Filofax Deco

The Deco is rich with color. Here it is in Ruby, Ivory, and Amethyst. I believe it also came in Ebony, but I haven't come across one in that color. They're made from Italian calf leather and are lined inside with cream suede. They are stunning to me.

The clasp reminds me of the lock-and-key diaries I had as a young girl, so I inserted some lovely journaling cards and keep them on my side table.

Sharing Common Interests

One of the reasons why I enjoy collecting Filofax planners is the opportunity I've had to interact with people in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the States. The planners that I've received have been posted from Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, planners have arrived from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. I've found everyone to be so courteous and gracious. Many packages include hand-written notes and small tokens of friendship.

We post messages on Facebook groups to encourage each other and offer ideas in our everyday lives. Many share wonderful videos, blogs, and photos. I'm thankful for this community of people who make the world seem smaller and who I'm able to share common interests.

Favorite Personals in Black

These are my favorite personal Filofax planners in black (in order of the picture):

          Amazona

          Balmoral

          Belmont

          Cavendish

          Dundee

          Finchley

          Guildford

The Balmoral is my favorite personal in black.  It's in new condition and, for whatever reason, the seller didn't mention that it has a full length pocket along the width of the planner.  These wallet-type pockets usually only come on the pocket and mini size Balmorals.  I've seen pictures of these two times on A5 sizes, but never on a personal size.  I was happily surprised when it arrived in the mail and am very lucky to have this one in my collection!

The Belmont has the loveliest leather of them all!  Smooth and luxurious, and still smells wonderful!

The Cavendish is special because it has 30 mm rings!  It is often sought after for the larger rings because, with few exceptions, personal size Filofax planners come with 23 mm rings.

The Dundee was made in the USA.

The Finchley was borrowed from my Finchley collection.

I'm hoping to add to my personal black collection, but trying to choose them intentionally rather than on impulse.

UPDATE:  In November 2013, I added a Buckingham in black.
UPDATE:  In April 2014, I added a Savannah in black

Amazona Collection

Here's my Filofax Amazona collection in pocket size.  They are brown, almond, red, and black.  These gorgeous planners traveled from the Netherlands, New York, and Sweden.  Thanks to Judith, Marianna, Susanne, and Ling!

I absolutely love the richness of the colors, the crocodile texture of the leather, and the inner layout.  They each have the full width bill pocket, three credit card slots and a secretarial flap on the left inside, and a zipper compartment and pen loop on the right inside.  My favorite is the red.

These Amazonas are definite keepers!

Finchley Collection

My collection of Filofax Finchleys:

Chocolate 

Imperial Purple 

Black

Caramel

Red

Teal 

Vintage Rose 

Soft Jade 

Mustard

The Teal Finchley in personal size was my first ever Filofax. It started my journey to find one in each color. At first, I would only consider the personal size but they are hard to find, especially in the Imperial Purple, Soft Jade, and Mustard colors. 

Then, one day I questioned myself why they all had to be in the personal size. The only answer was for uniformity. I'm a very linear thinker and so I decided to challenge myself to be more creative and think outside of the box. Slowly, the colors came together in adding A5 and pocket sizes. I found that this rainbow of colors in different sizes was better than I had imagined. I'm really happy and fortunate to have this collection. 

Funny thing...along the way, I somehow purchased two of the same color/size so I'll need to re-home one of them in the near future.  I think the reasoning was to swap it for a color I didn't already have in my collection.

Random Start

Hello. 

I've wanted to begin a blog for quite some time now, but I kept getting frustrated with my inexperience and indecisiveness.  That's gotten me nowhere except stalled. I finally told myself that I would have to jump in with both feet and end my search for perfection. So, this morning, I chose a random blog name ('this silly bee') and I played around with the template settings (honeycomb).  I'm happy with the whimsical feel of the blog, which is important since I'll hopefully be logging in fairly often.

First hurdle cleared!