Just Add Stickers

let's talk about one if my favorite hobbies, planners! Last year I ended up with too many planners all on the way to finding the one that I like the best and works best for me. I decided to go back to a classic size happy planner. As I am looking back on these photos, I just want to say, I was using my journal by the pool, under a red umbrella, which gave all these pictures a red tinge. This was the second time I took these pictures, the first time they turned out too dark, so red it is! I have stuck with my one planner for the year, one of the reasons that I really like the Happy Planner is the fact that I can add pages and customize my planner how I want. I am so happy with my set up, I have trackers and my reading journals and my daily planning all in one place. The one thing is, it's so bulky, I can't bring it anywhere so I decided to make a smaller planner, notebook that I can bring with me, to work or on vacation. One thing that I really wanted, was to find everything...

I was looking back at my garden posts from years past and I noticed that I always post my garden setup and I always have the best intentions to post some updates but never follow through with it. This year I waited so long to post my garden setup so I thought I would post the update at the same time. This was my early summer setup. This year we planted sweet peas, 3 varieties of tomatoes, carrots, beets, basil and our strawberry plant. One thing that I do every year is over plant my tomatoes, I always think I need more plants, forgetting how fast they grow and we end up with so many tomatoes, luckily I have a tomato monster at home! Part of my summer garden setup this year was giving a my rain moose a make over. I bought this little moose for my dad the first Father's Day after Little Man was born. My dad kept the moose at his cottage for years, when we sold the cottage I took the moose home for my garden. He has lost his umbrella which helped the rain fall into the beaker and he h...

Little Miss turned 9 this year! Each year the kids choose theor theme and I run with it! This year she asked for a minecraft party, so far, minecraft is the only theme that my kids have shared. So I wanted to think up some activities that were different than Little Man had at his birthday. We decided to go for a real life minecraft adventure. We thought it would be fun to paint boxes to look like grass blocks and have the kids build their own houses etc.  I also had big plans of the kids making their own masks and weapons. We did that for Little Man's minecraft birthday party a few years ago but this time I got too caught up with painting boxes, oh so many boxes! Instead of making them, I found these inflatable minecraft weapons, so each kid had one as well as a choice of felt masks to create their character. If I were to do this again, I would make more creepers. We only had one and the kids at the birthday party all wanted to play with it. This would be a good activity for summer...

Here it is, I know you've been waiting for it...my new bookcase reveal! Our old bookcases have lasted many years and been through several moves, it's a wonder they have held up but it was time for a refresh.  The original plan was to replace only the tall bookcase but having all three bookcases match feels very polished and like an adult lives here, but I decorated them with ghosts so there goes that idea.  We moved the old bookcases to the basement to organize the kids books and toys so they get to have a new purpose and my basement gets some much needed organization. I spent a lot of time researching my perfect bookcase. I would have loved a bookcase with a ladder but unfortunately I don't have room for that in my library, so not realistic right now but I found a style that made me just as happy! The bookcases I chose have this metal X detal on either side of each shelf. It really helps to lighten up the room. Once the bookcases were built and filled with books, with room...

June 22 is officially summerween, according to Geavity Falls. We have loved decorating and celebrating summerween for a few years. This year my summerween decorating theme is haunted forest. This is my first summerween craft of the season.  I ordered a knock-off ghost mirror from Amazon. The original ghost mirror is beautiful but not necessarily worth $500.00. I opted for this $25.00 version instead. I was expecting the frame to be plastic and flimsy, I really wasn't expecting too much. The frame is wood and pretty sturdy. The problem was the mirror portion, it was so wavy that it was hard to look at. When you turn on the light, the ghost is the exact look I was hoping for. My solution was to add a stick-on film to the mirror. I found this vine print window cling that hides the wavy mirror but keeps the ghost. I am so happy with the final result is very abandoned haunted castle in the forest.  Happy Summerween and happy crafting!

In my last post I spoke about wanting to make a miniature library for my new bookcase. Well, after a few months of constructing it, designing it and then changing everything. It is finally done...for now, until I add or change something else.   I was very generously gifted a miniature kit from a friend. She made beautiful miniatures and I wanted to use the kit from her and make her proud. The kit I was given was for a larger miniature, I didn't have room for a bigger scene on my bookcase so I bought a smaller box from Michael's and tailored the scene to the smaller space. Most of the accessories worked for the smaller space. The original scene had an upper floor but I didn't have to room to do that so I added the railings and stairs to give the illusion of an upper storey. I also added my own wallpaper, which I did after I glued everything into place and then decided I didn't like the white walls! The last addition was the overhead lamp, which I didn't think I wante...

  I recently bought a new bookcase, it is beautiful and wider than my last one, which gives me more room for books... and decorations! I now have enough room to add a miniature library in a book. As I was looking up ideas for my mini library I came across the idea for a miniature reading nook in a jar. Since I wasn't sure that I wanted to tackle a full library for my first miniature project I tried this and it turned out so cute and cozy and it was fun to make. What you need: A mason jar, it can be big or small depending on what you have. Mini furniture and accessories: chair, table, books, mini coffee cup etc.  Battery powered tea light Tacky glue and glue gun Paper, stickers etc. For the "floor" and background. I used a white wood sticker sheet for the floor and a book page for the background. What to do: Attaching the light to the lid: 1. Decide the placement of the light on the inside of the lid. Keep in mind that if you are using a smaller jar like I did you want to ...

My spring decor this year is Lego-flower-core. I have acquired a collection of Lego flowers and plants. Just like my book decor collection  I decided to just go with it. To go with my flowers and happy plants. I decided to make Lego candles for my brass candle stick holders, complete with little Lego flames. Little man helped me find all the peices I needed to make 2 candles  I added this cute bunny jar filled with Lego on my bookcase to the right of the mantle. It adds a pop of color and ties in the Lego theme. To the left of the mantle, on my other bookcase I added a pink Lego flower in a milk bottle with some fairy lights. All in all I like the look of my Lego-core, it feels like a whimsical Lego garden! Happy Spring and happy crafting!

