New Filofax Diary Pages

As promised here are some new Filofax diary page designs. If you would like the free Word Documents please email me at twilight_raven_@hotmail.co.uk or comment on this post. If you have any requests please also comment or email =)

The Word documents are fully editable so you can change the fonts, sizing, layouts, and change the text so you can  print a whole year's worth of inserts!

Happy printing!

1. Paisley Flower Sepia
2. Paisley Flower Pink
3. Paisley Love



Printing Your Own Filofax Diary 101

I have had some messages on Facebook about how to print your own inserts. I really think the only way to get what you want is to make it yourself (or spend hours of your life trying to find it online, only to realise it's discontinued!)

1. What paper should I use?
If you already have a Filofax hole punch, patience, and some kind of craft knife or guillotine, then you can use any A4 or office paper (or even coloured craft paper) to make your Filofax pages. As mentioned you do need a lot of patience if you're printing a whole diary.

I opted for buying a budget value pack of 100 sheets of plain personal sized paper which is pre-punched. The paper has a nice silky feel to it so your inserts will have a super nice quality to them. You can buy them here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013NFSLY/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00) and obviously they're pre-cut to size so that saves a few more hours/days of precious time.

2. Setting up your template on MS Word
I used MS Word to set up my template. It was very easy, although I'm quite used to messing around with MS Word. All you need to do is follow these steps:

2a) Page Size: Go to Page Layout > Size > Custom (or more paper sizes) > set the page width to 9.5cm and the height to 17.1cm. This is the size for personal. To find other sizes just pop onto the Filofax website.

2b) Margins: Go to Page Layout > Margins > Custom Margins > Set the top and bottom margins to 0.6cm each, or the minimum it will let you. Set the side of the paper you are putting holes on, to 1.5cm, and set the opposite side (with no holes) to the minimum it will let you.

2c) Orientation: Portrait. I've found my printer doesn't like printing on the pages landscape, but yours might be different.

If you're struggling setting up your own template, go onto the Philofaxy Files page and you will find some really useful ones there.

3. What printer do I need?I use a HP printer where you can load the paper from the top. As long as your printer has the facility to move the page margin on the actual printer tray then it should be fine, but obviously print a tester page before you send 50 pages to print! (This is basically to hold the Filofax paper in place so it doesn't go on the wonk when it feeds down to print.)



 4. Overcoming the kerfuffle of 'which way does the paper go in??'
Ok, this may be hard to explain in words but I'll give it a go...

On this image of a diary page you can see the left hand page has holes on the right side, and the right hand page has holes on the left. Basically you need to make sure that your weekly outlook is laid out like this (unless you prefer a different layout!)

So, for instance, if you want a full week on your left page and a task list on your right, on teh back of the December page would be the task list for the week before, and on the back of the January page would be the following full week. I'm so sorry if you don't get this, I'm trying really hard to explain!

So, my printer (shown above) means I have to put the paper in upside down, as the top of the page prints first. You can figure this out quite easily using a sheet of A4 scrap paper. Just doodle some holes on one edge of the paper (like a giant Filofax page) to test how your printer prints.

Then when you want to print on the other side of the page you just printed on, make sure it still prints head first with the holes on the correct side. It does involve some concentration but the results are great.

So, we're all done here! And if you want some lovely new diary pages please have a look at my next post....

Fixing My Planner Fail

I decided the Paperchase week on two pages was not working for me, as I usually have more to-dos in a week than I do appointments, and the to-dos were just getting lost in a big awful mess with all the other things going on in my week. So, as you saw in my previous posts, I decided to make my own planner pages using one of the templates from Philofaxy.

Unfortunately though, I felt they were a little plain. I thought about colour coding and scheduled in my appointments and to-dos for next week, but I found it a bit of a pain having to switch pens all the time and lugging around six different pens.

So I scrapped that idea.

For most of today I've been playing around with Photoshop and designed this lovely beauty! I can't wait to print it out and test it, I've already tested the format and it works really well for me. I love the little doodle!

