After getting a bit bored with basic planning with only colored pens the past couple of weeks, I opted to go ‘all out’ this week with stickers, inserts and highlighters!

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Before the Pen

MAMBI is always on point with cute, colorful and functional planning supplies. I’d been wanting to try out their inserts for a long time but had a hard time choosing from all the different list inserts!

I eventually opted for these inserts:

• Take note (half sheet)
• Daily schedule (half sheet)
• Be Productive lined refill paper
• Lined refill paper

I used my horizontal MAMBI from last year and just popped the pages straight in.

After the Pen

I used the notes page for listing out everything for the new monthly habit trackers in my shop. I used a thin tip highlighter to outline the boxes as I thought it’d be too boring with just a black pen.

I wanted to try out the MAMBI sticker rolls so created a meal planning sidebar. The size of the stickers was the perfect amount of space for meal planning which was a nice change since most meal planning stickers are way too small to write in. I just wish the stickers came in more colors. The rest of the stickers in the box (it was the mom set) are cute but ones I probably wouldn’t use as they’re too narrow to write more than 2 words per line.

The colors of the Carpe Diem numbered stickers were a great match for the colors of the MAMBI inserts.

The numbered stickers are going to be perfect when I give bullet journaling a try!

The numbered stickers for each day are for my blog post workflow (1 = draft, 2 = edit, 3 = photos, 4 = Pinterest and for the ones that have 5 the extra number is for video)

I used one of the inserts for weekly blog planning, and the back side (yep, MAMBI prints the inserts double sided 🙂 ) had a checklist I used for blog tasks including planners to film review videos and take photos for.

I’ve been rather overwhelmed with the amount of planners there are these days and have about 30 sitting on my bookcase waiting for reviews and for me to try them out. With you guys requesting more and more planners to be reviewed I’ve had to schedule out which reviews I’m posting when. I try to do a mix of different planner layouts and also consider the amount of reader requests, so if there’s a specific planner you want reviewed, comment below or send me an email via [email protected] otherwise it could be a few months before I get to the review of that planner!

I’ve been wanting to try the Carpe Diem sticker books for ages, even since my sister unpacked the box when she first ordered them in for her shop! These sticker books are now my all time fav. Brilliant colors, lots of functional stickers, the right size (and come in a variety of sizes), they peel easily, each icon comes in lots of different colors making them ideal for color coding. Just everything about the stickers = <3

I used the Carpe Diem icon stickers to create a different style of habit tracker. I love how this habit tracker turned out. I kind of wished I’d laminated it to make it reusable. The dots on the inserts were perfect for drawing even and neat checkboxes. I put my goal number in the box on the left, drew the number of boxes equivalent to how many times I wanted to do it that week, and another box at the end to put the total.

The MAMBI thin rainbow washi is perfect. It’s hard to find washi this thin (the only one I’ve come across in pretty colors was the Illustrated Faith thin rainbow), love the size and is perfect to add some color, without taking up too much space.

Update: The Illustrated Faith thin washi tape doesn’t appear to be available anymore, this thin rainbow washi tape is similar 

I thought it would be color overload if I used colored pens in addition to colorful inserts and stickers, so opted for my go to black pen – the Papermate Inkjoy 100 1.0M (ballpoint) – cheap, writes smoothly and no issues writing over the top of correction tape (and no smearing since it’s ballpoint not gel).

Supplies Used

• MAMBI sticker rolls box set – the mom set (meal planning stickers)
• MAMBI inserts – notes page (pack comes with lined and graph paper)
• MAMBI refill (classic size) – ‘be productive’ (lined colored fill paper)
• MAMBI refill inserts (half the width of classic size) – ‘daily schedule’
• MAMBI refill inserts (half the width of classic size) – ‘focus’
• Carpe Diem sticker book (sticker tablet ‘calendar’)
• Carpe Diem sticker book (sticker tablet ‘numbers’)
• MAMBI thin washi rainbow ‘brights’
• Papermate Inkjoy 1.0M black
• Simbalion flurorescent marker (pen end)

Pros of planning this way

• Discbound is my all time favorite type of binding for a reason – you can add as many inserts as you like
• I didn’t run out of space (and if I had I could’ve just added more inserts)
• Colorful!
• The stickers add color and are functional at the same time
• The line spacing of the MAMBI inserts are just right (not too big, not too small)
• Inserts can seem pricey up front but you get a fair few in the pack so they last a while

Cons of planning this way

• It was time consuming (always more time consuming when I do a decorative spread than just pen)

Would I plan this way gain?

While it was more time consuming to do this decorative + functional spread, I really like how it turned out. I don’t normally go into so much detail when planning since most planners only have a 2 page spread. I really liked having the extra space – the week ended up being a 4 page spread. Just another reason why I love discbound systems – you can add as many inserts as you like!

I love the MAMBI inserts – perfect line spacing, cute, colorful and functional – one of my all time favorite planner brands. However, I wouldn’t use the sticker box rolls again. I think the MAMBI sticker books are better value, more variety and overall just nicer stickers.

If I do a habit tracker in this style again with the stickers I’m going to laminate it and use a whiteboard marker so I can use it multiple times.

Past weekly spreads

• Using the Dabney Lee for BlueSky Landscape Weekly Planner 
• Using the Colorful Lorna Leigh Lane Weekly Planner 
• 52 Lessons learned after trying 52 different planners in 52 weeks

Planning tips

• 20 Productivity & Time Management ‘Rules’ I Live By 
• 15 Productive Things You Can Do In 15 Minutes or Less 
• How to color code bill paying in your planner (7 different ways) 

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