Stationery Goodies

Well it's been an exciting week with lots of stationery enabling in my close group of friends.

Yesterday saw me with a free afternoon so i decided to meet up with Cat to go to Tottenham court road Paperchase and MUJI.
I don't have photographs of everything but here's a quick view of a lot of the stuff I brought


I saw this card and fell in love, it's the perfect size (minus 2mm down one edge) for my pocket Filofax so it's become my front cover!


I've added to my washi tape collection finally decided I had a need for a dedicated tin for them (hate the decoration on the tin but that can be solved with a bit of tape ;)


A art box divider folder that I brought to hack up to put in my a5 Filofax but it's just too pretty to hack! Plus each sheet (divider) is a separate decoration (one is clouds one is stars and so on)


Art box note book, perfect size to keep scribble in the back of my Filofax


Another one, this one already has been put to use


Some Japanese note pads also from art box, the perfect size for adding little notes, the next two photos are also views of the paper inside. Soooo damn cute!!!!

My little family

Over the weekend Filofax tweeted to see the family of Filofaxes that we have, this was the first time I have ever thought of my Filofaxes as a collection.



This is the first time I have ever seen all my Filofaxes together. I think I have a problem!!! I blame all the amazing enablers on twitter and philofaxy.

These are the filofaxes that I currently use:



Starting at the top, I am playing with a mini Filofax (not sure the feeling is mutual though I'm falling out of love already) then we have my much seen and much loved personal butterfly Filofax (which I am hoping to replace at the philofaxy meet up in 38 days)
Then my aqua chameleon a5 Filofax that I use for union work, this was the easiest and simplest Filofax to set up as this only has lined paper for my notes from conferences and meetings.

The bottom is my graphic a5 zipped Filofax, I love this one sooo much, it's my teacher planner and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. Sometime soon I promise I will blog about my set up to this, especially as I have made a personal diary with help from Ray.

I hope your Filofax family is as well developed as mine, oh and I'm waiting for a new delivery any day now, sooo excited. About a new pocket adelphi coming to me and some special snoopy inserts coming all the way from Japan - I aim to have this set up as my personal and VERY fun filofax.

Packages in the POST!!!!!!!!

I'm in love and I don't mean with a man.

It all started off when I was getting a little bored with my filofax. Decided I needed something to liven up the diary pages so went in search of "Diary stickers" these were very few and far between in the UK but I had seen several in America and other parts of the world.

Here is a quick run down of ones I chose. The first 3 were Paperchase and the others were from Korea (although ironically the Korean ones arrived before the Paperchase ones)

These ones are specially made to fit in a filofax and say things such as "Birthday" "to do" "appointment" and matching smaller spots with nothing written on. These were £2.25 for 2 sheets which I think is pretty reasonable but they will come in useful for my Organised side.

These two were £1 a packet and each packet came with 2 sheets (80 stickers in total) I'm a real sucker for things with faces on so the first ones called out to me, and the second has useful stickers for things like Mothers day and really cute girls and trees etc.

The next packs have come from Korea in particular this website There was absolutely loads on there that I had to start taking things back out of the basket. P+P was a little bit high but for the amount I got was totally worth it!

These girls are the cutest ever! 5 sheets with images like this...

My second packet of stickers, again a pack of 5. Are brilliant for those little mistakes. I've seen someone else blog about these before and I'm so Glad I found them.

The bottom ones act like highlights, and have gorgeous little message next to them like "Do not forget" and "Don't be late"

This bottom packet are my most favouritist in the entire world!!!

Called the Diary deco pack, it was exactly what I was looking for.

The stickers came in two variety's paper to write on - like these cute labels (although fairly small)And clear like these - to add things over the top of ideas.

I feel in love with these paper-clips and pens/Pencils. Will be really good to be able to attach something to a page and make it look like I've paper cliped it.

