Planner Fun

Hello, Crafty Friends!!

Xyron and our Friends at Simple Stories have partnered together to bring you today's super easy project! And this lucky gal got to play with Simple Stories Bloom and Grow Collection. If you are a garden lover or gnome fanatic this collection is for you!! 

Today, I  will show you how to transform your daily planner for plain and ordinary to bright, cheerful, and most importantly... FUN!!

All you need are a few supplies.

1. A planner

2. Scrapbook Paper / Cardstock ( I used these awesome papers from Simple Stories)

Bloom & Grow Collection Kit

3. Paper Punch or Paper Trimmer

4. Xyron Creative Station Lite
5. Fine Tip Black Marker

Here is a cool way to make your own decorative panels for your planners...

Simply use a paper punch to cut out patterned paper or cardstock. The one I used was a 2 " square punch. This fit nicely into each section.

 I used a combination of a few different papers for my Bloom & Grow Collection Kit. Each paper is double sided adding more coordinating options.

I cut these 9 different squares from only 3 sheets of paper.I love how each of them are different yet still go with and compliment each other.

Then I ran all my 2" panels into the Xyron Creative Station Lite, turning them into decorative sticker panels.

Then I randomly placed them into my planner squares. I love these bright bold colors! The definitely brightened up my pages.

I decorated my pages even further by adding a variety of stickers from my Bloom and Grow kit.

Because I covered up a few of my calendar dates, I used additional stickers to add those missing date back on. You can totally handwrite the numbers back in if you wanted to. I just prefer to do it this way because I loath my handwriting!

As another cool trick I hand drew the shadows to my new numbers. It gives the illusion that the numbers are three dimensional and helps make them pop off the patterned paper.

OMG... look how stinkin cute these gnomes are!! I just had to sneak a couple in for good measure! LOL

I also added a scalloped border to the "Notes" section and also added flowers. The Bloom and Grow also comes with border stickers, you don't have to stick with just decoration your days!! These were a bit long so I used scissors to trim off the excess and continued around the top and bottom of the lined area.

And here is my new decorated planner pages. Now, to fill in my important dates!!

Hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial on how to give your planner pages a crafty and colorful make-over!!

Until next time...
Happy Crafting!!
~Mitsy

Supplies Used

Bloom & Grow Collection Kit  (Simple Stories)
 Xyron Creative Station Lite
PITT Artist Pen S (Optional)
2" Paper Shapers Square Punch (Ek Success)
Planner

Planner decor with Craftwell dies

Hey, Crafty Friends!! I know there are many of you that have planners! And many of you are CRAZY over planner accessories!! I'll show you quick and easy ways to accessorize and decorate your planners!!

Need something to decorate those blank pages?? Want to turn your drab/ blah pages to cheerful/ upbeat ones... try stenciling!!

Don't have stencils handy or just can;t find one that suits your mood or personality... make your own!! Dies make awesome stencils!! 

Here, I used my Teresa Collins Pocket Die to make a stencil out of vellum... I know what you;re thinking... " Why vellum?", right?! Well, that's easy, 1)Vellum is transparent. I can see exactly where I'm placing my stencil. And 2) Because vellum is a type of paper, it cuts easily and cleanly in my die-cut machine!

To cut vellum with Teresa Collins dies in my Cut'n'boss, I used the following platform combination:

From Bottom to Top

D Plate

B Plate

A plate

Die (with cutting edge faced up)

Paper

A Plate

Look how well it cut!! No vellum... No problem... parchment paper or wax paper will work in a pinch!! And both are transparent enough for precise stencil placement!

Once your stencil is cut out color over your stencil! I airbrushed over my stencil using an eBrush and pink sharpie marker!! Because I only wanted my pattern inside each individual block, I used blue painter's tape to create a border around each section not to get ink on parts I didn't want sprayed. 

Inking with a sponge dauber or ink pad will work also. I just love the way airbrushing looks on paper, it adds a softness to my result without harsh lines.

Since the blue tape is removable, I was able to move it around and use it over and over. 

It's awesome how much more personality my pages have from simple stenciling... but I wanted to kick it up a notch and decorate my pages even more.

I also made my own decorative planner stickers!! And it was easy-peasy!!

I just die cut several of my Teresa Collins Pocket Dies out of gold foil cardstock. And because I used my cut'n'boss machine (that has a ginormous cutting platform), I was able to cut 14 dies at once... and still had tons of room on it to cut more!

I used the exact platform combination above to cut my gold cardstock.

From Bottom to Top

D Plate

B Plate

A plate

Die (with cutting edge faced up)

Paper

A Plate

Look how awesome these came out with that gold foil cardstock!!

Then I ran all my die-cuts through my Xyron 3" Sticker Maker, transforming them into instant stickers!!

Now, just PEEL & STICK!!

Here is a  picture of my finished planner pages..

I accented my pages further by using a little bit of washi tape, some Pink and Main Planner Stamps and some Teresa Collins stickers and die-cut pieces I had in my stash!

At this angle you can really see the shine of the gold foil cardstock! It's is just gorgeous!!

SUPPLIES USED

Cut'n'boss (Craftwell)

eBrush (Craftwell)

Teresa Collins Pocket Dies (Craftwell)

Xyron 3" Sticker Maker

Gold Foil Cardstock (Grafix)

Planner Stamps (Pink and Main)

Baby Pink Sharpie

Teresa Collins stickers

Washi Tape (Tim Holtz, Other)

Vellum

I hope you enjoyed today's project and are inspired to create your own planner accessories!! They are just too fun not to try!!

Until next time...

HAPPY CRAFTING FRIENDS!!

~ Mitsy