my bullet journal arsenal: pens, paper and random bits of paraphernalia

As much as I love that bullet journaling requires the bare minimum of materials (a notebook and pen is enough!), I'm someone who likes to have a few more things to make my 'bujo' that bit more neat and reflective of my personality. My bujo arsenal now looks as follows...

Paper

My first bujo was a Papier one, my 2021 one was a Leuchtturm and this year, I've opted for an Ottergami one (blog post in due course!). I like notebooks with paper decent enough for fountain pen and some wetter inks and these all offer me this feature. I also like a decent number of pages in my bujo and again, these all met that requirement. 

Fountain Pens! (Of course...!)

As most of you probably know by now, I like a fine nib and it's no exception when it comes to my bujo. If I'm at home, the pens I would most likely use are:

- Platinum 3776 Century Nice - top of the picture

- Kaweco Student 70s Soul (honestly, such an underrated pen!) - 3rd pen

And if I'm out and about:

- Platinum Procyon - 2nd pen

- Pilot Kakuno - 4th and 5th pens

There are a few others I use for other purposes (I have a journaling fountain pen and a 'One Line a Day' fountain pen too - one can never have too many!) but these are the ones that seem to work best on the notebooks I choose to be my bujo. My Sailor Pro Gear is seeing a fair bit of use in it at present too... Essentially, any fountain pen will do; as long as it is a fountain pen!

Fountain Pen Ink (a natural follow up!)

My brands of choice here are Diamine (affordable, great quality and come in a fantastic range of colours), Sailor and Pilot (not pictured). I have one of the massive bottles of Pilot blue-black ink which I use to top up my work pen; alternating it with a Diamine work appropriate offering. 

Coloured Pens

I feel like one cannot have a bujo arsenal without including Tombow brush pens and Staedtler fineliners. Tombow brush pens have replaced Zebra Mildliners as my highlighters of choice too. Both of these pens mentioned look great in my bujo - not too bright or garish and just the right amount of colour to add a bit of interest to the pages. 

Monotone Pens

Of course Muji have to make an appearance here - their gel pens are a staple and having been using them for the last 16 and a half years, they had to be included. The Unipin finaliser is also great for those doodles and setting up of pages. Highlighting anything written with the Unipin fineliner is great because the ink doesn't smudge. 

A white gel pen - of course. I alternate between this Uniball Signo and a Sakura one. Both have their merits and uses. 

And of course, the Zebra Mildliner. Included here for now while they still have ink in them. Once they're finished, I think Tombow brush pens will end up taking their place. 

Other Random Bits

Kraft paper adds a bit of texture to my pages and I like how white ink looks on it. I've also been experimenting with black paper too which I quite like. It adds a nice contrast to the white pages of my bujo. 

As someone who aims to have a minimalistic bullet journal, I feel that these tools lend themselves nicely to that goal. 

Do you have any essentials in your arsenal that are similar to mine? Or any that you think should be essential for everyone that I've missed out? 

keeping my bullet journal minimalistic

Some bullet journals that are shared online are so artistic, I can only envy their owners. Given time is a major constraint for me (along with artistic skills), my bullet journal remains as minimalistic as possible. This post is to show examples of this...! 

Minimalistic doesn't have to mean boring though I do seem to have a style. I've noticed that I need to make the separation of each day obvious so I do this by making the date larger in size compared to the day next to it. 

The other thing I like to do is have solid black boxes so that I can use a white gel pen to make it pop. This can be seen below. I also clearly separated each day with a solid fine line. 

Occasionally, I'll throw in some colour and a little bit of artistic flair (or lack thereof). 

I find craft paper pretty good at adding something extra to my spreads. 

And instead of using a black fine line, I've used a colour line to emphasise a title here instead. 

More examples of my weekly spreads which are as minimalistic as possible. 

Ultimately, I've realised that I like clean lines and minimalism in my bullet journal. That said, I still try and add some minimalistic decor to it with filled in boxes, craft paper, occasional uses of colour (via Tombow brush pens). However, all I've got to offer is a pretty boring looking bullet journal but it functions excellently for me and that's what matters. (Can I get a cry laughing emoji?)

review: galen leather notebook cover and the everyday book (plus a discount code!)