If you're after inspiration for what to do with these pictures the YesStyle website gives loads of ideas for uses. They also sell adorable diaries including finance diaries etc - If I didn't own a filofax I would have spent quite a bit more!!!!

All the best until next time. xx

Home management Binder

Hey guys,

As promised last week I have feedback for you on my first 52 things in 52 weeks task. This was to set up my home binder and my filofax for 2012.
You saw my filofax set up in my last post. Today you will see my set up for my home management binder. I have really enjoyed setting this up, and I can already see it has helped me with a few new years resolutions, I certainly feel more organised with this, and I am doing much better with my budgetting as you will see with the next few photographs.


I was quite excited about setting this up, I had these 3 folders in my flat, never been used before, from ASDA. They are soo cute and were begging to be used.

Every project needs a title page, and I spent two nights this week setting up my sections so I could create my own dividers. These were dead easy. Wanting to spend no money setting these up, I had paper in (blue - the theme for this week) and these tabs, not the colour of choice but I quite like it in the end. Using my label maker and clear tape I set up these right at the end of setting up everywhere.Most of my pages have come from a small collection of sources, first of all I treated myself (I know I said no spend but this was the most motivating way for me as I know I would have put it all off if I had to set every page up myself! As a time saver this was perfect) The basis for my folder came from CleanMama Printables.

This woman is very inspirational not only are the bits to purchase absolutely perfect (I brought the entire starter set) but she has a really good blog (here) that has the occasionally free printable that can build up the binder to make it work for you.

CleanMama printerables are perfect for everyone for all walks of life. Some of the pages might not come in useful now, but they will be in the future I'm sure.

Using this as a basis I have gone on to produce some similar looking pages that fit in my folder that are more suitable for me. This page below has been taking from one of CleanMama's pages but being in the UK the American Medical system didnt work, so I created this to make up for me. The cleaning suggestions made my CleanMama and a few other websites I have been trundling around have been really helpful. I have made a few tweaks again. But it has already made a difference, instead of thinking I have an entire day I must clean, these systems take a little bite at a time.

I am also trying to declutter some of my life this week, and am following a daily decluttering schedule, however I haven't actually stuck to this very much.

Budgetting, being one of my areas of improvement this year, has been pages that I have been desperate to set up. I have printed enough of this page to last me the year, and I've noticed that I am able to keep up with what bills need paying, how much they are, when they need paying etc. So far this and a few other things has helped me save almost £300 this month! Hopefully this will also mean no more late fees.

Meal planning hasn't been something I have ever been interested in, but I realised that looking at what food I have in the house and working out what night's I have prior arrangements etc. I can eat what I have in, healthier and save money by not continually buying new items (After going through the kitchen I have 5 jars of Mayonaise in and 6 jars of Bicarbonate of Soda!)

There is a section that I have set up to record all the food I have in the house, including the quantity - some of the pages from the CleanMama purchase. These have made a massive improvement on my meal planning, especially as I don't need to rumage through the cupboards etc to work out what I have in.

To do - I'm known for starting something new before I have finished the first task. Because of this the two pages above have come in very useful. The first - Labels to make, came from the Nest effect. And the second from CleanMama I intend to use for several different purposes including craft items, decluttering, work related tasks etc.

And last but not least I had some of these wallets in my office that are sealed but have the holes down the side to add to a ring binder. Hopefully this will help me keep the clutter out of the house by allowing me to stick everything in this pocket and file it into the folder (or throw it away) later on.

All in all I have already seen a difference to my lifestyle etc. I'm much happier and think its partially down to this folder and having everything in one place. I can seriously recommend the CleanMama Printables. Please go and purchase yourself some of the sections and get yourself set up with a home management binder, Having everything in one place.

CleanMama is the most user friendly Etsy site I have been on for printables, she does small collections of similar pages, she allows you to purchase just one page from a collection, a couple of collections. Basically she is out there to help all of us set up for our perfect Home Management Binder.

