Lulu Guinness Stationery Review - Part Two!

Dear Scribblers

After yesterday's review of the Lulu Guinness Custom A5 notebook and the Lulu Icons Set of 3 A6 notebooks, the review continues...

50:50 Lip Diary for 2017 💋
Here's the review that most planner addicts have been waiting for, which you'll find is my most disappointing of all 3 items, but it's not all bad!

I love the design and A5 size. The cover is made of a study hard card with gold foil lettering and recessed black cloth blinding - allowing it to lay fairly flat. The pages are stitched in sections and glued.

There's a stripy silky ribbon bookmark, triangle card inside slip-pocket in the back cover, and 6 top-loading card pockets which are all useful. Although, I wish the top-loading files were spread out a bit more evenly throughout the book than they are. They appear at 3 weeks into the year, then one at a further 8 weeks, then we wait for another 16 weeks! Followed by 8 weeks, 16 weeks then the last one appears in the address book section 8 pages later. Obviously, there's a pattern here to the layout, which must be to do with how they are glued in, but it doesn't make a lot of practical sense. 2 have the multiple red lip design on one side and plain black on the other, and 4 are black and white stripes with plain red on the other side.

The main bulk of the diary is taken up with the layout of a week a page with notes opposite. This has always been one of my favourite styles to work with.

The diary begins with the usual personal information page, followed by a spread of blank red pages declaring the following page is 2017 Year at a Glance, and low and behold, it is! Next, there's the multi red lip design over two pages, stating that the next set of pages are a Month at a Glance... and you guessed it, they were right! I think you may be getting the idea that I think there's a lot of wasted space. I'm sure I can think of ways of using all this superfluous real estate.
I must say, I do really enjoy how they have drawn the monthly layouts. Each month is on a single page, but you turn the book to landscape to use it, and you don't lose out on writing space, so much easier to use than the month across 2 pages.
This is followed by stripy pages separating the month from the main Week at a Glance. I love that all the days have the same amount of space, unlike some diaries that squash poor old Saturday and Sunday. All the main UK holidays are listed, along with the dates of the main international fashion weeks. A chic touch! As is the little red lips at the bottom of each notes page.

An address section (12 pages - a few too many for my liking) is next. Followed by notes and doodles - which has plain lightly patterned pages, sections entitled "museums, galleries & exhibitions", "films & books", 4 sides of numbered to-lists, 2 for shopping lists and 27 sides of lined note pages.
 Both of these have the ubiquitous patterned double page separator. It ends with a page of international dialling codes, and page listing international holidays for 13 'major' countries.

Unfortunately, it loses points for a couple of reasons - the last two pages, on my copy, were stuck together and ripped. A little disappointing, but I can overlook it.

The main reason I feel disheartened is due to the poor quality of the paper. It feels rough, yet thin, which lets the 'designer' style down.

 It's so different from the notebooks reviewed yesterday. This paper is a world away in look, touch and how the pen feels when writing.

I also wanted show you a pen test, and you can see what it's like for yourself.

I'm not going to be able to use my fountain pens in it at all, and even though the other pens do not necessarily seep through, the depth of indentation of my writing is quite astounding! I know I'm not the lightest writer, but my hand isn't that heavy. I also gave it a quick wash of watercolour, the paper pilled immediately, but I knew that was a tough task. I think I'd only trust ball point pens, and pencils on this paper.

I know now that I couldn't use this as my main diary, as the limitations of pens would drive me insane. I love writing with my fountain pen, so I know I couldn't put up with that. However, it won't go to waste, as I'll be using it as my social media planner for the new year, along with my multi-coloured ball point pen!

If you love the Lulu Guinness aesthetic and her colours, this is a must... as long as you can look past the paper quality. There's much more going for it than not.

Happy Scribing!

Price & Codes
50:50 Lip Diary 2017
Style: 50125135
ISBN 978-1-84949-861-6
Lulu Guinness website - £18:00
Amazon UK - £13:06

Made by Quadrille (Hardie Grant) for Lulu Guinness - www.quadrille.co.uk - www.quadrille.com
Prices shown as listed on www.luluguinness.com and Amazon Prime UK - 19 October 2016. For all these items, a quick search on the net brings up alternative stockists, too
Also in the range - A5 luxury notebook, and notecard set.

