New Year, New Dividers!!!

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a fabulous time.

As for me, with two young boys who don't value sleep that highly, I didn't stay awake to welcome in the new year in, but that meant that I didn't have a hangover on New Year's Day and meant I had some energy for the day itself, to enjoy my time. Yay!!!

With the help of my Silhouette Cameo and the button pressing skills of my little helper I made some basic filofax dividers, using various scrapbooking papers. The templates were easy to pull together (although I may need to alter the A5 ones slightly as the tabs are rather large).

Here are the first attempts, cut from Mariposa paper (quite heavy) which I got from Mayflower1990 on eBay.

A5 6 Divider for Work Setup

Personal 4 Divider for Personal Setup

I chose to do these ones first as these are what I needed for my setups.

When they were finished I showed Marcus (the damaged child) who immediately asked if the personal ones were for him to put in his new Filofax - who could say no to that gorgeous little face?

Cheeky, crazy filofax nut on the left, and my gorgeous
more sensible boy on the right

Using my FF A5 metal hole punch (weird one, see photos) I put holes in the A5 dividers. Unfortunately, having left my Rapesco 6 hole punch at work I had to Marcus' ones with my single hole punch (there is no way he would wait until today, such a patient boy), so they are a touch large, but still fine.

Looks like a standard metal hole punch (the sort
I really struggle to use)

Made in Sweden - this is the front, straight up with no
angled lever handle thing going on

And the back... simple and yet so effective :-)

I didn't put any tape on the tabs of these dividers as they are reasonably sturdy, and to be honest, they're not really here for the long term. However, colour-wise they go beautifully with the Domino Snakes.

My A5

Marcus' personal

Marcus is very proud of his new filo and dividers and he has already started jazzing up his plain dividers. Here is his saltwater crocodile :o)

Next up it was time to try for the three sets from six sheets, as I worked out you can fit an A5, a personal and a pocket divider on one sheet, and now have files that I can use to cut each divider from. File 1 contains divider 1 for A5, personal and pocket, file 2 contains divider 2 for each size, etc.

As these were cut from a much thinned paper I used Scotch tape on the tabs to give them a bit of protection.

A5 and personal - thankfully you can't see the holes on
all the dividers as in my excitement of finishing them
when I got home this evening I punched the personal ones
with the setting on pocket... luckily I did the back 3
first - oops!!!

Pocket size in all their glory

I am quite pleased with my results, and pleased that I can now cross another challenge off my 101 in 1001, although I am sure this is just the beginning. Next stop may be to change the templates to include a pocket on the back.

One last pic as it is cute. Marcus had the offcuts from the first sets of dividers so I came home to this on the table...

Raiding his new pirate stickers and the craft box

What did you do on New Year's Day?

LJx

Christmas Goodies!!!

Hi All - I hope you have all had a fabulous Christmas :o)

I wrote the beginning of this post earlier, and Blogger ate it so here goes at attempt two... Christmas here was fabulous (although started a tad early for my liking, when I got woken up by small child at 4:30 all full of the Christmas spirit and ready to start his day). Trying to keep two young boys quiet for three and a half hours on Christmas morning isn't the easiest thing to do - especially when they both have whoopee cushions that they have never seen before and are giggling their heads off

The morning started properly at around 7:30 with the usual Christmas breakfast of croissants, bacon and Buck's Fizz before the boys started handing out the presents at 8. They were both so good, and seeing their little faces light up as they opened their presents was a joy. They were both very excited about giving us the presents they had made for us at kindergarten and school, very proud little boys, and very proud parents.

They didn't get their main presents (new bikes) until Boxing Day as they were both too lazy to leave the house and wanted to play with their toys on Christmas Day - who am I to argue with letting them play with things when they are very happy and not arguing with each other? :o)

I was a very lucky girl as you can see from the pictures below...

