Make a Planner Pocket Page

Making a pocket page for your planner is very easy!  And for those of you like me who have lots of scrapbook card stock, you have a lot of choices of colors and patterns.  For a classic size Happy Planner, start with a 12" x 12" piece of card stock.  I used a single-sided piece of card stock.  My final pocket page has gold dots - sorry, I forgot to take photos of the beginning of the process so I used a similar piece of card stock to show you how to fold it.

Start by folding up approx 4-5 inches along the entire sheet.  This will be your pocket.  

 Then fold the sheet like a book with the "pocket" area to the outside.

Use a strong adhesive like Glue Dots stitch glue squares to adhere the edges of the pocket closed on each side.  You need a strong adhesive since you will be putting items in your pocket on both sides and you don't want it coming apart!

Then use the Glue Dots stitch glue squares to adhere the ends of the pocket page.

I decorated the edge of the pocket on my page with washi tape.  If you use 2-sided color or patterned card stock your pocket page will already have a decorative flair.  Mine had a white back so it needed some decoration.

Add a few washi tapes!

Next, I punched the newly adhered edge of the pocket page with a strong punch so it would fit into the Happy Planner.

Such a cute pocket page to put in my planner!

Make your own pocket page today.  Craft on!

Make Your Own Planner or Scrapbook Dashboard

Make your very own custom planner or scrapbook dashboard!  Choose your favorite card stock or colors that go with your scrapbook or planner layout.  I then used the free Design Space software for the Cricut Explore to put together my design.

Insert a square shape and then manipulate it into a rectangle.  Add text, copy, and weld and it's ready to be cut.  Very simple and quick!

I chose a very smooth glitter card stock by DCWV - cuts like butter.  This picture shows the machine cutting the top layer of the dashboard.

Now that the base layer and top layers are cut, the top layers can now be glued.

Assembled and ready to be punched so it will fit into my planner.

I used The Happy Planner punch by Me and My Big Ideas as this dashboard will be used in the classic size Happy Planner.  As long as you don't have anything too thick, this will work.

The variety of dashboards you can create is endless.  Make them for a holiday or just for everyday.  And because you make them custom, they can be sized any way that works for you.  A few of the dashboards in the photo above are for use in my Happy Planner Mini planner.  Enjoy making your own dashboards - craft on!!

Making Planner Stickers with the Cricut Explore

It's satisfying and fun to make your own planner stickers.  You can choose your own colors and designs.  Today I'm making stickers for the classic size Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas using Cricut Design Space and the Explore machine.

 In Design Space I chose to "Insert Shape" and picked a square.  I then resized the shape into a rectangle with the dimensions of the boxes in the Happy Planner.  I added the patterned paper to each rectangle by clicking on the shape in the "Layers" area to the right of what you are seeing above.  In the "Layer Attributes" pop up click on "Print", then select "Pattern".  A large group of patterned papers comes up.  You may purchase them, have access to several included in the Cricut Subscription program called Access, or have many of them granted to you by Cricut because you are/were an Imagine owner.  Select one of the patterns for each of the rectangles you created.  I added a few decorations on top of the patterned papers in a few instances.  "Import Image" on the left of the screen and pick a few images to add.  Choose to "Flatten" the image after you have resized it.  Drag the image over to the rectangle and place it there.  "Select All" and "Group" the rectangle and image so that if you want to move the image it will move as one item.  Here are my created stickers ready to print and cut.

 I added a few other images to decorate with.  Just be sure to "Flatten" them so they print out as one image and not cut out the several layers that many images have.  Hit the "Go" button to proceed to the next screen in Design Space for printing.  I had to play around with the configuration of my images a bit to get the program to print them all onto one page.  I just kept going back and forth and rearranging until I saw they would print all together.  Follow the directions to print.  Design Space will place Registration Marks on the page so that the machine will be able to cut the images out. After printing (onto a 8 1/2 x 11 Avery Shipping Label sticker sheet), place your printed sheet onto the Cricut mat.  Continue to follow the prompts in Design Space.  Load and hit the Cricut button.  But be sure to set the dial on the machine to "Custom" and choose "Washi tape" so the Explore doesn't cut all the way through the sticker paper.  It will kiss-cut on this setting.  Here we go:

All my stickers are now cut!  You can see that there is a lot of wasted space on the sticker sheet. Currently Cricut Design Space has a limited print and cut capability.  Hopefully this will be corrected in a future Design Space update. The fun part is decorating the planner!!!

