Creative Filofax - homemade dividers

I bought this A5 domino on eBay before Christmas and have finally had a chance to start work on it. So here are the beginnings of a creative goldmine!

I really like using a cordinated set of papers for dividers so it all ties in. By the way... the mustardy colour in the photos is actually a very fresh green...

Sections are:
Crafts
Colour combos
Writing
Interiors
Projects
(A blank tab that might have wishlists in...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filofax spring clean!

I decided the other day to take everything out of my personal Filofax (daily use filofax) and reorganise. I had loads of stuff in it I never even looked at or used, and wanted my whole year's diary in there so I had a shuffle and a sort out.

 

I ordered some paper online that went nicely with the colour of my Filofax (I've got a Grape domino, it looks like lavendar in the picture though). I made some brand new dividers and set myself 6 tabs instead of 13!!

I made a front cover sheet as well to coordinate with the other papers.

 

And with days of searching for cute sticky tabs, I just got some basic ones and used my individual typewriter font stamps to mark the months in my diary.

 

 

Have you noticed I always craft in my pyjamas?!

Month of No Blogging... Forgive Me! Here's what I've been up to...

Apologies for my absence from my blog but I have been very busy with a number of projects. My boyfriend went to America for 10 days in January and I'd decided my project to keep me busy would be to clean and organise the house.

After SUPER planning, here are the results... (imagine it was really messy and disorganised previously...)

Our living/kitchen/dining area (spot the Filofax on the coffee table!):

 

 

This is an Ikea Expedit (my favourite piece of furniture, because it's so versatile...) which I added a door to one of the cubes to make our drinks cabinet :) The handle is in the shape of a rose.

 

 

 

And then we had some snow, so I took some photos... (on my Windows phone might I add... very impressed with the quality!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I decided to tackle the home office, which I am so happy with. This room floods with light which makes it perfect for crafting. The boyfriend installed a shelf above the desk so I'd have more surface space to spread my crafty crap out.

 

 

 

Super tidy bookases...

 

 

And that's how tidy our house is now! It makes me feel so much better knowing where everything is and that I've got rid of all the stuff I never actually wanted.

 

 

Starting the Creative Filofax

I know I said a few weeks ago I was going to start making my Creative filofax with my A5 domino but this time of year is so hectic, I just haven't had the time. However, I had a half day at work today so I came home and tried to work on it.

It went well for a few hours, here are the results:

 

I cut down the paper from my old craft folder and punched the pages to fit my A5.

 

 

I took out all of the inserts that came with the filofax, laid them out on the desk and then chose what I wanted in each section and which dividers I would use.

 

 

I made a list of the sections I wanted so I knew what to write on my tabs.

 

 

I made my tabs...

 

 

... using scraps from my paper box!

 

 

I added some bits and bobs I had that I want to add but have run out of double sided tape *gasp*! These are colour combinations cut out of a magazine.

 

 

I started writing some prompts for my life story project.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Creative Planner

My lovely A5 Domino in black arrived last week, and I have been researching different ideas to make sure I get the most use out of my planner.

Previously I set up a crafts journal. I bought an interiors journal from Paperchase, divided it into sections, decorated the cover and made my own tabs. That was about two years ago. The book is still empty. So there's proof that this idea didn't work so well. It wasn't inspiring enough, and I hadn't taken the time to really consider what I personally need to be able to bring out my creative side.

The interiors journal from Paperchase was similar to this Wellbeing one. It seems they don't stock the range of social books they used to, so I was lucky to have had this brain wave a few years ago, even if it's now a fail.

 

Here is where the fail becomes a win though. You know the bigger the Filofax you buy, the more expensive the inserts and paper are? Well I decided I would turn my craft planner fail into something beautiful. So I dismantled my Paperchase journal.

 

 

 

 

The paper you get in the journal is excellent. A nice quality, and you get a combination of lined, plain and grid paper. This is perfect for a crafts/interiors/writing journal. I took all the pages from the spiral bound planner, trimmed the old holes off and punched new holes. Below is a picture of the new pages in my Filofax.

 

 

 





You also get various different A5 size plastic pockets, which are brilliant. Some of them are 4x6" photo sized, some are full A5 size, some have half pockets and there is one full length zip close pocket too. Perfect! I trimmed and punched these as well.

 

 

 

Now is the difficult part... sorting out the specific sections, and making my tabs look creative and inspiring. I don't want to go over the top as it might distract me from looking outside the box, but I do want some colour and fun.

 

This is my front cover as you open the binder...

 

 

And this is the back of that page.

 

 

Here's some stuff I've collected that I want to put in my binder...

 

 

My Domino Family

I think I have decided what I'm going to use my Dominos for.

So far, the family consists of a mummy, my personal domino in Grape, and two babies (or pocket size) in chocolate and lavender.

 

You'll be pleased to know, the babies have found their long lost grandma, the A5 domino. I've been so tempted to buy an A5 for a while now, and knew I wanted a domino because they're so versatile and they hold so many pages. She is black, and I'm going to use her for my crafting and writing.





















