New Dividers - Chalkboard Theme

I thought I'd share with you the dividers and overall theme for my personal organiser. I really love the chalkboard theme, there are so many lovely things out there!

For my dividers I used the My Minds Eye Chalk Studio collection:

 

 

My Minds Eye also do some co-ordinating stickers which were pefect to label some of my pockets:

 

 

I received an order from Organised Mum this morning, and although I'm not using their diary pages for 2014 I am using some of the supplement packs.

 

I use their meal planning pack every week, it keeps us organised and we know exactly how much we will spend when we do the food shopping.

 

I ordered their finance pages, which I have used before, which should help me budget better.

 

And I got their family pack too, with pages for organising holidays, Christmas, etc.

 

I also ordered a Lechturm pen loop in purple, I was unsure if my Staedler pens would be too thin but the loop is elastic and fits these pens perfectly, ideal for using a second coloured pen for important information on my weekly pages.

 

 

Things are looking up! The only problem is, Purple has definitely fattened up for Christmas...

 



Where on Earth have I been?!?!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I've been so busy! Mainly due to the fact that I went on holiday mid-October for my 25th birthday, and my lovely partner proposed to me on 13th October, two days before my birthday!

So, in true 'me' style, pretty much as soon as we got back from holiday I was on the internet searching for ideas. If you're curious at our plans take a look at my wedding moodboard on Pinterest:

http://www.pinterest.com/raven1510/wedding-3/

Not only are we planning our wedding at the moment, but it's that time of year again... CHRISTMAS!! I'm sure I get more excited every year, I'm sure that's not supposed to happen. But hey, who gives a crap?

What have I been doing, craft-related? Well, of course I have designed our wedding invitations, of which seem to cost an arm and a leg, unless you're super money-savvy, in which case you use Vista Print. Our wedding invitations are only going to cost around £40 (including evening invitations and RSVP cards), as opposed to around £200.

What about Filofax, what have I been doing? Well, my planner has been amazing these past few months, I have a wedding section and loads of Christmas information which quite frankly I would be totally confuddled without.

I have moved back to personal size because there is so much more room, and ordered myself a purple planner from Paperchase which I've been using for a few weeks now. I love the colour, and the large slip pocket in the back is excellent, especially useful for keeping "you were out" notes from the postman. Who probably hates me right now. Because I've become best buddies with Amazon.

I've made some of my own inserts on lilac and cream paper with a traditional yet clean and simple theme, and seeing as I decided (again) to change Filofax sizes at a stupid time of year, I printed some weekly diary pages on cotton cream paper to last me up til the new year. They work very well.

Wedding budget planner printed on lilac paper

Weekly diary printed on cream paper

For 2014 I'm going to order the cotton cream inserts from Filofax, and use my Studio L2E stamps to make them lined, I just prefer writing on lines, it makes my writing look neater and I prefer a more uniform look.

I'm also going to decorate my pages again - part of me thinks this is a waste of washi, but I do use my planner more when I know it's nice to look at. Oh, how I wish I had more washi! I have £27 worth of washi tape in my eBay basket, I'm just waiting til after Christmas and before Wedding saving to treat myself, then that will be it, no more self-indulgent spending for me!

And here are a few of our holiday snaps from Rhodes (Greek island):

Lindos village

 

"Siesta - please do not disturb" Love that this sign was

permanently nailed to the door!

 

St. Paul's Bay - lovely little chapel down a very steep hill

 

The view from our balcony

 

 

I really miss sunshine... I would love to go back to Rhodes, it was such a special holiday.

 

 Anyway, better sign off now, Pinterest is calling! Toodle-ooh, pip pip and all that English stuff. xx

 

 

 

 

Project Life Filofax - Test!

After my last post I decided I really needed to try out my idea for a project life Filofax. I love using a Filofax and really wanted to get into the project life craze, but all the different components of Project Life are too expensive for my budget.

This blog post is basically a run through of my last hour in my office. It didn't take long to develop the idea into something which looks pretty neat, in my opinion, and is much more cost effective.

First I took a sheet of personal Filofax paper. I wanted to use personal size as it's quite a nice inbetween size to use. However, most project life journaling cards (or other brands) are 3x4", too large to fit in any combination on a personal size page without overhang or overlap.

 

 

 

 

After about ten minutes of staring at the above combinations and trying to telepathically make them fit, I decided personal was not the one for this project. It needed something larger, that would allow me to expand my idea.

 

So I shook the dust off my A5 domino that I'd been using a few weeks ago for journaling and fell out with because I messed up the dates on my entries.

