Well, this is fun! MAMBI is selling a Happy Planner kit at 16 select Costco’s.
It’s hard to see because the photo they provided is so small but it looks like there’s an 18-month Happy Planner, 5 rolls of washi tape, 3 pens, some pocket page inserts, 2 little paper pad inserts, etc. MAMBI says, “If all goes well, we are hoping for a chainwide set in the near future.”
To see a list of stores, check out their post on the MAMBI blog. If “your” Costco is carrying these kits, I think it’s your duty as a scrapbooker to go buy one, take photos, and tell us about it. C’mon, I would do it for you!
PS: I still haven’t decided if I’m keeping mine. Does Michaels have a so-many-days return policy?
ETA 06-15-16: Thanks Abby! HERE is an Instagram slideshow of the contents. You get a lot for that price – wow!
As you saw in my last post, I recently bought the MAMBI Happy Planner at Michaels (reg. $34.99 minus 30% off coupon = $24.49). It’s the 8.5 x 11 version, not the more popular smaller one that you’ve probably been seeing everywhere.
Not only are the binder discs my favorite color but they also have my favorite shape: HEARTS!
The front and back covers are soft but laminated and very sturdy. The inner pages are about the weight of your average scrapbook paper, not thin like cheap paper but not thick like Bazzill or Carta Bella. This planner goes for 18 months, from July 2016 to December 2017. Guess I have about a month to decide if I’m going to keep her ;)
The first 2 pages are 2016 and 2017 year at a glance, then starts the 18 monthly sections. Here are a few of those intro pages, where you see a variety of designs on the right, from quotes to very designed pages to very open ones like the first one, where you can have a ball decorating or journaling. I really like the “Currently” section for each month, since that’s something I always mean to scrapbook or track but then never do. Here, it’s right in the day planner – can’t forget it.
After each monthly intro page, there’s a month-at-a-glance page with room for notes; in my current day planner, I used the monthly pages for bill tracking and budgeting and would keep doing that in the Happy Planner.
Then there are 4 or 5 of these week-at-a-glance pages, depending on how long the month is. I like that each day is sectioned into 3 boxes. You could use that for morning, afternoon, and evening. I’m thinking of using it for personal, work, and blogging/e-learning.
My hold-up is that I have large handwriting and this might be too cramped for me. Dang :( I’m not a “planner girl” who does this for fun and creativity. I use my day planner FOR REALS. Like, it gets down and dirty, people. Family events, business deadlines, client launches, sports schedules, and more.
So anyway, that goes on for 18 months in the same format. There’s nothing extra in this planner except for a blank page at the very back for more notes.
It is quite hefty so I understand why there’s not more included, yet I want to add more pages to make it useful for me. I didn’t see any extra pages at Michaels that I could buy separately. When I got home, I checked online and nada. Lots of extra pages on the MAMBI site HERE but they’re all for the smaller sized Happy Planner.
So I did what any Scrapbook Obsessed girl would do. I Tweeted MAMBI:
@ScrapbookObsess: I just got the 8.5×11 Happy Planner. What can I use with it? Everything seems made for the smaller size. Punch, extra pages?
@mambitweets: All the CLASSIC sized accessories work inside the BIG planner, and NOTE: a bigger punch is coming. :)
@ScrapbookObsess: ETA on the bigger punch? I’d like full size pages so I’ll make my own or look for free printables. Thanks!
@mambitweets: No exact date as of now, but once we know, we’ll be sure to share! <3
So that’s another strike against keeping this planner, at least for now. My plan was to insert pages for notes, keeping track of blog and work goals, exercise and diet, and projects. Yes, it’s already bulky but because of the snazzy binder disc system, I can take out pages I am not currently using or am done with to thin it out.
Overall, I think the 8.5 x 11 Happy Planner by MAMBI is well-made, cute, and functional for the basics of life. It would be my dream planner if:
The week-at-a-glance pages had the days laid out horizontally instead of vertically so there was more room for my big handwriting
There were extra pages available to supplement what comes with the planner and/or …
A punch were available so I could make my own extra pages or utilize free printables
So I’m undecided for now if this is the planner for me. I may end up returning this one, then trying again in January when hopefully the larger punch is available. Thanks for reading!
Did you see my last post about a recent trip to Michaels? It was the first time I’d shopped there in a while so of course I had to do some damage.
