Filofax 'The Original' Green Review

So amongst the many Filofaxes that I bought, The Original Green in A5 was one of them. I know I just bought the same edition in aqua, but my first love really was the green (as my favourite colour is green), and the fact that it's from Australia and priced much lower than my Aqua, means it needed to be bought. Besides, not long after, it was out of stock! So really, it was a great buy for me.

But moving on: the green is made exactly the same as its aqua brother, except for its colour, of course. They shared the same packaging (plastic only), same flexibility, same great leather smell, same light weight, same great rings (with no gaps) and same inserts. Their only difference was the fact that the green had a zippered pocket included in the package. You can read the full review of The Original that was written for my aqua here, but if not, here are the pictures for my new green Original A5:

A5 Original in Greeeeeeen!

Front

Back

No-problem rings

I took the liberty of taking a picture of the green and aqua side by side as well, as some of you might want to know their difference in colour (as I did when I was going to buy the aqua):

With plastic cover

Comparing Green with Aqua

And that's the green Original!

NOTE: As much as I love the A5 Green Original, I'd rather a Personal Green Original. So I am currently selling it on my eBay store (details in the 'Items For Sale' tab), or I'm happy to trade it with anyone for a brand new Personal Green Original for the A5.

Filofax Adelphi Slimline Review

I've read a handful of reviews / comments on the Adelphi family, and their responses have been mixed: some love them and some.. not so much. But I couldn't quite find a review covering every aspect of the organisers that I wanted to know about (perhaps because it's a discontinued model now?), so I hope I can give some insights into the Slimline version first, then the A5 in another blog post seeing I managed to get my hands on them recently.

So first up: Slimline Adelphi in Black

I must admit, I contemplated a while before getting this Filofax. I was worried that the rings would be too small to hold... anything. Besides, I was thinking: I didn't really bond with the Compact Pennybridge (which had bigger rings), so why bother with even smaller rings? But then I realised that the lack of bonding was really due to the fact that the Pennybridge wasn't leather... because the rings did manage to work for me in the end... (oops). So I took the chance and got myself my first Slimline.

And here she is:

Unboxing Adelphi

Thickness

Back

Front

The feel of the Adelphi was just lovely. I now understand why some bloggers love touching it over and over again, because really, the diamond shaped pattern of it makes it feel really nice to the touch. It also gives the organiser that extra feminine touch.

On the inside:

Inside of the Adelphi Slimline

6 card slots and a full length pocket available on the front cover

Tiny tiny pen loop!

The organiser couldn't stay flat the first time around, but I'm pretty sure that with some training, it will be able to do so.

The two main problems I had with the Adelphi were:
1- The card slots - the initial attempt to slot my cards into the card slots were... a mission. Some pockets were held together by thread (which needed a craft knife to be unleashed) and some still had remnants of glue sticking the pockets together, which was a little bit of a disappointment. But after forcing my cards into each and every card slot, they seem to be working fine
2- The pen loop - I honestly do not know if the pen loop was meant to be used or just placed for show, because I know that without even trying, none of my pens will fit through it. Hell, even some of my pen clips couldn't go through the entire way. Safe to say, I won't be using their pen loop.

And despite what many people were saying about the pocket flap, I just couldn't see the problem with it. It didn't make the organiser that much bulkier. However, I did learn why the buttoned clasp was a bit of a hindrance after I slotted some cards into the card slots hidden behind the flap, as once the cards were in, giving that extra thickness to it, having the button clasped created a small bulge in the organiser... But to be honest, I think I'll still be able to live with that...

The rings were fine to me, with no obvious gaps, but look just how tiny they are!:

Now to the back of the Adelphi:

The back of the organiser just had one simple vertical slot with the useless pen loop.

Without inserts

Overall, I actually quite liked this organiser and I couldn't wait to fill it up. I was surprised to see that the inserts that were given in the organiser (which included the 2014 week on two pages, note papers, addresses and A-Z tabs. It didn't come with dividers!) could all fit snugly into the 13mm rings while still being able to turn. It was a little bit more challenging than having 23mm of course, but it wasn't too hard that they would tear the papers. I did, however, minimised the amount of pages in the organiser and just included the necessities of my month to view (from May to Decemeber), week to view (from May to Decemebr) and expenses, and my go-to organiser is now thin, light and contains everything I need.

I will do a review on the A5 Adelphi in the days to come, but for now, here's a comparison of the Slimline to the A5 Adelphi:

A5 Adelphi vs. Slimline Adelphi

And that's the Slimline Adelphi!

The New Filofax Collection!