Silhouette Cameo, Smashbook, cute pen & case, Big Bang Theory
Season 5 (I have managed to watch to episode 13 already), mini
Filofax year planner and organiser stickers (perfect to go in my
mini Chameleon wallet), books, Smashbook, and exfoliating
gloves from my brother, who clearly thinks I need a bath :-D

7 sets of various papers and cards and a huge pack of cute
stickers from my boys

A large part of my afternoon was spent playing with my Silhouette Cameo to see what it can do. This baby is fantastic, and for first attempts I am very pleased. I didn't manage to get everything off the cutting mat in one piece (the links in the joined up writing from the first cut didn't fare too well, but I did another with larger writing and it came out perfectly, and I broke a piece off the snowflake), but am very happy with the results. I am looking forward to setting up templates for cutting dividers for my Filofaxes, and I think I will do some with pockets on the back too - I am quite excited about these, I just need to work out what measurements I need to programme in and how to get the tabs on and I'll be good to go.

First cut - I think I may put these into my Smashbook :-)

Second attempt to get the words done, not stuck down as I
don't know what I'm going to do with them yet

On boxing day I pulled out my box with some mementoes from the shows I saw when I was on my course in London at the beginning of the year and smashed them into my orange Smashbook from K & Company. I have to say, these are so great!!! I comes with cool, varied papers inside (different designs in each colour book) and includes a pen/glue stick. They have so many more things in their range that I would love to get, but thankfully I have lots of washi tape already.

Off now to have dinner and sort my work stuff ready for tomorrow before starting my templates on my new toy.

LJx

Current Work Set-Up

Oops!!!

I´ve been thinking about my work set-up for 2013 recently as I need to upsize again to allow for all the project work that is likely to be coming my way over the course of next year. Whilst doing this I realised that I never got round to posting pics of my current set-up, so here goes.

I moved into my raspberry compact Chameleon in mid-October and to be honest I am a bit gutted to have to move out. It is small with a simple set-up that works well at the moment, and it is easy to stick it in my bag whenever I need to take it home.

I wanted it to be simple, practical and nice to look at, so the logical place to start was to see what sections I needed. Although I have the standard six numbered dividers I only set up four sections and left the other two in the back blank in case I needed them.

I have a Diary section which contains a WO2P with lines format - for me this is more than enough space for entering meetings, appointments, and deadlines.

My To Do section contains some lined paper and various To Do sheets. I am currently using some that were given to me (I think they are TMI inserts) and have added post-it markers to identify the sheets as emails, calls, monthend/do not forgets, project list, and to do's.

I then have a planning section which contains Filofax day planner inserts. To me these are probably more suited for personal stuff on the odd days when I have lots to do outside the home. I haven't actually used this section at all.

My final section is my capture pages, which is full of blank paper. I haven't used this section much since I moved into this binder, but it is a section which is very handy to have and I have a feeling it will get a lot of use next year.

I wanted to pretty it all up a bit, but not do anything permanent as realistically this was always going to be a temporary move until I decided what I needed. As you can see from the pictures, I labelled the dividers rather than the tabs, using washi tape and my Rotring Rapidograph pen.

Looking forward to playing with my 2013 set-up.

LJx

Wow, wow, wow!!! eBay Heaven!!!

And can I just say "Wow" again?

There is another post re my 101 that I should do before I do this one, but I can't as I am just so excited that I have to blog this right now.

I will also apologise now as I am super tired and am likely to ramble even more than usual, but you will get lots of photos further down to take away the pain :o)

It's 10pm and I've just spent the last two hours cleaning and taking photos for this post...

As you may know from my last post I have managed to wangle a room in our apartment just for me and the things that I want around me for quiet time (obviously that does not include my children, who I love dearly, but swear they have no idea what the word quiet even means...).

Yesterday I was trying to resist the temptations of eBay, but we all know that resistance is futile when it comes to anything Filofax related, so I spent the day flitting between trying to get my new room cleared and my computer to check eBay and my emails as I had a few queries regarding the items.

With about twenty minutes to go it was looking like this bad boy was going to be mine, the last five minutes I spent glued to the chair as I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss out on anyone outbidding me. I was so excited when I was declared highest bidder as the auction came to a close than my youngest boy just sat and laughed at me - lots!!!

So here is the link to my new baby in all it's glory as included in the Saturday Philofaxy Web Finds.

So when is it going to get here? It's here!!! My fabulous DF drove for eight hours in total today (not the six he was expecting - oops!!!) to go to Germany to collect this for me, and here's what happened...

