September Layouts

I wanted to share the last two week's worth of layouts.  I posted this first picture when it was just a blank page, but I wanted to share what it looked like when I was done with it.  I clearly need more to do, so that my weeks are more decorated!

 

There are several things I like about this week....first being the chevron washi tape.  I think it is adorable.  Second, I love the little post it note that is half graph paper half notebook paper.  I wish I had full size sheets in a notebook with that layout--it would make for a great DIY planner background.  I am also really having fun with this weekly layout.  I need to mess around with it a bit more to try and find a way to make the weekend larger and the weekdays smaller.  I rarely have stuff to do during the week except for work and I have a completely different work planner system.

Just as a side note, every pen I used on these layouts were from JetPens and are a mix of Sakura Gelly Rolls and Marvy LePens.

Stay tuned, as I will have a giveaway posted tomorrow and my post will cover all the cute stuff I bought in Chicago!   I also have one more giveaway waiting in the wings from one of my favorite retailers...so keep an eye out for that.

New planners, stickers and a giveaway!!

This past weekend we took a trip to Chicago.  The trip was all about retail therapy and I wanted to visit a store a co-worker told me about.  In Niles, IL there is a store called H Mart, which is a Korean grocery store.  To be honest, I had never heard of this store, but this gal from work shared that there was a great stationery section, so I knew I had to go check it out.

I was not disapointed.  This little tiny shop inside the larger H Mart store was stocked to the ceiling with all sorts of stuff.  From headbands to sticker to Hello Kitty and posters of bands--this place had it all.  But most importantly they had pencils and notebooks. My wallet is quite a bit lighter after this visit and my stock of notebooks s much larger!

I will post more notebook pictures later this week, but here is just a taste of what I purchased.

These stickers are super cute and there were a lot to choose from.  Plus the ones on the left are a bit raised/puffy.  For the flags, I think those of you who use a Filo Fax type planner would like these because they are hole punched for a binder.

I also picked up a small undated planner.  I bought it solely because I liked the cover, that was the total selling point for me.  However, when I opened it up and saw how great the pages are, I was even happier with the purchase.  Each page is decorated and is colorful.  It has the monthly and weekly layout design I favor as well as a lot of space in the back for notes.  To be honest, I will probably never use this planner, as I can't see breaking away from my DIY planner right now, but I just had to have it.

I also want to share one more thing.  Most of the notebooks that I picked up are very similar, but one is not like the others.  Therefore, I have decided to give it away!  I am excited to do a giveaway post and I plan to post it later this week when I post the notebook pictures.  Keep watching this space! 

Planner Deco!

Work has been super busy this last 10 days or so, which is unfortunate because it infringing on my down time!  This is especially poor timing since I am finding tons of random things to use when decorating my weeks in my planner.  

I took a quick picture of a few things.  I am most excited about the sticky notes I found in the dollar section of Target.  These would be the book that looks like a composition book with triangles on it and the weather themed pack.  I think the rabbit paperclips are cute as well, but those came from a little shop in Iowa City.  I obviously won't need to use all of those on my planner, so the office may find some rabbit paperclips floating around!

DIY Planner Layouts: Now with DIY Washi-Tape.

I have a few more pages of layouts.  This will bring my layouts to current and even show a blank layout for this week.

I glued in a sheet that I printed from http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/ then stuck in a piece of scrap paper from a previous project.  I did some minimal decorating with a stamp and a small doodle.

I tried something completely new this week.  I painted the right side of the page with hot pink acrylic paint.  I did glue two pages together to ensure the page would be sturdy enough to handle the paint since this is a Moleskine and it doesn't always behave well. The paint worked amazingly well.  I was actually surprised.  I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen and it wrote just fine over the acrylic paint.  The top border is a fabric sticker, cut to size.  I did have to go over the word "August" about 5 times for it to show up well enough.  On the paint, the pens tended to bleed.  The pen that worked the best was fine point sharpies and the Sakura.

Due to my current love of all types of mint green, I wanted to just keep this week super simple.  I only used mint green-ish inks and black ink.  Specifically black Sharpie pen, Copic Multiliner in turquoise, and the Uni-ball Signo Angelic pen in green.  I also tried a different layout on this week. This is new to the planner, I haven't used this layout before and I like it a lot.

I also want to point out this washi tape....I made it!  I bought a roll of green masking tape and using a rubber stamp and Staz-On black ink pad, I created my own custom tape.  I just used the stamp all willy-nilly.  I wasn't trying to keep the pattern perfect, just pretty.  Has anyone else made their own washi-tape?  If so, I'd love to hear about what ink works the best for you.  Staz-On ink seemed to work the best out of what I had.

This is the mostly finished and undecorated layout for this week.  Again, this is a totally new layout.  The majority of the tape is some cheap stuff I found in a dollar bin at Walgreens.  It isn't paper tape it is more slick than regular washi tape. 

Since I usually only have a few layouts worked out ahead of time, one of the main things I find lacking is the ability to plan several months ahead.  I have no idea why I just don't add calendars since I am the one making this thing....but I never have.  So again, like for summer I put in a few printables from Ahh-Design for planning out the upcoming fall and winter.