New dividers-ready made

Hi all, this is a quick post to show you the Day-Timer "Blank Coloured Tabs" dividers I ordered from Amazon. They were about six dollars, and then the shipping ended up being as expensive as the dividers themselves! I e-mailed Amazon and tried to cancel the order, but they showed up anyway. In total, they were about $14.00. If I had seen them in person, would I have paid that for them? Maybe...they are pretty nice...take a look...

They come in a pack of 12, and as you can see there is a great variety of colours-it's not obvious from this picture, but no two shades are the same. The is also a sheet of clear stickers with every category you could imagine, as you can see above. You put the stickers on the little tabs! I still love my Adelphi dividers, but they have been taking a bit of a beating, and getting a little ragged around the edges. I was thinking about using a different type of divider, and saw these. Since they are plain white, I had the idea I might do a sketch or drawing right on the divider itself.

But, even though the tab is nice and strudy, the paper used for the divider is just that...paper! It's the thickness of a normal piece of paper, which I find too flimsy.  However, for those of you who like to attach images to your dividers, these would be perfect!

Also, upon putting one in my Adelphi to try it out, I discovered that the tabs don't protrude out from the pages very much. They are very small, as are the little clear stickers with the categories. I think they would be more appropriate for a slimline or compact... I like my tabs and category stickers to be nice and bold...but I'm keeping them, of course. You never know when a Filofax-compatible accessory might come in handy!

Finsbury update

Hi all, just wanted to do a quick post to show how my boyfriend's Filofax turned out! He was very happy with it, and really loved the "cafe" dividers, so I made him a full set, and then labelled them with my trusty label-maker-have I mentioned that I don't know how I lived without it? Before I unveil the finished product, I thought I would show his old book... 

Hee, hee, hee, pretty sad, right? I've included some shots of the process of getting the dividers ready... 



These are the "cheapy" dividers I used as a guide. I like them better than the Filofax ones because the tabs are bigger. I changed out his categories, too. They are now: Monthly, Weekly, Info, Finances, Contacts. I really couldn't see him using all thise categories of "projects", "notes" and "information". He'll likely  just jot down random stuff in that section- due dates, reminders, passwords, etc.

 Once I have the shape trimmed from the background, I have a special Filofax sheet that I use as a guide for the holes-I just use a regular sized hole punch, so the holes on this sheet are a little bigger than the usual Filofax sheet.

Here they are, all ready to be punched and labelled...

Labelled and punched and ready to go,  and here are the results! I had initially put in monthly calendars from the Flavia Daytimer series (you can see them in the previous post, they have very pretty, colourful tabs) but he decided he would rather have the month on two pages inserts from Filofax. Of course, I had an extra set just lying around! They are behind the "Monthly" tab at the beginning of the book...

He just called me from work to see if they are done yet-could I have created another Filofax nut? I'm really pleased how they turned out. When clipping an image from a larger one, it can be tricky getting just the right section, but I'm happy, and I think he will be, too! Sorry the picture quality is a little dark...

This was actually really fun to do-I can't wait to see what he thinks!



Big decisions, help!

Okay, I have a couple of decisions to make, and I'm hoping all you Filofax-lovers out there can help me.

Dilemma #1-I'm hankering after a new Filofax-the A5 Metropol zip. I know, I know, I just got the A5 Domino, and I really do love it. But I've been reading some great blogs on Philofaxy (Don't you LOVE how you can just go to the "search" bar at Philofaxy, type in the particular Filofax you want to read about, and it just brings them up? ) Anyhoo, there were a bunch of posts there about how great the zipped Metropol zip is, and I've been wanting to get a zipped Filo for a while-here's why...

On the left is the big, regular page-sized binder I use for all my teaching stuff-my lesson plans, calendars, class lists, etc. are all there. It is big and shiny and has a zipper to keep everything in place. I just started putting everything in this binder during the past year and I love it. I'm going to do a short youtube video on these fairly soon. On the right is my nice little Domino...but I really want a zipped Filo to go with my big one! The big binder (momma) stays at school while the smaller Filofax (baby) goes home with me at night. In my world, everything has to match...

You can see the Domino (on the left) placed on top of the larger- they have matching dividers.

Just some more examples of my obsessive need to match stuff...

Now, I don't REALLY need the zip binder until fall...but...I'm in the process of getting READY for the fall term, you know, throwing stuff out, figuring out what I'll need, etc. and I feel like I want my fall binder here...now!

The "momma" binder is not real leather, but I was a bit apprehensive about getting the Metropol zip, which is not real leather, because I was afraid the exterior would be stiff, or the zipper/synthetic combo would feel cheap. But I recently read some glowing reviews, and now I just want to go for it! If I do, I think I'll just go ahead and buy the business page per day calendar along with it, because that's what I want to use in the fall.

