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I just got a blue Vivid Scribbles journal today and am quite disappointed with it. The pages do not lay flat, you have to crease most of them and the dots do not line up from page to page. Not impressed!😢

This video comes at a perfect time. I’m currently on the hunt for my 2025 reading journal and I can’t decide between all the options. I’d love to go with a paperblanks but I fear that 120gsm pages (their thickest paper) are too thin as I want to do a lot of stamping and painting. I’m actually eyeing the Quirky Cup Collective Journal you have in your line up. And I’m of course thinking of investing in an A&O, a square one. I’d love my next reading journal to be square. I also don’t want to buy a bunch of different journals so I have to make a decision before purchasing 🙈

Do you listen to audible books?

Thank you for the amazing review!!! I'm looking for a lay flat bullet journal (A5). Is there anything in particular you would recommend? I noticed you had a couple of lay flat ones in the video :)

Gorgeous 🫶🏽

Having worked for Hartley & Marks, the makers of Paperblanks and prior to the Hachette purchase, for nearly 8 years circa 2008 to 2016, i am always pleased when i see Paperblanks love shared.

Yay ! So happy you finally posted about Paperblanks! I think that they're my favorite notebooks, now, but I'm disappointed in their 120gsm paper, it's meh at best, for me (the one I have has a green fairy cover, though, and it's one of the most beautiful article of stationary I have ever owned). The one I reaaaaally like is the 100gsm paper, but they don't have a lot of options in this weight. I have an unbelievably pretty planner (the cover is a reproduction of japanese kimono motifs) with this paper, and writing with my fountain pens in it feels butter smooth and inks look so, so pretty 😍. And it's surprisingly opaque, really unexpectedly so. The 80gsm feels really good too, but of course it's a lot less opaque. Also, because I'm a bit of a geek, most of the covers are reproductions of historical, luxurious bindings, or artisanal treasures (carpets, kimonos, bindings...) from all over the world, in addition to the very high quality binding, which makes me so happy 😊. I see you stroking the cover and paper during the video, know that you are not the only one! I often find myself just looking at my pretty pretty planner, and petting the cover! Oh, and also also, now that I have several of them, I believe that, like Rhodia, they don't have different colors of ribbon assorted to the cover, they have only those 3, and for the notebooks with only one ribbon, I believe they're always red. Like the elastic is always black. Thank you for your thouroughness, as always, it's very interesting and useful, and I'm absolutely in agreement with your criteria.

I was just thinking about making my own stamps and “poof” you posted this!

Thank you for this review. It seems like a quality journal; however, it absolutely DOES matter to me where the product is produced. Due to personal and professional experience, I avoid any products manufactured in China if at all possible. So I will continue looking for other B5 dot journals. 😞

clever

Lady, don’t you think you’re a little past the mouse ears headband or whatever that is you put on your head?

Super, super helpful! Thank you so much for the specificity in the design details, it helped me get a good idea of the actual value of the book. It can be kinda tricky when the name brands have smaller range products like this, because the quality can be such a gamble.

This theme is so pretty, I like it a lot! Particularly these mixed media leaves 🥰, but I think the colors are very well balanced with the fiery ladybugs. The weeklies are especially elegant. Plus, it's been raining for months here (you know, because of climate change, everything gets brutally intense, like we can have drought or flood, nothing in between), so for once, I feel aligned with australian seasons! It's like it's been autumn since last october....

Love the leaves theme and the variety of ways you created them!! Also love the “tour” of your antique desk from a recent video,

What a beautiful pupper and garden!

Wow! This is great! Definitely something I will want to try! Thank you for showing us this! 😍

Yay! Congrats on the new home! I'm planning to move to the west of France, near the ocean, next year, and this kind of content makes me want to go thrift shopping pretty furniture... I'll need to be patient, though! Although I don't think I'll be able to find such a beautiful, well thought desk for a price affordable to me, it's such a teasure to have that in your family! And it's also lucky that this desk has found someone to care for it as it deserves.

