Cathy's 2013 Planner

WHOA!!  It's been over a year since I've posted to my blog!  Actually, I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to pursue my Stampin' Up! business.  After a year I'm still not sure, but I am closer to figuring it out.  I haven't been idle though.  I've been crafting away!  I will post some of the projects I've been working on.  Let me start with my 2013 Planner; I am very proud of it!

After the holdiays, I saw these student planners (image on the left) on sale for $3 at Michael's.  I really liked them because of the clear vinyl on the front and back of it and the sturdy inside pages.  But I knew I could take it apart and fix up Stampin' Up! style!  The image on the right is the altered planner.  I used a mix of current and retired papers & embellishments.  It's a great way to use up supplies.  I may do this every year!

The first thing I did was remove the pages from the coils. Then, I embossed the clear vinyl with Stampin' Up!'s "Fancy Fan" embossing folder. I put Real Red cardstock underneath the covers to show the original and the embossed images more clearly.

Next is the inside cover.  The pages measure approx 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  Using glue stick I adhered Designer Series Paper (DSP) from SAB 2013 "Sycamore Street".  Then I cut out letters using the retired Big Shot Alphabet set "Go Go Boots ".  I also adhered them using glue stick (we'll see how well the letters stay as I use the planner during the year.  I figure with the clear vinyl covering, it should be ok).  I adhered contact paper to most of the DSP pages in the planner to add an extra layer of protection.

Here are pages 1 & 2 of the original planner:

Here are the altered pages:

I stamped the pages using the "Everything Eleanor" stamp set to jazz it up a bit.

The next page are the year calendar pages.  The original student planner had yearly calendars for 2012 and 2013.  I only needed 2013:

I covered the 2012 calendar with more paper from "Sycamore Street" then stamped it with the "Everything Eleanor" swirl.  I added words to the page from the "Loving Thoughts" set and punched them out with the "Word Window" punch and layered the words on top of cardstock punched with the "Modern Label" punch.

 The original student planner had calendar pages from Sept 2012 - Dec 2013.  Since I don't need Sept 2012 - Dec 2012, I used those pages for pockets.  The altered planner has 10 pages of pockets:

I used border punches on the top of the pockets.  I also added embellishments from retired "Simply Scrappin" kits.  They serve as journaling or doodling spaces.

Then I added tabs to the planner to label my pockets, months and contacts.  I used 'planner tabs' from an office supply store:

Then I typed my labels on the computer, cut them out with the "Word Window" punch.  Using repositionable tabs for the labels was a suggestion from my friend Connie.  It worked great because I can adhere the labels to the tabs (I used Snail adhesive) and reposition the tabs as necessary.  Here's how my tabs look:

I cut the tabs in half for the month and for the contact letter labels and punched them out with the "1/2" circle punch.  

I made the word  labels smaller to match the width of the tabs by re-inserting the punched pieces back into the "Word Window" punch on one side and punching again:

I am very proud of the next two features of the planner:  The pen holder and the page holder/planner closure!  I decorated the inside back page with the "Creative Elements" flower and the "Everything Eleanor" swirl.  I dyed a piece of elastic (regular elastic from the sewing aisle of the craft store) with "Pool Party" reinker and created the pen holder with a piece of chipboard, DSP, contact paper and the glue gun.

The page holder/planner closure is my favorite feature.  I sandwiched a piece of chipboard with two pieces of DSP.  Before adhering the DSP to the chipboard, I measured two lengths of the planner with the elastic.  I dyed the elastic by putting re-inker directly on it and spreading it with a sponge dauber.  Note:  I find the lighter reinkers work better than the darker ones.  Color seems to be very muddy when I use the darker reinkers on the elastic.  But I like making these, so I may try again with the darker reinker.  Also, the elastic takes a while to dry.  I recommend either dying the elastic before you start the project and working on this part last, or heating the elastic with the heat gun after dyeing it (same with the pen holder above). I positioned the ends of the elastic side by side on either side of the center of the chipboard.  I recommend using the glue gun to adhere the elastic to the chipboard and the elastic to the DSP.  The glue gun provides a strong hold.    After adhering the elastic, I used tombow to adhere the rest of the DSP onto the chipboard on both sides.  Then, I covered both sides with contact paper. Since I knew I wanted to add the eyelet in the middle of the page holder/planner closure to provide extra security for the elastic, I punched a hole in the chipboard before adhering the DSP.  I continued to punch the hole after adding the DSP, then the contact paper.  I found that if I waited until the end to punch the hole, the layers were too thick.  I adhered the eyelet with the "crop-a-dile."  To use the page holder/planner closure, put the base where you want to mark your page and then wrap the elastic around both sides of the planner over the coils.  It works very well--I just love it.  If I can ever figure out how to do a video I will film how to make this little gem.

Well, my planner is complete and I couldn't be more proud of the job I've done.  

If there are any questions on any of the steps, feel free to email me at cathyagostini@hotmail.com

Enjoy!