Let's Begin! What Works, What Does Not:

I'm going to first start by saying that as I am typing this, I am watching re-runs of Martha Stewart Living and bitch just took a selfie with a huge Polaroid camera before it was a thing. She was also using an amazing Fiskars cutting board, cute cut-out craft punches and is all around amazing.
I know that Martha would have made these inserts in far less time then it took me.
Starting my personalized Agenda journey, I began my day by stocking up on the paper products necessary to create some dividers (hopefully to accompany my inserts which were purchased on Etsy and should arrive tomorrow via USPS!). Michael's had a great sale on their Recollection's collection which includes washi, paper products, cutting tools, etc.

My loot.
I tend to go overboard with these Recollection's sales because I've found that some locations don't honor all of the products the same way, which is extremely annoying. So I stock up once and then am good for quite some time. Plus, I just wanted ALL of the paper I could get my hands on because I was overly eager to laminate everything!!!
Below is an overview of the process I went through making my own dividers for the first time. There was a bit of trial and error and sure, a bit of frustration. All in all, I am happy with the result and know the process can only improve from here on.

I definitely was ambitious starting with a design that was smack dab in the middle of a piece of paper. But I went for it.

Totally failed, but I tried again, this time with a pattern. Success!!

I really went for it and made these dividers double sided. I wasn't quite sure how well the laminator was going to like that... But it did its job in the end. Again, I started out quite ambitious. I had a vision and not a very clear idea of how to achieve it. But I digress.
One set back was punch prep I had done with the best intentions. The laminator did not seal as close to the paper as I envisioned, leaving far more space that I had to cut around. I had marked in pencil the holes for the punch to make it easier after lamination but this ended up not being the ultimate area that was punched. You learn, you live. It was not a dashboard page, it is still cute. It will still go in the planner!
I am amazed at how bulky the laminator seems to make the dividers so far. I can't wait to really master that seal so that I can cut them down more closely. I will get there, I am determined.

Continuing on, I made two more pages, one becoming the dashboard page. The last two things I laminated together to make as little bookmark-esq inserts. Whatever, they were cute, I still had the energy.

All in all, I am pleased. I am ready to tackle more projects and I have learned a thing or two for next time.
Such as:
I am in need of a new double sided tape runner because I could only find my refill (spoiler alert: you can't use that as a temp tape runner) and it would have been super useful while doing double sided dividers.
I really hate xacto knives.
The guillotine style paper cutters? Not good for projects like this.
I really need a ruler and cannot find one anywhere.

Until the inserts arrive!

-Courtney