My last week of 2012

It has been a quiet week in terms of planner use, so my pages look a lot tidier than they normally do.

I hope every one had a good Christmas. Bring on the New Year!

Catching Chester

I think the filofax bug may be contagious, as my Dad came home with this beauty earlier this week:

Quite a few nail marks and wearing around the middle.

Originally sold in 1995 (I think) this Personal Chester has seen better days, but it's clear that it has been loved and clutched tight in its hay day. Even in it's current state, I thought they'd want more than £2.50 for a classic like this.

The back is in a similar state to the front: severely 'loved'.

In personal size, and this condition, it will be perfect for my Dad's work bag.

Inside the storage space is minimal, with card slots similar to those in a Metropol.

It has received a bit of treatment to the grey-ish nubuck since we've had it, revealing that it has almost been completely worn out. Who ever owned this last really put it to work! At over 15 years old, I'm really impressed that both the leather and the rings have survived such punishment. If only newer models of filofax were as sturdy, they'd have a lot less returns.

Speaking of returns; I wonder whether I'm ever going to see my Pennybridge.

Finding your identity

Following the theme of filofax Christmas presents, my Dad found a near mint condition Mini Identity in a charity shop (I swear we shop in normal places too) and set it up as a Christmas gift to my Mum.

Slight abrasion on the front, but that's all.

Personally I'm not a massive fan of the Identity series, my mini Metropol has shown me how difficult it is to use their style of card slots in a small size, but hopefully Mum will be able to make use of it.

Even the paper insert makes it bulge. How would 3 cards ever fit in there!?

It's so new it still has the little card new filos come with, and it is yet to develop any flatability. I wonder why someone would either order this or receive it, then basically throw it away.

Despite not being an Identity fan, I do love the way the cover is gathered in the corners in a similar way to the Metropols. It's a nice little touch.

I'll let you know how she gets on with it.

Unwrapping the present!

Merry Christmas filofaxers! You'll be glad to know that I scheduled this post a few days ago so I wouldn't have to disturb the day.

After all the help I received form my call to arms I though it would be rude to leave you in the dark over how it went.

I took your advice and went for a Personal Metropol in Lavender:

Isn't she lovely?

In an odd stroke of luck, my local Staples was having a closing down sale, so all the filofaxes and filofax accessories were 50% off! I could have walked away with so much more than I did, but I exercised all the restraint I could muster... which isn't much, as you'll see.

I resisted taking my own photographs as I wanted it to be in the best possible condition it could be, so the one above is from the filofax website. Credit where credit's due.
 
The size is portable, the colour feminine and muted so it won't be a distraction during lengthy lectures, and the back mesh pocket is perfect for extra note taking space. I was able to sneakily get her thoughts on the style and colour whilst out Christmas shopping last Saturday, using binders from Paperchase and TKMaxx as examples. Until today, she doesn't know what we've bought her (we decided to give it to her as a family) and I'm really excited to find out how she feels about it.

The binder only had a 2012 diary in it, which does that she will be able to dive straight into it before new year, but I picked up a 2013 diary as well and tucked the panda stickers inside as a cute bonus. I really wish my sister didn't look upon my filofaxes with so much disdain, I think she could make an amazing recipe book out of an A5 domino.

As well as the lavender, I picked up a personal one of these bad boys:

Even filofax can't capture the Kingfisher's true colour.

Yes, I've replaced Percy. Even though I still adore him, and using him, he (technically) doesn't really belong to me. He's as old as I am, and if I damaged him I would feel terrible, even though he was only £2.50 in a charity shop when my Dad found him.

The main draw was the colour. It's just to vibrant and full of joy, it makes me happy just looking at it. I've already set him up and we're getting along just fine... I'm working on the card slots. The Paperchase A-Z tabs look really good on the inside, continuing the cheerful vibe. I'll let you know more in the coming days.

I hope everyone is enjoying their day and hasn't drank too much, yet.

Downloads now available!

I've finally worked out how to provide you guys with download links for my .pdf and .doc files! Hopefully this time we won't have any indecent pictures popping up in the process. I am still really sorry about that.

You may view all I have to offer on my Downloads page. I've also fixed the download links on my Trifold Personal Templates post. I'm yet to ask Steve about putting them on Philofaxy; I'm tempted to leave it until the new year as he's very busy at the moment, dressing up in red and white whisking filofaxes far and wide.