I've come to realise that everyone's binder will be totally different. I would love to know if you have a binder, and if you are setting one up. I'm willing to offer help. Also check out CleanMama's blog and the Nest effect as these have really supported me and got me geared up for getting my life back in order!

I'm now well on my way to being Debt free before 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Filofax keeping me organised

Ok this is my first filofax post. Hopefully there will be many more to follow. I first had a filofax about 8 years ago when I used to work in a stationery department of a big department store. I fell in love with Filofaxes and I think I brought about 5 while I worked there.
I had forgotten about these until about a year ago when I was trying to decide how to become better organised, the Dominoe attracted my attention in Tesco's on offer which I purchased and attempted. This wasn't much of a sucess to me until I found my love of Philofaxy and Imysworld both of which have given me lots of inspiration and made me realise the importance of being able to customise this over some of the other organisational diaries out there.

I really wanted a much more grown up filofax and found this dusty one in my local WHSmith, I've never seen it advertised anywhere else or heard many people mention it, I had a money off voucher and ended up buying it for a crazy amount (about £35 when it should have been £90).

This filofax comes everywhere with me, it even has a space under my duvet at bedtime. (Heaven's knows what I will do when I find myself a man)

The filofax dividers themselves were pretty uninteresting so after rummaging around in my scrapbook papers I found some of this nice thick study ones and made my own, all of the dividers you will see are ones I have made myself, some with tabs and some with pockets on the back (not that I have actually used any of them) they all either have shiny gold on them or glitter! I love them all Inside the front of my filofax I have all of my store cards and my driving license (I'm currently living card free and only spend cash so this saves me carrying around an extra purse full of cards)

You can see I have typed up my new years resolutions, I Also have a table (on the left above) that is for all my sewing ideas, It allows me to write the dates, the idea and if completed. This stops me running away and making the newest idea in my head, and allows me to remember them for when I'm ready.

52 things in 52 weeks is also typed up. So I am always able to remind myself what the next weeks task is going to be to be able to purchase anything needed.

My next section starts off with my work timetable, being a teacher this is important to me, and allows me to work out when I have free periods during the week to do some office based work or when I can do my lesson planning during work time.

This timetable actually changes every term so theres no need to have this laminated although I did consider it. This is one of my favourite sections next, these are my to-do lists. I do have the filofax ones that come with all the filo's but I am not a fan of them at all, I always end up leaving the most important jobs to the end and get worried and stressed about not getting them done.

Therefore I have set up this table (that I have seen several other people using) that allows me to divide my jobs up into 4 different categories and helps me work my way through this.

Weekly food rota is a new section to me this year that my colleague at work (who is very new to filofaxes) designed and offered me a copy. Notice I have printed these upside down on the back. This has actually been done on purpose as I decided I would like to have the current week at the begining of this section. This means at the start of the week I can flip the paper over and have the current one looking up at me.

Brainstorms are an important part of my planning, for this I wanted something a little bit more exciting than plain pages. So I found clip art of a "brainstorm" (I know this term is politically incorrect but as its normally only me that sees them) I also have a list of 101 things in 1001 days, I've been considering doing this for a very long time, I'm not sure if its going to work for me though, I cant even fill 40 things I want to do in that time, so for now I think I will stick to the 52 things in 52 weeks

Finance section is helping me become incharge of my own money, hopefully aiming to become out of debt by the end of 2012.

Right at the back I have my loyalty cards that are infrequently used, and the zip wallet that contains spare post-its (very cute speech bubbles from Wilco's) stamps and index tabs.

For those of you wondering at the start of this blog - my supermarket trolley tag, a free one I picked up on a conference once, its a Womble. Saves me always digging to find £1 for the trolley if I go food shopping.

Here is a sneak peek of my next post, organising my paperwork, (None of this is new stationery everything I already had to hand)

Upclose of the boxes incase you can't read them.

Please let me know of anything that you would like to see, or anything in more detail. My next few posts are going to be the paper organisation and my brand new noticeboard I got for Christmas.

