Shop Spotlights! - #StationeryShopSaturday

I have decided to share three of my long term favourite shops with you all today! These are small businesses that have been doing what they do for a while now, and I have been a big supporter of for a majority, (if not all!) of that time. Every single one of them I know for a fact spends hours each day building their shop up to be the amazing places that they are today.

It wasn't an easy choice narrowing it down to just three, but here are the lovely ladies I wanted to share. 

('Be Happy' Brimbles Box - £15.00)

First up I have one of my very good friends and an all round wonderful artist, Anna from Mrs Brimbles. I've known Anna for most of my 'creative career' and she has been a wonderful support along the way. She has an amazing worth ethic and brings out some wonderfully put together collections! 

You can buy her products separately, or the full collection as a 'Brimbles Box' which retails for £15.00, and includes things like journal cards, papers, and stickers. They are great if you want a corresponding collection to use on a journal spread or scrapbooking page.

('Alice In Plannerland' Brimbles Box - £15.00)

If you join her Facebook group you can see sneak peaks on her future collections, plus she sometimes asks for ideas and feedback on themes.

She has been creating her own products for her collections for a little while now, and I personally love seeing what beautiful illustrations she comes up with each month. 

(Various sticker sheets she has available!)

Next up I wanted to share Michelle and Patch, another amazing lady who designs all her own products! I've been a big fan of Michelle and Patch for a while now, and use her stickers in my journals all the time. They are so beautifully illustrated with so much detail put into each design, and the sticker paper quality is top notch!

(Weekly Planner Pad)

She has recently branched out from stickers and has a few new items available, including desk pads, pencil cases and pins! Again all of them have been beautifully designed by Michelle. 

I think two of my all time favourite products from her have to be her stationery stickers, and the mail themed stickers. I can't even begin to count how many times those stickers pop up in my various journal spreads!

(Various different paper products!)

Last but by no means least is the lovely Crafty Ali! She is my go to for paper goodies, as she has such a variety on her shop. Along with Anna and Michelle, she also illustrates and designs some of her own products. 

I have been lucky enough to be gifted a few bits and pieces from her shop in the past, as well as a couple of purchases. Ali also prints all my postcards for my Patreon which are always brilliant.

She's great at what she does and if you are on the hunt for inserts or just some fun paper goodies, definitely take a nosey!

(Standard TN inserts)

She has multiple listings on her Etsy shop for TN inserts, and you can customise everything about them. Paper colour, lines, blank, dots, etc. I'm always getting asked what inserts I'd recommend getting for a TN style journal, and I always mention Ali's shop. There's not many places that do them so customisable. 

Have you heard of all these shops before?

- Daisy X

*Please note, all the shops featured I have worked with in the past, but I have chosen to share them as I genuinely stand by what they do and would recommend time and time again.

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National Stationery Week is Coming!

If you weren't already aware National Stationery Week is next week, from the 29th - 5th! You can take a look on the National Stationery Week website to find out more and join in with the daily hashtags for the week.

I will have a blogpost for each day next week to go along with each of the daily hashtags. You will finally get a peak at my new desk set up, as a lot has changed around since I moved!

I thought this was a good time to start things back up on the blog again. I've missed blogging massively! But between the big life changes and the other content I put out regularly, the blog had to take a back seat.  

I'm not going to ramble too much here, this blogpost is simply a 'Hi!' to let you know that next week there will be some content popping up on here.

I hope you will all enjoy celebrating everything stationery with me next week!

- Daisy X

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Wilko Travelers Notebook/Organiser Review!

Lots of people have been talking about this new TN style notebook/organiser that Wilko has recently released in their latest stationery collection. So I thought I'd get my hands on one, have a play around with it, and give you my opinion on it!

First of all, if you've not heard about it yet or haven't got your hands on one, here's a little info on the dimensions and nitty gritty 'boring' stuff. 

It's an A5 Travelers Notebook style notebook. It costs £5, and comes with four A5 notebooks/inserts inside. The cover is 'Leather effect' which is some sort of PU material. Inside there are four elastics, and there are two poppers on the cover to fasten it (which means there's a little growing room in this notebook!). 

