31 Oct 2013

review: daycraft signature duo

Daycraft are a brand I really like and this time, I have the Signature Duo notebook to show you. I'll let the pictures do the talking for the first half of this post and then I will show you how I've been using it.

The concept of this notebook is that half of the brain is scientific/logical whereas the other half is creative. This means that half of the notebook is lined whereas the other half has dotted paper.

The front of this notebook is a teal colour:


And the back is orange:


The teal portion is lined:


And the orange portion is dotted:


And when you look at it from the top, it will make more sense (the teal portion has orange-edged pages whereas the orange portion has teal-edged pages):


I've managed to incorporate this notebook into my studies by using the lined bit for the notes I take each week:


And the dotted pages for mind-maps and other anatomy drawings:


This is in the hope that when it comes to exam time, I will have a brief set of notes I can refer to. They aren't designed to be revision notes as they are meant to be an overview to which I can look at to make sure that I have revised everything and not missed anything out.

Overall, I like the concept of this notebook as it can be used for anything. Although I've used it for my studies, I think it could also work well as a journal or diary.

Thank you, Shadow from Daycraft, for sending me this sample to review :)

NB: Although I was sent this notebook as a sample, I have reviewed it as honestly as I would have done if I had paid for it.

29 Oct 2013

my week round-up #43

Here was my week and here are the blogs taking part in this week's round-up:

{1} Making Life Beautiful
{2} Little Red Moose
{3} She's Eclectic
{4} My Purpley Life
{5} Sailor Mouth
{6} Innocent and Twisted
{7} Miss Mai's Adventures
{8} The Simple Life
{9} Hop Skip Jump
{10} Coffee and Stationery
{11} Everything IB
{12} Student Spyglass
{13} Life of Kitty

Want to join in? Click the button below for more info :)




NB: Inclusion on my weekly round-ups do not mean that I endorse any of the products or services sold by readers in the list and I do not get commission from any sales that may be the result of a click-through.

27 Oct 2013

my { birthday } week #80

So... this was the week where I started off being 22 years old and ended it being 23 years old. Not quite sure how I feel about this but I guess this means I need to be a bit more mature and wiser! I did this in fitting style by having a caterpillar cake for my birthday and my excuse for this was because 1) I'm the youngest one out of my university friends and 2) I can have a more 'mature' cake next year! 

Anyway, overall, my week was pretty good. I caught up on a load of notes that needed writing up and revised some anatomy I'm a bit hazy on. And one more thing I did catch up on was sleep - thanks to the clocks going back an hour in the early hours of Sunday. Remind me to try and avoid working the night shift on the night when British Summer Time ends ;)


How was your week?

23 Oct 2013

my week round-up #42

Here was my week and here are the blogs taking part in this week's round-up:

{1} Le Monde de Mzelle
{2} Sailor Mouth
{3} Roses in December
{4} Miss Mai's Adventures
{5} Leesh
{6} She's Eclectic
{7} DIY Sara
{8} Lucy Wonderland
{9} Filo Cuteness
{10} The Simple Life
{11} My Purpley Life
{12} Life of Kitty
{13} Twenty5Seven
{14} Little Red Moose
{15} Star Gardener
{16} Fi-Lily, Fi-Lo
{17} Hop Skip Jump
{18} Making Life Beautiful
{19} Amy's World
{20} Coffee and Stationery
{21} Ginger Fox
{22} Everything IB

Want to join in? Click the button below for more info :)




NB: Inclusion on my weekly round-ups do not mean that I endorse any of the products or services sold by readers in the list and I do not get commission from any sales that may be the result of a click-through.

20 Oct 2013

my week #79

It seriously feels like my weeks are flying by. Before long, it'll be Christmas and then 2014! Anyway, I had a busy week again (I'm sounding like a stuck record now) and am severely sleep deprived...!

I'm ready for the Christmas holidays already!


How was your week?

18 Oct 2013

washi taping notebook spines

As I was looking at my bookshelf, I was trying to think of a way to make the black spines of the Rhodia notebooks more interesting. Then I looked to my right and saw my box of washi tape and had a lightbulb moment: washi taping the spines of notebooks. Here is how the Rhodia notebooks looked after I was done blitzing them with washi tape:


It's quite simple really. One tip though: leave about a centimetre of tape at the end:


And then fold it over and poke it with a needle so that it sticks under the bound bit of the notebook:


How good does this look on my bookshelf?! 


You could even do these on bound diaries (e.g. Moleskines) or use a rainbow spectrum of colours.
In a way, it sort of works as a way to add a little bit of decoration to a boring bookshelf. What I've found is that washi tape is good for this because you can lift it up if you haven't aligned it properly along the spine of the notebook. And because it doesn't lose any stickiness, you can keep trying until you get the perfect alignment. On a few occasions, it took me three or four goes to get the alignment right so don't be afraid to lift up the washi tape and try again.

16 Oct 2013

muji erasables and pilot frixions: over a year on

One of the fears I know people have regarding erasable pens, is that they might fade as the years go by. For someone who bins their pages every year, that isn't a problem - but for those who prefer to archive their diaries, it is a justifiable fear.