I'd cut out some templates (4x3" and 3x2") and used them to figure out how many journaling cards I could fit on a page. As mentioned before, most journaling cards are 4x3", so the 2x3" would either be journaling cards cut in half, or scrapbooking paper cut to size. (The yellow paper shows the 2x3" paper).

 

 

 

 

You can see there is a slight overhang on these layouts, but I don't think that will matter so much as I'll be using the other side of the paper for the following week. I'll be doing a week to view layout, so there is enough space on these layouts to do journaling for each day if I need to.

 

Next step: trying the layout out with my own pictures and journaling cards that match. Last week I ordered some 12x12 sheets of journaling cards, you get 12 cards per sheet and they cost the same as any other 12x12 scrapbook paper. I ordered mine from My Minds Eye, and they are from their Cut and Paste collection.

 

 

I cut the journaling cards out and placed them on my pages, keeping in mind that I'd want a mix of cards for journaling, photos and some decorative. Here's what I ended up with, and I think for the cost compared to project life it's a pretty great effort.

 

 

I added a few photos that I had in my stash that I meant to journal and never got round to it. I can see how much of a difference it makes when you co-ordinate the colours of the cards with that of your photographs. If I was sticking down and decorating these pages I'd use the alphabet stickers and accent stickers on the left (the stickers were 95p from the same collection as the journaling cards).

 

Here are a few more pictures:

 

 

 

I can feel a bit happier now I know I wasn't trying to do something that was impossible, I really look forward to starting this project! I think I'm going to research how people record information for their project, and then after each month I will order the papers etc. to co-ordinate with my photographs.

 

How exciting!

 

 

Project Life Filofax

I have a Domino in Ultra Violet on the way which I will be using as my journal (my current journal pages are in my daily planner as I have nowhere else to keep them at the moment).

I keep looking at Project Life, and how colourful and planned out the pages look. And then I remember how expensive project life is, and that puts me off.

So, after hours of browsing and dreaming this afternoon on Pinterest, I've had a play around on the computer to try and put my ideas into some kind of visual way to explain how I'd use Project Life in a Filofax. It's something I have wanted to do for some time, I think it looks visually beautiful.

I thought about getting credit card holders and doing 6 cards a week, although they would cost a lot, I'd need 104 a year! I saw a photo where someone had just stuck the Project Life cards onto the paper. Great idea! (Sorry I can't remember what the link was but will link back if I find it again).

Here's my dream:

You can get literally loads of free Project Life printables on the internet which can then be resized, altered and printed out. I like the idea of having a combination of photographs and journaling - I think that's what I've been missing in my current setup.

It would even solve the issue of bleed-through if I want to use stamps, because I can just stamp directly onto the journaling card or cardstock. I have loads of scrapbooking paper I can use, and like I have done this week, I can order four sets of co-ordinating cardstock and stickers for just over £10 which will last me a whole month's worth of pages.

I'm going to try this out in real life (not on the computer) and see if it works. I hope it does, and I hope I will be able to keep it up, I think it's a lovely thing to be able to record your memories and moments in such a beautiful way.

Adding thickness to pages also won't be an issue, as I'll be using my personal Domino just for journaling and creative writing.

What do you reckon?!

My Week 35

Fairy average week this week so I'm afraid there isn't much to talk about, but here are the photos of my week 35.

Journal - I did an Edgar Allan Poe theme this week. This is my second week journaling using the Paperchase week to view inserts, and I'm not sure if they're doing the trick or not. As you can see, my handwriting is quite small and I find the line spacing to be larger than I need. Also there isn't much room to write at the weekends, when I have the most to say.

I'm also thinking of ways I can add interest to my journal pages - photos, stickers, washi tape, memorable bits and bobs - it's surprisingly difficult to find these things, especially photos, when you don't really do anything.

My week in my planner, I think I prefer these pages as the grey font is much more subtle, it just seems cleaner than the Paperchase inserts. Unfortunately the Organised Mum inserts probably wouldn't work for journaling as they are too structured.

If anyone knows of any alternatives to week to view journal pages for personal size, please let me know! :)

My Week 34

It's about this time of year I realise that I need to start thinking about the dreaded event at the end of December. This last quarter is a very eventful time, lots of birthdays, going on holiday, Christmas, etc. It's all go, and it's expensive. I've been doing a lot of overtime the past few weeks to start saving early, unfortunately I haven't been able to find the time to blog much.

I have though, had a few thoughts on my journal pages. I was using an A5 setup using the vertical week to view inserts, but decided I actually think my personal pages are decorated better, I seem to prefer having less space to fill. I like a busy page, and with the A5 it seemed I was adding any old thing to fill the white space.