Let me know if you have any problems with downloading anything and, as always, I'm more than happy to receive any requests/suggestions for future tutorials and documents you would like to see.

The Perfect Present

After my call to arms the other day I had some exceptionally helpful suggestions from Philofaxy's Steve and unrelated to Philofaxy Emma E, in the comments section.

I used my sneaky ninja powers on a shopping trip to subtly analyse her (my Brother's Girlfriend) preferences and thoughts towards colour, size, storage space, etc. and I was able to secure something that I think she'll be really happy with. Thanks to a closing down sale it was even less than the prices you guys quoted! I really have been far too lucky with those recently.

I'm avoiding saying too much as there is a chance she may stumble across this and spoil everything, but I'll set something up for after the big day and let you know how it was received.

In other news, I found the exceptionally messy stash of filofax goodies in my nearest TKMaxx. Unfortunately the prices were far from what I was expecting, e.g. the Pocket Adelphi for £34.99 and pocket flexes for more than they are in the Stationery Cupboard. There was however, a gorgeous black Compact Cuban for £24.99 and a mini Chameleon for £19.99, both of which I had to drag myself away from! Most of what was on offer was either damaged or dirty. I really can't understand how a shop can take such little care of their products. Primark is messy, but their stock is rarely dirty.

I hope everyone's enjoying the final push to Christmas. Yule yesterday was a gorgeous day; even though I was unable to attend a ceremony due to work, I was able to listen to BBC Radio Wiltshire covering the celebrations in Stonehenge and Avebury. The world also didn't end, so there's plenty to be glad about over the weekend, despite the rain :)

Make your own Personal To Do pages

I've been trying to get my head around this Getting Things Done (GTD) business recently; I must say that it's proving to be a bit more complicated to get to grips with than I initially thought. So far I have decided that I'm in desperate need of more to do pages! I'm not sure whether or not this format goes against the GTD ethos, but you can never have too many to do pages as far as I'm concerned.

As with my previous personal tutorial, we need to start with a personal sized document. You can find my tutorial on how to make that here.

Platform: Mac

Software: InDesign CS5.5

Step 1: Knowing where to start
Before we can put anything on our page, we need to know where our lines start from, so drag a guide down from the horizontal ruler (rulers can be found under View > Show Rulers if you can't see them).

In the reference box, found at the top left of your screen, set the Y value to 13.7mm. Don't worry, typing it in metric and hitting enter will automatically convert the measurement into your unit of choice!

Your horizontal guide position.

Step 2: Making your lines
Using the pen tool, draw a horizontal line across your page, following your guide and within your margin box (as seen in the personal sized page tutorial). You can check that you're line is in the correct position using the reference box again.

The pen tool.

Now that you have your first line we need to make sure it has a softer presence on the page by using the stroke option box. If this isn't already on your screen use Window > Stroke to bring up the dialogue box. We're going to give our line a stroke of 0.3pt and rounded cap ends.

Your stroke box should look like this once you're done.

The next bit requires a touch of InDesign magic called step and repeat. Select your horizontal line with the black arrow and select Edit > Step and Repeat to bring up the box we want. A filofax to do page has 13 lines, including the top one, so we need another 12 with a vertical spacing of 12.6mm.

If you're following along, you should have something similar to this by now.

Before you click OK, check the preview box and make sure that the page looks right to you. This is the time to increase or decrease the line spacing, depending on your preference. As long as your line space isn't less than the size your check box; you;ll get more than a few overlaps if you do. I recommend having at least an extra 4mm on top of your desired check box size in order for your page to not appear too cramped if you go for narrow lines, e.g. 2x2mm box needs a line spacing of at least 6mm.

Now you may click OK.

Step 3: Making your check boxes
Every good to do list needs check boxes! If you prefer, you can leave these out all together and have a more free-form list style, but I like having a positive visual sign that I've completed a task and no longer have to worry about it.

Using the rectangle tool (if you would prefer circles, long click on the rectangle tool and select the ellipse tool from the list that pops up) click anywhere within your work space to bring up an option box where we can put the exact measurements we want.

The rectangle tool.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we're going to be using 4x4mm squares, so whack that into your measurement boxes!

This will create one 4x4mm square.

