New Purchases/Presents In Brief...

OK - it says in brief, but what it actually means is that I just don't have time to do lots of separate posts, and I'm lazy. As some of the items get used more I will post about what I have done with them  :-)

As you may know, I put myself on a no shopping stint for 12 weeks, did I save money? Probably not, because since then I have probably bought all the stuff I would have bought in the course of that 12 weeks anyway - yay!!!

These are the lovely things that were waiting for me when I got to Weymouth:

 A lovely personal Malden in Ochre from the fabulous Charlotte, who included some filofax stickers (which are great), and some diddy post-it style page markers (which are always so handy when you're trying to actually be organised). I now have almost a full Ochre Malden set - I'm only missing the mini, and I don't think I want one of those, they don't appear to have enough pockets...

Filofax and inserts

The other thing that I got with these which I've never had before (or even considered) is the 2DPP diary. I think I may have to start doing a one line gratitude journal and then I can pretty each day up with stickers, doodles and washi tape. I think this would be perfect for in my happiness binder :-)

Opened up

 My next package was my beautiful teal Plannerisms planner, I haven't put in loads of photos, but if you haven't seen the insides of these before check out this link to the Plannerisms blog of Laurie who designed them - they are amazing.

Love the colour, so excited to get started

I was so pleased to get this and was going to start using it the first night, until someone (thanks Dave) thought they should tell me that I shouldn't write in here with a normal BIC biro, it needed a special pen, not just a black biro... so much for starting my organisation and new set up immediately.

Next came the cute washi tape that I spied over on Alice's blog (The Wonderful Life of Alice), I'd mentioned that it was I thought it was great, and as she didn't want it anymore she sent it to me. How sweet is this personal notepaper that Alice uses - I want!!!

Ooh!!!

But not only did Alice send the washi tape, she also included a bag with loads of bits and pieces for me (and my boys).  There is a picture of a lot of the stuff that arrived below, but there was even more than this. In the evening of the day that I received this I met a friends niece who was just fabulous and she loves stickers too (and yes, she is an adult too - see, it's not just me), as she was so nice and loves stickers sooooo much I did her a little pile of various stickers out of the ones Alice had sent me. I got a message the next day (I left them for her, so she didn't get them until the morning) saying that she was very pleased with them. I am glad to have been able to share my gifts from Alice with someone else who really appreciates them too.

Felt stickers, owl stickers, butterflies and bugs, metallic
tape, stickers with little bits inside, magnetic bookmarks,
hearts & stars for tracking, cupcakes, hearts, robot skulls,
cute girls, animals and bling - so many things

Then came the pens - a pack of 20 Staedtler Triplus Fineliners, and check out the packet these come in, that is amazing. I happened to mention that I like my pens to stay in the correct order in the holder, and then got paranoid realised that if I left them in the meeting room without me then they would very quickly be rearranged by the mean boys, therefore every time I left the room (regardless of what for) my new pens had to come with me.

A veritable rainbow

 On my last day in Weymouth my final package arrived - 6 new washi tapes from eBay, I only have one problem now...

I need some more tea-lights to use them on - ha ha ha!!!

Bag of wash-tape decorated vanilla tea-lights

After work on Friday I was dropped at Staples in Bournemouth, as I wanted to get some BIC medium crystal biros (???) and I was desperate to check out the ARC system that I have read so much about. I really liked the paper (nice quality, reasonably priced) and so cam out of there with the system, spare paper and a pack of 3 hotlist type pads - result!!!

Saturday in Bournemouth... where to go?...

Paperchase of course!!! Unfortunately (or fortunately maybe) the Paperchase concession in Bournemouth is only small so I didn't buy a huge stack of things, but managed to pick up a few good bargains.

E-Book case, writing set, stickers and a couple of Santa packs

I also went into TK Maxx (had to be done) and although they had some lovely notepads there, they didn't have anything that I really wanted desperately (or at least nothing that I would have actually been able to get home anyway). However, one thing they did have which I hadn't expected were a few packs of the standard block colours of scrapbooking paper from American Crafts. If I'd had any chance of those fitting in my case I would definitely have got some.

And then on Friday this week while I was working from home as I was too poorly to be allowed out of the house, this arrived from Maaike of the wonderful blog My Filo World.  Now this is the only one with proper unveiling photos as I didn't have a camera with me for any of the others, so lets see...

Lovely wrapping - how sweet!!!

With a little note

And here it is.. the gorgeous, green Windsor

So sweet with this little floral pen

Inside there was also a special today style marker, Month on 2 page tabbed dividers, and some funky paperclips (heart, star and a particularly cool circular one).

Thank you to all of you who designed, sold, or gave me any of these lovely things - thank you, thank you, thank you :-)

LJx

Aargh!!! Please Just Medicate Me Now!!!

OK - so this is just going to be a rambling post this evening as I am getting myself tied up in knots with this ridiculous OCD of mine.

I was just going to bed to chill out with my Kindle for a bit and get a super early night and had no intention of blogging at all.

Then (as so often does) a few little niggling thoughts came into my head reminding me that there are rather a lot of things that I need to get on with, so I thought I'd do the sensible thing and write them down and try to get myself a bit organised.

I'm figuring I should just have a catch all notebook to keep by me whenever I am using my computer at home to list things such as books to read, films to watch, recipes to try, quotes, Filofax ideas, stationery to try/buy, scrapbooking ideas, etc, etc.