I really like Rhodia notebooks, they're pretty and reliable, and very easy to find here in France, even in supermarkets. They were my first ever journals (3 for one year, in different shades of blue)! They do have more elaborate notebooks for bullet journaling, with more features, they call it "goalbook", and a perpetual agenda, called "perpetual" 😁. Also, their A5 notebooks are available with a soft cover or a hardcover in several very pretty colors, but maybe it's more difficult to find on the other side of the globe? And B5 in many colors, but only soft covers I believe. Oh and of course, Clairefontaine paper 🥰! I prefer the school notebooks paper, so opaque! but they only make it in school grids, extremely white, and with a cardstock or plastic cover. I hope you'll enjoy this one, I'm not very patriotic, but that's one thing I really like, and am a little proud of, living here: paper, stationary, pens, art supplies.... 😊

I let out a squeal when I saw those cute little curved drawers. 😊

I just bought the exact same book. I love the colour combination. I have no idea what to use it for, yet.

Hi Ruby - I was just enjoying your video about making fountain pen ink sample cards, then saw this video - love seeing your face - feel like I just met you in person! 😘 - that desk is beautiful and wonderful that you have been able to keep it through generations Greetings from South Florida

I like the splatters on the card! - I say make them a part of the sample cards - big circle, little ink bottle, some splatters and a writing sample Now I am inspired 😁

the desk is an actual artwork!

that desk is beautiful! Thank you for sharing

Lovely xx

Great review! I love her planners ❤ Have you tried them?

Can you give us a link to the days of the week washi tape?

Thanks! As an aussie trying to have a small footprint, its so frustrating having nearly everything made in china

Thank you so much for this review! Easily the best review of a journal I've come across - certainly helped me make a decision on whether to get this camping journal

You are really talented, and thel8s music is so soothing ❤❤

Very nice-looking notebook. Amazon Australia says cover is faux leather, Amazon US says leather, Amazon Japan and the Kleid Website give no information. Also, it is marketed as an an on-the-go notebook (folds back on itself).

As thourough as ever, thank you! I use particularly "juicy" fountain pens 😁, and I'm very often disappointed by papers specifically branded as foutain pen friendly... I guess that one won't be the one for me either... I really appreciate your very detailled and fair reviews, I have a tendency to buy to many different notebooks, or other stationary items, to find the right one, and having people like you who do those testing properly really helps preselecting what I will effectively test myself and not being as wasteful as I have been in the past. So thank you again!

OUTSTANDING❣

Great spreads! You gave me several new ideas to try…..as I just started using a BUJO style planner a few months ago.

It's pronounced JESSO. NOT "guesso"

Hi … thanks for the washi tape video. I ordered this month quite a few new rolls of washi tapes and will try some techniques of yours.❤❤❤😊

I bought one and now wondering what pens you would recommend to write with so it doesn’t bleed?

Thanks so much for this. Filming in nature adds a level that I appreciate so much. When the butterfly fluttered by, I just smiled so much and for the longest time after. And all the nature sounds were just so soothing. Thank you kind soul.

So glad you could post this one finally 🥰. As always, really cool and creative! I was particularly intrigued by the line art, it's visually very interesting, and doesn't seem to difficult, like you just need to be meticulous. Also, I've been thinking about your mozaic a lot recently, because I've been cross-stitching, and I appreciated all the more how crazy difficult it must have been on paper with teeny tiny pieces of washi 😅! It's already annoying sometimes to count the stitches.... Thank you for the fun moment this morning! And for the boost of creativity your videos very often elicit 😊

Thank you SO much for sharing this! I've been looking for a more complex in depth mental health and wellness tracker and your presented ideas are perfect. Especially in times of chatgpt where I can literally let AI make statistics on what correlations there are. Also the level 10 tracker at 6:26 that you painted is beautiful.

