Nayu's News #176, Schedules, branding, & fun!

I'm relaxing!

After a week of being ill a lot, it feels good to make it to the weekend feeling normal (my kind of normal is still with pain & fatigue, but it's easier to cope with when I'm not under attack from germ gremlins). I got most of my blogging done before I met with a friend for mid-morning coffee (not that we ever have coffee...), and finishing off now I'm back before I'm done for the day. 

I so really need to print myself a copy of this cute planner!

I adore schedules and feel lost without one, which is why I have one each day, often not written down just a mental one. Recently to help me promote rest & avoid blog overwork (all too easy to do with my crochet shop) I've made a new scheduled where I'm allowed 2 hours of blogging on a non-work day, plus the extra 30-60mins emails & social media stuff. Ideally it is a max of 40mins, which is my limit in the week on a work day, but at weekends it can extend a little without too much impact on me. I find that because I leave emails & social media for a specific section, I'm able to focus just on sorting blog posts. Although in reality I now do less work on my blog, because I have set times for specific tasks I'm getting a lot more day. Long live the schedules! 

Book logging system tweaking

Remember my new review book logging in system? Well it's still working, only it's not as good as helping me keep track of date order as everything is logged in when I receive it. Unlike a computer a notebook can't be re-ordered at the click of a button. So, since I have some index card and an index card holder I'm going to keep track of dates that way, labelling the dividers with months of the year, and continue using my log book for finer details. I've yet to decorate my index card box with either stickers or wrapping paper, but it currently looks something like this.

Mine will be way more exciting than plain black. There's nothing wrong with plain colours, I just like bright & cheery items.

 Once I've read a book I'll simple turn the relevant index card upside down, and on the reverse will write the title so I know it's been read. It's handy for jotting down my thoughts as I read the book too. 

This fan art of Sumire from Aikatsu is cute! She & her friends do so much work that their fans don't see, just like bloggers & newbie craft shop owners like me do.

Other news...lots of behind the scenes 'stuff' is going on for Nayu's Crochet Dreams this weekend, including sorting return address labels (for me & my shop), labels with my name on for each item; this will be Nayu's Crochet Dreams in rainbow letters; and vaguely temporary business cards. Why vaguely temporary? I hear you ask. It's vaguely temporary because while I would love to have everything bespoke with my unique logo here...

...price wise it's not a practical option yet. I'm waiting until my shop a) is open & b) starts selling items before I'll start making sure my brand is the same for everything I use. Until then I'll use 'vaguely temporary' designs - these are designs offered by the company. I happen to be using Vistaprint UK, I'm not receiving anything by mentioning them, I simply like the look of them, they seem cheaper than the popular Moo business card, and currently have 25% off everything (I think) which is a very good deal for me right now! I am getting the item labels elsewhere, but they are still a bargain price.

For the rest of the day I'll be watching anime, reading, and of course working on my beloved crochet projects! I hope you have a nice weekend whatever you end up doing ^o^ 

Ooops, forgot to mention my dear Muse who yes will be playing with me today & tomorrow, after I've had a rest and fed her with inspiration!