10 Sources For Gorgeous (And FREE) Planner Printables

I am still (im)patiently waiting for my new planner to move from the order pending stage into production. If you’re in the same boat as me, this is a great time to shop around for cute planner accessories. Everyone knows that there are dozens of creative women selling planner stickers on Etsy, but sometimes a splurge isn’t always in the budget.

I’m always looking for great sources of free, printable stickers that I can use in my Erin Condren planner, so I decided to put together a list of offerings from some very generous bloggers who have some designs available for download. Get your sticker paper ready and warm up your printers!

  1. Vintage Glam Studio – This blog is amazing! She offers gorgeous sets of printables that you can use in any planner, whether it is EC, Plum Paper, Filofax, or something else completely. Whether you’re looking for page accents, full-box stickers for your EC, or cute checklists, this is the place to go. The sets are high-quality and not to be missed!
  2. Wendaful Designs – Wendaful Designs is a great place to download adorable flags for your planner. Icon labels, weather stickers, water trackers… you name it and you can probably it here. She also has an adorable vertical weekend heart banner for the new horizontal EC planners!
  3. BeautyholicsAnonymous – She has a really cute collection of full-vertical-box-sized quote stickers. Sometimes you just want to fill up a blank space, or you might want a little motivivation and encouragement for the week. Full-sized quote stickers are a great way to go!
  4. IHeartPlanners – Oh my word, I just love the sidebar-sized Habit Stickers on this blog. Laura has one set that you can customize with your own habits and one that has basics such as “vitamins” and “dinner prep” already written in a beautiful script font.
  5. World Label – Check out the cute calendar stickers here. You can print them on the labels suggested or on a full-sheet label and punch or cut out the stickers yourself.
  6. Planner Envy – Need to track your weight or keep yourself in check when it comes to working out? The Health & Wellness stickers here will do the trick. She also offers a set of functional, yet colorful corner reminder stickers that don’t take a lot of room, but will help you remember to get things done. There are so many freebies on this blog that you’ll want to make a cup of coffee and spend a little time going through them all.
  7. Mein Lila Park – Sometimes you want simple, unembellished banners, stars, and pointers to use in your planner. This is a wonderful offering of colorful designs!
  8. Belinda Seline – Have you seen those sweet gold Kate Spade bow paperclips? Belinda designed a Kate Spade-inspired set of planner decorations.
  9. Me & My BIG Ideas – OK, this is the company that manufactures the new “Happy Planner” and line of coordinating products (which, from what I understand, fit quite nicely int Erin Condren vertical boxes). They are offering a cute set of printable countdown stickers. I can see these being perfect for so many different events, from parties to vacations.
  10. ThePigtails.Com – Add some whimsy to your planner with these adorably illustrated stickers. Images include a milk carton, coffee cup, cupcake, speech bubbles, and more.

And this is really just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many great resources for free planner stickers! One of my tips is to search for Project Life printables. There are tons of them out there and many lend themselves well to use in diaries and planners. 

(Oh, and don’t forget that I also have free heart labels that you can download! I just didn’t want to include them in my round-up).

Do you have a favorite source for free planner stickers? Share it in the comments!

Adventures in Fermentation – Pickles

Polish Dill Pickles

There’s nothing like a good pickle. Am I right? A crunchy, tangy, sour pickle is the perfect companion to a lunchtime sandwich. I’ve made various types of pickles before — the quick-pickled “overnight” pickles and vinegar-brined pickles that were then canned for storage. But despite all of my attempts, none ever seemed to compare to the delicious Polish dill pickles my Babci used to make.

Ogórki kiszone (oh-GOORR-kee keeSHOH-neh) was a summertime staple in our house. My uncle had a huge garden and every summer my grandmother would make jars of garlicky pickles from the buckets of cucumbers that were harvested.  The kiszone recipe was simple: cucumbers, dill, garlic, salt, and water. You add everything to a jar, let it sit on the counter, and after a while you magically had delicious pickles!

Back then I didn’t realize what the magic was, but I now know that it’s simply fermentation. So when my husband gave me a Kraut Source gadget for Valentine’s day, I knew that this summer I’d be making my own version of Babci’s pickles.

Kraut Source

A couple weeks ago I finally decided to give it a shot. The batch took all of 10 minutes to put together, and the Kraut Source airlock lid was really easy to use. Could this possibly taste good? It’s way too easy, I thought. But I figured it was worth trying.