In the back of the truck and ready to go :o)

My first view...

The unit for the inserts - just in need of a
bit of a clean, other than that it's pretty darned
good :o)

And the class display case for the filos to go in

A bit blurry - but there has to be a bit of display case
love :o)

Filofax symbol on both sides of both display stands 

Cleaned up and ready to go (ignore the insert
holders, they will be given a good soaking at some
point, just not right now :o)

 So there we have the display stands all set up and ready to go, so what can I find to go in them... Well, the display stands came from a shop that was closing down, so I felt it would be rude of me not to find out what stock they had remaining in case there was anything I could help them to offload ;o)

And it turned out they had a fair bot of stuff left - not loads, but a reasonable amount. But I was good, I didn't take all of it - I already have more dividers sets than you can shake a stick at, and didn't want the only organiser they had left (Apex... *shudder*). I think I got around 50% off everything that I took, not quite sure as I wasn't the one who picked it all up, but I am very happy with this bundle (most of which wasn't in the bag, but hidden in the big drawers at the bottom. I hadn't even noticed that there were drawers at the bottom, so was very pleased to discover i) all the stuff inside them, and ii) the amount of extra storage space I have acquired.

2011 - 2012 diaries and year planners (free - super bargain) - I am
quite looking forward to trying some of these out as undated planners as there are a few different layouts here :o)

A5 - top opening envelopes, hole punch, today markers, business
card holder

Personal - transparent flyleaves, top opening envelope,
today marker, birthday year planner, white lined paper, white quadrille paper, and coloured paper.

Pocket - transparent flyleaves, birthday/anniversary sheets,  grey dividers
(I haven't seen these before and am very pleased to have them - I didn't know
these were coming), top opening envelopes, today markers, birthday
year planners, To Do lists, white ruled paper and coloured ruled paper

Mini - top tab dividers (4 white, never seen these before either - clearly
I have led a sheltered life), white quadrille paper and white ruled paper.
I also have some reinforcing patches :o)  

Now this I did know was coming - apparently it is a wooden Filofax calendar
holder...  I may be a bit dense, or it may just be too late (probably the former,
although I would like to try to plead the latter), but I'm not sure how it works... (yes, I am a bit special...)

And another one that they just slipped into the drawer for me -
a fabulous pen holder, how cool is that? 

 So - here is the full extent of my purchases in all their glory  :o)

Looking at how many slots are full already, I am thinking that I may still have to keep some of my inserts in the drawers... probably all the diary inserts.

 I should go to bed now, but have a feeling that I may end up unpacking my filos before that happens so that they can be introduced to their new home :o)

Night all,

LJx

Ooh – New Pretty/Functional Things…

Wow, wow, wow!!!

Last week was a fabulous week for me. Not only did I get my boys back after their holiday at Dad & Jo’s (my dad, not theirs – he was with me enjoying the peace and quiet), but when I got there to pick them up I had fun stuff waiting for me :o)

Alison had blogged here that she was selling some of her precious Filofaxes, and mentioned that she may also be parting with her raspberry Compact Chameleon… Now, I don’t have a compact (apart from the Pennybridge, but I don’t count that as it’s more of a purse), so it would be rude not to put myself forward as a potential owner for said compact in case Alison did decide to sell. Luckily for me, soon after I asked Alison to keep me in mind if she did take the leap, I received an email saying that it was indeed going to be leaving her and was I still interested? Of course!!!

Here is the stunningly attractive Cassie the Chameleon in all her compact beauty - I’ve not named any of my other filos, so don’t know why I had the overwhelming feeling that she should be called Cassie, but there you go!!! I think it’s the whole compact and beautiful thing, and I know someone who fits that description and she is called Cassie.

She has arrived complete with the Swedish/Danish insert that I love so much more than the UK ones (who wouldn’t?). And check out her dividers…

TOP TABS!!!

I also had a present from Graham, who plays badminton with Dad & Jo, which he dug out for me after he heard that I love all things Filofax. Check this out…

It is an insert holder (holds personal size inserts) from Time Management International from a course that he went on. It cam complete with dividers for the holder (I’m not sure what all the symbols mean), a few plastic dividers that will fit in a personal Filofax, and various inserts.