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any companies 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 latest 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!

Lulu Guinness Stationery Review - made to be stopped and stared at!

Dear Scribblers

Have you seen the gorgeous new Lulu Guinness stationery? As an owner of a few pieces of her stunning handbags and accessories line, I was so pleased to hear the fabulous British designer was bringing out a stationery range, too. So as soon as I could, I hopped on-line, and bought 3 out of the launched 5 items. I picked mine up mid-August from Amazon UK, which was quite a chunk cheaper than her website. See pricing and full product details at the end of this post.

Here are all three of the covers:

Top left: notebook with 2 sticker sheets.
Bottom left: 2017 diary - a week a page with notes.
On the left are 3 mini notebooks with box.
And an overview of the paper in them all:

Top 2 show the 2017 diary layout and close-up of one of the top-loading envelopes.
Bottom left - notebook showing tabs and stickers.
Bottom right - 3 small books w/ different style paper
They couldn't be more perfect for me, my favourite colours: red, black and white, with some of my most chosen design elements: stripes and lips, with a little bit of a cat illustration, all by one of my top 5 fav designers. (If you'd added diamond quilting and stars, and it would have been perfect. 😂)

A5 'Custom' Notebook 💋

The item I've used the most has been the A5 notebook. There are 2 notebooks this size in her range: a hard-backed one called 'Dare to Be Different', and this one called the 'Custom' notebook. It has an old-style 'school exercise book' cardboard cover. There's 30 doubled-sided sheets (60 pages) - lined at the front of the book and plain in the second half, all tabbed into 8 sections printed with her signature lip, hand and eye logos. The 'custom' part probably refers to the 2 sheets of stickers, at the centre of the notebook, of 2 of each of the designs above along with 2 cats faces and 2 'Lulu Guinness London' logos.

The paper is high quality, almost card quality, (don't ask me about gsm as these are lost on me, although as a stationery addict, it's something I should definitely learn about!)

It's a dream to write on, even taking fountain pen and light watercolour washes. Please note that the book is stapled together and doesn't naturally lie flat, it can stand some manipulation.

We had a number of home renovations in recent months, which a list of jobs still to be completed, and this has been my house workbook to keep a track of it all. The front lined section for to-do lists and contact details with a separate tabbed area relating to a separate area of the house. Even though there's logos on the tabs, there's still plenty of space to write your own heading. The back plain pages are used for calendar layouts (so I can track on-going projects), sketches of floor plans and mini-mood boards of items torn from magazines, brochures and paint swatches. (If you'd like a separate post of the used pages, please leave a comments.)
There's plenty of Lulu design elements - I especially like the lip book plate on the cover for writing in the project. I can imagine a very stylish teen or college student with 3 or 4 of these containing their important revision notes. I also like the faux turned back corner on the cover, showing the glimpse of the little red lip, along with the signature gold foil logo on the back cover.
My only wish is that the stickers were smaller, and that there were more of them. At around an approx of minimum of 3 cm to 6cm max (1 X 2in), they certainly pack a punch. Not your average planner sticker.
A delectable designed notebook for all your notes, to-dos and doodles.
Lulu Icons Set of 3 A6 Notebooks 💋
If pocket and handbag jotters are more your style, you'll love this set of 3 mini Notebooks which come a cute slide-in black box to, all with different design looks and papers. Each has 48 sheets - 96 sides.
The black and white stripe cat print has plain paper, with pale pink cover lining and the quote "Kooky Cat" on the inside front cover.
The multiple red lips and half black and white stripe cover carries the stripes inside and reads "A little lipstick never hurts." This comes with .7cm lined paper.

Finally, the half red/half black and white lips cover is lined in red with a quote of "Don't forget your lipstick" and is filled with .7cm square grid/graph pages.

Once again, the paper is high quality, but not as thick as the notebook above, which would actually be too much for books of this size.

