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Happy Monday blog followers and visitors …and Happy Memorial Day! Just about the time I started providing my printables on this website, I have often suggested that you use Xyron sticker makers or even their tape runner to stick your planner stickers in your pretty planners. Xyron contacted me and provided this gorgeous Teresa Collins tape runner and I wanted to share my straightforward opinion about this product.

Product Review

Here’s the Teresa Collins Mega Runner pictured with my Classic Happy Planner. I have to say from the outset that in the looks department, I give this tape runner an A+. I’m a fan of Teresa Collins scrapbooking designs and I like the quality she usually associates with her brand. I even own the Teresa Collin’s Fiskars crafting scissors, so I may be biased in that regard.

happy planner & xyron tape runner

Pros

Beautifully designed in fashion colors – the manufacturer also has one in pink
Lightweight and not too bulky. Ergonimically designed. It has a soft handle that feels good to the touch.
Has a latch that protects the tape from getting gummed up by dust and dirt. One of my favorite features, as I don’t like detachable caps because they tend to get lost.
Body opens up to place refill cartridges very easily.
Tape has a dot matrix pattern that goes down smoothly – refill cartridges are available in 1/4″ and 1/2″ tape sizes.

Cons

Pricey, a little on the pricey side; however, you can buy the clear blue mega runner for a few dollars less and still have similar features.
Pricey, refill cartridges. You might prefer economy or budget type tape runners for your crafting needs.
May be too bulky even for small hands.
The tape goes down smoothly but you have to practice the technique so that it will dispense properly.
Not readily available in all stores. So, I would buy the tape runner and my refill cartridges on Amazon or Michael’s with a coupon.

*Update** = Promotion offer has closed.

In summary, considering all the pros of this product, I would definitely add it to my crafting stash. The fact that it is so well designed might outweigh it’s priceyness for many crafters.

xyron mega runner

After all that info about tape runners, I don’t want to leave you without something for you to decorate your Mini Happy Planner. So, I designed this coordinating black, white and dark gold planner stickers set for today’s Mini Happy Planner printable.

Here’s a sample of this set of planner stickers printed, on letter size, full sheet white heavy paper and printed with my Epson Artisan 810 printer. However, I do use full sheet white sticker label paper by DigiOrange when I want to cut these stickers in my Silhouette Cameo.

Also, if you are new to this site, I wanted to let you know that I have a board on Pinterest that you might want to follow that has several pins (ideas) by other planner designers, stationery, home office decor, office supplies and planner freebies that are mostly planner related, you can view that and/or follow here, Home Office | Planners & Stationery Favs.

How to Use this “Mini Happy Planner Stickers” Printable:

There are several ways you can use this printable to create your stickers and I have included a few in the following instructions:

1) The easiest way to use this printout is to print it out on a full sheet of white sticker paper and if you own a Silhouette Cameo or Silhouette Portrait or other digital cutter (i.e Cricut Explore) you can cut out the to-do lists or planner stickers using their designer software. ( **Please note: You must have the Silhouette Designer Edition software upgrade to open pdfs in your Silhouette. I also have redesigned the template so that the margins are within the “registration” area of your silhouette. You will have to spend some time creating the cutlines for the silhouette but this should make creating the cutfile a lot easier.)

2) Also another method, would be to use heavy bond printer paper or you can use 65 lb. white cardstock depending on how thick you want your sticker and then place adhesive via a snail tape runner or with a Xyron sticker tool or machine. ( see pic below for today’s featured product)

3) The most tedious (or time consuming) way is to print out the planner stickers on sticker paper and “fussy cut” out by hand, I have spaced the elements so that you can use a pair of good craft scissors to get a clean cut and handle the fussy cutting. Another handy tool to have for the straight cuts is a slide or rotary paper trimmer which will reduce cutting around the stickers.

Facts about the freebie:

A set of 95+ planner stickers on an 8 1/2″ by 11″ pdf file.
File size : 2.53MB
These elements were created at 300 dpi, so your printing results should be very clear and sharp with a smooth lay down of the ink color. The preview pictures both on the blog and on Google are at 72 dpi, so you often can not see all the detail accurately or colors are sometimes distorted.
Color scheme: black, white, gold, dark gold
As usual these freebies are free for personal use, (check my TOU if you haven’t previously.) If you have been here before, you know the drill. If not, you might want to read the quick TOU below before you access the printable.

