cute miffy paperclips!

This is such a random post but I thought I'd share these with you. I bought these back in 2007 when I was in Hong Kong and recently found them again! Aren't they adorable?

I think I have eight or ten of them altogether so this is a small selection. Some of them are quite dirty too? However, I have had them for years so will give them a clean before using them again!

A close up of the green: 

And the blue:

And finally the pink:

Who else wishes that cute stationery wasn't exclusive to South East Asia?

passing on the Filofax/stationery obsession!

As some of you may know, I recently won a Filofax Cuban through the weekly Twitter competitions. I decided to gift it to my mum as it was her birthday earlier this month and also because I am quite content with the three I currently use. She ended up loving it and grinning like a Cheshire cat, which makes me very happy :)

Here are a few pictures of the Cuban and its features.

First up, the front. It is a lovely darkish red (a real chilli colour and as described) but in this picture, it looks bright as the sunlight has caught it.

The inside pocket and card slots:

The back zipped pouch. Useful for holding all receipts where a credit card was used as payment (my mum keeps all of her receipts so that when the credit card bill arrives, she can check off if the payment was correct or not).

My mum has organised it as follows:

- She has also used the A-Z tabs and has transferred all of her addresses into the Filofax (instead of using a separate address book!)

- a 2013 diary - in the middle and after the addresses section for ease of writing when it comes to writing on paper to the left of the rings (I had so much fun helping my mum set up her Filofax for optimum use and this was just one of the tips I gave her!).

- And finally, the use of Note Pages where she has noted some important info that she accesses on a regular basis or may need to access at some stage in the future when out and about.

Honestly, I think the Cuban is a beautiful Filofax. The leather is so soft and supple, but still sturdy. The colour is neither overly masculine, nor feminine. If the Slimline Deco and the Osterley model didn't exist, I'm pretty sure I'd be using this Filofax as my own.

The best bit about the Cuban? My mum found a pen that matches it very well. It's just a bog-standard Parker biro pen but having had this pen for years, it seems that it was made for her to receive this Filofax and use the biro in conjunction with it. I'm really glad she loves it (she was grinning ear to ear when I gave it to her) and am sure she will get plenty of use out of it (just like I, and all of you guys have).

stationery addicts anonymous, meeting 2: Vanja

Another Stationery Addicts Anonymous Meeting, another addict to introduce :) This week, it is Vanja who blogs at Vanjilla. :) Enjoy!

---

Hello, my name is Vanja and I'm a stationery addict - and it's calming to be in Angela's SAA group! :)

It all began early, when I was 5 or 6 years old and my mum took me on our regular Saturday's shopping mornings to a small nearby town in Austria (you must understand those were the 80's and while there was just the plain office stuff in our shops, they already had huge counters of colourful, fruit - scented pencil erasers from Japan - dreamland for a kiddo)!

I got to pick one from time to time (if I didn't already get a Kinder Chocolate Egg or a Milka or something else that day - I was much more disicplined back then, hehe) - and it was a truly happy event. Most of those erasers were never used, they were just too pretty for that and most of them are still kept in a box at my parents' - OK, some of them were eaten later by my younger sister, but please let's don't get into that traumatic part of my addict history...

So, for your eyes only - a glimpse of my beloved sweet smelling pencil erasers - mind you, they're over 25 years old! :)

My next love have always been pens. Never enough of them, my only condition was blue ink in them. You can ask my colleagues about the tantrums I throw when my current pen disappears - but I sincerely feel there's no greater office punishment than writing with a bad (and don't even mention - ugly??!!) pen.

There, and while there is much to be addicted to in the stationery world, my worst addiction must be notebooks. Any shape or colour, any size, spiral, bound and stapled ones.

Not just because they can be so beautiful but because there's so much you can do with them!