They list it on their website as an 'organiser' but many of us know that even though the inserts might be for organising, the style of this notebook is very similar to a TN.

It is quite a chunk of a notebook, which personally I quite like. The material used for the cover is very floppy by itself, but with the four notebooks inside it holds its shape. Once you've opened the notebooks up inside and used them a little more, the whole notebook does lie completely flat. Which in my mind is definitely a perk! 

The double popper is a really nice design choice, I've seen a couple of people in the community mention that they like this feature. They've designed it so there's extra material on the flap, which covers the second popper. So if you choose to fasten it on the inside popper, the popper you aren't using wont be on show. It's a small design decision that makes a big difference. 

The inserts that come with it are very basic, they're undated and each one is decorated differently. It was really nice to see that they hadn't just put four of their classic lined A5 notebooks in there. Instead they've actually put some thought into each one, so it gives you a bit of a starting point on how to use this TN as a whole.

The first insert is the 'Daily Journal' which has a leaf design on the cover and the title is gold foiled.

Inside each page is split into 3 sections with lines, and a little space to put the date. I quite like this and think you could actually use this for a multitude of different things. Of course there's it's intended purpose of a daily journal, but it would work well as a gratitude journal,  or even a planner if you split one box in two, for the weekend.

The next one is titled 'Edit Undo.' which again has the gold foil on the title, and this time it has a pink ombre cover. 

To start with I thought this was just an insert of plain paper, but when you get to the halfway point in the middle, all the paper in the other half of the insert is actually gridded. I quite liked this as you almost have two notebooks in one, and the grid boxes are also nice and dinky.

The third insert is 'Notes', this one is probably has the most plain cover. It's just a really dark teal, very similar to the PU cover of the TN, and again the title is gold foiled (gotta love a bit of gold foiling!).

This one, as you can probably tell, is a simple lined notebook all the way through. When I have any sort of planner or journal, I always need some sort of doodle/scribbly note paper or insert where I can brain dump things. So even though it's very simple, I don't see it as a bad addition to this TN.

Last of all we have this insert which has the title 'This Year' on it. The cover has a green 'tiger style' stripe design. 

I feel like the whole Hypernatural collection that this notebook is a part of, has a jungle sort of vibe to it.

Inside each month takes up the front and the back of a page, with the dates going down the left hand side of the pages. Once you get to the end of December it goes onto some 'notes' pages, which are just lined paper. 

Of course this is undated so you could start using it anytime of the year. I suppose much like the first insert, there could be various different uses for this insert. Planning your year ahead, making notes of peoples Birthdays, or even a 'sentence a day' style of journaling.

I think the elastics were the only thing I had doubts about. As many of us who use Travelers Notebook style journals and planners know, you are swapping and moving inserts in & out of the TN every week, sometimes daily. The elastic used in here reminds me of the type of elastic they use on product packaging around Christmas time, basically it feels a bit cheap. 

Granted it's only £5 for the whole thing, but this is one of the main parts going towards the functionality of the notebook. If it snaps or weakens, you can't use it as intended anymore.

Saying that I've not fully used this for weeks on end yet, so I guess time will tell. I also don't think it would be too difficult to rethread with different elastic if something were to happen to it though.

All in all it's a pretty good little notebook. Still not 100% sure what to call it, but I'm definitely swaying more towards a TN because it's so similar to how those function. 

I'm also really excited to see if Wilko bring out more of these again in the future, and possibly expand on the sizes they offer. 

If you want to get your hands on one, they do have it available online here.

Have you used this TN style notebook yet? Do you like it? Let me know!

- Daisy X

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Nellie Never Forgets, Greetings Card Subscription!

I love coming across new stationery subscriptions, and this one is a bit different to any I've had before! I really love the idea behind it. They are a relatively new business on the greetings card market so I'm excited to share a little bit about them with you guys!

The lovely Ashley from Nellie Never Forgets got in touch with me and asked if I'd like to share & review a box! He founded the business with a wonderful purpose behind it, to help people stay in touch. I completely agree that a card or any piece of mail sent to someone means so much more than a text message. Who doesn't like getting mail?! (Unless it's a bill...)

