Week of 8/31 - 9/6

Hey y'all! It's that time again! 

Here is my spread for this week in my planner! 

As you can see in the picture, I used the Darice Garden Royalty sticker book. I love this book, and I thought the green and purple would be perfect for incorporating the August and September colors together in one spread. This book is pure fairy tale goodness! I may have to use it again when Once Upon a Time premiers (Sept. 27th)! 

There is not a whole lot going on this week, which is nice as far as relaxation goes, but for planner decorating, I just felt anxious. I didn't want to use up too much space on cute stickers, and then not have enough room in case something comes up. But I also hate leaving it this blank! #plannergirlstruggles #amiright?

Let me just say, that since I put this up so late today, I have already had the chance to not get things done that I put down in my planner. Guess what I didn't do? If you guessed Zumba at 8:30 this morning, you are CORRECT!! I just couldn't drag my sorry self out of bed this morning in time to be able to get little man ready to go. So, instead, we did a little shopping and got lunch out! It was actually kind of nice! 

I was able to put the pencil stickers from the September Sub to use this week as a way to mark my blog posts! So I guess you get a sneak peak at what is coming up on Thursday! 

If you have really good eyes, you might have noticed my Oh, Hello Subscription reminder sticker! I am so excited that the October Sub goes live tomorrow! You can purchase it at 9AM and again at 3PM. These things go FAST people! Fair warning! 

Wednesday nights are always busy for me. We have dinner at church, then I lead the children's worship, then I have praise team rehearsal, then choir rehearsal! It's crazy, but I love it, and it's my only night that is busy like that. 

On Tuesday, I am starting a 31 day drawing challenge. The stickers are from, you guessed it, Oh, Hello! Kayla created an event in her Facebook group for this so we will all be sharing our drawings with each other. I think I will put mine in here, too, so y'all can see them! 

On Sunday's, I like to write what anthem my church's choir will be doing. It helps me remember what to practice. It's also nice to show up on Sunday mornings, and not be saying, "Hey, what are we singing again?!" 

This weeks weekend banner came from AWigsDesigns. She does a listing called "Adopt a Sticker" where you purchase a bunch of random stickers for a highly discounted price and there is something just slightly wrong with them. The color was a little off on some of the stickers on this sheet, but it was nothing that made them unusable. Win! 

On Thursday, I will be posting about the banner I keep on my fireplace mantle all year round, and tweak for each season! There will also be more fall decor posts coming up soon, and planner updates! 

So keep checking back, and have a great week! 

Oh, Hello September Subscription

When I first got into planner decorating, I tried to find something that would give me a good idea of what kind of stickers I would use. I didn't want to just order a bunch of random stickers and hope that I would use them, so I needed a plan. 

That's where the Oh, Hello Monthly Subscription came in. Each month, Kayla and Alex (the owners) put together a subscription envelope with a different theme. It's a great way to try out stickers for the first time, or to expand your sticker collection! I have managed to get one every month since I started!

This month's theme is Back to School! I am not in school, but there are some pretty great organizational stickers in this subscription. I also help out my sister in law, who is a teacher, occasionally so I like to keep track of school holidays and such. 

I think my favorite sheet is the meeting stickers! I have NO idea how I will use them yet. As a stay at home mom I don't really attend many meetings, but I will figure that out! Kayla also includes a little sticker for your planner to remind you to order the next month's subscription! I love it!

Some basic info about the subscription: 

- It goes live in her shop on the first of every month (and it goes FAST!). 

- It ships out on the 20th of each month (so don't freak out if you don't get it right away)

- About a week after she ships them out, all of the stickers in it become available in her shop for individual purchase. (this is great if you were not able to get the subscription, or if you did and just REALLY liked some of the sheets you got!) 

These sheets are currently available in her shop and will be linked here, here, here, here, and here!

My Planner 8/24 - 8/30

So, like I mentioned in my post on Saturday, planner decorating is a thing. I am still trying to figure out the best way to photograph this, so please bear with me. 

Pictured above is my spread for this week. The animals and paper airplane stickers are from a sticker book titled Ride My Bike. The sticker books are $1, and can be found at Michael's and Joann's. Don't try to find them online, though. They aren't listed on the stores websites, and if you can find them online, the price is always grossly inflated.

The grass washi tape is from my washi haul post on Saturday. 

The Don't Forget To Do Lists and Hydrate Trackers (this one is for the Horizontal Erin Condren Life Planner, but they will most likely have the Vertical ones restocked soon) are from the Etsy Shop, Oh Hello Stationary, Co. 

The Scale Stickers are from Stickeriffic. 

The trash can and day labels were made by me! 

Both Payday Stickers, the Appointment Labels, and the Church Stickers are all from Oh Hello Stationary, Co. (in case you couldn't tell, that's one of my favorite shops!) 