I'm known for turning each and every notebook I use into a planner-journal-my own comments and life's observations-correspondence with colleagues-shopping lists-comic... kind of thing, which is sometimes real fun to read (and sometimes a great horror of mine, when I lend it to someone and only later think of all that is to be found in there!).

I probably already have enough notebooks in my stash to last me for this (and the next) lifetime, but I add regularly; with all this digital thing going on, you just never know. :)

Angela, thank you so much for hosting me on your chic site again... and for infecting me even further with your posts (I honestly hope your next one won't be about Prada handbags...)... oh, and yes... and don't even think of taking my thing for stationery away, OK??   :)

---

I love those pencil erasers!! I really want some now hehe. And the pens, whoa, all so pretty and so many different types, and those notebooks! The green tea one looks so cute too! Thanks for being this week's addict, Vanja :) Hope that this addiction long continues as I would never take this stationery addiction away from anyone (as I too, am infected hehe).

using two filofax binders at the same time

With my Slimline in use as my daily diary, I have to do some syncing from time to time. This is because my Slimline only holds a few months' of inserts and if I am out but have to note a date beyond these few months, I have to transfer that ont the appropriate date. Any diary refills that won't fit into my Slimline are stored in my personal Filofax and so, you can see why there is a need for 'syncing' my life from time to time.

For instance, I had to write in when to transfer my savings from one bank account to another (because my interest rate plummets after a year) as my Slimline only holds six months' worth of inserts.

Moreover, I use my Compact as a blog planning binder (more on this once my set-up as been tweaked to perfection), the personal as a spare diary sheet holder and my Slimline as my diary. Although it may seem cumbersome to use three binders at a time, the different sizes mean that I'm essentially only using 49mms worth of inserts. And my blog binder stays at home all the time, as does my personal one.

Having all these binders in use simultaneously requires a degree of organisation but I find the sacrifice I make in terms of time spent syncing them means that I carry less around with me = my shoulders breathe a sigh of relief :)

my filofax week #32

I've spent the past week using my Filofax to track when I've taken my pain medication (for those who are actively seeking the times out, if two times seem really close together, it is because I am taking two different types of pain meds that don't interfere with each other and do not constitute an overdose so don't worry!) and also for other life admin.

I'm really taking the time off I have right now to try and get my life in order and actively think about my future. However, I need to also remember to take one day at a time - a sentiment echoed by the fact that I felt seriously low on Tuesday night when I spent the whole day planning my future, but just couldn't see it due to the immense pain I was feeling. A sure-sign that I need to slow down a bit and still take it easy.

Today, I am doing well though. I can walk up and down stairs virtually as normal (maybe a tiny bit slower than my usual bounding up and down them two-by-two) and the pain is literally gone. And, my wound is healing quite well. I was reading through some leaflets I was given at my pre-op assessment a few weeks back and it recommends a total recovery time of twelve weeks but at this rate, I should be right as rain in six (as I am already at the point of week 3 when it is only day nine so far!). 

Anyway, enough of that! Here is my week and apologies for it being quite boring looking!

looking back at journal and diary pages

Do you keep a journal? Did Ray's Journalling School inspire you to? And what do you do with old diaries/diary inserts? I'm such a hoarder that I keep them all. I have stored away my 2007-2009 ones so the only pictures present in this post are 2010, 2011 and this year's.

For those of you that do keep a journal or your old inserts/diaries, do you ever look back at them? I recently read my journal that I've kept since I was 14 (right from the start!) and it inspired me to write this post. It opens your eyes to what's changed, how you've personally changed and also reminds you of good times had during those years.

To round off this post, I include my diary pages for the 23rd of November, but from various years and also from this year. Why not? It's always intriguing to see how things have changed.

2010

2011

2012 - this year! A blank week as it has yet to be filled in.

Obviously, 2010 and 2011 will have been busier as I was at university back then, but this week, I am recovering from a surgery so it is visibly blanker :)

Have I inspired you to look back at your diaries from previous years?

Job seeking using a Filofax?

