You Were Made to Bloom | This Week’s Happy Planner + Life Lately

 This week’s Happy Planner spread is all about staying on track while still keeping things bright and inspiring. I used the Happy Planner Superbloom Sticker Book paired with a blue print washi tape, and I think they look cute and simple all together.

Since I have quite a few internal deadlines to meet this week (trying my best to avoid next month’s cramming), I added small side boxes labeled “priority,” “reminder,” and “important.” It’s a simple system, but it really helps me keep everything visible and organized at a glance.

To balance out the functional side, I filled the spread with uplifting sentiments like “beauty is all around,” “you were made to bloom,” and “make room for good things,” plus lots (and lots!) of floral stickers - because really, can you ever have too many florals?

On the creative side of things, here’s a little life lately update…

I mentioned my Bee Happy Weeklies bouquet in my previous Happy Planner + Life Lately post, and here’s the finished piece - finally! Playing with air-dry clay is definitely not as easy as Instagram reels make it look but I think the acrylic paint and UV resin really brought everything to life. It took patience (waiting for clay, paint, and resin to dry is no joke!), but I’m so happy with how my Birthday Bouquet turned out.

My mosaic and 14 gifts are also almost done and they have to be finished this week since the deadline is Sunday. Hehehuhu!

Other projects update:

For Traci Reed, I’ve completed another Sketchy Sunday layout (due in June - yay for being early!). This one documents my second pop-up here in KSA. My Trailblazer project is also live now, and happy with how it turned out (well, with most of my projects, haha!). You can read more on Traci’s blog, and if you want a step-by-step tutorial for the organizer I made, I’ve shared that here on my blog too.

Create a Beautiful Trailblazer Gift Set

For Polkadoodles, I’m slowly working through my projects - currently focusing on weekly deadlines, but hoping to get ahead and finish everything due until the end of June soon.

With Printable, Cuttable, Creatables, I just wrapped up a baby album - sharing a little sneak peek for now, but I can’t wait for Thursday when it goes live!

I also finished another art journal for Mintay with the prompt “Let Go.” It turned out very pink (which I love!), though my art journal is getting thick already… and I’ve only filled six pages 

Also, a little happy mail update - I recently received a sweet thank you package from Prestige Papers for my feature last month (still smiling about it!). If you missed that feature, you can check it out here. My niece filmed an unboxing of the package, so you can watch that as well!

Reading-wise, I think I’m about to match last month’s 10 books! I’m currently on my 10th book for April!

Outside of crafting, we recently visited D’oro Pizzeria, and they’ve added new non-pizza items to their menu! We tried ordering the lasagna (which sadly never made it to our table), but we did get to try additions like mushroom soup and parmesan fries. It’s nice to see them expanding beyond pizza! 

Over the weekend, we headed to Al Khobar to catch up with friends. I met up with my Creative Coffee Mornings group - Hadi, Alexandra, and Rubina - at Urth Caffé Patio while Ton played badminton with our friends. He picked me up after, and we all hung out until after dinner.

I’ve also started preparing for my third pop-up! There’s not much to fix since I still have most of my setup from last year, but I’ve begun pulling out my projects - both new ones and pieces that didn’t sell before.

And exciting news… I might be hosting a kids’ workshop next month! Fingers crossed everything pushes through. I’ve been testing out ideas, and one of the activities I’m planning is using shrink plastic - so fun and interactive!

So that’s a little snapshot of this week - busy, creative, slightly chaotic, but full of things I love.

Here’s to blooming through deadlines, creating through the mess, and always making room for good things.

Paper Memories Sidekick Kit | Organizer Tutorial + Full Project

This project got blown out of proportion instantly… haha! What started as a simple plan to recreate a cute desk organizer turned into a whole collection of coordinating pieces.

