Personal Planner - The Diary with Multiple Personalities and Personalisation - plus discount code!

Dear Scribblers

If you've been following me on Instagram - @thecraftyscribe, you'll know that I've been using an A5 planner from Personal Planner. I've found this to be invaluable as my desk diary, as the pages are clean, crisp and of high quality. There's plenty of space, with the ability to use it in a way that works for you.

Personal Planner is an on-line company, which allows you to... well, do what their name implies! You can design a planner according to your own specifications from a wide range of options. There are four sizes to choose from, and you can decide exactly the month when you want it to start. Want it to run from June 2015 - May 2016? That's cool! How about September 2015 - August 2016? That's fine, too. More traditional, and you need your planner to do a full year of 2016? That's up to you. Any 12 month period can be chosen. Plus, they deliver worldwide!

1. This is an overview of my planner. Although Personal Planner offers a number of different cover colours and designs, I made my own, using favourite photos, in an Apple Mac app called Collage Factory, and then uploaded the images to Personal Planner. If it's just a single photo you want, you can upload it directly from your computer, or if you have an Instagram account, Personal Planner offer a function to import your favourite photos to create a collage directly on their website. It can't be simpler than that! (You can also choose the colour of elastic for the the closure.)

2. The planner offers the opportunity to add a yearly view over 4 pages - either a single year or two years, e.g: 2015 or 2016 or 2015/2016 or 2016/2017. Plus, an added bonus, you can add personal dates, such as: birthdays and anniversaries, which appear on both the yearly overview and the weekly planner pages.

3. There's a front page for your contact details, and any message you want to add. I included one of my favourite quotes taken from The Desiderata by Max Ehrmann.

4. Then there's the main pages. Personal Planner only offer a weekly view, but this is where the limitation ends! Everything can be personalised from the top colour bar, to the layout (column format, as shown here, and a number of box formats) which can be lined, unlined, shaded one of a number of colours, add an hours-at-work box, exercise workout info, or like me, the weather. Then there's three sections below the daily section, which can be selected as graph, musical score, to-dos, ideas, exams, lists, dinners...

5 and 6. After the calendar pages, you can decide how you want the rest of the planner to look. I have lined and graph papers, along with a contact/address list. Yes, you can input all of your personal contacts and important numbers, and the planner will come to you with it all printed in, and ready to use. If you have quite a few contacts you want added, it can take some time to type it all in, as the database is a little fiddly to use, but once you get the hang of it, it's fine. There's also blank pages, sheet music, sudoku, maps and even colouring pages available to choose from.

If you're a teacher, you'll love the options of the specially designed sections for preschool, primary and subject 1 to 4 classes.

screen shot from http://www.personal-planner.co.uk

You really do need to click onto the 'START HERE' button on the website, and play around with all the options available, to see the full extent of how you can personalise your planner. It's addictive! Oh, and did I mention that there's notebooks available too? ;)

I'm enjoying using my planner. I write everything in it from appointments, daily timetables and to-dos, ideas, record of Instagram uploads, quick reminder notes, and in the notebook section: quotes, long term goals, poems and story ideas. I occasionally play with 'pretty planning' decoration, with stickers and wash-tape, but most of the time. It's just full of my scribbles. The pages have been designed so well, that they are already lovely to look at to begin with.

Are you excited about designing your own planner with Personal Planner? Here's something to help you along the way. Personal Planner has been kind enough to offer a 15% discount code for you to use against your planner or notebook. Please go to http://www.personal-planner.co.uk and use the code: D-BMJQ-SQFJ to obtain your 15% discount. This offer expires on Sunday 3rd May 2015.

Happy Scribing! 

(In my next blog post, I'll show you how I turned my Personal Planner into the inserts for my A5 red Cuban Filofax organiser.)

Instant Murmurings from Instagram - an explanation and Èccolo World Traveler Journal

Dear Scribblers, 

A confession. 

I haven't been very active on my blog for many months. You've probably noticed, haven't you? I know. I know. I promised that I was going to post soon, and come along with a brand new spanking look. Once again, I haven't. **Hangs Head In Shame** 

However, I have been very active over on Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/TheCraftyScribe

In fact, I've been using that as a mini-blog, putting up all sorts of photos, and explaining and reviewing products, and generally, having a good old muse. 

