October Planner: Decorating + Planning = Fun!

I have owned an Erin Condren planner every year for the last four years. I am a serious Erin Condren fan. Yet, every year, my planner has remained... almost completely blank. I am so fearful of messing up my lovely planner, I draw grids and I create tables on Word and I write lists on paper--anything to avoid making a mistake on all that loveliness! I clip my plans onto the pages, so I look like a have a planner... alas, my scribbles are everywhere but in the boxes.

My favorite Erin Condren design is Party Pops. I have a matching "clutch" for my planner too! SO fun! Did you hear that? My heart just went pitter pat!

This year, I decided I would throw caution to the wind: I made a vow that I would actually write in my planner.

September came and went. I wrote a few comments very lightly in pencil. October MUST be the month, I scolded myself.

It's still slow-going. I still have an anxiety attack before every other word, and I still haven't ventured beyond pencil, but I have written in my planner. Wonders never cease!

This past summer I spent time trying to find washi tape that would match each of Erin Condren's monthly planner color schemes. I forgot about the "colors may vary" component of shopping online... and I was surprised to find out that there were countless shades of orange (not to mention green and pink!)... most of which would clash and not blend. Despite what Stacy and Clinton say on "What Not to Wear"... I still need my colors to MATCH!

Most people who know me will tell you that I am not the last bit crafty. Generally, my idea of decorating is lining up everything neatly in a row! At last, I was able to settle on some orange washi that I liked and I was actually looking forward to using my spider web tape! I'll admit, at one point, I had washi tape in my hair, and one of the pumpkins stickers stuck to the dining room table (where I am currently covering it with a placemat until I can figure out how to de-stick it)

Thankfully Mrs Harris has a link-up which forced me to reveal my planner pages before the month was up (Otherwise, knowing my tendency to procrastinate, I would still be carefully aligning orange washi tape--in February!) I am SO tickled to be invited to my first planner party! Well, okay, it's safe to say I invited MYSELF, but with pumpkins and spiders ready... Here goes!

I'm going to go with the "extra large" picture so that you can see a bit of the details... Here is the October spread before my scribbles were added.

And here are my planning pages for this week before I started writing. You will notice I have the same washi tape on my October page as I do on each of my planning pages. That's a neat little trick I learned from Stephanie at Third Grade Thoughts. Stephanie also has an Etsy shop with a range of planner stickers. You'll immediately fall in love by clicking HERE. I wanted those Week #__ stickers from the moment I saw them. Stephanie has those and LOTS of other items in her Etsy store! Did I mention that she coordinates them all with the Erin Condren colors? Oh Happy Day!

I got my "subject stickers" on Etsy too. I talked to Melissa at Oldfield Designs. She quickly pulled an order together--and made my stickers in the perfect shade of purple! I love how the non-varying components on my pages look the same... despite my variable handwriting. YAY!

Most of the stickers are from Beary Patch. I added a few from ek success (the bats, the candy corn and the Boo!)--they're three-dimensional and glittery! Here's a close-up of the October fun...

I have to admit: Looking at these fun pages every morning helps me start off the day with a smile. My goal is to fill in all of the boxes in the next two weeks. If I get them finished, I promise to come back and post them so there will be proof!

Wishing you a happy week... one where everything goes according to plans!