So, it’s Sunday morning. Coffee ready, music playing. I take out my stickers. I bought this set from FruVesas Printables. It is the Ocean Roses printable.
I do not have an Erin Condren planner (yet) but I do use stickers on my Teneues planner cause I ❤ decorative planning.
This week’s spread
My planner has two pages per week. One with the days (horizontal layout), the other page is a lined notes page.
Page with days
I have written down the things I want to get done in each box. I have used little tear drops and written the things I want to be doing everyday. So, the tear drops stand out and I do not have to write my repeated tasks on every single day’s box. What I want to be doing everyday? Read a bit of my book, and ride my stationary bike. I used a half box sticker as a header on the last column and have written down all my blogging ideas.
Notes page
The thing I like about this particular planner is that there is a notes page next to the page with the days. I write all my to Dos there. I can write whole sentences which is great cause I can think a bit more and see what I wanna do.
I use banners as headers on my notes page
One banner is for my face to face lessons, one for my online work, and one for bills/calls/emails.
Final thoughts
So, far this decorative planning is working great for me cause I like pretty stuff and it is kind of inviting. I spent about 45 minutes cutting/ sticking and writing. If things come up during the week, I will add them later. I sort of have an overview plan and then I add things throughout the week.
Also, if you are wanting to buy an Erin Condren life planner, I have a $10 off offer for you guys if you purchase the Erin Condren Life Planner by pressing the words $10 off my ELCP below (this is a referral link).
As I have said before, I will be focusing on all things planning. One of the fads I am really enjoying at the moment is decorative planning ❤ . I do not go to extremes, but I do use stickers on my planner from time to time cause it is fun, crafty and relaxing (huh? Yeap!). So, today I am going to share with you Anna’s story. Anna is from Sweden. She has an Etsy store called FruVesasPrintables. We had an online chat. So let’s see what she says!
My chat with Anna
Hi Anna! Thanks for agreeing to this interview and let me start by saying I love you stickers and I am really excited to share some with my readers.
So, Anna tell me how did you get involved in making stickers?
I got started in this community about 1,5 years ago when I started my economic university program online. I realised I needed to plan hard to make sure I was accountable and got the work done. I searched high and low here in Sweden for a cute planner since everyone knows a cute one helps :). That’s when I found Kikki K and Erin Condren and the whole decorated planner community. I fell in love, but I quickly realised that international shipping would kill my student wallet, so I started buying printables on Etsy.
After a while, I started to realise that some of the things I wanted, I couldn’t find, so I started to make my own printables. I shared some of them in the Facebook groups I was involved in and got some great feedback. I then realised that it was tons of fun to make sticker printables, so I looked into starting my own Etsy shop to expand my income, because study loans aren’t much to live on when you have children.
When did you open your own shop?
I took the plunge late June this year and I love it! I have since taken a break from my studies to get a job and study on the side. Since the shops going rather good, I am in the making of starting my own company to be able to keep the shop running long-time. The tax laws here in Sweden demands it and it’s a nervous but a happy time.
Anything for teachers at your store?
At the moment, I don’t have anything teacher specific, but I have an idea list I am constantly making longer… 🙂 (a surprise is coming your way at the end of this post lovely readers 🙂 )
How do you plan your weeks/life?
Right now I use a printable week on 2 pages printable from an Etsy seller in my Kikki K for my overall planning. I also have a horizontal Erin Condren I was going to use, but I now use it as a journal which I decorate with patterns and fun stuff. In my regular planner, I mostly use functional stickers because I am more of a functional girl than I am a decorative one 🙂
Anna’s planner
Where can we find you?
I have an Instagram associated with the shop @fruvesasprintables and the Etsy shop’s address is fruvesasprintables.etsy.com (click the link to check out her store).
Anna
Freebie 🙂
Anna kindly suggested to make a freebie printable for you. All you need to do is get adhesive paper (A4 sticker paper), adjust your printer to photo or good quality printing, print your stickers, and join me on this decorative planning journey!! I have a Facebook page where you can go and send me pictures of your planner once you have used the stickers (that would be so cool, check out the sidebar). The stickers have butterflies, books, pencil and paper clips and are very student/teacher friendly ( I am a teacher). They are really, really pretty. Thanks Anna so much <3.
Press the link below to get the planner stickers :). So pretty :).
Download the printable here (press the link below)
I have a $10 off offer for you guys if you purchase the Erin Condren Life Planner by pressing the words $10 off my ELCP below (this is a referral link).
