A Creative Journey: Elizabeth Craft January Group Post

Happy Monday and Happy New Year!

We are switching things up on the Elizabeth Craft Designs blog this year and instead of having a designer challenge, we are now having group posts each month. Each month the group post will have a theme and some or all of the design team members will participate. For January's theme it's all about "New Year means New Planner Ideas".

With it being the start of January it's time for me to start planning the month. I'm loving the new Planner Essentials line, as its perfect for me to customize my planner pages. For planner project, I've created a weekly planner spread that will keep me on track of what I need to complete and allows me to add in things where needed. Grab your favourite winter beverage and read below as I have a tutorial for you so that you can re-create my planner spread at home. You'll also want to make sure to stop by the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog to check out the rest of the team's projects.

To start, choose a piece of patterned paper from the ModaScrap - Relax in the Garden paper Pack. Cut the paper in half. From the one patterned paper piece, die cut the Planner Essentials 3 page die out the patterned paper. From the other patterned paper piece, die cut the Planner Essentials 2 page die out of the patterned paper. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the January stamp out of the Months Stamp set and stamp onto the tab of the left hand page. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the Grid Pattern stamp out of the Patterns 1 Stamp set and stamp randomly five times on the left hand side page. Re ink the stamp as needed. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the Grid Pattern stamp out of the Patterns 1 Stamp set and stamp randomly five times on the right hand side page. Re ink the stamp as needed. Ink the edges of each page using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.

Choose three more patterned paper pieces from the ModaScrap - Relax in the Garden Paper Pack. From the Planner Essentials 1, you'll need the large and small squares. From one piece of the patterned paper, die cut two large squares. from the other two patterned paper pieces, die cut two small squares from each paper. From the Planner Essentials 2, you'll need the large arrow, die cut two out of one of the patterned paper pieces. From the Planner Essentials 4, you'll need the small arrow, die cut one out of one of the patterned paper pieces. Ink the edges of the arrows and squares using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.

Next you'll need a piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock. From the Schedule Stamp Set you'll need the large rectangle. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the large rectangle and stamp onto the White Soft Finish Cardstock. Continue to reapply ink to the stamp and stamp five more times onto the White Soft Finish Cardstock. From the Reminders Stamp Set you'll need the To Do rectangle. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the To Do rectangle and stamp onto the White Soft Finish Cardstock. Continue to reapply ink to the stamp and stamp one more time onto the White Soft Finish Cardstock. Cut out each rectangle. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to each of the day stamps from the Calendar stamp set and stamp onto each rectangle. Using a black journaling pen, write in each rectangle. Ink the edges of each rectangle using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.

Lay the planner pages together. On the left hand planner page, adhere a large square and two small squares. Each square will slightly overlap one another. Repeat the previous step on the right hand planner page.

On the left hand page, adhere the Monday to Wednesday rectangles as well as one of the To do rectangles. On the right hand page, adhere the Thursday to Sunday rectangles as well as the other To Do rectangle.

To finish off the planner spread, adhere on large arrow in between the Tuesday and Wednesday rectangles. Adhere the other large arrow in between the Thursday and Friday rectangles. Adhere the small arrow on the right planner page tab.