Fall Darice Sticker Haul

Hey Y'all! 

I was trying to save this for when I had more, but I have not been able to get out to Michael's yet (it's about 20-30 minutes away depending on traffic). Plus, I am not sure that there would be any out there if I went. My Michael's isn't as up with the times as others I have seen. 

Case in point: I had to go to a Michael's while we were in Orlando to get these four books. 

Plaid Pumpkin is the one that I have been REALLY wanting since I first saw it a few weeks ago on the Helloigan Facebook page. It did not disappoint! It is super cute! I think that one and the Give Thanks books are my favorites!

Of course, I love Turkey & Blessings, and Gobble Gobble too! 

November will be featuring these four books! 

I will also be on the lookout for Winter and Christmas sticker books soon too! 

Put pictures of your favorite sticker books in the comments! I would love to see what you love! And it might give me something else to purchase (which I am sure my husband would just love, right?!)!

Week of 9/28 - 10/4

Hey y'all! 

This week is an exciting week in my planner because it is officially the beginning of my Halloween Spreads! It's also exciting because about 90% of the stickers used are stickers I made myself! Remember how I told you that my Mother in Law was going to let me use her Silhouette Cameo? I got to use it this week, and so none of these stickers were cut out by hand! Woo Hoo! The cut was a little off on some of them, but all in all this was not a bad first attempt. 

The half boxes, appointment box, pencils, to do list, single strips (except the purple ones, and the bottom one on Monday), books, weekend banner, and TV show stickers are all stickers that I made myself! I LOVE the way they turned out.

The book sticker is similar to Oh, Hello's. I love hers so much, but can't afford to keep buying them in all the monthly colors, so I designed my own. They are slightly different because I didn't want to copy them exactly. 

The Hydrate sticker, drawing challenge stickers, church sticker, and little Oh, Hello logo are all from the Oh, Hello Etsy Shop! Thursday her November sub goes live! Check it out! I know I will! :) 

I found the washi tape at Walmart! 98 cents, you guys! It's amazing! 

Closer looks at each side:

You can see where the cuts were slightly off, but I am not worried. I will figure it out better for my next batch of stickers I make. 

I used the Movie Mayhem Darice Sticker book for this Halloween spread! I figured the use of purple in the stickers would be perfect for combining the September and October colors. 

So, as you can see, nothing too crazy planned for this week, just fun planning, and maybe a few baking sessions need to happen! I can take pictures, and let y'all in on the process! Let me know if that would interest you!

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If you would like $10 off an Erin Condren Life Planner for yourself, follow this link! 

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

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P.S. If you missed the livestream of me singing at my church yesterday, here is the link. You can watch the whole service (a little over an hour), or you can skip to 21:16 for my song. 

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/74266560

Drawing Challenge Update

Well, clearly, I am not keeping up with this like I said I would. The downside of showing you my weekly layouts in my planner is that you can tell when I fail to get something up on time. I figured since I didn't get this post up on time, that I would get it up once I could! Sadly, this is as far as I have gotten, so I am almost exactly two weeks behind schedule with this challenge! Someone please motivate me to do this! 

This challenge has been a great way to get me out of my comfort zone when it comes to drawing things. I have also discovered that I like using markers much more than colored pencils. A lot more of the drawings will be done in markers from now on.

I think this one needs a little explanation.... This is my family (I am not great at drawing humans yet, so I drew basic figures). I colored each person in with our favorite colors. Then I surrounded us with things we like to do.

My future consists of Hubby and I relaxing on our personal piece of beach, watching the sun go down while sipping on sweet tea! We will travel many places in the meantime, but we will always come back home to the beach!

Hopefully, I will be able to post some more next week. If not, take away my PSL's until I get caught up! (That ought to motivate me, right?!) 

Week of 9/21 - 9/27

Hey y'all! 

Fall is officially here! Today is the first day of the Fall season, and to celebrate, I have decorated my planner in all fall stickers and washi!

Here is last week's layout all finished! I like the way it turned out! Definitely better than it started.

It started out that the main theme was going to be Delightful Lemon's Fall in Love sticker set, but I also ended up including stickers from the Apple Picking set, and stuff from the Oh, Hello October Sub (posted about here). I included some stickers that I made for myself.