What do you guys think? Am I being too greedy? Should I just wait for fall? Should I get the Metropol at all? If I do, I think I'll use the Domino for creative journaling and organisation this summer, which means I could make more dividers and have some more fun setting up another Filofax-actually two, because even though I'll be transferring everything over into the new "work" Metropol, I'll probably tweak it during the process...

Dilemma #2- I recently received a handsome little Personal sized zipped Finsbury as a gift for my fella'-it's his birthday on Friday. It's a lovely, grainy brown, and I've been working away on personalising it (I'll be doing a video on this in the next couple of days, too). I was really having a hard time deciding whether to replace all the dividers like I did with my personal Adelphi-I made a few, but then thought he might like it to be more plain. I also struggled with what to use for dividers, and I think I came up with an amazing option...or couple of options. Check them out below...

The two pictures above show dividers I made from really stiff calendar pages. It's a calendar with paintings of French cafes (my boyfriend is French) I could also go the traditional route and use the bright options below. He loves red. What do you think? I think the cafe ones are beautiful, but are they too feminine? They look really nice with the brown Finsbury finish. He is pretty open minded, so he probably would like either option...

Passport dilemma solved!

Hi all! This is a quick post to show you how I have managed to fit my passport into my Personal sized Adelphi. For those of you who are familiar with the Adelphi, you know it has a flap pocket with a snap in the inner front cover and a zip pocket on the back cover. These are both lovely pockets, but too narrow for the passport-believe me, I've tried! I live right on the border between Canada and the US, and must have my passport with me to go to the US, which I do, on average, every other day. I have a battered old leather passport cover, but was getting tired of having so many books (passport, chequebook, wallet, Filofax) rattling around in my bag, and wanted to consolidate. It seemed like I was always digging around for that stupid passport. But I just couldn't find a spot for it in my Filofax.It was extremely vexing! It won't fit in the clear plastic sleeves, either. They're too skinny. Grrr!

Recently, I was reading a blog where the poster described how she used an hair elastic to attach her passport inside her pocket size Filo. She just ran the elastic around the back (spine) of the Filofax. Of course, the wheels started turning, and I wondered if I could do something similar with my personal Adelphi. I grabbed the passport, the Adelphi, and an old elastic I had in my desk. I planned on getting a nicer, prettier elastic if it actually worked. I opened my book, and it fell open to the back, where I had recently added one of the handy little pockets I ordered from Amazon. It is from the "Daytimer" line, and they come in a package of four. I wasn't really using it for anything special yet, so it was empty. I looked at my passport, looked at the pocket, and a little spring of hope erupted in my heart. The results are below...

Yessss! It freakin' fits! Perfectly! I couldn't believe it! They are called "Daytimer Portable Slash Pockets". I got the pastel ones (you are looking at the blue, there is also green, orange and purple in the pack) but now I see Amazon also carries bright, primary coloured ones that I might get. The bright ones look like they could be plastic, which would be more durable. The ones I ordered turned out to be a stiff cardboard. They are both very affordable, under $10.00 US. Sooo worth it! Don't you love it when things work out, with very little effort?!  Just goes to show that it is always a good idea to get, and hang onto, anything that will fit in our precious Filos. You never know when something will turn out to be just the right thing!

More filofax news and pictures!

I've been toiling away with end-of-the-school-year things, and have also been attempting to post videos on youtube of my Domino and Adelphi updates, but I've been having technical issues. I'm going to post some pictures of how I'm using my personal Adelphi, and hopefully I should have a video to go along with it by the end of the week...

I made the tabs with my beloved DYMO label-maker, and my tabs are, from front to back...Diary, Info, Notes, $$$$, and Misc.

The diary is self-explanatory, you can see it below. The info section is for general things I want to remember, and the notes section is where I keep my "to do" sheets, see below. I chose to use the $ symbols because I thought it was more fun than the dour "finances" or the even more depressing "budget". Plus, it's nice and short. I figured "$" could include not only how I'm managing my money (or MISmanaging it!) but also all the things I want to buy!

My "misc" or miscellaneous section is really wide open-right now it has my food diary (I'm trying to eat healthy) but could also eventually include pictures, cutouts from magazines, possible paint colours for my bedroom, etc. I'll show more when I get more.

My Slimline Amazona came with the "week per page" diary, and I've found I really like that format for my daily Filofax. I use this one mostly for appointments and errands-just the day-to-day stuff that I want to remember, so I really like this format. It's forces me to be succinct!

