Coquette Maman

New Mrs. Grossman's Goodies: Sticker Kaleidoscopes Books, Sticker Albums + More

I am such a huge sticker fan and I'm happy to have passed on that love to my daughter. I mean, who would love rainbows, balloons and bears? Mrs. Grossman's is our favorite -- for my own childhood memories alone. It's so cool to see how they have been expanding beyond their sticker sheets to create new ways to use stickers. A huge thank you to Mrs. Grossman's for sending us these goodies to try out.

The Sticker Kaleidoscope Books ($16.95 each) are so fun. Kids (or kids at heart) can create sticker mandalas that are works of art. You can even frame some of these. There are four books to choose from: Delightful Days, Flourishing Beauty, Enchanted Worlds and Animals All Around. Chloe chose the Flourishing Beauty book because she's in love with flamingos and cactuses.

Each book contains 500+ stickers. Each mandala page is perforated so you can easily tear it out of the book to work on it. Kids can easily follow the outline shape for where to place the sticker to create their beautiful and colorful mandalas. I love that for each corresponding sticker sheet there are always extra stickers for kids to play with or save to use for other projects. I love this because with the start of summer, it's a great project for kids to sit down and keep them busy so you have a little quiet time to rest or get something else done. Chloe chose the cactus page to work on because she's been loving succulents lately.

Here's her finished piece of sticker art! We realized it matches her green bracelet she had just made the day before.

There are also two new sticker collecting books, My Sticker Collection ($6.99 each) one is the Princess Sticker Collection and the other is the Space Sticker Collection. Chloe is a space nerd so guess which one she picked.

There are 16 silcone-coated pages - a perfect place for a young collector to place their favorite stickers. Stickers can be peeled off to use for other projects. I just got Chloe her own Hobonichi planner (A6 size) which she is using as an art/scrapbook. She plans on using this book as place to put of her favorite stickers and washi tape so it's easy to take it all on the go with her Hobonichi.

The center of the album has a full spread of more than 85 stickers featuring all things space from planets, to robots, rockets and more.

And now for the STICKERS!! Mrs. Grossman's is getting into the planning community! Can you hear my excitement?! I already used the Classic Planner Accents ($2, pictured middle) stickers in my Hobonichi Cousin and was so fun to use for a weekly spread. I love the letters colorful Retro Alpha letters ($2, pictured left) which are such a cute way to jazz up my planner spreads. The new Rose Gold Hearts ($2.20) and Rose Gold Micro Hearts ($2.20) are so precious. I have used them for cards for our end of the year teacher's gifts and they added just the right flourish. I'm terribly obsessed with the tiny mint green hearts and the rose gold ones.

Finally, there are new Three-Roll Sticker Boxes ($15.49 each). It's classic Mrs. Grossman's on a roll, right? There are four different sets to choose from Believe in Unicorns, Fun Times, All Heart and the Beary Cute box which is the one that I picked. The set I got features gold foil accents featuring rainbows, bears and hearts.

I hope you love these new sticker sets and books as much as I do!

Review products provided by Mrs. Grossmans

Giveaway: Mrs. Grossman's May Sticker Club Pack!

Do you love stickers as much as I do? As a planner addict, I can't seem to get enough of them. When I found out that there was Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Club, I signed up right away. Mrs. Grossman's stickers bring back special childhood 80's memories for me. I feel like I'm 9 again and deciding which sticker to cut off the large rolls at the stationery store where I grew up in Alameda, CA. Her bears, hearts and rainbows are my absolute favorite. I've passed on the sticker loving addition to my own 9 year old and we share each Sticker Club package, although I let her organize and file them away in her own collection file box.

Each month the special sticker package is sent from Mrs. Grossman's headquarters, right here in the Bay Area in sunny Petaluma. Each set contains 15+ sheets of premium stickers a special sticker from the Mrs. Grossman's vault enclosed in a special golden mini envelope and special deals for Sticker Club members.

This month's Sticker Club theme is party and I love the crowns thrown in for the Royal Wedding coming up this weekend! You have the classic bears in a new puffy format and the special golden envelope sticker is from 1990 "Small Presents". These stickers are perfect to decorate your planner, handmade cards, notes, pictures -- just about anything!

Want a chance to win the May pack of Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Club? Just enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win. I'll be giving away two packs, one on my Instagram (@coquettenatalie) and one here on the blog. For Instagram, the giveaway is open to anyone around the world. For this blog post, you must be a U.S. resident. The retail value of this giveaway is $12.95. A huge thanks to Mrs. Grossman's for this special giveaway! The giveaway lasts from Monday, May 14 through Monday, May 21 at midnight PST. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, May 23rd. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter also on my Instagram @coquettenatalie!