I'm waiting for a Domino in ultra-violet from a Filo friend, I asked if anyone had any personal sized Filofax and this one was up for grabs first, which is great because it will sit nicely with my personal Domino in grape. Until the violet one arrives, I'm using a section in the grape (my daily planner) to hold my diary pages, then they will be archived in the violet one.

Here's this week's layout, using Hello Kitty washi tape and a journaling card :)

 

For my daily planner, I used my big yellow taxi colour scheme from last week's journal pages. I actually really like the yellow and black with my aqua page marker, too.

 

 

So what else have I been up to? I baked some coconut and strawberry jam biscuits which are very yummy, and I also made these cute Minnie Mouse dividers which are going to be sent to someone in the US :D

 

 

Cute or what?!

 

My Week 33

Another fairly non-eventful week to be honest... I try and make my life sound interesting but really, this week, I've got nothing.

Except my purple satchel arrived (happy face) and I'm now a step-auntie of two. :)

Here is this week in my journal, please ignore the dates, as I said in my previous weekly post I completely messed my pages up and haven't got round to correcting the dates yet.

After I decorated the page, it reminded me of Joni Mitchell's song, Big Yellow Taxi (purely because of the shade of yellow, and the American place names washi tape). I now think of that song every time I look at the page!

As you may have noticed I add journaling cards in between my weekly pages. This is because on pay day every month I order wallet size photos to add to my pages, it's cheaper than printing at home and better quality. Here's the picture for this week:

 

My boyfriend unfortunately had to work on Saturday so I decided to make him one of his favourite cake/biscuits, millionaire's shortbread. I was quite proud of it!

 

Here is week 33 in my planner. I literally cannot express how much I love these pages from Organised Mum, I can see exactly what I need to know straight away.

 

 

This week has a Victorian theme, with a birdcage stamp and metallic washi tapes in rust colours. It looks a little bit steampunk, but mostly Victorian. A very nice look.

 

You can see on my week page I have two random bits of washi tape, my Dad was going to visit this weekend but as my step-niece was due to arrive any day he decided to stay at home just in case. That's the annoying thing about writing in pen, you can't change it!!

 

And just because I feel like it, here's a quote to close your week with good thoughts. Have good thoughts! :)

 

 

How has your week been?

Vintage Satchel Company - Review

Two weeks ago I ordered an 11" purple satchel from the Vintage Satchel Company. It arrived today in all its purple glory and I am very happy with it! I thought I would do a little review to tell you about the quality of the satchel.

The Vintage Satchel Company aren't as well known, and perhaps don't have as much of a range of colours of satchels, as some competitors such as the Cambridge Satchel Company and Zatchels. However, from CSC and Zatchels you'd be looking at spending around £100 for an 11" satchel. At VSC you can get an 11" satchel for just £55, still real leather.

I haven't ever handled a satchel from CSC or Zatchels but would assume the craftsmanship is similar, they look almost identical to VSC satchels.

The reason I ordered from VSC is because the price was the most appealing I had found for a real leather satchel, and it was unbelievably difficult to find a satchel in this shade of purple. A lot of purple satchels I found were either too expensive, or were too blue or too pink. VSC happily sent me a swatch of the leather before I ordered, so I could confirm the colour was as desired. This was sent out to me in about 2-3 days of emailing them, and they responded to my request via email in about a day.

So what is the leather like? It seems a very good quality, and you can tell from the smell of it that it is real leather. The buckles on the front are quite difficult to open, but with time they will loosen and be much easier to handle, that's the nature of leather.

Although I would have liked to fit my personal Filofax in the satchel, it's not the end of the world. I leave my Filofax in my car when I'm at work, and rarely take it out with me at the weekends. I tried to fit it in but it just wouldn't with all my other junk.

So what can you fit in an 11" satchel?

In the large compartment I have a long purse standing on end (I love this already, I can instantly find my purse without having to go hunting for it), bottle of perfume, body spray can, sanitary towel, make-up case, a letter I need to post tomorrow (the satchel has stiff leather so it keeps things where they should be!)

In the small compartment I have some mints, a lip balm and my keys. Small items that would get lost in the large compartment, and are easy to access.

The customer service from VSC, I would have to say was averagely good. I placed my order on 25th July and received my satchel today, 14th August. I knew it would take a while as it says on their website that it takes around 14 days for production and delivery. This ordering timescale is fairly common with satchel companies.

Firstly, I had to email VSC as I hadn't received confirmation of my order. Please do not be put off by this though, it turns out the confirmation went into my junk folder.