This is why I decided to look back at my planning pages from 2012 to see how the Muji Erasables and Pilot Frixion pens have held up.

To show this, I have included two photos of a writing sample using the pens today, and a writing sample from my 2012 inserts.

First up, the Muji Erasables from the 5th of June 2012:


And now, the Pilot Frixion from the 1st of July 2012 (orange pen and the blue pen at the bottom):


And a sample of both pens from yesterday:

I'm not a fan of the ink flow from my Pilot Frixion pen and I've also found that the ink runs out quicker in the Frixions compared to the Muji Erasables.
As you can see, there is no difference seen for the Muji Erasables but with regards to the Pilot Frixion pens, there is a little bit of fading. How the Muji Erasables will hold up in another year's time is another issue (and one I will re-visit) but from the evidence I've just presented, the Muji pens are better than the Pilot Frixions. One thing to note is that I don't store old inserts near a heat-source; they sit on my bookshelf in a box away from direct sunlight and heating.


However, if you're particularly worried about disappearing ink, using a non-erasable pen will definitely be your best option (stating the obvious there).

15 Oct 2013

my week round-up #41

Here was my week and here are the blogs taking part in this week's round-up:

{1} DIY Sara
{2} My Purpley Life
{3} Filo Cuteness
{4} The Simple Life
{5} Nerd-Zilla
{6} Hop Skip and Jump
{7} The Contemplative Belle
{8} Little Red Moose
{9} The University Project
{10} She's Eclectic
{11} My Summer Touch
{12} Lucy Wonderland
{13} Life of Kitty
{14} Sailor Mouth
{15} Fi-Lily Fi-Lo
{16} Making Life Beautiful
{17} Everything IB

Want to join in? Click the button below for more info :)




NB: Inclusion on my weekly round-ups do not mean that I endorse any of the products or services sold by readers in the list and I do not get commission from any sales that may be the result of a click-through.

13 Oct 2013

my week #78

My weeks seem to be flying by at the moment! I can't believe it's been six weeks since the start of term already and that my first exam is around the corner. It's been a timetable heavy week for me with every day being 9-5 with the exception of Wednesday. Most days, I stayed at uni until about 6 or 7 to get some work/socialising in so if you add in the fact that I get on the bus at 7:30am and don't get home until at least 7:00pm in the evening (at the earliest), I have actually been doing mammoth days.

In terms of stickers and other adornments, I've not really used them as much as I have done in the past. There are a few reasons for this: my timetable changes every week and I don't receive it until the Monday and quite often, I add in last minute things (the 'Clin Skills' on Thursday was added in on Wednesday for example). I still try and use colour as much as I can though!


How has your week been?

10 Oct 2013

review: grandluxe monologue notebooks and diaries

I'm a sucker for notebooks and stationery products that come in a variety of cute colours so when I found out about the Grandluxe Monologue range, I was excited to find out more.

Danhong from Grandluxe kindly sent me the following sample products to review:

From left to right: a Platinum A5 notebook in Gold, an A4 sketchbook in orange, an Executive Portfolio Planner and anA6 diary in Blackberry.

The Monologue range of notebooks and diaries come in a variety of sizes and Grandluxe also do other ranges of stationery products so the sample you can see in the picture above is only a small selection of what Grandluxe offer.

First up, the gold Monologue Platinum notebook:


The pages are all gold gilt-edged and the cover is also gold in colour. I wouldn't describe the cover as hard or soft - it is in between and the elastic is also gold in colour. This notebook also comes in black, bronze and silver.


Inside, the pages are ruled - and the rule isn't too wide or too narrow. For me, it is perfect :) The paper is 80gsm in weight and at the front, there are some pages dedicated to 'personal notes', addresses and a few pages where you can note down blog/website names and their URLs. The A5 size of this notebook retails at £9.99.

Next up, the A4 sketchbook:


This sketchpad is really, really impressive. The pigmentation of the orange cover is brilliant (not a dull orange by any means) and the paper quality is excellent.


The paper is 140gsm and is acid free. It can take watercolour paints and all sorts of pens without any bleeding or show-through. This sketchpad retails at £16.99 for the A4 size and would make a wonderful gift for anyone who is studying Art at GCSE/A-Level/University level or for anyone who enjoys doing creative things in their spare time. This sketchpad also comes in a variety of sizes and colours.


Next up is the A6 diary in the blackberry colour:


Instead of being one colour, the elastic is made up of three different shades of purple and the cover is hard but with a soft PU covering.


Inside, it is a week-to-view layout with the paper being 80gsm.


At the back, there is also a world atlas, inner pocket, various standard reference pages and pages for: important dates, meeting dates and times, emails and website addresses and notes.

This diary retails at £7.99 but they also come in other colours and sizes. The one complaint I have with them is that although they are week-to-view and the pages are ruled; the lines don't extend into the space under the day. This means there is quite a bit of space wasted.

Finally, the Executive Portfolio Planner:


This one is my favourite product by a country mile and I will proceed to show you why.


