How to Create, Editing and Using Printables

This is going to be a bit long of a  series, so I set it up into three parts and plan to do a follow up on more a more technical side on my process, enjoy!

Whether you have just started with your planner or have been in the planner community for years, printables are available everywhere. They key to planning is to make life easier and more organized. Speaking from my point of view, I tend to make printable inserts and stickers based on need (and wish for a design). 

So what is a printable? I want to talk about about both inserts and sticker downloads first. You can typically find them online for free on blogs and websites as well as on Etsy for sale. Either way once you find one you love, what do you do? 

Well the benefit to printables is unlimited personal use. If you buy an insert for instant, you can print as many as you need - now or later down the road. Same with stickers. Love that holiday set? Well use it for multiple holidays, week layouts or scrap-booking/paper-crafting as well. 

• Cheaper to buy (typically) and multi-use
• They are yours to use over and over again
• You can print them off as many times as you like
• Sometimes you can even edit them 
• Add personalized items to them if you want
• You get them immediately and with no shipping cost
• You don't have to use them all OR can use them for other projects
• You can typically adjust the sizes for your own use

These are just the benefits I could think of. Now there are some negatives as well. If you do buy printables there are a few cons as well. If you do not have a printer, you may have to print at a print shop. Also its not always fun cutting the small pieces out, if you do not have a machine to do so. I personally provide the cut files as well, as I know many crafters have the Silhouette machine. 

Now, lets get started on using printables. First off I will start with stickers as they are the easy to print and go. (this assumes you have a image file vs a PDF)

1. Obtain a printable, either through purchase or download. Obviously there is my Etsy, and many others but there are also many places that offer free ones, just Google them. I will show you how to make some later. 
2. Purchase some sticker paper OR you can use plain paper and glue them down. I suggest this site for stickers, but if you are just doing a few office stores typically have the 8 x 11 labels. I would really suggest the above site as I got 100 of them for under 20 bucks, and its a way better deal. 
3. Open the files, now if you have a Silhouette machine you want to open the machine file (in .zip folder typically). If you do not have the machine, just open the folder and print full page. With the machine file it should have the markers in place but always double check - this ensures the page will align up and cut where it is suppose to. I've accidentally left them off before as well, it happens so double check. (quick how to print in windows)
4. Cut them out! Either by hand or with the machine. 
5. Stick them and use them as you want. If you used the machine it should be a full page which you can cut down to store. I store mine all together in a folder to keep everyone straight. 

Its really simple with the stickers. There are so many free sites, downloads and purchase-able ones available. Something for everyone's taste. This is also a quick method if you have a image file of an insert. Check out freebies for various files to practice with, or just to download. 

→  Next week we're talk Inserts/PDFs (I'll link when it's ready)