I've been dabbling in these, but not used them as much as the notebook. I could see myself dropping these into a fauxdori/travelers notebook sort of cover and using the plain book for sketching/mini art journal, the lined one as a common place book or for jotting down storylines, poetry and blog ideas, and of course, the grid would make a great bullet journal. Although, the graph squares are quite large, so if you're anything like me, you might find yourself filling up the book pretty quickly!
If your intention was to use all three, it would make for a very chunky set to carry around with you. There's another reason why the 'fauxdori' route may not work, as the papers are stitched in groups and then these sections are glued into the spine, so there's no defined centre to the book. It's also a worry, as the book doesn't lie open, once you begin to manipulate it as you attempt to create an easy working surface, will these sections fall out? I hope that the binding glue is strong and holds them together. I'll let you know as I use them.
My aim is to use the grid book as my bullet to-do list, along with the diary - as their covers match! Then the other two as discussed above, but not to carry around together.
If you look at them, for what they are intended for, as little pocket notebooks, then they are fun to use, gorgeous to look at, and will certainly be a talking point when you bring it out of your bag.
I hope you've found these reviews interesting, as they ran a little longer than I expected, I've decided to split it, so there's not too much information coming at you. I hope that you'll return again tomorrow for the full review on the 50:50 2017 diary.
Please see all pricing and details listed below.

Happy Scribing!

Prices & codes
Custom A5 notebook
Style no: 50125173
ISBN 978-1-84949-863-0
Lulu Guinness website £8:00
Amazon UK £8:00

Lulu Icons A6 Set of 3 Notebooks
Style: 50125166
ISBN 978-1-84949-864-7
Lulu - £15:00
Amazon - £10:00

Made by Quadrille (Hardie Grant) for Lulu Guinness - www.quadrille.co.uk - www.quadrille.com
Prices shown as listed on www.luluguinness.com and Amazon Prime UK - 19 October 2016. For all these items, a quick search on the net brings up alternative stockists, too
Also in the range - A5 luxury notebook, and notecard set.

Important Notes

1. Please note that I am not connected to any companies 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 latest 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!

Has My Little Box Jumped the Shark?*

Dear Scribblers

If you've followed me on Instagram (@TheCraftyScribe), you'll have noticed I've given a lot of time to My Little Box UK. 

This is a French company which offers monthly subscription boxes containing beauty and lifestyle items for £14.95 a month (that includes p&p). It has been operating in France and Japan a while, and in September 2014, it opened its doors to Britain. I was one of the early subscribers. 

When I received my first box, I was overwhelmed, and my Instagram post reflected that, with the comment, "My, oh, my, oh, my!" Along with fab beauty goodies (Nuxe, Laura Mercier and their own, My Little Beauty) came with a super glossy mini magazine, a laptop cover, and a notebook and stickers - be still my journalling techie heart!!!

https://instagram.com/p/tsQGPdqwTu/

I adored the second box even more, with the fabulous collaboration with Diane von Furstenberg, receiving a gorgeous scarf and brooch, along with a decent selection of beauty items. 

This went on, and I continued to sneak in Instagram photos containing the occasional item found inside the subscription box, including this photo I took at the 8 month mark. 

https://instagram.com/p/1xy56rqwb0/

I'd received some amazing parcels, including collaborations with Ines de la Fressange and Fleur de Force (although FdF was just the face, and the item collaboration in that box had been with French blogger, 'Make My Lemonade'.

Inside by now, the lifestyle bits had included: a mini-mug, phone holder, calendar, and - be still my stationery loving heart - pattern paper tape, superhero stickers, multiple-message stamp and ink pad. The beauty items had some additional impressive names of By Terry, Kérastase and La Roche-Posay.

One change had been our lovely glossy mini-mag had changed to a cheap recycled paper poster fold-out style, with no word as to why by My Little Box. Strange, as the French version of their box continued to receive the glossy version. 

Over the next few months, even though I found that not every box lived up to the standard they had set themselves in the beginning, I continued to subscribe and post photos on Instagram. 

