Planner Overview Roundup: October 26-November 1, 2015

Hey folks! I am back with my first Planner Overview Roundup Post! I plan to do these every week, on Fridays. Hope you all enjoy this idea :)

So, the planner I am using is a Mambi Happy Planner! I really like it. For $15 (from Hobby Lobby with a 40% coupon), I couldn't pass it up. I have the gold heart cover with the My Life on it. What drew me to the Happy Planner was that it is very much like the Erin Condren that so many people use and love. However, that comes with a steep price tag too. So I wanted to find an in-between option. So, I settled on the Happy Planner. I have been looking at the Happy Planners for a while now, and when I saw they had the cover I was trying to find, I just got it! I'm so glad I did!

For these posts, I will tell  you what I used in my spreads. I will not be linking to them because a lot of times, I get the items locally, so it is often hard to link to them. I will just list them, and I hope that will work! :)

For this spread:
Washi: The pumpkins, stripes, and spiderwebs are all from Target! It is the Scotch Expressions brand Washi.

Full Box Stickers: For these, I cut them out of the Recollections paper pad, from Michaels. This was the Midnight Magic 6x6, if I recall correctly. It went so well with my spread ideas, and it has gold foiling on it!

Stickers (decorative): These are all from a Sticko set from Walmart. If you can still find them, they were scattered in the Halloween section. I love the haunted house on the Sunday area of my planner spread. They were $1, and I used the whole sheet here, so I think I had a good deal!

Stamps: These I can link to. This is the Seasonal Plans Fall/Winter stamp set from Studio L2E. She does amazing stamps, so I love to support her! The ink I stamped them in was the Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink from Tim Holtz (I used the mini ink pad version of the color). I know a lot of people say that Distress Ink aren't made for solid stamping, but it seems to work for me, for planner stamps!

For the pen, I just used a pink Pilot Frixion erasable pen from Walmart.

These two photos are close up shots of each of the two pages in the spread!

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I tried to make it as clear and concise as I could, and I linked to what I could. This is all still very new to me, since this planner is new. For the time being, I highly recommend it. Thanks for coming to read and I hope you're having a great day wherever you're at!

Collective Haul: October 2015

Hey folks! Back today for another post. Picked up a few items (well more than a few!) in the last few weeks, for fall and winter/holiday/Christmas cards. Couldn't help myself, so many great products and new releases! I was originally going to post a new medium first impression today, but I will post that next week, so I can have more time to play with them :)

I'm going to arrange them by store and what I got from each store.

Online Purchases: 

eBay and Amazon: 

Up first, I picked up some of these Versamagic Dew Drop ink pads. I love these small ones. The chalk inks seem to not bleed through planner paper. I got these in the Harvest pack with Jumbo Java, Hint of Pesto, Pumpkin Spice, and Eggplant.

Next, I picked up some of these Perfect Pearls. I have been wanting to try at least the Perfect Pearl color, but I decided to pick up the Metallic set. I figured I could "emboss" some sentiments with the colors that came in the pack. It came with brushes and an ink pad to use with them. I will be using Versamark ink instead of the ink pad that came with the set. 

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and picked up these Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens by Kuretake Zig. These are water based markers with a brush tip. I love them from what I've used so far. I love doing big washes and coloring in stamped images.  I will share more soon about these. Stay tuned! 

To label these, I just scribbled all the colors on some watercolor paper, punched them out with a plain hole punch, glued them on the top, and put the glossy accents on it. I got this idea from Jennifer McGuire's blog post-- which you can find here. 

I am so happy I found these on Amazon at a great price! They were about $37, compared to being about $90+ on other sites. I just could NOT pass that offer up!! :) 

This is another stamp set I have been looking at for so long. I love the birds, and I love that they are scribbly, and that the line isn't so perfect. I love the sentiments too. I plan to use this for some fall cards! 

                                                 

                                                 

Mama Elephant: 

I picked up my first two stamp sets from Mama Elephant! I can't wait to play with them. I couldn't help picking these two up, and they had a SALE too!! :) 

The first one I got was Twinkle Towns. This is a really neat stamp set that I really love. You can uyse the ornament by itself, or with either of the city scapes in the ornament. I love the pine branch and the sentiment too!! :) 

This was the one stamp set I HAD to have. These little reindeers are so cute! I love that they made them symmetrical so they can be used for spinner cards... or just by themselves! I love that they included the little add-ins to the stamp set too, with the candy canes, the birds, the ornaments. 

