Gadget Mania-Review More Gadget

 Websters Colour Crush Personal planner

You may have seen about a week ago I published my Happy Planner 1st Impressions. Yep even gadget-a-holics need planners.
I had originally purchased the Happy Planner before Christmas so I could give you all a fair opinion. but since then I hadn't quite found my
"Planner Nirvana".

So guess what...at the beginning of January I sort of made another purchase...oops...the Websters colour crush personal planner. Today I want to let you know what I think of it...is this one...is it working for me...?

I have added a video review too so you can listen or read my ramblings...either way grab a coffee and bikky.

  MAMBI Happy Planner
Last week I posted my video and full review 1st impressions of my Happy Planner: I have since purchased this beautiful personal sized leather planner from Hey Little Magpie a UK stationary company.

Right from the start when choosing my planner I have wanted an A5 leather binder version but considered them too expensive and I couldn't justify that buy.

However after using my Happy Planner for about a month now; Ive now found I love the size but cant add anything unless I buy an Arc punch which are quite pricey.

         Soooo...................................

Next came the listening to loads of reviews on YouTube and I discovered the personal sized Colour Crush Webster planner, I loved the colour and the inserts...oh the inserts are just gorgeous; but fought between the A5 or the personal and again because of the cost I chose the personal size: so lets see if this has worked for me.

I purchased the planner kit with all the inserts inside; although you can buy the planner empty cheaper too. 

So here are the choice of colours and you can also purchase matching zip folios to keep your planners goodies in; washi's, stickers, scissors anything. They even come with a small starter kit inside. I may get this later on.

Just to say if you would rather listen to my rambles checkout my full unboxing and review video further down or simply carry on reading. 

 Packaging
 I decided to buy my Websters from a UK company called Hey Little Magpie, they offered it at the best price at this time for me; plus of course I couldn't resist a few little extras...like you do. It arrived the very next day...wow so impressed and so excited.

look how gorgeous this packaging is from Hey Little Magpie.

Opened up there's my goodies.

Websters have absolutely nailed their own packaging too, isn't this just gorgeous...breathe....

 Opening the gorgeous peach and gold foil spot box you see this piece of acetate saying Hello, this could easily be cut and used in the planner...extra brownie points Websters....!

So in my box I have my planner, a Heidi Swapp packet of paperclips, I just couldn't resist the gold and silver glitter and a packet of 2 Heidi Swapp magnetic clips; again with gold foiling and they will go with both my planners.

Whats inside

Okay just checkout the index pages arnt they just gorgeous; these were THE sole reason I bought this colour planner. I love nature and especially birds so as soon as I saw this first page I was sold...I NEEDED this planner.

Each of the colour crush planners come with a different set of index card depending on its colour; but you can purchase the index cards separately if prefer.

Lets first take a moment to checkout the excellent quality planner charm in the matching teal leather with Make Happiness embossed on it. Attached by a gold chain. BUT I do find the chain reminds me of a plug chain though, but it is adorable.

My weekly diary insert was slipped in at the back of the planner allowing me to put it in where I want it. This one is from Oct 2015 to Dec 2016. so I took out last years Oct-Decenber as the planner is already quite full.

On opening the planner its was just gorgeous as all you planner addicts know that feeling on opening a brand new planner....sigh!

I was super happy as I expected the rings to be silver as all the images and videos I had seen all looked silver, mine were gold...YAY...so pleased as its because of the Kikki K planners and their gold rings that I originally got into all this planner stuff lol! 

It was love at first sight lol!

The rings are really strong and tight with no gaps. I cant open them with 1 hand which shows just how strong they are.

I love that you get this page of FREE mini stickers with this planner; what a cute start. They are transparent too not just white background...even better.

The front page is covered with a clear plastic page and under that is a beautiful Be Happy, Be Bright, Be you in gold foil writing, love this calligraphy style font too its just gorgeous...its really me!

On the opposite side is a leather secretarial flap with Websters Pages Est 1986 embossed into the leather in gold foil. 1986 makes me feel old, I was in my last year of school...wow THAT'S long time ago now.

