Aug 08, 2022

How To Use Decorative Planner Stickers

by Tedi Bezna

Is your planner always by your side? I can relate. I absolutely adore my planner and its support in organizing my week, month, and year. My planner helps me to feel relaxed, in control and genuinely happy! It also makes me recognize that I have plenty to be grateful for in my wild crazy life.

The best way to spice up your planner is with planner stickers. If you haven’t yet ventured into the wonderful world of decorative planner stickers, let me bring you along to reveal all that they have to offer and how they can up your planner game.

What Are Decorative Planner Stickers?

Decorative planner stickers are exactly how they sound–stickers that you can use in your notebook, journal and of course, planner, to support and improve your visual organization. They are not only beautiful, colourful, and funky, but they are practical and inspirational too, acting as reminders and celebrations.

There are numerous ways to use these stickers. For example,

Planner Stickers Are Perfect for Organization

Lovely planner stickers are game changers for organizing your busy life: to-do’s, thoughts, events to remember, items to buy, and even vacations to plan! You can use daily planner stickers to remind you to grocery shop, hit the gym, pay those bills, send off a card, or meditate. Depending on your individual style and preferences, you can assign certain colours or shapes as your very own planner sticker code.

Planner Stickers Allow You to Get Creative

I am here to remind you: you are a creative person! Yes, you! Everyone can express themselves because there is no right, or wrong way to be creative. Oftentimes as adults, we don’t have time to sit and express ourselves creatively as we did when we were younger. This is a shame! Creativity does wonders for the mind as it supports us with alternative thinking, problem-solving and processing information differently. It can aid in increasing empathy, and processing and can support your mental health, too. This is where planner stickers come in, as they allow you to have some fun with colour, and creativity, and it’s a low-pressure approach to inviting creative moments into your life every day. When you invite more creative moments into your life, I promise you will notice the difference.

Planner Stickers Will Hold You Accountable

Once you start with planner stickers, you’ll never go back! When people try stickers in their planner, they will feel more on top of life and their tasks if their planner is more of a celebration, thanks to stickers. They make reminders easier to find and can make you more excited to open your planner every day.

What Are The Different Decorative Stickers Available?

I love making decorative stickers because there are so many different avenues, topics, colours, and styles to explore.

Some looks you can look forward to seeing with decorative stickers are:

Basic shapes
Intricate designs
Humorous images
Organizational tools
Post-it notes type stickers
Quotes and motivational quotes
Themes for holidays
Charming and Elegant themes
Colourful stickers

There are many special stickers that I make and offer, and I am confident that one sticker pack will speak to you and your life!

Some of my favourites include the sweet Breakfast at Tiffany’s pack, the Iconic Women pack, The Mom Life set, the Plant Lady pack, the Enchantè Paris pack, Black Girl Magic, Zodiac pack and more.

Another style of decorative stickers is the Holiday/Seasonal stickers. These stickers are ideal to properly cherish the special moments that come but once a year. Some fun holiday/seasonal stickers include the Holiday Cheer sticker pack, Spring Bloom stickers, the Summer Fun stickers, Winter land and the Holiday pack to hopefully get you into a festive mood!

I also offer digital stickers. These are extremely similar to paper-based stickers, but can be used for people who prefer to do their planning on their laptop, mobile phone, desktop or Ipad/tablet. These types of stickers are great, as you can download them straight to your device and get to organizing and having fun in your notes, digital planner, or digital calendar right away. I offer many digital stickers including Self Love, Teacher Life, and Zodiac sticker packs to get you started.

In addition to just decorative stickers, there are also:

Functional stickers: Functional stickers are perfect for activities such as making lists and tracking important things. Functional stickers can assist in sorting out your day, and week. For specific functionality purposes, I suggest my Girl Boss: This is my year stickers. This set is fantastic as it has everything you need to stay on track and inspired, including motivational quotes, functional stickers and my classic Rongrong dolls!
Sidebar stickers: As the name suggests, sidebar stickers can be used on the side of your monthly or weekly planner and can be used either horizontally or vertically. Sidebar stickers are great for tracking a process.

How To Use Decorative Planner Stickers

Okay, so, maybe you’ve been eyeing up cute stickers for a while–maybe you even bought some–but you’re still not 100% on where to start. If that sounds like you, my biggest piece of advice is to just start! Begin! Finish reading this blog and get right to it.