I'm positive I can use the whole family at once, and here's how:

Black A5 - Crafting/Writing Filofax
Grape Personal - everday diary and planner/organiser
Lavender Pocket - my song lyrics
Chocolate Pocket - either song lyrics binder 2, or colour combinations binder

The Crafting binder will have 5 sections, fairly simple. Projects, Inspiration, Information, Notes and Writing. I do a lot of thinking, and I used to write a lot about what was on my mind. I think having somewhere nice to store my thoughts would be very beneficial. The projects tab will hold all of the projects I'm in the middle of (for instance my Life Story project, where I need to write notes about everything in my life so far before I transfer the information to the book), inspiration (images of handmade cards, scrapbook pages and interior design schemes), information (different kinds of window dressings and paint types for interior design, different techniques for cardmaking), notes section will be just that, notes. I wanted a different coloured Domino really, I was thinking green or blue, spring colours, as they inspire me, so I will probably be decorating the domino's cover somehow.

Personal Grape will stay as she is, she works very well.

Lavender Pocket - I do a lot of songwriting, I have recorded ten demo CDs in the past 10 years (yes, since I was 14, full of angst you see!) All of the cds have about ten songs on, I thought it'd be really handy to have my lyrics in pocket size, and the pocket domino actually fits perfectly in the secret compartment in my guitar case... so this was an obvious choice really! I can also keep business cards in the front for any venues or instrument suppliers I like.

The chocolate pocket will be used eventually but will probably be a back-up for now. Colour combinations might go in the A5 as another section, but I thought it'd be nice to have a colour combination per pocket page as a little flip book rather than several on an A5 page. Or,  might use her as a baking journal... the posibilities are endless really!

It's really important for me to keep my hobbies going, sometimes when we grow up and start a full time job it's easy to lose sight of the things that once kept us busy and happy in our spare time. I'm not trying to stay young, I just want to hold on to the things that make me happy, and being creative (and baking) make me happy!

Using Filofax for Design

I have been pondering getting back to my interior design roots. I worked for an interior design company for three and a half years but unfortunately had to leave due to disagreements with the management (in short...). So, have any of you lovely people used your Filofax for interior design, redecorating your home, recording paint colours you like?

I found some inspirational images on the web:

Courtesy of HomeKlondike.com

 

Courtesy of abeautifulmess.com

 

Courtesy of curiositaellya.blogspot.co.uk

 

Courtesy of decor8blog.com

 

Colour Combinations Filofax

I have two empty pocket Domino's which I have tried to sell but no one was interested. So, I decided rather than leave them empty, I would find uses for them. I have decided I am going to use the lavender one as a colour combinations Filofax, as I make a lot of cards and do scrapbooking, and am always trying to think of which colour combinations to use.

I started by searching the web for inspiration. I was just going to do the whole Filofax with no dividers, just opages of colour combinations... (Images are Courtesy of a blog I found from a Papertrey Ink user).

Then I thought it'd be nice to do some tabs for other card making inspiration and bits...

 

I also found some really nice websites where you can create colour combinations. I can then print these out and add them into my binder.

 

(Picture courtesy of Photo Card Boutique)

 

Has anyone else used their Filofax for creative purposes?

 

 

New Dividers

As requested here are some pictures of my new dividers I made with my card from Inspire me papers.

I would have liked the card to be a bit thicker but it's not too bad as I laminated the card to make it stronger and more durable. I was thinking of ordering some pretty postcards to put in the different sections but at the moment don't have the money to do so, and might get on fine without these anyway.

I was also thinking of making some 'Today' rulers with the coloured card I have left over, to bookmark particular pages in each section.

I added the text with some rub on letters I had, they were just cheap stationery ones from WHSmiths.

 

 

 

Card arrived for my Filofax dividers!

I bought this card from Inspire Me papers, the colours are really cheerful and exactly what I wanted.

I was going to buy some rub on alphabet transfers in white to add the subjects to the tabs, I think this will be the easiest and neatest way, I just need to find some small enough!

How have you added text to your tabs?

Using Embossing Powders on the Domino

I have a Personal Domino in Grape which I love, but sometimes I think the cover is a bit plain. I have a pocket lavendar domino so I decided to test out a technique on the cover.

I used heat embossing powder, the one I used is Blonde Moments embossing powder in sugar pink lustre. It has a really lovely shimmer to it.

You just stamp your design onto the cover, shake some embossing powder over the top as quick as you can so the ink doesn't dry out, and shake off the excess. Then you can heat the surface so it seals into place.

Christmas Inserts Pack

As requested by the Facebook Group, here's a link to download my 8 page Christmas planner pack.

Includes:
- Cover page
- Christmas gifts list
- Christmas cards list
- Christmas budget
- Christmas supplies list
- Dining checklist
- Menu planner
- Christmas notes

Click here to download Christmas Pack - personal size

Click here to download Christmas Pack - A5 size

=)

Some Ideas for Custom Inserts

It seems custom inserts are in demand at the moment. I've found my own inserts very useful in keeping me organised, and it's also helped me find things in my filofax as I've colour coded my sections (I aim to tidy this up, at the moment I have purple, orange, blue, green, yellow and red but I want different colours for each section - 15 in total!)

I'm going to produce some new templates every month as a pack, e.g this month will be a pack to keep you organised at Christmas. I need to work out how to set up a downloadable files section on my blog so you don't have to directly request, you can just download to your hearts content!

Will post as soon as I've done the November pack, and if you have any requests please leave a comment below!