Blog Hops with Heart - Planners Gotta Plan

My writing schedule for the year has filled up to the point that I actually had to turn down a contract.  Exciting and terrifying at the same time.  It didn't take rocket science to figure out I needed to get a serious handle on my schedule in order to have sufficient time to fulfill my authorly obligations. 

Before I even found out that we would be doing a "planner" theme for this months' Blog Hops with Heart, I'd purchased a day-planner and started blocking out "office hours".  Now that we're in the new year, I'm choosing activities that conflict with my office hours very carefully.

This is the back of the planner I purchased, but the front was pretty much the same.  It's a fairly thick plastic.  After viewing this Pinterest board and watching several of the videos, I decided to dress it up using a variety of supplies.

Here's what it looks like now...

Here are most of the supplies I used to get there...

I started by applying a mix of white and pale green acrylic paint using my finger.  Yep, just smeared like I was back in elementary school with finger paints.  I let the first coat dry, then I laid down the stencils (cut from Artbooking using plastic notebook dividers, see this post for more information) and dabbed white paint through them still using my finger.

After this second layer dried, I laid down the doily and dabbed the blue and green distress stains through it.  I wasn't trying to be artistic or clever, just make a mess. 

When this layer was dry, I "inked" the large circle outline in white paint and stamped it in random places.  Next, I stamped the smaller images and sentiment in Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  It felt like it needed something more, so I used Liquid Glass to adhere pieces of the doily I'd used as a stencil earlier to the top left and bottom right.

To protect and seal, I used more Liquid Glass over top of the entire thing.

This was my first mixed-media project, and I'm now officially hooked.  I blame fellow Blog Hops with Heart team member, Kelly Janes, who is the stop right before me on this hop.  Next up is the fabulous Stephanie.  I literally stopped breathing for a moment when I saw her planner.  It's that gorgeous.  You won't want to miss what any of the ladies have posted, so be sure you keep hopping until you've made it all the way through.

And for those of you who are wondering, the answer is YES.  I did, in fact, find a color-coordinated pen for this planner.

Until next time,

Becca