In the subscription pack you get three cards sent to you each month for the very reasonable price of £6.99! (plus FREE shipping to the UK!)

The cards arrive packaged in tissue paper, then in a cardboard box, and a plastic mailer (I'm assuming the plastic mailer is to avoid any water damage on the off chance they get wet in transit. But I think they would be perfectly safe with just the cardboard box, which would help with not using any unnecessary plastic). 

It's sent as a large letter, making it small enough to fit through the letterbox, so the postie won't have to knock!

I've got a little stash of greetings cards, and I'm always adding to it. They come in so handy if someone's Birthday has crept up on me and I don't have time to go out and find a card. 

The cards all have really nice simple designs, and on the website it states that they are designed by some of the leading greetings card designers. 

The print quality of the cards is pretty good, I wouldn't say it's top top quality, but it's definitely really nicely done. The card it's printed onto is good quality textured card, and they all come with a kraft envelope.

All the cards are blank on the inside, which is a personal preference of mine because I don't always want the standard 'Happy Birthday' written in there. Sometimes I like to add my own twang to my message! 

As you can see the cards I received weren't all Birthday cards, there was a nice variety for different occasions which I think is definitely the right way to go with this sort of subscription service. Having cards for any occasion is so handy, and also the style of each card is a little different too. 

They all have beautifully simple designs, but there's a mix of different size and style of font on each.

If you don't send cards out to people, I think it's one of those things that is worth getting into the habit of doing. I'm of course a 'happy mailer' so I send lots of mail out to people, just to spread a little sunshine and put a smile on peoples faces.

  A handwritten message is so much nicer to receive over a text. Even though it's a little more expensive than a text, if it brings a smile to someone's face, it's 100% worth it in my mind.

Something I liked with the branding is just how neat and simple it is. The logo that's on the back of them all isn't too busy or fancy so it doesn't take the focus away from the front of the card at all. I'm someone who always takes note of these sorts of things, I appreciate branding that's been nicely done and fits well with the product!

If you would like to try out Nellie Never Forgets then you can get your first box completely FREE! Yep, that's right, FREE.  If you use the code GCFREEBOX your total will come down to £0.00! (If you live outside of the UK there may be postage charges) 

I thought this was so lovely of Ashley to offer this up for you guys, so go check out the website and get some happy mail sent out to your loved ones!

Click here to head over to the website.

Also you don't have to sign up for a fixed amount of time, you can sign up for however long you want as it's a monthly rolling subscription!

I hope you've enjoyed having a little closer look at the Nellie Never Forgets greetings card subscription. If you grab yourself a free box, let me know!

- Daisy X

*Please note, this is a sponsored blogpost. Even though I've been paid & this box was sent to me free of charge, this does not sway my views and opinions. I will always share my honest views on the product and company.

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Momoka 53, First Impressions Review!

Today I have a beautiful brand to share with you guys, one which I've never heard of before!

I was contacted by Momoka herself asking if I'd like to review some of her notebooks. I get a lot of review requests and always take a look at the websites to see if anything catches my eye.

These notebooks definitely did!
(We will also be teaming up to bring you guys a giveaway over on my Instagram, so make sure you are following me on there so you don't miss out!)

A brief run down on Momoka and her brand, Momoka 53... 

Momoka is a textile designer & hand weaver. She finished a masters degree in Textile Design at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, and then went on to sell her designs worldwide.

She doesn't just sell notebooks on her website, there's a range of clothes, homewares and various other items. But today I'm here to share with you her very unique notebooks!

These notebooks are hand dyed and foiled by Momoka herself, so every notebook is completely one of a kind.

The packaging and presentation of the notebooks is also something to point out. I was sent a little catalogue and note from Momoka, they were in a little kraft envelope with twine & a wax seal.

Of course this might not be something she does with every order, but I wanted to share it because it was just too pretty not to.

Each notebook comes in a very sturdy grey box, with a gold foiled logo on the front. It's very simple packaging, but it helps to conceal the beautiful product inside. If you are considering getting one of these notebooks as a gift for someone, then these boxes are brilliant.

