Cat's Corner

A while ago I told you about my submission for The Sketchbook Project 2012.  The tour has now begun and if you’re planning to visit one of the stops, I’d love it if you checked out my book!

You can find scans of the book on my profile, as well as information about the tour and details for how to sign up for 2013 on the Art House Co-op website.

To see my book in real life on the tour, search for my name (Cathryn Cook) or my call number, 156L.5-1 and check out my mum’s too, Travel With Me at Home & Abroad!

If you’ve seen a great book you think we should check out too, please add the details in the comments!

Enjoy the tour

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I’m mad keen on vintage homewares, fashion and jewellery!  If you want to check out my latest bargains, follow my Instagram feed @cathryncook or see my profile at http://followgram.me/cathryncook/

Here’s a few of my recent finds – vintage wine glasses, amber and plastic jewellery and my FAB new (old) deck chair!

I know, I know, just two months ago I said the Malden Personal was the perfect filofax… but surely a girl has a right to have options? 

I found a fab new purse in TKMaxx so I was *forced* to switch out all my cards and coins and I needed to offset the weight in my bag.  So out came the black Finsbury Slimline Filofax

It won’t last forever, but for now, the setup is the same as I had in the Malden (see here) but with less diary pages:

I’m also keeping a food diary at the moment and I wanted to keep this separate from my Filofax, so I’m using an extra small Moleskine in the back and it’s working well.

I’ll keep you updated on my next move!  I’m thinking of maybe trying pocket size next, but that would mean recreating all my diary entries, hmm!  Then there’s the mini Finsbury I picked up last year and haven’t used yet… choices, choices!

Find a Filofax bargain on Amazon UK here.

We’ve had such lovely weather lately that I thought it was time for a new Spring Trollbeads combo!   I wanted to go for a fairytale theme, with pastel OOAKs and fantasy silvers, which remind me of spring time in the garden. 

I’ve used really chunky silvers, such as the Fantasy Elf and Spirit of Freedom, which stand out boldly against the soft colours of the glass – I think it works, what do you think?

(Working clockwise from the clasp, the 1st, 3rd, 8th and 10th glass beads are all OOAKs)

Buy Trollbeads on Amazon UK here

My husband gifted me with a remake of the original Trollbeads tiger bead at Christmas and I’ve used it to make an animal print combo with other animal print beads and animal silvers.  All the beads in this combo are original Trollbeads apart from the tiger, stopper and evil eye charm: 

Buy Trollbeads on Amazon UK here

If you love the tiger bead too, you can order one here

A while back I invested in a hole punch for my work A5 Filofax and I use it constantly to punch new sheets of plain white paper for meeting notes, etc.  More recently I’ve set up my ‘real life’ organisation in a personal size Filofax (see here) and I’ve been wondering what I could do with a personal sized hole punch!  A very generous donor obliged and gave me a fantastic metal punch so that I could experiment – you know who you are – thank you!

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Filofax pages:

• A punch to fit your binder size (you can find the Filofax personal online here or perhaps try a cheaper alternative here)
• A used sheet of paper to fit your binder size
• A pair of nice sharp scissors
• A pack of paper of your choice (I used PaperMania Colossal scrapbooking paper)
• Any older notebooks or diaries that you might be able to re-use in a Filofax (maps, etc)

Using the used sheet of paper as a template, cut your paper to size (adding little tabs if you want to), punch and voila – you have your very own home made Filofax paper

You can also use old notebooks, maps, etc – whatever you fancy!  Here’s a sample of my pages:

So I finally succumbed to the infamous Malden Filofax!  If you’re reading this because you like Filofaxes, this is no revelation I’m sure, but I think it may actually be the perfect binder!!

I wrote in November about my new setup and hole punch in personal size (here), which really opened my eyes to how useful a binder for social/home use can be.  I was also looking to use it as a purse, so the obvious choice was the Malden.  Fortunately just before Christmas it went on sale on Filofax UK and I snapped it up at half price!

My setup was fairly well worked up and had been serving me well to keep a track of my social life, birthdays, to-do lists, etc so I haven’t changed it too much.  I really feel like for the first time that my personal life is organised and having my purse in the same place helps me to keep on track of my budget too.  I even planned out our hectic Christmas – presents, hosting, cooking, ordering food, etc, and it worked a charm!

How am I using it?

Take a peek inside…

I’m still using my Paperchase postcard as a cover and the little owl tabs too – I thought I was being so original and then saw both on other blogs within days of getting mine, doh!  I recently found a matching pen with the owl design so I snapped it up – it even fits in the pen loop!

First I have two sheets of card inserts, then a plastic wallet for my shopping vouchers and stickers before we move into section 1, maps.  Section 2 has my week on one page diary, which I’ve tabbed month by month using sticky flags (from Muji) and inserted my to-do list next to it using pastel paper.  I’m also using diary stickers from hubby’s Moleskine because he didn’t want them and they’re so much easier to lift off the backing than the Filofax ones!

Section 3 holds my other to-do lists (I have a lot of those!) and then section 4 has my blog notes and plans.  Section 5 has my personal finance and work expenses sheets as well as a plastic wallet for my expense receipts.  That just leaves section 6 for my birthdays pages (WHSmith ones) and addresses, which I’ve recently rewritten using a Frixion pen, so that I can rub out and make updates when people move.