As expected, the delivery of my new Filofax purchases from the Filofax Shop has arrived in no time! I love their service, and couldn't recommend them enough! As I had them delivered to my Parcel Locker at Melbourne's GPO, saying I had a bag full of Filofax was quite literally the case...

Here they are picked up from the Post Office!

Filofax, Filofax and more Filofax!

Remind me to never buy so many Filofaxes in one go again with a 30min train ride and a 15min bike ride home... But on the bright side, I managed to fit them all in my bag (without the brown boxes of course)! Unfortunately, I had to throw the lovely A5 Filofax box that came with the A5 Adelphi because it just couldn't fit in my bag (and also because it had a dent in it already). So here they are:

The new collection!

Unravelled

I must say, I was quite surprised and pleased that nearly all of them came in the black box. I guess it must be because they're all the older generation Filofaxes, rather than the new collection. Just looking at them boggles the mind! I don't even know where to start. I think I may also have just blown away the one-Filofax-for-life syndrome because I'm sure going to use them all!

Besides, how can you choose a favourite when:
The Aston family has such a lovely soft touch to it and seems to be able to hold the most content, or when
The Adelphi family is so... thin and yet able to hold a decent amount of inserts while still being able to turn the page, or when
The Cuban has such a lovely red colour, or when
The Original family is so light, or when
The Sketch has the security of a zip?

Oh, I'm in love with them all!

But enough of my drooling, this is my new and up-to-date collection of Filofaxes!

Can you name them all?

They include (from left to right):
1- A5 Sketch Zipped in Granite
2- A5 Domino in Red
3- A5 Original in Aqua
4- A5 Original in Green
5- A5 Aston in Chocolate
6- A5 Adelphi in Black
7- Personal Zipped Holborn in Brown
8- Personal Holborn in Brown
9- Personal Aston in Chocolate
10- Personal Cuban in Chili
11- Personal Scanda in Black
12- Slimline Adelphi in Black

(Click on them for a link to their review)

The list really blew up after that crazy Filofax haul, I must say... but can you tell I'm a very Earthly muted colour kind of girl? I guess it's because I love the air of antiquity a brown leather Filofax gives off (in addition to its smell), and their inconspicuous nature to itchy uni friends hands. But that's just me.

And lastly, with the amount of new Filofaxes I bought this time around, I hereby vow that they will be the last lot I buy... for the year. I will review each and every one of them in the days to come, so stay tuned!

I Wrote This For You

When I was in high school, I found this website called I Wrote This For You. I'm not sure how I came by it but I know I was hooked the moment I started reading it. The blog revolves around short stories / phrases of the day (or two) that can apply to anyone and everyone. The blog posts are written by Ian S. Thomas and are accompanied by pictures taken by Jon Ellis which complements well with the written words. He has written hundreds of these posts and have compiled it into two books - one with pictures and one with just the words. I bought one of them on the Book Depository a week ago and it was finally delivered today. This is how it looks like:

Cover of I Wrote This For You

The book cover has this matte feeling to it - not like those smooth book covers you find on majority of novels. I must admit though, they could have at least selected something else for the front cover picture. The ghostly girl freaks me out a little... But moving on, it's quite thin (which I was quite surprised by) and frankly, I was a little disappointed that the printing quality of the pictures were approximately the same as printing them using a home printer. But I guess, I can't complain for the price. On another note, its size means I'm pretty sure it would fit nicely into an A5 Filofax.

I've decided that these type of books are best for those train rides to and from uni, or when boredom strikes at odd times of the day (or trying to avoid awkward eye contact), because there is no proper way to read this book. Each page contains a new entry, so you can start from the beginning, middle or end. Flip to any page and you're already off reading like the book just began. You can read it multiple times on different occasions and they'll have their own special meaning at that specific time of your life. It's incredible, really.

I'm planning to get the same version for my best friend's birthday soon, because it was something we shared and read when we were in high school together, and it would really bring back fond memories. And the great thing is, you don't have to buy anything to read his posts. They're all for free on his website for anyone and everyone. Besides, like his website states:

'I need you to understand something. I wrote this for you. I wrote this for you and only you. Everyone who reads it, doesn't get it. They may think they get it, but they don't. This is the sign you've been waiting for. You were meant to read these words.'

Check it out!

ps. On another note, my Filofaxes are marked as shipped as of today and should be delivered by Friday! Be prepared for a barrage of reviews coming up soon!

Filofax Shop is on SALE!