Let me know if you like this post, so I can interview/feature other Etsy store owners. Email me or leave a comment below if you make planner stickers and wish to be featured. Thanks for stopping by.
I am an educational blogger and I also teach academic English at various universities in the UK. I am now blogging, here, about more general topics like planning, beauty and fun girliestuff. I have become a member of many blogging/bloggers’ groups and have been connecting with people who blog (but are not educational bloggers). An interesting question popped up by a blogger called Victoria in a Blogging Boost group Facebook group. She shared an article about plagiarism and asked what other bloggers consider plagiarism and how they avoid it. I realised, after browsing through various blogs, that some bloggers do not acknowledge sources or give picture credits, but why?
This may be happening for two reasons:
They are using only their own material and pictures.
They are just not acknowledging other people’s work and using it in their blog posts (plagiarism happening intentionally or unintentionally).
But, if you are getting ideas/pictures/videos from other people and not acknowledging them, and now I am going to go into teacher mode, it is an offence, and you could in small or bigger trouble for it!! Oh! Let’s not get into using someone else’s work and making money from it or let’s do, remember this song?
(www.youtube.com)
They have lost all the rights to this song, cause it is a plagiarised rolling stones song (www.rollingstones.com).
Things to think about
What is plagiarism?
The verb plagiarise means:
To use to use another person’s ideas or work and pretend that it is your own
(www.dictionarycambridge. org)
In simple words, anything you find someone else and publish on your website (texts, pictures and videos) and you do not acknowledge where you found it.
What is not plagiarism?
Common knowledge: E.g. People use computers, Brad left Jennifer and married Angelina.
So, am I plagiarising if I…
Use Google pics and say I found this on google pics?
Yes! ( you need to find who took the picture!)
Read something, somewhere, and then write my own stuff based on it?
Yes (say who inspired you/why you are writing this, based on what?).
Paraphrase or summarise something so technically not using someone else’s words? I am using my own so now they are my words…..
Yeap!! (You still have to acknowledge if you have read something somewhere).
Find a cool quote somewhere, use the exact same words, but no source/author?
Yes
Read something on Wikipediaand I remember it?
Yes (Keep in mind though that the information you find on Wikipedia is not reviewed, so you cannot really know if it is true. People who write on Wikipedia are just like me and you).
Copy a whole text with the same or similar words/structures, but do mention the author?
Yes (unless you use quotation marks,if you are, then no).
How can I see if I am plagiarism something?
There are loads of plagiarism detecting software available, but the easiest thing to do is to put your text into Google, if it pops up, then you are plagiarising!
How do I acknowledge people/ pictures?
These are my suggestions and how I try to avoid plagiarism.
People/websites
If I find something on a blog/website, I put the website in brackets and add the link in the brackets (example the Cambridge dictionary which I linked earlier). If I am using information from a book, I add a reference list ( teacher mode: reference list goes in alphabetical order).
Pictures
If I use a picture, I add the name of the person who took it under the picture. If I do not know the name, and it is just a website I say picture is taken from http://www.xyz……….com. (BUT I do not use other people’s pictures if I cannot give them credit: teacher mode)
* By the way, try to write down everything correctly, try not to change people’s names!!Also, if you are going to use a picture maybe you should check the host’s website and see if there are copyright restrictions or a license on their website that prohibits it. You need to email and ask for permission to use the pictures!
So, I know how I am going to avoid plagiarism, but how do I stop others from stealing my ideas/pictures?
Well, there is not much you can do in today’s day and age. Everything is public, people have access to what you share online. I have added a creative commons license to my sidebar just to show that I do want my stuff to be acknowledged. You can find the link to creative commons here.
Final thoughts
You do not have to go crazy and start worrying about referencing systems and all that (you are blogging, not submitting your paper to Harvard) but do make sure that you mention people when you are using their stuff. It is the best way to go and it shows respect.
Hope you like this blogging tip. If you want more information read this article shared by Victoria on the Blogging boost Facebook page. I have posted another post about blogging etiquette and bits and bobs you might also want to check out. You can find it here
So that’s all folks. Feel free to leave a comment below. Sorry for the teacher mode!! I hope you found some of my suggestions thoughts helpful. Don’t forget to ‘follow’ this blog if you like what you read.
Sooooo hospitals, we all ❤ ’em , don’t we? This summer I was lucky enough to experience a UK hospital admission for the first time. You see, I live in Greece, but I spend my summers in the UK. This summer I had a really bad infection. I took penicillin, went to the doctor, they changed my penicillin. Infection still there. Different doctor, different penicillin. Infection still there (little bugger wouldn’t go away). So after taking 3 different penicillin based antibiotics, I heard the magic words, ” Joanna, you need to be hospitalised”. You need to be given the medication intravenously. ”Oh” (that’s me in my head).