I was able to find the sticker paper that is very similar to the paper Delightful Lemon uses (it doesn't feel exactly the same, but it is close enough for Government Work!). So, now I am able to make these really good quality stickers for myself. My MIL has a Silhouette Cameo and is letting me use it so soon, I will have stickers that I don't have to cut out by hand anymore! Yay! That makes my hands happy!

The TV stickers were of my own making again. The pencils are also mine. Everything else is either Delightful Lemon, or from Oh, Hello, except the hydrate sticker. That is from VintageGypsyRoad.

As you can see, I have a solo at my church on Sunday! If you would like to see what I look like, and hear an awesome song about God, tune in to my church's livestream here!
If you are not an early riser, we also save our services in our archives. They are on the same page as the livestream!

I had to get creative with my weekend banner decoration. I didn't have any weekend banners printed out that would have gone with this layout, though I suppose I could have used the September ones that I had.

So Sorry this didn't make it live earlier today! I had the best intentions, but didn't have my pictures uploaded so that I could post. The Drawing Challenge Update will be going up tomorrow! It's already written, just have to click Publish! Have a great evening! 

Week of 9/14 - 9/20

So, since we went out of town last week, I really didn't get the chance to post much of anything. Plus, it's not super wise to post that you are GOING to be out of town on the internet for the world to see. Especially in a planner where there are details. 

That being said, I have decided to post last weeks spread today, then I will post this weeks spread on Wednesday. It looks fantastic, if I do say so myself! 

Last week, I went with a Halloween Theme because Hubby and I went to Halloween Horror Nights! It was SO much fun! We used to go all the time, but haven't been since before I was pregnant with Little Man. It was great, but we were exhausted! Little Man has been sleeping through the night since he was about 2 months old, so we have not stayed up that late in awhile!

I decided to combine the Delightful Lemon September Set with the Spooky Pumpkin Darice Sticker Book. Then, I threw in a few of my own stickers, and some Oh, Hello Stickers. (surprise, surprise)

Here, you can see the Hydrate sticker from Oh, Hello, and the Drawing Challenge stickers, also from Oh, Hello. Oh! And the books are from Oh, Hello too! All the pumpkins are from the spooky pumpkin sticker book. The Scale, and Pill Bottle stickers are all from AWigsDesigns. Little Man had a double ear infection and Pneumonia in his left lung so he was on lots of meds for that. Poor thing. Lucky for me, he is still a happy little boy no matter what! 

The To Do list, and the Dancing With The Stars stickers are mine. Everything else is from the Delightful Lemon September Set. 

This is my favorite side of the spread! I think it turned out great! The Universal and Islands of Adventures Stickers are mine, along with the Weekend Banner. I didn't write what we were doing at church last week because we weren't there. It's back to normal this week though. I found the road wash at Hobby Lobby and it is perfect for road trips! You can also see some of the October Sub stickers in this spread too! 

I had lots of fun with this Halloween Spread, and I think it looks even better all filled in! Let me know if you would like to see a spread after it is all filled in for the week! I might be persuaded to post that! :) Hope your Monday isn't too bad! See y'all Wednesday! 

P.S. So sorry for the lack of links! AWigsDesigns is on a break from her shop, and Oh, Hello is out of a lot of her stock because of her website opening yesterday! You should check it out!
http://ohhelloco.com

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If you would like $10 off an Erin Condren Life Planner for yourself, follow this link! 

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

Oh, Hello October Sub

Hey y'all! 

I know, I know. You want to have me lynched because I haven't been on here since Friday! Ugh, I am disappointed in myself for that one. However, I plan on making you forgive me by posting about my October Sub from Oh, Hello! She has changed when her subs ship out. They used to ship out the 20th of the month, now they ship out the 5th! I got mine on the 9th! That was kind of awesome! 

Her theme this month was Fall Into Autumn. Kayla said that this was her favorite sub so far, and being a fan of autumn, I kind of have to agree with her! 