Step 4: Positioning your boxes
Pop the box we've just made between line one and two. If you have smart guides on (found under View > Grids & Guides > Smart Guides) InDesign will let you know when you've positioned the box in the vertical centre. If you don't use, or trust, these to space your objects, we'll need to use the align tool to position them correctly.

Align to selection & distribute vertical centres (highlighted).

Once this is done, we have to step and repeat our boxes, as we did with the lines. While the spacing is the same, we only need 11.

Our page, now with boxes.

Step 5: Final adjustments
Just to make sure that nothing goes squiffy, all we have to do now is make sure that both our lines and boxes are:

1. Aligned to the right edges (or left if you'd prefer) of your margins.
2. All the horizontal centres of all the page objects are distributed correctly.

We can do both of these by revisiting our alignment box. Select everything on your page using the black arrow and hitting cmd and a together.

Align to margins & align right edges (highlighted).

Look familiar? Align to selection & distribute vertical centres (highlighted).

Step 6: Save and print
No that we all have something that looks similar to this (once you press W)...

Ta da!

All that's left to do is to follow this tutorial on saving and printing your pages, and punch holes in everything.

Hopefully this will help us all to Get Things Done!

A disappointing delivery

My pocket london organiser arrived from Ebay today. I'm not angry about its "like new" condition. Just disappointed.
The ribg mechanism is almost completely separated from the interiou apoulstry (if that's an appropreate term to use) and is starting to pull away from the spine.

On the bright side the rings themselves are sturdy, and the exterior leather is loved but good.

I left neutral feedback as I didn't pay the earth for it, but I didn't recive a product in the condition I was promised.

You live and learn I guess.

If anyone has any ideas on how to salvage the binder, I would be very grateful. Right now I'm considering wood glue to reinforce the spine. The ligning could be tricky though; it may need to be completely redone.

Call to arms: The hunt for a filo!

I have a mission, as of today...

Find the most totally awesome, cute and functional filofax posaible for £20!

My brother's girlfriend is a fellow filofaxer and is looking for one to use on her Psychology course. Personal is the target size, as it's a good combination of size and portability, she's not too bothered about card slots, and she takes a metric ton of notes, so a place for extra note paper is a must! Also, no zipps... maybe on the inside.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm really excited about this, so I'm starting my search tomorrow! I do love spreading the filofax joy!

Hopefully I won't come back with another one for myself...

Green Wing-ing you a filofax sighting!

Whilst introducing my little sister to the fantastic British comedy that is Green Wing (she was too young to watch/appreciate it the first time around) I spotted a cheeky filofax in episode 8 of series 1, "Slave Auction"...

Spot the filofax!

You can see the scene in question around 10:37 into part 4 on YouTube. To me, it looks like a pocket cross, though my filofax 'eye' hasn't developed yet, so I could be wrong.

Accidental (self) Enabling

I may have bid on, and possibly won, a binder (that is not a filofax) on ebay. I don't know whether I meant to win it, or whether it was wishful bidding. I can see how a collection can grow quickly!

It's described as a "Small London Organiser Company leather filofax". I haven't found a great deal of information about them on line, but I do think I was slightly mislead by the lot title. Despite the mistake I'm glad I was able to nab this. I've been idly looking at pockets for a week or so, placing a bid here or there, looking at the abused filos available in WHSmiths (some shops do shock me with their complete lack of care for their stock). I think this little addition will add a well needed touch of diversity to my binder gene pool. Also, a touch of colour could go a long way in these dark months.

I'm not holding out much hope for filofax level quality, though it is leather (I would make an awful vegan!) and the rings look in fairly good condition. For less than £10, I may turn this into a travel or party filo. It's bigger than a mini, but should fit nicely into the obligatory clutch bags we ladies are all subjected to from time to time. I know I've only been a 'faxer' for about a month now, but I already feel a bit lost if there isn't one within arms reach. I could even stuff it full of crosswords and sudokus! A puzzle filo! Now that would be a conversation starter :)

If anyone has one of these binders, I would love to know how you get/got on with it.

A bit loved, but I don't mind a little bit of rough around the edges.

Described as "red/burgundy", apparently the colour is closer to that shown here.

I hope you've all had a good weekend. I'm off to give Miss Kendal some well needed TLC and maybe a custom calendar page to tie me over until I can break into 2013.

