Empress Bat's Journal: filofax

Showing posts with label filofax. Show all posts

New downloadable for A5 planner pages in swirling watercolour

I have three planner binders, two Filofaxes and one Kikki K. I use all three of them plus a diary!

The Filofax A5 Metropol contains my courses/study; my home business records; and a place for me to put lists of stores i like etc
The Filofax Personal Domino has my grocery lists, my project funmail addresses, and stamps, receipts and other shopping stuff
my Kikki K A5 planner is my project planner and it has to do lists, addresses for businesses, and meeting notes

I like to create my own personalised pages for my planner binders, and I am always happy to share them with anyone else for free for them to download and print and use for themselves too!

Please if you share links to any of my downloadables be courteous and state where you got them from and please do not onset any of the free stuff!

Today I painted some swirls of colour in watercolour paints and scanned it in as a background for some new planner pages.

If anyone would like to use them you can obtain them from my Google drive from this link, if you have any challenges getting them to download please comment on this post with your email addy and I will happily email a copy of them to you!

Print these on A5 pages!

This is what they look like:

cover or divider

ideas page

a page for lists: shopping, wish, books, movies all sorts of things

a page for notes

the timetable page

the to do section

REVIEW: Kikki K 2015 TIME PLANNER LARGE: LILAC

Hello everyone! I thought it was about time I did another review! The last review I did was about washi tape from Chiyogami Designs, back in March this year!

Last week I ordered some goodies from Kikki.K, and I have been (im)patiently waiting for them to arrive. I placed the order on Thursday evening 23.10.14, and it arrived today, Friday 31.10.14. They sent my order on the Friday 24.10.14, so it took five working days to reach me. Melbourne to the outskirts of Brisbane Qld delivery of 5 working days isn't too bad, and this is an Australia Post thing anyway, nothing to do with Kikki.k!

WARNING: this post has heaps of photos... I wanted to show you all what the planner looks like inside so please bear with me!

So, what did I order?

2015 Time Planner in Lilac with Gold specs
PERSONAL PLANNER REFILL: UPPSALA
Adhesive dots

Opening the box

The excitement that welled up in me when I caught sight of this box on the door step had me almost jumping up and down in glee. Only other stationery aficionados could ever relate!

Hooray the delivery from Kikki.K has arrived

An Aladdin's cave inside the box!

I opened the box, and the first thing I removed was the large plastic bag air cushions that Kikki.K use to protect packages. It would be great if they could maybe use recyclable/more environmentally friendly inserts to protect the package, but I am a wee bit too excited about getting to my order in the box to think too long about the future of our planet.

First glimpse of contents

I really love this little canvas drawstring bag my goodies arrived in!

Here you can see my planner, the Uppsala refills and the sticky dots I ordered! Sitting on the canvas drawstring bag, and on top of the Kikki.K wrapping paper!

2015 TIME PLANNER LARGE: LILAC

I will review the Uppsala planner refills in another post, today I would like you all to see the wonderful lilac and gold Time Planner. (If you have been trying to decide whether you want to buy one or not, hopefully the pictures and my comments will help you make your decision either way!)

Still in its plastic bag, 'Arabella' my new planner is waiting to be unpacked! Yes I have named her Arabella...any objections???

The folder of the Large Time Planner is slightly larger than my Filofax Metropol A5 (blogged about here, here, and here), and it takes the same refill size as an A5 Filofax. The cover is softer than my Metropol, but this does not mean it is in any way flimsy. The lilac is a lovely pastel lavenderish colour and the gold specs make it look fun as well as being useful!!

There is an elasticised strap to hold the planner together which I prefer to a snap closure, as when i have a heap of documents in a planner I would prefer knowing they will stay there and not break the fastener!

Inside the Planner

Firstly I will share my not so happy thoughts of the inside of the planner. The we can speak at length of all the good parts of it!

The dividers are pink.. this for me is not a good thing, I dislike pink, and personally in a lilac planner I would have preferred purple dividers, or gold like the dots on the cover. This is not a deal breaker for me, as I can decorate the dividers or make new ones anyway. But be warned if you don't like pink, you won't like these dividers!

There is a section for restaurants and shopping. This really isn't me.. but again this is not a deal breaker, i can rename the divider and i can give the restaurant and shopping pages (there aren't many) to someone who will use them!

What I love about this planner:

Firstly the ring mechanism is large and can hold heaps of paper! It is also well constructed and has no closure issues (the first thing I check with planner binders)

The cover of the planner is stylish, fun, and strong; I love the elasticised closure to hold all my papers in!

There is a zipped pocket, and flaps to put notes, stickers, receipts, tickets and whatever else you can think of in, on the inside of the front cover. All very handy!

Inside the back cover is a slot where an A5 sized notepad sits, and there is a pen loop as well, which JUST fits my Parker pen.

