Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for the Chicago Planner Conference 2024 Swag Bags. We wish we had enough for everyone, but alas our two winners are Amy and Katie:
Winners have been contacted via email. More giveaways and holiday fun coming soon!
I finally made a decision in my long research for an ereader to replace my old and out-of-date readers. I purchased a Kobo Clara BW ($129 might be on sale for Black Friday) I get the irony of buying a new ereader from Amazon but shipping was quick, free and the device was returnable should I decide it is not right for me.
I chose the Kobo for a lot of reasons.
It is not tied to the Amazon/Kindle ecosystem. While I can buy Kindle books and convert them to use on my Kobo, I am no longer stuck in Amazon’s ecosystem.
Kobo devices have Overdrive built-in. I don’t have to check out library books through the Amazon website before they appear on my device anymore. Books can be searched, downloaded or added to my holds list directly on the device when connected to a wifi network. I can also return the books I check out on the device without having to do any additional steps.
I was able to side load my own screensavers (no ads!!!) or I can select current book as my screensaver instead of the ads on Kindle. I know other devices don’t have ads but I had to make a choice and the Kobo accommodated my desire to not have weird, not-for-me books advertised to me every time I opened the device.
I could have purchased the Kindle Basic model which has similar specs (no warm light setting though) and is a little cheaper (with ads! or the same price with the ads removed). However, I am glad to be less reliant on the Amazon ecosystem. I know I won’t be able to completely distance myself from Amazon (there are some things that I can only buy or access via Amazon) but a Kobo ereader means Amazon doesn’t own my whole life. No shade to anyone who loves and stays with Kindle. Its an easy option and Kindle Unlimited is often where many popular books can be found.
I spent a lot of time on the r/Kobo reddit reviewing ways to port over books I had purchased on my Kindle over the years as well which required learning to use Calibre but for the most part, it’s just a one and done conversion and upload since my future purchases will largely be made through the Kobo ebook shop or elsewhere. On the rare occasion that a book is only available via Kindle, I will purchase and convert it via Calibre.
I debated buying one of the newer color e-ink devices but they were considerably more expensive than the Clara BW and until I see one in person, the comments about less contrasty screens, yellow streaks and “screen door effect” make me hesitant to consider one.
In the end, I absolutely love the Clara BW. It is small, long battery life, good storage and it’s “just an ereader”. I don’t need another “do everything” device. I want to easily read books without being buried under more paper books. I want to check ebooks out from the library. The Kobo checked all those boxes. The only thing I wished I could have gotten is the Kobo Libra 2 with the slightly larger 7″ screen and page turning buttons but Kobo is no longer selling the BW version and only offers the Libra in a color model.
This wraps up my adventure with technology for reading. I am happy with my choice and now I just want to enjoy a cup of coffee and curl up with the latest book I downloaded from my library. Any guesses what I’m reading right now?
Now, on to the links!!
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DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.i
When Ana returned from the Chicago Planner Conference last week she told me she brought me a little something. It turns out that while shopping at Atlas Stationers, she brought me a peach ink: Endless Alchemy Stardust Magic Peach Fuzz (45mL for $20).
Now maybe I’m biased, but this might be my favorite peach ink that I’ve reviewed. This one manages to be both soft, and orangey, just like the flesh of a ripe peach. It shades beautifully.
The Stardust inks are supposed to have a shimmer to them. Magic Peach Fuzz has a white shimmer to it. While the bottle already contains some shimmer, an additional vial of extra shimmer is added in the packaging so you can up the shimmer factor if you so desire. The instructions caution to try the ink first. I’ll be honest – I shook the bottle up and dug to the deep recesses of the bottom and, while I could see the shimmer within the ink, I don’t see it on any of my swatches. I even added a bit extra, and still didn’t see it.
That said, I kind of dig this ink. It wrote beautifully and dried relatively quickly. You know I’ve been on a quest this year to find peach inks. While I initially started out with the goal of finding one that matched the Pantone color of the year, I’ve sort of been looking for the right ink.
You can see here that Magic Peach Fuzz is between Ferris Wheel Press Definitely Peachy and Diamine’s Peach Haze. If I were doing a gradient, I think these three would fit together well. Magic Peach Fuzz is more orange and less ethereal than Definitely Peachy, but no where near as intense neon as Peach Haze. It’s sort of the perfect shade in between. A balance of delicate and very readable.
So no magic shimmer, but a lovely shade I’m inclined to keep using. The choice is yours!
DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
While at the Chicago Planner Conference last week, I was able to pick up some sample products from Happy Planner. I got a discbound notebook, some stickers and folder extras. I was familiar with Happy Planner as I’ve often heard other people mention them and had seen some of their products stocked in places like big box craft stores.
The Happy Notes notebook I received is the Simple Sprigs design (on sale for $8.39) and is the Happy Planner CLASSIC size (7.5″ x 9″) which, on the website, is actually the medium size. There is also a MINI (4.625” x 7”) and a BIG (8.5″ x 11″). Prices for the notebooks range between $6 to $24 depending on size and if its on sale.
Each notebook comes with 60 pages of pre-printed paper and three matching tabs to help organize your notebook. The covers are laminated card stock and printed with matching designs on the front and back making it possible to reverse the cover if I want to “mix it up”.
The dividers match the aesthetic of the cover and the designs on the paper. This particular notebook has a sweet, cottage core vibe. The cover has some gold foil accents on the leafy pattern.