Journaling since I was a kid, seriously since I was in my 20's. Several decades later, still journaling. The most interesting journals for me, are those that are during times of sadness or upset. I don't know why, but I find them far more interesting than the "fun and jolly" stuff. It tells me a lot more about that person than the usual day to day things. I've always used my journals as a way to dump all the negativity in my life. I get it off my shoulders, and get it off my mind. That way, it frees me up to move forward feeling better. Dealing with mental health is something I know well (lol thanks, childhood), but I reread all my journals a while ago and it was invaluable information and helped me tremendously. If I had not keep journals, I would have never realized how much I had grown. Thanks for sharing yours. If it made you feel better, keep doing it. If not, then don't. 🙂

Lyre bird? Correct? I live in California, inland, which is dry and harsh and prickly and hot and a place you fall in love with. It also has many, many Aussie plants in the local Botanical Garden in my area. *Waves hello from the USA* 😄

Australia has a free trade agreement with the US, so no taxes. Exchange rate fees, probably...

I have just subbed (from London Uk) oh my heart! Your gorgeous pup! x

Tnx for review, maybe in the future i will try dingbat. Looking good for fountain pen use 😀

Dingbats are the only journals I use! I’ve been through 6 of them in the last 7 years! Just the plain dotted journals. I love the page perforation for the times I need to rip out a page, the pen holder, elastic that doesn’t stretch out like cheaper journals, the amount of dots, the hard cover, and the quality of paper! I used to bullet journal in these journals but now keep a calendar and daily journal. Love em. No complaints!

Thank you very much for such a detailed video, I've got the purple one, I think it's the Wildl Life Collection and I'm happy that it doesn't have numbered pages. I love the page bleeding test that you've made, as always, very useful 🤓

I am SO annoyed with Leuchtturm paper: I had two 120gsm in A5, and the paper felt really good, and worked well with foutain pen, but this weight only exists in A5, and I'm a B5 girl for my planner/journal. So this year, I bought a B5 planner in 80gsm, because the spreads looked ideal to my practice. And it's awful! It's incredibly transparent (and I like to write with large nibs), and it gets crinkly like bible paper, I really don't understand! In the same weight, you have school Clairefontaine paper (well 90gsm) which doesn't ghost at all, the standard Clairefontaine (like in Rhodia notebooks) that works fine, the Paperblanks that is insanely good (well except the 120gsm, which baffles me a little), or the thicker Tomoe River (it's like 70gsm I think? Not the 52gsm one), and then Apica and so on. I really don't understand the Leuchtturm hype, honestly, I think it's just snobism. And I had the same experience of badly glued binding with one of my A5, which means it must happen regularly. Sorry for the rant, there aren't a lot of people that are as nerdy about paper as I am, and as you're very knowledgeable in all things stationary, I thought I would share 😁! Thank you once more for the in-depth and carefuly researched reviews!

I knew the september pages, of course, from your different washi uses videos, but july and august are exceptionnaly pretty too (the colors! 😍). As for the black journal, it's interesting that you were working on black paper, so quite different from what I've seen from you, at this difficult time in your life. I don't know if you've realized how very creative everything looks during those few months. Maybe the sadness and anxiety is still what those spreads remind you of, but from the exterior, it all looks so interesting and strong and beautiful. I'm really glad you chose to show us those pages even a bit late. Plus, the journals themselves and the paper look really nice! You ask if we keep our journals from sad times. Well, I've journaled sometimes, when I was younger, but it was only writing, and quite dark, and I've always thrown away everything because it felt unhealthy. I've begun to really journal 5 years ago, with some creative expression (well more and more 😊), but mostly planning and memory keeping, and that I keep and flip through regularly. It's often sad, because I'm very sick, but the goal from the beginning was to keep track of what I do and how I feel for mental health (you know, for people with a lot of anxiety, it's recommended to mood track in detail to show oneself that one's life is not just a continuous string of hazy darkness), and it's been really useful, so I certainly won't get rid of them. Thank you for talking about that with us, it feels right to me to share those things to help each other do better mentally.

Me too! Looking forward to see the review. Although, I've already made up my mind and bought my first dingbats notebook, there was a discount and couldn't resist the purple colour of the one with the hipopotamus on the cover 💜 I'm a bit scared about how thin the paper is, my current journal is 160 and the previous one was 180... so, not sure how I will be dealing with this one. I would love to see your video! 😻