Exercising my right brain

Okay, I'm a techie. I do coding work at least 40 hours a week, read some techie books, read techie blog posts and learn from tutorial vids during my free time. I try to squeeze in exercise at least 30 minutes everyday, but I'm guilty of not exercising my right brain.

I remember back in the days of a student, there were not much gadgets back then. No smartphones, no laptops. I didn't come from a well-off family so those were not the things that made me happy. I took more enjoyment doing stuff that required manual work. I loved hanging out at National Book Store to grab a cheap yet cute and functional mini notebook and a fancy little pen that inspires me when writing. Yep, that was me. Where did that girl go?

Who am I now? I have switched my life to an Apple centric, but I keep one Android phone, my beloved HTC One. I rely on Google Calendar, Trello, Evernote, Pocket for my life organization and it works well. I've setup a functional set of reminders using my fitness tracker(s): VivoSmart and Jawbone UP 3. Seamless, huh? Well, yeah. I was a bit taken aback by the thought of how much trees are wasted everyday because of overproduction of paper materials. On top of that, I was a victim of Ondoy way back in 2009 and I have since, turned my gaze away from paper.

This year, I have another chance to taste the sweetness and excitement of paper. Of crafting and designing the things that I want, that I look forward to. Enter my new custom filofax.

My sisters were more inclined to creativity than I was, so I guess I was always the one who exercised utilitarianism most of the time. Like, collect bags only because of the functions I have assigned to them. Buy clothes only for the sake of having something to change into everyday, and special clothes for special occasions. Right.

When I joined instagram recently, I have followed some crafting stores and stumbled upon one cute little filofax like notebook. I have also taken a particular liking for adult coloring books, so I got myself a Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom coloring book (you can get one from Fully Booked).

Here's what I have finished so far:

So, I have decided to take more control of the details of my life and not just leave it all to the digital options I have been using to keep myself updated all the time. In fact, I'm loving it that my fingers aren't entirely suffering from my RSI because now, I can de-stress them by coloring or manually writing! :D

I have gathered a bunch of items from different shops, and I'll be getting them this week, but for now, I have decided to make my own planner charm! It's fun.. and I'm new to this, but I'm enjoying it!

I gathered some old, broken or often unused pieces of accessories. Then, I picked those that appealed to me because they have meaning and some representation of ME.

Here's the final outcome:

The one with the leaf was a boho hair clip from Mimabel's Charms as seen here:

The love word charm was from a necklace I bought from NicWhims as seen here:

The colorful heart was a pendant, a gift from a good friend, TinTin <3 and; lastly, the glittery cat was a dust plug for my phone

And here's one last look of my planner charm:

All done. I hope you'll find inspiration to also touch into the creativity that we all have deep inside of ourselves. Some love calligraphy, while I.. I just love doing whatever that is that makes me happy. This time, it's all about planners and filofaxing! :D

Soon, I'll be posting my planner tour. Stay tuned!

Happy Sunday!

Banner image borrowed from: http://vulcanpost.com