Inside, there is a secretarial pocket with a slot on the pocket too. The diary slots into the planner into the cover in a similar manner to how you slot notebooks into the Filofax Flex covers.

The diary is really quite comprehensive and actually has a lot of extra pages that will come in useful to many people. For example, there are pages for leave and these would come in useful for those running a business or for anyone tracking their own annual leave/holidays.


There are also Financial Summary pages and Email and Website Address pages.


Now, onto the bulk of the diary. Each month has a divider/tab that sticks out and on each tab is a month-view on one side and Expenses on the other side.


The diary pages themselves are week-to-view and ruled with the weekends sharing the space of a weekday.


At the back, there are notes pages...


Address and Telephone pages...


And also a pull out planner for 2014...


Which has the 2015 planner on the reverse.


The annual planner folds so that it fits in perfectly and at the back, there is a card-holder insert with a bookmark that can be used to keep your place in the diary.


The bookmark is connected to the diary by a ribbon and is only made of thin card so I do have concerns over how durable it will be after a few weeks or months of use.


The Portfolio Planner also has a pen loop and also some elastic to hold it together. It also comes in other colours. Personally, I think this planner could be perfect for a student as you can put in a slim A5 notebook for notetaking with the diary also in the cover.

Overall, I am impressed with the quality of the products and the variety of them too. I think they have products that appeal to many markets and the prices are quite reasonable too. If I had to compare them to a similar company, it would have to be the Moleskine brand; but with the added bonus being that the quality of products are definitely better.

You can buy these products on their Online Store or on Amazon; and to find out more, Grandluxe also have a Facebook page.

Thank you, Danhong from Grandluxe for sending me these products for review.

NB: Although I received these products as samples, I have reviewed them just as I would have if I had paid for them.

8 Oct 2013

my week round-up #40

Here was my week and here are the blogs taking part in this week's round-up:

{1} Hop Skip and Jump
{2} Coffee and Stationery
{3} Leesh
{4} Lucy Wonderland
{5} Filo Cuteness
{6} The Simple Life
{7} Aqeela's House
{8} Life of Kitty
{9} She's Eclectic
{10} My Summer Touch
{11} Roses in December
{12} The University Project
{13} Strawbubbi
{14} Star Gardener
{15} Everything IB
{16} Miss Mai's Adventures
{17} Amy's World
{18} Innocent and Twisted
{19} Ginger Fox
{20} Fi-Lily Fi-Lo

Want to join in? Click the button below for more info :)




NB: Inclusion on my weekly round-ups do not mean that I endorse any of the products or services sold by readers in the list and I do not get commission from any sales that may be the result of a click-through.

6 Oct 2013

my week #77

This week flew by and I really don't know where the time went. Monday and Tuesday evenings were very unproductive (due to netball and having a full day on Tuesday means I give myself the evening off) so Wednesday afternoon/evening, Thursday evening and Saturday were study-filled days. Today is another designated study day but I have to factor in some time for grocery shopping so it's just a light study day.

This week, I decided not to use a separate sheet for to-dos and I found that I had enough space for everything. Maybe I can make WO2P work for me next year too? However, it's only early days. They say the first year of this course is the worst but at the moment, I seem to be coping ok...


How has your week been?

4 Oct 2013

custom notepaper inserts

Today, I am sharing more custom inserts I have made. These are for personal-sized organisers (paper size of 95mm width by 171mm height) and are designed to be printed directly onto personal-sized paper. 

They are ruled notepaper and here is how they look once printed (I printed them onto cream coloured paper):


I'm offering these inserts for you to download at your leisure. Please do not re-distribute them. These inserts take time to design, scan, optimize and upload so I'd be very grateful for a donation if you have found any of my custom inserts useful :)



To download the bordered one, click here.
To download the one without a border, click here.

2 Oct 2013

september review

From this month onwards, I will be showing you the stationery items I used the most for the purpose of study.

Washi tape, Muji pens, Pentel Energel, Oxford Office Book, Post-it notes and a Daycraft notebook.

I will probably do another post sometime later this term of what my notes look like. I've received numerous compliments about them since starting university (from classmates) so I'm hoping they will interest you guys too :)
Other essentials this month were...

Carrot sticks and hummus (the best studying snack ever)
My Oyster Travelcard (without it, I would be paying a fortune to commute to uni and back)

1 Oct 2013

my week round-up #39

Here was my week and here are the blogs taking part in this week's round-up:

{1} Life of Kitty
{2} Even Artichokes Have Hearts
{3} Roses in December
{4} Innocent & Twisted
{5} The University Project
{6} Twenty5Seven
{7} Star Gardener
{8} She's Eclectic
{9} Filo Cuteness
{10} Making Life Beautiful
{11} Coffee & Stationery
{12} Amy's World
{13} Fi-Lily Fi-Lo
{14} Everything IB
{15} My Purpley Life
{16} Lucy Wonderland
{17} My Summer Touch
{18} Ginger Fox
{19} DIY Sara 

Want to join in? Click the button below for more info :)




NB: Inclusion on my weekly round-ups do not mean that I endorse any of the products or services sold by readers in the list and I do not get commission from any sales that may be the result of a click-through.