2012 planning = sorted!

Why do I love the Malden?

• You can feel the quality, but it feels workable, not precious (in a good way)
• It lies flat from day 1 – whoop!
• It has a zip coin pocket on the front and four card slots
• The rings are a decent size to fit LOADS of pages in!
• Space for a pad in the back (or a moleskine notebook, as I’m planning to try)
• The colour – although I hear there will soon be a PURPLE version (my fave colour!)

In summary, I love, love, love the Malden – can you tell?! 

Grab a bargain Malden on Amazon UK here

This year I’ve taken part in Art House Co-op’s ‘The Sketchbook Project 2012‘ – a project in which anyone can enter a sketchbook of their artwork on a chosen theme.  The books will tour the world and finally reside at the Brooklyn Art Library in the USA – exciting!

I chose the theme ‘This is a Sketchbook…’ and then extended my title to ‘…about why I love the English Seaside’ and based my imagery on elements of Cornwall, my favourite place in England!

The paper in the sketchbook wasn’t very thick so I used watercolour postcards and then secured them in the book using craft brads – all the pictures were created using watercolour pencils or watersoluble pens.

Check out my complete submission on the Art House Co-op website here.

Just over a year ago I told you about my fab Dr. Martens 1460 boots (here) - they’re still going strong and look brand new, despite my having worn them at every given opportunity!  They’re so comfortable that I began wishing that they had heels so I could wear them out dancing.  A quick search on Amazon found me Dr Martens Darcie Boots - before you could blink, they were in my basket and winging their way over to me!

I’ve actually had them for almost a year now and like the 1460s, they still look pretty much brand new – the only difference being that the wooden heels pick up a bit of dirt.  Comfort wise, I’m very happy to report that they’re just as comfy as the 1460s, despite the heel!  I have read in other reviews that some wearers find DMs (of varying models) hard to break in, but I have to say I have found both my pairs comfy from the word go.  I tend to wear them loose around the top laces (tucking in the laces, rather than doing them up) with thick ski/walking socks and plain black leg warmers over the top for an extra layer.  This gives some extra padding around the heel so that there’s no chance of rubbing and means that I can walk all day or dance all night in total comfort!

Mine are red with a wooden heel, but there are many, many different colour ways to choose from and there are often bargains to be picked up on Amazon – check them out here:
Dr Martens Darcie Boots

Well it’s been a while since I last updated you with my Filofax news, so here it is!  As you know, I’ve been using a slimline Amazona (you can read about it here) and I’ve been loving it, BUT although I’ve really tried to be frugal with my pages, it’s just really not quite big enough.  Pair that with the fact that my beloved Mulberry purse (which you can see on Imysworld here) is massively heavy and you have a dilemma.

My solution?  To use my Filofax as a wallet as well!  So I headed off to WHSmith on a lunch break and picked up a couple of card holder inserts to increase my 6 card slots to 12.  Then I popped into the charity shop next door and found another vintage English-made Filofax from the 80s!  Priced at 99p, I snapped it up and I’ve spent the past couple of weeks getting the setup just right!  Here’s the binder:

In the back cover it says ‘Filofax Made in England Real Calf 2CLF 7/8′ and in the front, company name ‘Serco’ is stamped so I guess they were made for a company time management initiative?  You can just about make out the logo in the bottom left of the picture below:

No slots for cards, so I’ve stuck them in the cover for now, they seem to be holding up ok!  Sadly the leather is old and stiff and the first time I put inserts in, it cracked the whole way down where the rings attach   I don’t think it will last very long, but I have a plan B (more on that later!).  Today I popped to Paperchase and spotted the gorgeous postcard you see here in the front, so I snapped it up and added it as a cover page!

How was I able to do that?  Thanks to a very generous friend and ex-colleague who spotted on the blog that I was after a personal sized hole punch!  He had one from the 80s, which is adaptable for use in a Time Manager system – not only did he give me this (thank you thank you thank you!), he also gave me his Time Manager binder and inserts!!  That deserves a whole post another time, but for now, back to the setup…

As I mentioned, I bought two sets of credit card inserts, so these are at the front, followed by a plastic envelope, which holds my shopping vouchers!  Then I have my maps, diary and birthdays sections – then notes.  Notes are basically lists – to do, finances, xmas pressies, things to fix in the new house, things to buy for the new house, etc!  I’ve marked my three most used pages with some very cute owl marker stickers, also purchased in Paperchase today (see 3rd pic above – click the image to see it full size).  I’ve also hole-punched the first set of these, and put two more in the back pocket with my stamps (see last pic above). 

I’m using a freebie pen I got at a conference, because it’s the only one I could fit in the teeny pen loop – were pens smaller in the 80s?!  Anyway, I’m loving the setup like this and am looking forward to adding more to it, which I can do now that I have the space and also the hole punch – yay!

I mentioned that the spine is about to give way, but now I’ve got my setup right, I really want to keep using it and not go back to the slimline.  So the plan B I mentioned earlier?  Yeah, I finally gave in and ordered a MALDEN!  There, I said it, I blame you guys over at Philofaxy!  The personal in crimson is currently on sale on Filofax UK here - how could I resist?  It has a coin pocket and everything

I have to wait for Christmas for it though, but not long to wait!!  So what do you think, did I make the right choice?

Cat