Prettying up your planner pages can be fast and easy!  Who wants a boring planner?  Not me!

Each weekend, I sit at my computer and take about an hour to pretty up my planner for the coming week. I write all my appointments, etc. in pencil in my planner until after I pretty it all up.

The great thing about working with digital scrapbooking supplies is that you can find anything you might need at a moment’s notice and download it to use right away, without having to leave your house or your jammies!

To do this is simple:

1. I start off by measuring the squares in my planner.
2. In Photoshop, create clipping masks on an 8.5″ x 11″ document (the size I print on), using the sizes I just gathered.  Create additional clipping masks as needed (I tend to do more than I need so I have options).
3. Create mini journal cards by adding text, papers, and other elements. Should you want to add something that would not fill a the whole clipping mask, either change the background to the color of your planner’s background, or decrease the opacity after using the size of the mask as a guide.
4. Once complete, print and cut them out.
   
5. Now that everything is ready, it’s time to add all of your pretties using your favorite adhesive.
6. Finally, you can now replace all of the penciled in appointments, etc. with your favorite pen(s).

See?  Simple.

Sometimes I only use journal cards, like I did here with Dunia Designs’ February Documented (Cards):

Here is an example where I used papers and elements from Hello February by Anita Designs as well as elements from Notebook Elements by France M. Designs:

Have you thought about how you can use digital supplies to pretty up your own planner pages?  Here’s your chance to join us for a fun challenge in the forum to try it out!

About the Author: Amanda found digital scrapbooking in 2006 as a paper scrapper who was frustrated with the limitations of paper scrapping products. She now loves to combine paper and digital products and techniques for her pages and projects. She is the wife of a Naval Officer and has two teenage children. She lives in Australia, and has also lived in the U.S and Malaysia and loves that she has had the opportunity to travel the world with her family.

Cherish Yourself. That is a hard one… especially as a woman who is juggling so many hats. Therefore, it is the one thing I have decided to work on for myself this year. My “one little word” this year is “happy” …and every day I remind myself to do something (even if it is a very little something) to make myself happy.

Most things I choose involve being creative, which always guarantees to fill up my happy bucket. There are a lot of things you can do, however. Here are my tips to cherish yourself more…

1. Keep a journal focusing on you. I recently started a planner that focuses on just me, and I take the time to hand-cut the digital-to-hybrid pieces that I put in my planner. Most weeks, I try to include a selfie… and I also include the books I have read during the week. This collage shows several weeks’ worth of my “happy planner.” The kits I used to create these items are Seize the Day by Sabrina’s Creations, Be Brave by Kim B Designs, Celebrate Life by Scotty Girl Design, and It Will Rain by River Rose. So far, this has been such a therapeutic project… and I am loving putting it together each week.

2. I also have made a goal to document more of myself. I have a limited amount of time to scrap, and I want to see more of myself in our family’s pages. Here are two recent pages I did of just me (linked for credits):

3. Another way to celebrate and cherish yourself is to participate in community projects. Last year, I did a project called A Selfie Scrapbooking and I forced myself to find time to do the project. It is truly one of my favorite projects that I have ever completed. Here is a collage of some of the layouts; I wound up with over 15 pages that are all about me!

4. You can also scrap a “goals page” for the month to keep you on track. I tend to set lofty goals for the month, but I’m OK with the fact that I may only get half of the goals accomplished. The first step is just an intention to try and plan (linked for credits):

5. And finally… you can scrap about another hobby you may have. For me, this is reading… and I scrapped a page about my stack of library books (linked for credits):

Cherishing yourself is all about making a commitment to make yourself a priority. However you choose to cherish yourself, keep doing it and make it important. Self-care and loving yourself keep you happier (and I’ve noticed everyone in the family seems happier when the Lady of the House is happy!).

Want to give it a try? Please join me in the TDP forum for a fun challenge!

About the Author  Sabrina is an avid documenter of life — herself, her children, her hubby, and her everyday life. There is beauty in the ordinary moments, and they are what she loves to scrap. She is also always on the hunt for a quiet, peaceful moment, and she usually spends it reading.

Education is very important to our family and I try to teach my children that learning is something that should be cherished. We have been very fortunate that our kids have had many great teachers at the international school they attend in Shanghai. So, whenever possible, I like to show their teachers how much we appreciate the love and care they give our children and their efforts to teach them a good set of values in addition to the normal curriculum.

Today, I am going to show you how to create a simple teacher appreciation card with the awesome designs our talented Digital Press Designers offer in the store. I think any teacher would love to receive a heartfelt thank you and a small token of appreciation like this.

Step 1: Choose the papers and elements you want to use
I find this the most difficult part, because I get easily lost in the store while browsing through all the gorgeous products. For this appreciation card, I have chosen the following designs: But First Coffee | The Kit by Mari Koegelenberg, Everyday Life’s 15-August | Bonus Alphas by Juno Designs and Cool for School | Alphas by Sahin Designs.

Step 2: Decide upon the format/size of your card
The next step is deciding what size you want the cards to be. As I want to include a Starbucks gift card, I need to make sure the card is big enough for the gift card to be added, so I created a 13 cm by 18 cm canvas in photoshop.

Step 3: Create your card
The next step is to choose which papers to use for the background. I opted for 2 papers: one with a nice coffee twist and one neutral paper so I could add the alphas. I added shadows to the alphas and the papers but that’s clearly all up to you. When I printed the card it wasn’t quite finished yet, so I decided to add some elements for the finishing touches.

Here is the card created in photoshop.

And this is the printed result. I prettied the card with some ribbon and added the Starbucks gift card.

Appreciation cards are so much fun and yet so easy and simple to make. Why not create an appreciation card for somebody you cherish? Come join today’s challenge in the forum and create one of your own! You can share your card in The Digital Press Challenge Gallery and link us up to your page in the Digital Press Challenge Forum.

About the author Cecilia (aka MissK) is a member of the creative team here at The Digital Press. This Dutchie lives and works in Shanghai, China as a photographer/designer. Together with her husband, Udo, and kids Lana (7) and Tom (5), she loves to explore the world and enjoy life to the max. Carpe Diem!