It's I love to read week at my kid's school and it just so happens that Michaels has a bookish line out right now and I want to buy all of it! I didn't buy too many of their decor peices but I did go for their stationary and napkins!  My bookish haul included a small picture frame of a stack of books. I don't know if decorating with books is an aesthetic but its my esthetic! I also bought a package of pens, book review pages, bookish journal stickers and library book slip napkins. This is bookish spread that I made with my new book stickers in my Happy Planner. I decided to get the Book Review pages to add to the reading section of my planner. A little flaw with my reading journal section is that I didn't leave myself very much room to write my reviews. My solution was to add these pages when I want to write a longer review. On the topic of my Happy Planner, it's working out really well to have the different sections in one planner but as predicted it's pret...

Last Friday was a snowy day off school and I happened to have the day off work too so we had a classic stay at home crafty day! It's been so long since we had one of these days and it was so much fun! Since the kids are getting older and I am back at work, we have less of these days and I will take them when the opportunities comes around. One activity that I have been wanting to try is making ice cream outside in the snow. I used a two ingredient ice cream recipe, very simple, using whipping cream and condensed milk. We added cocoa powder to make chocolate ice cream. Step one, dig a shallow hole in the snow. Salt the snow, this will help the mixture freeze faster. Pour the can of condensed milk,container of whipping cream and cocoa (if using) into a large bowl and start whipping.  My one comment on the process is to use a large bowl. My bowl was too small and the liquid was taking too long to freeze. After 15 minutes it was only starting to thicken. I separated the mixture into tw...

Valloween, where Halloween meets Valentine's Day. It makes total sense to me, what is scarier than love? Just kidding but there is something to be said for celebrating Valentine's Day (or any holiday)  in a way that speaks to you. This year I am absolutely loving this trend of ghosts enjoying different seasons and activities!  I always have a few ghost decorations out year round but there is something so cute about a little ghost holding a red heart. More and more, I am seeing ghosties in the stores outside of Halloween, which I think is great for spooky people! To embrace this twist on Valentine's Day, I decorated with a spooky winter forest vibe with touch of red and pink.  When I was taking down my Christmas decorations I decided to leave out these grey felt trees and some snowflakes. I wanted to keep a wintery feel in my decorations. These trees remind me trees in group of 7 paintings, civered in snow and swaying in the wind. I added these pink and snowflakes and of c...

It is time, once again for my reading journal set up post.  This year I decided to incorporate my reading journal into my daily planner. I ended up with far too many planners last year. By the end of this year I might decide that my planner is far too full and go back to using separate journals. We will see what works out best. I had my last readingg journal for 2023 , 2024 and 2025 . Each year had a distinct sections with reviews and books trackers. For my book tracker last year, I stamped different colored flowers for each book that I read. The end result was a beautiful reading garden of 36 colorful flowers.  In order to add everything into my Happy Planner this year, I purchased a tracker bundle from Etsy. I am very excited to use this new book tracker. I printed out 2 copies of this book tracker page, punching out holes in one of the pages to add it into my planner. I cut out the little books from the extra page and taped them on top of the little books in my planner. Th...

  I am so excited to start my planner for 2026 and to share my new setup! I have been thinking about this planner for months, yes months. I was not happy with my planner from last year. For many years I have used Happy Planners, for 2025 I decided that I wanted to try something different. I chose a planner written and published locally. I chose it for the extra pages at the end of the planner, there were habit trackers, size trackers for members of the family and a whole expense tracker section. The day to day layout wasn't exactly what I wanted, however. In July I ended up switching for a smaller planner and in December I printed out some festive habbit tracker pages and tucked them into my original planner. By the end of the year I ended up with a mish-mash planner. I decided to go back to my favorite planner the Happy Planner classic planner. To make it even more perfect I got the Gilmore Girls Happy Planner for Christmas. With the matching planner stickers. My sister and mom al...

This has been a good crafting year! I have done some crafts by myself, some with my kids and some with my mom. I am so glad that my kids still like to have craft mornings with me and with each other.  We had some memorable events and celebrations this year. I was able to plan parties for  birthdays and a baby shower for my sister. As always I made lots of Halloween treats and school snacks. I have felt very creative this year, I am ever grateful for this creative outlet. Thank you for reading and following along.  Happy New Year and as always happy crafting!

  Well it's here! The final day of our countdown 2025! I opened door #12 today and found the cutest representation of the Stars Hollow gazebo. It's a little jewelery box, so cute and original. The perfect final surprise of the Gilmore Girls advent calendar. All in all I think that the advent calendar was definitely worth the money. The advent calendar itself can be refilled, or just used as decoration. The surprises inside the calendar were good quality and unique. Thank you for spending some time with me during this month. I have enjoyed opening my advent calendars and sharing my surprises and crafts. Thank you for reading along, Happy Holidays!

At the beginning of the Christmas season I bought a Christmas Collage and Sticker book from Grabie. I have just discovered the Grabie craf website. They have beautiful paint sets, paper and stickers. The book I bought was, the Holiday Magic cut out and stick it collage book. We have been using it for so many crafts and with 200+ pages I think we will be using it for years to come, or at least for next year as well.  Some crafts we made are these festive bookmarks. On day December 21st, Little Miss' activity was going to a coffee shop to read Christmas books (definitely her mother's daughter!) I thought that we could all use some new festive bookmarks. We used some of the punch out paper shapes from the book along with some of the stickers with self adhesive laminating sheets. I love how cute they turned out! Only two more sleeps, happy holidays!