Mini Mission

I recently made a short post on finding bargains whilst not necessarily looking for one.

I've had a cheeky bargain up my sleeve for around a moth now, but have failed to mention it due to one annoying reason: lack of direction.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a loved, but sparsely used, Mini Metropol in my local Oxfam for the grand sum of 99p! I didn't know what I would use it for, nor did I particularly need it at the time, but could you pass up an opportunity like that?

Apart from a small scuff mark (or possible imperfection in the leather) and a mild smell of tobacco, it's in excellent condition. However, for some strange reason, it's exceptionally difficult to photograph. Maybe it's the colour? Maybe it's cursed? Either way, I apologise for the fuzzy state of the photographs to follow.

As I mentioned earlier, I kept this little discovery under my hat due to my total failure to find a purpose for it. I've tried tracking my work hours and spending with it, but Percy handles both jobs already. I've stocked it out with WHSmith tab dividers and filofax to do, finance and note pages, but so far inspiration is yet to strike. I'm tempted to turn it into a travel companion, with maps, timetables, my rail card, etc. but I'm concerned about the ledgability of the mini sizes underground maps. Being able to read that map is pretty much a deal breaker.

I've not come across many mini users, or rather many filofax users who admit to using a mini. This is understandable, as the size is a bit fiddly to get to grips with; even for someone with hands as small as mine!

Hopefully, now that I've gone live with this munchkin, someone out there will be struck with inspiration and be able to help me out. Fingers crossed...

It's a lot more inflated than my Portland.

Scuff or a flaw? Either way, I'm not really bothered by it.

The clasp, and rings, are in excellent condition, if a little grubby.

I do love the quality of the branding in all my filos :)

Interior: I've found the built in card slots to be too snug when full.

I've added a card folder, just in case.

The rear mesh pocket would be good for a tiny notebook.

 

Pondering Paper Samples

Recently I've been contemplating making my own dividers out of pretty paper, but the cost of attractive stock of decent weight has put me off somewhat.

As well as shopping around, there is another route I could explore in order to find materials I like; paper stockists. Or more precisely, their free paper samples!

With a simple Google search you'll find that almost every reputable online paper suplier offers a small selection of free samples for anyone to order. You can even get wall paper swatches this way; not enough to do your wall, but enough to make a devider or two. Though you may have to fudge a company name for a form or two.

Another random thought: Dulux swatches as colourful, yet stylish, rulers/page deviders. You can have them in almost literally any colour.

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit creative tonight?

Bargain Hunter

Tonight's post is going to be short and sweet as today's driving lesson & market day at work have tired me out.

We all love a bargain, I know I do! My Dad picked up an excellent bargain today which I've been warded off until Christmas *sulk*, so I shall say no more about that until closer to the big day.

What I want to know is...

What is/are the best bargain(s) you have ever chanced upon? And have any of these finds become invaluable to you?

Filo or plain stationery related, I'd love to hear from all of you :)

In other news, today I managed to 'behead' my work Zebra Pen with a stack of baskets. It wasn't pretty, but at least it wasn't my finger!

Paperchase bits & pieces

I was lucky enough to have a day off today so I was able to creep a little bit closer to being done with my Christmas Shopping... and have a look for accessories for my filos!

Paperchase is a gold mine for cite little things you can use to personalise your pages with. After hearing so many people sing the praises of washi tape, I wanted some for myself. Partly to decorate my pages, partly to hide my hole punching fails. Instead of going for single rolls of washi tape, which were £3 a pop, I found these for £3.50...

Part of Paperchase's "stop watching" set.

Bargain! I'm yet to try them out, but I think they'll look nice in all of my binders.

Another thing I picked up, on somewhat of an impulse I must admit, were these gorgeous little panda stickers.

Obvious label states the obvious.

Look at their little chubby faces!

Can you blame me? There were so many more I loved, but at £1 each I could have ended up spending a fortune!

It's little additions like this that make a binder yours. Mine are currently full of indecipherable scribbles, or still in their virgin state. I need to let go of my inhibitions and just make them mine!

What's your favourite addition to your filofax?

A Pennybridge Too Far.

Those amongst you who follow me on twitter may already know of the disappointment I've experienced this evening.

