How to Fix Pre-Decorated Happy Planner Pages

We’ve all done it…pre-decorated our planner pages and then regretted it. But don’t worry if you don’t like it because there is a way to fix that! Here I give my tips and ideas on How To Fix Pre-Decorated Happy Planner Pages.

In your excitement to get started in your new disc-bound planner you jumped right in and grabbed all the stickers and washi tape and started decorating your pages…all the pages. September is done (and it’s only April). October is done. November is done. You get the point. You are feeling accomplished, right?!

Then a few months into your new planner, you’ve finally discovered your planning style and it doesn’t look anything like how you pre-decorated. Now you have regrets and need to figure out a way to fix this mess.

Don’t worry! All is not lost…and no, you do not need to go out and buy a new planner. There is an easy fix that just takes a little time and creativity. Let me share with you my experience with this and how I solved the problem.

Personal Case Study

I purchased my first Happy Planner in April 2016 and immediately started decorating it. As the months went on my planner style developed. I realized I liked themed pages better than random stickers and washi tape.

The only problem? I had already pre-decorated my monthly page. So, now I had to figure out how I was going to fix these pages without ruining the paper and making things worse. How did I do it? Keep reading.

How To Fix Pre-Decorated Planner Pages

Initially I tried to figure out a way to work with or around the decor I had already put in my planner. But there’s something I need to disclose something first.

My First Two Mistakes

Perfectly concealed under a hodge-podge of stickers, in my September 2016 monthly layout, is a big bright pink ink stamped butterfly. What’s worse is this is just the bottom corner.

That was my very first mistake in pre-decorating my pages. I didn’t like how the butterfly came out. In hindsight, I should have tested the stamps on test paper first. Rookie mistake.

Then I decided to try and live with the other decor and just cover up the butterfly with stickers.

The second mistake was trying to hide the bright pink butterfly with stickers. While the two quote stickers didn’t look terrible. I had to add a few other miscellaneous smaller stickers to hide the remaining ink. Then it looked like I was trying to hide something (which technically I was!).

Although I did find it ironic that they only sticker I could find to cover the majority of the butterfly happened to read ‘What you create does not have to be perfect’.

My Third Mistake

By this point I had found and wanted to use the September monthly kit from Jump to It Designs. But, before I even attempting to deconstruct that corner (which seemed both monumental and intimidating), I started laying down the sticker kit.

Beautiful, right?!! Yes, but look a little closer (at the header specifically). I couldn’t figure out why the days of the week were off so I just added blank box stickers and kept working away.

After I finished laying down the kit I realized what was wrong. I accidentally used the Erin Condren sticker kit instead of the Happy Planner kit. Ugh!! Now I had more problems to fix. Lucky for me, I had purchased the matte stickers which are removable. Whew!

Fixing The Corner

With those mistakes behind me I started work on the dreaded corner. To start, I pulled up as much of the permanent stickers as I could. Having an exacto knife in your planner tools really help with this tedious task. Simply lift an edge of the sticker then gently and slowly pull off.

I then scraped up as much residual sticker pieces as I could because I wanted the area to be as flat as possible. Luckily the Happy Planner paper was a good weight because I really worked this corner. Any other lower weight paper and this whole process could’ve gone much differently.

In the end, it kind of worked out that I accidentally used the Eric Condren sticker set. There were some wood boxes left over and that worked perfectly as a bandaid to fill in the rest of that corner.

To give it a little more autumn flair, I added in some Happy Planner Stickers that included a fall leaf, autumn colored leaves and a pumpkin sticker. Granted if you look real close you can still see some of the black ribbon stamp peeking through the fall leaf stickers. But, I’m okay with that.

Clearly, I wasn’t able to remove the ink stampings. They’ve only been covered by more stickers. But I was able to remove all the washi and most of the stickers. The key is to go slowly.

There are some areas where the paper is thinner than the rest, but with the new stickers placed, those spots are given back their sturdiness.

The End Result

To me, all that hard work was worth it. Look at this monthly view!! Now I’m satisfied and ready to plan out September.

This poor September monthly spread went through multiple changes to get to this point. But, it was 100% worth it to deconstruct the pages and get them to where they are now, I couldn’t be happier.

Pro Tips

• Always buy repositional stickers. If you don’t get it placed down exactly where you want, you can always peel it off and restick it. Most times, the matte stickers are repositional. The glossy are not.
• Don’t want to go through all the work? Be sure to check out a nifty little planner tool called Un-Du adhesive remover. I learned about this remover many years after and it’s really a game changer.

Looking for more inspiration on setting up your Happy Planner? Check out my 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Happy Planner for You. Or if you use the Happy Planner system for your business needs, you’ll also want to check out How to Use Your Happy Planner as a Blog Planner.

I’d love for you to join the Creative Planning Expressions Community and be inspired by all the planner pages, tips and productivity hacks. Also be sure to share your own planner pages and experiences -we’d love to learn from you too!

Do you have a Happy Planner decorating problem or conundrum? Feel free to contact me with your questions and/or concerns.

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xo, Stephanie

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