I am so excited to be participating in the Silhouette Challenge again this year! We are a group of bloggers who post about projects we’ve completed using our Silhouette cutting machines each month. This month the focus of our projects is Organizing and I can’t wait to share all of these projects with you! Be sure to stick around for the end of this post so you can check out the other amazing projects from Silhouette Challenge Bloggers!!
When I saw the theme for this month’s projects, I immediately knew I wanted to write about my Erin Condren Life Planner and how I customized my weekly layout using my Silhouette and the Silhouette Sticker Paper.
I have been using Erin Condren’s Life Planner for the last two years and I really went back and forth on whether I was going to continue with using it as this year’s planner or not. I really, really LOVE them, but I wasn’t practically using as much as I felt like I should be to justify the cost.
I ended up ordering my planner for this year at the last minute because I knew I could make this planner work a little better for me by simply customizing it a bit more to fit my needs.
The weekly layout of the planner is broken up into three sections…morning, day and night.
This is a great way to divide up the day, BUT as a stay at home, homeschooling mom, my days don’t really fluctuate a whole lot from morning, day and night. I knew there had to be a better way to divide my time and attention in my planner.
I decided to using my Silhouette and sticker paper to customize the weekly layout into sections that were more tailored to me…personal, blogging, and scrapbooking. Personal would include any family or homeschool events. Blogging would include blogging deadlines, topics and ideas. And scrapbooking would include scrapbooking deadlines and projects that I needed to schedule.
Sidenote: Many times I am asked how I find time to blog and scrapbook while being a busy homeschooling mom. My answer would be that I don’t find it, I make it by scheduling it and planning for it. We all have the same number of hours in the day, we just have to make choices as to how we’re going to spend those hours.
Now, I would like to quickly show you how I created customized stickers using the Silhouette software to customize my weekly layout in this way.
Open a new 8.5 x 11 sized document in the Silhouette software with the registration marks on and draw a rectangle sized 0.25 x 1.5 inches. Type the text for your heading inside this box and set the cut settings to “no cut”
Next use the “Fill Color” window to fill in the rectangular box and your text. For this I filled in the box with a light blue color and my text black.
Now, you will group the box and your text together (select all and then right click “group”). And then use the “Replicate” options to Fill Page. This fills the page with the text box which will be the heading for one of your weekly sections.
All you need to do at this point is print and cut these out on Silhouette White Sticker Paper. I made enough with these to cover about three months in my planner, so four pages of each heading should work for the entire year.
I have included the Silhouette files that I created to make the “personal”, “blogging” and “scrapbooking” labels for my planner. Feel free to take any or all of these if you would like to use them in customizing the weekly layout of your own planner.
Personal Silhouette Planner Label
Blogging Silhouette Planner Label
Scrapbooking Silhouette Planner Label
I am using my Erin Condren Life Planner much more now that I have weekly headings that are more suited for my needs! I am glad that I made the decision to use this as my planner again this year, but even happier that I took some time to customize it using my Silhouette.
Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?
My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!
1. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 2. Simply Kelly Designs // 3. Daily Dwelling // 4. Ginger Snap Crafts // 5. Our Southern Home // 6. Sowdering About // 7. The Moberg Family // 8. Decor Adventures // 9. Pineapples and Pinecones // 10. Patina Paradise // 11. The Thinking Closet // 12. It Happens in a Blink // 13. Adventures in All Things Food // 14. From Wine to Whine // 15. Practically Functional // 16. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 17. unOriginal Mom // 18. One Dog Woof // 19. Creative Ramblings // 20. My Favorite Finds // 21. Create it. Go! // 22. A Prudent Life // 23. Where The Smiles Have Been // 24. Barb’s Life // 25. Everyday Paper // 26. Pitter and Glink // 27. Peanut Life Adventures // 28. Feto Soap Blog // 29. Our Rosey Life // 30. Two Purple Couches // 31. My Paper Craze // 32. TitiCrafty // 33. Lil Mrs Tori
Thanks for stopping by today!!!
I’m so excited to share my project and these other amazing projects that I know you’ll be so inspired by!
Are you using a planner to keep yourself organized this year? I would love for you to share what you’re using in the comments below!
Christine | Where The Smiles Have Been says
EEEEK! This makes me so happy to see….my very first Erin Condren life planner is supposed to arrive on Wednesday and I am DYING to use and personalize it! I’m a stay-at-home-mom too, so I also plan on dividing it up similar to your method. Thanks for the inspiration….I can’t wait to make my own stickers now!
Lisa Chouinard says
I keep hearing about these planners. I am going to have to check them out! I do a lot of things to, and wholeheartedly agree with what you said: “We all have the same number of hours in the day, we just have to make choices as to how we’re going to spend those hours.”
Randi Sowders says
This is fun! Great job! And I applaud you for doing such a tedious job!!
Kelly Hedgespeth of Simply Kelly Designs says
Hi Monica! I love that you thought to customize the planner to suit your needs! I am always asked the same thing about how I have time for scrapbooking and I said that it is all about priorities.
Karen Marie Kedzuch says
Monica,
I am so excited to see your planner labels. I was a stay at home mom (I call my self retired). My planner has become even more important to me since blogging and retiring! I am excited to see what I can do with your creative help. Oh the possibilities!
Happy Creating,
Karen Marie
Kristy gd says
Oh, what a great idea! I got an Erin Condren planner for the first time this year – I might just have to follow suite and do this with mine!
Carrie says
What a creative idea! I haven’t used her planners, but I’ve heard great things about them. I am sure a lot of people will use this idea. Very cute!
Michele @ OUr Rosey Life says
Monica ~ I adore Erin Condren’s planner!! I’ve been using it for years and yet some times it doesn’t totally fit what I need. Your idea to tailor it to suit your specific needs is fabulous! You’ve got me thinking now…
Erica Jordan says
I have been using a Filofax for years and recently decided to switch over to EC. What a great idea to “relabel” those headings. It will definitely be more functional for me considering my life is divided into home, work and fitness. Thank you for sharing the idea and the how-to.