Here is how I used my Filofax for job seeking. I'm cheap and decided not to use a whole new tab for it (as for me, I was only going to make this a small section!).

I only usually apply to one or two jobs at a time - I thoroughly research the role and the company before applying. However, I have applied for work experience at other local firms and all these applications are tracked through my own self-made insert.

Then, the next few pages are dedicated to myself as an applicant. Firstly, my skills and examples of each one:

Then a page of typical interview questions and my bullet point answers; and on the other side, other questions I could be asked.

Then a list of questions I could ask at the end and on the right, key words and more examples of situations that may be asked about.

You can add more to this by noting down how you would prefer your career to progress, have a mini CV section (I have this but just didn't show it) and also other sections such as writing cover letters, thank you letters and other documents useful for job applications.

Although this picture is more picture-filled than text-based, I hope this is somewhat useful if any of you ever decide to change careers or if you're fresh out of uni (like me!) and are enduring the job hunting process.

stationery addicts anonymous and my favourites

This is the start of a new series :) As you know, I already have the 'My Filofax Week' series going on, but I want to add something new and extra to this blog and so, this spells the beginning of another series. Each week, you will encounter a meeting for Stationery Addicts Anonymous. And each week, you will meet a new addict and then they will tell you what their favourite items of stationery are. I hope you will join me on this series - and also participate too if you feel this is a group you belong to :) Just contact me at paperlovestory @ outlook.com

-----

Hi, I’m Angela and I will be your group leader for Stationery Addicts Anonymous. Welcome to the group and I hope you will join us for these weekly meetings. I myself am also an addict. I own more pens than your average Joe, more notebooks, more sticky notes and stickers, washi tape, stickers... As a result, I feel I can empathise with your stories too as each week, we will focus on a member of the group.

Today, I will run you through my three favourite items in my collection. 

So first up; my favourite stickers. These are obviously my Rilakkuma ones. I'm looking forward to the day when I can head back to Hong Kong for a few weeks and stock up on more Rilakkuma items. I already have some hangers from there from my trip five years' ago and a key ring from two years' ago but I want to add more Rilakkuma stationery items.

Second, my favourite sticky notes. These are from Paperchase and are SO cute. I love the large, striped ones because they are ideal for writing lists on.

From the left: large, striped sticky notes, two circular ones with faces on, five tabs, two tabs, two mini sticky notes and another large, striped sticky note.

Thirdly, my favourite pens. Don't tell me you didn't see this coming! Muji gel pens. I love the colours, I love how they write and the price is quite decent, especially considering how well they write. I love the minimalistic design too.

Join me next week, where we will meet another addict! Remember, stay strong and together, we can battle (or enable) this addiction together! Until next week :)

sticky notes for 'things expected'

You know those times where you order something from the internet, or you're expecting a letter, or you've returned something by post and are waiting for the refund? Well, I tend to lose track of these three things (amongst others!) and so, I made up my own way of tracking them.

All you need is:

- a sticky note

- a pen (which colour you choose is completely down to you!)

Et voila:

Now, the last thing you need to do is stick it on your 'today' marker and you're set. This allows you to see what you're expecting and whether or not it has arrived yet :) Apologies for the 'Boston Consulting Group' logo at the bottom - I got these stickies free from a careers fair (Jeez, I sound like such a leech!) and have yet to run out of them!

my filofax week #31

I've literally just got home from the hospital so a short post. Just two pictures for this week - some to dos weren't done because of the op, but most weer (I think!). Anyway, I'm diving into bed as I feel quite tired! Enjoy :)

custom notepaper inserts (4 different designs!)

Ok, so today is the day I am having my operation so this is a scheduled post. To make up for the fact that I have to have this somewhat damper of an operation (damper as it means I won't be 100% for quite a few weeks after!), I have this bumper pack of custom notepaper inserts. I'm hoping that you'll like at least one of them this way?