Do, I've decided that I'm going to add some of my favourite photos on here, along with a comment or two, which may be the same as you'll find on Instagram, or may be expanded on here to give an in depth look. So, here goes:

Èccolo World Traveler Journal

I can't wait to start writing in this gorgeous A5 tomato red journal. It has cream lined pages and ribbon page marker. I also love the internal gold chevron liner pages. Bought it from TK Maxx for £6.99. A bargain!  

I always adore the quality of Èccolo notebooks, and this one, once again, doesn't disappoint. If you'd like to see photos of the pages, please let me know. 

Happy Scribing!

Apple Accessories, Etc, Et Al and even more!

Dear Scribblers 

Yesterday I posted an updated look of my Apple technology.

Here's my iPad and 11inch MacBook Air. If you'd like to read more, please link on this link: http://thecraftyscribe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-byte-sized-look-at-my-apples.html

Today, I'd like to show you some of the products that support the main tech. Here's a picture of some of it - 

Starting with clockwise with the top left-hand corner is my latest arrival - Canon Selphy. From what I've seen of it, up to this point, I'm very pleased with the quality and function. It's wi-fi compatible, plus with the free Canon iEPP app, you can print directly from the iPhone/iPad. When not in use, I store it in an old black quilted hard vanity case, you can see beneath the printer. It fits not only the printer and leads, but also a box of photo sheets and the instruction booklet. I've two niggles with the Selphy. You can't choose the multiple photo on one sheet function from the devices, nor can I use this an additional functions such as calendars/frames that came in the programme on the enclosed cd, as Canon is no longer supporting it for use on Apple OS X Macericks. Very disappointing! On contacting Canon, they offered a different product, but this has very limited functionality. The only way to use their multi-picture is to use the SD slot on the front. Has anyone else encountered this? What are you using instead? I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

My main printer, not pictured, is also a Canon - MG3150 which I've never had any problems with. As well as being wi-fi compatible, it's also AirPrint which is perfect for using with my Apple devices. 

Next across on my photo, sitting on the Lulu Guinness iPad cover, is what looks like a black ribbed brick! It's actually a Polaroid Bluetooth Speaker (model number BT20), it's sold via Asda supermarkets and only cost £20, but it certainly packs a bunch! Once fully charged, the unit's internal rechargeable batteries last a good while, so you can be wire-free and listen to your music or podcasts, it sounds as good with music or voice, and also has a phone hands-free function, too. It works well with my iPhone and iPad. Even though it's designed to be wire free, you can use it when it's plugged in, plus there's an AUX in port, if you want to use it with a non-Bluetooth device. I've had it for well over a year, and use it almost everyday and it's still going strong. My hubby has a Jawbone Jambox mini which cost £75, and although mine doesn't have quite the depth of bass and pure audio, it certainly gives it a run for its money! 

Next round are my headphones of choice - JVC flats, they are compact with pivoting soft pad earpieces that lie flat and are easy to store. They are very comfortable and I like the clear sound quality. I'm not keen on the in-ear buds for long use, but I will use my standard Apple ones, if I need them out for taking calls, etc. However, at home; in the garden or bed, or if I'm listening for a length of time, such as on a plane, I'll always prefer my JVC ones. Interestingly, I've tried many pairs, including the expensive noise-cancelling type, or fine tuned base, and call me uncultured, but I love these. The price? £12!

Below my headphones is my slick little silver DVD/CD drive - Hewlett-Packard model DVD600s which cost about £35. It's a perfect size for use with the MacBook Air, and the colour matches too! When not in use, it lives in a net-a-porter.com black pouch! This then slides into the repurposed clutch with the laptop. (See yesterday's blog post.)

