Glam Planning

I think it's safe to say I've found a new, uhm, "hobby". Let's start by saying I'm a big tech geek and I love my Google Calendar and events and such on my phone and web.  But recently, Jamberry announced that they will be coming out with a planner soon for its consultants. I haven't used a paper planner in several years and since I've always had a thing for stickers, I thought I'd try it out again.  I'm not THAT creative and haven't been very good at scrapbooking, though I did give it a go for a while when I was into Stampin' Up stamps. But decorating a planner? I can do that!

I started looking at Instagram, Facebook and YouTube posts from people like Belinda Seline, Andrea of Scribble Prints Co and others for variations in the popular planners out there. The Jamberry planner looks like it will be the Erin Condren style, so I created my own planner pages in that layout and printed some out. It was full-size letter pages in a 50¢ folder. It might have been okay, but it was a little tall and wide and didn't quite fit in my purse. But, I was having a lot of fun with it and figured it would be something I'd keep up.

Then I started looking at the Create 365 - Happy Planner by Me & My Big Ideas (MAMBI). It's about 1/2 the price of the EC planner AND I could use the regular 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. I got an 18-month planner for $15! MAMBI has multiple insides in their planners and I picked the Gold Foil Dot one. If you are looking at these planners, be sure to visit their site and watch the video tour of each different one. It's easy enough to change out the covers, but you'll be stuck with the planner pages. I like how you can easily add pages to it and if you want to remove them to decorate across the pages, it's a cinch. Of course, I got more stickers and sticky notes, too, so it wasn't exactly a cheap trip to Hobby Lobby after all. :)

I also got some printable stickers from Lemon Paper Co on Etsy. Oh no! Keep me away from that app/website!! I'm hooked! That shop has printables and some CUTE stickers that they will send in the mail.  I love the sweet little faces on the Kawaii type stickers!

Instead of Morning, Afternoon and Evening as printed on the Happy Planner, I started using the sections as Personal, Jamberry and To Do. But after the first week or so, it seemed too split up, so now I'm trying To Do's at the top with personal stuff in the middle and all things Jamberry will be on the bottom. I think I like it better that way.

Note to planner newbies like myself...be sure to use REPOSITIONABLE stickers as you play to find out what layout suits your needs! Laser printer toner is not all that easy to write on with pens other than Sharpie style and it tends to rub off. I think ink jets would be better for planner stickers.

One of the differences between Erin Condren and Happy Planners besides the coil-bound and arc ring system respectively is that the EC planner has smaller boxes and has a few lines at the bottom of each day for notes.  I DO like that. The EC has a little space between the vertical columns, the Happy Planner does not. This does make it a bit easier to use your own headers on the HP. You can print them in strips of 3 and 4 to do both halves of the planner instead of having to cut/stick each one individually. Also, I need to do only one week at a time until I settle on a method and preferred layout.

Friday, I hit our local Dollar Tree and picked up a handful of washi and decorative tape to add to my stock. King Dollar also had some tape that I picked up last week and I hit Michaels for more stickers and got to use my 40% off coupon there as well.  I've also ordered some Avery Sticker Project Paper so I can print repositional stickers of my own so I can customize the headers and such.

I did get my first set of actual stickers from Etsy store itsjustcat today. They are nice Fall stickers on matte finish paper and have beautiful fall boxes. They are formatted for the EC, so they are a little short on the HP, but they still look nice. She also included a cute, glossy "Thank You" set with my order.

I have other Fall stickers coming from a couple other shops, so I'm trying HARD to wait to do the first week of November.   Another tip...write upcoming appointments and such on little sticky notes or strips until you decorate it the way you want it. Then if you want to move them around on the page, you can. Save ink on the page for the final layout.

Looking forward to my next layout...



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