Here is my favourite out of the four (the links are after it!):

NOTE: Not the full size file.

Things on my mind / / deliberately uneven lines (don't click on this one if you have OCD tendencies!) / / school notebook rule / / something different

So, hit or a miss? This is the last in the current series of custom inserts (for the time being) but I'm hoping that creativity will strike again and then I will go on another custom insert making frenzy!

special post: a handwritten one!

I have a special post for you all today :) The pictures are pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy!

guest post from Alice :)

Today, I am honoured to feature a guest post from Alice (@45Ads on Twitter). She is one of my favourite tweeters (is that a word?) and she is also lovely! 

Basically, this post came about because we were talking about custom inserts. She then sent me an insert she had made herself and I loved it! I wanted to know more and that's when I asked her if she would like to write a guest post as to how she uses them and also how she made them. 

With the quality of Filofax paper a common gripe between users of ringed organisers, custom inserts are definitely increasing in popularity as they offer that personal touch and you can choose what paper to print them onto! Now you can see why I'm so interested in Alice's custom inserts :) 

Without further ado, here is Alice's post. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did!
-----
Angela has generously offered me the chance to write a guest post for her blog. I hope that I can live up to her expectations!

For starters, I own five binders. One is a cheap red wanna-be and he is falling apart around the rings. It is a personal size and I only use it for storage. I have two other personal size binders, both from Filofax. One is a beautiful brown calf leather Winchester from the 80s, my first Filofax, and the other is a red Domino. I also have two A5 binders. One is a red Filofax Sketch and the other, my favourite, is the sunflower yellow Dolce Vita from Succes. It is for the Succes that I wanted to make inserts myself.

The standard inserts by Succes are superior to Filofax. The paper is ticker and better suited for fountain pen ink. However, after a huge change in schedules (unreadable and/or messed up with white-out), I needed a new, clean set for the remainder of the year. Like many, I use fountain pens and the Pilot G-2. On ordinary Filofax inserts, they feather and bleed. So despite being able to get a 2012 set at a good price, I choose not to and started my quest for better inserts at a fraction of the price!

In Word, I opened a text box and inserted a table. I gave the table four columns and about 25 rows. My setting for the column widths is “autofit to content.” By simply using the standard features, I printed in bold the days of the week, the hours, the headers “notes” and “exercises” and gave them a colour.

The advantage of the “autofit to content” setting is that the first column remains very lean. It only needs to contain a few numbers representing the hours of the day. As you can see, I only used whole hours and did not insert 30min increments. Why? I don’t need more details. My work from home gets detailed in another binder, the Winchester, so I really do not need more time increments in the daily planner. However, if you do, just delete the extra lines under “notes” and/or “exercises” to make room for those increments. See why I love this? Flexibility!

At the bottom on the page where I have “notes” I do not list regular to-do things. Those go on a separate insert. Under “notes” I place things that are happening that day that I want to keep track off such as “fieldtrips” or “presidential debates.” The “exercise” row also at the bottom is to help me actually do my exercises. I do not like to go to the gym (major confession, you heard it here first! :D) so by making it visual, I shame myself into going just so I can check the box. Yes, it is that basic! 

My design is very rudimentary but what I love about it is the following: anything that is fixed such as school drop off and pick up times can be printed in advance for the whole school year. The same counts for holidays, birthdays, early school release dates, etc. Also, by typing things that are fixed you create “blocks.” With “blocks” I mean that if you type in advance what is fixed and for the rest write by hand, you can see where the gaps are for activities, time for yourself, etc. Do you want your calendar week to start on Sunday? No problem. Just change the days in the columns. Do you want to start the first of each month on a separate page? No problem, just stop at the 30^th/31^st and start on a fresh table with the 1^st of that month.

 

A word on printing: I make a week-on-two-pages on one sheet in landscape and then print it. Since I use an A5 binder, I only need to fold the page in half and punch holes in it. If you do not like a folded page in your binder, you can print it double-sided, cut the page in half, and then hole punch.