A week after ordering my Compact Pennybridge from filofax UK, it finally arrived this afternoon while I was at work. I took a few pictures, hoping that I would be one of the lucky ones and have a flawless filofax straight out of the parcel.

The second class postage explains why it arrived after the 3-5 working days, but with the state of the Royal Mail at the moment, they probably could have walked it here faster.

No box? Having never ordered a binder from filofax UK before, I'm not sure whether this is normal (I would have loved to have had another one of the black boxes) but it seemed as though it had survived the journey in one piece.

Accidental arty photos.

The cover was flawless! Not a crease of scuff in sight. Only the zip tab was slightly bent.

This fault I could overlook for the interior pockets I purchased it for.

I could even over look it's complete absence of flatability...

Slowly closing itself.

One thing I could not ignore was the small gap in the rings. I've watched enough unboxings, and read enough, to know that these are one of the first things you should check on reviving a new binder.

There was a tiny gap in the top most ring; about as thick as my fingernail. I wasn't sure if this gap was serious or not, so I consulted the wise Steve from Philofaxy. He kindly informed me that, as long as it doesn't bother me, or get any bigger, it should be ok.

I had another look to make sure I was happy with owning a slightly imperfect binder, and found the flaw to be worse than I initially thought.

While opened in a relaxed position.

While opened flat.

I found that, as I opened the binder, the separation in the rings grew. This would mean that as the leather-like material relaxed and gradually developed its flatability, the problem would worsen.

I'm returning it tomorrow in the hopes that the next one will be just as gorgeous, but correct.

What happens to all the rejected filofaxes anyway?

My Week

I've been out for a Christmas work meal and I may have had a touch too much wine. Hopefully this post publishes smoothly.  Here's my week...

Trifold Personal Templates

As requested by Paul B, here are some templates for trifold pages in personal size... in theory.

I've had a hell of a time just to make these things vaguely editable after saving at my end. I think it will be a while before I'm able to refine the process and turn it into an understandable tutorial, so I'm simply going to provide the .doc files for you to customise and print.

Hopefully, once downloaded, they will remain at the right size. If not, please let me know and I will slap the software responsible "up side the head", as they say on the streets.

Here goes nothing!

A4 trifold personal page sans (without) hole punch guides.

Download this template here.

A4 trifold personal page with hole punch guides.

Download this template here.

All you have to do is make sure that the image/graph/spreadsheet/whatever you're hoping to put on this page fits onto the 160mm x 236mm box. In word, you may have to place your file over the top of the template. As I've said, this is all a bit experimental, so a smidgen of jiggery-pokery may be required. As long as you make sure the embedded image is stretched to fit your A4 page, everything should be hunky dory :)

Ebay foul play

Over past few days I have been trying to obtain a Pocket Portland to compliment Percy.

The first I lost due to my previous phone flatly refusing to allow me to increase my bid. The second I lost tonight due to some...person, waiting for the very last second to snatch it from my grasp.

To whom ever won that Pocket Portland: you Sir/Madam are now held in my lowest regard. You are a true blaggard and a rotter.

I hope it has at least gone to a good home, even if the new owner isn't my best friend right now. Fill it with stickers and post-its of beauiful colours, keep your life within its pages and show it all the love it deserves.

I think I best smother my bitterness in chocolate before it gets out of hand :p

Elaboration

As yesterday's post was so short, I thought I'd elaborate on the subject a bit.

Yesterday afternoon was the first time I've legitimately encountered a fellow filofaxer in the wild, as it were. I must have resembled a startled deer with the way my attention suddenly shifted to the sweet sound of, "Sorry, do you have any 2013 inserts for a filofax?" (A commonly unknown fact is that, by law,  75% of all British sentences must begin with an apology).

I wanted to help her. To shout, "No! But they do have some shockingly rubbish own brand inserts with too many holes."

I wanted to look closer at the shiny pink personal something she had safely tucked under her arm, rifle through its pages and maybe steal a few of her organisation ideas.

Alas, the polite British girl within me held my tongue, but it was a wonderful moment.

Is this what every meeting with a fellow faxer feels like?

-----------------------

In other news, I've realised that filofax.co.uk failed to give me an estimated delivery date on my pennybridge. Can anyone hazzard a guess at how long I should be expecting to wait for this thing? I don't know how much more pacing my carpet can take!