Hi everyone! Welcome to Satur-YAY! We're celebrating the weekend by getting our craft on! And today, I have a little something different for you. Today I thought I would show you how you can use some of your paper crafting supplies to add fun accents to your paper planner. I love my planner....I can't live without it! And when I can combine two things I love, like paper crafting and my planner, it's a win win situation. And don't worry, if you're not a die hard planner girl like me, I have a little something for you too!
Planners are all the rage right now. People are taking something that's a necessity in their life, an everyday organizational tool, and adding personal touches and decorations. They're putting the fun in functional. And I am no exception. I'm a busy mom of three, a full time registered nurse, a wife, a blogger, and I am also on the music team at my church. With all the demands of my life, I find a physical planner helps keep me straight. And I love to add fun things to it...things that make me smile.
Today I'll be walking you through how to make a shaker planner dashboard. I'll be using some of my favorite dies, patterned papers and embellishments. I love seeing these things when I open my planner. They always make me smile.
I've started with a page protector that is made just for my planner. If you don't have something like this available to you, you can always use a stamp pocket. I would suggest adding some sturdy patterned paper or card stock on the left edge and then punching that to make it work in your planner. This clear plastic sleeve serves as the base for my dashboard. I'll be sealing in lots of different elements using my Fuse tool. I'll walk you through all of this in the video tutorial below. Be sure to check that out!
I started by die cutting several images and words. I'll keep these handy and add the elements to the various pockets in my shaker dashboard. I like to choose words like fabulous, enjoy, smile and love. They tend to remind me of important things. I like to surround myself with positive reminders.
I've decorated a couple of instant photos for my dashboard. I've stamped the word "adore" on the bottom of the photo of my kids and added a few die cut hearts. For the photo of my husband and myself, I've added a small strip of washi and added a love sentiment cut from gold glitter card stock. I've attached it using my Tiny Attacher. The Tiny Attacher adds a fun scholastic or office supply element to the dashboard which is completely appropriate for a planner. To finish off the photo of my hubs and me, I added a few colorful enamel dots. Both are fast and easy ways to embellish a photo, and add a lot of pizzazz.
I love using acetate in my shaker dashboards as well. It's a fun element that allows for transparency and adds pattern. I used the We R Memory Keepers patterned acetate in a few of my pockets. I've attached die cuts and patterned papers in various ways to add lots of fun a pretty layers. My favorite is probably the one on the top. I love the way the acetate, vellum feather, glitter sentiment and patterned paper are layered together. For a more simple pocket, I simply added the smile die cut sentiment over a piece of polka dot acetate. I didn't even bother attaching those elements together. Once they're sealed in place, they won't shift too much.
I used sequins to embellish several of the pockets. I didn't adhere them in place. Instead, I've allowed them to float around the pocket. This adds a fun interactive element to the dashboard. In fact, for one of the dashboard pockets, I only used sequins. I combined gold sequins, sparkling clear sequins and some gold heart confetti from Pretty Pink Posh to make a pocket full of sparkle. It would also be fun to add wood veneer elements, small die cut pieces or beads to a pocket like this.
Stamps are another great way to add decorative and even functional elements. I used the Heart Of Gold stamp from Neat and Tangled to create another fun and decorative element for my dashboard. I embossed it on some Essentials by Ellen vellum in gold embossing powder. Then I added some color with Copic markers by coloring on the back side of it. I added a strip of striped acetate and the enjoy sentiment from the Zipper Panel Die Set to complete this fun little grouping. I used the Tiny Attacher to attach the acetate and sentiment.
Since I know that you aren't all planner enthusiasts like me, I used this exact same concept to create a card as well. I wanted to show you that each of these elements from the dashboard could easily be translated to a card. To make it in to a card, I just added a stitched element along the card front using a die from My Favorite things. I also added just a couple small strips of patterned paper along the edge as well. I then attached this entire card front to a card base made from Bazzill Pale Rose card stock. Easy, right? And can you imagine how fabulous that fabulous pocket would be on a card? I may go and make that right now. ;)
As I mentioned above, I have created a video tutorial walking you through the entire creation of this shaker planner dashboard. I'll give you some tips and tricks along the way.
As cardmakers, we spend a lot of time creating for other people, and I find great joy in that. However, every now and then, it's nice to bust out the supplies and make something just for you. It's very freeing to use whatever you want and whatever you love to create something for you. And in my case, I don't have to worry about someone feeling like there's too much gold glitter card stock...because this is just for me.
Now it's your turn. It's time for you to celebrate the weekend by getting your craft on. I'd love to see what you're making. Be sure to use #EllenHutsonSaturYAY when sharing your projects on social media so I can see what you are all up to this weekend. I'd love to see what this particular project inspires in you! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Satur-YAY! And until next time, I hope you have a fabulous day!
Watch The Video
You can watch the video in HD by visiting our YouTube channel HERE.