Next to it is an one stalwart of my arsenal of tech gear. My Polaroid PoGo printer, this has had so much use, and still printing! I love the 3x2 sticky-backed photos it prints, perfect for scrapbooking, journalling, smashbooking and Project Life. Unfortunately, it seems that the zink papers are getting harder to find and more expensive too, so it may be at the end of its life, although it's been a workhorse. The only issue was you couldn't print directly from the iPhone, the Bluetooth wasn't compatible, so I'd upload the photos to my Mac via Dropbox and then Bluetooth then to the PoGo. It wasn't too much of a hassle for such useful photos. 

The PoGo is sitting on top of a glossy black monolith that is my 1TB external hard drive. I keep this in my desk, and every month back up my computer using Timeline, plus I move photos and files across. This isn't my only backup, we have a wireless system across all our devices which holds much more than this. My monolith (I call it that as it reminds me of the one from 2001: A Space Odyssey) is for my personal use. 

Next around the circle is my Samsung WB750 compact camera. It's a few years old now and had a lot of use. It's 12.5 mega pixels, takes sharp images, 24 - 432mm equivalent Schneider-KREUZNACH len, full HD video and clear 3 inch screen with easy to use controls. What I don't like about it is that the sound quality on video is quite poor and it hasn't got a proper viewfinder for those times when the screen is difficult to see. I really dislike holding the camera out in front of me, I prefer to have my eye up close. It wasn't something I realised until I had this camera. What about you? What I adore about this camera is it's incredible functionality and it's full manual use. Very impressive!

I'm going to continue using this camera, but I'm now ready for something better. I've had SLRs in the past - both film and digital, preferring Nikon. I don't know whether to go back to SLRs or try a bridge camera, as you don't need to faff with changing lenses, although for the purist professional, the image quality isn't as good. What are your suggestions? I'd love to hear from you. 

Above the camera is a retro grey and black vinyl case I bought from Paperchase in a sale for around £3.50. Bargain! A perfect fit. 

Last, but not least is my Kobo e-reader which I've now had for about two and a half years. I adore it, and have written about it before on this blog - here's the link: http://thecraftyscribe.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/i-love-my-kobo.html?m=0 I still feel the same about it now, as I did then. I've considered moving over to Kindle, as they dominate the market and have lower prices on some books, but I prefer the functions of the Kobo, and it's vast array of file formats that work with it. It works as well now as it did when new, taking all the new upgrades with ease. Plus, have you seen the back of the Kobo touch? - http://www.kobo.com/kobotouch#overview  It reminds me of my favourite designer... which is fortuitous as...

Lying to the left of the Kobo is the leather case I use for it. It's a vintage Chanel clutch cover which I've had since the mid/late 1990s. It was a present and came to me second-hand. I think it was either a late 1980s or early 1990s piece, and was my first Chanel (non beauty) item. I love it. The Kobo fits it well, and it means I get to see and use the case everyday. 

So that's all the pieces in the photo. Not shown are the SD card reader; (which I think most people known what they look like,) I use these to download pictures to the computer, but also to upload onto for either printing directly and separately on the Selphy, or taking to a photo printing machine in a supermarket or store (which I don't do very often), or my USB drives; for quick short term storage or transfer between computers, or finally, my digital pen, which you can read about here - http://thecraftyscribe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/popular-pens-for-particular-purpose-3.html

There's other devices in the house, such as the AppleTV, plus my hubby's tech stuff. Yes, we are both gadget geeks. What I've shown you here are my personal use tech. I hope you've enjoyed reading about it. If you can think of anything I'm missing, or would like to share your favourites, please add your comment below. 

My next post with be all things stationery, showing you some of my favourite items I'm using in my journals, Filofax, smashbooking and daily scrapbooking. 

When I upload a new blog post, I always announce it on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow me @TheCraftyScribe so you're first to hear and don't miss out. I hope you'll join me soon. 

Happy Scribing!

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any company mentioned in this post. I do not receive any products, funding or gifting from these businesses. All products shown have been bought by me, or gifts from family or friends. I mention the items because I like them or have my own private opinion about them. It's just little old me talking about ma stuff! ;-)

2. If you would like to see more of anything in this series, please write a comment below, or 'like' and leave a comment by my 'Apple Accessories, Etc Et Al and even more!' Instagram photo, letting me know what you would like me to post photos and write about. 