Secondly, after two weeks had rolled round and I'd heard nothing about the progress of my order, I had to email VSC to find out what the situation was. I had not received a despatch notice or an update. I did however, receive a response a few days later to confirm that the owner of the shop had been on holiday and they would make sure my satchel was sent out by Monday 12th August. This didn't bother me that much, it's just nice to know what's happening when you give someone business.

Luckily, I received her today safe and well, no flaws whatsoever and I am very relieved. I do not make large purchases like this for myself very often, so it was a relief when I unwrapped her and knew she was unharmed.

Overall, if you're patient enough to wait two weeks for your satchel to arrive, order from VSC. The price is very, very competitive and the quality of the product is not lacking because of it.

My Week 32

Ah, a peaceful weekend, my favourite. It has gone way too quickly though. I've just spent an hour in the office playing with washi tape, check out my new storage box :D

 

Quite a subdued colour scheme in my journal this week. I had a bit of a disaster with my pages... I hadn't written since Monday, and when I opened my journal on Thursday to update it I realised two of the pages were stuck together and I'd written Monday's entry on 12th August instead of 5th August *sigh*... such a 'me' thing to do, and it was going so well!!

What's even worse is, I took out the page for 12th August in an attempt to try and figure out what to do, got in a huff, and left it for a while. I went back to my journal later and not only did I forget to put the page with 12th August on it, I had written on 5th, 6th and 7th, and then continued on 16th and 17th!! What a muppet...

 

 

In my weekly planner I used a cute retro colour scheme. I really love turquoise and yellow at the moment!

We were going to go to the zoo on Saturday but our vouchers didn't arrive until midday so we decided to go another day when we'd have more time. My boyfriend really wants to go, it's quite cute >.<

 

 

What do you think to my new page marker? Doesn't it go with this layout really nicely?! I'd love to make more to co-ordinate with my pages but I think that might be overdoing it a little bit...

 

Have a nice week, stay happy and remember this quote I read at the beginning of the week...

 

 

Rainbow tabs, page markers and pockets

I've decided I really like colours. All colours. I can't choose just one, I want them all.

For those of you who haven't met  my dark pink Domino, here she is. I love her. She holds so much, and she's pretty hard wearing, I take her everywhere with me. To me, there is no better model. I have on several occasions pondered over saving for a more expensive organiser but I'm concerned about the quality checks Filofax carries out, I've seen so many issues with maldens, osterleys, finchleys, etc.

I've decided rather than sticking to a colour scheme for my Filofax, I would use all different colours throughout. The first step was using Masking Tape Stickers to label my A-Z tabs - these would be my sections. I have used two sets of A-Z dividers (yes, that's 26 in total!) and assigned sections to them.

Here is the contents in my Domino, so I can easily see which colour represents which section:

 

Here are my dividers with the Masking Tape Stickers over the tabs:

 

I also made some other cute things to add colour to my Filofax, like these page markers I cut from a pocket from a Paperchase notebook and decorated with washi tape:

 

 

And these pockets made from the same Paperchase notebook, one for receipts in my finance section and one for coupons in my shopping section:

 

 

At the front of my Filofax I have a postcard cut from scrapbooking paper, I love the quote on it. It's brightly coloured to match the rest of the theme. On the other side is the back of the postcard, and my 'dashboard cards' I printed, for personal information, important dates and emergency contact info.

 

 

 

Have you added handmade accessories to your Filofax?

 

 

 

 

 

My Week 31

Ah, what a week. Bit of a disaster at work this week, one of my colleagues decided to walk out on our busiest day of the month. Unfortunately I broke my no-drinking during the week rule.

Haven't done a lot this weekend, anxiously waiting for my purple satchel to arrive!

Here is my week in my journal:

And this was the beautiful, epic, amazing breakfast my boyfriend made me on Saturday morning <3

 

Here is my week in my planner. Love these colours!!

 

 

Have a good week my lovelies :)

Coming Soon...

There is one thing you should know about me. I am not very good at containing my excitement.

So, as a little treat for you I am going to let you in on a little secret. I am currently working very hard to plan a business venture, to be able to supply Filofax compatible insert packs to you. I will print these made to order.

I won't be selling diary pages, as I think there are already some fantastic printables out there. The insert packs will be so you can all manage the things in life that people often forget to organise, like the things that are important to you. (Books, music and films, hobbies such as scrapbooking and crafting, wedding planner, baby planner, and many, many more). I don't want to spill all the beans just yet!

You will be able to choose from a selection of insert packs, and then select your preferred font styles and colours, and either A5, personal or pocket size.

