Behind The Shop is an ongoing series that features our talented and devoted sho owner community. Each time, we talk one-on-one with a shop owner/s to hear first hand what shop life is all about. Whether it’s a new shop that just came onto the scene or a popular community favorite – we want to share more about their journeys and stories with you.

In 2015, Diana Velazquez left her full time job, due to personal reasons, but knew she needed something else that would allow her to be creative and bring herself joy. After purchasing her first ever planner (Erin Condren), she discovered the planner community and the world of decorative planning.  Diana was immediately hooked and decided to embark on the journey of designing, creating and selling planner stickers. She hit the ground running, did tons of research and taught herself all about sticker making. She opened her shop on Etsy and Sugary Gal Shop was born.

Over the years, Sugary Gal Shop has grown and evolved along with the planner community offering a variety of stickers and products. The signature Lady D character is a popular favorite among shop fans. Her recent collaborations with Paper House have allowed her to create even more products and have her designs for sale in Michaels Stores. Diana has made life long friends throughout the community and has started her own annual planner conference in New York – SGS New York Planner Conference. 

We had a chance to talk one-on-one with Diana all about her behind the shop life and some sneaks about the upcoming virtual SGS New York Planner Conference.  Take a listen to our chat:

THE SHOP 

Sugary Gal Shop has hundreds of stickers including weekly kits, functionals, popular phrases, icons and digital products. Lady D, originally based on a television character, has evolved over the years into a real glam girl that can do all the things. Diana designs her to be inclusive and represent all women with a variety of skin tones and hair colors. She is a best seller and one of the iconic characters in the planner community. The shop offers stickers and kits (not only Lady D) specially designed to fit a variety of planner sizes with themes ranging from decorative to seasonal to pop culture and more. 

THE COLLABORATION with Paper House 

In 2018, Diana was asked to do her first collaboration with Paper House and created a full Lady D sticker book (30 pages) that is available on their website. One year later, Paper House asked Diana to collaborate on a very special collection featuring ten amazing artists from the planner community, called This Is Us. The collection was created with the mission of embracing uniqueness, celebrating diversity and respect for others. It was designed to inspire us all to support each other in our everyday lives and was sold in retail stores through a partnership with Michaels Stores.  This summer, Diana will be collaborating with Paper House again on a project that is just wrapping up. Stay tuned! 

THE CONFERENCE 

SGS New York Planner Conference is held annually in New York at a hotel in Times Square. This year, due to the pandemic, the conference will be held virtually for the first time. The conference will take place via Zoom on September 11, 2021. There will be a list of speakers, workshops, sponsors, games, prizes, shopping and SWAG! Diana wanted to make sure attendees have the same great experience online as they get in person. Attendees will also be able to interact with speakers and break out into rooms to chat and shop planner goodies. They will also be receiving a special swag box in advance at home. There is a limited number of tickets available for the event. Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 29th at 2:00 pm EST.

Be sure to follow Sugary Gal Shop for all the latest product releases and conference updates: 

Etsy Shop

Instagram

Conference Instagram 

Facebook