In the last ten years or so, the quality and variety of notebooks available for fountain pen users has increased vastly. There's also been a shift to higher quality materials from what I've seen online and in person. One such company which marries the two very well is the family-run Galen Leather Co. who are based in Turkey. The pandemic caused a shift in my purchasing habits and anything family-run and not owned by a mega corp have instantly caught my attention and my support. I suppose it's seeing the demise of the traditional high street which has altered my mentality and there is now a conscious effort to try and source things as locally as possible. 

Anyway! Galen Leather Co was started by Zeynep and is now run by her brother and husband. Her story can be found here and I have to warn you, have some tissues at bay. She sounds like an amazing and inspirational lady who saw the best in everything - a quality we can all learn to have. 

I hope I can do her and Galen Leather justice with this review as I have to warn you, it is overwhelmingly positive. Just look at the contents below: it's the little touches that count and the pouch containing some samples of Turkish coffee and teas with a little tag about Galen themselves is truly heartwarming. 

Onto two Galen products. The first one is the Leather Slim A5 Notebook Cover. At the time of writing, they are priced at an extremely reasonable £33 and they come in a neat little box. 

Within the box, there is the cover itself, a card detailing the colour and who made the cover, along with care instructions. There's also a postcard with a handwritten message on the reverse. 

The cover smells delightful and is buttery soft. I can imagine it ageing extremely well and becoming even softer and more characterful with time and use. The quality is divine and feels like it would hold up well to daily use. 

On the inside, there is a card slot on both sides of the cover and also a pen loop. 

And at the reverse, we see the Galen Leather Co stamp in case anyone asks you where it's from so they can get one of their own. It comes in a whole host of classy colours including navy, 'crazy horse' navy blue /brown/forest green/tan/grey as well as in the sizes A5, B6 or A6. 

The Everyday Book in A5 fits perfectly in the A5 leather cover shown above. It comes in a box with a magnetic closure which makes ideal as place to file away documents/papers/anything else you wanted. At £23 for 400 pages of 52gsm Tomoe River Paper, it represents pretty good value. 

And just look at the paper in all its glory. It comes with writing guides as well so no excuses for wonky note taking! 

We all know that the usual reason for buying Tomoe River Paper is for the fountain pen benefits and it doesn't disappoint here... Of course there's significant show through with the permanent fineliner but otherwise, it performs as expected. 

Overall, Galen Leather Co is a family-run company who produce leather and notebook products of the highest quality. If you're after something a bit different or a gift for a stationery-lover, you won't be disappointed. 

If you're tempted, Galen are currently offering a 5% discount using the code WELCOME5.

Disclaimer: The products reviewed are complimentary direct from Galen Leather Co in exchange for a review. However, the review is an honest one and written as if I had bought the products personally. 

a trial by error: a bullet journal for 2020 using a papier notebook!

This post has two parts to it. First, an introduction to Papier notebooks (this is not a sponsored post -  I'm just a very happy customer) and then an introduction to my bullet journal for 2021... Yes, I've finally done it and bit the bullet (pun intended).

Papier offer personalised notebooks in three different layouts: dot grid, lined or plain. I bought three: one was a gift for my sister and the other two were (naturally) for myself. The floral one is lined and the Miffy one is a dot-grid layout. Both come with 90gsm paper, a hardback cover, one ribbon page marker and contain 192 pages. They don't have a pen loop or a back pocket.

I decided to use the Miffy one for my 2021 bullet journal and here comes the second part of this blog post. My bullet journal all set-up, ready to go! (Name not blurred out here as my Instagram and Twitter now have it freely on show.)

My first page was a difficult one to commit to paper. It's a common feeling so not wanting to ruin a new notebook and I decided to take the plunge and just go for it. It's not perfect but it'll do!

The all important index, all ready to be filled in as the journal itself gets filled. 

Next, a mood tracker based on how my day went. We'll see if I tend to be a pessimist or an optimist with this spread...

A future log for any events that are coming up but cannot yet my filled into the monthly or weekly spreads as they are so far in advance. I quite like this view as I can see the upcoming year at a glance.

This year is a big one for me. I have a few goals: one of which include moving into my own house. Having not been abroad since October 2019, I would also like to take a small holiday at some point in 2021 so saving for that is another priority. We'll see how this pans out!

A work checklist here. It is based on the most recent checklist I could find and it keeps me accountable and productive in work-related activities.

With my yearly goal of reading as many books as possible (I read about one book a week at the moment - much slower than when I was at medical school!), I like to keep track of books completed. Another thing I don't do often enough is watch films so that is something I want to do more of this year. This tracker will surely help.