Congrats to Stacy from Rohnert Park, CA who has won from this blog post and Lauren of Rohnert Park, CA who won from Instagram. How funny that randomly they are both from Rohnert Park! Congrats to the winners. Thanks so much to everyone who entered. Look for more giveaways to come this year!

Review product provided by Mrs. Grossmam's

Erin Condren Hardbound LifePlanner + New Fine Tip Pen Markers

While shopping on Amazon the other day, I happened to find that there were quite a few Erin Condren products for sale that included prime shipping. One thing that really caught my eye was the Erin Condren 2017-2018 Hardbound LifePlanner 8 X10 Midcentury Circles Colorful ($16.99 on Amazon). I was a huge fan of the LifePlanner for two years but I just didn't like how bulky the coil made everything and how hard it was to write on Wednesdays because of that coil. I purchased a Small Hardbound LifePlanner in the Cherry Blossom color with Rose Gold edges. The horizontal format was a great way for me to use it as a daily writing journal since I thought the area wasn't too big so I didn't have pressure to write so much each day. Instead, I have been using it as my daily planner but I've realized it's too small for me to plan in. I never take my planner out of the house so I needed something bigger with more room. I also missed the vertical boxes of Erin Condren. Now I can go back to using my small hardbound as a writing journal.

These hardbound planners look like the ones EC sells at Staples. The cover prints are lively and fun, rather than the solid color versions she sells on her own web site. You can find the 8X10 and the 5X8 versions but not all of them are in stock and the prices vary. Luckily, I love the Midcentury Circles design with it's silver foil on the cover and inside. I love that this was the lowest priced large hardbound planner for sale! I couldn't believe I paid $16.99 for it! The book itself isn't too thick and you can plan in it right away as it goes from the last part of 2017 and includes the whole year of 2018.

Here's some shots inside of the monthly view and the weekly vertical view. Each month is a different color.

Now, let's get to markers. These hardbound LifePlanners do not have the new thicker paper that the coiled versions have. I had a few issues of markers bleeding through the pages. I decided to pick up the Micro-Line Ultra-Fine Point Ink Pens ($19.99 on Amazon). These do not bleed through! Depending on which thickness you use, you might have some "ghosting" on the other side but I haven't had any pen color leak through significantly on the other side.

If you are a planner lover like me and have always wanted to try the Erin Condren LifePlanner, this is a great price to try it out. The Hardbound Large Planners retail for $35 on the Erin Condren site and for $34.99 at Staples.

Happy Planning!

Shop the Erin Condren 2017-2018 Hardbound LifePlanner 8 X10 Midcentury Circles on Amazon.

Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Watercolour Brush Pens

I've been really enjoying my bullet journal and journaling/sketching more regularly. I purchased these Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor Pens ($61.89 on Amazon) last year and these are my go to brush pens for coloring and decorating my journal. I love Japanese pens and these do not disappoint!

I have limited space in my condo and it's always hard for me to get out all my watercolor supplies when I want to get artsy. I love these pens because they store easily in their box and I can grab the box or just a few colors and take them on the go. I bought the 48 color set because it had more shade range and also included the flesh color peach tone that was perfect for coloring skin. I used these last year in my Hobonichi Cousin and the pens didn't bleed through the paper. I love the light gray for making shadows under my drawings for depth.

I just don't have time to draw in my journal everyday so I decided to skip having a Hobonichi this year even though I really *love* the paper quality. Instead, I am using now an Erin Condren Journal (with the dot grid) as my everyday bullet journal, but I have yet to draw in here. There's something about the Hobonichi paper that just literally makes you want to draw. I"m going to make it a point to do this more in the coming month and try to use my bullet journal more freely, instead of just literally bulleting my tasks. Although I have to say, the bullet journal technique is really efficient for me to get stuff done.

Here's a sample of how the pens work. You can use the fine tip to draw lines or use the sides to press down more for really soft watercolor washes.

I let Chloe use these pens too when she wants to. She knows she has to be really careful with these as they aren't her regular markers. She knows she has to put them all back into the box and onto my shelf when she is done. It makes me proud to see her drawing her set of gemstones and coloring them in with these brushes.

The Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor Brush Pens coming in various size sets from 12 pens ($19.88) to 80 pens ($102.99). I think the 48 set is the perfect mid-range as you get a variety of shades and the box isn't too big to store. You can purchase them on Amazon but some of the versions of the pens ship from Japan so take note of where it is shipping from, as you may need to allot for extra time for it to arrive. (It's well worth it!)

