Blurb Customized Planner Review

Did you resolve to get more organized this year? 

I did, so when Blurb offered me the opportunity to create a Blurb customized planner and share my experience, I immediately started making my mental list of what I would want my planner to include so it would work for me.

Besides the normal monthly calendar and daily calendar spaces for planning, I had some unique needs. Part of my planning for a frugal lifestyle is to take note of entertainment and restaurant deals as well as have my grocery list on hand, so I needed special pages for these items. Then in the beginning of the spring months and the winter months, I thought I would like to add some pages so I could sketch in my garden plans for those garden seasons.

Another must-have was a space to jot down general notes, (I get ideas all the time for things to write about), so I needed some "brainstorming" pages for that.

Once I had my ideas for my planner, it was time to start building it.

I downloaded the free BookSmart book-building tool to build my planner, and it was really easy to navigate and find the pages that would best suit my requirements.

Choosing the layout was easy, and it only took me a few minutes to get comfortable with using the BookSmart tool.  

 

Screenshot of the planner making process with BookSmart 

Just for fun I added a little background image and adjusted the transparency so that it looked like a watermark. I used this as the background for all my planner pages.
 

A more detailed look at the background I chose.

I chose only one picture and placed it on the cover, and in a couple of other places in my planner. I had the option to use more pictures, but I kept it very simple.

My beautiful planner cover, with a picture of a passion flower from my garden last spring.

 

Calendar pages. I customized them with a decorative mark in the header, and an almost transparent leaf-shaped "watermark" in the background.

A place to list deals on the left, and a page for a grocery list on the right.

A place for my "brainstorming" notes.

A close-up look at the grid pages located near the spring months so I can sketch out my garden plans.

I was very pleased with the outcome of my planner and it only took me a little over an hour and a half to design and build from start to finish. 

Now that you've seen the process and how beautifully my planner turned out, you may want to get started on creating a Blurb customized planner of your own.
 

Blurb Customized Planner Gift Code Contest!

Great News! You can win a $25 gift code towards creating your own customized Blurb planner! Here's how:

1) Leave a comment below this blog post telling us what your Blurb customized planner would be about. 

(For example, would you customize it for work, school, family...or would you customize it to meet specific needs like I did when I chose to add the grid pages to sketch my garden ideas...)

2) Come over to our page on Facebook and let me know you entered here.

3) Contest begins on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 8PM CST and ends on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at 10AM CST so make sure you enter before the deadline.

One entry per person. Must follow complete instructions for entry to be valid. Winner chosen at random and winner will be announced on Saturday, January 19, 2013. Gift code excludes shipping and is good through 2/28/13 toward a Blurb customized planner.