I've noticed a change in the quality of the boxes. The collaborations have been not as high profile and with companies we don't know of, but sometimes this can be a good thing, as you discover fab new items. Like I said, sometimes, not all the time. 

The same goes with beauty items, lots of unknown names, although I received a lip/cheek mousse from a company called So Susan - Colour Hybrid in Marsala - and it's an amazing velvet matt in a perfect shade for me. It's in my top 5 lip products ever!

It also doesn't mean that just because a company is well known that you're going to always like the products. Take me and L'Occitane - I'm not a fan, so their colab on the Provence box was never going to be my favourite. Although, from what I read on the MyLittleBoxUK Facebook page, others were unhappy as the products in the box were being given away for free that week in UK L'Occitane stores! Another black mark. 

I've stayed with my subscription as I've always found at least one or two items in the box as worth having. That is until this month. Unfortunately, My Little Box raised my expectations when they sent this email: 

The email (sent on 7 October) went on to say this month's box was called the My Little Creative Box! Yippee! I thought, and Instagramed my excitement! https://instagram.com/p/8i3fx3qwab/

What was going to be in it? Maybe pens? A mindfulness colouring book? Sketch book? Little palette of paints? Maybe take the creativity into make up - cosmetic brushes? Or face paints for Halloween?... Not one bit of it!... Here's what I received on 22 October:

Can you see anything to do with creativity there? No. It's all about promoting Pinterest! 

The paper poster magazine is full of photos and an interview with a Pinterest slant, as is the gorgeously illustrated by Kanako, as normal, quote card. 

The lifestyle items have nothing to do with creativity. It's a jute bag with an advert on one side and "Collect moments not things" on the other, and a bag of tiny fiddly beads for sticking on your tech leads! They seem fine for a 8 to 12 year old, but for late teens and adults? Give us some respect! Plus the colours are more spring season - pastels - pink, blue, orange, cream grey, not quite right for autumn/winter, even if you were inclined to use them. 

The beauty products are just a bit 'meh!' Almost every month (in the last 5 months), I've received a body cream. I mean, how many can one person use? Also, once again on their Facebook page, I see complaints of people receiving the exact same make and colour of nail varnish they received a few months back! Now, that's just sloppy data keeping. 

I also don't agree with their comment in the magazine editorial that it's time to say goodbye to old-school scrapbooking. Do they not see the craze of daily scrapbooking with items such as 'Project Life', We r Memorykeepers 'Albums Made Easy' and their like? What about smashbooking? Or the out and out phenomena of Pretty Planning and the planneraddict and filofaxaddict communities?

So has My Little Box truly 'jumped the shark'? Sigh! It's such a shame as they began so well. I always wondered if they would run out of steam. I had hoped not, but now I wonder... However, a fail in my eyes, does not make a disaster to all. I'm only one person, this is only my opinion, at this time. 

I could give a knee jerk reaction and cancel my subscription, but I won't. I'm going to give My Little Box the benefit of the doubt, and give them another chance, and stay with them to the end of the year before giving my final verdict. 

I'll keep you posted!

Happy Scribing!

* (Wonder what 'Jumped The Shark' means? Check out this excellent Wikipedia page, it'll tell you all you need to know! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark 😃👍)

1. Please note that I am not connected to any companies 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, or would like me to discuss something else, please write a comment below, or 'like' and leave a comment by my 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!

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!

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! ;-)

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!k

Popular Pens for Particular Purpose - Part 1 of 4 My Old Favourites and Regularly Used

Dear Scribblers

At the end of my 'Notable Notebooks' series, I mentioned I would post the details of the pens I use with my notebooks, Filofax and more. So here it is!

As I wrote the blog post, I realised I had a lot more to say than I expected, so I've split it into a four day series:

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 longest used pens are these:

My Uni-ball Signo gel-grip 0.7 gel pen in black. This has a good free flow which reminds me of a fountain pen, with the ease of a ball point. Very comfortable to write with for lengthy sessions. I also have the same pen (unphotographed) in white - or as they call it angelic! - which is great for crafting and art journalling. The black one seen here lives in a loop in my Filofax, and there is always an extra on stand-by. My hubby loves to use these too. 