So, off I went to get admitted. That’s when I met the lovely nurse. let’s call him Brad. Brad is a good-looking nurse! WE (me and you guys) ❤ Brad. He took my details and then said, ” Oh, you have xxxxx on your leg, sweet, can I see?” My response: “Hmmmmmmm, sure!” :p .
He then gave me the grand tour and took me to my bay. I had no pjs, so I had to wear those groovy hospital ones. I was actually alone in the bay and there were loads of beds. I got some toast and then Brad came to give me my antibiotics.
He asked, ” So, Joanna. Can you breathe?”
Me: “Ummmmm, yes…..”
Brad: “Is you mouth swollen?”
Me: ” Ummmmmmm, no…..”
Silence………..
Me (again): ”Brad… I feel the taste of the medication in my mouth. Is that normal?”
Brad: “What? You can taste it? I hate intravenous medication, it is the most dangerous way to give medication!” and he runs off.
Meanwhile, I am in my bed wondering if I am gonna die or not (obviously, I didn’t).
Anyways, Brad runs back in with another nurse this time.
She goes to me: ” So, you can taste the medication?”
Me: ” Yes……”
Female nurse: ” Some patients have said that. Don’t worry Joanna, even if something happens, I know how to reverse it.”
Me (in my head) “If something happens, you know how to reverse it?Oh man!!”
Anyhow, to cut a long story short, I lived and I am here to tell the story.
What did I learn? Don’t go to the hospital alone. Always drag someone with you especially if you are in a foreign country.
That’s all folks
xx
Do follow this blog if you like my posts. Feel free to say “Hello” in the comments section below.
So today I will talk about planning and this is going to be the first post of a series of posts. I ❤ planning. I am a teacher and a capricorn, which means that I am doomed to be a planner. I plan lessons, blog posts, where I am going to go, trips, what I am gonna wear, the lots. I also have planners. I am going to share with you my planning process and share a few thoughts about decorative planning or glam planning if you prefer.
Two planners
One for work and one for fun stuff+ work (let’s call the second a life planner cause it’s a buzz term and maybe this post will get more hits :p).
My work planner
Brand: Dunno. It’s a Greek planner with dates and a little ribbon to show you where you are. I write down the lessons I have, and make notes if my learners want to do something special with me.
It was given to me as a gift from friends for my birthday. I like it for various reasons.The layout works well for me. The days are written in a horizontal way. The boxes are not very big, but next to each page with the days, there is a notes page. I like that because while I enjoy decorative planning, I really like making notes (check out their website, you can see the spreads).
What goes in my fun planner?
Eeverything. My appointments, work-related stuff, notes of my blog post ideas, things I need to do or remember remeber. In fact my planner is more like me brainstorming what I need to do in a week, than planning the week.
What about decorating?
I use washi tape and decorative stickers which I print myself (DIY) stickers. I also use Post-it Notes which are more practical and can move around, so my spreads are functional but pretty as well.
When do I plan?
On the weekend. I make a big cup of coffee, play some music in the background and start planning. If there are things that change during the week, then I write down stuff. There is no overkill, just a bit of planning.
Why do I like decorative planning?
Well, it looks pretty, it makes me want to plan, I see the things I want to do and the whole process is fun.
I am not spending a fortune. It is like scrapbooking and it relaxes me (if ever planning can be fun).
I will be sharing lots of planning related posts and I have my first giveaway coming up so stay tuned. I will be interviewing atleast one Etsy store owner, people who have DIY sticker websites and people from the planning community (if you want to be featured or interviewed, email me or leave a comment below).
So that’s all folks. My first planning post. Feel free to leave a comment about how you plan your weeks.
Follow this blog via mail or WordPress and please press the ‘like’ button if you enjoyed it (This is a brand new blog and I need to get a sense of what people enjoy).
Talk soon
xx
I have written another similar planner post on my primary blog. Check it out here
One summer, a long time ago, I attended a summer school for teachers in the UK. We were staying in Lancaster and the place there is very green. I was staying at the university’s accommodation and sharing a kitchen with my friends. One morning, I woke up and decided to be extra nice and make brecky for everyone. I did. But, my lazy bones friends wouldn’t get up, so I ended up munching on my crumpets all alone.