Seeing as they are such great quality, I'm actually going to be keeping them to store bits and pieces in! They definitely aren't boxes you would just throw away after using haha!

As I said before, the notebooks themselves are one of a kind. Each one has been hand dyed by Momoka, both of these notebooks came with a little card which I'm assuming is sharing the date it was made, and also which number notebook it is from the batch. This is something I've never had with a notebook before, and honestly it does make it feel that little more special. It's not something that's been mass produced. It's something that's had a lot of care and attention gone into making it, and really is, one of a kind.

When it comes to the notebook's details, I mentioned that they were hand dyed and gold foiled. From what I can tell, the material is a type of denim, and the mix of the blue denim and gold foiling is something I've not seen before on stationery, and I honestly really love it! 

As you can see above the gold foiling looks slightly 'worn', this is how it is meant to look. I've had a good scratch at the gold foiling to see how well it's stuck on there, and I can assure you, it's on there good and proper! There was no flakiness what so ever on either of the notebooks, and seem very durable considering it's gold foiling.

The notebooks also have gold metal corners & gold foiling around the edge of the pages. Again I think this sections of gold do compliment the material of the notebook really well.

I don't think the notebooks would have been the same if they didn't have those gold corners, they definitely give the notebook that's 'finished' feel.

The pages are dotted throughout the whole notebook. This may be a negative for some people, but personally I enjoy using dotted pages. I have dotted pages in my current bullet journal and I've found that they are a nice middle ground between gridded and blank pages. If you aren't a dotted page fan though, then this might be a con for you, as there's no option on the website right now for any other choice of paper.

Above is a photo of the whole cover, back & front, so you can see the overall design. This is the A5 notebook, and it has the 'Horizon' gold foiling design (there's four different gold foiling designs to choose from). The white sections where the material has been dyed will be unique to each notebook, so keep in mind that your notebook may look different to mine & the ones featured on the website.

This notebook is the smaller A6 sized one, and it has the 'Sun' gold foiling design. I think at the moment I do prefer this 'Sun' design, to the 'Horizon' design on the A5 sized one. This design also carries on to the back of the notebook, and as you can see the dyed sections on this A6 are different to the A5 notebook. This notebook is laid out exactly the same, the only difference is that it is smaller!

Both notebooks also have a little 'Hand made by Momoka 53' printed on the inside of the notebook. The branding is nice and simple with the product & packaging, there's nothing too overwhelming which I think is really good. It's there, but it's not in your face or ruining the overall look of the product.

When it comes to paper quality and pen tests, I decided to try out a variety of different pens on the paper. I went for a few pens I use very often, and also some pens that are relatively popular.

So from top to bottom there is..

Stabilo Green Point 

Generic Pink Highlighter

Generic Black Gel Ink Pen

Blue Coleto Pen

Nano Liner Permanent Ink

Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner

Turquoise Sharpie Permanent Marker

As you can see the only two that bled through a bit were the two permanent markers! (which is a given really as permanent markers are pretty intense!)

There was slight shadowing on the Stabilo Green Point because it's more of a felt tip type of pen. But the rest were completely fine! The paper isn't overly thick, and is definitely more on the thin side (80g), but it held up well considering, and it is very pleasant to write on.

Overall I'm honestly very impressed with both the notebooks, and also the brand as a whole! You can tell a lot of effort has gone into these beautiful notebooks, and Momoka really does an amazing job!

You can take a look at her website here.

I'll also leave links to the exact products featured below:

Graceful Decay A5 Notebook - Style 'Horizon' (£20)

Graceful Decay A6 Notebook - Style ' Sun' (£15) 

(Standard shipping to the UK is FREE)

Let me know what you think of these notebooks, and also be sure to keep an eye out over on my Instagram for the collaborative giveaway I'm doing with Momoka 53!

Thanks so much for reading - Daisy X

*Please note, even though these products were sent to me free of charge, this does not sway my views and opinions. I will always share my honest views on the product and company.

My Newest Washi & Tape!! | August 2016

So over the past few months I've accumulated quite a few new tapes. Some are washi, some are glitter and some are plastic. I thought it'd be nice to share them, as some of them are pretty tricky to show when they are all rolled up.