If anyone would like a diary for next year designed for you please let me know, I really enjoyed putting this together. I might change the colours of the doodle for different months just to add some different colours, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Will do another post once I've printed and filled in some of the pages :)

Uniball Pens Review

In one of my blog posts I mentioned that I was looking into colour coding my diary for various subjects. I ordered some Uniball Fine Eye pens which arrived today. I have used these pens before and they're really nice to write with.

Here's a picture showing the different ink colours:

And here's how I plan to store them in my Filofax, not sure how well this is going to work but we'll see! I've clipped them onto the business card holder at the front.

New Inserts: How Am I Getting On?

You may have seen my picture heavy posts showing my new custom inserts for my Filofax. Here are some pictures of how I'm getting on with them.

First up is my meal planner. Me and the boyfriend sit down on a Friday night after dinner (I know, what tame, sensible 20-something year olds we are...) and plan our meals from the following week. We top up our weekly food and spending budgets on a Friday so our meal plan goes from Saturday to Thursday. On Fridays we have what we call kiddy dinners, which is basically something with chips and beans, or peas! (Think fish fingers, chicken dippers, etc...)

Underneath the meal plan there's a shopping list. You can see the one below has been used while shopping. It's really useful!

I will apologise in advance for mentioning the C word... (Christmas, that is...) but I started to think about gift wrap and packaging. As we're usually hard up on cash around Christmas (as everyone is), we usually make chutney and crackers to give to family. It's fun to make and I get to be crafty and make the packaging! I made a list of the different ideas I had and different items I'd found that we could use for the chutneys this year. I've also made a Christmas to-do list and a list to jot down who I need to write thank you notes to.

Testing a New Diary Layout - Filofax

I realised last night that my current diary is not working because everything looks so jumbled up and confusing. I asked on Filofax for Philofaxy Fans facebook page what others' ideas were for making things look less confusing. Some of you colour code, some of you use better designed diary pages, some of you add in an extra notes page between diary pages for those extra to-do's.

I spent an hour or so this evening making my own diary inserts for next year and decided to trial them for two weeks this year to see how I get on.

The picture above is from a template I found on Philofaxy. I have events and schedule on the left page and to-dos for days of the week on the right.

I'm going to get these pens as well, I have one already in purple and one in black and they write really nicely. As my dividers are colour coded, I will use the following colours to indicate different things:



Purple - general schedule, work, health
Orange - money, travel, car
Red - notes, home, special dates
Green - bills, social
Blue - creative, entertainment
Yellow (or black as yellow doesn't show up well) - food, shopping











Will let you know how I get on in two weeks, and once I get my lovely pens!

Sunday Web Finds

A collection here of lovely things I have found on my lazy Sunday today, searching the web. 

Firstly, these super cute vintage trick or treat bags from Pedlars, £1

Cute little Christmas elves stickers from Paperchase, £1.50

Sparkly Alice in Wonderland stationery!! From Etsy seller windrosie, £8.31/$12.95 for 5.

Adorable glittery bubble stickers from Accessorize, various designs £1.50 a sheet

Tooth fairy receipts designed by Jessica Yeo, Etsy seller Noccioladesign

Custom Inserts

I have spent some time over the past few weeks printing my own inserts. I ordered a pack of budget plain personal sized paper (pre-punched, single sheets, not the expensive perforated paper Filofax sell on their website). I thought I would have a go printing on the single sheets and it really is so incredibly quick and easy, no fuss, and no confusion as to how to load the paper!

You can also easily print on both sides of the paper, and it's easy to adjust the margins on MS Word so the writing doesn't interfere with the holes.

By the way, these are my new dividers, I cut them from A4 plastic dividers I've had for ages (got them from Woolworths!) As much as I loved my old dividers they were getting very tatty. As my plastic dividers are different colours, I am colour coding my sections, so the heading on my custom inserts matches the divider.