Just to note, I am not affiliated with filofaxshop in any way, I just thought I'd like to share the news with my readers that they're having an amazing sale on now for a wide variety of Filofaxes at ridiculously low prices! And you can even get an extra 10% of if you spend $80 or more! Just use the code: WDNSTC. (I'm not sure if this applies to just AUS/NZ customers though)

I myself have bought my fair share from them already (their service is great; you'll get your order within the week if you're in Australia!), and I couldn't pass this opportunity up for the world! I went a little crazy buying new Filofaxes (my bank account has definitely taken a beating this time... I really need to stop spending!), and they include:

1- A5 Original (Green) - now out of stock as I write this!

2- A5 Aston (Chocolate)

3- A5 Sketch Zipped (Granite)
4- A5 Adelphi (Black)
5- Personal Cuban (Chili)
6- Personal Aston (Chocolate)
7- Slimline Adelphi (Black)

If you can't tell, I'm a little bit of an A5 junkie right now... And when the opportunity came up with such amazing prices, I had to grab it. Not to mention, I do believe that some of the models I bought are slightly difficult to find for nowadays, (like the A5 Green Original, maybe?), and who knows, maybe if it doesn't suit me in any way, they might be up for grabs on my eBay store! Sadly, now that I've gotten this new haul of Filofax, in order to make myself feel a tad bit better, I have to say goodbye to my Compact cobalt Pennybridge and my Pocket black Malden, because I just don't think I'll use them. They're on sale on my eBay store now. Check out the 'Items For Sale' tab for details.

I still can't believe the amount of choices they have for a great fraction of the original price though! There are some that have sold out, unfortunately, like the Personal Malden (in Aqua for less than AUS$60!), so I'm assuming that these Filofaxes are being snapped up fast. The sale is apparently going on for 10 days, but I know that they tend to stretch the sale longer than they say they'll have it on. Either way, get it quick before the good ones run out.

And with all the hype going on in my head right now with this sale, I wonder if I'll be able to start studying...

Oh no..

TUTORIAL: CREATING A5 DIVIDERS

Due to the arrival of my new A5 Filofax Original, I have decided to create new dividers (in addition to the previous ones I made!). And to shed some light onto their creation, I have decided to post a little 'tutorial' of how I made them. I wasn't meant to make these, but procrastination was working at its best and I found these perfect A5 dividers in Muji:

Muji Dividers for AUS$2.95

Ok, maybe they're not exactly perfect because of the many holes that was meant to be for a different binder, but that was easily fixed with some paper. They are however, perfectly suited for the A5 Filofax, and the fact that they're made out of cardboard means they'll have a greater durability than the paper ones Filofax provides. Not to mention, the empty canvas practically begs for creativity and their price means you can create as many as you want without feeling guilty!

So I got to work and these were the pages I have made to be stuck onto those dividers:

Self-made Dividers

Close up

Self-made dividers II

Close up

The pages were created using a mixture of Kaisercraft collectables and papers. I love the variety of Collectable themes Kaisercraft has. The ones I used include: Spring Bloom, Violet Crush and Happy Snaps, all purchased from Spotlight. I can't take credit for the layout of the pages though, as I have used Kaisercraft's blog to extract some ideas from.

After creating these pages, I stuck each on a different divider (after shuffling around with their order) using double-sided tape - glue will make the pages buckle (even if slightly), I've realised. I tried not to paste too many things near the left edge though, as I do need to punch holes through them so it can slot into my Filofax. Layering too many things will make it too thick for a puncher to punch through. I know because well.. even though I tried to limit the amount of things available on the left edge of the page, mine was still a little too thick... oops.

Stuck on each divider

The back of the dividers are empty as well, so I stuck on different papers to add some colour. And like the previous dividers I made, created pockets for each divider using journal cards from Kaisercraft and Project Life. After piecing all of these together, the last step is to punch holes through them all.

Back - patterned paper and pocket journal cards!

And voila, new self-made inserts for your A5 Filofax!

Hope you liked my mini 'tutorial'!

Filofax 'The Original' Dark Aqua Review

I haven't really seen a review for the Dark Aqua Original Filofax around, so hopefully, this will shed some light on this beautiful planner.

If someone told me a month ago that I'd be buying an Original Filofax, I probably would have laughed it off because of the ridiculous amount of pockets it had, but now that I have one, I wonder why it took me this long to buy one! Because honestly, first impression: this Filofax is beyond words (despite the lack of pockets)! I haven't felt this excited about a Filofax since I bought the Holborn! I truly love this item to bits, even more because of the colour, the weight and the size of this thing. But instead of jumping ahead with the details, I shall start from the beginning:

I received the organiser this morning and like every new Filofax that I receive in the mail, I was really excited to rip open the package to reveal the organiser within (maybe just a little bit more for this one due to its delicious Aqua colour. After all, I was lusting over it in my previous post). The moment I held it in my hands, I was so surprised at how light it felt even with the packaging still on. It wasn't as heavy as I expected it to be. It wasn't as large as well. Here is how it looks like in its packaging.