Just a heads up, I will of course share where they are all from. But I'm not sure if all of them are still available, and all of them I purchased in store. I'm going to try and find links to where you can buy them online though! (at the bottom of this blogpost)

A lot of these tapes are from Paperchase, this summer I've had quite a few London trips for various events, but I can't go to London without popping into the flagship store on Tottenham Court road!

The pack of 'Purr Maids' tape was one of the first packs I picked up. This was one of the new collections I got to see when I attended the Back To School blogger event. I immediately fell in love with it and got myself a pack as soon as they were available in store!

My washi tapes are something I don't limit myself from buying. They are small, so a lot of them won't take up a ton of room. They are also something that you can easily gift in happy mail as 'washi samples' etc. So if you get bored of one design, you can always use it up. Unlike a notebook or something, where if you get bored of it you would have to get rid of the whole thing. 

That's my justification anyways hahah!!

These MT thin washi tapes come in packs of three for just £3, and I bought both packs from the Paperchase flagship store in London. Funny enough the normal sized rolls of MT washi are a similar price, and personally I don't feel they are as 'worth it' when I can get three rolls for about the same price (my bargain hunter brain kicks in). These are amazing quality washi tapes though, and I love the different colour combinations you can get. I've also been trying to grow my collection of thin washi tapes, as they do come in very handy when you are bordering things off in a planner, or a journal.

This roll of washi is from Paperchase, I think I got this one in the Manchester flagship store? (if not then it would be the Tottenham Court road store) I am in love with these overlapping washi designs, this one has a mixture of raspberry pink, turquoise, yellow and gold foiled in it! Which have all been my go to summer colours at the moment!

Tapes like this add a lot more interest to a page, without too much effort on your end. Of course you could  rip up lots of different tapes and overlap them, but this tape definitely saves time.

The last tapes I have to share are all from Flying Tiger, I picked up a pack of three washi tapes for £2. They have a lot of really nice packs available at the moment so if you are passing by a Flying Tiger anytime soon, I'd definitely recommend popping in! 

I also picked up a couple of their plastic tapes which they have available at 2 for £1. One has chunk of colour, and the other has simple blue and turquoise stripes.

I managed to find links to a few of them online, but as I said at the start, I did buy all of these in store so I couldn't find links to them all.

Purr Maids Tape Pack

MT Thin Washi - Pack 1

MT Thin Washi - Pack 2

I'm very excited to start using all of these in my projects. The last photo just fills my heart, I love all that colour in one place!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!

- Daisy X

Back To School Giveaway! Ft. Flying Tiger [ CLOSED ]

Welcome to my back to school giveaway! It's not really back to school for me, it's been a while since I was at school or college. BUT doing an annual giveaway means I get to experience the fun of going 'back to school' stationery shopping, and three of you lovely people get a nice bundle of stationery. Whether you are at school/college/working, it doesn't matter, this is a giveaway for anyone!

If you have come here from my YouTube video, then you will know what's what. If you haven't then I'll leave the video at the bottom of this blogpost.

But in short I will be giving away a bundle of Flying Tiger stationery to one of you lucky ducks!

The prize bundle includes:

- Pack of decorative paper

- Exercise book

- Ruler

- Pencil case

- Pen pack

- x2 Plastic tapes

- Paper clip pack

- Washi tape pack

All of this will go to one winner. There's two other bundles that can be won over on my YouTube video!

Above is an overview of the prizes, designs and styles will vary, there's no saying you will get the exact bundle above. All bundles will be packed up prior to the giveaway ending and then sent out to the winners at random.

SO if you would like to enter, all you have to do is enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. You can get a maximum of four entries, the only mandatory thing you have to do to enter is to follow me on Bloglovin'.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules

- Giveaway ends on the 23rd of August @ 12am BST (Midnight on the 22nd).

-  If you are under the age of 18 or still living with your parents, please make sure you have their permission to enter, as if you win you will need to provide your address.

- This is an international giveaway.

- There will be two winners on the video, and one winner on my blog.

