Happy Planner Weekly | Working for the Weekend & Everything In Between

This week’s spread ended up being one big positive vibes page! I used The Happy Planner's Happy Quotes sticker book together with sentiment washi filled with little happy phrases like “feeling sparkly,” “happy day,” “dreamy,” and “loving this.” I added in stickers like “get busy girl,” “color me happy,” “be strong, be beautiful, be you,” “make things happen,” and “working for the weekend,” and this layout became a visual mood board for how May has been going so far! It's busy, exciting, overwhelming, fulfilling… and very colorful.

“Working for the weekend” sticker because this Friday is my Arts and Crafts Workshop with Happy Sandscapes! It's their first paid workshop and I’m so proud and grateful to have been entrusted with it. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly. I’ve been preparing samples, organizing materials, coordinating details, and most especially - trying not to panic all at once. Hahaha!

And yes… that’s also one of the reasons why this Happy Planner blog is late. I actually took photos of this spread on Monday, but this is the first time all week that I’ve been able to properly sit down and write. Between Design Team deliverables, workshop prep, blog deadlines, and life in general, the days have just been flying by.

But first things first - I’m still very much on a high from my third pop-up market here in Saudi Arabia! It was such a huge success in every possible way: sales, people I met, conversations, support, and just the overall experience. And of course, the husband and friends who keep showing up for me every single time deserve the biggest appreciation. I’ve been writing about the market the past couple of days while the kilig is still fresh in my mind, and tbh, I still smile thinking about it. Read about my three-peat in pop up market wins here!

Then Globe GCash contacted me again this week and asked if we could resume GCash testing. Of course I said yes! We officially started again yesterday, so that’s another thing added to the already full schedule.

And then another happy surprise came in - I FINALLY won one of Mintay Papers’ challenges!!! I’ve been trying for years now, and this time it finally happened. The funny part is that I almost didn’t join anymore because I kept thinking I’d just end up disappointed again. But one crafty friend - who is always encouraging me in every Mintay challenge, sent me the International Scrapbooking Day challenge post and told me to try again. So I did. I didn’t overthink the projects at all because I thought we only had 24 hours like last year. Imagine my surprise after cramming everything only to realize they actually gave participants a whole week this year. Hahaha! Still, maybe the lack of overthinking helped. Big YAAYYYY moment over here!

Apart from Mintay, I also joined Doodlebug Design’s iNSD challenges again this year. I actually won one of their challenges before, but sadly the prize got returned to sender because I wasn’t able to claim it from the post office in time. To this day I’m still curious what was inside that package. Fingers crossed for better luck this year! Will make a separate post for my projects here and link it here!

Book-wise, I managed to finish 3 books before life got too busy again. I also started rewatching Revenge while crafting and doing chores.

Project-wise, I’m happy to report that all my May deliverables for Traci Reed Designs and Polkadoodles are done, so I can finally start focusing on June projects soon.

For Bee Happy Weeklies, I used leftover glass tiles from my mosaic tray project to make a cute bookmark. I skipped the grout this time because I ran out, but also because I still need to improve my grout skills - I wasn’t too happy with how the tray looked after grouting last month’s project.

For Printable, Cuttable, Creatables, my project was submitted up a day late… but it turned out cute so I’m letting myself off the hook for that one. Haha! I also finished my project for our upcoming Blog Hop on May 19, and I made something completely new for the first time, which was really fun. Read about my pencil topper project in PCC's blog here!

Workshop prep also took over a huge chunk of my week. I made sample projects for Happy Sandscapes so we’d have photos for social media and examples for participants. I had already made the shrink plastic samples a few weeks ago, then worked on mini notebook samples after that. And then another crafty friend sent me flower cut file templates she made for Mother’s Day after suggesting they’d be nice workshop projects too. I really love how generous and supportive the crafting community can be.

Last Wednesday, hubby and I also tried a new restaurant before grocery shopping - Baytoti (and Maki), which serves Chinese and Japanese food. It was surprisingly good and affordable too. Less than 30 SAR (or Php 450.00) for a rice meal with two viands, so naturally we ordered two different sets just so we could try more dishes.

I also finally unpacked the emergency grab bags I prepared last February 28 because of the war. Things have thankfully felt more peaceful lately since the ceasefire, and I’m really hoping it continues that way. 

Over the weekend, aside from the Spring Market, we also hung out with friends. I ended up cancelling the crafting meetup I originally planned after my girlie emergency and just joined them at the badminton gym instead. I brought a mini album order with me, printed everything before leaving, then assembled pages while everyone played. Multitasking level: crafting edition. Hahaha! I also managed to finish my Polkadoodles May blogs while sitting there.

After the gym, we had dinner at Ilonggo’s Restaurant, which has to be one of the better Filipino restaurants we’ve tried here compared to the ones near us in Al Ahsa. Then we headed to the mall because two of our friends didn’t own Crocs yet and apparently got influenced by the rest of us. Ultimate PAIR pressure! Hahaha! We ended the night at Marks & Spencer over drinks and chika.

Closer look at mine with Harry Potter Jibbitz from Kaye

So yes… a LOT has been happening this month. I’m excited for the workshop, but I’m also looking forward to chilling a bit afterward so I can focus on the rest of my DT deliverables, get ahead on June projects, and eventually start packing too.

For now though, this planner spread feels like the perfect spread of everything lately - colorful chaos, happy exhaustion, creative energy, and many little reminders to keep going.