January Planner insert..dissected

Today I was getting my planner ready for the New Year.
I know a bit late to the party, but I didn't have time to get to them before the holidays.

If you remember from a previous post, I didn't like the monthly inserts that came with my new planner inserts, that I received for Christmas.
They were 1 month on 1 page.
I like 1 month on 2 pages.
The reasons I prefer 1 month on 2 pages, is I think they are more fun to decorate…..and I love to decorate my planner.
The second reason is, I have bold primary writing and need the space.

I thought I would just go with the flow and try 1 month on 1 page for this year.
After decorating it, I changed my mind, lol.
That didn't last long, did it, lol.
See how tight everything is, plus not too much room for adding my personal touch.

I found some inserts I liked and copied them out on my photo copier…I did 2 sets just in case I needed them for next year.
But they didn't work out how I thought they would, so I scratched that idea.
Good thing I didn't use them, as I can now return them :)

I received a full planner with inserts included, for Christmas…I will share that planner at a later date ;)
What I am going to use my new planner for, I won't be needing the inserts.
The inserts were dateless, besides the month header.
Because I wasn't going to use them in the new planner, I thought I would try them in Yearly planner.
I just needed to alter the left hand page.
I cut the header off, as I like the font in my 1 page month inserts more.
I then cut off the sides and a tad off of the bottom.
So I was left with just the calendar.

In this photo my 1 page month insert is on the bottom, and my left page (cut up) of my 2 page inserts is on the top.

Then I adhered the insert, that I cut to size, to the insert of the month on 1 page.
I didn't have to do anything to the right hand side of the 2 page month calendar.
Looks good so far…except there are no numbers on the blocks.

In other years I have added the number with my label maker :)
But this year I picked up a couple of Heidi Swapp monthly number rub-ons.
Thank you Heidi….I love these!!!
A tip for working with these is to cut the numbers in a strip so you are only working with one month of numbers.
Also pull back the backing sheet for only the number you are using, cause once the paper touches the rub-on part, it sticks….this includes sticking to your fingers ;)
Last tip for working with these, is to cut off the numbers you don't need. If a month only has 28 days, cut the last numbers off. Once you get going, you may just keep rubbing those numbers and not pay attention to stopping at 28 ;)

If you are wondering why I went though all of this trouble, instead of just using my new monthly inserts..I will tell you.
I like the colours of the tabs, I like the font in the header and I like the other side, where the month title page is shown.
Yes I am particular in what I want, lol.
And if I can make it happen, I will.

Now after all of that work, I got to the fun part of decorating it :)
I changed up how I am going to mark birthdays.
Last year I stamped cupcakes on a sticker sheet, coloured them up with markers and fussy cut them out.
One thing with my planner pages (I have had this planner for 3 years) that I don't like, is when my markers and inks bleed through…this really irks me.
Last year I used many sticky notes to solve the bleed through problem.
This year I will use chalk inks to stamp (as it doesn't bleed through) and just regular ink pens.
I would rather write in markers, but I will have to get over this ;)

Now if DayTimer would only make 1 month on 2 page inserts that are prettier, and use a better quality paper so bleed through is no longer an issue…my life would be perfect, teehee.

I hope you all had a very Creative Saturday.
I did, and I have the mess to prove it ;)
Do you keep a planner?
If you do, do you prefer 1 month on 1 page, or 1 month on 2 pages?

Tracy :)