Hello hello! Today I am sharing with you my first impressions of the 2016 edition of the Moments Inked planner from Papertrey Ink, as is my teammate Ashley. These products were released recently, but I literally just opened my box and my first impression in one word is: WOW! It is beautiful! Let’s get to some of the highlights!

This year, the planner comes in a spiral bound option as well as a binder option. Above you can see:

1. The spiral bound, which now has 5 different interchangeable covers for you to select from, features a more streamlined size; the daily pages have been removed, so the planner is about half as thick as it was last year. You can see that I chose the Create a Beautiful Life cover by Lizzie Jones to kick off 2016.
2. All of the laminated tabs are visible from above at once, rather than in being layered on top of one another.
3. The same 70lb. linen paper is being used again. I love this paper, so I was really happy about this!
4. The gorgeous Papertrey Ink color scheme. *sigh*

Let’s check out the heavy duty silver coil on this year’s spiral bound (above). This is a HUGE improvement for me! If you recall, last year I removed my daily pages and went to FedEx to have my planner recoiled, but the coil on the 2016 edition is by far sturdier than what I ended up with last year. Plus, it saves me and my lazy butt a trip to the store!

For my binder, I chose the Stone Gray version and love this so much that I honestly have no idea how I am going to choose between this and the spiral bound. Here are some of the highlights of this for me:

1. There’s a pen loop and pocket built into the front cover!
2. It comes with a note pad that slides into the back cover.
3. The gold-accented corners. ‘Nuff said.

The 6-ring binder coils are gold too! This offers you the ability to add your own inserts. I have not worked with many binder-style planners previously, but I know one important tidbit for those that prefer this style is the distance between all of the rings. Here is my best shot at describing this for you - if this is confusing, please let me know!

1. The distance from the top ring (ring #1) to the bottom ring (ring #6) is 5 inches.
2. The width of each of the 2 sets of 3 rings, is 1.5 inches. (By this, I mean the distance between rings 1 and 3; and 4 and 6.)
3. The width between the 3rd and 4th rings is 2 inches.

Each month starts off with an inspirational quote. I love this - I have a tendency (when things get really busy at work) to spend a couple minutes to take a deep breath and think when I see these quotes.

I also really love the color guide! It can be found on the inside of the front page - this is super helpful (not only for planning, but for card making as well)!

Another feature that I love is the “open” style of scheduling - the morning/afternoon/evening labels have been removed from the daily columns. The way my days go, this is another huge help to me! Also, check out how vibrant the color scheme is on these pages! Just wow! (Because raspberry fizz is the greatest color of all time.)

Last, but not least, who knew that white post-it notes existed?! Nichole did, that’s who, and you can now find these in two sizes at Papertrey Ink too!

I am so impressed by all the thought and work that Nichole has put into this year’s edition of the Moments Inked planner, and I am excited to hear what you all think about it. If you have never used a planner before, this system is the ideal starting place because of its affordability, functional and portable size, gorgeous design and quality, and compatibility with so many of the Papertrey Ink products that allow you to make this planner your very own.

The rest of the Moments Inked team will be sharing their thoughts throughout the week, so please stay tuned for their posts and videos as well. Also be sure to check out Ashley on Periscope today - it’s a fun chance to ask her any questions that you may have in real time! You are also welcome to leave comments here with any questions, and I will respond ASAP!

Have a wonderful day!