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Happy Friday planner fans…I wanted to take some time and get you ready for those last minute “what should I get for______”  or for other planner fans on your Christmas list by sharing a list of basic planner essentials.   This list can pretty  much work for all year round but in this Christmas season, some of these ideas might make your planner #bff reallly happy and put a smile on their face.  You want to make sure it’s a thoughtful gift idea, of course.

Here’s the list of the individual items:

1. Frixion Eraseable Pens (.07mm)

These ink pens are such a hot item because they are eraseable.  If you are a neat nik, there is nothing worse than a planner filled with nasty pen cross outs and pen smudges.   They come in a variety of point sizes .  The pens pictured come with  a cap but there are retractable pens available which makes it a great item for those who are always losing pen caps.  They also come in a variety of colors.

2.  Pilot G28 (.038 fine point)

This pen is my absolute personal fav  black point pen for all my writing.  I buy these by the pack and also purchase the refills.    I tend to write very small and this pen is super smooth, super fine and does not bleed through.  It also helps that it is retractrable. They are not readily available at your regular department stores.  I usually buy them online on mazon.  If you are a pen geek or are buying for a professional, I would suggest that you check out JetPens which has a great collection of specialty pens and stationery items.

3.  Staedtler Fineliner

I absolutely love these multi color pens.  They are reasonably priced, have a .03 point nib  (make sure they are the point nib that you want before buying) and are great for color coding your  planner or journl.  The plastic case they come in folds back and can be used to stand the case on your desktop. They are also not so bad for doodling and adding hints of color to your planner layout.

4.  American Crafts Slick Writer

This pen is a planner essential because as it’s name suggests, it writes perfectly on slick surfaces and can write on washi.  It has a solid marker type of pen stroke and does not soak through or smear whereas even Sharpie fineline permanent pens do.  I haven’t tried it using it for this purpose yet,  but I think it would also work to label photographs which tend to have a slick surface. 

5.  Mildliner Highlighters

I love, love these highlighters because they lay down a soft color on whatever text your are highlighting.  They are double ended which gives you the option of having two pen nib sizes in one pen.  They are reasonably priced and come in the colors of the rainbow.  I own the pastel highlighters.

6.  Rose Gold paperclips

These paperclips are rose gold but they are also available in gold.  These are functional as well as beautiful and they are reasonable priced.  They are a step up over your everyday office paperclip and they will glam up your photos on Instagram.  They are like little pieces of stationery jewelry.

 

7.  Arc Punch

If  you love notebooks, journals and planners with discbound binding, i.e. the Happy Planner or Martha Stewart’s journals, this is the tool to have.  It can turn any scrapbooking paper, planner or notebook insert into an insert that will fit into your discbound planner or notebook.    If you are interested in a much more robust arc punch, I would suggest you try Levenger for their arc punch.

8. Discs by Mambi

These are the discs that make the discbound system work.  They come in a variety of colors and sizes.  In general the larger the disc, the more paper you can store in your notebook.  If you want upscale discs made of metal or other luxury materials, you might want to try Levenger’s  online stationery store for their Kyoto discs.

9. EK Success Scissors

These scissors are a planner or crafter’s essential.  I own a pair of these and I love them because they are a small size, they are lightweight, the rubber handles reduce hand fatigue when cutting multiple items by hand and the tips of the scissors are shaped so that they can snip small pieces of paper.  The cap is provided for safety,  an important feature, especially if you have little ones around.  I would prefer them in pink but I believe  EK only sells them in pink as a promotion.

10. EK Success Scissors

This is a great sturdy brass ruler that is small enough to carry within a smaller planner or in your purse.  It come with inches and millimeter rules. I think a great gift idea would be to purchase this type of ruler and if you can swing it have it engraved with the recipient’s name.  I own a similar 12″  brass ruler from the Nate Berkus Office   stationery line at Target.  I absolutely love mine and use it to measure all those planner sticker printables I create for my planner  fans.

11. Washi Storage

This handy plastic bin holds up to 45 washi tape rolls and would be a great gift if you fill it with a couple of really lovely washi rolls as part of your gift and some pretty pens.  There are also acrylic drawer type of boxes that can be used as washi storage and look lovely on a desk top.

 

12. Washi

Okay, washi is almost a no brainer.  In order to add a little or a lot of pops of color to your planner this is the essential tool to have in your planner stash.  They can be used for a variety of crafting uses besides planner decor.  But I warn you buying washi can be addicting, it’s like that old TV potato chip ad jingle “betcha, you can’t stop at one”.

What do you consider an absolute essential planner tool?  Please comment below.

 

So, these mugs are not essential but they can be used in a two fold manner, as something to put your stationery gifts in and something they can drink out of after the holidays are over or as a pencil cup.  The mugs featured are available at the following  Etsy Shops.  You can preview the pics via the gallery below or in the links to the shops listed.

 

 

Etsy Shops with featured planner mugs:

1. Boss Lady mug from GirlsStuffDesigns

2. Planner Life mug from HappilyEverEtchedInc

3. Planner Girl mug from ShopPBC

So, this was a round up of my ideas for planner essentials.  Since it’s the Christmas season,  I think it would be nice to add that you try to make sure that you take a little time to add some attention to how you wrap your  gift to make it extra special.

Here are some tips:

• Make sure the packaging is just as pretty as the gift.
• Personalize ( if you can or have time) the gift item.
• Pay attention to the recipients personal tastes and likes to  jazz up your gift and shows you care to pay attention to their preferences.

Here’s a gift tag freebie to “glam’ up your gift.

You can access the Freebie >>>>HERE

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Shabby Rose Labels and Tags

Image Credit

Most images in this printable are original illustrations by Vintage Glam Studio and under copyright with a few that are under commercial use or creative commons licensing.  Other product images are the copyright of the individual owners and are being used for marketing purposes only.  Header image vector from Vecteezy.