This is the 1st index page and its made of thicker card; these feathers are just stunning.

On top of this are 2...yes 2...clear dashboard pages; so you can separate your planner with post-its or a theme page design, I love that you get 2. But not sure what Im doing with mine yet.

 I could have gone mad and uploaded every page to show you, but I show these in detail in my video if you need to see them close-up. So here are just some piks of the different tabs and index cards.

Websters pages have designed their tabs slightly different to any other planner out Ive seen. Filofax and Collins are great planners but we are so used to the normal basic tabs of Contacts, Accounts, Birthdays etc.

Websters have changed it all up and given us....some unique ideas.

1. Write it down tab has the blue cotton flowers page and gives us a page divided up into Thoughts, Ideas, Dreams. Love the washi effect typewriter at the bottom. On the back of these pages is normal notepaper.

2. Memory Keeping tab of a lovely scrapbooky woody effect which gives Day in the life and a line a day to say something special or add a special date etc...anything you want. Love the huge camera design at the bottom.

On the back of these pages you get a "project sketches" page for doodles etc. 

Plus take a moment for the next tab (lists to love) of golden feathers...sigh...sooo gorgeous!

3. Lists to love Tab- a page of various to do section and goals brilliant idea and again it has printed washi designs already on the page.

On the back of this you get a menu planner, I know many of you love these. Its not for me so Ill use it for something else.

The the next tab "Staying inspired" has the most gorgeous roses and butterfly.

 4. Staying inspired tab and this is a section where Websters have added some beautifully designed scrapbooky style pages to add anything you like; photos etc.

 Then we have calendar tab and you get your month to view section Jan-Dec, love the cute boxes.

Straight after you get your Week to view pages, I have to admit this is my only niggle with this planner. I find it awkward not having Jan Monthly with Jan weekly together; I have to keep flipping back and forth to this and to be honest its annoying.

I cant even move the weekly to monthly as the weekly pages continue at the start of a month so you get a page of 29th,  30th, 31st and straight after the 1st day of the next month. If there was a page break for the start of every month we would be able to move the weekly and monthly together without missing a few days.

Hope this makes sense.....

Please, please Websters next year can we have them together.....

 When the planner is closed the snap tab has plenty of room to expand.

 I also bought some extras, a pack of extra To do pages and a pack of extra note page as the planner doesn't come with alot of writing note paper.

Right at the back you get a slim note jotter of 20 pages which slips in the slot at the back. Under that you have another secretarial pocket and another credit card slot.

Checkout my gorgeous metallic purple Fisher space pen...review coming up soon, I think it looks fantastic with this teal.

I also bought some washi tape and Im so pleased as its a perfect match to the teal...what do you think? They are both so beautiful!

 I have also planned to use this for my calligraphy too, so I cant wait to get started.

Opinion

I really love the Websters planner, I love the colour, the quality and the unique design; but my main niggle is not having the monthly sections with the weekly and that for me is quite a biggy, Ive tried to work with it. But as a daily journal planner I cant do that; so Im changing this planner to my Gadget Girl Reviews planner with all my post ideas, review lists etc.

This has started to work really well as Im not swapping back and forth.

Its so unique and the pages are so beautiful, I love that they have some scrapbooky style design features already so you can add more or not do anything at all.

The gold and light teal look amazing so pretty and feminine, the index feather designs really are beautiful and Im so pleased I got this. However I do wish Id splashed out a bit more cash and got this in the A5...live and learn.

However the planner itself its absolutely gorgeous and I really love it and its a must have for any collector.

Thanks for popping by let me know what you think; which is your favorite planner.

I bought my Websters and embellishments from

Hey Little Magpie 

 Coming soon 

Simple Stories Carpe Diem A5 Planner

Lyra & Co Fauxdori's

Here is my

Happy Planner review

*I have not been compensated in any way for this review.

Coming very soon...yep more planners.

Carpe Diem and my 2 Lyra & Co Fauxdori's

Watch this space.

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Gadget Mania-Review More Gadget

I know this isn't a gadget post but all us gadgety people need to organize our lives at some point with work or homelife; so I thought you guys maybe interested in my search for what I think is the perfect planner . 

From October last year my life suddenly changed with the loss of my Mum, this made so many changes across my life as you can imagine. I wanted to keep going with Gadget Girl but its involved me to become better organized with my time. 

So I started looking at planners, Ive always preferred pen and paper planning than writing on my phone or tablet as I just love writing; (I know seems odd doesn't it for a gadgetaholic). 

Im forever writing lists on bits of paper which end up getting lost...sigh! Plus writing about memories seems even more of a priority now. I just dont want to forget a thing; its all too easy to take daily life for granted.

So I thought Id just buy a normal bog-standard Collins diary...sorry Collins. BUT after watching near on 100 YouTube videos I felt myself pulled into the planner community; no its not some mad cult; but its a bunch of ladies who love to scrapbook, decorate and stay organized. 

I realized I had forgotten my love of stationary...boy...do I love stationary, I cant leave a shop if there are new notebooks or pens in there. There is just something about a new book...a blank new page....arhhh!

Plus I used to be really into Calligraphy and I was actually quite good at it, I say so myself. I won my first handwriting competition at 8 years old and received one of those erasable ballpoints; back in the 80's it was incredible technology and I was so proud lol! since then I have collected many fountain pens, dip-pens and have many specialized nibs. 

Here are just some of my nibs and 2 of my dip pens. These have been put away for over 4 years; so Ive broken them all back out again, just for some relaxation and fun with the planner. I may even do a post on it if you guys are interested.

Anyway Im rambling...so I also needed to be able to relax as well as organize and what better way to do that, but get into the planning world, with designing and writing.

The next main question was WHICH ONE....Oh my goodness so many types to choose from...Binders, Travel, Midori's, Arc planners, A4, A5, A6, personal, passport...argh...the range is overwhelming its finding whats right for you!!!

What do I personally want/need from my planner?

I need the size and enough room in a day to add different aspects of my life; more than an average diary paragraph slot.

I wanted a section completely for Gadget Girl blog, photos and editing, video editing, posting and then adding to social media. Anyone with a blog will understand the organization needed with keeping up with emails etc.

I also want to keep up with my stats, we all need to see how we are improving hopefully.

Plus I needed a slot for me, my steps, health and diet etc. I almost need a page a day. Then I needed the fun aspect to it, if I want to decorate to relax.

So initially I wasn't sure I could get all this into one planner and from watching you guys on YouTube many of you have upto 3-4 planners at one time. I couldn't see why at first but I can now...sigh.

 So eventually after weeks...okay 2 months...yep I know thats bad isn't it...oops.. of reading your reviews, watching you guys with your "plan with me's" I decided on the Happy Planner...yay made a decision!!!

 I actually found it on Ebay when I was scrolling through the many pages one night, a lady found it didn't suit her and she had bought some extras too...so I just had to click BUY NOW...der...obviously.

I thought that was the best way for me start tiptoeing into the planning world to see if this one was for me.

So here I am with my Happy Planner "Life is beautiful"; there are quite a few designs to choose from and the insides are different with every design; so Im sure you can find one to suit your style.

 Checkout MAMBI's walk through videos of each of their designs to see which one suits you.

So first of all these planners are manufactured by an American company called Me And My Big Ideas the link is below.

 MAMBI

 They offer not only different styles and designs of planner but they also offer many accessories to go with it, its a hobby in itself. Stickers, washi tape, lists, extra replacement covers and index cards of different designs to change it up when you feel like it.

Checkout my full video walk through of everything I got and see what I thought, you can listen to my rambling or read it, its up to you guys....just grab a coffee and bicky anyway.

For me I fell in love with this design. I looked at the gorgeous leather binders of Kikki k and Filofax and thought I just couldn't justify the price.

It size is 24cm X 19.8cm and it has 2 laminated pages front and back. These have a really great thickness and wont bend easily.

Happy Planner is an Arc binder system so the pages simply pull out as you gently pull them down, you can then decorate and press them back in.

 You can even change the front and back covers.