From this

To this

This organizer actually has a bit of a story. It was part of a swap I received back in 2021, and I loved it so much that I brought it with me all the way here to KSA. It’s been sitting on one of my carts ever since, holding little bits and pieces of my crafty life. So I thought, why not try to recreate it?

Handmade loot I received from Dr. Grace Lamina

My fave of all! This organizer had so many stuff inside - from bag charm, tags, crochet embellished paper clips, memorydex cards to ribbons and trims!

With a bit of measuring, guessing, and figuring things out along the way… I think I did pretty well!

For this project, I used Traci Reed’s Trailblazer collection, which was just perfect for this project. I love the wooden pattern paper that gave the organizer the wooden effect.

Although you can read more about this project (and see the rest of the team’s amazing creations) over on Traci’s blog, I wanted to share a step-by-step tutorial here on how I made the organizer.

Blaze New Trails With This Beautiful Western-Inspired Collection

Create a Beautiful Trailblazer Gift Set

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Materials Used

• Patterned paper – Trailblazer collection by Traci Reed
• Tim Holtz Guillotine Paper Trimmer
• CutterPillar Crease Score Board
• Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue
• Pompom trims
• Scissors

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Organizer Instructions

1. Choose your organizer base. It can be plain cardstock, but for this one, I chose the wood-patterned paper from the Trailblazer collection.

2. For the main base, score an 11 x 8.5 cardstock at:

• Long side: 0.5, 1, 1.5, 9.5, 10, 10.5
• Short side: 7, 7.5, 8

3. Cut a slanted portion from the corners where the score lines meet (just like the reference photo).

4. Using the same design cardstock, trim another piece to 6 x 8.

5. Trim another piece to 5.5 x 11 and score:

• Long side: 0.5, 1, 1.5, 9.5, 10, 10.5
• Short side: 4, 4.5, 5

6. Do the same slanted cuts on the corners where the score lines meet.

7. Trim another piece to 2.5 x 9 and score:

• Long side: 0.5, 8.5
• Short side: 0.5

8. Again, cut the slanted corners as in the previous steps.

9. Choose the patterned papers you’ll use to line the inside pockets.

10. Trim them to the following sizes:

• 6.75 x 7.75
• 5.75 x 7.75
• 3.75 x 7.75
• 1.75 x 7.75

11. Adhere these pieces to each panel before assembling the organizer.

12. Fold along all score lines, then adhere the 6 x 8 piece to the largest base (11 x 8.5).

Trim the excess on both sides

13. Adhere the second-largest base to the front of the 6 x 8 piece.

14. Attach the smallest base to the front of the previous layer.

15. Optional but cute: line your organizer with pompom trims! I added it to one panel as a little tribute to my swap mate who made the original piece.

16. Finish it off by embellishing with flowers.

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What’s Inside My Sidekick Kit

Of course… I didn’t stop at the organizer.

I created a whole Paper Memories Sidekick Kit to go with it:

• A mini album that can double as a scrapbook or journal. I added a small frame on the cover so you can personalize it, while the inside is left open for flexibility - photos, journaling, or memory keeping. It also includes pockets, inserts, and tags.

• A folder organizer filled with cards from the Trailblazer collection, perfect for storing letters, journaling cards, or those little bits you’re saving for future layouts.

• A “List of Me” ring-bound set, which is such a fun and personal piece. You can fill it with lists like things you’re grateful for, favorite books, favorite food, or even random thoughts, and keep adding more over time.

• And a journaling cards holder, a simple folio with a string closure. Once you’ve used all the cards, you can repurpose it as a sticker or ephemera holder.

What started as recreating a well-loved organizer turned into something even more meaningful (and a bit excessive! hehe) - a full set that holds not just supplies, but memories, ideas, and little pieces of me.

If you’d like to see more details about this project and check out the rest of the team’s creations, make sure to visit Traci’s blog as well.

And tbh… this is your reminder that sometimes the best projects are the ones that don’t go according to plan.

Oh and of course, scraps were turned to mini notebooks!