One Malden is Not Enough

Quick update. I am still (shock horror) in my personal Filofax rings. I am still in a Malden. I am not currently in the Ochre. I am in the Kingfisher colour I bought a couple of weeks ago. I know that Malden is my happy place in Filofax so I could not resist a bargain on the Filofax UK web site. The 2020 version of the planner was in the sale as it had 2020 inserts. Filofax them mailed out a flash sale of 30% off all sale items. It qualified for free postage so came in under £43.

Notoriously difficult to photograph, it’s a little darker that seen here,

I have transferred in the same inserts, although since last blogging I am using some monthly and weekly inserts from GoodINKpressions on Tamoe river paper which I adore.

I added a cupcake charm from Kawaii Studios and an Autumnal planner band from My Unicorn Planner.

A little more true to colour here.

Confession, I just purchased a preloved Filofax personal Malden in Stone. I could not resist. I love the planner so much and I love the ability to swap colours so I don’t get planner fatigue and start playing with other format planners. I settled back into personal rings finally and I feel happy here right now.

I have no idea if I will buy any other colour, although the Fuchsia or Orchid one would be a nice summer colour. I need to halt the planner spend really so unless I see a great deal near to Christmas or my birthday it is unlikely right now.

Mind you, the pear green one looks fresh…. 😉

Do you have a favourite planner that you like to collect? I also would love to hear where you like to purchase your inserts from?

Take care all.

Zoe x

For the Love of Malden: Rekindled!

Wow 2020 is certainly keeping things interesting. Being active in a community that thrives on planning, organising, controlling (we think) our lives, Covid-19 certainly sent us into a spin! I was happily planning in my on the go combination of a Hobonichi weeks and digital. At home I was using a customised A5 Personal Planner for school/family things and memory keeping in my Vertical coiled planner. Then lockdown happened and I got put onto furlough and suddenly planning took a huge back seat. What even do you plan? So I dropped it for a few weeks whilst I got my head around it. Bearing in mind I was also trying to home school a 7 year old, which I discovered I am not cut out to do at all!

Once I began to get an albeit slippery grip on my days, I found the Personal Planner A5 to be useful. I used it solely to capture everything and track home schooling, meal planning, home tasks and online orders. However I started to become a little frustrated with the lack of note pages and ability to add stuff in. I had already determined that more than one planner was not going to help (my mental capacity is not as it should be in a crisis!) So I had a rummage in my old planner box and pulled out my Filofax Finsbury personal in cherry. She was only used as a Christmas planner every year and deserved a less seasonal trial. So I set her up with what I had, then printed out some daily pages I purchased from Organise With Katie a while ago. It worked really well for me. Even when I return to work it looks likely I will do much more home based working going forward. Therefore the bulkier/heavier Filofax is less of an issue as it will not be carried around as much.

As is always the case with a planner nerd, I took to YouTube to watch various personal Filofax set up videos. I wanted to see what had moved on since I last used one, for example the inbox concept (GTD) (explained here by Rachel at Ellie Beth). I started to see all the lovely Malden’s in Ochre and felt a huge longing to be back in my beloved pocket one. But I know that a pocket size is presently not big enough to suit my needs. After chasing a few on E-bay with little success (those suckers hold their prices well and are in demand,) I popped an appeal out in the UK Planner Addicts selling group. A lovely lady I shared a table with at the The Big Meet 2019 contacted me to say she was selling her Filofax personal Ochre Malden. That my friends is how I came back to a personal sized Filofax Malden in ochre, just a bit bigger.

I did a little poll in UKPA recently asking what planners people were in. Interestingly the personal rings came top! It’s an interesting time for planning and I do wonder if we revert to something we feel safe with in difficult times. There certainly seems to be a resurgence of ringed planners this year. I have also become better at printing and cutting my own inserts. This means I have so much opportunity for a massive variety of insert types now. I’m waiting for dividers to arrive. When I do if there is interest I will share my set up. I’m back browsing Philofaxy too!