I decided to make some tea cause when in Britain do as the Brits, and I did. I started flipping through my magazine, drinking my tea, and just enjoying my British breakfast. Then, my friend came in the kitchen and I happily said, “Hey, Kat, I made tea it’s in the pot over there”.
Kat to me, ” So, are you drinking from this pot?”
Me: ” Yeap”
Kat: ” Have you had all of it?”
Me: “Yeap”. I started to get a bit worried.” Why? What’s up?”
Kat: “Well, you boiled a spider as well!”
Me:
First reaction: ” A spider? Yuck”
Second reaction: “Um…. are they poisonous?”
Kat: “Dunno”
So, I started running around trying to find an English person to answer the million dollar question. Was I gonna die? You see, those days no one had internet on their phones, so my quest for this answer was nerve wracking. My professor (yeap, I asked my English lit professor the spider question) informed me that they weren’t. Pfew. I dodged a bullet there. I was very, very lucky.
Of course, I survived cause I am here to tell the story. That, yes, people, I have had orange juice, apple juice, cactus juice, and spider juice (or tea)…. : P
What did I learn?
Spiders in the UK are not poisonous!!
Feel free to leave a comment below. Share your spider or insect experiences. Follow and share this post if you like it. Thanks for stopping by.
Let me start by saying I am not a beauty guru, nor do I know that much about makeup and makeup brushes. You see, I am an English teacher and an educational blogger (for the past two years-the blogger bit, the teacher bit has been foreva 🙂 ). BUT….. I do ❤ me makeup though, and I did buy makeup brushes, so why not write a post about them? That’s what this blog is all about, isn’t it? And anyway, brushes can be so overwhelming. I am gonna make it simple, and tell you what has worked for me.
Brush purchasing history
I started off by buying brushes and sponges (or blenders as they call them now) when I was young. I then started watching YouTubers reviewing brushes. My favourite YouTubers for reviewing stuff are Lilly Pebblesand MsGoldgirl(if you press their names, you will see them reviewing makeup brushes). So, I did my research and I am now an informed brush buy-er! I am actually going to share with you lovely ladies (who were/are clueless in terms of makeup brushes, like me) what works for me, the beauty dummy.
My extremely basic (affordable) brush collection
M.A.C 2,17 (natural hair). I use this to apply my cream eye makeup
Real techniques makeup brushes (synthetic bristles – the old version, not the silver ones) The foundation brush to apply my foundation, and the stippling brush to squash it on my skin and it helps avoid having brush ‘streaks’ on my face.
Sephora blush brush and Sephora powder brush (synthetic bristles). Both are nice and fluffy and I use them accordingly.
Let’s talk about money
These brushes range from 15-22 euros. If you are in the UK, M.A.C is more expensive than in Europe, but Real technique brushes are reasonably priced and you can always find a deal at Boots or Superdrug. If you are in Europe like me, you can find Real Techniques kits on Amazon. Sephora is everywhere (except the UK, but you can order online if you are in the UK).
Now on to the good part
Washing the brushes. I dunno why, but when I was younger, I used to just chuck the brush when it got filthy (yucky-looking). I also thought the fairy makeup brush wash-er would come and take them, and wash them (fairy a.k.a my mum). Now, I actually wash em. Yeap. I put them in the sink in some warm-ish water, put some shampoo, and leave them in there for a while. I sometimes add a bit of makeup remover as well, just to get the extra gunk off them (I know, my brushes sound really inviting), and then I wash them with cold water. According to my hair dresser, it’s better to rinse off your hair with cold-ish water, so if makeup brushes are made of natural hair then… cold water it is.
To be a bit more serious, while I am not a makeup artist, or someone who knows makeup like the back of their hand, brushes do make a difference. Using your fingers to apply makeup up is not a grand idea cause whatever you have touched goes on your face! Spend a bit of money on your brushes. Do your research. Whatever it takes to make us look prettier.
If you are a makeup guru and have a comment or so, please do leave a comment. Follow me and please share if you enjoy my posts (my new blog needs some TLC).
Check out www.myeltrambles.com if you are a teacher ( I know what I am talking about over there 😛 ).
Yeap, this is gonna become a page where Greek gal (me) goes somewhere and tells you about her adventures. I am going to stop using the 3rd person now cause that’s just weird..
I spent two summers in Newcastle (UK) and I had some really fun times. Today, I am going to talk about a little adventure on the metro (underground). So, I had gone to Waitrose (a supermarket- my favouitre by the way) and I had done my shopping for dinner (or tea, as the Brits say). I bought lots of veggies cause I wanted to make a salad, and since I am Greek, I was gonna make a Greek salad. I got all me veggies, put them in a nice cheap bag, and left.
