My week #26

I love this heart and cloud washi tape!  I complemented it with matching heart check it off boxes which I coloured in as I completed my tasks.  The stickers I used are from a set of French themed images so I wrote my inspirational quote in French this week, thank you Google Translate!  It says "Soyez heureux" which just means "Be happy".  

My week #26

I said last week things were about to get a lot busier and I was right.  This week saw me attending a brass concert at my daughter's school, sorting out things for her end of year field trip and taking my son to his new secondary school to buy his uniform, get his school paperwork filled in and an ID card for when he starts in September.  The next couple of weeks look even busier so I am counting on my planner to keep me organised even more than usual!

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How was your week?

My week #25

I wanted super kawaii pages this week so I used some of my favourite stickers to decorate them.  I think it is my planner charm from Kawaii Studios that inspired me, I love seeing it's sweet little smiling face when I look at my organiser.  It's just too cute!

My week #25

I will be relying on my planner more and more over the next month as there are only four weeks left of the school year.  This usually means lots of events, parents evenings and concerts will be going on and with three children it is so hard to keep track of everything without writing it all down somewhere.  I am glad I have gotten myself into the habit of pencilling in the dates as soon as I receive the letters otherwise I would be doomed!  Ok, ok, doomed might be a bit dramatic but I feel awful if I miss or forget about school events.
     

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I'm also feeling really organised having written this post on a Sunday, it has been a while since I have managed to publish a My Week post this early.  Maybe I am getting my blogging groove back?

Anyway have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Van der Spek leather samples for my dream planner

As I mentioned in my workhorse post I have been thinking a lot about my perfect planner for a while now.  I dream of a binder that I can move into and stay in for a least a year or maybe until it falls apart a decade or two later!  I want it to be leather, personal size and for it to have bigger rings than the standard ones in my Filofaxes.  This has led me to Van der Spek and their 30mm ring custom organisers.  

I looked on the website and found nine different leathers I was interested in so I emailed my list to Petra and purchased the samples.  They only cost about £0.45 each and it is worth it to be able to see and feel the leather before deciding which you want for your custom planner.

Van der Spek leather samples

Starting from the top and going clockwise the colours are:

1. Janet Leather (104)
2. Turchese (19)
3. Ciocolatto (6202)
4. Cuoio (6208)
5. Turchese (6219)
6. Brown Italian (182)
7. Brandy Italian (184)
8. Brown Ostrich (232)
9. Undyed (102)

Since the samples arrived I have been pretty obsessed with them.  I have been carrying them around in my bag to see how they wear and pairing them up to find a combination I love.  And yes, I have been sniffing them too, leather is one of my favourite scents!  

Turchese 19 is a lovely aqua shade and at the moment I think it will be the leather I choose for the inside of the planner.  Turchese 6219 is very nice too but it is on the bluer side and I prefer the greener shade of 19.

Here are the combinations I like the most:

Janet Leather and Turchese

Ciocolatto and Turchese

Brown Ostrich and Turchese

I haven't decided which pair I want yet but that's ok, it is going to take me a while longer to save up enough money to place my order.  If it is going to be perfect for me it will be worth the wait to get everything I want.  I am still debating on if I need a full length pocket on the back of the organiser or not and whether to add an extra pen loop.  Van der Spek have some fun optional extras you can add to your binder which is great but makes it harder for me to decide! 

Just of out curiosity, do you have a favourite out of these?  I know it's my choice but I am interested in what you think.

My week #24

My decoration for this week was all about the gold!  I brought a new roll of polka dot washi tape and some black ink so I wanted to pair them together along with my weekend bunting sticker from The Plump Planner.  I also used my hole punch to cut some of the polka dots out of the tape and used them as little stickers.

My week #24

There were a couple of family birthdays this week and my daughter went on a school trip to London for the day so I had a lot of things sort out.  The school sent home a big list of things they wanted her to bring, I wrote them on a post it note and stuck it onto my page marker so I saw it each time I opened my planner.  It really helped me and I had everything packed and ready a couple of days before she went (apart from two packed lunches which I added the night before) it was nice to feel really organised again, it has been a while!    

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How was your week?

Planner Friday - June

Once a month I write a design team post over on Twine it up with Trendy Twine where I talk about how I use products from Annie's Paper Boutique to help me stay on top of everything and pretty up my planner pages....

