The Papayat Ka Rin At Dudurugin Sila Planner 2016

I don't really need another planner -- I'm pretty much set for 2016 -- but I had to get this one because it's just hilarious! It's the Papayat Ka Rin At Dudurugin Sila 2016 Planner by Tita Witty aka Witty Will Save the World. I have their slumbook (called Akala Mo Lang Wala Nang Slumbook Pero Meron Meron Meron) and I love it. I still make my friends sign it after all these years, and people just have a lot of fun signing it. I figured, if the slumbook was hilarious, this would be too. Well I wasn't disappointed! I don't really intend to use this as a planner. I'm treating it as an activity book of sorts that I can pull out when I need a laugh. Here's what's inside:

  

The Erin Condren Life Planner: My 2016 Life Planner

Now that we're in the last month of 2015, it's time to talk about planners for 2016. It has been a year of planner love for me, and I'm still obsessed. I try to keep it practical though. I want so many -- Kikki K, Kate Spade, Filofax, Rifle Paper Co, the Happy Planner -- it's ridiculous how many cool planners are out there. However, I can't stand not using a planner for an entire year, and I just can't think of collecting planners and never using them. That's why over the past month I thought long and hard about what worked for me and what didn't work during the past year, and I had to pin down exactly what I want to use for next year. I decided that I will be using three like I did this year -- one for work, one as my journal, and one as my life planner. [Check out these posts -- Midori Traveler's Notebook: My Life Planner + My 2015 Journal and Work Planner.] Next year, it will only be slightly different. I'm merging my life planner and journal, then using a separate work planner like always, and I'm starting a separate creative pursuits planner.  

Let's start with my life planner for 2016, the Erin Condren Life Planner. I've been using my Midori Traveler's Notebook this entire year and I still love it to bits, but I felt like I needed more space. Next year, it will be my planner for all my creative projects, but for everyday things, I'm moving to the ECLP. I've been wanting this planner forever actually, but it's pretty pricey, and for the longest time I kept holding off on buying it. Then I told my friend Clang about it, she loved it, and we thought we could save a lot on shipping if we order together. When we checked the website back in November, we saw that the limited edition rose gold planner was back just in time for the new year. When it first came out several months ago, I let it slip by even if I was so tempted to get it, because I still had my planners for the year and I didn't want an 18-month planner. The holiday release sealed the deal. I wasn't going to let it go again. 

Life Update and First Home Project

Hi! I'm Jullienne and I used to blog around here. I know my last post was back when summer just ended, and now it's December and the year has flown by. I kept meaning to make a hiatus post or something, but I somehow just didn't end up doing it. It is what it is -- but like always, I have a good excuse!

The reason why I've been missing in action is because we moved! Life has been a whirlwind of boxes and to-do lists -- among other things -- since we left our rickety old apartment back in July, and between that and work stress, I didn't have the energy to blog. I haven't been reading other blogs either (sorry about that). I wanted to wait until we were settled, and to be honest, we're not even 100% there yet. We're most probably at the 75% point currently.

The Sugar Cube

Beauty Loot: Bringing Back Summer

It's July, and we've had a bit of rain here and there, which means that the rainy season is just around the corner. We haven't seen a single storm though (thank goodness), and I'm actually still in denial that summer is pretty much over. In fact, I'm so in denial that I'm actually using a couple of very summery products right now. I found them recently, and I adore them so much I use them everyday.

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - What's In My Kipling 100 Pens Case

My pen collection has grown considerably lately, what with all the scrapbooking and planner stuff I've been doing. I heard about the Kipling 100 Pens Case, which is well-loved by the creative community and immediately thought -- that is so perfect! As it turned out, I know someone who works at Kipling, and she was a huge help in helping me get it. [Thanks Ate Millet!] It's not available locally, so it had to be sourced from Hong Kong. I got it a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy with it.

The Kipling 100 Pens Case is, as its name says, a case that can fit 100 pens. I love that it's so roomy, and not only do I store my pens in it, but it also holds the tools that I use most often. Here's a peek into what's inside. 