The paper the planner comes with is slightly cream coloured (off white) and has a satin finish. It is quite strong and smooth to write on, but my Stabilo fine point felt pens do leech through the pages a bit, this is not an issue, I have other pens and pencils I can use.

VERDICT

I bought this particular planner to use as a project planner, I have a specific use in mind for it. I believe that its size, additional pockets and the fact it has an elasticised closure is ideal for the purpose.

I am very happy with this planner and personally recommend it. You can find it in Kikki.K stores and also from their online shop. Like all their planners I believe it may be a limited edition so if you are wanting one, maybe buy one soon!

FREE PRINTABLES!: planner pages. To DO pages for work, home, and the garden!

Hello everyone!

I am spending Saturday evening doing some housework (blek) and also working out my schedule for the next few months.

I have recently enrolled in Diploma Languages (german), as well as Higher International Diploma (Herbalism), as well as work fulltime outside of the home, travel with work, have volunteered to project lead a conference for next year which is being planned feverishly at the moment, and run my hand made jewellery business.

This means i am busy.

This means i need to reassess my schedule to ensure I fit everything in that i need to in a day and still have time to relax!

So i was going through my A5 Filofax Metropol (which I have previously blogged about here and here) and realised i needed some more customised pages to help me keep myself organised.

I am not a fan of some of the bland commercially available ones, and I really would prefer to create my own anyway.

I have previously made some inserts for my Metropol, which i am happy for people to print and use for themselves, these can be found on my Free Downloads page and there are also printable affirmations on my Positive Printables page.

Tonight I realised that I want TO DO lists that are specific to the areas in my life they pertain to, rather than having a rambling to do list that contains work, home, garden, shopping, pets, ....

Having To DO lists specific to the area they belong to, means i can shove the lists in the sections in my Filofax they are relevant ot as well. Making it easier for me to work out what i need to do when for any given area in my life! This makes sense to me ... it may not make sense to the rest of you ... but I hope it does!

I find these pages I created for myself to be very useful to me, and help me to plan and organise all the things I do each day. I have shared them here in case anyone else would like them! They are free for you to download and print for your own personal use. If you wish to share them online please ensure you link back to my blog, as a courtesy! Thanks.

The pages are:
To do for work, To do for home, to do for garden, and to do for study.

Image files of the pages are below. You can download these and then paste them onto a word document and size them as you wish for larger or smaller pages. I have also added links to the word documents after all the image files!

The links to download the word document files are below, if you have any problems with those links please let me know!

Things to To for work

Things to do around the house

Things to do around the garden

Things to do for Study

I am creating more for myself so my planners can all have a groovy new Springtime feel! I will upload my pages to my blog for anyone to use as I create them.

Have fun!

Setting up my filofax Metropol A5

As you may have read in previous posts, I have a filofax, and i love it! Cherry red vinyl, large paper capacity, cool pockets, two pen loops..everything is great except for the filofax inserts.

So over the last few days, I have been creating my own templates, and making my own cardboard pocket inserts, and doing all sorts of things to my new filofax to make it work for me.

This is what I have so far, under the headings as i posted about in an earlier post, information; study; home; business; and ideas.

How do you personalise your organisers/filofax?

This is where I can stick sticky notes, or reminders , tickets, things i need to pay attention to, BEFORE i even get into my filofax. there are also some sticky notes attached to the ring binder, next to my dashboard so i can locate and use them easily! ________________________	Dashboard I needed a DASHBOARD for my filofax. A dashboard is like the central control of the filofax and is the first goto place for information. I created a 'don't forget' page on my computer, printed it on A5 paper, and then laminated it. (items can be stuck with washi tape and easily removed when no longer needed) __________________
Calender As i mentioned in my initial filofax post, I am not intending to usemy filofax as a replacement for my diary, so I do not need all the diary pages. I would, however, find it handy ot have a calender for the year as reference. I may need to know what date i next get paid on, for example, which is always a good day!	I created my own calender and printed it on A5 paper. There is one I have uploaded if you would like the page to print. __________________
Books I read a lot, and I also am studying as well as working full time. I would like a place to keep a record of books i want, need, have,.. so I designed a book list for myself and printed it on A5 paper. The template is available to download. __________________
	Dividers I do not like the vanilla manilla dividers provided by filofax, so i bought some lovely card making printed card stock, (A4) cut it in half, punched holes in it, and have some lovely gothic type divider paper!! __________________
Shopping List I want to be able to stash my basic goto grocery list somewhere handy, so I created a cutesy strawberry themed grocery list, printed it on A5 , punched holes in it, and have my very own shopping list pages!! __________________
	Pockets can't have too many pockets. I created this page by cutting two A5 pieces of card, lining and taping together with washi tape, then punching holes in it. Makes two pockets, looks good, and is useful!