My weekly planning or “to-do” list is also made with Word. I used a text box with a table, three columns, 25 rows, and again “autofit to content.” Why? I need more space in the first column to write and in columns two and three; I only place a check mark. As you can see on the design, it has a “home” section with plenty of space for you to add other to-dos. I added a “miscellaneous” section at the bottom for everything not “house” or “work” related.

I might start printing the to-do sheet on a different colour paper. If you insert the to-do sheet in between the week-on-two-pages, you can see Mon-Tues-Wed on the left and if you turn the to-do page, you see Thurs-Fri-Sat/Sun. Need to see the whole week? Just hold it up and the week-at-a-glance is right there!

On both inserts, I used text in the background but you can add a picture here as well to personalize it. Other options for personalizing your inserts are by printing it on coloured paper or on relief paper if your printer can handle that. You could also consider (but this is very time consuming) cutting out the tables, pasting them on card stock and covering the edges with washi tape.

I am using my own inserts for the rest of the calendar year so I can be critical of my own design, see if it is practical, and of course, add/change where needed.

Everyone’s schedule is different and the best thing about making inserts yourself is that it is tailor-made for you. Have fun!

Alice (@45Ads) on Twitter

-----

Thanks, Alice, for running through your custom inserts. I can't wait to start work so I can use similar ones! I love her planning system and also how the inserts are folded in half! Such an awesome idea.

And, as if this post isn't awesome enough, Alice has kindly included a PDF of the time planning insert :)

And a link to the PDF (without the watermark).

Don't you just love seeing how other people use their organisers? And doesn't it just give you so many ideas for your own?

graduation!

Graduation was two weeks' ago now, but I have only just got round to writing about it! I thought I'd share some snippets of the happy day. Attending graduation meant that I checked off one of my '101 things in 1001 days' things-to-do and because of that, it links in with my own Happiness Challenge - something I am in the process of setting up for 2013.

Before I show you some of the pictures taken, I just want to say that I opted not to wear heels as I was more scared of falling over than anything (and plus, I'm quite tall anyway without heels so I'd stick out like a sore thumb) and I opted not to buy a new dress. I know graduation is meant to be special, but I wanted a dress with buttons and big pockets - and it turned out that I had one in my possession. It's a dress from NW3 by Hobbs and has a silk/button detail top with a wool mix skirt. It's essentially a 2-in-1 dress and I love it. It was comfy, not too short and also smart enough for graduation!

Without further ado, here are some pictures which depict the day :)

Firstly, inside the Royal Albert Hall. Can you believe that the night before, they held the premiere for the new James Bond film there?

They said 'no flash photography' was allowed inside but that did little to deter proud parents and graduands alike. I took this on my phone and the flash didn't go off, so technically, I didn't break any rules ;) Sorry it's a bit blurred but I must say that I'm quite impressed with the camera on the iPhone 5!

The stage where the red seats are were where we had to go up when our names were called. There was quite a few hundred students graduating in the same ceremony as me. We were the first ceremony - the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Engineering was to follow at 2pm and Medicine at 5:30pm.

Sorry about the quality! This was taken on my phone.

I was sat next to a good friend so it made the ceremony more bearable. 

On each of our seats was one of these:

And inside, there was a list of all graduands across all ceremonies. This was the two-page spread where my name featured... do you think you can find it?