In-Store Purchases: 

Joann's Fabric and Craft Store: 

From Joann's, I only picked up one thing. I had been trying to find these paper pad for so long in the store, but hadn't found it. So, I saw this pad on sale, so I just had to get it. I love the foil accents. I plan to use this in my planner as well as for fall cards. 

Hobby Lobby: 

This is my last place I have to show you, but I found some good things there. I also got these items in multiple shopping trips.  I picked up this Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink pad. I plan to use this inkpad for my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens. 

Browsing the paper aisle, I found this Strathmore Watercolor pad. But it's very conveniently sized paper pad, and the binding seems to be good, so I picked it up to have images pre stamped and I could just take the notebook with my zig clean color pens and a waterbrush or Wink Of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen and I could just color on the go!  

I should really stop browsing the paper aisle in the paper crafting section. I seem to always find a paper pad to get, most times. I saw this BoBunny Altitude paper pad, and I had actually been wanting this paper pad for so long. So, I had to pick it up. I think I can use this for Christmas cards so they aren't too traditional. I also plan to use this in my planner.

Next, I needed some adhesive runner refills. I love the Tombow Stamp Runner, but I saw this tape runner and decided to give it a try. I did the math and it's cheaper to get this versus the Stamp Runner, so I decided to give this a go. Doesn't hurt anything, right? :) 

 These next two items were in the Fall seasonal area, and I just thought they were too cute not to pick up. I love these stickers, and I thought they would be perfect for my planner. They are puffy stickers, but they aren't too dimensional, so I think they'll work in my planner. :)

 The last thing I got was the HAPPY PLANNER! I have been looking at this planner for so long, but they always have the gold heart cover I wanted out of stock! So, I just decided to pick up the planner while I found it! I really like it. The last few weeks have been fun seeing how I liked it. That is why I haven't had my planner overview posts for the last few weeks. I just have been playing around with some things in decorating my spreads. I am ready to start sharing this week!

Thanks so much for visting today! If you have any questions, just leave them below. Thanks and I hope you're having a great day wherever you're at!

Art Journal feat. Lawn Fawn: October 2015

Hello folks! I'm back with a new post! This is on one of my most recent art journal layouts. I have really been on a art journal kick lately. I find it's a unique way to use the stamps you already have in your stash, as well as your inks, markers, and any other products you may have in your crafty stash! This layout was inspired by a idea I had in my mind to use these cute Lawn Fawn stamps that I had! I don't have a lot of stamps, but I do like to pick up at least 3-4 for every season, so I don't feel like I'm spending so much money on stamps. However, I do find stamps extremely versatile, for use in cards, art journal layouts, and so much more. I will link all of the products I used here on the bottom of my blog post.

I did this journal layout a few weeks ago, so I don't have process pictures, I will do my best to explain the way I did this. For starters, the journal I use is the Dylusions one by Ranger. I use the smaller one. It's great! I like that it includes the pocket on the left inside cover. The green came from some spray that got on it on one of my layouts. :P





To start off my layout, I stamped out my images. This images came from the Lawn Fawn stamp sets Gleeful Gardens and Let's Play. (Again, these will be linked at the bottom of the post.) I really like those two sets, and it had been a while since I had used them, so I figured I'd take them out again and give them some love. I stamped multiple images from each set because I thought they just worked together so well. To color them in, I used some alcohol markers. I just use some from the craft store. They are alcohol markers, but they aren't Copics, so it's hard to link to them in that way. I used the same principle with Copics, so it is easy to color them in. I didn't consider a light source when I was coloring the images just because I think it's a fun kinda project, so I didn't see the need to color them with shading being affected by a light source. Just seemed too technical for this project. Then, I proceeded to add the background. I could have masked off all these images, but I didn't feel like masking them all off, so i just carefully went around all of them when I inked over the background. For the sky, I used a mixture of Mermaid Lagoon and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks. (By Tim Holtz) To apply them, I just used the Ranger ink applicator tool. Like I said, I used the edges of the round ink blending tool creatively to make sure that I didn't get too much ink on the stamped images. To make the grassy ground/hills, I made used the Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. I just used the same application to apply it. I then debated on which set to use to stamp out my sentiment(s) from. i decided to stamp the ones from the Let's Play set. They were cute and they were in a playful font which I figured would work well! After I had them all applied, I used the Cracked Pistachio Distress Spray Stain. It was kind of a decision where I just wanted to see what it would do. I used the spray and it worked out well if I do say myself. Made the grass more deep in color and the sky, oddly enough, didn't affect it to much! To finish it out, I just got my brush wet and just shook it onto the paper so I got some water droplet splotches! That was pretty much my whole process. I like to keep my art journal simple and playful so it gets my creativity flowing but it's not too intimidating. I want to fill this journal up by next summer, that's my goal!