Beauty Loot: Mini Makeup Haul from the UK

Hey friends! This is a quick post to talk about some very cool makeup from the UK that I got recently. My friend Sheva went to Europe and I asked her to get me a few items that I've been wanting but aren't available here. I can't wait to try these! Here's the loot:

Purse Peek 041915

Last weekend, I noticed that my bag was surprisingly light. I was actually toting around a bunch of things I don't normally carry around with me. I had to do a lot of waiting that weekend (at the salon, at the dentist), so I made sure I had stuff to help me while away the time. Despite that though, my bag also turned out to be really pared down. I'm the kind of person who would put my entire house in my bag, so I thought my purse that particular day was worth documenting. Besides, I haven't done a "What's In My Bag?" post in over a year (last one as April last year). It's about time I posted one again.

What's in my black H&M bag?

Midori Traveler's Notebook - My 2015 Setup and How I Decorated It

Hi! I'm J and I'm a planner addict. Well no, not really. I'm just really obsessed with my planners, especially my life planner, the Midori Traveler's Notebook. In my last post, I talked about how I chose it as my life planner, and what I got for my initial kit. Now I'll be sharing my setup for this year, and how I decorated it.

Midori Traveler's Notebook: My Life Planner

If you haven't noticed, I've been planner-obsessed lately. I fell down the rabbit hole into the world of creative planning, and found a new hobby. It couldn't have happened at a perfect time. I've been feeling stressed, and planners have become one of my outlets. I actually have three right now: a journal, a work planner, and my life planner -- a Midori Traveler's Notebook. 

My 2015 Journal and Work Planner

In my post introducing my love of planners, I promised to post about the planners I'm using this year, so here it is. Last December, I somehow ended up getting enough stickers for both the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Giving Journal and the Starbucks Planner. I resolved to make good use of them both, and so far, I've been able to do that.

Beauty Loot: Drugstore Stuff I've Been Liking

Hey there! This is just a quick post (it seems a lot of my blog entries these days are "quick posts" heh) about new drugstore finds that I've been using and liking. I haven't been using these products a long time so I don't have much to say about them yet, but just consider this as a first impressions kind of thing. Here we go.

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - Sticker and Pen Storage

Hi! In my last post, I talked about rediscovering an old love of mine, the planner. I touched on the stickers and pens I use with it, so this time around, I decided to make a quick post about how I store my stickers and pens. Over the past months, my sticker and pen stash has grown, and until now, I've just been throwing all of it into a Muji bag along with my scrapbooking paraphernalia. The stickers got smooshed, and I had to rummage through the bag every time I needed a pen, so it eventually came to a point where I just had to get organized and find decent storage.

This is what I ended up with! 

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - The Start of Planner Love

2015 has been crazy so far, but luckily, I've been feeling crafty lately, and that's becoming a great outlet for me. I joined the wonderful world of Project Life (a type of scrapbooking), and I decorated my office cube (with a bunch of doughnuts). I'm surprised at how much fun I've been having!

My most recent creative activity has become a daily one. I've discovered the very stress-relieving art of planner-using! It's a new year, and that usually means I have a new planner, since December in the Philippines is all about collecting stickers for planners. I'm always in coffee shops so I never had any problems getting the coffee shop planners, and it has become kind of a tradition for me to get planners every year, ever since Starbucks started the whole planner thing. However, last year, it was the other way around. The planners ended up as an excuse to get coffee as a break from the office vending machine, which has become too familiar to me. As a result, I got both of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Starbucks planners. I've been using the Starbucks one as my work planner/notebook, while the CBTL one has become my daily life planner. I'll talk about that more in another post though.

Erasable Pilot Frixion pens from National Bookstore

For now, I want to share how I've been using my daily planner. Let me tell you, it has been such an outlet and a time management helper for me! I've always had paper planners and journals because I remember things better when I write them down. I've tried using my phone or my old HP travel companion as a planner, but that didn't work out. I need to write things down.