That is where I am so far. I’d love to know what your 2020 planner journey has been? Have you reverted, stopped altogether or looked to use something new? Let me know your thoughts.

Take care out there.

Guess who’s back…

Hello! Anyone out there?

I’m back with a whimper. So I made it through 2020-2023. Still planning would you believe it.

I’ve consistently been planning in a Hobonichi weeks. In and out of personal and pocket wide rings. Dabbled with a Hobonichi Cousin and pocket Moleskine. I even briefly jumped back to an Erin Condren Life Planner which was a bad move.

So I’m picking this blog back up. I’ve learnt lots over the past few years and settled into a few things I know work for me. I’ve got planners and stationery galore to share.

What is everyone else doing for planning and journaling these days? I’d love to hear where you’ve landed!

Zoe

Current Hobonichi weeks

Still here, still planning!

Filofax Malden Mania!

In my last post One Malden is Not Enough I shared with you my Filofax Personal Kingfisher. Since then I added a Malden Stone and a Malden Fuchsia both personal size. Both are preloved and both in really nice condition which is lucky. I get jumpy about preloved rings being gappy #plannergirlproblems.

The girls

My theory (justification) is the pink and blue are spring/summer colours and the ochre/stone autumn/winter. I feel happy I have nice options now. I bought some new dashboards that fit each season too, from one of my favourite UK Etsy stores Sort Stuff Out.

I heard a rumour that there might be a navy Malden in the future and the Crimson is a unicorn colour I doubt I will ever see at an affordable price. My lovely husband put up a shelf for me and now I can see all my planners lined up together. Sadly there is no room for any more unless I sell some or put them away.

Do you have a dream planner, if so I would love to hear what it would be.

Keep planning and be kind.

Perfect Hobonichi Mega Weeks Cover

It feels a bit samey to write long time no post but hey, it’s true! This blog includes information about an item that was gifted to me. However I categorically would not share any item I did not 100% recommend. I have not been asked to write this blog review. I really love the cover and want to share with the planner community. It’s hard to find nice Hobonichi covers so I would love to tell people about this one.

I wrote a while back about planner peace and I can honestly say I am very peaceful in the system I currently have. I was extremely lucky to be at the UK Planner Addicts Big Meet 2019. I received an international version Erin Condren Life Planner in vertical. I used one back in 2016/17 then changed to a Recollections coiled as I couldn’t justify the cost. I purchased another Recollections ready for 2019 but sold it on when I received an Erin Condren from a very kind friend. This was then moved on to another lovely friend once I received the surprise EC at TBM. The Erin Condren planner is my “sticker book”, where I use the gorgeous kits and stickers giving me so much pleasure and relaxation making beautiful spreads.

My every day carry is a Hobonichi Mega Weeks in denim. I used a Hobonichi weeks for the first time last year (2018) and stayed in it all year. I absolutely love it. It’s perfect to carry around, I can choose to decorate or not and I’m am obsessed with the tomoe river paper! I purchased a fabric cover for it last year from Lyra and Co which has been fantastic. However….I still hanker after the lusciousness of my pocket Filofax Malden. I just love a leather cover, the softer the better. I have been looking at various options for some time include Galen Leather and Chic Sparrow. However I was unsure about purchasing a cover that I couldn’t feel the leather on first. I just like it soft like the leather on the ochre Malden.

My fellow Your World of Colour PR girl Emma recommended I look at an Etsy store called RKive Journals. She advised that Dyanna was happy to help customise any designs and source the leather to your needs. I lusted over her Instagram and Etsy for many months.

As luck would have it, Dyanna got a late ticket to the UK Planner Addicts Big Meet and I began messaging her on Facebook about a Hobonichi cover. She sourced some beautiful Italian leather that she thought would meet my needs and brought a sample with her. It was perfect and oh my goodness…it smelt amazing (I know you know what I mean haha.) She is also a very lovely lady and planner mad of course.

We resumed messaging after the meet and she very kindly offered to gift me my planner cover if I would support her little shop. I won the award for Biggest Enabler at the Big Meet so I guess people like my recommendations! Having met her and seen some of her beautiful pieces I agreed.

Despite some pretty iffy descriptions and drawings from me, when the cover arrived I was stunned. It is absolutely beautiful. The attention to detail on the wrapping was so lovely. Who doesn’t love a wax seal! Each cover also comes with a cotton dust bag.

My mega weeks fits in it exactly. I asked for a popper closure as I am not a fan of the TN style band closure. I also had two full-length pockets inside the front cover and a secretarial in the back. I still carry around lots of stickers and samplers as I am eternally afraid of being caught out with “no sticker for that!” Despite me stuffing it, the cover closes perfectly.

Not since I got my Malden have I stroked and smelt my planner so often. It’s honestly stunning and I am so glad I found Dyanna’s shop. I highly recommend looking at her shop and do get in touch with her if you want something specific. She is very clever at interpreting mad planner person waffling and her work is superb.

I am looking forward to seeing my cover mature with use. Sometimes I pop it on my desk at work just so I get that occasional waft of the leather. I have begun to create memory keeping spreads in a standard sized TN on Tomoe river paper inserts. It’s currently in a cover from Ink Bandits but I am seriously considering getting a cover from RKive for it in the future. She also makes gorgeous bookmarks, charms and watercolour field cases amongst other things.

My fellow Your World of Colour PR girl Sam has also written a blog post about the BuJo cover she and Dyanna created. You can read about that here.

Dyanna is also launching a leather TN sub box. The first ever R-Kive Leather Subscription Box. Leather planners and journals are beautiful luxury item. Sign up to an R-Kive Planner Subscription Box, these boxes will come out once every 3 months. Sign up to one box or every box the choice is yours. Inside this first box is 1x leather B6 TN with secretarial pocket and popper pocket, 4x inserts, 1x charm bookmark, 1x charm, 1x pen and one cotton logo carry bag. Total cost of all these items is in excess of £85 to buy individually. The subscription box is yours for 3 monthly payments of just £20 plus £6 postage U.K. (worldwide available upon request). If you are interested please message Dyanna on her Etsy page.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Click the link below if you would like to follow my Blog activity on Bloglovin   😉

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Overwhelmed…but a new beginning

A Microsoft update several month’s ago completely killed my laptop.  Today my wonderful husband revived it and I can blog again!  So sorry for the silence, but yay for having my laptop again.  I’ve a few ideas for posts so hopefully I’ll get something up soon.  I’ve definitely found planner peace (I know!) and am slowly destashing the sheer mountain of planner items I now know I will not use.

Anyone else overwhelmed by their planner stuff?  I’ve followed so many fads I have stamps, stencils, tn stuff…none of it being used or going to be used.  It’s too good to throw away but I just can’t be bothered to sell lots of bits.  I’ll most likely RAK various bits in the UK Planner Addicts Facebook group instead.  There is a separate group for selling items now.  There seems to be lots of people in a similar destash mode.  SO many gorgeous leather Travellers Notebooks going on there.  People seemed to bounce around different sizes of TN in the last year.

I’ll certainly keep a few of my favourite filofax planners and my leather TN.  However I am settled in a Hobonichi weeks for my every day carry and a Recollections spiral bound for home/pretty planning.

I’d love to hear where you are on your planner journey, have you found peace and are you destashing?

 

 

 

Planner Shopping Finds: Rainbow Themed for Pride Month

Being a certified planner addict, I spend (too much) time and (too much) money perusing things to buy for my planners. I therefore thought it would be nice to share some love (enable) for the many stores I love and buy from. I therefore thought I could choose different themes to share goodies for.

I’m featuring shops I have purchased from and can say are quality items with excellent customer service from my personal experience. Please note that I am a PR for Your World of Colour and therefore do receive some stickers from the store every few months. However I would not PR for a store I did not passionately support and rate as superb personally. Please also note credit for the images is with each store as I have used their Etsy store listing images with their permission. All opinions are my own.

I chose rainbows this month as it’s Pride month. Put some rainbow goodness into your happy mail.

First up I had to feature a weekly kit and monthly kit from Your World of Colour. As Carlyann has a rainbow for her logo it’s a go to store for anything rainbow.

I used the weekly kit for my daughter’s 5th birthday week. I stupidly didn’t twig the rainbow boxes can be used as a double box!

You can have the monthly kit for any month and starting on a Monday or Sunday. Remember you can save 15% with my code Planitzoe if spending over £9.

These cute post it pads are also on sale in the store right now.

Next up charms, I’ve ordered from Sparkles and Fluffs before and adore my shaker globe. I love this Unicorn shaker one. The items arrive wrapped beautifully too so it feels like a treat!

Clips are a must and there are lots of fab options from My Unicorn Planner. This is also the store I got my custom planner band from that you may have seen on my Instagram feed.

If you love a vegan travellers notebook, you can also buy then from My Unicorn Planner and there is a fabulous rainbow one.

I also like Dotty Moo Shop for charms and clips. This one caught my eye.

The offerings for functional stickers in rainbow colours is huge. I love these bow quarter box ones from The Ginger Cat Co

I’ll take your hand off for holographic and foiled stickers. I couldn’t resist sharing these gorgeous rainbow firework ones from Dook Plook Designs.

You can grab these beauties with a special discount of 10% (no minimum spend) using the code PLANITZOE10 until the end of July 2018 too. I won’t be held responsible for any other items that fall in your basket (*cough*)

Another favourite store is Filofabulouss and I use her foiled hearts loads.

Sarah also lists lots of super cute dies and I love these, available with different skin tones. She also owns the most epic planner collection #justsaying

Washi now (of course) and I adore this rainbow foiled one from Bonbonskawaii

I also have this skinny set from there that I use a lot. Look for the rainbow background Elephants one too.

Of course you have to own a rainbow pen, also from Bonbonskawaii. Debbie is continually adding super items to her store and also produces the brilliant Crafty Bonbons box with the lovely Crafty Ali Cat themed each month. Packed with fantastic Planner, scrapbooking and craft items. No subscription required either and UK based.

I highly recommend following these stores on Instagram as many of them are running offers or discount codes. Also explore if they have a PR team to seek out discount codes too.

That’s just a tiny snippet of what is available. Feel free to suggest themes that you are interested in. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having a reason to browse by way of research. Please note these are mainly UK stores as sadly shipping from outside the UK can be very high.

Have a great day and let me know what rainbow lovelies you buy…

From Rings to Strings: Planning Trends

Like everything else, there are trends and classics when it comes to planning.  My original planner many, many years ago was a personal Filofax Finsbury in breast cancer pink.  This was about 15 years ago.  I fell out of paper planning and swung between a wing and a prayer, a little WHSmith diary and my phone for a while.

I rediscovered planners and the joy of using it to be creative via Instagram.  I promptly purchased a cherry red personal Finsbury and it was love. Then I began to see Erin Condren Life Planners.  Those became very popular fast.  I recently found a photo of my first ever UK Planner Addicts meet in Paperchase London.  It was then I saw how popular ring bound planners were.

These are trends as I recall I’ve seen.

Filofax

This is a planner classic and I don’t think it will ever really disappear.  Various sizes are popular.  The Malden seems to be a particular favourite of many including me.  It’s lush leather and big rings make it so practical yet beautiful.  Filofax have released various other planner items, including the flex, clipbook and more recently their notebook with removable pages similar to the Happy Planner or Arc system.  I will always revert to a Filofax when rings call me.  For me the quality is good for the price bracket.

Other Ringbound

In terms of other ring bound trends, other beautiful quality and more pricey options became desirable and still are.  These include Louis Vitton, Kate Spade, Gillio and Van der Spek.

Kikki K also began to feature in this market, with both personal and A5 offerings.

More recently Michael’s in the USA released a range of ring bound affordable planners which are nice.  

Also Carpe Diem – Simple Stories sell A4 planners which are more affordable.  Also Paperchase in the UK have a great range.  Webster’s  Pages also offer a more affordable version.  Also Dokibook are another more affordable range.