Some things you should know before downloading:

* Vintage Glam Studio printables are for PERSONAL USE ONLY.
*You MAY NOT RESELL, redistribute, or claim the original or derivative (redesigned from the original) designs as your own. Including using the derivative designs for free distribution.
*Please do not remove the watermark or modify the design in any way other than for your own Personal use.
*If you post this on the internet, please give credit to Vintage Glam Studio & link back to my blog (www.vintageglamstudio.com), so others can obtain the resources. Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook are great social media sharing platforms, it’s the sharing without a link back that can be a problem. If you use this printable on Instagram, tag me with #vintageglamstudio or @vintageglamstudio. Thanks!

Enjoy!

You can access the printable here >>>Black & Gold Planner Stickers

Pin it!

xyron tape runner

All images in this printable are original illustrations by Vintage Glam Studio and under copyright with a few that are under commercial use licensing. Digital paper by Creative Market.

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Day Designer

If you spend any time on Pinterest, you must have seen all the “planning” pins, and maybe you are interested in jumping on the planning bandwagon. Let’s suppose though that you are not interested in shelling out several dollars for your initial planner, especially if you are not sure that the planner’s format or layout will work for you?

Then, I suggest you find inexpensive ways to take advantage of comparable but less expensive planners made available by top planner designer brands in order to “get your feet wet”, so to speak, or to try out a planning system to see if the format is the right fit for you.

That’s what I did when I decided on this Day Designer planner because I was interested in trying out a weekly layout that had an hour by hour format. I had been using my Mini Happy Planner for blog tasks because it was portable, had a weekly layout and a monthly view. I could easily pop the planner in my purse, if I needed to take it with me. That worked fine for awhile but now my blog tasks and activities or To Do List have since doubled.

In addition, my new blog tasks now require that my tasks need to be a lot more structured and time sensitive; so, I needed a format that would help me set up tasks connected to specific times of the day. The two choices I looked at were the Day Designer and the Erin Condren Hourly Format which are both great options.

However, since it is the middle of the year and I am still not sure if the hourly format is what I need, I purchased this DayDesigner planner by Blue Sky at Target. I decided I would also list a few other supplies for anyone who is basically starting from scratch and wants to get started without a huge cash layout. The sum total of my purchase was under $20 not including taxes.

Daydesigner - open layout

Supplies:

Day Designer Planner for Blue Sky (“Spotty” Cover; dimensions 6″ x 8″) $11.99

Da yDesigner Magnetic Bookmarks $3.99

Page flags (Target Dollar Spot) $1.00

Pencil Set (Target Dollar Spot) $1.00

Black Pen Medium with/Stylus (Target Dollar Spot) $1.00

(Optional) 3 Gold Paper Clips (Michael’s) $1.99

Here’s what I think are the pros and cons of this planner.

Pros

Great layout or format, will help you get used to the system before investing more money, lines are college ruled and time slots are based on hourly portions
Hardboard cover is sturdy and the Day Designer has beautiful cover patterns especially in their Flagship planners.
Inexpensive
Get started right away
Smaller personal size with 6″ x 8″ planner, but you can also purchase a larger daily planner at Target for $29.99
Dollar spot items were surprisingly of better than expected quality. The medium point black pen wrote fairly smoothly. (My preference is a fine point)

Cons

Metal on coils on planner and stylus pen is thinner, cheaper, and may not bear up under rough handling
Planner paper is thinner 50% PCW recycled paper, may bleed through, difficulty turning pages ( Original Day Designer brand has 160 gsm paper)
Lines may be too small for some individual’s handwriting
Sticker possibilities may be limited due to formatted pages.

Closeup of the stationery supplies and Day Designer hard cover.

Day Designer, stationery supplies

Close up of Magnetic Bookmarks. They come 5 to a package, so they cost roughly $.80 each. The patterns on the bookmarks are patterns available as covers on the original Day Designer.

day planner stickers

Close up of the interior of the layout and how the magnetic bookmark works in your planner. You can also see the metal rings that serve as the binder for the planner and the metal corners that protect the corners of the planner.

Day Designer - close up of magnetic bookmark

This image shows the comparison in size of the Day Designer to the original Erin Condren planner. It’s about 1.5 inches shorter all the way around as well as half the thickness. It also begins in the academic year. The Xyron tool, of course, I included as an optional item you might be interested in including as part of your planner supplies and tools. (Note: For full disclosure, this Teresa Collins Sticker maker was provided by the manufacturer.)

Day Designer & EC comparison

This is the whole “under $20.00 kit”, and I will be thrilled to share my review of how the hourly format works for me in a future product review update.

Day Designer & stationery, Get started with planning