Planner Stamps & Stickers? Yes!!

I was so happy to get my hands on the new Brutus Monroe planner stamps which were released a few days ago! Secret is out — I’ve had these stamps for a few weeks (Inspiration Team perks!) and, of course, I had to stamp them all immediately. As I do with most projects, planner and/or jewelry related, I usually play with things immediately…then I kind of walk away from the piece or project and let it stew. Sometimes it’s days and sometimes just for an hour or so and I am back in the studio. I had so many ideas for these little guys and just felt overwhelmed. I know, planner girl me, was stumped. Come on Tanya..it’s not rocket-science (by the way there’s a stamp for that!); but sometimes I think having too many ideas is worst than not having one!

Enough whining — finally, it hit me like a brick. Design a cute generic sticker that can be customized to match or coordinate with my weekly sticker designs! See…not tough at all. I sat down with my Silhouette and boom — stickers are born! I made each sticker small enough to work within the box size of the Erin Condren and Happy Planners, since I use both. I placed sixteen of each pattern, printed and cut! Then the fun began.

There are two sets of Brutus Monroe planner stamps — one for men, although I see some in that set that I will definitely use. The other set was designed around school. As a former teacher, I definitely would have had fun stamping away in my lesson plans. The challenge was making them work with my every day studio life. I did a quick word association type game — look at the stamp and write the first thing that comes to mind. Here are a few I came up with:

1. Target — Take aim! Stay focused! (Or...Target Dollar Spot run!)
2. Microscope — Get in closer!
3. Scissors — Cut sticker orders!
4. Trophy — It’s yours!
5. Graduation Cap — You/re got this!
6. People - Go Team!
7. Atom — Kick up that energy! (This is the one I thought of rocket science for, too.)
8. Clock — Tick-tock!
9. Chemistry Beaker — Mix it up!
10. Pencil — Design!
11. Globe — 95% of the gems I use in my jewelry biz are from other countries. I always think they should have passports. I am still trying to think of a short quip for this stamp; but love the detail in it so I had to use it!

So many little gems in the sets, The detail is so great — they stamp really clean and crisp. I used the Brutus Monroe Detail Ink in Raven and it was perfect for the matte label paper. I have some dexterity issues with my hands and  sometimes using tiny tools can be problematic. I tried my little one-inch acrylic block but found it rocked a bit; so upped to a two-inch block and had no problem stamping a clear image.

Curious to know how you'll use these stamps. I have gift tags in mind. And, I liked Adam’s design of using all the stamps, coloring and making a card. My lesson for the day…don’t get stumped by the details of the big picture. Just look closer and scale it back — there is sure to be a very cute and creative idea no matter how tiny, rolling around in your head!