The next thought to pop into my head is my neglected 101 list, I am in need of some motivation as my head has been filled up with work stuff again recently, with all the fun of yearend and a project that I'm working on (coupled with sick people at home).

Then I realised where I was writing all this down... was it in my trusty Filofax? No... and there begins the problem. My personal (as opposed to work) Filofax is currently a beautiful Holborn zip, so why was I not writing in there? Is it because when I'm just jotting down thoughts I write in my big, comfortable (sometimes illegible) style - and as I don't embrace this style generally, maybe I am not correctly equipped (big paper, wide lines... lots of space), or maybe I just want my babies to look gorgeous inside as well as out?

Oh well, my mind wasn't going to dwell on that for too long as I will be going to the UK next week where my Plannerisms planner is waiting for me (in Teal, yum!!!).  Time to think about how I will use each section of this to help me be more organised and calm (ha ha ha!!!). I have a list of what the set up is of the planner, so just need to figure out what will go where, but... and this is a BIG but, where did I write it down?

I have spent the last 10-15 minutes before sitting down here searching to find which notebook I have written it in (I only wrote it three days ago) - I thought it would be my Star Wars Moleskine (blog book and now internet notes from other people's articles), no, maybe one of the notepads in my Flex, no, in the notepad (Oxford Office Book ring bound, lovely paper by the way), no... and I'd already checked my Filofax, I have no idea where it is.

And why can I never find anything I have written down (unless it is already neatly available in my head, or already planned and written neatly into my Filofax)? ...because I can't bring myself to write just any old thing into my Filofax, or any of my nice notebooks, idiot!!!

I think it is now time to deal with this ridiculous OCD behaviour once and for all.

For now, any rough jottings that are required will either go in my Filofax (even thinking about doing that hurts right now) or in my black ring bound Oxford Office Book, until it is full (that idea is less painful, so may actually work). I'm going to try to embrace my larger writing (even in my personal filo, it's not like I keep much in it anyway so I have plenty of ring space).

Right, now I've got that off my chest I'm going to go back to bed, move all the stationery off it (you'd be amazed how much stationery needs to be sprawled across the bed just to use a BIC biro to write in one notepad), and read my Kindle. I am not going to have any more organisey thoughts until at least the morning...

God night all,

LJx

TK Maxx, and a Fabulous Paper Shop - Wow!!!

Hi all :o) Another stationery post I’m afraid.

After seeing the notebooks that you can get in TK Maxx in Weymouth I was rather gutted that I couldn’t buy loads of them, as there would be no room in my case to carry them all home.

However, I went shopping in Salisbury with Josie and Marcus, and discovered the TK Maxx there – oh my, I think I was in heaven (poor Jo thought she was never going to get me out of there – while Marcus helped me choose what I should get, including two notebooks for Jo for her birthday – ha ha ha!!!).

I realised a very important thing while I was there with them. No – I probably couldn’t fit them all in my case, but I have to fly back to the UK for a long weekend next month to pick the boys up, and I won’t need many clothes then so my suitcase will be fairly empty. Therefore I could leave some of my stuff from this visit in the UK and take some notebooks home with me (there is no way I was leaving notebooks behind – not with my boys –Marcus already picked one from the shelf for himself).

So here are they beautiful notebooks in all their glory, including a fabulous planner…

Pretty, pretty, pretty...

Emma Bridgewater - 3 pocket journals (blank, ruled & quadrille), A5 ruled notebook with elasticated fastening, and Jan Constantine B5 ruled notebook - I have a smaller blue one somewhere, but I can't find it... all at less than half price

Pretty paper inside :o)

Chelsea Home hardback, hardback bird (the one with the nest), paperback bird, and butterfly "My Life" planner from Life Canvas - major savings on the Chelsea Home one (70%+ savings) 

Bird nest top and Chelsea home bottom - cute 

"My Life" planner - pretty paper and great tabs.
Top tabs - Notes, To Do, Ideas, The Best

Sample paper 1

Sample paper 2

The Best section contains 7 side tabs: Music, Books, Films, Websites and 3 blank

Super cute planner for a bargain price of £3.99 - what a find!!!


And I just had to include a little note about a stationery shop I found in Freiburg on the way back from Karlsruhe. We stopped at a shopping centre so we could grab a bite to eat and a drink, and take a little walk to stretch our legs. Imagine my delight when I saw Die Papeterie when we stepped out of the shopping centre, obviously it would have been rude not to at least have a little look (especially as I still hadn't managed to find a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook in the flesh anywhere, even though I had asked in a few places). 


Honestly, this shop was like an Aladdin's cave of stationery heaven. They had Moleskine, Leuchtturm, Lett's, Montblanc, various pretty silver stuff, washi tape and last, but definitely not least - a fabulous selection on Filofaxes (and not hidden in glass cases or anything). I had a chance to hold and open so many beautiful filos (they even had the Osterley out on the shelf). Obviously I wasn't looking to buy a new filo while I was there, and unfortunately they did have the ruled Leuchtturm notebooks in the pink or the aqua, but I couldn't leave empty-handed so got these...

Aqua blank notebook (but it comes with a ruled and a quadrille guide, so it may work for me), and a red ruled notebook (I'll definitely use it one day...)  

Leuchtturms and some pretty washi tape (along with a couple of new tins, red Zen for my Tick Tock Rooibos teabags, and the cherry blossom one for storing stickers in

I hope you enjoyed looking at my new things, I am very pleased with them.


LJx