............................................................................................................... Please visit me on etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/empressbat handcrafted gothic goodies at bargain prices. see me on etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/empressbat ...Please visit me on etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/empressbat handcrafted gothic goodies at bargain prices. see me on etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/empressbat

personalising my filofax my way : Dividing to conquer

The filofax Metropol A5 binder is definitely impressive, it has two pen slots, a heavy duty snap fastening clasp, one large pocket and 10 small pockets inside the front cover, and one mesh pocket inside the back cover. The vinyl is tough and looks good and the stitching around the binder is impeccable. The colour is happy but not gaudy, and the ring binding mechanism is sturdy.

Do i have any complaints about my new filofax?
Oh yes indeedy I do.

Why oh why filofax people do you make such gorgeous and useful and strong binders, only to ruin the image with your hideous and unimaginative inserts? The paper is thin, the printed address sheets, to do lists, and personal information pages are poorly designed, and do not get me started on the dividers!!!

the inserts the filofax came with

The main reason I wanted the filofax is for the superb binder, so this is ok. I can deal with the insert issue. I am creative, I have a computer, and i have a printer, and i know what i want!

First to decide how i want to organise my filofax, as this will determine what templates i need.

DIVIDERS!
I am thinking that five MAIN divisions will be the best option for me and i can make subdivisions within each main heading. I do not want my filofax to contain things about my day job, as this organiser is something for me to support my creativity, organisation, and self education.

The five main tabs dividing the filofax that work best for what i want are:

Information: calenders, maps, train timetables, time conversions
Study: information about the current course i am doing, additional and required reading, and notes
Business: this is about my etsy store where i sell my handcrafted goodies; craft suppliers, and customers
Home: grocery lists, budget, to do lists for home
Ideas: where i will put sketch paper to draw designs, or stick swatches of fabric , or work on blog posts

I bought a pack of five A5 dividers from Marbig, they were $2.45 from Officeworks; the prepunched holes do not match up with the filofax' but that is just a matter of punching new holes in them which was easy and doesn't look silly.

The A5 Marbig dividers in my filofax

The Marbig dividers have colourful plastic coated tabs, and come with a sturdy index page as well.

I can then use the A-Z and the numbered tabs that came with the filofax as subdividers (after I have decorated them to make them interesting!)

While I am talking about the dividers, I want to share this little tip with you: not all your to do lists need to be kept forever as an indelible part of your organiser, sometimes they are just quick notes to be thrown away as soon as the task is complete. This is why i made myself a laminated page to stick sticky notes on to, these can then be discarded when no longer needed!

sticky notes (new or with memos on them) can be stuck on this laminated page

So there you have it, dividers ready to go, and onto creating templates for my filofax!

Feel free to comment!

I have just created some #templates to use in my #filofax you can download them from my blog http://t.co/zDfYokPJy2
— empressbat (@empressbat) January 25, 2014

I am the proud owner of a filofax, let the creativity begin

I have wanted a genuine filofax since I first read about them in some glossy magazine my Mother was reading, way back in the 1980s. Of course as a child I did not have the money to buy myself a filofax, nor really did I have the need for one.

This however did not prevent me from finding out about them, and also making my own version with old ring binders and DIY decorated paper inserts.

Filofaxes have an interesting history dating back to the early 1920s which may surprise some who may have believed them to be a modern invention.

I use an Alice in Wonderland non dated diary, made by 7321 Design s,for my usual timetables, meetings, and work travel information, and have done so for the last three years. I am very happy with the Alice diaries and will not be replacing them with a filofax.

However , I still want a filofax!!

The reasons I want a filofax are as follows:

the binders are strong and hard wearing
binders are available in non-leather (for us Vegetarians) as well as leather and other materials
the ring binder mechanisms are strong, and come in a variety of circumferences depending on your personal preference for how much paper you can stuff into the binder
there are so many colours and sizes of binder to choose form
they have pen holders
they have clasps or zips to hold them together
they are customisable
all sorts of information can be shoved in them and ready at one's fingertips without the need for electricity (or a mobile phone that is charged) to 'boot it up' and get the information out of it
you don't have to use them as diaries, their uses as anthologies and compendiums of data are only limited to your imagination

Today I bought myself a filofax.

Tonight I am working on customising it.

I am creating my own templates on the computer and printing them out for my filofax. It is all very exciting!! I will tell you more about my customisations of my filofax and what I will be using it for, plus give you downloadable templates i have created, in later blog posts!.

So three cheers to my new cherry red filofax Metropol A5!!

Anyone else use a filofax or binder type organiser? Feel free to comment!

I have just created some #templates to use in my #filofax you can download them from my blog http://t.co/zDfYokPJy2

— empressbat (@empressbat) January 25, 2014

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