Here’s a photo I took in the store while “in progress” of shopping. I thought it was funny that I had a color theme going :)
I ended up putting the washi tape back for another time because I found the MAMBI Happy Planners on an island in the back of the store. Here’s what I actually came home with (you can’t see it but the teal-colored Iris bin is still under there, lol):
The 12×12 Recollections album was too pretty to pass up. I love sea blue, watercolor, and chevrons. I scrapbook these days using D-ring albums by WRMK so I really didn’t “need” this album … but I wanted it. Ha! Now I need an excuse to do a theme album. Hmmm, beach photos maybe? Only $3.99.
All the Heidi Swapp “Insta” products were 40% off. I got these super cute clear stickers. I love these because you can put them right onto your photos, on the outside of your pocket page protector, or on your layout. When you take them off the sticker sheet, the colored parts are more transparent than you’d think by looking at them (which I like).
The Iris cases were not on sale and I’ve only bought clear ones so far because I like the consistency of look in my scrapbook room. But again – couldn’t pass up that pretty color. My “30% off every regular priced item” coupon was applied.
The MAMBI Happy Planners were not on sale either – bummer. And this large 8.5 x 11 size isn’t cheap: $34.99. At least the 30% off coupon helped. I’ll be looking online to see if I can get some add-on pages. This planner goes from July 2016-December 2017 so I have a little time to “get organized.” Eh? See what I did there?
Changing gears, here’s just a pic of some cute stuff in the dollar bins at Target:
I didn’t get anything but thought you might like to see some of what’s there.
As a total side note, I got these pretty binders recently for my home office. The two multi-colored ones on the left were from Walmart. I can’t remember the price but I think they were under $5 each. The periwinkle blue binder and write-on page dividers were from Staples. My fab photography skeelz cut off the tabs on the right but you can see on the insert sheet that they have a half-pocket and are cute colors like lavendar, yellow, and green.
Are you sitting down? Because what I have to tell you is going to drop you if you’re standing:
I haven’t been to Michaels in over a month.
Say whuuut?! I know. What is this world coming to? Better question: How are they staying in business without me?
I finally made it over there because I’d heard tell that some of the items I wanted from CHA were spotted.
Because it’s been so long, I’ll give you a little tour of my Michaels, how some of the layout has changed, and what new things I saw.
The first endcap to the scrapbook section seems to always have Heidi Swapp stuff and this time was no exception. The Instax cameras have been around for a while, of course, but some of the HS “Insta” stuff was new. I saw those square albums at CHA (see my post HERE). I talked about that cute ocean Instax album HERE.
Everything was 40% off. Can you guess which item I snagged? Hint: It’s not one of the things I already mentioned.
The 12×12 paper pad section in my Mike’s has always been pretty small, maybe 1/4 of one side of an aisle. (I’ve been in another store where paper pads took up one whole side of an aisle and I was so jealous!). These 4 pads looked new – but none were my taste, so I was safe there. Phew!
This arrangement is fairly recent. From Left to Right, it used to be Martha Stewart for the first 3 or 4 panels, then the washi tapes. Now the washi has been moved to where Martha was and all this DIY party favor / papercrafting stuff sorted by color for the rest of the space. I have nothing against basics (there’s some cute washi and clothespins in there!) and was never much of an MS fan so this change is fine with me. I say that like Michaels Corporate gives a flock what I think, LOL.
Some of the famous washi tape sets are here on the bottom – so pretty! But I think I like the row above even better. Got my eye on that green set ;)
The Project Life section looked mostly the same. I think there are some new smaller sets on the top right since I was last here but none were up my alley. Again, phew!
Some cute new Studio G stamps on the side of an end cap. I just got rid of a bunch of “dollar stamps” in my last purge so I had to resist these and the page flags weren’t tempting. Not a color scheme I would use. Dodgin’ bullets, people!
So that’s where all the Martha Stewart went? An end cap by Project Life. Looked like it was all on clearance.
Another new item to my store were these Mambi Makers items, like the ones I saw at CHA. My scrapbooking criminal history contains a long record of buying project kits like these and then never making anything with them. Must. Resist.
More Instax including the “mini 8” which I hadn’t heard of before. And more Heidi Swapp.
This whole section used to be wood-mounted stamps and Tim Holtz, grungy stuff. I NEVER shop from this section so whatever. MORE Heidi Swapp! I wish they’d consolidate all her stuff into one place, for scrapbook sakes! Jeez.
Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!! MOOOOORE Heidi Swapp stuff on another end cap. Can we just change the name from “Michaels” to “Heidi’s” and call it a day? Everyone complains that Recollections is taking over Mike’s but I beg to differ.
