2017 EDC: Bullet Journal, Roterfaden, Hobonichi, Traveler’s Notebook…

 

Happy 2017!

This post took longer than I planned but I wanted to start the first post of the new year with how my stationery “everyday carry” items evolved since when I started this blog last year.

1. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A4

Last year, I had a post about custom A4 Roterfaden. The brown cover with grey suede inside material ended up going to my husband, and I decided to stick with an original size A4 (which wasn’t as big as I thought it was once I got used to it) with a black leather cover and “magnolia” felt inside. Main reason for the switch was weight. With A6 or A5, it probably wouldn’t add much, but the A4 size was significantly heavier for me when it has suede material inside compared to the one with wool felt.

2. Bullet Journal

My bullet journal is still going strong. I am thoroughly enjoying its flexibility and comprehensive coverage of all my needs. I upgraded the notebook to Stalogy 365 Notebook. It’s not exactly tomoe river paper but almost as thin. Supposedly it has 365 pages but its thickness is not even 15mm! You can see the notebook in the picture above — the black B6-size notebook just under Hobonichi Techo. I didn’t want to keep changing the journal too often, since I keep a lot of valuable notes that should be useful for a long time.

Very simple monthly view.

Daily notes and tasks. This is what I love the most about bullet journaling — flexibility. There is no confinement of the space; you write as much or as little as you need to according to each day’s needs. And I love how i can just jot down notes (even lengthy notes) without having to pull out a separate notebook.

3. Hobonichi Techo

Ok, not too proud of this but I had made an impulse purchase of Hobonichi Techo late last year. I was really looking forward to the new year and was ready to put it to a good use. And then…

Bullet journal happened!  >_<

Now that I no longer needed a daily planner, I had to come up with an alternate purpose for it in order to make peace with blowing those precious 33 bucks. So here is the re-purposed Hobonichi:

Is it a sketch book? Is it an art journal? Who cares what it’s called. Basically, I made a commitment to draw something on it each day. (I picked my best ones for the photo shoot here… Many are just simple line sketches. ^^) And because there is nothing more than humans that I enjoy drawing, they’re filled with various faces and poses. Keeping up with this during the week on work days has been challenging. I mean, I practically live at the hospital and come home only to sleep. What makes it work is the realization that I “slack” diligently throughout the work day. Of course no one can work and study non-stop. Of course my days are scattered with “informal” break sessions of browsing the net, reading news, or sometimes staring into empty space… So, if an idea hits, or I come across an interesting photo in the news article, I make a quick sketch. It can be as quick as two minutes.

On weekends or whenever I am off work (as I am this week, woo-hoo!!), I do spend more time on this and love it. For example, the couple of pages shown above are my ink wash practice/experimentation. I had recently developed an (expensive) hobby of fountain pens which then led to inks… I never cared for watercolor paintings, but for some reason, I find ink washes unbelievably beautiful. Thank goodness for ink samples. Otherwise, there would be nothing left of my paycheck. So there they are, my interesting subject of the day, trying out whatever shades of ink that strike my fancy.

4. Traveler’s Notebook

When I first started the blog, I believe I mentioned how I purchased ZLYC leather covers from Amazon rather than going for the original and expensive Midori Traveler’s Notebook. They’re still very useful — the passport size is still doing a great job as my wallet. I decided to splurge on Midori Traveler’s Notebook because I wanted one in black leather and Goulet Pens had a great package deal. I don’t regret my decision; it is truly wonderful. Compared to the cheaper ZLYC brand, the finishing touch really makes a difference. The way the cover folds is different. Finish of the leather is different. If you’re only interested in the functionality, ZLYC is absolutely fine. If you care about the fine details of product design, then be prepared to pay for the superiority. The most obvious difference can be seen on the edge of the leather:

If you can see in the picture above, the edge of the brown leather below (ZLYC) remains as a rough cut piece. The black leather (Traveler’s Notebook) on top, on the other hand, has smoothed, finished edges.

Anyways, this new Traveler’s Notebook can be found in my bag everyday as a companion to the Hobonichi Techo. I have a pouch inside which contains a pencil, a few Copic Multiliner pens, and brush pens — my mobile art supply so I can fill those daily pages in Hobonichi Techo no matter where I am. I also keep a notebook insert with tomoe river paper for more random sketches, and a Field Notes pocket notebook to jot down any quotes or personal notes/journals.

 

I hope you enjoyed the overview and the pictures. I love the format of blogs for in-depth discussions but recently realized Instagram to be a more convenient platform for sharing pictures. For more pictures inside my Hobonichi and other random stuff, look for jottermeow!

 

~meow~

 

Traveler’s Notebook

I stepped into the world of the Traveler’s Notebooks only a few months ago and have since felt amazed by the loyal following and all the creative ways of using the medium. My introduction to this arena was a much cheaper ZLYC brand rather than the ever-popular Midori brand of the traveler’s notebooks but they’re very similar, as far as I can tell based on the numerous posts I’ve read online.

I am now relying more on my trusty Roterfaden for the organization purposes and note-taking, but I still use the regular size traveler’s notebook for my personal journal and record-keeping. It just stays home instead of following me to work and school. What does follow me everywhere, however, is the passport-size traveler’s notebook which functions as my wallet:

ZLYC sells a package of traveler’s notebook set which includes the regular size, a passport size, and a leather pen  case for around $40 on Amazon. I hear the leather quality is much better with Midori brand, but this suits my purpose just fine.

As you can see in the picture, I’ve made some modifications to the elastics. The original ZLYC notebooks’ elastics are very tight, and tend to squish the inserts inside. I’ve changed the elastics of the regular size notebook with a Midori brand elastic, which is thinner and more pliable. For the passport size, what you see in the picture is just one of my hair bands… just because it was right there and softer.

To re-purpose it as a wallet, I purchased a zipper case refill so that I can carry cash and credit cards:

 

And in the middle, I have a blank insert that came with the ZLYC package:

It’s pretty handy to have a notebook in your wallet, as I’ve come to find out. I jot down miscellaneous notes here — mostly definitions and tidbits from here and there. Whenever I am waiting in a line (like the Starbucks store in our hospital that always has a long line), I open this up and start reading. Of course we have our smartphones these days to ensure entertainment wherever we are, but this little notebook actually keeps me productive.

So, hooray for the multi-functionality of the traveler’s notebook!

I know my posts have been rather practical than artsy. If you’d like to see all the wonderful creative ways of using these little notebooks, just google traveler’s notebook and there are tons of blogs and Instagrams with beautiful pictures. I won’t link any since there are so many!

Wow, I’ve been very productive with this blog in the last couple of days. Since this is the end of my weekend, I probably won’t get much chance to write anything else in the next few weeks. My goal is to keep writing regularly though, hopefully at least twice a month. This has been a lot of fun and hope you enjoyed it.

Thank you!

~meow~