I also want to show you my work Filofax. Being a teacher we set things up a little differently, and I know I'm always searching the internet for ideas on how to set this up. So for all you teachers out there stay tuned!!!

New Years Desires

OK, 1.20am seems like a perfect time to complete my first post of the year.

I decided I wouldn't have resolutions but desires. Things I would like to be able to do during this year.

So here goes...

• Get better Organised



• Appear on the blogosphere more often



• Make myself at least 2 personal quilts



• Build on my me-made wardrobe



• Complete 52 things in 52 weeks



• Learn to manage my money better (save at least £100 a month)



• Enter in at least 3 more swaps



• Spend 15 minutes a night putting things away that I got out during the day

On that note I thought you would like to see my 52 things in 52 weeks list so far... This is a work in progress and is always set for a small amount of change throughout the year. Theres also quite a few gaps until I get closer to those weeks that are still blank. Some of the earlier weeks I might want to repeat, but I will keep you updated on that as we go along.

1. Completely set up Home binder and filofax for 2012



2. Sort out books - set any aside for donation/rehoming



3. Tidy clothes



4. Make one item of clothing



5. Organise kitchen



6. Organise fabrics



7. Organise workroom



8. Make one item of clothing



9. Sort out filing



10. Make mothers day gift



11. Purge around home for donations



12. Organise handbag and work bag



13. Organise and design new filofax pages



14. Make Three items of clothing



15. Concentrate on personal quilt



16. read a book



17. Only watch 1 hour of tv a day all week



18. Make one item of clothing



19. Spend no money all week






21. Concentrate on personal quilt



22. List 5 things to sell on eBay



23. Make two items of clothing



24. Reorganise/rearrange workroom



25. Make a quillow



26. Purge through magazines



27. Make one item of clothing



28. Only watch 2 hour of tv a day all week






30. Learn how to knit a pair of socks



31. Make one christmas present



32. Make alcohol for Christmas



33. Make one christmas present






35. Research into gifts for colleagues



36. Set up new work planner















41. Make Christmas cards/gift tags

There you go, my list so far. I will update this and in keeping with one of my resolutions I also aim to blog about my 52 things in 52 weeks list.

Happy New Year to all of you.

Tomorrow I have a post about my Resolution of organisation and an introduction to some things I will be using to help me this year.

Surprise play it forward....

SURPRISE PAY IT FORWARD


I have just spotted this great idea on Cherise's blog Sewing Along for a surprise pay it forward. This is how it works.

I will send a surprise gift to the first three people to comment on this post. This gift will be made by me and I will send it sometime within the next year. Exactly when you will receive it will be a surprise (it will probably be a surprise to me too :-D).
Of course there are some rules in this game. Here it goes:

Rules:1. I will make a little something for the first 3 people that comment on this post. It will be a surprise and may arrive at any time in the next 365 days (yes, a year).

2. To sign up to receive a gift from me you must play along too. Share the giving love on your blog by promising to send a handmade goodie to the first three people that comment on your blog post.

3. You must have a blog.

4. After commenting on my post, you have to post this (or similar) on your blog to spread the love. If you haven't posted in 48 hours then the next commentor will be chosen.

I don't know if three people will even get around to commenting on this, but I will say that if you find this post 6 months from now and only 2 people have left a comment, you can still be commenter #3 and get a random goodie from me! When you comment, I'll email you and get your address and then you will get something from me sometime before next December 2012.

Lots of love. Louise.xxxx

Advent Quilt Along 2012

Well my baby is pretty new but I've spent a few hours today working logistics etc out.

There's a Flickr group for us now (created in the past hour so please be nice) and make sure you join it and update on it cause I plan on using both here and there for a few sneaky give always from time to time.

Please don't feel you need to commit to this every weekend if your not able to, you can work this as quick or as slow as you want to. I personally know I need to be quilting this in the summer holidays to get it finished in time for Christmas 2012.

Any questions feel free to ask.