The Baking Stickers are from AWigsDesigns

The labels and Weekend banner are made by me also! 

All other stickers are from This Sticker Book. 

Washi Haul

Hey y'all! So I mentioned that I have a lot of random hobbies and interests, right? Oh, good. Well, one of those interests is planner decorating. I know what you're thinking, "OMG, that's a THING?! What a weirdo!" and for the longest time, I would have thought the same thing. However, this is such a weirdly therapeutic thing to do, and it is the closest thing I will EVER do to scrapbooking.

I have an Erin Condren Life Planner vertical edition. Each week I choose a theme, and pick out washi tape and stickers to go with that theme.

If you would like to check out and/or order an Erin Condren Life Planner, use my referral link below and you can get $10 off your first purchase! (FYI, not a sponsored post, though this is beneficial to me as well. If you get $10 off, I get $10 off. Thought I should let you know in all fairness :) )

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/kelseymercer0330

Ok! Back to the Washi Tape!

I got mine at two different stores. The first store is Michaels. They finally got their Halloween washi tape in, so, of course, I went a little crazy. The skinnier rolls come 2 to a pack, and the wider rolls come 1 in a pack. Each pack was $2.99, but there are always coupons you can use in the Michael's app, or if you sign up for their emails.

The second store I went to was Office Depot. These washi's were also $2.99 each. Unfortunately, I didn't have any coupons for this place, so I had to just bite the bullet on these. However, I think they are cute enough that it's a little worth it for me! :)

I plan my week out every Sunday, and I might be willing to show y'all what my layout looks like each week. Let me know if you think that is something you might want to see.

Gender Reveal Cake

Babies, babies, and more babies! There are FOUR women pregnant in my Sunday School Class right now! Pregnancies are a good thing for me. In addition to the promise of a cute new baby coming soon to play with (squee!), it means that baby showers and gender reveal parties are coming soon. And these things mean one thing....CAKE! 

I bake cakes and cupcakes as a way to help pay for my hobbies (one of which is baking), and I have started to get pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. 

Last Saturday I had a gender reveal for a dear friend (and family member!).

I baked 2 dozen cupcakes and made one cake that would reveal the gender when cut into. 

The cupcakes were very simple: Lemon cake, box mix doctored up to be a little more rich (that's another post for another day :) ) with vanilla custard flavored buttercream. 

The buttercream is your standard Wilton Buttercream Recipe, with half the vanilla extract replaced with the Wilton Treatology Vanilla Custard Flavoring. Oh my word, these flavorings are DELICIOUS! This was the first time I had used one, and I can't wait to use more to experiment with flavor combinations! 

I piped the cupcakes using the Wilton 2D tip.

(My friends wanted purple for a girl instead of pink because that's their favorite color, and they can do what they want! lol.)

The cake is the same flavor combination as the cupcakes. After filling the cake with icing indicating the gender of the baby, I put a crumb coat of icing all over then set it in the fridge while I finished icing the cupcakes and rolling out the fondant. I use store-bought fondant, but if I ever have to do high volume of fondant cakes/cupcakes I will probably experiment with making my own. 

Once I covered the cake in fondant, I set about rolling the balls to make the border. In order to get a uniform size, I used a cookie cutter to make sure I was using the same amount of fondant in each ball. 

Then, I cut out the letters with cookie cutters, then the onesie by hand. Before attaching each element, I placed them in the correct places to make sure they fit, and looked right. To attach, I used gum glue (no, not chewed up gum. Bleh! Gum glue is a thing. Ask a baker!). I finished off the cake with some painted details using luster dust, and Voila! 

I am very proud of how this cake turned out. Hopefully, some of these ladies in my class will need cakes/cupcakes for gender reveal parties or baby showers! 

BTW: This post is not sponsored. I just really like the Wilton technique and products! They don't even know I exist! :) 

Getting Started

Now is the time.

I have been a Stay-at-home-mom since the end of December 2014, and I am starting to get back into a semi-routine where the house isn't a complete wreck all the time, and we actually get to have a little fun each day.

That being said, I am going a little crazy. I am used to always having multiple things going on at the same time, and I don't think I am made to not have a timetable that I have to conform to. Therefore, now is the time.......to start a new project for myself. That project is this lifestyle blog. I will be including DIY projects that I have done around my own house, things I do to keep my 2 year old entertained, some organization projects that NEED to happen at my house, and anything else I can think of.

This place will be me. It is all the random things that I love to do put into one place on the internet. Some of my interests cycle through several times (like sewing, painting, and making wreaths), and some seem to be around to stay for good (like singing, and baking). No matter which interests come into my life (or how long they stay), I will include them. Hopefully there will be some others out there that share the same interests!

Give me some encouragement as a newbie in the blogosphere (oh my word, did I just type that?!), and I will do my best to give you some gratitude and encouragement right back!

God bless you all!
Kelsey