Tools for homemade Planning

So clearly I am into the Planning habit pretty deep. Since investigating it on you tube some months ago I have quickly and willingly fallen down the rabbit hole and joined the planner craze. Of course being frugal I printed my planner from The Handmade Home, and I have mostly been creating my own planner stickers from printables or designs I create using images found online.  This has proved to be a fun and absorbing creative outlet for me and I totally enjoy the process, including watching YouTube planner videos and gaining inspiration for new spreads.

One of the things I'm happy I did early on was invest in some wonderful tools that help me create stickers and decorate my planner. I would strongly advise any one who wants to start what I call "homemade planning", and indeed any paper craft, to invest in at least some of these tools, as they go a long way towards making tasks easier and allowing your creativity to shine:-

1. Paper scissors and an Exacto knife - absolutely necessary to cut out all the beautiful stickers you design and /or print.


2. A Cutting mat - so useful to provide a flat sturdy base to cut on that will not get damaged (most are self-healing), and will protect the surface of your desk. There are measurement marks on most of them also that can help you cut exact dimensions. Best part is that they are pretty inexpensive, available in several sizes and price ranges. The one I use is this:


Fiskars 18x24 Inch Donna Dewberry Cutting Mat

3. A Xyron Sticker Maker machine - This little nifty machine comes in a variety of sizes and capabilities that all do one thing in common - they make stickers. There is a small one for around $10 that is perfectly adequate for making planner stickers, but I opted for one that can make stickers as well as magnets and can laminate( around $23).  There is a middle stickers-only version for around $15 as well. Here is my machine:

Xyron XRN510 Creative Station Multi-Use Crafting Machine

4. A Paper Trimmer - Really comes in handy to trim down those homemade printables before running them through your sticker machine. It really helps to speed up the cutting process and create clean precise cut lines. The one I use is this:

Westcott Paper Trimmer With Titanium Bonded Cut And Score Blades, 12"

5. Punches - There are a variety of punches that are really cheap and allow you to punch out shapes of varying sizes from paper. This can be useful when creating dots or squares to use as reminders in your planner - no need to cut, just print the image and punch it out of the paper. I bought two of the EK tools punches (they had the best reviews) to do just that:

EK Tools Circle Punch, 0.75-Inch Scallop Square Edge

Using these tools I am on my way to making the process of sticker creation and preparation very efficient. I have been able to prepare my own sticker kits in advance to be used in future spreads, so that when life gets busy, as it invariably does, I'll have stickers available and ready to use. Combine these tools with your choice of pens and pretty soon Planning becomes easy and even more enjoyable. Best of all, these tools can be utilized in many crafting and Diy situations,  making them well worth the investment. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you're inspired to add a little crafting magic to your life today! Below I'll show my latest Planner spread. It's still evolving and I drew heavy inspiration from another that I saw on YouTube, but here it is so far: