brainstorm actions to take or strategize how you are going to make your goals your reality. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on these topics, but you should be spending time regularly on them, at least a little bit of time each day, so that you are always envisioning your goals and the steps you need to take to bring them to fruition!
These three methods for manifestation may be simple, but they can also be very powerful and effective tools for those who truly desire to manifest their dreams. I’ve seen first hand how useful these methods can be and I hope that you too find success with them. I do believe that it’s possible to make your dreams a reality and to achieve competitive goals for yourself and your business by using manifestation techniques. Using these techniques won’t bring you overnight success, but incremental success, so long as you remain focused against your goals. I’d love to hear about your experiences using various manifestation techniques, so please feel free to share those in the comments. I’m always looking for great new methodologies or suggestions for books on the topic as well, so if you have ready anything interesting on the subject, I’d love to hear your review!
Hello Everyone and Welcome to 2015! I have to admit, I have been anxious for 2015 to arrive for quite some time now, as I’ve been craving the fresh start that the New Year brings. For what feels like the first time in a long time, I feel like my internal clock is finally in time with the real world because we both hit the reset button at midnight! In reality of course, there is nothing new or special about January 1st that wasn’t already there December 31st— it’s just another day— but the new year gives us reason to pause and evaluate our situations and mental baggage and decide what is going with us into 2015 and what is staying behind in 2014. If you had a rough year for one reason or another and have been feeling weighed down by pressure, stress or negativity that resided in 2014, now is the time to let it go (queue the ice queen)! Get a piece of paper out and a pen and write down whatever it was that happened (or didn’t happen) in 2014, all the negative emotions you have associated with the year and describe them on paper. Spill your guts as they say onto the paper in whichever style you prefer (journal, bullet point, sonnet, etc) and as you write feel yourself unpacking those events and feelings onto the paper like a mental inventory. When you’re done fold up your piece of paper into a nice little square and write 2014 on the outside. Now, I want you to dispose of this paper square in whichever means you find most convenient or cathartic. Burn it (safety), flush it down the toilet, rip it up into little pieces, send it through the shredder, take it outside and step on it, roll over it with your car, whatever will make you feel like you are destroying that paper and disposing of it along with all the mental and emotion baggage that was unpacked onto it!
Now, if you had a great year in 2014, or if you had some great moments and happy positive feelings, memories, etc that are associated with the year, I want you to perform the same example of writing it down, but this time in a more positive and permanent place. A page in your planner, a document on your phone, a notepad in your office, wherever you can write these good feelings down that is more permanent, do it! Why? Because I want you to be able to look at this list and reference it as you enter into 2015. Do you need to keep it all year? If you’d like, but really I just want you to have a record of all the good things from the previous year that you want to migrate with you into the new one. This list is going to be filled with all the emotions and memories you want to continue to manifest and live on in 2015! Okay, so what if you feel like you didn’t have any good moments in 2014 or any happy memories or positive feelings associated with the year? Well, if you feel that way, what I want you to do is write a wish list of events, emotions, positive moments you would love to achieve in 2015. Try to go into detail as much as possible and include a short brainstorm of things you can do or actions you can take in the new year that you believe will help you to achieve these happy thoughts. Use these as part of your resolutions or think of them as a blueprint for an action plan for 2015 and work them into your planner for the year. Like actually schedule out things to do on specific days to help you reach those happy feelings you want to manifest in 2015. If need be, get friends and family involved by sharing part of your wish list with them and explaining how they can help you achieve these goals by their support or cooperation. Remember, this is your list, so ultimately you are responsible for it, however, sharing with those close to you that can lend support and encouragement is a great way to help motivate and keep yourself in check!
I hope this little exercise is helpful for you as we move into 2015. Remember, I’m all about this year being the best year of your life (and mine!) and if you want to keep that message at the forefront of your mind as well, make sure to grab a set of my tech wallpapers for your gadgets! In case you were also unaware, I just recently added a new printable product to my Shop, a set of 2015 Monthly Journaling Cards. They are an elegant month at a glance design that you can keep in your planner to help with no-spend months, photo challenges, health or life tracking, etc, or use in a scrapbook or project life spread! Since they are printable, you can go ahead and print as many as you need each month for various projects! Of course, if you’re still in need of a new calendar system for your Filofax or equivalent planner system, make sure to also check out my offerings for Monthly, weekly, and daily planner pages, as well as my selection of task trackers and project planning inserts that will help make your life more organized and your goals more achievable in 2015! Oh and don’t forget to download my January free insert, a Resolution a Day to test out a variety of popular resolutions in January to narrow down your own!
Well, like I said earlier, I have been anxious for this year to begin and perhaps you have been too, so I will let us go now so we can go ahead and make out our lists and action plans and get to work making 2015 the best year yet!
With precious few days left in 2014, I thought that it would be most appropriate for me to change-up my monthly favorites post and instead of talking about the things I loved in December, look back over the year and pick out my favorite things of 2014! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 2014 was a year of great positive change for me and I feel like I have so much to be proud of as I look back throughout the year. It’s not so much physical objects or items that I will remember from this year, but mostly experiences and life changes that will define this time. Of course, there are some physical representations associated with some of these memories, and I can use those to help outline this very special edition of Editor’s Faves for 2014!
At the very end of 2013, I purchased my new laptop, Apple’s 11” Macbook Air! It has been an amazing tool for me this year in helping me to achieve my goals and major life changes. It has been a life saver having such a small and portable computer that makes it easy for me to get my tasks complete, my writing in order, and my images edited! You can definitely thank my Macbook Air for awesome projects like my free printables, my tech wallpapers and of course, my Shop!
This year I made a very large and very symbolic bag purchase to celebrate new success and opportunities to come for me in 2014! You may have seen this bag around, I did do a whole What’s in My Bag style post for it, dubbing it my Blogger’s Bag and I think it has been something of a lucky charm for me. Back in April when I first chose the bag, it was a large purchase, but one I needed to make in order to celebrate how far my blog and I had come and to really mark this time in my life as one where I was serious about my online entrepreneurship goals. A month later I went full-time with my blog, and now as I write this at the cusp of a new year and look back through my stats and my accomplishments for 2014, I know that bag was just a symbol of what was to come!
5. 2015 This Is Your Year Printable
You have probably already seen and downloaded your own free copy of my 2015 This Is Your Year Printable that I made for my personal sized Filofax. It was my new year rendition of a very inspirational 2014 version I had found on Pinterest and had tracked to a wonderful little Philadelphia based design blog called The Atelier. That 2014 image sat front in center in my planner for the majority of the year, acting as something of an inspiration board for my planner, filled with inspirational quotes and a powerful message and challenge that truly felt like it had been created for me! So, for 2015, I dreamed up my own version and bought it to life, and I hope that for 2015 it brings me the same motivation and drive as it’s predecessor! I truly believe that 2015 will be a year of great things, not just for myself but for you as well. So long as we keep a sensible head on our shoulders and our eyes fixed upon our goals, there is nothing we won’t achieve in 2015!