Purchase the Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor Pens on Amazon.

New Erin Condren Planner & Accessories + $100 Gift Card Giveaway!

A year ago, I started on my Erin Condren Life Planner journey. I first found out about this planner from my blog friend Katie at Good Life Eats. Katie was a food writer of mine when I was an editor at Craftzine.com. I remember her tweeting a few years ago that she just purchased an EC Life Planner to organize her life and I was really intrigued. Last year, I realized I needed to get myself into organizing shape. As much of an organized person I am, I always felt like at the end of the year, I was only scratching the surface of what needed to be done - longer projects or ideas never got written down so I basically lived my life scrambling to finish deadlines, picking up my daughter from school and doing the never-ending laundry and dishes before I could even think about my own creative projects.

This has all changed with my EC Life Planner. I just ordered mine at the beginning of June with the new launch and I treated myself to one with a gold coil! I love it so much!

Here's my first layout for this week inside the planner using stickers from Hello Ashley Ann. I can get fully addicted to Easy stickers so this is the first time trying out a full theme. I do know that I don't like covering up my entire planner with stickers as I like to use the bottom lined area of my planner for food planning or miscellaneous notes. I use the first top rectangle row for appointments, meetings and errands I need to leave the house for. This way, I know what will take me out of the home and I will know how much actual work time I have to work on articles or blog posts on my computer. I don't record down school pick up or drop off, or even after school activities. I have those recurring on my Google calendar. I do note when we have fun outings planned together. Currently she's in camp, so I know that this week, I'm able to do a lot more in terms of work and meeting people in the day. The middle rectangle is for my to do lists for the day - people I need to call, small tasks, etc. The bottoms set of rectangles I use for my blogs and freelance articles I may be working on. This last section gets tricky as sometimes I'm not able to work on something and may need to carry things over to the next day. I may try using the stickers included in the EC planner so I can easily peel them off and move blog posts around but honestly, I like just writing directly on paper so the bottom area can get messy with arrows or cross outs, and for now maybe that is ok.

The planner is really flexible for you to figure out how it can work in your life. That's what I love about it! There's plenty of room for me to write. For me, I use this to organize my blog posts, freelance articles, creative projects I want to pursue, as well as family vacations, days off from school, camps, etc. The possibilities are endless. I know there are a lot of busy moms out there thinking, ok this planner is just a little bit expensive. Does it really work? Yes, yes and yes.

July 6th marks my 11th anniversary with blogging with Coquette. I want to give back to you, my readers with an exciting giveaway!

Erin Condren $100 Gift Card Giveaway

Visit my Instagram page to win a $100 gift card to erincondren.com! If you're a planning newbie, you can pick out the planner of your dreams or if you're an existing planner addict, get some of the cool new 2016 accessories! All you have to do is: 1) follow me @coquettenatalie on Instagram, 2) like the photo and 3) leave a comment.

Giveaway Details

The giveaway starts today, June 26th and will end on July 7, 2016 at midnight PST. This giveaway is open to everyone! (If you live outside of the U.S., please check how much it is to ship to your country and customs fees.) Note: I am paying for this gift card with my own money.

Be sure to sign up for the Erin Condren site through this link --> get $10 off your first order! The newsletter sign up link is the first link at the top bar of the Erin Condren site. When you sign up, there are discounts for each milestone order up to order #20 so you won't want to miss your chance to continue receiving discounts!

New Erin Condren Notebooks + Goodies

I don't know what I would do each day without my Erin Condren Life Planner, notebooks and journals. Lately, I've found a groove each day and organizing everything I need for work and life in my planner and notebook. It's definitely become a good system for me that I can't believe I really just started using it all this year.

The new Erin Condren Notebooks come in both a spiral and bound versions. I have the Good to Go versions which are so affordable at $15 each. You can also choose personalized covers and metallic rose gold or metallic gold spirals for $30. Personalized bound journals are $20. I use my spiral notebook to organize all of my blog posts. I have the journal with the dot grid which is great for me to sketch ideas and draw out things free form. It's a great compliment to my lined notebook. You can also choose to have a lined bound journal too. I use my spiral notebook to manage my blogs. It's divided into three parts with the first part for notes for specific brands and blog posts, then the last two sections are for my specific blogs Coquette and Coquette Maman to manage each individual blogs' to do lists and notes. I purchased dividers from my last Erin Condren notebook so I'm using two in here with Post It tabs. I made labels for the tabs with my Dymo label maker.

I really like the way the new lined pages are for the notebooks which include a sidebar for quick lists. I can do individual to do lists before I can get a post completed.