Talking of the other half, the gorgeous silver tiled effect Balmain set was a surprise gift. He knows me well. They are a ball point and cartridge fountain pen, both with black ink, bought from TK Maxx. The gold-tipped fountain pen was my journalling pen for over the last two years, although it has recently been replaced by...

...yet another Balmain fountain pen, also from TK Maxx. This duck egg blue iridium point pen was an absolute find. It came in the matching box, although the ball point which should have been included had been nabbed by some unscrupulous person, so customer services let me buy it at a fraction of the cost, as it was an incomplete item. I was very pleased with the result! The pen is well-balanced with a great nib. It fits perfectly in my hand, as does another old favourite which I keep in the same box now. 

My black and white Kingsley ball point pen is the oldest one I have in my collection. Another present from my husband about 15 years ago! It's my shortest and fattest pen, but the unusual shape lies in the curve of my thumb and forefinger ergonomically. I love the monochrome look and the silver trim has a Greek key design running around it. This pen has had a lot if use, the only problem is that the size of the ink refills. They are unusual, which you don't find on the high street. I need to go searching on-line to get replacements, difficult when you don't know the size you are looking for. 

The pen in the other loop of my Filofax was a birthday present from a friend. It's the Ted Baker ball point pen with screen stylus, and case. It's thin and elegant, and I use it as my everyday pen. Very practical, and it's become a habit to use the stylus tip with my iPad. Helps reduce those greasy finger marks you can't help causing on the screen. As it stays with my Filofax, I don't use the little leather case it came with. It fits a long lipgloss, with additional space at the end, but that's about it. If you can think of a way of using it, please leave a message in the comments. 

Please come back tomorrow for Part 2: My Smythson Pens. 

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!

Notable Notebooks Part 1 of 5 - My Ultimate Quality Favourites (and a plea to Smythson!)

Dear Scribblers

I think I've said this to you before, nothing really changes, does it?

In my last post, I mentioned the importance of keeping a good notebook beside you. Then I looked to a post way back on 30 June 2011, as part of my 'Favourite Things' series, I discussed my love of Smythson notebooks and stationery - 

http://thecraftyscribe.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/my-favourite-things-part-3-project-of.html

I still feel the same now. Please, welcome to my new short series 'Notable Notebooks' (One of Five):

Over the next five days, the series will include:

1: My Ultimate Quality Favourites 

2: The Organiser

3: My Newest Arrivals

4: When a Notebook isn't a Notebook

5: Used, Loved, Never to be Thrown away

Please read the important note at the bottom of the post. 

There's nothing like the sensation of a great quality notebook, and I find, for me, that no-one comes close to Smythson -  http://www.smythson.com/

These leather bound books, with the smooth pages that let your pen glide with ease, makes writing a pleasure. I especially adore the feather-weight pale blue papers. They may be a little pricey, but you can start with a wafer notebook for £35 (even for less, if you can find an outlet price, such as their store at Bicester Village, or their on-line New Year sale), but be warned, once you have one, they become addictive! 

Over the years, I've used two lockable journals (please bring back the red version with the flat gold lock, Smythson. Please? Please?!), Runway 11.5x13.5cm tuck fastening black notebook (yet to fill), a number of Panama 9x14cm and Wafer 7x10.5cm notebooks (I always write my poetry in the wafer books, I don't know why, it just feels 'right' http://555poet.blogspot.co.uk/), a featherweight replaceable pad in leather cover and little silver pen (which makes me feel like a Film Noir Detective!), along with my yearly diary, A4 pads (white lined pages) and something of a find, this year, the blue featherweight lined notepapers in Duke size which fit my A5 Filofax. 