Of course not. The print is too small! Here is where my name is:

Afterwards, I took some pictures with friends and family. I picked my two favourites (out of about a hundred, possibly!). This is myself and my sister:

And myself and one of my closest friends:

All in all, I had a fantastic day. Before graduation, I wasn't too bothered about it. I saw it as a pointless ceremony that would have been a waste of time but seeing how happy my parents, friends, sister and other people were made me realise that it was the total opposite. It was a worthwhile experience and I will remember that day as possibly the best one in my life so far.

my filofax week #30

Today is Remembrance Sunday here in the UK so at 11am, I will stop everything I am doing and observe two minutes of silence to remember those who are the real heroes. Forget pop stars, movie stars, sports stars who are labelled heroes; the true heroes are those who put their lives on the line for the country and those who put the future of others ahead of their own. I think the word 'hero' is bandied about all to easily these days and, personally, I only ever reserve it for those who truly deserve it, such as those remembered by days like today.

Living in a county where there are RAF (Royal Air Force) bases dotted all over the place, these heroes are never far from my mind.

I feel like this week, my Filofax week is a bit of a trivial post, so I won't comment on it (apart from to say that the hearts countdown was an idea I stole from Imy - she suggested I do a countdown to the day after my operation, as I really am quite scared for it!).

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday (and weekend!) :)

custom to-do inserts

Continuing on from the custom meal plan inserts I posted about last week, here are some to-do ones! This time, you get a choice of them with a check 'circle' (as opposed to a boring box) or without these check circles - useful if you're the type who prefers to cross things out instead of ticking boxes once a task has been accomplished.

Again, I find printing them at a scale of 93-95% works best (due to the margins on my printer more than anything!).


with check circles / / without check circles

how the insert without check circles looks.
NOTE: This is NOT the full size file!

Enjoy!

dressing like my deco/osterley

I've wanted to write this post for AGES now, though 'write' may not be the right word! This post is more a picture-based one (yes I know, most of my posts are picture based) and I hope you enjoy reading/seeing this as much as I had fun making it.

After all the talk about Filofax heading in a 'fashionable' direction; with the word 'fashionable' thrown around in irony and sarcasm more than in a positive way, I thought I'd do a post where the word is used seriously. At least, I tried to!

I opted to dress like my Filofax. This is easier said than done! I don't own anything purple and reptile print so this was the first hurdle to battle. I do have one or two garments that are purple and for now, this will have to do.

Currently, I am using both side by side and with both being purple, this made things a bit easier. I dug out this dress from NW3 by Hobbs and I think the wine colour goes better with my Osterley than the Deco...

... don't you think?

Next issue is the reptile print. The only thing I have is this bag, also by NW3 by Hobbs:

But it isn't anywhere near purple! This is a dilemma and a half. Accepting defeat, I slipped on this bracelet from ASOS:

Enough to take an attacker's eyes out - is the feistiness of this bracelet comparable to that of
reptile print?

After this, I gave up being fashionable, slipped on some comfy black flats, grabbed my trusty leather shoulder bag, shrugged on a warm coat and left the house to run my daily errands.

Dressing like my Filofax was hard because I don't own any proper purple-coloured items in my wardrobe and I came to realise that fashion and Filofax don't mix if you want to use it as an accessory to finish an outfit off! Something, Filofax should've noted when opting to collaborate with Temperley London.

stationery spot (I watch too much TV)

Please don't judge me for watching so much TV! I do admit that I am a bit of a TV junkie (particularly American TV dramas and Hong Kong TV dramas) but this allows me to write this post - so, recognise ;)

First up - Revenge. This was last week (I think?) and instead of checking out the awesome view (look at where the sea meets the sky!), I was focussed on the table. What's that? It looks a lot like my Slimline Deco but I don't think it is as it just looks like a bog-standard bound notebook.

Next up, a TV drama from Hong Kong; it's English name is 'Moonlight Resonance'. I actually watched this a few years ago, but re-watching it a few days ago lead me to this gem! Look what the girl on the right is holding!

And woahhh, rings in the middle? Could it be...?

Yet another screencap of the diary.

From this picture, I deduced that it has six rings, with the layout being similar to the personal sized Filofax.

The inserts look undated though, so they are definitely not Filofax ones. Bit weird to have undated inserts though, as you can't really use it for any year with the days of the week already printed on (as you can see above).