I am really looking forward to storing my inserts in here. Maybe I will move back into a personal filo for a while so I can try and use them properly J

My third parcel (yes, I am a very lucky girl), was one that arrived while I was at Centerparcs, but his was the first time I’d been to Dad’s since to be able to get it.
This is what Alison sent me as a thank you for the Sunflower Piazza that I sent to her... TA DA!!!

Huge stash of scrapbooking stuff!!!

Boy stuff ready for pictures of my little chaps

The pretty stuff for doing pretty things with :o)

I am so pleased to have got these – I now have papers, brads, ribbon, buttons, photo frame, letters, stickers and everything I could possibly need for my first scrapbook project, and for many others if I don't do too badly on on my first attempts. I am so looking forward to printing out a photo of my two gorgeous boys to use, and when it is finished it can live on my desk at work.

Signing off with huge thank yous to both Alison and Graham for their kindness and thoughtfulness.

LJx

Can I Live in a Pocket...?

Blimey – it’s my 100^th post already, so what more fitting thing to blog about than one of my favourite things – my pocket Malden!!!

As I showed in this post I was recently the recipient of the wonderful pocket Ochre Malden.

Looking a bit chunky!!!

I was desperate to try out this little gem of a Filofax as it can hold my iPod so I can have it with me everywhere I go.

I set to work setting it up, working out everything I wanted it to do (everything except work basically).

I wasn’t too sure what diary layout I wanted, so threw together a basic WO2P using my quadrille FF paper.

I knew I wanted some pretty dividers, but wasn’t going to make them with proper tabs for the first ones, just cut some dotty scrapbooking paper to size and use some post-it tabs. How hard could it be? ...not very, if I could add up!!! I measured the size I needed using my pocket today marker (why don’t I already have the table of sizes printed out from Philofaxy? – note to self: must do that), and proceeded to cut the paper using my rotary cutter, which doesn’t have the measurements going high enough along the side that I needed them on – (really? I must check that out before I hit publish for this post…). Once I had cut them all out (schoolgirl error, cut one and check before continuing) I discovered they were too small – significantly too small.

At this point I was given the helpful advice “Measure twice, cut once” – yeah, thanks!!! The fact is, it wasn’t my measuring that was the problem, it was the adding to get it correct on the cutter that was the problem – OK, OK, I’m an accountant so I’m supposed to be good with figures – it was late…

So I got some of my Sentimental Circus notepaper and cut those to size instead, and here they are looking lovely in my filo.

Confession – these were actually the second attempt, the first attempt I got all the papers lined up so I could cut the bit I didn’t want off and do them all in one go, and then put them into the cutter the wrong way round and cut the wrong side off – it wasn’t one of my finest hours :o)

I’ve been using the Malden as my purse as well as my carry around filo at the moment, as I lent my Pennybridge to a work colleague to try out, so I’ve had it with me at all times, but still haven’t finished setting it up.

This is the grand plan for the layout:

1                    Capture pages

As you can  see, this has mainly been used for info from Web Finds posts

2                    Diary pages – WO2P with a section for my Flylady zone as cribbed from DEM

3                    101 in 1001 days – just a simple list for monitoring and to check when I have a spare few minutes to do some planning.    

4                    Flylady – 6 sections using my 1-6 Paperchase tabs (again cribbed from DEM)  

-          Routines

-          Weekly plan

-          Zones

-          Menu plan

-          Crisis cleaning

-          Quarterly/seasonal tasks

5                    Logs & info – sectioned using my Paperchase London buses tabs (love them) 

-          Exercise

-          Food

-          Work hours

-          Addresses

-          Birthdays/anniversaries

6                    Section for photos to carry around (none in it yet – I need to print some).

This evening I figured I would actually get round to finalising the setup (or at least get the Flylady stuff written in ready for use).

So what happened?

… Oh my God!!! How is it possible to write properly on paper this small???

That pretty much sums it up. I could do it on paper and then add it into my filo, but surely the point is that you should be able to write on the paper that you already have in there…

But… I worked out that I don’t need my work stuff with me all the time, so… how much of this do I really NEED with me?

Answers on a (very small) postcard please.

LJx