A new addition!

This summer I decided that since it's damn near impossible around here to find a short term paid job, I would work in a charity shop for a little while. Unfortunately this week saw my last shift but it doesn't stop me from browsing charity shops! I think working in a charity shop has given me a new found respect for shopping in them; you really can find some little gems.

Such as... *drum roll*

Swoon!

A pocket chocolate Domino, in fairly good nick for the princely sum of £2! The inserts are untouched (apart from the plastic surrounding) and there are just a couple of scuffs on the outside. The elastic is also slightly loose (does anyone know how to/if it's possible to tighten it?). I think it's probably been given as a gift and then not really used as there seems to be signals that it's quite old and has been left in a drawer for some time... see:

First thing to be axed - the 2009/2010 diary, methinks!

My favourite thing is it has a world map insert, haha. Such a fickle person I am :D It has a top opening wallet at the back too. Shame it's not personal size as I'd be snagging them for my Finsbury! I also love that the pen holder actually holds a pen, rather than my Finsbury which doesn't because it's too damn tight...

Here's my little filo family now: 

A4 Zipped Metropol, Personal Finsbury, Pocket Domino

Something that strikes me is how small the Domino is - it's definitely a pocket sized, all the inserts and the cover stamp say pocket; but it's nearly half the size of my personal Finsbury?! Crazy. 

Usewise I kind of went on a 'buy now, figure out uses later' approach. Current hot idea is a catalogue of all the nail varnishes I own sorted by brand and divided using the ABC tabs, and keeping a running list of what I have in my larder/fridge and what I need to buy when I do a big shop. I currently do small shopping lists on a post it note on the fly sheet of my Finsbury but for longer lists, this may be perfect! 

Does anyone else have a pocket Domino? What do you use it for? 

Financial organisation, stat!

As I'm heading back to uni in 6 days, it's really time to get a hang of my finances! For the past two years I've pretty much just spent what I wanted and crossed my fingers that I would still be able to buy food the next day! However, when I graduate I want to move in with my boyfriend so it's time to get serious and learn to budget whilst I have the relative luxury of 'free' money.

In order to be a bit more sensible, I need a decent way of tracking my money, and creating a budget. I also need to know the difference between needing something and just wanting it, and resisting the urge to splash out on something pretty but not needed! It can be really expensive in my uni town as there's only one supermarket near the accommodation (so prices are high) and there's not a massive amount of variety so you can't always shop around for the best deal. It often requires some crafty shopping! So the first thing I need to do is figure out what staples I buy each week, and where is cheapest to buy them. I can do half of this before I even leave for university in Powerpoint. I'd like to make my own filofax insert for it eventually so I can keep it with me, but that is a task for a rainy Welsh night!

Secondly, I need to figure out how much a month I have to spend and what I can spend it on. I'd like to try and save a little bit of my loan this year so that when I do graduate, I have a tiny little cushion (I don't anticipate it will be much!) to fall back on when I move home again. I don't think I'll be able to find a job at uni other than the one I currently have - which is only for the first semester and only pays £9 a week. Not much, but it's money in my pocket! I'm also hoping to open an Etsy shop and sell a few Filo inserts on there - watch this space - for some extra cash. There is of course, all the little websites I use (see this post about them on my other blog) occasionally but they take quite a lot of time and effort.

Thirdly, I need to stick to only buying what I've decided to buy, and not being taken in by pretty things on websites or sales or the bargain section (unless it's a really good deal :D)!

I'd really like to try some no spend challenges, such as 'have 10 no spend days in one month' or even the seriously hard, 'go spend free for a week'. I may track these on here! I'll let you know how it goes.

Crafty bits: Making your own washi tape

Most people love bright and colourful new ways to spice up their organisers, planners and other stationery bits and bobs. Washi tape is a great way to do that! However it can be expensive to buy and to be honest, when I looked I didn't like a lot of the designs that were out there - so I set about figuring out how to make my own. Luckily, someone had already done that for me over here at CraftPassion. It's a wonderful tutorial but I adapted it slightly for my needs.

My method is really simple and requires even less materials... all you need is:

A pair of scissors, some double sided tape and some pretty tissue paper!

The basic method is the same as the one from Craft Passion, just skipping the steps where you emboss the tissue paper. I thought a step by step pictorial might be useful to some.

Step 1 - Place your tissue paper on the sticky side of your double sided tape. In the middle works best but if you have a specific pattern you want to see more, just make sure that that bit of the tissue paper is stuck down.

Step 2 - Turn the double sided tape over and either cut off the excess or (as I find easier) tear it off. If you turn the tape over so that the sticky bit is down it'll be easier for you to make sure you don't pull the tissue paper off the tape!

Step 3 - Decorate with it!

Ahh. I love it. I love the tissue paper I used - it's from Paperchase. I bought it in the sales last January and this is the perfect use for it! You get different effects based on whether you place the tissue paper shiny side up or down. Down makes a more muted washi tape which would be better for writing on I guess.

Total cost? £1 for three rolls of sticky tape from poundland, £1.50 for the Paperchase tissue paper, £1.50 for the plain tissue paper (from Tesco). Bargainous!

Youtube Debut

Yes, my youtube debut :D I'm not sure (if) when I'm going to do any more videos, but it was fun to do anyway so it probably will be soon! I'd say sub to my youtube channel but there's not much on it yet.

Insert printing drama

I've always considered myself ok with computers, about a 6 out of ten on the competency scale I guess. But for the life of me, I just can't get inserts for my personal filofax printed out properly!

I've tried printing one side, then flipping and printing the other. I've tried to graphically represent what generally happens...

Whereas what I want to happen is this...

I've tried flipping the paper differently, setting the pages up differently, even playing with the templates and move the second page over to the left more and it still prints out wonky. I'm running out of paper to play with now! Help!