This is now one whole side of an aisle of stickers by topic. Rad. It used to have a section of alpha stickers smack in the middle but they’ve been moved to the other side. Having all the embellishment stickers in one place makes me breathe easier. Ahhhh…. Ease and flow, ease and flow. Much better. And, yes, since you’re thinking it anyway, I’ll confirm that all the canned goods in my pantry have the label facing out. :P
New (to me) tiny washi rolls on the side of an end cap. Washi roll, washi roll, washi roll. Hee hee, that’s fun to say!
Here are the aforementioned alpha stickers. I have a lifetime supply of Thickers but even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t buy them from Michaels. Their buyer has a glitter addiction and I don’t do glitter. If I can help it. Sometimes glitter attacks and you have no choice, am I right?
Wowser, 12×12 albums on an end cap for only $3.99. I just purged a ton of postbound albums from my stash so it would be crazy to buy any more. Wellll, call me CRAZY! (Hangs head in shame …. mumbles “I’ll tell you about it later.”)
I don’t usually buy loose 12×12 paper at Michaels either but I took a peek. The white Recollections papers were the only ones that looked new to me.
So that takes care of the 3 scrapbooking aisles. Now for the “islands” (I think they’re called) in the back of the store. Here are all the items from the Recollections line of planners and supplies.
These are way too small for me but I love the varitey of colors and add-ons.
If I had a dime for every time I said this lately, I’d be on a scrapbook cruise and taking you with me!
Another island had all the pastel watercolor-y stuff called Made By Me by Recollections …
But the piece de la …. peace della … best flippin’ part were all these Happy Planners and accessories from MAMBI! Yep, I saw all this stuff at CHA and I’m excited it’s finally here to buy. Good timing too because this version is an 18-month planner starting in July – so it’ll carry you through the end of 2017. Yep, I just did math there. Not bad for an English major.
The smaller version of The Happy Planner above is also too small for me and I don’t like the gold discs.
However: This is the 8.5 x 11 version. I think I’m in love. Um, “Journey” AND a heart and teal blue (my favorite color) discs? SOLD! I don’t know if I even need this but SOLD!
I’ll show you what I walked out of the store with next time.
What was that you asked? Did I PAY first? Um, yeah. I know shoplifting is a problem at Michaels and that they won’t even chase or report you if you take their stuff but sure, I paid. Like I’d miss a chance to use sales and coupons? Yeah, right.
Well, the E-Bay’ers are going to be ticked. You know, the ones who saw the frenzy for these tapes that were sold in such small quantities at Michaels, so they’re selling for 3 to 4 times retail. Yeah, those ones.
Because I heard online that Michaels stores will finally be getting more of these tapes, perhaps due to customer requests!
If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s these (clickable links):
Shout out to Scrapaddict702 for sharing this photo! (She’s redsonic20 on IG; go check her out). I couldn’t find one online because the images on the Michaels site (see links above) weren’t shareable and all the ones from Etsy and Ebay listings had expired or weren’t good quality. Sorry, I couldn’t find a photo of the ombre ones but you can see them in the 2nd link to Michaels.com above.
These retail for $12.99 and of course with our handy-dandy 40% off coupon, that brings the price down to less than $8.00. While looking for photos to post, I saw them selling on E-Bay for $50!
I’m going to blame the Planner Girls for those wack-a-doodle prices because Scrapbookers simply don’t get “obsessive” enough to pay that much for supplies! I mean, really (eye roll).
(And I’m totally kidding, by the way. I’ve done way stranger things than pay $50 for $13 washi tape in my day. Believe you me).
So keep an eye on your Michaels if you were hoping to buy these Color Splash washi tubes. They’re on their way back soon!
I don’t know what happened and why they weren’t downloaded the last time I did my card. Maybe I glanced at them and thought they’d already been done. Who knows? Total blond moment either way.
Here’s my 3-part plan:
1. Create new blog entries for the booths I didn’t even realize I had photos for
2. For the booths I already did posts on, update those with the new pics.
3. Write a new blog post with all the found photos in one place
No. 3 is for those of you who already read the original CHA 2016 posts. That way you don’t have to wade through them all again to see the new pics.
This will take a while because I have 87 photos to edit first so don’t be expecting this all tomorrow :)
I’m totally shaking my head at myself. Sheesh. How do I operate on a daily basis? LOL. Looking back, I *was* pretty sleep-deprived around CHA time. Yep, that’s what I’m going to blame it on: lack of sleep.
And, yes, in case you’re wondering, I CAN chew gum and walk at the same time. Unless it’s cinnamon flavor. Or a SQUIRREL! runs by. {Like you can do better! Sheesh}.
