In Link Love

Link Love: Snow Day Link Love!

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Snow Day Link Love!

While I sit snowed-in waiting for the next storm system to dump a bucket of snow on me, I am enjoying the process of making plans for 2025 and reading other people’s reflections and goals. Since I have not yet left the house I feel like I am still in the “jump-start the new year” phase of the year. As long as I can’t leave the house, I might as well start a new journal to document my reading, another for work projects, and maybe another that’s just cat shenanigans. Are you still planning your 2025 or is it in full swing?

2024 Recaps & 2025 Plans:

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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In Tools

Buckle Up: We’re Decluttering!

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments

At the end of last year, one of the quilters I follow on YouTube sent out an email telling us to stay tuned – her 30 day decluttering challenge was kicking off January 1. Now, no one really loves the process decluttering, but gosh I do love a clean and tidy space.

Over the last 5 years my craft room/ink den/jobby job station have all become one and, well, there’s a LOT of clutter. So when I got back to the office on January 2nd, I decided to watch the first video and see what was what. I have to say I found her attitude really refreshing. Day 1’s objective was to get rid of trash. Packaging, receipts, left over sticky notes whose use has long been forgotten, plastic, you name it. Your only assignment for Day 1 was to ask yourself “Is this trash?” and then dispose of it if it was. She suggested setting a 15 minute timer and then rewarding yourself with 30 minutes of something you love (playing with inks, or in her case, sewing).

So I did it. And in 15-20 minutes I had two bags of trash. And a big pile of papers to be shredded. I patted myself on the back and knit for a while. Then I thought about it. And then I cleaned out the ink drawer. See I had been keeping all my ink in the boxes they came in, and the drawer was full.

Which meant other bottles stashed all over the place… my desk, my desk drawers, a rolling cart. So I did it. I opened all the boxes and pulled the bottles out. And it was a lot of packaging!

It looks so much better and there’s even room for a couple more bottles if I MUST have them. And with a little more breathing room, I’m sure I’ll use more of what I have! (just need to add inky dots to the tops of them all!)

Now I’m ready for day two? I guess I’m doing this thing.

I’m sure there are many great decluttering series out there, but this is the one I’m following. Obviously she is focused on quilting, but I think most of it can be applied to any area of the house!

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Pentel Brush Sign Pen – Fluorescent Colour Edition

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Pen Review: Pentel Brush Sign Pen – Fluorescent Colour Edition
While the box casts a reflection and makes the pen barrels look a big muddy, don’t let it fool you. These pen bodies are eye-searing bright!

Let’s start this review with a reminder that fluorescent colors are very difficult to capture accurately in photos. With that out of the way, let’s talk about the Pentel Brush Sign Pen Fluorescent Colour Edition (6-pen set, $14.25). As someone who loves Pentel Brush Sign Pens, I couldn’t resist injecting some neon colors into my dreary January.

The set include six pens (which I mis-label below so here’s the official names): Fluorescent Pink, Fluorescent Red, Fluorescent Yellow, Fluorescent Orange, Fluorescent Green, and Flourescent Blue.

The tips of each of the Fluorescent Sign Pens have the same fiber tips as all the other Sign Pens which are surrounded with a plastic sleeve that provides a bit more stability than other fiber-tipped, brush pens.

I have the worst time spelling FLUORESCENT. I don’t know why this word gets me every time. (this photo better represents how bright the pen barrels are.)

On Tomoe River paper, the green marker is more visible than it appears in the photo. The orange and yellow are true flouroscent like classic highlighter colors. To be honest, I think all the colors are similar to classic highlighter inks. The coral color is the most unusual color in the set and might also be described as a neon red. The blue is the least glowy. It’s bright but not eye searing.

I also tested the pens on Creeping Moon 100 gsm dot grid paper and the pens did not bleed through or show through on the 100 gsm.

These pens are deep enough in color to be used for writing but can also be used for highighting or underlining.

I’m not sure how often I’ll use these… maybe my summer journaling will have an 80s throwback? I do enjoy these new colors and I have always loved the quality and writing look of the Pentel Sign Brush Pens so I am inclined to seek out any and all possible options I can find.

If you haven’t tried the Pentel Sign Brush Pens, I highly recommend them. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: Snow Day!

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Fashionable Friday: Snow Day!