The discs are a simple grey color and the centers are punched with a heart shape. Discs can be changed out or upgraded as needed. There are aluminum discs as well as plastic discs and in a range of sizes. I should not have looked at all the options because some are so cool — ghost cut out, tortoise shell and glittery styles!
There are phrases printed on the paper and tabs that is designed to be inspiring and uplifting. I’m a salty human that tends to roll my eyes at “stay kind” and “dream big” messages but the flowers are pretty and honestly, right now, I probably need more positivity and less grumpiness so I’m going to embrace the messaging instead of covering them up with washi tape.
Each page is printed with light grey dotted lines. I don’t usually go in for lined paper but the lines are really light, lighter even than shown in the photo below, and is just enough to keep text tidy without being too distracting.
I could not find any specific information about the type of paper used in the notebook but it felt like it might be fountain pen friendly.
With fountain pens on this paper, only about 50% of the fountain pens behaved appropriately. Anything wider than an EF or Japanese F had issues with bleeding and feathering. Despite some wonky behavior of the fountain pens, there wasn’t terrible bleed or show through on the back. But I don’t think the notebook was ever designed to be used with fountain pens.
Most of the gel, rollerball, felt tip and brush pens behaved appropriately and had very little bleeding or show through on the back of the paper.
The great thing about the Happy Planner notebook is that you can also purchase refill papers and fill your notebook with different designs and layouts without being stuck in a bound book. You can also remove and rearrange pages and dividers at will. This feature should not be overlooked. It essentially makes the covers reuasable and other papers can be added to the notebook with a simple paper punch.
I also received a set of the three plastic envelopes, The Breathe Live Explore set (on sale for $4.99), which include hole punches to fit snap into the discs in a Happy Planner. Happy Planner uses the same mushroom shaped punches that other discbound planners use so these envelopes might fit into other notebooks or planners as well.
The envelopes are only about 3.25″ wide and will hold receipts and other small bits of paper but it is pretty narrow and does not accommodate their Classic Sticker Sheets which seems like an oversight.
The envelopes are pretty and feel durable and I love adding things to my notebooks and planners that help keep me organized and tidy but I wonder if these are more aesthetic than functional since they are so slim.
I was most familiar with the Happy Planner Classic Sticker Books. These tall slim books (9″ x 4.75″) include approximately 30 pages with dozens of stickers on each page in a specific theme or style with prices ranging from about $19-$25 at full price and on sale for as little as $6 for older designs.
The sticker book I received is the “Shibori” collection (on sale for $11.99) with includes a lot of indigo blue patterns and designs. The overall effect felt more like Greek terrazzo tiles than Japanese Shibori.
Some of the stickers included a lovely copper foil stamping but most of the sticker pages are litho print only. All are kiss cut.
The stickers are designed to work with and fit into the size and shapes of the standard Happy Planners and notebooks but can be used in other books if your choose.
There are some simple stickers with messages like “due” or “plan” but others have inspiring messages. If messaging is not your thing, be sure to look through the sticker book images to see how many wordy stickers are in the set. I’m not a big Disney fan but the Disney Good vs. Evil sticker set has some messaging stickers that are more in line with my salty outlook with messages.
I’d say the paper in the Happy Planner notebook performed adequately for the price point and the customers it was designed for. Its acceptable. I will probably continue to use the notebook for project planning and various notes and an excuse to use my massive collection of non-fountain pens. I wish the paper was more fountain pen friendly but the designs are cute and the price is good, especially since the system in modular. I can always use the covers and fill the notebook with my own papers.
The Plastic Envelopes are pretty but not as useful as I had hoped but, dang, are they cute! And finally, the sticker set is a good value. If you find a set that taps into your favorite look or aesthetic, than they are a good value.
My final perspective is that I had always overlooked Happy Planner because I had seen them in big box craft stores and assumed it was cheap junk but I am pleased to discover that the products are well-designed, pretty and overall good quality. In today’s economy, its kind of a delight to see such quality products that are available at reasonable prices and accessible in store and online.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Happy Planner for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
ED Note: Notebook sizes corrected 11/19/24
The Chicago Planner Conference was a bounty of swag. So much so that I’d like to give TWO readers the chance to relive the conference vicariously through a swag bag.
I have sorted through all the swag and did my best to evenly distribute it all between two totes: a Chicago Planner Conference 2024 grey tote and a Happy Planner black cotton tote. Each will be filled with goodies. Maybe even a few Well-Appointed Desk extras too!
There are stickers, candles, decorative items for embellishing your planner or notebook, notepads, pens and so much more.
There is also a super soft, grey Chicago Planner Conference t-shirt that, if you wear a unisex medium, can be yours as well.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below, tell me if you’ve ever been to a Planner Conference or if you would ever consider attending such an event. Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.
If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on November 19, 2024. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Wednesday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.
Congrats to the winners of our Galen Leather 1870 Marbled Notebooks. Both randomly selected winners chose the Ocean Waves color so I am going to let them fight it out with poetry! Limericks, rhymes, and haikus are accepted! LOL!
Seriously, thanks to everyone who entered (and Galen Leather for providing such delightful prizes) and stay tuned for more giveaways!
I was surprised to see that Ryder Carroll of Bullet Journal fame was also on the hunt for an ereader — or an option to more consciously consume content. I am still researching a perfect solution for myself but I was fascinated to see the amount of personal insight Ryder used in his choices.
Are you also trying to be more thoughtful about your media consumption? More books and music and less doom scrolling?
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t want to miss any of the great (BONUS) content available from The Well-Appointed Desk, be sure to check out our Patreon. Thanks!!!