Let's talk pens! The new Erin Condren Gemstone Rollerball Pens ($12) are so fun to write with. The colors are so fun and I love that it comes in its own plastic storage box. The best thing about these pens is that they don't bleed at all though the pages of my notebooks or planner. Amazing!

I really love my Erin Condren Life Planner and use it daily! I love that she's always coming out with new products that really let me use my planner (and notebooks) to their potential. The new StylizedSticky Corner Pockets ($5) are beyond amazing. They come in a thin pad of 20 thin plastic scalloped corners that you can stick anywhere you need a pocket. I love that you can peel them off and restick them if you need to make any adjustments without peeling off any paper. I use it on my monthly notes pages for loose items that I need to file away like receipts or business cards.

I am using the new Mini Sticky Storage Pockets ($10) inside the cover of my notebook to stash my important documents related to future blog posts. They have been so handy to have. I love the pretty colors and designs of the sturdy, paper pockets. Each pack comes with three pockets so you can use them anywhere!

It's been about five months now that I am really using my Erin Condren Life Planner and it's taken me a few months to get used to the system and use it for my own life. I adore the large planner size as it lays nicely on my desk so I can see what I am doing. I'll share a sample layout of my week view with you guys sometime soon. I currently don't go crazy with the stickers because if I did, I wouldn't be able to see what I need to do each day. I do use them though and have found that the Erin Condren sticker book ($15) to be a pretty and affordable way to decorate. If you are interested in checking out her Life Planners, right now they are 50% off (prices range from $22.50-$32.50). I think it's a great deal to see if you like to use this kind of stylized organizer.

Shop for these Erin Condren Notebooks and accessories at erincondren.com. Get a coupon for $10 off your first order by signing up for an account with Erin Condren. You'll get an email with the code for your order.

Review products provided by Erin Condren

Planner Love: Getting Organized for 2016

I'm a total paper junkie. I have always needed to use a notebook or agenda to plan my projects and organize my life. About four years ago, I splurged and got a Louis Vuitton PM (small) agenda. I am always surprised how much I really do use it and need it. I use it all the time for notes, business cards, and daily tasks. The small size is perfect because it fits in most of my handbags and isn't heavy at all. Last summer, I decided to jump on the Erin Condren train and purchased an 18 month Life Planner. I'll be honest the larger size took some getting used to. Because my desk is small, my LV agenda would fit perfectly along with my computer. My Life Planner had to sit on the kitchen table for me to use and refer to. So in November, I revamped things and figured out a better system. I use my Life Planner to manage all of my work projects from my two blogs to my freelance writing for Racked SF and Mode.com's Tend channel. This will help me plan everything better and I realized I loved the Notes section a lot for planning and ideas. So much so I just purchased one of Erin Condren's notebooks. The paper is superb for writing with a felt tip pen. It's dense and doesn't bleed through and I find that I like the colors and vibrancy of the paper. I'll be honest, I did try to do some planner decorating but I found it too time consuming and stickers to be too expensive of a habit to handle. I found a middle ground with some minimal stickers and found that I liked the Erin Condren sticker books pretty darn good for

I also use a lot of thin paper notebooks from Chronicle Books. My favorite are the larger ones they have like my Paris in Color one above. It comes in a set of three and I find these notebooks so useful for quick notes and lists. Sometimes these are transferred in a more coherent manner to my LV agenda or my Life Planner and sometimes they are such jibberish and they are not. Basically, with these thin notebooks I give myself more freedom to just ramble on and not worry about my penmanship or any decorating. I also love the Botanical Notebook Collection with all their pretty colors and flowers.

In December, did a roundup of planners for Tend on Mode.com (see below). I thought it would be fun to add to this post fby adding my a roundup of some cool accessories and supplies.

If you like any of the Erin Condren planners, notebooks and supplies, you can get $10 off your first order via my referral link.

Check out Getting Organized for 2016

by Coquette at Mode

Here are some cool paper goods and supplies to help keep you organized in 2016!

Paris in Color Notebook Collection ($12.65 at Amazon)

Erin Condren Monthly Sticker Book ($15 at Erin Condren)

Erin Condren Do It All Desk Set ($25 at Erin Condren)

Kate Spade Bow Paper Clips - Set of 12 ($12.82 on Amazon)

Kate Spade Gold & Acrylic Stapler ($28 on Amazon)

Marion Smith Designs Planner Stamps ($11.99 on Amazon)
Here's a link to her video on how to use her stamps in your planner.

Clearly Kelly Stamp Pad ($10.86 on Amazon)