I'm always on the quest to improve myself in all aspects of my life so my own 'personal development plan' (PDP) will hopefully help me with this. PDPs are common in my line of work but I try and make my own so much more, including my personal life and goals in there too. Obviously, the personal side of things don't get documented on my work portfolio.

And onto my first monthly spread! I am going to try a linear vertical monthly spread for January and see how it goes before potentially trying something different for February.

And onto my first weekly spread! I am doing a week to one page to start off with and as my week's start on a Monday, I've included the last week of 2019 in there. This also means I get to start this journal sooner so, win win?

This is all still very new to me but it'll be good to try something different and out of my comfort zone.  Once this journal is filled, I think my next one will have to be one of my Leuchtturms or an Archer and Olive journal. We'll see how this all goes!

*

In a plot twist, I decided to give bullet journaling a go earlier this month. I've posted a few snippets over on my Instagram already but a full blog post will follow at some point once things calm down in a few weeks' time!

full circle: back in a filofax but this time, an A5 original!

Many moons ago, I wrote about my disappointment with the Filofax brand. There were many things: the ring problems, the paper quality, the leather quality, etc. Fast forward a number of years and I have decided to give them another try - mainly because my sister uses an A5 Filofax and has had no issues with hers. Back in the day, I preferred the 'personal' size but reflecting on my needs now, an A5 size felt like the better fit.

I compared the prices of current A5 Filofaxes and narrowed it down to a few options. I knew I wanted leather and something timeless and neutral in colour. It just so happened that this A5 Filofax Original in nude turned out to be the cheapest and I succumbed to ordering it from Amazon as I had a gift card to use, bringing the cost down further. This happens to be the exact same model as the one my sister has too and we're embracing being Filofax twins.

When it first arrived, five of the six rings were perfect. The top ring had a 1.5mm gap to it and I noted that pages kept catching on it so back it went. A replacement arrived a couple of days later and I'm pleased to report this one had no page catching issues though the top ring still looks a bit precarious.

The leather is a lovely patent nude with rough edges which I'm okay with. These pictures make it look lighter than it is - it is more of a true nude in real life.

On the inside, there is an elasticated section which can potentially hold two pens (one would have to be a slim one!), with two card slots and a larger full length slot for anything you choose. As always, I have made a dashboard at the front using the clear plastic that initially came with the Filofax. I have replaced the Filofax dividers with Smythson ones (more on the Smythson in the next few weeks). I prefer the thicker card of these Smythson ones as they feel a lot more durable.

Behind the first divider is a page with some essential info on and to-do lists.

Hiding behind the second one are budget planning sheets and notepaper.

Behind the third section is my planner which I have opted to get from Kikki-K. Let me just say, the paper is unrivalled. It takes fountain pen ridiculously well and the bright white paper is a nice contrast to the blue ink I have decided to use (Kyo-no-Oto Hisoku). There is a year planner, a month planner and a weekly planner within these inserts.

The month inserts have clean lines with a handy 'notes' section on the right side. Each box leaves plenty of space for events that need noting down.

At the top, I have used a Midori clip to denote which month we are currently in and of course, from today, I will be using number '5'.

The inserts themselves are minimalistic and have the bare minimum on them. My only gripe is that there is a slot each day for a 'birthday' which seems a bit excessive. However, I've found more than enough space for each day. Next year, I'll probably go for a week on one page with a notes page on the other side.

Going back to my old ways, I like to add in colour, stickers and washi tape :-)

The final section has a host of notepaper in too. I've got an assortment of notes in here and the one I've shown is what I need to finish this year in training (which runs until August 2019) and what I need if I decided to opt for Emergency Medicine as a career. This is so I can stay focussed with my eyes on the prize.

Unfortunately, I'm still finding the Filofax paper to be a bit shoddy on quality so I've resorted to ordering some 90gsm A5 plain paper to print on and punch myself.

At the back, I have a zipped pocket from Kikki-K, currently empty but will fill up in no time. There is also an A5 Tomoe River paper notebook (unfortunately, I've forgotten the brand!).

Though still early days in this Filofax, I am already preferring it to the Leuchtturm I was using. As much as I liked using a bound diary, it did irk me that I'd have to transfer information from one planner to another. I also don't like writing things down and then not being able to rip it out and shred/recycle it once no longer needed. Hopefully, this Filofax will serve me better!