The arrival of the Original Dark Aqua

Then off comes the packaging and here it is in all its glory:

The Original Dark Aqua in its plastic cover

Visible ring studs

Oh, Genuine Leather always gets to me.

The famous 'Made in the UK' trademark for The Original range

It came in its plastic cover which acted like a book cover, but for the price of this baby, a box would have been a better protector. After all, it's meant to be 'The Original', which deserves some class doesn't it?

But moving on from the cover and onto the organiser: Look at it, I mean look how beautiful it is sitting there with its aqua colour and full leather design. It's just gorgeous. Also, I cannot emphasise how surprised I am with how flexible, soft and... thin it looks! I was expecting more of a Domino shell, but this is entirely the opposite! I don't think anyone could fathom the look and material of this Filofax until you've held it in your own hands. In this instance, the pictures do not tell a thousand words! Not to mention, it isn't even that shiny! It's more of a matte colour and its material is almost like that of my Holborn, just a little more thicker, coarser maybe, and of course, aqua!

And then there's that popper button which actually gives that little extra to the organiser to make it look complete. Here are the pictures of the popper buttons from the front and the metal found on the back cover that holds the strap in place:

Popper button

Back

And finally, here it is without the plastic cover:

This picture is as close to the colour of the actual aqua colour, and I love it. It's a mix of blue and green, which are essentially two of my favourite colours, so really, what more could I ask for? (Maybe an A5 Patent Nude Original would be nice too, actually..)

The only small 'problem' I had with the extreme softness of the cover was the little indents that seem to show through caused by the rings:

Feint ring indentations on the front cover

Not sure if it can be seen in the picture, but they really are a minor problem which I'm already disregarding.

The first thing you'll notice when you open an Original up is the amount of flexibilty this organiser has. Actually, you wouldn't even need to open it up to know it's flexible. Look at it being balanced on my paperweight. It bends without any encouragement!:

Bending by itself!

And of course, it was a given that this Filofax will lay flat without training, but it's still amazing to see it with my own eyes:

Laying flat right from the... box plastic cover

The insides are black and quite matching with the aqua colour, I must say. The white stitching does contrast with the aqua, but it does match too and I've never been fussed by this for all my Filofaxes. There aren't that many pockets inside as many of us probably know, just the two card slots, two pen straps, a phone compartment strap and a vertical compartment on the front cover, and the jot-pad and one vertical slot at the back. There were also the embossed trademarks seen in every Filofax on the front cover of The Original:

Embossed

The rings were in perfect working order too (thank God, or I'd have to send it all the way back to the UK!)

No gappy rings!

The organiser came with the same green and grey dividers that came with my cobalt Pennybridge (Spring trademark?), a clear ruler, writing pages in different colours, some grid papers and the week-on-two-pages vertical set up diary, which won't be used, however, as I'll be using all my self-made dividers and inserts.

The back of the organiser holds the jot pad which... definitely won't be used and will probably be replaced with something else. If only Filofax just sold the covers without the inserts... they'd be saving so many trees for those who didn't need them (and maybe I'd save some money too).

Jot pad

Back cover pocket

And finally, a comparison between the A5 Original and the A5 Domino:

Left: Domino; Right: Original

I was surprised to see that they were actually about the same in every way, except of course, the material and the stiffness. And maybe I'm seeing things, but could it be that the Original rings are a tad bit smaller than the Domino's? I'll have to check the specifications, but I'm not complaining right now as it has made The Original slimmer - even if by a few mm.

Overall, if my post hasn't already shown it, I have to say that I am very glad I purchased this Filofax and can't wait to put it to use. I have a feeling that I'll be leaving the plastic cover on longer than I'm supposed to though for fear of scratching it in any way. For those who haven't bought one and are thinking of buying one, I insist that you get one. You will not regret it. But make sure the colour is the one you want because that is one of the major reasons why I love this organiser so much. As for me, I'm going to run along now and set-up my new Filofax just the way I want it. Look out for the Original's full set-up post in the near future!

Edit: Just a little update on the size of the rings - the A5 Domino rings are quintessentially bigger with 30mm compared to just 25mm for The Original.