The patterned stickers are boxes and strips of varying sizes for decorating the Erin Condren boxes. The half boxes and meeting boxes are her usual ones just in fall colors. Then she included a sheet she calls the Fall Outing sheet. It is kind of a Fall Bucket List of sorts with things like, Drink a Pumpkin Spice Latte (already did that one! :)), Carve a Pumpkin, and Decorate for Fall (you guys know I have already started that one from this post, and this one). The last sticker sheet is unlike any of her other sheets. It is entirely a decorative sheet with no functional stickers whatsoever. I love this because it is not something I would normally purchase for myself (outside of the Darice books). You can see all the animals, trees, pumpkins, apples, and leaves. There are even a few PSL's in there too! 

Unfortunately, it appears that these sheets are all sold out already, but she usually restocks things fairly quickly! 

I definitely have to agree with Kayla, that this is my favorite sub so far! the next one goes live on the 1st of October! She and her fiancé Alex are launching a new website on Sunday so be sure to check that out! 

So, don't be mad, but Hubby and I are going out of town this weekend, so there won't be anymore posts until Monday. I promise I will make this up to you somehow! Maybe extra posts next week! 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and maybe enjoy a Pumpkin Spice Latte or two! I know I plan to! 

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If you would like $10 off an Erin Condren Life Planner for yourself, follow this link! 

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

Pumpkin Spice is Oh, So Nice!

Remember this little wooden sign I mentioned before? 

I told you it would become a feature in a post soon. I am going to turn this blank piece of wood into this cute sign for my mantle! 

First, I painted the frame. I chose a bronze color, but you can do whatever you want. I also thought gold would look nice. 

As you can see in the picture, it doesn't have to be perfect because I will be going over the inside with a darker color. For that darker color, I mixed brown, blue, and black. It made it come out to this really neat charcoal grey color! 

I know it looks black in the pictures, but up close it is a dark charcoal grey. Plus the paint was still wet in this picture. 

I let the paint dry overnight. Partly, because it is a good idea to let it dry all the way through, and partly because I have a 2 year old, and nap time was over. ;) 

Then, I sketched out what I was going to paint. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't come up with this out of thin air. There was a print that said this at Hobby Lobby, and I loved it but it was HUGE! And it didn't have the coffee cup on it. Also, I practiced on a piece of sketch paper before committing it to the sign. 

You can see, that even with practice I had to do some erasing. 

Once I got it looking exactly how I wanted, I painted in the words and pictures with white. 

Honestly, you could stop here. And I almost did, but I decided it needed a little touch of color. 

I also painted over the spots of the background that were affected by my erasing mistakes. Once the paint dried you weren't even able to tell the difference. (it's still wet in the picture) 

Here is my finished fall mantle! I love the way everything turned out! The sign looks like a chalkboard, and in case you couldn't tell, I am absolutely LOVING chalkboards! The saying on it is also kind of tongue-in-cheek, which is totally my sense of humor! Soon, I will have some more fall decor for you guys! 

Talk at ya later! :)

Etsy Sticker Haul

This is the largest amount of stickers I have ever purchased at once! And it's only from two different shops! 

Oh, Hello Stationery Co. had a Whoops sale last week, and, for once, I finally got some! A whoops sale is where the owner puts together all the stickers that are slightly less than perfect and sells them for a discounted price. The imperfections could be the cut being slightly off, the color being slightly off, or small smudges. Also, it's all random sheets. Kayla puts hers in packs of 10 sheets for $6. I managed to snag three! 

This is the first pack I got from the whoops sale. The only ones I won't use are the cat box stickers. I don't have a cat, but I have managed to trade them with someone else who got some stickers I could use. Most of these just have the cut slightly off. The dinner stickers have a slight color problem, but nothing that makes them unusable. The donuts have a few smudges. 

There was one repeat in the second whoops order. Again, I was able to trade them for different stickers. The half box to do lists had one section that the color was wrong, but I accidentally covered up that one section in this picture. If you scroll up to the first picture you can see the corner of one that the color is wrong. It is orange instead of a light red. The rainbow books are also off color. They are darker than they should be, but I still like them! 

More cars, donuts, weather stickers, dinner, and cat boxes, and easy stickers. But those Christmas stickers!! :) My heart is happy! Can't wait for Christmas! 

