We're now all pimped up! - Filofax Friday

Wow guys I am so excited to type this blog post up! If you remember a couple of weeks ago I let you all into the secret that I was to be taking part in the 'Pimp my Filofax' blogger challenge. Well I have been working away and I am now pleased, no ecstatic to be sharing with you my pimped up pages. As you can see above, the challenge was to take the Filofax they had given you with the pages inside and pimp them up, they gave a couple of pictures as examples of the sort of thing they were thinking which you can see in the above picture. If you would like to vote for me please click here.

Let me start by saying thank you to all of you lovely readers. Without you there would be no blog and without a blog I would not be able to participate in the challenge so thank you very much, please know that I do appreciate each and every one of you!

This challenge was not easy. It sounds easy but to me it wasn't. I started battling with my inner critic about not being good enough and worrying about all the other entries but I sat down with her, had a cup of tea and said "look, it doesn't matter it is just for fun there are nice people in the planner community, they won't laugh at you". Well she listened and I was able to start on the challenge.

Originally I had some really radical ideas. I tried a couple out and they were a complete and utter disaster, so much so that I am not even going to share them with you they were horrendous. What I can tell you is that involved items that you wouldn't normally expect to see associated with page decoration and there was even some sewing too! It was all a bit crazy. I felt like there was so much pressure because I really want to win so that I can give Filofaxes away to you and I started to create pages that I thought you guys would like and that is where it went wrong for me the most, I just couldn't do it.

So what did I do? Well I started from scratch all over again! I decided to stay true to me and go back to my roots with how I started off with Filofax pages. I started my journey by doodling on my pages so this is what I went back to. I sat out in the garden on a warm sunny day with my pencils, nothing fancy just kids ones and a black pen and I just doodled and coloured in. It made me so happy and they are just so me. When I showed them to Mr B even he said they are you and that my other pages weren't, so I hope you like them too!

OK so on to my pages then... lots of pictures to share with you. I really do hope you like them as you can see I did put a lot of effort, time and my sould into these lol! I am showing you all three pages that I submitted and it is up to Filofax to choose which ones that they want to use and you guys get to vote on your favourites! So here are my three you may see one of these available to vote on or you may see all three I really don't know.

So first up we have the cloud inspired one, you know how much I like my clouds and how they are always appearing on everything. With all three layouts I also created a page marker to match!

 

Inserts - By Filofax and decorated by me

Page Marker - Create by me

Puffy Cloud Paper clip - Etsy: ItsFluffyStuff

Cloud Pen and Paperclip - Linkys Dream

Pompoms and glitter - Linkys Stationery Box

Next up is my 'signature' Peeking bunnies... which is the one that Filofax chose for the competition. I submitted all of my pages and they chose my bunnies. To vote for my bunnies please click here.

Inserts - By Filofax and decorated by me

Page Marker - Create by me

Puffy Bunny Paper clip - made by me: tutorial

Bunny Pen - Linkys Dream

Bunny sticky notes - The Idea Owl

Ribbon Paper Clip - Lexi Lindley (Xile Creations on Etsy)

Stickers on pages - Maggie Holmes 683155

Washi Tape - Cath Kidston Tape Yellow StarsSet

Pompoms and glitter - Linkys Stationery Box

And another sky inspired layout...Stars another all time favourite of mine!

Inserts - By Filofax and decorated by me

Page Marker - Create by me 

Star paper clips - Staples

Washi Tape - Cath Kidston Tape Yellow Stars

Pompoms and glitter - Linkys Stationery Box

So there we have it, all three layouts. Do you have a favourite? Mine is the stars, I love the stars and it was also the last one I did and I think by then I had really gotten into my stride with it.

I did do some other pimping bits... I handpainted a dashboard to match the outer cover and I also pimped up the page marker and the flyleaf that came with it.