 I immediately fell in love with the Arc system rings, they have added gorgeous love hearts to the centers. 

I also picked up some extension rings in gold as it will match the front cover; which will allow me to add to my planner as its already quite full with the extra lined and graph paper that came with it. You can see from the image above it will gain you approximately an extra 1/4 to your planner, so it allows for designing or adding pages, charms etc.

 So to the inside

At the beginning of every month you have a page to write down your monthly birthdays, special events, goals, important dates and dont forget lists. I have already changed this to suit me though...good old washi...lol!
Then you also have a beautiful index page to start every month with; this one is one of my favorites...yep its natural wood with a colourful edge its gorgeous.

You then have a month to view and each month is colour coordinated with the weekly view. So you see its green here....

...and its green daily dividers to match. Some of you probably won't like the Morning, Afternoon and Evening....Im not keen but you can cover it with washi. Not all the planner designs have this so do checkout their video walk through's. for each design.

I have to say I love, love, love the woody design to all the monthly pages of this version, Life is Beautiful. Its faint enough to still write over but enough to not decorate if you dont want to, and Im not sure how much I want or have time to decorate it yet.

All the pages are excellent quality and have a lovely thickness to them. I am using my Fisher space pen and that doesn't have any leak through whatsoever. I feel not many pens would leak through these, but I haven't tested any others yet.

 At the beginning of every week at the bottom of the open page is a different motivational saying which is really nice touch.

At the back is the paper set which came with my planner; lined and graph paper. I have at least 15 lined and 18 graph pages so some may have been used, Im not sure the correct amount you get in the pack as you will have to purchase these separately. But I have to say they are definitely worthwhile, they are excellent quality paper and thickness.

Extras

 Here are some of the extra's that came with my planner, all these are available to buy separately. Left to right is a

Dashboard of post-it notes, book of excellent quality stickers and a 2 pack of to do note pads, these are perfect for me and my reviews as I dont have to keep re-writing them out everytime. I can simply move the list - page to page.

 Then these are journalling cards, but I was slightly disappointed as I was hoping to use them as book marks but they are way too flimsy. Still they are gorgeous and will look pretty within the pages. 

I run through every card quickly in the video if you want to see whats inside.

Here are some more of the goodies you can get.

1st impressions

I really love the "Life is Beautiful" Happy Planner as I adore the nature design and woody effect on all the month to view pages, the index cards have a nature feel all through the months so the planner suits me so well. 

I love all the accessories that have come with my mini haul, I feel I would have wanted them, but whether I would have bought them all is another thing as they can be a little pricey.

My main niggle is that Im not 100% sure about the Arc system as I cannot add pages easily to this planner unless I buy the arc punch. It is now available to buy directly from MAMBI in the US and I know you can buy them in the UK...but I dont really want to pay out anymore.

As for the planner itself I really do love it, although its the "minimum" amount of space I need to write in daily. I could really do with a day to view page as I do have alot of things in my life I want to track and this doesn't give me quite enough room for everything but its still working ok.

Have I reached "planner peace" yet...not entirely...but I think I'm almost there, this size is just right and I love the nature designs as I dont have to decorate if I dont want to; but it still looks gorgeous all the way through if I dont. The pages are easy to turn and it lies flat and the pages are easily removable...so important to you guys who do alot of decorating.

But I really do like the design and style of this series; I will keep you updated.

*I have actually purchased the Carpe Diem simple stories planner since writing this review and video. My plan is to convert this Happy Planner (thanks to many YouTube videos on how to) and put it into the Carpe Diem binder ...more on this very soon.

I think Im addicted to planners already...eeep!

 Here are some of the companies you can buy the Happy Planner from

In the US you can buy directly from MAMBI here

• Hey Little Magpie
• Amazon UK
• Crafty Charlie

 * I just want to point out I have not been compensated for this review. I paid for everything myself and simply wanted to let you guys know what I thought.

Plus I just have to review everything I get..now wheres my Mcvities chocolate biscuits...!

I actually have 3 Planners now since writing this review;

Simple stories Carpe Diem A5 planner

Websters Personal sized leather planner.   

Watch this space....

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