For those who love their organisers, this may be your way in to try Smythson stationery. You get 25 sheets for £10, which I think is quite reasonable for the quality - an affordable luxury. As I said, I've found that their Dukes size fits the A5 rings (paper size 15x21cm). So, I'm thinking that their Bond Street refills may fit the Personal size (paper size 9.5x17cm), there's also a smaller size (paper size 8x12.5cm - I've checked on the UK in-line store, diary refills are in stock, but the notepaper isn't at the present time) called the Bijou, which I think may be the Pocket size, but please don't quite me on that as I haven't tried them. 

Most of these have been birthday/Christmas/special presents from my hubby - he knows me well!

Please come back tomorrow and see the next instalment of 'Notable Notebooks' - The Organiser. 

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 a more in depth look into the individual Smythson notebooks, or the diaries and books I've used in the past, or anything else in this series, please write a comment below, or 'like' and leave a comment by my Notable Notebooks Instagram photo, letting me know what you would like me to post photos and write about. 

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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!

I've got a New Pencil Case! Now, What do I Fill it with?

Dear Scribblers

My hubby surprised me yesterday, after he paid a sneaky visit to Bicester Village! 

He bought me a new pencil case to match the great typewriter iPad sleeve I found in TK Maxx last week. 

It's perfect! Now, what to put in it? Just pen and pencils? It would make a great make up bag too. Even an useful bag for those electrical bits and pieces you might need, such as: earphones, iPhone, iPad, computer plugs, sd cards and USB sticks. It's a decent size at 14x22x5cm (5.5x9x2in) approx. Made of durable black cotton on the outside and vibrant red inside. 

I've decided I'm going to use it for all the essentials I want with me at all times. It'll probably be a mix of the items above, along with stationery stuff I need for my scrapbooking, journalling and Filofax, like favourite washi tapes, date stamps and post-it pads. Once I've filled it I'll post a picture with details. 

What uses do you use pencil cases for? Do you have a favourite? I'll love to hear from you. 

You'll notice in the photo, he also bought me a gorgeous necklace with a cool lipstick (quite Estée Lauder shaped) and silver lips. It's gorgeous on, very comfortable and lies just below the collar bone. They were get well presents, I feel very loved and blessed. 

Happy Scribing!

By the way, I start a new course on Monday. I'll tell you about it in my next post!

New iPad Accessory, and what? Beauty... On this blog!

Dear Scribblers 

A different post for me today, as it's a beauty & fashion haul! Bare with me...

I thought you might be interested because of my first item from TK Maxx. It's a Lulu Guinness iPad sleeve, with a great typewriter design on the front. I thought it would appeal to 'Scribblers' especially those with 'tech geek' urges. It's a neoprene material in black, with a 'Lulu Guinness' label on the back, inside and in the pull tag. I've seen it in magazines in the past, and wanted it for ages. It was a great find, at a knock down price, too! 

I also bought Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Eyes Time Complex Capsules from TK Maxx. I love this classic, couldn't pass them by at half the cost of their retail value. 

The rest of my purchases were, all beauty, from Boots the Chemist. (I still prefer calling them chemists, rather than the American term of 'drugstore' which seems to be used more and more.)

My main buy was Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair - another adored classic. I've been using this on and off for 20 years! It's been re-formulated recently, I can't wait to try it out. 

Also in my basket, this journey, was Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Radiance Exfoliator - I've never tried this before, but I needed a new scrub so I thought I'd try a basic one. 

Soap and Glory Its About Prime Eyeshadow Underbase - there comes a time when your eye lids need extra support. This is that time! It's also a first try, but recommended to me.

Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in 725 Tantalizing Taupe - I wanted a nude lippy, and liked the look of this one. 

L'Oreal Paris La Manicure 7in1 Saviour nail treatment - I can not write more highly about this product! It saved my nails after problems due to ill health. This is my second bottle. I recommend this favourite!

Lastly, Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover - also a repeat purchase, that I can't do without. It's the easiest and quickest way to take off your nail polish. They have bought out a pot for hands and feet, which I wanted to try, but unfortunately, it was out of stock at my local store. 

I hoped you like my first haul post. I hope to do more of products in my life. Mainly, craft, writing/stationery, organisational, technology related, but I drop some fashion/beauty and lifestyle ones like this in too.  

Happy Scribing!