This is part of a series about the scrapbooking booths I visited at CHA 2016. If you’d like to see all the posts in the series, please click HERE.
Here’s the Project Life booth – yes, that’s Becky hidden back there!
Becky was busy talking the whole time I was visiting so I didn’t bug her. I was lucky enough to speak with her when I was at CHA 2 years ago. She’s as lovely as you think she is.
I did get to talk with Molly who was amazing. She’s worked with Becky for I think less than a year and absolutely loves it. {I told her she has “our” dream job!}.
We joked about how we buy lots of the Project Life kits, then have been so busy with work it’s hard to find the time to use them up. I’ll bet we aren’t alone, are we girls?
Here’s a closer look at the “Inspire” Theme Kit with the rows of hearts {above, third from left}. Love the stitching!
I asked if they had any planner products other than the ones I’d bought way back when. She showed me some planner items that I wasn’t aware of, although they weren’t new for CHA.
She was most excited about their new Instax line with albums, page protectors, Instax lenses you can pop on, etc. {Look over her right shoulder!} Molly said that when someone asks her about planner supplies, she directs them toward the Instax line because the items can be used for both – little embellishments, washi tape strips, acrylic embellishments, etc.
I just realized Molly’s outfit totally matched the green with black and white polka dots planner in the photo above. Hmm, coincidence or savvy dressing?? Love it.
They had mostly Project Life core kits in the booth that had already been released except for this one called “Currently.”
“Explore” has been out for a bit.
All the products including the Instax page protectors, 6×8 album protectors, planner supplies – everything works in everything except for the tiny Instax album. Everything else is interchangable from album to album. See the tiny little Instax pink and blue albums up top? Stinkin’ cute.
I told Molly that my Project Life storage Pin is my most popular Pin of over 2,200 of ’em I have and she wanted to see it and to follow my Pinterest. She looked it up while we were talking; made me feel special :).
I leave you with more pretties from the Project Life booth.
First of all, what is Notions? They’re “the world’s largest creative arts distributor.” Companies like Notions are kind of a “one stop shop” for scrapbook stores where they can order products from multiple companies at once – as opposed to placing a separate order with each manufacturer.
For instance, a scrapbook store could get the new lines from 4 different companies at one time as opposed to placing separate orders with those 4 companies.
Here are some of the scrapbooking items they carry.
I visited the booth and spoke to Jim Spicer, Sales Account Representative. He told me about Notions and how they’re a benefit to scrapbook retailers.
I asked him how business was going and he said that Notions is expanding their warehouse space. They’ve been in business for over 75 years and currently have over 150,000 products in stock. Keeping in mind that Notions serves all creative arts, not just scrapbooking, I think it still bodes well for our industry, don’t you?
Jim was kind enough to pose in front of another scrapbooking display :)
We had a great conversation about the crafting industry, including trends, diversification, etc. He said one of their most popular items for all markets is adult coloring books.
I asked Jim if he felt the scrapbooking industry was still declining or if it had leveled out. He said he doesn’t see the industry decreasing, just diversifying and spreading out into more areas – like coloring books, planners, art journaling, Bible journaling, etc. For example, we talked about the “Illustrated Faith” line by Bella Blvd.
It was great speaking with someone who has such a wide view of all the crafting industries and beyond.
This is one of my favorite scrapbooking companies so I was looking forward to visiting their booth.
I have the Carpe Diem planner (#TeamAqua) and some of the embellishments so I already knew I liked it. But seeing it in person was great.
I was also excited to see Simple Stories’ new travel line, the one Layle has been teasing us with. Looks great for tropical vacations, hangin’ by the pool layouts, etc.
With great timing for their own 5th birthday, Simple Stories came out with a new birthday line that’s so fun.
Loved this cute sample album to keep track of birthdays of family and friends.
Their existing winter/snow and love lines were even nicer in person.
One of Simple Stories’ brand new lines called “Hope.”
I’d hoped to say hi to Simple Stories’ owners Kevin and Amber who I got to meet at CHA 2 years ago. They also owned Memory Works where I was a scrapbooking consultant for several years. Unfortunately, they weren’t at the booth when I went by the first time {I’d seen them over talking to the My Minds Eye peeps a few minutes earlier}.
When I tried again, I spotted Layle Koncar and gabbed with her for a while – about planners, A5 punches, kit clubs, and other fun stuff. She’s such a neat person to talk to. Then Kevin and Amber came back but Kevin was with a customer and Amber was talking for quite a while to …. Cathy Zielske!