 

Check out how much room is left in the Filofax after I've shoved all my crap in it! On the right are my contact pages. I don't have that many addresses so I made brand new inserts and filled them in myself with my teenie tiny writing. Also used a Frixion pen as people move lots. You can see here the word 'Contacts' matches the green divider.

 

Creativity section is mostly music related. Music wishlist, music to Spotify,  etc.

 

Monthly bills information all in one place, all my account numbers and telephone numbers etc. within easy reach. Red section is for Home stuff, so here you can see my cleaning routine, and measurements of all our furniture.

Orange section is for travel, we are hoping to save up to go on holiday so I have made some inserts to jot down any hotels I find on the internet which might be good options. Also a packing list which I can re-use if I fill in with my Frixion pen, and short weekend plans (we are going to Southampton in November to see a band, so I will note down our hotel info etc.)

In the purple section I have my medical/health info, I have made a sheet to detail my contact details, blood type, doctor dentist and optician details and any allergies I have and medication I am on. Sorry about the rubbish picture but for obvious reasons can't show this page!

I also have a fitness tracker. I own an exercise bike (ok, it is in the garage...) but am hoping to get a bit fitter as at the moment the most exercise I get is walking to and from the car!

Also have an appointments log in this section so I can track any doctor's appointments I have had. I think it's quite important to keep track of your medical issues or problems and then you can see where you might need to improve on health and fitness.

One of my favourite sections... Food! I printed some meal planners, used one of these last weekend when I did the food shopping and it was really useful to see at a glance what we were going to have for dinner each week night, and where in the supermarket we would find the stuff we needed. We always plan ahead with our food as it seems easier and makes it easier to budget.

Also have restaurant contacts in this section, and a few 'emergency recipes' like bolognese sauce and chilli con carne... things I often get started while my partner is on his way back from work.

Talking of work... it's the work section! I have made an annual leave planner for the remainder of this year and next year, boyfriend has to book all his holidays at once so it's good to record these in one place as we both have sieve heads!

Also have a performance reviews record... these are basically meetings with my boss, and she will tell me where I need to improve and what I'm doing well. It's just so I can remember what has been said and if I am improving on my performance at work.

I don't do much overtime but thought it would be a good idea to track when I have done overtime to make sure my pay comes through correct. My partner does a lot of overtime so I will probably print one of these to keep track of his overtime... You know with men, if you don't do it for him it probably won't get done!

I have a section on my car as well, including correct tyre pressures, little things to check like wiper fluid etc. and just some details about my car that the insurance company might need to know.

I also have a car service log to record when I have had to get her fixed for whatever reason, and also to record how much the repair cost.

 

Another red section for special dates, I have birthday gift ideas, christmas gift ideas, birthday and christmas lists for things I would like, Christmas card list, etc. Will also put a pocket in this section to keep gift cards I may have bought for people and things like that.

So these are my new inserts! If anyone would like any of the templates (I know they're all pretty simple) please let me know xx

Chameleon has Arrived

Hi everyone,

My Chameleon personal in Aqua arrived this morning, super fast from Filofax as they only called me yesterday. My personal Domino in Grape also arrived, and I have been comparing the two, wondering which one to use. I think I've come to a decision.

As you can see from the photos, the cover looks slightly buckled, as if it has been stuffed full. On the plus side, the colour of this Filofax is a lot nicer than I imagined. I thought it would be more of a grey tone. I'm not really a snakeskin kind of person but this is quite subtle.

I loaded all my inserts into it and it was so hard to turn the pages. There was literally no room for anything else in there, and the pen loop on the left I just couldn't get on with. It's a shame because it smells really nice (real leather), but I don't think we are going to get on.

I then had a look at my Domino. She's simple, she's a similar colour to my recently deceased raspberry Finsbury, and she holds so much stuff!

So I'm sticking with the Domino for now. I'm not sure whether to sell the Chameleon yet, but do let me know if you are interested and how much you would be willing to offer.

xx