Let me just explain the bag situation for a bit. Supermarkets in the UK give you the option of a cheapo bag that is like 2 pennies or a more expensive one (that is also more durable) that costs more. I wanted to save money (yeah, that’s where you save money and the environment Joanna) so I got the cheap softie bag.
I was done with my shopping and it was time to go home. I got my tickets and just went through the ticket inspection machines (you know the annoying little thingies that have a bar that goes up and then you are in the metro area). I was in the metro area, waiting around, and then I heard, ” Excuse me miss!!” Me, no reaction. A bit louder, “Excuse me Miss… your cucumber!” Me: “Huh?”. Him: ” You lost your cucumber!” I stopped, turned around, and saw a young smiley man waving a long cucumber in my face. MY cucumber. Of course, I couldn’t stop laughing cause this was the most random thing eva, and I never expected to hear the phrase… you lost your cucumber. Btw the cheapo bag got torn and the cucumber fell out of it.
Anyway, I thanked the young lad (look at me going all Brit on ya), got on the metro, and went home with my cucumber.
What did I learn?
Buy shorter cucumbers
and just use bags that are made of cloth. They are better for the environment anyways!!
Feel free to leave a funny experience in the comments section below. If you liked this post, do follow this blog 🙂 Check out post 1 here.
Some of you may know me from my other blog (myeltrambles.com), but if this is the first time you are reading my posts, allow me to introduce myself. I am Joanna from Greece. I grew up in Sydney, but have been living in Greece for the past 27 years (I am 39 at the moment). If you ask me if I feel more Greek or Aussie, my answer of course will be Greek, although I do like that fact that I am from the land down unda. I am an English teacher and I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work in the UK. For the past 5 summers actually, I have been going to the UK and these posts will be about that. What life is like for the Greek gal in the UK. So, here is post numero uno!
Opening doors
The first time I lived in the UK I felt like a princess. Let me explain. You see, there is a whole philosophy (mannerism/politeness?) of holding the door in the UK I neva eva knew existed. So, imagine this. Me, at work walking around and people holding the door open for me. I thought, “Wow, this is really cool”, but when I would be at the door, yeah, I would check to see if anyone was coming, but if someone was not right behind me, I would just leave, and the door would probably slam in the next person’s face (I am overexaggerating a bit to make this more dramatic). Now, if you are English, you know that this is very inconsiderate (not holding the door for a while , I mean), but in Greece (from my own experience), sure the majority of us doesn’t slam doors in people’s faces, but we don’t hold it open for the next person who is 10 meters away either!! Or maybe it’s just me, I don’t hold the door open for someone who is far far away!! Now of course, I know better and I, too, have become a door holder-opener, but in the beginning this was soooooooooooooo strange and soooooo cool at the same time. Felt like a princess, a rude one, but a princess!
Feel free to comment in the comment section below. Follow this blog if you enjoy these posts and also share if you wish to. Thanks for stopping by.
I thought that the Greek salad was an internationally recognised ‘dish’ but then when I went to the UK and saw a Greek salad in M& S I thought to myself, “huh?”. I went home and started talking to my flat mates about what goes in a Greek salad and the talk was quite ‘informative’. So, from a Greek person, here is my Greek salad ‘recipe’ as an extra bonus, I am adding the Cretan version cause I live in Crete!
Typical Greek salad
2 or 3 large tomatoes
2 or 3 cucumbers
a green pepper
some feta cheese
an onion
olives
olive oil/ salt and oregano
Depending on how big or small you want your salad to be, you can add or use less of the ingredients mentioned earlier. Just cut everything up a few minutes before you want to eat it. Suggestion: Cut the tomatoes up in the bowl you will be serving so all the juices stay in the bowl when you add all the other ingredients. Sea salt is tastier than normal salt. Make sure you have some bread as well to dip in the salad’s jouices!
Cretan salad
Same ingredients but instead of feta cheese use goat’s cheese.
Now, some things you may want to add to make your salad more yummy.
Boiled potatoes (which you slice up into smaller (cubes)
Caper
Paximadi (dried bread)
Some people add egg. I also add grated carrot.
Random fact: Cucumbers and tomatoes are considered fruits because they have seeds, so the Greek salad is actually a… fruit salad 🙂
So, hope you like this post. Feel free to share and follow my blog if you like this post. You can leave a comment in the comments section below.
My Pink Rambles 