A tiny eBay haul and a gift

I sold a couple of bits on eBay last week and used some of the money to buy this little lot. It was listed as a kawaii bundle which is one of my saved searches on eBay.  It came in this Hello Kitty bag.

Cute packaging 

Inside the bag

I won't be using the hair bands myself but I'm sure my daughters will like them. I like the Hello Kitty squishy though so I'm going to put that on my bag. The star stickers are sweet and I really like the colours so I have tucked those into a pocket in my Filofax and we've eaten the little candy canes already.

Fairy tale world stickers in packaging 

The pack of fairy tale world stickers are really cute! I was worried they were too cute but they are talking to my inner child today so I'm going to use them. There are a quite a few in there so I was pleasantly surprised.

Back of the packet showing which stickers are inside

Inside the packet

My husband was at a meeting at college this week and they were giving out rubber bracelets and pens so he grabbed me these, I love that he knows me so well! The pink on them matches my Filofax perfectly!

Pens!

Thanks for reading and I will be posting my This Week pages tomorrow. Happy Easter!

My inadvertent good idea

When I ordered my dividers for my Filofax I had choose what I wanted them to say.  I was already using my Filofax ruler/page marker in my Dodo Pad so I decided to label one of them This Week and use it in my week on two pages diary so I could find where I was easily in both set of inserts.  

My divider as a page marker

The dividers are laminated so they are the perfect surface for post it notes.  I hadn't thought of this when I placed my order but now my "This week" divider has become my dashboard.  I use it to keep a couple of sets of post it notes and my arrow shaped ones (which I call point its because that's my daft sense of humor) so they are close to hand when I am using my diary.  One set of the post its is quite long and has little check boxes on each line so I think they might be for to do lists but I am using it for my shopping lists.  I used to write my list on the morning before I went to the supermarket which meant I forgot to add things to the list quite often.  Now it is in my Filofax I can note things down each day as I discover we need them.  I don't lose it like I would if I were writing it on a piece of paper and then forgetting where I kept it and as its a post it note I can just stick it on the back of my mobile when I'm going shopping and it is where I need it.

My dashboard

So there you go, that was my inadvertent good idea!

My week #12/52

I can't believe that we are in the 13th week of the year already!  I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Spring now but we still have snow here.  It was fun when it first came but now its mainly sheets of ice and walking anywhere feels dangerous!  Anyway here are my pages for last week.

Overview of the week

We were celebrating my daughter's birthday at the weekend, it's not actually until this Sunday but as Easter falls on it this year we moved everything forward.  I had quite a few things I needed to do so I was happy to be able to note them down and tick them off when completed!

Close up

Close up

I made an extra to do list on a long post it note to remind me what I needed to do to sort the house out before the party.  Some of the things on the list were easy to remember but a couple I would have forgotten to do if I hadn't written them down!

My to do list for the weekend

That's it for now except to wish you a happy Easter and thanks for reading!

My week #11/52

I have mentioned before that I am using two diaries in my Filofax to keep me organised (you can read about it here).  When I have been doing these weekly pages posts I have only been showing you my week over two pages diary so I thought I would show you my Dodo Pad pages as well today.  I use my Dodo Pad as a planner for the whole family so I can see what we are all doing each week at a glance. 

I love the grid format, it is so easy to use! 

My garden themed doodles

I love the spring theme of this week, I just wish we had had the weather to match them!

Here are my other pages from this week:

Cupcake washi tape!

The spring theme of my Dodo Pad got me thinking of warmer weather and holidays.  I am looking forward to some sunshine and a stay by the sea this year so I best stop buying stationery and start saving..... well maybe just cut down on the stationery!

My gorgeous pocket chameleon

As I mentioned earlier here is my post about my Mother's Day present.  When I wrote about the pocket chameleon in The Wants it was on sale on the Filofax UK website (half price) and I had a 20% off discount code.  The following week it was still on sale but they were also offering free shipping which made this real leather organiser £20 and the perfect Mother's Day gift for me.  I have taken quite a few pictures for you....

The box

Inside the box

I love the colour and the pattern

The inside, it doesn't lay flat yet

Five card slots

The zip section for coins

Top view, the full width pocket for your notes

I haven't set it up yet but I will do it this week.  I will still be using my A5 Apex as my main planner because I love how much space it gives me, I will use this as my purse.  I have to sort out which cards and bits I need to transfer over into it and also which inserts will be useful.  I won't need a full diary in there but I might keep a couple of months at a time in it in case I need to keep track of any appointments etc when I am not at home.  I am glad I didn't go for a mini size Filofax in the end as this pocket one feels so small to me I don't think I could manage with a mini one.   I love how soft the leather is and how it smells, it really is a thing of beauty and I am so happy to add it to my Filofax family!

My week #10/52

Hello! I'm in a fantastic mood this morning, I have had a great week and a lovely weekend.  I wonder if you can spot the reason my week was so good?  

Yes, I am now the proud owner of an iPad mini! I've been having a lot of fun telling Siri to write my reminders and calender entries but there is no way it will replace my Filofax.  Taking time to set things to paper is an enjoyable part of my day now as well as looking back through my pages. 

On Tuesday my email address and Facebook accounts were accessed by someone in Vietnam who sent my friends and contacts a lot of spam.  This prompted me to change most of my passwords over the next few days and I have made a note of them on my Indodispensable Data insert that came with my Dodo Pad diary.  They are all coded though so I should be safe enough if the worst were to happen and I lost my Filofax.
On Sunday I was spoiled with a cooked breakfast and some gorgeous handmade cards before going to visit my mom.  I also got a brilliant present which I will be telling you about in my next post, I just need to take lots of photos first!

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Pens!

I had wanted to show you some of my stationery collection but it has been dark and raining for the past few days so I haven't had enough light to take any decent photos. I did find some great pens yesterday so I will show you those instead. I was walking down the stationery isle of the supermarket and saw a pack of five Staedtler pens in pink, purple, blue, green and yellow. They were £4.70 which was a bit pricey for me so I looked longingly at them and carried on walking. A bit further along I saw these beauties. They were only £2.50 for 20! There are ten gel pens in different colours and then 10 ballpoint pens in the same colours repeated. Even if they only last half as long as the Staedtler pens they are still a bargain! I can't wait to use them in my Filofax.

Black, blue, green, red, purple, pink, orange, yellow, light green and light blue.

I will be posting this week's pages on Monday, hopefully the weather will have improved enough for me to get some well lit photos by then!

My week #9/52

Here are my pages for last week.  As you can see I am starting to control my highlighter addiction!  I spent some time trapped under a sleeping toddler and my filofax and pencil case were within reach so I had a chance to decorate the pages a bit more than usual.

Tuesday was a great day for me, this blog reached 2000 views! It might not sound much to some people but it means a lot to me and I got some new followers which is a real compliment.  

My planning is getting more structured now.  I have started to use half of the day for my to do lists and adding the check box next to them helps me see straight away what I need to get done and what I have accomplished.  I use the other half of the day to make any notes and write myself reminders.  

Thursday was our dog Marley's birthday, I can't believe he is four already.  I can still remember the day we brought him home as a puppy.  He was tiny and couldn't be left on his own so Hubby had to spend the night on the sofa to stop him crying.  This photo was taken the other week in the snow, isn't he gorgeous? He is such a character and a big part of our family.