Ultimately, there is no real rule book when it comes to using planner stickers and there is no pressure behind it! With stickering, you get to showcase your personality, and creative side so it should be filled with all the things you love. You will find your groove as you go and before you know it, you’ll feel much more confident. Plus, if you make a ‘mistake’ or do something you don’t love, you can simply place a sticker over it and move on–or if/when plans change, it is useful for adjusting that too.

What Can You Use Your Decorative Planner Stickers For?

Tracking habits
Managing budgets
Staying motivated for different goals
Arranging for holidays and vacations
Remember birthdays and anniversaries
Stay on top of your family’s activities
Wedding planning
Plan for studies and schoolwork
Reflection and contemplation
Schedule date nights
Arrange self-care
Schedule concerts, shows and festivals
Pregnancy tracking
Planning meals
Organizing home projects
Practice gratitude and affirmations
Destress and arrange self-care practices
Track your favourite tv show, sports team or other events you love to watch

The first step is to acquire stickers that you genuinely love. There is only one you and your personal style is unique. If you don’t know your style, it is super fun to discover it. You won’t use stickers you aren’t super fond of, so instead, just go for a pack of stickers that speak to you and make you happy! For beginners, I always recommend getting a sticker pack or set, as the contents are more likely to complement each other and be cohesive in terms of colours and designs.

When your stickers are cohesive, it allows for easier coordination and organization. You will be able to freely assign stickers for specific situations. For example, you may wish for your meetings to be in red stickers, children’s activities to be pink and blue stickers, date night to be yellow stickers and vacations to be white - and so on. If you have a favourite show or sports team that plays weekly, you can even put a corresponding colour to the team jersey to remind you of the event! There is no better feeling than opening up your planner and seeing a bright spread of stickers looking back at you, easing you into your day or week of your brilliant life!

For staying ahead and on top of important events and bills, I suggest placing your reminder stickers in your planner a few days before the event happens or due date. This gives you sufficient time to organize your money or information, so you aren’t hit with late fees or undue stress.

One of the best elements of stickering and planning, in general, is getting to play around with Washi Tape. It’s a beloved feature of the planning community! If you aren’t familiar, washi tape is a multipurpose tape for further decoration of your planner. Washi tape is thin yet durable, made up of natural fibres including hemp and bamboo and is available in hundreds of colours and patterns.

I make plenty of Washi tape in creative designs that can make your planner spot even more. You can check out my Black Girl Magic tape, Makeup Love tape, Dark Floral tape, Dog Mom tape, and Marble Elegance tape. You can use the tape on the sides of your planner, in conjunction with other stickers to draw attention to a specific day, event or week. Washi tape comes off the page easily as well, so can be removed and put in a different spot whenever you wish!

I suggest setting up your stickers on your planner pages and leaving adequate space to mark something off or marked as complete. It’s the best feeling in the world to cross items off your to-do list–honestly, it's self-care!

Speaking of self-care, it’s a nice idea to pick a set day and time to write in your planner. Doing this will help you to form a healthy habit. This habit is a great way to unwind, destress and remove anxiety from your life. If you like writing a to-do list in your planner, aim to do it at night before going to sleep. This is because there is scientific backing that says when you do this, it can lead to decreased stress and aid in a better night’s sleep.

While on the topic of self-care, it’s time for my favourite tip, which is to always schedule in your planner moments for indulgence and self-care. Self-care can be whatever works for you, from massages to nails, to cinema visits, to baths–whatever rest and recovery look like for you, schedule it in and remind yourself with a beautiful sticker.

Avoid overdoing it. If you have a busy week ahead and you are writing tons of things down, if you bombard the pages with stickers to the point that there is no white space left, it can be overwhelming and take away from the aesthetic purpose. Have fun, of course, but don’t overdo it!

One way to make things easier for you is to spend some time organizing and arranging your growing sticker collection. If you lead a busy life and only have 20-30 minutes to write in your planner, you don’t want to waste precious time digging around for the right sticker. I wrote an entire blog on this process: How to Organize and Store your Planner Stickers which I encourage you to have a read of!

Planners and stickering are a ton of fun, allowing you to be playful and creative. Your planner is your safe space from the world, inviting you to care for your mind and soul by being organized and present, elevated by incredible stickers. It’s your individual place to celebrate your wins in life and to get inspired for a positive future. It allows you to plan and defines your version of success in your life. There are infinite ways to use decorative stickers, so no matter which stickers your life, embrace your unique creative process and focus on what matters.

Where to Purchase Planner Stickers

I really am a huge advocate for stickering in your planner as it transforms your life. If you are ready to make changes in your life and start accruing your sticker collection? There are many talented sticker artists that I like to shout out when I get the chance. These artists are: