This Mama Plans

I’m deep in the throes of motherhood at the moment. Our daughter is now 11 months old and she is soon to be unexpectedly joined by a little brother in a couple of months time!

We got rid of everything newborn after a couple of months of having Amber so we have pretty much had to think about Moses baskets and newborn clothes and next to me cribs (with my daughter I co-slept but I’d like to let our little boy have his own space and have a little more space for myself this time around… or at least have the option! If he is wriggly as he is right now in my belly I’ll be truly grateful of my own space haha).

Once again I’ve been diagnosed with the dreaded Gestational Diabetes and as of last week I’ve begun injecting slow release overnight insulin. For everyone that has to inject themselves or test their blood sugars I salute you; it’s not easy. It’s even harder when you’re sleep deprived due to baby teething and have pregnancy brain fog. Just remembering to test an hour after food and injecting the insulin at the same time each night when our daughter comes first and is demanding bedtime or a bottle (or both) is a challenge! But with only 8 weeks to go now, I am confident only 56 days of finger pricking and injections will pass quite quickly.

When I had Amber, I recall leading up to her birth and especially just afterwards wishing I’d got a planner setup ready and being utilised. The amount of appointments leading up to and after birth is crazy. And that’s in between family and friends wanting to meet new baby… and life stuff. Hindsight is a wonderful thing; but having been there before, I decided to start organising a new planner set up.

Before this decision (and perhaps an influencing factor), we had been researching double prams… because you know… 2 under 14months… practicality wins hands down haha! We decided on a Bugaboo Donkey but damn they look so boring, dark and flimsy! Luckily I found someone on Etsy that does custom work and anyone who knows me, knows I like to put my own stamp on things. So I set to work designing my own hoods, liners and footmuffs with gusto. But when it came, my buldging, battered pram bag looked far too shabby for the new pretty pram… so I decided to look for a new, slightly more glam way of toting around all of my daughters things (and although people say you carry less as they get older I have found I’m carrying more – the usual bottles, change of clothing, muslin cloths, extra dummies, calpol, gripe water, changing facilities, blankets etc… but now we are also carrying toys, food, sippy cups, cutlery, silicone bibs and snacks as she’s now on solids alongside bottles). As well as my daughters items, I’ll be shortly be taking my newborn sons bits and pieces around too. So I needed a new and larger bag. Something organised too; as I’ve found quite quickly that nappy bags can get disorganised very quickly!

I’m not normally one for backpacks so I pulled out my old sturdy LV Neverfull tote and at the moment I’ve got it stuffed to the brim with Ambers items. As well as that, a Speedy 30 is serving as a “Pram Caddy”, holding all of mine and my partners essentials as well as a couple of milk bottles in the felt liner and anything we think might be handy.

Putting the Donkey into double mode removes my “bag basket” so I’m looking to consolidate everything into 1 bag. Side Note: Ambers toys are not in the bag on this photo

However… the lure of the practical backpack was overpowering and I can feel myself giving in to an LV Palm Springs bag; especially as we will not have the (oh so handy) side basket on the pram for much longer and the thought of sacrificing under basket storage and putting the tote bag on its side (of course, I can just see everything spilling out everywhere) and being splashed by mud constantly is too painful for me to imagine.

Anyway; huge digression there! With my love of the LV monogram bags in full force, I have purchased an LV Monogram MM size agenda from DHGate (I mean, Maternity Pay sucks and I have enough to pay out in the preparation for this little lad so real luxury items are unfortunately on the back burner for the next 18 years… am I right?!). When it arrived I was actually so disappointed because the ring diameter was 16mm!

I wound up purchasing a gold 30mm ring size clear plastic binder from Amazon and then de-ringing the planner and getting my partner Tony to drill holes for the 30mm rings to fit in.

I then purchased inserts from Cute Organising on Etsy and I had some custom tabs created from appleblushdesigns on Etsy which I’m super happy with!

I’ve switched out the 16mm rings for 30mm rings: perhaps 25mm rings would be a better fit for this binder as the press-stud is pulling

Beautiful tabs from appleblushdesigns on Etsy!

Planner pages from Cute Organising on Etsy

Planner pages from Cute Organising on Etsy

My super happy daughter at 3 months old

If anyone has any suggestions on how to get about stylishly with a newborn and a 1 year old of different genders – please let me know as the bag situation has got me flummoxed right now!

All the best

Kel

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Kate Spade?

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

I confess, I’ve been out of the planner world for a time. I moved in with my partner during lockdown, changed jobs to a part time role just down the road and ended up using a *gasp* wall calendar in our kitchen.

Then I got pregnant. I should have probably utilised the planner because I was so busy with the amount of appointments I had I could hardly tell what way was up most of the time let alone when my next appointment with the community midwife was or next scan or blood test… and inching into the 3rd trimester, gestational diabetes with even more appointments and eventually insulin. I did try utilising a moleskins but I just couldn’t make it work. I bought a beautiful vintage pink personal Finchley thinking I would start over in a personal size after being in a pocket size for so so so long. But nothing seemed to work for me. I JUST wasn’t interested.

Then once I gave birth, we had more appointments to check her over and we were re-admitted for jaundice. So again, I could have done with a planner.

But still, in my new mummy haze, I just didn’t have the time to spend on setting a planner up in the way that I’d like.

My daughter is now 3 and a half months old and I’m just coming out of the sleep deprived fog now, and I’m at the point where she doesn’t need me every minute of the day so I will be able to get my craftiness on whilst she sleeps in her Moses basket next to me.

So I think I’d like to try something a little outside of the Filofax community for a little while. I’m looking for a Kate Spade Wellesley zip around in either pink or black. I know I’m late to the party on these and I’ve been searching the Facebook groups but nothing so far. Anyone around selling one at all?

Pocket Chameleon is my personal rock star planner!

Hello, hello!

Nice to see you all, you see you nice, and all that :). How have you been? It’s been a while hasn’t it?

For the last 18 months or so, I’ve been in my pocket Malden’s (I have ochre, fuchsia and kingfisher blue now). I must admit when I think of a “planner”, I automatically think of the Malden. It’s such an iconic design, don’t you think?

I’ve also moved house (during Lockdown #1, buying and selling was sure fun!) and tried and failed to help an ex battle alcoholism. I’ve also been working constantly through lockdown, like many others, mostly from home. Taking part in the Thursday evening doorstep applauses for the Keyworkers and doing the double back to my car almost every time to grab my mask before entering a supermarket/convenience store. It’s been an interesting year for sure!

Coming slowly out of lockdown and starting to get a little life into my world other than work or decorating, I was forgetting things I needed to do or places I needed to be. I wasn’t utilising my planner. I wasn’t reaching out for my beloved Pocket Malden’s, I noticed.

Speaking with my best mate and fellow planner enthusiast (who has just bought a pocket Filofax croc and loving it), Carrie, she also felt that she associates certain planners with certain times in her life, as do I. Are there any planner people out there that do this too? I have filofaxes that remind me of happy times, and Filofaxes that remind me of down times in my life.

Anyway, I thought with things beginning to happen again (and just as we sailed into Lockdown 2.0!) I decided to change things up again and find a planner that would allow me to create a bit of a rock and roll/music vibe.

I did have a Croc in mind but I feel the Chameleon had a bit of a “glam rock” shimmer and texture to the leather.

The Chameleon is a discontinued model of Filofax therefore I took to EBay to find this beauty.

Firstly, I must admit, the leather feels sublime and as usual on all Filofax models, the planner feels sturdy and well made.

The clasp opens the planner to reveal a part leather-part elasticated pen loop to the left. It is leather throughout he interior also, with a full length back pocket like the Pocket Malden’s (however with much more structure). The left also boasts 5 vertical car slot holders and a full length pocket. The right hand side has a outward opening zip pocket.

The layout is so practical it is easy to see why many have opted to utilise this organiser as a purse/wallet.

But for me, I’ve tried and failed miserably to use my planners as a purse, so I’ve resigned myself to use the planner as I find easiest for myself at the moment… as a planner ;).

The card slots hold my “London” theme Starbucks card, Cartology paperclip, a few London flag sticky notes and a tartan card stock through the full length pocket detailing “In Case of Emergency” contacts and allergy information. The first page is a plastic transparent dashboard with yellow butterfly sticky notes I write down things I need when I am out and about.

Behind the dashboard, the back holds a project life card stuck with washi tape. My first divider is my “Info” – dividers made with 2 leopard print card stock stuck together and an Avery tab. I’ve used an embossing label maker to label the tab.

Behind the tab, I have my personal information: name, email address, phone number just in case it gets lost.

In the info tab, I have two top tabs, with a £ sign and a **** sign. The first details my bills: the supplier, amount and date it leaves my account. The 2nd is my passwords (all coded of course).

The next divider is my Calendar section. Divider made with 2 black sheets of card stock with an old flyer of a club I used to attend stuck on, and again, an Avery tab.

The back of the divider has another project life tab on affixed by washi tape. This section holds a pull out Filofax 2020 horizontal Year Planner which I haven’t used, due to lockdown! It also holds my monthly calendar, by NBPlanner:

All of the information is colour coded and transferred from this page, to the outer half pages of my weekly section.

This section is my Diary section. the divider is made of 2 tartan card stock sheets glued together, a project life card held by washi tape and another Avery tab, with the label being printed out from Excel, cut and glued onto the tab.

The diary section itself is Filofax Week on 2 Pages, I try to keep the events to the outer part of the page and any “to do’s” or “to check” on the rings half of the page. Anything that is happening throughout the week will be detailed at the top of the page in the “This Week” box. I use Sharpie Highlighters, and a Faber Castell Ballpoint Pen to plan. I reinforce the ring area with washi tape. The today marker is taken from Project Life, with a cut up Project Life Card help on by washi tape and labelled with an embossed label maker, and the highlighting key noted. On the back of the today marker I usually put a London flag sticky note detailing the Christmas purchases to be made that week.

My Lists section divider is red card stock with a record fair flyer stuck on, with an Avery tab and an excel label. The lists section has 2 top tab sections, Xmas and £. The Xmas tab details Christmas Eve box ideas, and gift ideas. I’ll likely add a Christmas card list shortly. The £ tab is a spending log, detailing date, item and price. I asterisk items that are Christmas items.

My notes section is again, cheetah card stock (2sheets back to back gullies together) with a project life card washi-d o and an Avery tab. This holds a few random note paper that my may wish to utilise in the lists section of the planner.

The final section is untabbed, zebra print card stock. It has a top loading pocket with film reel washi tape stuck to it, so that I can place the tape in the diary section of the planner to remind myself of upcoming films on TV I want to watch. This will be well used over Christmas! Inside the pocket holds a few “payday” stickers and the Avery tabs just in case I need to make more.

And that’s my current planner setup! Are there many pocket users still out there?

Until next time Rock and Rollers!

Kel xx

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Pocket Filofax Malden in Kingfisher Blue

Hi Everyone!

WARNING – PICTURE HEAVY POST! 😉

After an agonising 5 day wait, today I finally received my Pocket Malden in Kingfisher Blue. Oh my. It’s a beauty.

All over the bank holiday weekend I worked on inserts for it and, inspired by the colour, I decided to stay vibrant and go for a mermaid type of theme. You know my Filofaxes always seem to have themes!

I’ve used a lot of papers from “Hunkydory’s Twilight Under The Sea” collection and also the “First Edition Beyond The Shore” to create these dividers, markers note papers etc.

It’s by no means finished yet, but I just couldn’t wait for you to see it!And so, without further ado, please meet my latest addition 🙂

When I took it out of the box, I did my new favourite thing to do with the lived in Malden range – I massaged it with Coconut Oil so that it became buttery and soft and aged.

In the pockets I have an In Case of Emergency card that I created on Excel and stuck onto one of the scrapbook cards. In the pocket behind is a sticky notes section full of little tiny sticky notes – from Dovecraft. The Dashboard is an absolutely beautiful piece of art I just had to print out from Pinterest. It’s perhaps my favourite mermaid illustration ever. It’s so vibrant and mystical!

Behind the dashboard, another Pinterest find which is again, sublime! Then I have a credit card pocket with a die cut or topper from the Twilight Under the Sea range.

My tabs were all created using the “We R Memory Keepers” Bracket Tab and the labels were simply created in Excel, cut out very roughly and stuck onto the tabs with packing tape. I’ve used no laminate in this filofax.

The Today Bookmark was made with the “Twilight Inder The Sea” Cardstock and again, the labels were created on Excel, cut out very roughly and stuck onto the card.

Lastly I created this credit card holder with side pocket which I’m still not sure about… I don’t know if I’ll be keeping it in here just yet!

And that’s it! Like I say, I’m still setting things up and things are likely to move around as I find what works for me – it’s been a VERY long time since I was in a Pocket Filofax!

Pocket users – how do you utilise yours!? Any ideas will be great fully received 🙂

Until next time – carry on planning!

Kel

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Filofax Personal Malden Ochre

These Malden’s are the same age. I know, crazy isn’t it! They were both taken out of the box the weekend and yet the one to the right looks really worn in and the patina looks supple and shiny through years of use.

I have to admit, I’m kind of in love with the one on the right, a lot!

I’m going to tell you the tale of the 2 Personal Malden’s in Ochre:

Firstly, I’ve been away from my Filofaxes for a good 18 months or so. I’ve felt that I didn’t really need to be planning at work so much and I promised I could keep it all in my head… and what ended up happening was a lot of agreeing to go somewhere or do something only to be contacted weeks or months later asking where I was as I’d organised something and forgotten about it!

I figured I needed something. So I tried my Travelers Notebook and then a Moleskine, and then a “normal” diary from Laura Ashley. All with very little success.

So I decided before the weekend I would go back to my trusty old Filofax, or rather, a new, trusty Filofax hehe. I had seen on one of the Filofax Facebook groups that a few people had gotten their Kingfisher Blue Malden’s and I kind of really wanted one: a lot (spoiler, I ordered one…!). But I also spotted the Ochres on sale on Amazon, and I had always been one foot in the Ochre camp; whenever I went into WHSmiths to feel then though, they felt quite… plasticky and not as soft as I thought they’d be. But in my moment of weakness, it didn’t stop me as I ordered from Amazon and received the very next day.

When it arrived, I was so excited I opened it up but to discover that there were 2017 diary inserts (which was fine, but I thought I would let Amazon know just in case they had any issues with any other customers etc) and they told me I needed to return the Filofax and get a replacement. I told them I didn’t want to return it, and I just wanted to get the correct inserts instead. After too-ing and fro-ing I eventually agreed to return and they would send a replacement the next day.

The next day, the replacement arrived and again, it was the 2017 inserts, so now I had 2 Ochre Malden’s, but both with 2017 inserts. I got onto Amazon to let them know that I had still received 2017 inserts, and they credited me £5 to my account so I could purchase 2019 inserts.

The collection of the original was supposed to happen today however they never turned up, and I ended up on the phone to Amazon and even offered to deliver it to their branch, which is opposite my workplace.

Amazon turned around and told me that they didn’t want the Filofax back, and I could dispose of it or do what I like with it. So effectively, I have 2 Ochre Malden’s that I’ve only paid for 1 and it was in a sale as it was!

Anyway…! The one on the right was the replacement and when I took it out of the box it felt a little plasticky, so I decided I would try my normal method of moisturising it, but with coconut oil instead of normal moisturiser. After rubbing the oil onto the surface of the empty binder, I noticed it getting darker in places and I initially panicked, wondering if it was taking the colour off the leather. But it suddenly felt so soft, buttery and luxurious, I had to keep on going! The colour you see above is after 2 attempts of coconut oil, and I think it looks beautifully aged and rustic and very loved.

Even the grain looks better and more moisturised.

I have to say, it’s even much more pliable than the untouched one!

What do you prefer? A brand spanking new Malden that looks absolutely pristine, or so you prefer one that looks a little more weathered and aged?

Until next time keep planning!

Kel

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Filofax Fans: my apologies!

It’s been almost a month since I blogged anything.

Well, life got crazy busy with all the Christmas shopping and work and Christmas and my dear friend being over from Germany for the holidays etc… Suddenly it’s almost new year and I feel I should be still in November somewhere. Where has the time gone?

Anyway, excuses aside, I’ve felt so guilty on not updating my blog recently I feel the need to apologise. I’m so very, very sorry.

What do I need to update you with?

Erm, I actually have a confession. I haven’t been nearly as organised as I should have been by now. In fact, planning has taken a back seat over the holidays as I’ve been pushed from pillar to post from party to dinner and back again. But anyway: planner peeps best look away for my next sentence may disgrace me in your eyes:

I haven’t yet got my 2014 diary.

I know, I know, I know! Most people have been organising their 2014 diary since October: and so did I…

But it looks like that may have fallen through.

So I keep promising I will print the Philofaxy CC inspired Week on 2 Pages (they are so customisable, I love the Philofaxy/My Life All On One Page diary printables – sorry I can’t really link anything from my iPhone guys, apologies) and I will get to it eventually…!

Apart from that, I’ve fallen in love with the Smashbook Range. I purchased the RetroStyle book and about £35 worth of scrapbook accessories to start me off. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a serious sucker of anything that looks remotely 1970’s bohemian/gypsy style, which also extends to my love of 70’s style unsaturated photographs.

I wanted to find myself a real poloroid SX-70 camera but I don’t think the paper is very popular these days, with it being so old and all etc…

Anyway, my point is, one of my resolutions was to take more photographs with my little Lumia I purchased earlier this year to go to Tenerife. It’s just a point and shoot but I’m sure with the amazing editing apps there are for photos these days I can get the look I love so much. I’m going to smash it all in my Smashbook and keep a record of all the 2014 fun times 🙂

That’s the plan, anyway.

Need to get a diary sorted before I plan that though…!

How’s your Christmas been? How about any NY Resolutions this year?

Kel
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Filofax Week

Hi everyone!

I’ve been quiet for a while, I know… I apologise! It’s just, I’ve been mighty busy and my social life has been pretty mental etc. Not only that, but I’ve been honing my system to perfection, so now I have a great system that I use that works for me, I can finally share it!

I never understood when people said they had found their perfect setup or system. I was one of those bumbling idiots that just chucked everything in their diary then had a difficult time navigating through the scrawls, everything was everywhere and although I felt slightly more organised than without a planner, I still didn’t quite grasp the concept of having a system to suit “you”.

I mentioned a YouTube video a couple of blogs ago, and it revolutionised the way my week is viewed. I have split the page in 2: one half is a to do list for each day, the other half is colour coded and taken from my month to view tabs. More often than not, in this half I use the washi-tape “labels” that I blogged about (in one of my last posts) so that everything is visually attractive (to me, anyhow!).

I break the days of the week up by using doodles or patterns in different colours and I make the week day numbers into flowers, and the weekends/days off work/holidays etc into hearts. I use one of the smash! markers trimmed and punched for my bookmarks with a small sticky note with my colour coding system attached in case I might forget ;).

Here is this week in action so far… It’s probably the quietest week so far (which is why I’ve managed to sit and type this instead of running around Asda in my lunch break!).

As you can see the last few days I’ve had a few social visits (in purple) and I’ve used a couple of the washi tape labels.

Talking of the washi tape labels, I now have the back of my diary page holding my labels so. I can attach them on the go. I printed out a few too many for just 1 page so ended up using a flyleaf I had hanging around also:

And finally, here is a close up of a washi tape label in action:

I did think about doing my own however a disaster occurred and my poor old Mid 2009 white MacBook decided to give up the ghost a few weeks ago, so I’ve had to sort all that out, and now I have a 2nd hand Late 2009 white Unibody MacBook that I’m slowly reloading and getting set up again. Once up and running I might have a go at a couple of my own labels: I want stuff like “Shopping” and “Cinema” and “Hair Appointment”/”Beauty Appointment”.

How are you set up and organised? Are you visually stimulated when you open your organiser?

Take care!

Kel

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