Coils

Erin Condren Life Planner is the one which Continues to be popular. Plum Paper planner was also very popular around the time ECLP first became popular.  However the ECLP has endured and has a loyal following. In the UK The Personal Planner offers the ability to customise in lots of ways. Bando is another popular planner and Kate Spade also offers a nice selection.  For 2018 I’m moving from an eclp to a Recollections spiral bound from Michael’s.  It gives me a similar layout but was over half the price.  A kind friend who lives in the USA but visits home in the UK regularly got it for me.

Disc Bound

Me and My Big Ideas – create 365 Happy Planner, is a sort of hybrid between a Filofax, having the flexibility to remove and add pages, with the feel of a coiled planner.  This has plastic discs on the spine.  The pages are cut in such a way that they can be removed, similar to the Arc system.  This planner has proved very popular and continues to be.  Available from mini to large, with it’s changeable covers and multiple insert packs available it is a good priced planner with lots of versatility.  The brand also offers lots of stickers that are very popular too.

Bound Books

The creation by Ryder Carroll of the Bullet Journal system means good quality notebooks such as the Leuchtturm 1917 and Moleskine have increased in popularity.  There are many other beautiful books, such as Scribbles That Matter,  Rhodia and Lemome to name a few.  The Leuchtturm remains the classic and most preferred it would seem.  Search Instagram to see some of the beautiful creations some make in these journals.  Another bound book that many love for planning is the Hobonichi Techo.  I don’t know much about these but they always look beautiful.  

Strings

The Travellers notebook has risen in popularity in 2017.  The original system was the Midori Traveler’s Notebook. The system of being able to add in and take out a variety of notebooks and other items such as dashboards and beautiful vellum papers is at present, the biggest planner trend.  There are a huge number of makers of stringed notebooks.  Popular at present in the UK are Foxy Fix , Chic Sparrow , Meadowgate Leather and Lyradori.   There are so many out there it’s mind bogging! 

 Michael’s have them in the USA and Webster’s Pages are another affordable option.  The range from micro to A5 and there are very many variants in between.  There are also many, many different places to get inserts, from those that are suitable for watercolour paintings to general notebooks.  The most popular is currently dot grid inserts and the most popular size seems to be a B6.  Slightly larger than a pocket sized.

Washi Tape

Washi tape is decorative paper tape that originated in Japan. It has been a popular embellishment for many years. There are so many designs available.  More recently it waved in popularity for those buying weekly sticker kits for planners such as the Erin Condren Life Planner,  as they often have “washi” stripes themed with the kit.  It is however a staple planner item and I have a large collection. My favourite Etsy stores for Wash are BonBonsKawaii and Jadies Crafts for foiled washi.

Planner Charms

Little trinket items that you hand from the top or bottom ring of a ring bound, or the strings or closing loop of a travellers notebook.  These vary greatly.  

Current trends on the front of the Traveller’s Notebook (TN) is a bow or floral clip.  Again, search Instagram or Etsy to see the variety.  My favourites are from Isabelle the Owl, Kawaii Studios,  Dotty Moo and The Punk Planner.

Paperclips

Again, hundreds! From Fimo to embroidered there are so many available to customise your planner,  These have been popular for about 18 months,  If you search Instagram you will find some planners rammed with many of these paperclips.  Each one a tiny work of art.  My favourite store is My Unicorn Planner.  In addition I’m a big fan of an Oli Clip,  a magnetic page marker.  Very strong magnets and come in a range of lovely designs.

Stickers

This has become epic. So many stores.  Many make a living from selling themed kits for the Erin Condren and Happy Planners.  There are a huge number of functional stickers available for anything you can probably think of…yes…even that! 

I am on design teams for Your World of Colour and Katie’s Sticker Company who both do kits.  Your World of Colour also has a huge range of functional stickers.  Check the “about me” on this blog or my Instagram bio for discount codes.

It’s easy to begin to understand why people never seem to find “planner peace” with so many things coming into play.  I personally find that Instagram is wonderful at helping you to feel like you want something else and to buy all the things!  No matter what I buy I will never have a pretty thing like that.  It is after all, a planner.  It’s main purpose is to make me feel organised (even if I’m not!)

I’ve not covered off planner pouches, bags, pens, stencils, pencils cases…  Just know there are, and will continue to be, a myriad of ways to spend your hard earned cash making your planner and your planning journey beautiful.

This is a planner stack from a recent UKPA meet again at Paperchase London. You can see the difference in the types of planners.

Recently I’ve seen prolific planner people moving back towards rings.  Maybe the TN thing is waning?  I’d really like to know what trends I missed out?  Being in the UK it’s UK/Europe biased.  Are there any trends I don’t know about?  I’d love to know.

Have a great day!

 

Pocket Moleskine Bullet Journal Set Up

Hello.  I thought it worth sharing with you my latest every day carry I’m trialling.  My last post was my beautiful TN which I am still using and love. However the temptation to stuff it full is high,  I also printed two lovely inserts for tracking everything Christmas related which I will share in a later post. Long and short of it, it’s too fat and heavy for an every day carry!

I was lucky enough to get a lovely limited edition Hello Kitty pocket Moleskine from TKMaxx for only £2.99.  So I thought I would make it an every day carry bullet journal.  If you have not yet heard of a Bullet Journal, you need first to go over to it’s creator, Ryder Carroll’s web site   It’s a really simple system, that helps you keep really organised.

As you know form my previous blogs about my pocket Filofax Malden this size works for for me.  I tried the bullet method before in my TN.  However I felt I was just drawing weekly layouts that I could just buy ready done in a TN insert.  I realised this time that I need to follow Ryder’s basics and then tweak slightly as I learn more about what works for me.

I vowed to go minimal on sticker usage.  They sometime overload my brain and distract me from just the things I need to do.  That said, I did opt to add a beautiful wreath sticker from It’s Paper Co inside the front.

First page of course is the index.  This particular book is lined.  I tend to prefer dot grid, but I’m sticking with this book as I don’t intend to draw much in it.

I’ve saved just two pages for Index which I hope will be sufficient.  I’m using a Pentel Inkjoy 0.7 Gel pen which you can see does ghost.  However it’s not really bothering me.  I’m also ignoring the fact my handwriting is awful!  However my main focus is me and my needs, not it looking pretty for Instagram.

Next is the future log.

 

On reflection I think maybe the future log could have been laid out differently.  If I had turned the book 90 degrees I could have perhaps made it fit a little better.  That’s the point though of trying it out though in a cheaper book first.

Next is the month overview.  I’m using the classic key presently, suggested by Ryder.

 

Then of course, each weekly view.

I drew this out in advance of the week.  However next week I am trying just doing it a day at a time.  This is because I tend to have more tasks and events at the weekend, and this was too small.  It’s fine if a week goes over two pages, so I want to give myself the flexibility of having as much or as little space I need each day.

When I used the system previously, I struggled a little with just the future log.  I bought some annual stickers from Oops A Daisy UK (who also sell fab stencils) on Etsy and put them in the back of the book.  I use this to mark school holidays, birthdays and annual leave.  There is space for me to write them next to each month, just not done that yet.

I also added a little pull out pocket calendar from the lovely Ali at Crafty Ali Cat at the back with some washi.

I use a Leuchtturm 1917 stick in pen loop in the back for my Inkjoy.

Finally the book came with three cute Hello Kitty bookmarks and I’ve also added into the back pocket a Filofax pocket ruler.

I also use a coffee cup metal bookmark from Ali Express to mark the current day page.

That is the set up so far, and I’ve not yet missed having a bigger planner with me.  I am adapting and trying little things as I go.  Last week I used day text stickers from Your World of Colour which looked nice. (Discount code Planitzoe15 for 15% off over £8 spend).  Much neater than my writing!  I also have added in Christmas gift ideas and tracker and an order tracker.

I’d love to hear about your thoughts on this system if you have, or are thinking of using it.

Have a great day!