I've been planning most of my life.  In Elementary school we were given Planners to keep our parents involved in our school work and to make sure that we were bringing home everything we needed to each night.  Our Parents would sign the planners to prove we had done all that we were supposed to. We would take our planners back to school for the teacher to give us a sticker of completion.  I would often use the stickers I received (plus some of my own Lisa Frank stickers) in my planners and create little scenes for my parents/teachers to see my accomplishments.

When I was in college I decided to continue using a planner, but our school did not provide us with one.  I first used a Lily Pulitzer because she had a line of really gorgeous products that my sorority used.  A couple years later she stopped carrying that style so I went to Target on the hunt for the next thing. At the end of the isle was a collection of planners from BlueSky.  Picking out a 2 year planner, I created my plans for Graduate School and began preparing for my wedding.  After getting married I needed something with a little more space so I picked up a desk planner from Walmart.  I just wasn't satisfied.  One day I went to Michales to grab the 50,000 skeins of yarn that I totally didn't need and decided to walk around and check out what else they had.  I remember rounding the corner and seeing the aisle of planners with heart shaped discs.  I looked at it and thought...Theres no way I could use one of those.  It's too cute.  I would tear it up. 

 

A couple months later, my best friend and I were at a new Michales in the City.  It was HUGE!  It was two stories and had an escalator to get to the second floor.  What?!!  I couldn't believe it.  We went upstairs and there it was.  The Mecca of planners.  They had taken over an entire section of the room that had 2 full aisles as well as a floor display.  There were hundreds of options.  This time I couldn't pass it up.  My best friend and I decided that these planners were what we needed and spent the next hour looking through everything.  Gosh, I miss those days.  I mean literally, there was product up to the ceiling, hanging on the wall, inserts and covers and folders to customize your planer, and then all kinds of planners to choose from.  We kept going back and forth.  She ended up getting a phone call so we had to cut our time short.  I honestly could have stayed there for another hour looking through everything.  Did I say that it was amazing?  It was truly magical.

 

I started using my planner for work and wrote in the activities that we would do with my youth group.  It wasn't until a year later that I would purchase a sticker book and start using them to note my to-do's, work days, meal plan, and exercise.  I had no idea about the creative community that existed on social media.  One day I was looking at planners at the store and saw there was an insert that said to find them on Facebook.  Usually I would just ignore those, but I figured I should check it out.  Maybe they would have pictures of some of their other planners for sale.  When I went to the site I read something about watching their latest YouTube video.  At the time I didn't really use Youtube.  Shocking, I know!  I watched a video from a new planner release that YouTube suggested for me.  

 

Oh. My. Word.  I was hooked.

 

I was instantly in love and knew that I had to find the stickers, accessories, and planner goodies they used in their videos. I didn't realize that all those years ago as a child I was a decorative planner!  I went back to Michaels and grabbed a few items...and the rest is History. 

I absolutely love Planning.  They bring me JOY and help me plan a life that I love.  Paper planners help keep my life in order, and my favorite part has been connecting with other decorative planners in the community.  Something unique about me that you might not know is that I am a storm chaser. I use planners to track where we are going, where we have been, and the important info I need to know when I am on a chase.  I also love to document the storm by taking photos so I put those in my Memory Keeper Planner.  Another unique thing about me is that I really like ASMR.  Not so much the clicking and soft drags across a microphone, but the sound of paper and stickers coming off the page.  No talking, just all the noises associated with planning.

I know that sounds crazy, but if you haven't seen it yet, check out my IG (@Just_Starkey) and you will see just how cool it is.  

 

In 2021 I decided that I wanted to start my own little shop full of planner things.  I created some stickers, die cuts, and I made earrings.  From the very beginning my shop was different than the others because I wanted to offer handmade products.  The Happy Planner got me into this community, but once I stated making friends I wanted to make things for them that would make their planner experience even better.  This last year I expanded Just Starkey to be Stickers, Crafts, and Faith.  I released my 2nd book with the Faith Box and encouraged all who read to "Do the Thing" that they've always wanted.  This is just the beginning and I can't wait to go deeper into this dream of mine.  Planning and Faith are so important to me.  I

hope I can make items that help in those areas! 

 

Now that you've read all about me, please consider subscribing to my YouTube and IG so we can keep this party going! 

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