At one point, I kind of whispered to Layle, “That’s Cathy Z right behind you” ‘cuz I’m like freaking out but they’re old friends and have worked together a lot. It looked like Cathy was really digging the Carpe Diem planner items Amber was showing her :)
Then Vicki Boutin walked up and joined our conversation. She’s #TeamPlatinum. Another super nice person, easy to talk to.
So that was my visit to the Simple Stories booth at CHA 2016.
My favorite thing from from Heidi Swapp was the awesome Lightbox! You can personalize the message and design. Can’t wait to see these in person. Again, “C’monnnnn, Michaels. I’m counting on you!”
This is part of a series about the scrapbooking booths I visited at CHA 2016. If you’d like to see all the posts in the series, click HERE.
Disclaimer about my photos: The lighting at CHA is HORRIBLE for amateur phototaking. It’s held in a dimly lit and huge exhibit hall with spotlights here and there. If you don’t use your flash, you get what I got. If you DO use your flash, you get glare from all the packaging not to mention disturbing the crowd of people in the booth. I wish I had better photos but I did the best I could with editing them. I hope you can at least get an idea of what the products are like! (95% taken with Nikon Coolpix P100 and 5% with iPhone 6+)
My first stop after checking in at the Craft and Hobby Association 2016 show was the MAMBI booth. They’re one of my favorite companies because of their fun colors, fabulous fonts, and everyday scrapbooking topics.
This was one of the outside display windows. Obviously, the Create 365 Happy Planners have been a BIG product for MAMBI this year!
Papercrafting, Embellishments, and MAMBI Makers, which are DIY projects like photo cubes and canvases.
I hope that pack with the star comes to Michaels ;)
The very nice Charon Thurman from MAMBI showed me around the booth. We got into a great discussion about the MAMBI planners. She said it’s been a huge seller for them. I was telling her how, in my online entrepreneur circles, it seems everyone is going back to using paper planners, even those of us who are considered techie and are on the computer all day. And that’s probably why …. ‘cuz we’re on the computer all day, LOL.
Charon said that planners make perfect sense for scrapbookers because we’re tactile people who like to interact with our surroundings. Well, actually, she said something really profound and beautiful along those lines and afterward I said, “I wish I’d been recording you because what you just said was AWESOME!” I totally see why they have Charon work the floor. She’s guuuuud.
This is an example of the add-ons they have like Wedding and this is Exercise. So you can extend the use of your planner beyond just work and home.
I opened the Wedding one on the left. I’m not planning a wedding (happily married for over 20 years) but pages like this made me see that it would be a fun place to memorialize all the details of your wedding (like what vendors you used). Maybe this is where I could finally slap down all the brochures and receipts I saved from our wedding too? Hmmm…
More planner goodies …
Me likee this washeeeee . . .
This punch caught my eye – would be great to have for inserting random pages, printables, etc.
And Charon was wearing one of these snazzy pen holders on her badge. The pink heart one is my fave.
See how it says $2.50? Scrapbook products are typically marked up 50% so this will probably retail for $4.99. On the one hand, you may think “50%!! We’re being robbed!” On the other hand, think about how many pen holders a scrapbook store has to sell just to pay the light bill each month. It’s a hard, hard biz, people.
Back to our scheduled programming. Here are some alphas.
You know how I’m always complaining about the scrapbooking industry having no love for us Silver Girls and that it’s always GOLD GOLD GOLD everywhere?
PROOF:
Five gold alphas and one stinkin’ silver one. The pain is real, yo’.
New Paper pads . . .
. . . with all the papers spread out and displayed here:
Say goodbye to the MAMBI booth – that’s it!
I took over 200 photos at CHA (in 5 hours, wow!). I couldn’t post close-ups of everything but if there are items you’d like a closer look at, please leave a Comment on this post and I’ll edit the photo(s) so you can see better :) Just another service provided by your friends at Scrapbook Obsession. Okay, well, it’s just me but I wanted to sound important.
She was most excited about their new Instax line with albums, page protectors, Instax lenses you can pop on, etc. {Look over her right shoulder!} Molly said that when someone asks her about planner supplies, she directs them toward the Instax line because the items can be used for both – little embellishments, washi tape strips, acrylic embellishments, etc.
All the products including the Instax page protectors, 6×8 album protectors, planner supplies – everything works in everything except for the tiny Instax album. Everything else is interchangable from album to album. See the tiny little Instax pink and blue albums up top? Stinkin’ cute.