- Please give me at least 48 hours to pick and announce the winners, I am still very busy and going through hundreds of comments is very time consuming!

- If I see anyone trying to cheat/gain extra entries in anyway at all, they will be automatically disqualified & blacklisted from any future giveaways.

- Winners must get back to me within a week of the giveaway ending, if not they may have to forfeit their prize.

Go and enter over on my video for two more chances to win!

(Please note comments lefts on this blogpost will not count towards any entries. You must comment in the YouTube video comments)

Good luck to everyone who enters!

- Daisy X

Kikki-k Goodies | March 2016

I'm sure a lot of you have already seen the video I did on my new Wellness Planner from Kikki-k. But I wanted to put together a little blogpost sharing not just the planner, but also the other things I got on my trip to Kikki-k a couple of weeks ago.

I've shared them briefly on videos, it's tricky to show details on there though. I bought three things from Kikki-k, the Wellness Planner, a notepad and a pen from their new cat collection!

I did hold back from buying the whole shop, I thought three things wasn't tooo much of a splurge.

Plus I did try to get in the mindset of 'only buy things you know you can use, not just because they are pretty'. So a pen, a notepad and a pretty planner... I got 2 out of 3 with that mindset, I think I did well. If you haven't been to any of the Kikki-k stores in London yet, then definitely go and have a nosey! You can most definitely make a stationery shopping day trip in London as there's stationery shops dotted all over the place.

As I said before the pen I got was from the new cat collection. But not being the biggest cat fan (they are cute and everything but I don't go gah gah for them), I went for something that didn't have cats on. I love the Kikki-k pens, I have a few already! They are very smooth to write with and the perfect size for most planner loops. The design on the barrel was just different trees with pop's of mint and peach dotted about! Simple but fun, my favourite sort of design!

The notepad I bought isn't just a plain old notepad (I have like 10 of those so that would have been silly y'no....), it has beautifully patterned pages!
There's a mixture of lined, gridded and plain paper, but they all have super cute decoration on them. Above is just one of the 20 different designs throughout the notepad (there's 120 pages). The versatility of a notepad like this is what made me buy it. The size of it is brilliant, it's not quite A5, but it's not A6 either .. It's somewhere in between. I know I will for sure be using this for journaling, the pages easily come out so I can use them as background paper (I always prefer using paper rather than card stock in my journals as I don't like to bulk them out too much). They would also be perfect for writing letters on, and you could trim them to go into personal or pocket sized planners.

The planner I got is the Wellness Planner, it's a planner which is based on improving your wellbeing. I've done a whole video flipping through all the inserts, so if you want to know exactly what's inside then make sure to watch that (I'll leave it at the bottom of this blogpost). Like the yellow & pink planners by Kikki-k, this one is also textured. I quite like the textured planners as they tend to not show up scratches or marks as obviously, overall they just feel a lot more durable.

The rings and other metal parts on the planner are light gold! Which is my favourite type of gold. 

The foiling on all the dividers also matches this, which just works so well. The rings on the planner were perfect, and I did get to check them in store before purchasing. This is one of the perks of buying in store, just ask one of the shop assistants if you can open it up and take a look at the rings, they will be fine with it. It's much better checking there, than getting home and finding you have a dodgey set of rings.

I was debating whether to make my own dividers for this planner, but for the first time ever I'm going to have a go at using the dividers it came with. The gold foiling just matches so well with the planner and I feel like it'd be a shame not to use them. As I'm going to be trying out all the inserts, and it'll be totally new ground for me (I've not used any inserts like this before). It just makes sense to keep things simple and stick with what it comes with, then alter as I need to in the future!

One of the things that I wish they did in all the planners, was have an extra 'fun' sticker sheet. All planners come with the tab and banner stickers for you to use. But this one had a really cute sheet of inspirational stickers! It's just a little extra perk to this planner. 

I hope you enjoyed having a closer look at the goodies I picked up in London the other week, when I visited the Kikki-k store!

If you want to see the video I did on the Wellness Planner then you can watch that here:

You can find direct links to all the products here:

Wellness Planner

Pen

Notepad

Let me know if you have any questions!

- Daisy X