3. If you like what you read, don't forget to bookmark this site, and please share it with your friends. 

4. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram - @TheCraftyScribe which I update regularly with all things crafty, scribbling, beauty, fashion, the cats, sci-fi, fantasy, and the ephemera of 42*................... *42 = Life, The Universe and Everything!

A Byte Sized Look at My Apples!

Dear Scribblers

Way back in July 2011, I uploaded this post: http://thecraftyscribe.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/my-favourite-things-part-5-and-project.html

called, "There's an Appealing Apple Aparatus for that!" My titles haven't changed, have they? They may not be funny, but often punny (or should that be puny!)

I felt it was time to show you my latest Apple tech, along with those cases and gadgets that I use along side them. 

This are my Apple collection now:

You'll probably notice that I still have my original iPod Classic, which I use as storage, and the iPod Touch which lives in its dock on my Gear4 bedside alarm clock. I update it with my latest music, podcasts and keep all of my audiobooks on there, so they are always close to hand. 

As you can see - although it does look like a shiny slab in the photo. Please see better pics below - my 13 inch white MacBook was replaced in November by a gorgeous new 11in MacBook Air. Oh my goodness, I adore the speedy 251GB flash drive, and I have 8GB memory, 2GHz Intel Core i7 running Mavericks. Quite meaty for such a svelt machine. The white MacBook is still going by the way, although the casings in chipping around the front edge and it's only running "Lion". My hubby has taken use of it. 

The iPhone 3GS was replaced my iPhone 5, and the one improvement I adore is the upgraded camera. Great for my Instagram photos. Please follow me @TheCraftyScribe, I try and post everyday. 

Plus added to my gadget collection is an iPad 2 - it's quite old now. Although it is taking all the new programme updates, I'm noticing it is slowing now and feeling clunky, but I'm still happy with it. I've recently had a new back cover for it. 

I found it in the sale items at Next for £5. A bargain! The colour doesn't show well on this photo, it's a beige/grey background with white, taupe and two tones of rusty red typewriters - quite subtle vintage shades. I thought it when well with my Lulu Guinness padded cover and pencil case. (Strange colours on the covers, too. The main one is white, but the smaller pencil case is light cream, but not as yellow as it's appearing.)

The cover I'm using with my MacBook Air was also a bargain. 

It's a black/blue/cream clutch bag I snapped up in a sale at New Look... for £4! I bought it in the off chance that it might fit, I liked it anyway and thought if it didn't, I would use it as a clutch. When I tried it, I couldn't believe it, it was like it was made for it! 

The laptop slides in perfectly, so safe and secure, plus there's room for a separate hard drive and SD card reader (more on that tomorrow) and a small zip pocket on the front for holding USB drives and SD cards, plus a larger flap pocket for leads, although there's no room for the power supply. 

I'm considering buying a snap-on cover to protect the aluminium case. I wonder what your experiences are of these? Are there any you would recommend?

You'll see from the photo, my iPhone is in the black quilted wallet style case. I prefer a case that protects the screen, as well as the back, and I like the sleek chic look of this one. 

As promised above, here's a better view of the MacBook Air - 

Do you recognise the pen lying on the iPad? It's the Ted Baker stylus pen, as seen in my previous blog series, "Popular Pens for Particular Purpose" http://thecraftyscribe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/popular-pens-for-particular-purpose.html

Please come back tomorrow to see all the gadgets which I use to support my Apple core products. (Apple?!? Core!! Geddit? Geddit?!? Oh, well! I think I need to watch where I drop my puns.) ;-)

Happy Scribing!

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any company mentioned in this post. I do not receive any products, funding or gifting from these businesses. All products shown have been bought by me, or gifts from family or friends. I mention the items because I like them or have my own private opinion about them. It's just little old me talking about ma stuff! ;-)

2. If you would like to see more of anything in this series, please write a comment below, or 'like' and leave a comment by my 'A Byte Sized Look at My Apples' Instagram photo, letting me know what you would like me to post photos and write about. 