Soon, I want to decorate the cover with some acrylic paints. When I do, I will take process photos to share with you all.

I hope this inspires you all to do some art journaling! It's certainly something that I am liking now. It gets my creativity flowing but it's not too intimidating and not as complicated as cards. Below I have included some pictures. Thanks for viewing my blog post! Hope you all are having an amazing day wherever you're at!! :)

*Dyan Reaveley SMALL CREATIVE JOURNAL Ranger Dylusions DYJ34117	Lawn Fawn GLEEFUL GARDENS Clear Stamps LF799	Lawn Fawn LET'S PLAY Clear Stamps LF848	Ranger MINI ROUND INK BLENDING TOOLS IBT40965
*Ranger Inkssentials INK BLENDING FOAM REFILLS Applicator Tool Refill IBT23623	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MERMAID LAGOON Ranger TIM43256	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger Spring TIM34933	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MOWED LAWN Ranger Summer TIM35008
Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain CRACKED PISTACHIO Ranger TSS44109

InLinkz.com

Michaels Haul: October 2015

*The title says October 2015, but these items were purchased in September 2015, but I labeled  the title as such because it is now October. Wanted to give a heads up!* 

Hello folks! I ran into Michaels a few weeks back, and I thought I would share what I got. I went in for 3 things, and I got 5. I found two extra things that I couldn't resist. With a 40% off coupon and then an additional 25% regular AND sale items, I just had to pick up these items! Hope you enjoy!

This was one of the items I actually needed. I was running low on white cardstock and needed some more, so I just picked up the Recollections brand, because I have had their cardstock before, and I knew it was of great quality! I think it's a great quality at a good price point. Sometimes they put the cardstock on sake for like 3 or 4 for $10 which I find amazing!! However, it wasn't on sale that much when I went, so I just had my coupons so I picked up two packs!


I had seen this set, Soda Pop, before and I just loved it. I picked this up for a odd reason, Christmas cards! I wanted to make the card bases something different, but still winter-esque! Another reason I got it was to use the light blue color to make my December Daily notebook for my midori! The first place I saw they had this was over at Ashley's blog! She hauled it and I really liked it! I would so recommend going to check out her blog!

This was the only other thing I had gone in there for. I picked up a colored pencil blender for all my colored pencil needs! I got two because I didn't know how much blender solution was inside of the pen... so I picked up two. For 3.99$ I didn't think that was a bad deal. I just HAD to rip into on so that's why one isn't in its package ;) 

I wasn't going to pick up any stickers... but I saw these and just had to grab them. I love the fox and the owl, they're my two favorite fall themed animals! I love the turkeys too, I can use them in my planner for Thanksgiving week! They are puffy stickers, yes, but I find if I don't use too many on my monthly and weekly spreads, it doesn't make my planner too thick. (I will be showing my planner soon on the blog!!) 

I had seen this Distress Ink kit the last time I was in another Michaels, so I figured I would just pick this up next time I was in Michaels. I stayed true to my promise, and picked it up. I loved that Michaels and Tim Holtz did a special distress kit... so I had to get it. I wanted to link this for you guys since it was a special kit, but I looked around and I couldn't find it! Your best bet is just to go into Michaels if you have one near you!! :)

I put the back of the package on here too... if you want to go try to find it otherwise. :)

Well, that's my haul folks! Thanks for reading! I hope you like this post and have a great day wherever you're at!! :)