Featuring Clearly Kelly │ Planner Stamps

So things are crazy hectic around here lately but the good news is that means lots of fun projects are getting made. Including one super big giant one that I'll be sharing soon. Sometimes when life gets hectic taking a break to sit down to make something is just the thing I need to help focus my energy and take a mental break from all the busyness. Thankfully Kelly Purkey has released a whole new batch of amazing planner stamps for all the planner girls out there. The are up for presale in her shop and will ship the first week of October. You can see the whole range of products right here. They are so rad, she's really thought of everything you might need for your planner.

I love that you can punch holes in the cards and add them right into your planner. I also love that three of the sets come with metal dies. The Everyday Clip Set is super cute you can use the clips for so many different projects and the To Do List set that you can cut add right into your planner rings is super cute.  Here are two projects I made using the new stamp sets.

I used two colors of ink to keep the look of this monthly calendar a bit more cohesive. I love the TV Planner Set, you can use the stamps for so many things and I loved that it had an Awards Night stamp, perfect for Emmy Sunday. The School Planner Set was another favorites especially since I'm pretty busy with volunteering in class and doing work for the PTO.  I also loved cutting little banners from the Planner Banner Set that I made by layering washi tape over card stock and then running it thru my Cuttlebug to cut the banners. These are super fun to staple in to your planner to use as tabs or just as decorations. The planner inserts I am using this year are from Miss Tiina and can be found on Etsy here. My planner is from Kikki.K but it looks like the gold planner might be discontinued or out of stock right now.

My second project was a bit of an advance prep for the Holidays. When I saw the Gift List stamp in the Special Occasion Planner Set I knew just what to make with it. I thought it would be super fun to make a Field Notes sized notebook to keep track of all the gifts that I need to buy for the upcoming holidays. Its small, just 3.5" x 5.5" and its compact enough to toss in my purse while I'm out shopping. The cover is made from the most divine wood grain cardstock which I love because its nice and thick. To dress up the cover I used the Holiday stamp from the Special Occasions set and stamped it on a diagonal on a piece of plain white cardstock. I stamped the Deer from the All Decked Out stamp set and then scanned the image into my Silhouette Cameo program to create and offset cut shape that was just a bit larger than the outside edge of the stamp. I stamped it with Clear Embossing Powder and then added in some Gold Glitter Zing Embossing powder to sparkle it up a bit. I layered that onto a piece of red cardstock and just stamped the Gift List and stapled it down using some green tiny staples that will fit into my Tiny Attacher. I cut out several of the star clips from the Everyday Clips set in gold foil cardstock and a red glitter cardstock. I love that these little page markers are so festive.

I dressed up the inside with stamps from the To Do List Set and added in a sentiment from the Fa La La La La set which is quickly become my favorite holiday stamp set. I added it a bit of washi tape and called it done.

I made the insert sheets myself and printed them out, cut them down to size and rounded the corners. I used my long arm stapler to staple the whole thing together and it was super quick and easy. If you are interested in making one of these Gift List Notebooks yourself you can download a copy of my inserts right HERE. Please remember that this is for personal use only so please don't sell it or email the file to your friends, please just direct them here to download it.

I am now officially ready to get some shopping done and I'll have this little book to keep me on track. Not to mention a really pretty planner to keep my life on somewhat of a forward moving pathway.

Have a great weekend! See you soon.

Branding your next camping trip

This past weekend we went camping with our friends. It was a family affair, four families and 9 kids. This was my first time camping a really, really long time and I wanted to try to do something special for our friends. Initially I thought of having t-shirts made but the cost to have them printed for all of us was a bit more than I wanted to spend. I remembered that one of the Dad's on this trip loved collecting Koozies when he traveled so I thought maybe that would be a good idea. A quick google search lead me to TotallyKoozies.com and I was super happy to see that yes I could upload my own art and have two dozen printed at a really reasonable cost. I picked the single color solid koozies for this trip but love that they also offer so many other styles based on what kind of beverages you wanted to keep cool.

I made the logo in Photoshop Elements using the information that totallykoozies specified on their website regarding what size to keep the designs too. I just upload my art when I placed my order and within one business day I had a proof back from their designers. They had amazingly quick turnaround and are willing to work with your deadline date so I had them in hand by the day I needed them. This was the most easy and hassle free ordering of a custom item online that I have ever experienced. Needless to say they were a HUGE hit with our friends and everyone really loved them. Here is a shot one of our friends posted to Facebook, they totally fit in with our surroundings.

Since those were primarily for the adults I wanted to do something fun for the kids so I thought it would be fun to turn the logo into a temporary tattoo. I purchased the Silhouette Cameo Temporary Tattoo paper and just modified my initial logo design adding in a background color and making sure to flip it so when applied the text was in the right place.

I scaled the size down just a bit keeping small kids in mind and was able to get 12 on one of the sheets of paper provided. I printed these on my home printer and then cut them out on my Silhouette Cameo. I brought along a bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean the kids skin hoping it would make them last a bit longer. The kids loved them and all the moms ending up tatting up too. It was super cute and lots of fun but next time I would make sure to wait to apply them to the kids skin after they were done swimming for the day. They definitely faded and fell off but in a normal situation would last a solid day had water and swimming not been involved.

My last bit of fun and branding was to make a flag for our campsite. I decided to work with our local Fast Signs shop where I live and decided on a two foot by two foot square flag. I sent them the same logo and we picked a background color for the flag and they did a direct print onto the canvas. They added the three grommets for me and my husband built the stand for me out of PVC pipe that he spray painted and we attached the flag with some zip ties. At the campsite he secured into the ground with a piece of rebar that he hammered in. The flag was at our site the whole trip and I made sure to get lots of pictures around it of the whole group and each family.

These were all really simple easy and quick things that just added that finishing touch to the trip and made it that much more special for everyone. I will definitely try all of these things again and hope that this inspires you to brand your next group outing.

Note: all links provided are for informational purposes only and no affiliate benefits are coming to me for sharing these vendors with you. All opinions/reviews expressed are my own.

XOXO the cut file

When I was asked to make a cut file for the Studio Calico Camelot release I was super excited because of the direction that they wanted me to take.  I knew it could be super cool and I was so hoping the Design Team would love it.  I have tremendous admiration for all of these ladies and watching the sneaks come in and then seeing the full pieces in the gallery truly amazed me.  And hearing how much they loved, well that was just icing on the cake.

In no particular order here are the amazing results of their unbelievable talent.

 source: Paige Evans

source: Nicole Samuels

source: Shanna Noel

source: Loredana Bucaria

source: Geralyn Sy

source: Marcy Penner

source: Melanie Louette

If you are interested in getting the file for yourself, you can find the file here.  I sure hope that you love it and have fun playing with it.  Please make sure to tag me or let me know if you post it anywhere online so I can see it.  And if you have any questions on how to work with it please let me know.  I know that an instruction sheet was provided but if you still need help, I'm happy to help in anyway that I can.

P.S. the rest of the digital items in this months release are crazy good, so make sure if you love all things digi to check them out here too. Templates, Digital Brushes, Cut Files and Printables.