3. If you like what you read, don't forget to bookmark this site, and please share it with your friends. 

4. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram - @TheCraftyScribe which I update regularly with all things crafty, scribbling, beauty, fashion, the cats, sci-fi, fantasy, and the ephemera of 42*................... *42 = Life, The Universe and Everything!

Popular Pens for Particular Purpose (Plus Personal, Peculiar and Playful Picks ) - Photo Playback inc: new note & new pics

Dear Scribblers

I thought I would post all the photos from my Popular Pens for Particular Purpose (Plus Personal, Peculiar and Playful Picks) series in one place so you can see all my favourite pens in one place. There's a new note and an extra picture along the way. As an extra treat, if you read all the way to the bottom, there's a further new photo I didn't post about my other pens. 

My older Balmain set, and my everyday Uni-ball gel pen for use in my Filofax. 

My other Filofax pen, Ted Baker stylus pen.

The Stylus Pen in use. 

Smythson wafer diary and  matching ladies pen.

Smythson jotter and silver pen. Additional note, that I didn't mention in my previous post: This leather jotter was a special release for Concorde! I remembered the pen did come with the cover, and has Concorde logo engraved on it. 

My favourite journal pens, which are also my oldest (black and white) and newest (Balmain - duck egg blue.)

My Chanel pencil case, general pens and stationery, plus the digital pen wallet. 

IRISNotes2 Executive digital pen. 

Bargain Asda supermarket notebook and file organiser, with colour ink and gel pens. 

New mini 'Passport' notebook with hotel freebies, promotional, memorable and sci-fi fantasy pens. 

Close-up of my Harry Potter, Doctor Who and Star Trek pens. 

Here's the photo I haven't posted before, in my previous post, I wrote: I have further pens and pencils in my collection which are important and I use regularly in crafting, such as: charcoal drawing pencils, a variety of Sakura gelly roll pens, Whispers Strokes and Permanents coloured double ended felt tips, and various coloured drawing and watercolour pencils. I thought you might like to see some of them. 

I hope you've enjoyed this series. I'll be back soon to show you some of my favourite stationery extras, along with those technology ephemera that's used along side my photo, iPad and computer. 

Enjoy writing and crafting wherever you are!

Happy Scribing!

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any company mentioned in this post. I do not receive any products, funding or gifting from these businesses. All products shown have been bought by me, or gifts from family or friends. I mention the items because I like them or have my own private opinion about them. It's just little old me talking about ma stuff! ;-)

2. If you would like to see more of anything in this series, please write a comment below, or 'like' and leave a comment by my 'Popular Pens' Instagram photo, letting me know what you would like me to post photos and write about. 

3. If you like what you read, don't forget to bookmark this site, and please share it with your friends. 

4. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram - @TheCraftyScribe which I update regularly with all things crafty, scribbling, beauty, fashion, the cats, sci-fi, fantasy, and the ephemera of 42*................... *42 = Life, The Universe and Everything!

Popular Pens for Particular Purpose - 4 of 4 Useful Others, Fond Memories, Colour and Beyond!

Dear Scribblers

Welcome to the last day of Popular Pens for Particular Purpose (Plus Personal, Peculiar and Playful Picks ) focusing on my favourite pens and their uses.

1. My Old Favourites and Regularly Used

2. My Smythson Pens

3. Hidden in my Pencil Case - the Expected and Digital Unexpected

4. Useful Others, Fond Memories, Colour and Beyond!

Other pens I reach for are my coloured gel pens and felt tip style.

The ones shown here are: Crayola Super Fine Pro writing pens in blue, green and red, and Crayola Pro 0.7 liquid ink rollers in red and blue. Along with Bic Z4 0.7 gel pens in blue and purple. These are the ones I tend to reach for to add definition to a note, list or diary entry in my Filofax or journal, or to add detail or write on a card, scrapbook or smashbook page. I most often write in black, and add detail in colour. The pens are lying on a fabulous find from Asda. A cream lined page notebook and slotted concertina file in this great vintage seaside print. Details on the back say they are made by www.dggl-products.com A stylish bargain (less than £3 each) from a supermarket! 