 

 

I am also working on an idea that I have called 'Dashboard cards' - business card-sized inserts for your credit card holders, to keep all your important information so you can locate it easily. These will also be hand printed to order, and again you can choose from the font styles and colours available.

 

 

 

Stay tuned, I'm hoping to launch in the next couple of weeks, let me know if there is anything you are itching for that I can help you with!

August Wishes & Loves

 

 

 

I know my July Wishes and Loves was only posted two or so weeks ago, but my aim is to do one on the 1st of each month, it makes more sense!

Here are my wishes and loves for August:

 

1. Simple Stories new paper collections. I watched a video on their new releases the other day, the papers are so cheerful and lovely!

 

2. Dreaming collection from Kikki K. Oh man, I wish I lived in Australia, for no other reason than Kikki K. They've released a new stationery collection called Dreaming, which uses gorgeous pastel colours. I love these little bird stickers!

 

3. Midori Belt Sticker. If you read my blog often, you'll know I replaced the elastic on my A5 Domino Filofax with ribbon. But because I use the Domino every day for journaling, it's getting a bit irritating having to undo the ribbon all the time. These Midori belt stickers are adhesive pop-closures.

 

4. From Brainwave to Business book. More of a subtle hint of the future... *mystical music*

 

5. Lemon Sorbet. Particularly Morrisons lemon sorbet, I discovered it a few weeks ago - it has pieces of lemon peel in it and is so fresh and delicious, a great way to cool down!

 

6. Journaling cards. I use one per week in my journal, hole punch it, write on it, decorate it, and add photos and stamping. You can get some lovely designs, thank you to everyone who sent me RAKs of journaling cards, I adore them!!

 

7. Cherries. Juicy, the darker the better, just lovely, and I really like the colour of cherries too! I find it just as satisfying eating a bowl of cherries than a bowl of sweets, it makes me feel much better about myself!

 

8. VW Camper vans. I spotted a greeny-yellow pastel coloured camper in a car park the other day and wanted to photograph it but wasn't sure how happy the owner would be... I have wanted a VW camper van for a while now, they're retro and amazing! :D

 

9. Retro eye makeup. I love this style, I would love to be able to try it one day.

 

10. Once Upon a Time. This is a TV Series (it's American, but in the UK it's shown on Channel 5 on Sunday nights) about fairytale characters who live in a small American town. They slowly realise their past, it's really amazing! My favourite character is Rumple Stiltskin (or in the 'real' world, Mr. Gold). Robert Carlyle plays the character so well.

 

11. Turquoise nail polish. I love this colour! It looks really cute as nail varnish. <3

 

12. Papermate Flexgrip ballpoint pens. I bought a pack of 2 of these the other day, one for my journal and one for my planner. They are so lovely and smooth to write with, and no bleedthrough, unfortunately when I tried to write something on my homemade inserts my Stabilo black pen bled right through!

 

13. Cleaning and sticking to it. Yes, I've won myself a badge. One week of washing the dishes straight after dinner, then putting the dried items away in the morning while the kettle is boiling. Go, me!

 

What are you wishing for? x

 



Survey for my new project

I have been working very hard on a new project this weekend, writing pages and pages of ideas and inspiration, planning in my little mind some things to share with you all.

If you would be so kind as to complete this online survey for me (it will only take a few minutes), it would really help me a lot with my planning.

Click here to take survey

All is hush hush at the moment as I don't want to reveal my plans to anyone just yet, I am always quite a hasty person but not with this, I have a good feeling it will all work out if I am patient.

Thank you in advance if you do find the time to complete the survey!

My Week 30

I really like the pages I've decorated in my journal this week. I used a journaling card and some washi tape that Meredith sent to me, and what I found strange was, I always used to hate orange and yellow. I think my hatred is over!

Just looking at this page makes me happy :)

The photo is of some coral coloured gladioli (flowers) I have at the moment, they are the most beautiful, cheerful colour!

And here is my week in my personal size planner, using mustard and magenta colour scheme. Love these colours together, and yet again, more yellow! (What is happening to me?).

This week was quite exciting (towards the end... the beginning of the week was fairly uneventful). I ordered my beautiful purple satchel on Thursday as I got a bonus from work (it's an introductory fee they do if you introduce someone you know to the company, and they end up employing them).

So, I treated myself, and then I was very good and transferred the rest into savings. *Smug face*.

Here she is, from the Vintage Satchel Company. I got the 11" one as I'm very good at keeping the minimum essentials in my handbag. Is it wrong that I'm this excited about a satchel?!