Hello!  Planner Friday is officially one year old so I wanted to do a special theme for my pages to celebrate.  I decided gold and black was the way to go, it puts me in the mind of a classy cocktail party and I think it looks quite sophisticated.

Supplies used this week: Trendy Page Dots Circle Reinforcements

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink

School Days Planner Stamp Set

At Home Planner Stamp Set 

Check It Off Planner Stamp Set

Get It Done Planner Stamp Set

Washi Tape

I received the newest set of stamps from Annies Paper Boutique this month.  It is called the Get It Done set and it has some great stamps in it to help you get organised! 

You can read the rest of my post here.

Thanks for stopping by!

My week #23

This is just a quick post to show you my pages from last week.  I have been busy working on Planner Friday for tomorrow and suddenly it is Thursday and I haven't shared them with you yet!

My week in my planner #23

If you read my unicorn post last week you will know why I have moved into my Webster's colour crush planner but if not the main reason is I am trying out using bigger rings!  So far I am enjoying the extra space and it is nice having everything in my binder without having to try and keep it slimmed down.

I have also received my leather samples from Van der Spek so I will be writing about those next week to show you the colours I chose and the possible combinations I am thinking of for my dream planner.  There are six that I love so it's going to be hard to pick my favourite two!

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I will be back tomorrow for Planner Friday so I hope to see you then!

I don't need a unicorn, I need a workhorse!

Have you heard of a unicorn?  I am not talking about a mythical creature but the term sometimes used in the planner community meaning a binder so rare it may as well be the stuff of legend and you're probably never going to see one in real life.  

My unicorn is a pink Baroque Filofax but they are so sought after I know I will never find one for sale at a price I can afford.  The thing is, if I did somehow stumble across one I'm not sure I would be able to use it.  Can you imagine finding your dream planner and then being too scared to even put it in your bag?  Could you spend money on something and then only ever look at it longingly and never put it to use?  Now I have always been very careful my Filofaxes.  I try to keep them spotlessly clean and avoid getting marks on them and they are just regular, easily available filos.  I hate to think what I would be like if I tried to use a Baroque!  I have been in my fluoro pink Original for the last five months which is the longest I have stayed in one Filofax since I started my collection.  It still looks brand new but I am fed up of having to check every surface before I put my planner down on it just to keep it clean.  A lot of the time I write with the Original balanced on my knee but that makes for messy notes and it annoys me.  

My pink Original still looks brand new 

I want a change, I have decided that instead of a unicorn I need a workhorse.  I want a binder that I can just use, one that will improve with age and who will develop imperfections that I will see as part of it's character.  I want a binder that I can fill with everything I need, something to carry my life around in, to take everywhere and use it as a planner and my purse.  I want a binder I can use until it falls to pieces.  If I am going to do that then I will to need bigger rings!  My Original is already stuffed as full as I am comfortable with, I don't want to damage the rings by overfilling them and the strap doesn't allow for much more to go into it anyway.

Stuffed full

I have been looking at the 30mm ring Van der Spek organisers for a while now and I think one of these would be perfect for my workhorse so I have started saving up for one.  I love the idea of designing my dream planner and the option of such big rings is the icing on the cake!  I have spoken to Petra from Van der Spek (she is lovely by the way!) and ordered some leather samples so I can find my ideal combination.  Once they arrive I will take some pics and share them with you.  At the moment I am thinking dark and practical on the outside with a pop of colour on the inside.  

It might take me a while to save enough money so I am going to move into my white and gold Webster's Pages Colour Crush Planner until then as it has larger rings than my Filofaxes.  I can tweak my set up and see exactly what I want and need in my planner, it can be a dry run before I commit to the custom VDS.

What kind of planner do you prefer, a unicorn or a workhorse?  I would love to know!
    

My week #22

I brought some more cute charms from Kawaii Studios last month and decided to match my theme to this little pink cupcake one.  Isn't it adorable?  It also goes so well with my Foodies stamps, like they were made for each other!

My week in my Filofax #22

My week was pretty quiet as it was a school holiday but that gave me plenty of time to sort out everything for my youngest daughter's birthday party on Saturday.  I still have a house full of pink and purple balloons, it is like trying to walk through a ball pit.... so fun! 

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How was your week?

Thanks for stopping by!