When there are more general items that I want to remember that don't necessarily need to be done on a particular day, I use my "to do" pages, which I have under the "notes" tab. I like using these for just general stuff that I want to do or remember-it's very satisfying to check the little box when I've completed the task.

Right now my Misc section has my food diary, which I've been neglecting! But I would like to point out the beautiful "today" marker I got as part of the "Flavia" diary set from the Flavia Day-timer line. The calendar pages were a little too cutesy/fussy for me, but I LOVE this marker. Was it worth the $20.00 the whole set cost me....not sure...

This is my clear top-loading filofax pocket with all my stickers and post-it notes...and you can see above my favourite new post-it notes, which are clear! That means you can put them on a diary page, and still see what is underneath! It's brilliant if you have limited space!

Next is my Filofax mirror-every girl's gotta have one!

This page of post-its is from the local dollar store, and it fits perfectly! I took the advice of another blogger and took the cheap post-its off the bottom and added a "real" post it note pad to the bottom-I just glue-sticked the back and stuck it on!

This is obviously my page of Filofax stickers, another absolute necessity! I'll be back soom with more pics and updates! I just ordered TWO new Filofaxes from Pens and Leather. One is a gift I am going to personalize for my hubby...stay tuned to see what ones I got, and what I do with them!

"Pimping" your Filofax

Hi all! It feels funny to keep saying "hi" when I'm not sure anyone is listening/ reading, but I'm hoping that "if I write it, they will come". Until then, it's just fun to tap away, especially about one of my favourite topics!

I have been working away on my two new Filos, my personal Adelphi and my Domino A5. Like many of you out there, I am always looking for items to add to my books to make them more efficient, interesting, and just plain fun! I've been using all sorts of neat things to personalise my new babies, and thought I would talk about how inspiration can come from the most unexpected places!

I'm really happy with how my Adelphi is working out, because before I was using the beautiful, but rather boring, Amazona Slimline. After much consideration, the Adelphi has become my everyday, take-it-everywhere Filofax, and I couldn't be happier with it.  I was reluctant to go to the  Personal, because even though they are actually quite similar in size (see picture above, from left are my Pocket Amazona, Slimline Amazona, and Personal Adelphi) the Personal seems bigger. In reality, there isn't that much difference, and I am now a Personal size convert. My Adelphi is light and sleek and beautiful, and I'm sooo glad I got it!

Here you can see the Amazona on top of the Adelphi (naughty, naughty!) they are very similar in dimensions.

From this side view you can see they aren't all that different in width, either, as far as taking up room in your bag, purse, etc.

  

In the quest to make my new Adephi as pretty and fun to use as possible, I found some great additions at the local discount store, called Mardens. If you have never seen one of these stores, they are crammed with the most interesting and diverse collection of stuff, and resemble a big yard sale.You literally just dig for things, and never know what you will find there. Here's what I found in the stationary section last week. 

It's the item on the left, of course, not my beautiful Adelphi, which gleams enticingly on the right hand side. I found a cheap, nasty plastic organiser- you can see the $9.99 Mardens sticker on the sad excuse for a cellphone holder/ pen loop on top. But the treasure is inside...

As you can see, there are all sorts of diary pages, specialised pages, a nice little clear ruler, and coloured tabs which all fit perfectly into the Personal sized Filofax! ! I LOVE coloured tabs and feel Filofax doesn't offer them enough.

Here you can see two different types of diary pages, which are undated-good thing, too, because this diary includes a fold-out calendar from 2006! I am now using the pages on the right hand as a food diary in one section of my Adelphi.

This is just another example of the variety of pages this book has to play around with. I LOVE the address pages. If you have ever gotten the  address sheets from Filofax with coloured tabs you know they are just the divider, then the place where you put addresses and phone numbers is on an extra sheet, which sits behind it. This is overkill-it adds a bunch unnecessary paper, particularly since most of us e-mail and don't need tons of room for addresses and such. As you can see, these ones above incorporate the pages itself and the tab/divider, much like these ones (below) that came with my Slimline Amazona. Now if THESE had coloured tabs...hello.

I REALLY like these because they don't have a big space set aside for each name where you are supposed to write addresses, phone numbers, e-mails, web addresses, etc. (who actually writes computer addresses down, anyway-don't we just add them to our contacts list/favourites?) So you can just write a name and a phone number, which is all I want to write a lot of the time...

So, the message for today is that inspiration and fun little add-ons for our Filofax darlings are everywhere, and sometimes can be got for very little money! In an upcoming post I will show how my Adelphi is looking-I've got it all personalised the way I want (with even more extras!) and I love it!