Beauty Loot: Lush Favorites + Holiday Releases

I said in my Stuff I've Been Using post that I was saving my recent Lush loot for another day. Well today is that day!

My love for Lush goes back to the early 2000s, which is a long time to like something. However, I never found out about Lush sales until Nikki of Forgivain told me about them. It seems that they almost always have something at 50% off. Now I'm on the lookout when I go to a Lush store. Here's my recent loot:

 Sorry I took this pic with my phone. I was too lazy to pull out my camera.

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - My Doughnut-themed Office Desk

The creative bug bit me pretty hard lately, and I've just been tinkering with a lot of things around me. A few months ago, I saw that my officemate's desk (I don't know her name) had a silver and white theme, and felt inspired to decorate my own desk. These are pics of my first cube at my fairly new workplace. I've since moved, but the decor is still the same. 

 Doughnuts!

Beauty Barrage: Manicure Monday - Melon Polish

I can't believe I haven't done a Manicure Monday in close to a year! The last one was the Fault in our Stars polish that is still getting so many hits for some reason. Who knew, right?

If you've been following this blog, you probably know the reason why I haven't done one in ages. You would know that I'm both very manicure-challenged and terribly obsessive-compulsive, so I rarely ever do my nails. It's major effort for me, so I just get them done at a salon when I actually have the time and energy for it, and that's also a rare thing. I also do my nails sometimes but ruin them before I get to photograph them, so really, it's tough trying to blog about nail polish when you're like me! Well, this year I'll be trying my hardest to do more manicures just so I can use up my nail polish collection! Why I have tons of polish, I have no idea. Okay let's catch up, shall we?

Oooh orange!

Beauty Loot: Stuff I've Been Using

Since it has been a while since I've been blogging regularly, I thought I'd do a post on stuff I've been using. I haven't really been buying much makeup -- I've just been trying to use up my current stash, but every now and then, something catches my eye and I get it. All my recent loot has been drugstore stuff, actually. Here's the list, and what I think of them.

Makeup Madness: First Look - Firestarter Cosmetics

When Laura from Firestarter Cosmetics emailed to tell me that they were sending over stuff, I was beyond excited. I've always been curious about indie makeup, and now I finally get to try some! When the package from Firestarter headquarters in Thunder Bay, Canada arrived, I just ripped through it immediately. Here's my first look at the loot.

Eyeshadow pots + a bonus shadow sachet + a tube of lip balm, yay!

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - My First Project Life Album aka My First Foray into Scrapbooking

Hello! Happy new year! It's been a while, I know. The last part of 2014 was incredibly busy for me, and I really didn't have any time to spare for The Blue Purse. I felt bad about neglecting my little corner on the Internet, so I'm back, with a new year's resolution to always make time for this site. I hope I get to stick to it!

So it's a new year, and with new beginnings come new things. My new something is scrapbooking. It has always been in my life, because my mom made tons of scrapbooks for recipes, pictures, newspaper articles she loved, and the like. I loved it. I'm quite relentless about documenting things, and I really wanted to do some memory-keeping of my own, but I always thought it was a lot of work. There was too much cutting and pasting and whatnot for me so I never got into it.

Then last year, I discovered Project Life, and my thinking changed. With it, all you have to do is get an album, insert cards and photos into pocket pages, and you're done! If you're feeling more creative, and you want to do some cutting and pasting, you can too, with embellishments and other accessories. Project Life made scrapbooking so easy.

Over the past few months, I've slowly been collecting supplies. I looked for local suppliers because I really hate having to deal with customs and international shipping, and I'm so glad I found a few. I just got stuff I need for a basic album just to test it out and see how I like it. I also dug up the DIY supplies I somehow accumulated during my wedding preparations (cutters, alphabet stamps, Muji pens), then I bought a couple of Sharpies, pens, and stamps, and I was good to go. I had to wait until I had the time to actually do it though, and I finally found the opportunity during the long holiday stretch.