Here's another new notebook: 

This time from one of my favourite stores already mentioned in this post - TK Maxx. On the front it reads: Passport - New York City, and my goodness, it really feels like an old passport! Same size, weight and even the cover has that rippled strong texture to it. If you ever owned a British passport before they changed them to the EU burgundy sort, you'll know exactly what I mean! This is so cute! The pages are a pale pink and lightly printed with the Statue of Liberty, and the first two pages are printed like a real passport for you to add a photo and your details. All for £3! It's a great journal, especially for travelling. We have a number of trips organised, and already been on, this year, but I've already started a book for that (which I'll post here, if you would like to see it.) However, we may also be going to New York at the end of the year - fingers crossed - if we do, this will be perfect! If not, I'll keep it for our journeys next year. 

So back to our main topic, the all-important pens on top! These are the personal, peculiar and playful picks, I mentioned, in the title. Sometimes a pen comes your way that writes so well and it's free - well, sort of. It often has a room attached! I've found some great pens on our travels in hotel rooms. The ones lying around the notebook cover all came from hotels, and they all write really well. Not all freebie pens are good quality, but these are, and I gladly use them as every day pens that lie in apt places around the house, car or handbags. I never look a gift pen in the nib, but they are always worth a click and scribble to find out. One of my best flowing ball points came from a hotel and I use it to write every thing from lists to story first drafts. It's the one lying on the book, now I just need an excuse, plus a humongous pile of pennies to get back to Hawaii! 

The top picture of the two smaller photos shows those writing instruments which have meaning to me, and even though they are cheap and cheerful, I'll never throw them away. The two smiley pens were free from a company stand at the first screenwriting convention I went to in Los Angeles, and the camera pen was bought, on the same trip, from a shop opposite the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood Boulevard (where the Oscars are held.) The dragon pencil is Figment from the Journey into Imagination ride at Epcot, Florida - bought over 18 years ago. There's another pen in the main title above which is another cute choice - 'I Love Amsterdam' with a plastic red heart dangle bought from Schiphol airport. Very silly, but we were there for my hubby's birthday and it was a brilliant time. When I see this fun pen, I'll remember the fab times we had. 

The lower picture shows my other loves - Sci-fi and fantasy! There's a Doctor Who pen I received free with a magazine a number of years ago, along with my ninth doctor Sonic screwdriver, as well as being a working pen, it makes all the right noises and lights up blue - which when you use the UV tip to write secret messages - the light allows you to read them. It's magic! 

Talking of magic, in the main picture, you'll also see a little white owl by the name of Hedwig! It's my Harry Potter pen. Hedwig covers the nib, and when you write he sits on the other end watching as you scribe your Owl Post letters. There's also a switch which turns the nib into a torch so you can continue to write in the dark! Lumos! 

I found another light up pen, my red glowing Star Trek: The Next Generation pen bought at the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton, Las Vegas. Unfortunately the attraction containing memorabilia museum, behind the scenes sets, Klingon and Borg simulation rides and Quarks bar no longer exists, but I have my pen! (Although there is Star Trek: The Experience. More can be found here:  or via this OS app: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/star-trek-the-exhibition/id663233661?mt=8

I may be grown up, but it doesn't mean I'm a Grown-Up! ;-)

I have further pens and pencils in my collection which are important and I use regularly in crafting, such as: charcoal drawing pencils, a variety of Sakura gelly roll pens, Whispers Strokes and Permanents coloured double ended felt tips, and various coloured drawing and watercolour pencils. 

I'm sure many crafters and writers have a love of pens, and have their favourites. I've shown you some of mine here, and I'd love to hear about yours. Please leave your comments below, especially if you have any recommendations. 

I've been writing in black for such a long while I've been thinking of choosing a different colour. Does anyone have a signature colour in which they write. It would be great to see if we can make a rainbow of writers. I wonder what colour I'll chose? Mmmmm... can you buy ink cartridges the colour of Chanel Vamp nail polish? That's the shade of deoxygenated blood, apparently!

I hope you've enjoyed this delve into my pencil case and more. I have other cases, along with other pens, this was a tickle along my favourites. Once I've reorganised my Filofax and Chanel case, I'll post the changes. 