Polish Dill Pickles

I set the jar on the counter and went about my business. A few days later, I checked on the pickles and started to worry. I had a few concerns.

  1. My fermented pickle brine looks cloudy. Is this normal? Is it supposed to look like that?
    — After a little research I learned that the answer is YES! A cloudy brine is normal and is to be expected. It’s due to the growth of lactic acid bacteria and it’s a sign that fermentation is occurring.
  2. There are white flakes or white specks at the bottom of my jar of fermented pickles. What is it? Are they still safe to eat?
    — I was reassured to learn that the white bits are again, due to the lactic acid bacteria. Nothing needs to be done.

Whew! It was all going to be OK.

A week after I started the process, I decided to crack open the jar and have a family taste test. You understand, I live with some of the world’s most discriminating pickle connesiours. So you can only imagine my excitement when my husband and all three kids started fighting over pickle pieces and declared them “AMAZING!!!”

Hot damn, it worked! I’m not going to say that they were as good as my Babci’s, but they were definitely close.

Polish Dill Pickles

Ogórki Kiszone (Polish Garlic Dill Pickles)
6-8 pickling cucumbers, washed and dried
4 cloves peeled, smashed garlic
1 stem dill with seeds (or 2 Tbsp. dried dill weed)
1 bay leaf
2-3 Tbsp. kosher salt, sea salt, or pickling salt (do not use table salt)
2 cups water

      Bring 2 cups of filtered water to a boil. Pour into a bowl and dissolve the salt. Allow the brine to cool completely.

 

      Trim the blossom ends off the cucumbers. (This helps them stay crunchy). You may leave the stem end on, if you like.

 

      Add the garlic, bay leaf, and dill to the bottom of a wide-mouthed quart-sized canning jar. Pack in the cucumbers.

 

      Cover the pickles with the cooled salt brine until it reaches about 1” above the shoulder of the mason jar. It is important that every bit of vegetable is covered with water, so trim the cukes down if necessary.

 

      If you have a KrautSource, follow the directions to secure it on the lid. If you don’t have the gadget, no problem. Loosely (may I stress loosely?) close the jar with a sterilized cap. Do not secure it tightly – the carbon dioxide that is produced during fermentation needs to escape.

 

    Store the jar out of direct heat (on the countertop should be fine) and check on your pickles every few days to make sure they’re still covered with water. After 7 days, your pickles should be ready to eat.

I can’t wait to experiment further with fermented pickles! For my first batch I used dried dill, but I know the flavor would be a lot better with fresh dill, so my next batch will definitely include it.

Life Planner Launch Day!

 2015-16 Life Planners!

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Erin Condren products. Up until now I have never gotten in on all the excitement of “launch day.” However, with the new horizontal layout option that’s available, I couldn’t help but jump on it!

My current Life Planner goes until the end of the year, and I don’t plan on giving that one up. I’m going to continue using that one to keep track of my family’s schedule and I’m going to use my brand new, shiny, horizontal LP as a journal and personal goals planner. So do you want to know which design I picked?

 Platinum Prism LP

I have admired the foil planners in years past, but never really felt the need to have one. But this year? With personalization in metallic foil too? Oh yes! I had to have it. I fell in love with this color (peacock), and the decision was pretty easy. I can’t wait to get it — you can be sure that I’ll share every detail with you!

In the meantime, if you’re considering an EC Planner, you can sign up for an account using my referral link. You’ll get an e-mail with a coupon code for $10 off your first purchase of anything on her site. I’ve always been happy with the Erin Condren products I’ve ordered, and this will be my fifth Life Planner, so I feel good recommending it as an organization tool!

Tap, Tap, Tap… (Is this thing on?)

come on, summer...

Oh my, how time flies! I’ll be honest: the last month has been too stressful for me to blog about much. But happy, exciting things are ahead. Wish I could divulge more, but soon I’ll tell you all about it. In the meantime, I’m back!

So much has been going on and I definitely have missed my blog, so let’s try this again, shall we? Where to even start? Guess I’ll just pick up with this past week.

It was a busy one — D. and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary and L. turned 6! We had family over for a party yesterday and it was a great — but exhausting — time. I was worn out by the end of the day. But it was nice spending time with family, enjoying yummy food, and of course L. enjoyed all her birthday presents!

The days have been filled with end-of-school-year type of stuff: concerts, field days, field trips.

All I can say is that I am so happy that summer break is slowly on its way. And I am also so happy  to get back to a regular blogging schedule! Hope you all are well!