I also made a regular order to Oh, Hello at the same time I ordered the whoops items....

More boxes and churches. I got the makeup brush stickers to remind me to wash my makeup brushes! I just don't do it enough. The sampler at the bottom is the freebie that comes when you order from them. Though, now they have a fall themed one that is SUPER cute! 

My last order was from a shop called Delightful Lemon. I am LOVING these stickers! I used them in my weekly layout this week, and they are just wonderful. The paper type is amazing! I plan on ordering some as soon as payday comes around! ;) 

Can we just talk about the coffee stickers?! Adorable, not to mention I am set on coffee icons for when I go to starbucks! 

I think my favorite sticker sheet is the Fall in Love one in the center. The box on the left has a Fall Bucket List, and I fully plan on using the sticker and completing that Bucket list! I am going to use that sheet the first week of fall. 

I hope you enjoyed my haul! Give these shops a look! They are both great! 

Enjoy the rest of your week! 

Week of 9/7 - 9/13

Hey y'all! It's that time of the week again! 

I had lots of fun with this weeks layout, which seems kind of silly when you see it. It is almost entirely functional stickers. This is the first week since I got my Erin Condren that I have done a layout without one of the Darice sticker books! 

The majority of this weeks stickers come from a neat shop called Delightful Lemon. I LOVE the paper she uses for these stickers. I will be finding it, and purchasing some for my own stickers that I make myself (cue maniacal laugh!). The paper is thicker, but not so thick that it makes me worry about planner bulge. And it's matte, which is my favorite. You can write on it with literally ANY pens. It's just fantastic! 

Let's take a closer look!

Can we just take a minute to look at that list of laundry that needs to be done? I am ashamed....and low on clothes..... anyway, back to things!

The pencils are back! Those, the Hydrate sticker, the books, and the drawing challenge stickers are all from Oh, Hello Stationary Co. The hydrate and college stickers are currently out of stock, but I am sure they will be back in no time. 

The washing machine sticker is from AWigsDesigns. 

Everything else, is from Delightful Lemon's September Set. There is no satisfactory way to describe the paper for these stickers. You really just have to try them.

As you can see, there will be a Sticker Haul post on Wednesday. It will have a lot of the stickers from today's post in it! 

The weekend banner is one I made. The church is from Oh, Hello. The football washis are from Office Depot. Everything else is from the September set again. 

I am surprised how much I actually love this layout, even without all the cutesy stickers! Share some pictures of your layout in the comments so we can all get some inspiration! 

Have a great week everyone! 

Fireplace Banner

I LOVE Fall!

Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons! They hold my favorite holidays, and I love the clothing way better than in summer (not big on showing lots of skin)! 

Now that September is here, it is time for me to start changing up my decor. I usually start with my fireplace because it is the easiest to change. The reason it is the easiest, is because of this nifty banner I have! It is actually three banner sets purchased from Joann Fabrics. I used my own twine (so it would be long enough) and strung all fifteen pieces together and it remains tied to my mantle all year long. I change what it says based on the season, or holiday. 

So, I started with my most recent banner. This one was for summer. 

Then I cleaned it off with a wet paper towel. What you need to know is that these are just little pieces of wood painted with chalk paint. The woodgrain still shows through, so some of the chalk (or liquid chalk markers, like I use) gets stuck in the grooves. After I clean the banners, I color over those spots with a black chalk marker. After it dries, I wipe it off and I am left with a clean slate to start with!

Then, I rearrange the flags to what they will be with the new design just to make sure it won't look weird or off center. 

BTW, there MIGHT have been a Hobby Lobby 

Trip between cleaning off the banner, and arranging it. The little wooden sign on top of the mantle will be a feature in an upcoming blog post. ;) 

I have been enjoying the saying, "Happy Fall Y'all" so I thought I would include that in my decor this year. 

That is all there is to it! Here are some close ups so you can get an idea of the details! Hope you all have a great weekend and I will see you Monday with my next planner post and a drawing challenge update! 

P.S.: The Hobby Lobby trip was actually for the orange chalk marker that I used on the banner, so it was totally necessary! So what if I ended up buying other things too.......right?!