This is the time of year for cozy drinks, warm sweaters and frosty nights. I love the quiet that settles over our neighborhood when it snows. I hope, if it’s cold where you are, you are tucked up under a blanket with your favorite warm drink and your favorite notebook and pen. If not, we have recommendations below! Stay warm!

Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for your support and don’t forget to sign up for our Patreon for even more great content!

In Link Love

Link Love: A New Year of Link Love

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: A New Year of Link Love

Happy New Year! I hope you are all as ready to crack open your new planners, set new goals and organize all your hopes and dreams into actionable projects. If not, we have lots of recaps and posts to get you inspired, reflective and focused. Or just distracted enough to keep you entertained on the first day of this new year.

2024 Recaps:

2025 Goals & Plans:

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Other Interesting Things:

New Year’s resolution to plan more, get organized and get more involoved in the stationery community? Consider joining our Patreon. Members get an exclusive podcast, downloadable printables, and more! Your patronage supports this site. W you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Planners & Organizers

2025: Let’s Do This!

Author Laura CameronPosted on 4 Comments
2025: Let’s Do This!

While I can hardly believe we’re already here, standing on the precipice of a new year, the calendar doesn’t lie. So today I’m taking a bit of time to reflect on 2024 and set the runway for 2025.

What will I be using in 2025?

I’m so glad you asked. (You did, didn’t you?) In the last few years I felt like I’ve found a good groove with some tools that work for me. My official planner has become something I keep at my desk, and mostly contains to do lists for work, though a few life events sneak in. In 2024, I used the Paper Republic Timeless Planners, a set of undated notebooks that spanned 6 month periods. I was all set to use them again in 2025 (in fact I even ordered them for another year), but at the last minute I was tempted by a sale on the Effin’ Birds planner (which is still on sale for 50% off at Barnes & Noble). Gosh I do love those swearing birds!

In the journaling department, I’m going to stick with what I started in 2024. I took a beautiful journal from Notebook Therapy and turned it into my place to record my thoughts. Some months I wrote almost daily, many I wrote a couple times weekly, and some months were pretty sparse. But I feel like it was a good setup for me to more or less track my thoughts, reads, knitting projects, creative ideas and more. I included stickers, mementos and lots of Chuck the Duck (he comes in most of the quilting packages I order!)

As for fountain pens, here’s what’s currently inked on my desk:

L to R: Kaweco x Hello Kitty, Hinze Pens, Esterbrook Bungubox Kachfugetsu Flower, Tom’s Studio Wren, TWSBI Diamond Mini Grape, TWSBI Eco Glow in the Dark, Platinum Preppy Maki-e, Pelikan M205 Apatite

What do I want to do differently in 2025?

That’s the real question isn’t it? So far I haven’t picked any words of the year or made any resolutions. But I do want to go back to the class I took from Tom of Sugar Turtle Studios and try and incorporate more creativity into my journaling. Most of what I do is simply write, but I’d like to make it a bit more artistic in presentation.

But really, what I want more than anything is for a happy and healthy new year, full of analog tools, friendship and laughs, and of course… more stationery! Happy new year!

In Planners & Organizers

January Planner Set-Up: Let’s Do this!

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
January Planner Set-Up: Let’s Do this!

I am starting 2025 off with a journal/planner theme that is all icy blues, and that hopefully feels like a quiet blanket of snow. I am hoping that it will fill me with a sense of tranquility, peace and reflection as I head into a new year. Mostly. I will probably be cold but at least I’m leaning into my blue and grey inks and supplies.

Join our Patreon to download our PDf calendar printables!

I’m starting my theme with the Patreon exclusive printable monthly calendar in my B6 Stalogy, as I liike to do.

Inks for January: Diamine Ghost and Callifolio Gris de Payne

I am throwing in a small assortment of blue and grey markers and gel pens and my featured fountain pens are my Sailor Pro Gear Slim “First Snow” from last year and my Pelikan M600 White Stripe, AKA The Ghost. I’ve filled the Sailor with Callifolio Gris de Payne and the Pelikan with, of course, Diamine Ghost.

I am starting off with a few simple page decorations and I will then go back and handwrite in my days of the week and then I’ll be all set to log my daily activities.

Below is the YouTube video of my process and more detailed descriptions of setting up my planner. Please let me know if you’d like to see more videos like these.

Links for everything mentioned above and in the video are listed below.

Pens & Ink:

Stickers, Washi Tape, Etc.

DISCLAIMER: Some items in this post include affiliate links. Also, some items were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. 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.