And then I added more decorations to this week in the planner. Now it's ready for the pen!

Hope you found this tutorial helpful on how to make your own planner stickers in Cricut Design Space.  If you have any questions be sure to ask and I'll try to help!  Craft on!

Mini Happy Planner Before the Pen

The Mini Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas is just the right size for a little decorating and writing in my daily appointments, school pick up times, events, etc.  Some washi tape and a few stickers and it's ready for the pen.  Goes into my purse because of its small size too.

I Can Look at Elvis All Week

 A great week in the Happy Planner when you can look at Elvis everyday.  Not sure exactly why I like him but something intriguing about him and his life and the affect he had on the world.  Of course, he's handsome too - especially the young E - at least in my mind.  I love this free sticker set from Victoria Thatcher.  Her blog is a treasure of free planner stickers just waiting to be downloaded, printed and stuck to whatever you want!!

Elvis is back!  In the performances of Scot Bruce anyway.  What a pro.  If you ever get a chance to see him you must check it out.  Especially if you are an Elvis fan or just love the music of that time period.

Before the Pen

Back to school layout in the Happy Planner before the pen.  It's going to be a very busy week so there will be lots of things to write in soon! There are lots of planner stickers available for free online.  Search on Pinterest or Google it and look for stickers that are specifically made for your brand of planner.  This set of stickers is from the Victoria Thatcher blog.  She has SO many great planner sticker sets for free.  Check it out, print them out, cut them out and stick them in your planner.

Memory Planning

The Polaroid Zip printer has been really useful and fun.  Super easy to take the photos off your phone and print them out.  The Happy Planner has become a memory planner since purchasing the Zip.  I decorated this rather heavy with pics only because we were away on a trip and I didn't need room in the planner for recording appointments and such.  Some people like to journal too along with the pictures.  I would rather let the pics tell the story.

The Pen Can Make the Planner, Sort of

Planner stickers, washi tape, AND pretty pens - that's how to plan properly.  Seriously though, it's super fun to have a pretty pen with your pretty planner.  All the colors make me a happy planner indeed.

Relax and Have a Happy Life

The lazy days of summer...  Be sure to make a plan to kick back for awhile and relax.  We all need that.  I know I sure do!  Grab your planner and relax.

Planners Unite

What do you get when a bunch of planner babes get together to plan?  Planner MeetUp!  Thanks to the sweet friend who got me interested in planning and who is the leader of our group, this is a wonderful, instant group of friends who share the love of all things planner.  Ladies of all ages and backgrounds come together and have fun chatting and decorating planners of all kinds.  This is the planner stack from our MeetUp at Michaels.  Plan on!

Make A List...

Love to be able to put my To Do list in my planner.  All the colors draw the eye and bring me back to what's on my list.

Planning with Cricut

Combining planning with using an electronic Die-cutting machine - ahhhhhh, now that's something to savor over a cup of Joe.  Why not?!  I printed and cut out these images using my Cricut Explore via the Cricut Design Space free software.  Using an Avery shipping label allows you to make a sticker.  Print, cut and stick.

Planner Happiness

Finding planner happiness is a common mantra among planners.  I really enjoy my Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas.  The cover is what drew me in and the rings make it easy to take things out and add them in.  So, who knew I needed a planner?  Apparently my planner friend did!  She was instrumental in getting me interested and started.  And when I discovered that planning is actually a combination of keeping track of a schedule AND papercrafting, stamping, and decorating - well, I was IN.  And so it begins...