So what's next? Maybe a review of my recent writing course, along with an in depth look at my latest technology and the accessories I use with them. I'll always post a picture on Instagram, and a Twitter comment, letting you know when there's new content. 

If there is anything you'd like to see, please let me know. 

Happy Scribing!

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any company mentioned in this post. I do not receive any products, funding or gifting from these businesses. All products shown have been bought by me, or gifts from family or friends. I mention the items because I like them or have my own private opinion about them. It's just little old me talking about ma stuff! ;-)

2. If you would like to see more of anything in this series, please write a comment below, or 'like' and leave a comment by my 'Popular Pens' Instagram photo, letting me know what you would like me to post photos and write about. 

3. If you like what you read, don't forget to bookmark this site, and please share it with your friends. 

4. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram - @TheCraftyScribe which I update regularly with all things crafty, scribbling, beauty, fashion, the cats, sci-fi, fantasy, and the ephemera of 42*................... *42 = Life, The Universe and Everything!

Popular Pens for Particular Purpose - 3 of 4 Hidden in my Pencil Case - the Expected and Digital Unexpected

Dear Scribblers

This is my companion series to the 'Notable Notebooks' series. Here's day three of four! Popular Pens for Particular Purpose (Plus Personal, Peculiar and Playful Picks ) focusing on the pens I use, and the tasks they perform.

1. My Old Favourites and Regularly Used

2. My Smythson Pens

3. Hidden in my Pencil Case - the Expected and Digital Unexpected

4. Useful Others, Fond Memories, Colour and Beyond!

My older every day pens and other stationery pieces live in here:

It's a Chanel cosmetic case that came with a set of makeup brushes, and it works perfectly as pencil case. The brush slots are used for some of the pens I want for quick reach, including my Balmain set, some coloured gel pens, a multicoloured ball point, a propelling pencil and a feather!*   (*See below!)                               

The pocket holds my fountain pen cartridges, a ruler, Doctor Who eraser and pencil sharper and an old Smythson diary from 2009 which holds some story ideas and other notes I may need, along with some blank pages which I want to write on. There's often washi tape or stickers or mini ink pads and stamps in here, but it's pared back at the moment as I'm reorganising. I'll post again once I've finalised my Filofax and case. 

Lying in the centre of the case is the little black 'glasses case style' pouch  which holds a secret weapon. My IRISNotes 2 Executive digital pen:

This simple ball point pen hides a great function. When you link it to the tiny receiver, which you clip to the top of any paper and write, it captures your hand-writing, which you can then upload to your PC or Mac. You can either keep your writing as it looks, or process it to computer font which you can then transfer into your normal word processing app. I use it with my MacBook Air using OS X Mavericks pasting my writing into Pages and Scrivener and it works seemlessly. I've also used it with OS X Lion and it worked just as well. It's incredible! 

There's also features which allow you to use the pen as a mouse (you change the standard ink refill for a special tip which is included.) Plus there's a 30-pin connector lead which allows you to use the pen with an older iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch via a free app. I'm not sure if you connected the lead to an adapter whether it would work on a newer device. I don't know as my iPad is an older 30-pin version. If you have the pen and tried it on a newer device, please let me know if it still works, I'd love to know. I have an iPhone 5, but never use the pen with it as I think it works better on a larger screen. I hope I've explained this okay, however if you want to learn more about the pen, here's the website: 

http://www.irislink.com/c2-2353-188/IRISNotes-2---Digital-Pen.aspx

I hope you'll return tomorrow for the last part, to see those Personal, Peculiar and Playful Picks in 4: Useful Others, Fond Memories, Colour... and Beyond!

Happy Scribing!

*By the way, the feather in my pencil case... One day, I was writing in the garden. I had my head down, then all of a waft, this white feather drifted down and landed on my page. I think it was a gift from the angels, so I keep it in my pencil case for good luck, inspiration and positivity. Well, that's what I think anyway! ;-)

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any company mentioned in this post. I do not receive any products, funding or gifting from these businesses. All products shown have been bought by me, or gifts from family or friends. I mention the items because I like them or have my own private opinion about them. It's just little old me talking about ma stuff! ;-)

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