If you would like to see how I created these please watch the video as I recorded the actual making of these so that you could see. I also thought you might like to know how I created the page marker so that you could potentially jazz up the one that you have two. It is very easy to do, I just used Ranger Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink, Red Pepper all over and then once it was dry I then doodle on it with a  uni-ball Posca Medium Bullet Tip Marker in White easy peasey but it is all in the video if you would like to see it come together.

Download

Of course being the lovely person that I am he he, it would be silly to go to all the effort of making the dashboard and then it just sitting doing nothing so I have made it available as a free download so that you can print this off yourself at home, laminate it and hole punch and off you go! It matches the cover story perfectly but of course you can use it in any planner. I have made it available in Pocket, Personal and A5 as well as a washi card. You will need software that can 'unzip' the folder to release the files as both pdf and jpeg.  To download the files please click here. Please note that the downloads that I am offering as freebies as part of this series are different to the ones that I sell, so if you have already purchased anything from me these are in addition for you. If you haven't purchased any of my inserts and would like to or just have a nose at them you can view them in my Etsy shop here. Please note: These downloads are entirely free and a gift from me and only the downloads provided are free, I say this because I know some people might prefer one of the other designs that I offer but it is only the ones in the freebie set on offer at this time.

Giveaway

So the thing is, if I win I get six Filofaxes to give away to readers and if I come 2nd or 3rd I get three Filofaxes to giveaway which is really awesome. Filofax gave me this particular planner to use for pimping and I am able to keep this for myself for taking part if I so wish to do so. The thing is it is a really very nice Filofax, there is nothing wrong with it in my opnion it is just that I am not all that keen on the design of the cover and I know a lot of people do like it. So I was thinking that it would be really silly to keep it all to myself when I am not that keen on it and probably wouldn't use it so I have decided to give it away regardless whether I win the challenge or not. So if you would like to enter the giveaway to win this Filofax please enter your details into the widget below.

What you will win is the Cover Story Filofax as shown. I have literally only used this for pimping purposes and when not being photographed I kept the plastic covering on so it is basically like new. Most of the inserts are still in there however the first half of 2015 have been used so will not be available for use. I will leave my pimped pages in there so you can have those and do with them what you will, the only thing I will take out are the matching page markers as I want those lol! I will also leave in the matching dashboard, washi cards, pink page marker and flyleaf.

To enter after you have added your email address and name make sure you click 'BEGIN' and then follow the instructions! It isn't that obvious so you need to look out for it - it is under the bit that says 'open to...' :D 

Entry-Form

Well all that is left for me to say now is please vote for me! All you need to do is hop on over to the Filofax Facebook page and there you will be able to see all of the entrants. You don't have to vote for me obviously but it would be super duper cool if you did! Just vote for your favourites and the one with the most likes wins.

Here are all the blogger that have taken part so why not check out their blogs too:

DIY Fish: http://www.wondereland.com/diyfish/category/blog/
The University Project: http://theuniversityffproject.blogspot.co.uk/
Letters in November: http://lettersinnovember.blogspot.com.au
Life of Kitty: http://www.lifeofkitty.co.uk/ 
Helen's Wardrobe: http://helens-wardrobe.com/
Filomaniac: http://filomaniac.blogspot.de/
High Street Couture: http://www.highstreetcoutureblog.com/
The Pie Patch: http://thepiepatch.wordpress.com/
Randoms from Nat: http://www.randomsfromnat.com/
Sarah Hurley: http://www.sarahhurley.blogspot.co.uk/
Me Just Talking to You: http://mejusttalkingtoyou.wordpress.com/
YLE Creations: http://ylecreations.blogspot.co.uk/
Tracey Hearts: http://www.traceyhearts.blogspot.co.uk/
Blissful and Domestic: http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/

I hope you all have a fantastic week and I will be back again next week with more Filofax lovliness. I really apologise for there being no content last week, things were just super duper hectic and I really just did not have the time to write or record anything, you know when life just really gets in the way sometimes but I will be back next week. Have a great one :D