In feature

Ink Review: Endless Alchemy Stardust Magic Peach Fuzz

Author Laura CameronPosted on 2 Comments

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.

In Paper Review

My First Experience with Happy Planner

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments
My First Experience with Happy Planner

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.

Happy Planner Happy Notes Classic Dotted Lined Notebook

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.

Happy Planner Plastic Envelopes (Set of 3)

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.

Happy Planner Classic Sticker Sheets

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.

Conclusion

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

In feature

Giveaway: Chicago Planner Conference 2024 Swag Bag

Author AnaPosted on 39 Comments
Giveaway: Chicago Planner Conference 2024 Swag Bag

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.

In feature

Giveaway Winners: Galen Leather 1870 Marbled Notebooks

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Giveaway Winners: Galen Leather 1870 Marbled Notebooks

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!

In Link Love

Link Love: Still Pondering…

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: Still Pondering…

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?

Link of the Week:

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Planners, Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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!!!

In photo

NaKniSweMo 2025

Author Laura CameronPosted on 7 Comments

Normally Ana and I look forward to November, anxious to get started knitting. That’s because November is NaKniSweMo, or National Knit a Sweater Month. Styled after NaNoWriMo (but without the AI), NaKniSweMo is organized around knitting (or crocheting) a sweater of 50,000 stitches in the month of November. A little challenge, if you will.

Ana and I have taken part in this November ritual since 2010 or so. When fall comes around we’re eagerly poring over patterns, pulling out yarn and needles and getting ready to knit. This year has been a bit different for so many reasons.

First, my knitting has been extremely limited this year due to tendonitis. I’ve only recently been able to knit consistently for any length of time, and I still don’t have what it takes to get me through an entire sweater this month. Ana, on the other hand, is ready to knit, but completely overbooked. Between prepping for Chicago Planner Con, Black Friday and new and holiday merchandise (plus a few freelance jobs and you know… trying to get a business launched) she just hasn’t had the free time to finish old projects and get ready to start anew.

That said, we still love NaKniSweMo and, after last week, we need some knitting to soothe our troubled souls (with homage to the late, great Elizabeth Zimmerman).

Ana hasn’t delved into a new project just yet because she’s still finishing up a sweater she really wants to wear. She’s very close (just a bit of a sleeve away) to finishing a version of the Layer Cake Cardigan in two luscious yarns. You can’t see it super well here, but that dark color is actually almost a rainbow yarn overdyed in black!

I, on the other hand, decided to tackle a something new, bored with all the projects that have been staring at me unfinished all year long. Even though I know I won’t finish this month, I decided to cast on for an Askews Me Sweater designed by Stephen West. I knit a version a few years ago as a shop sample, and I’ve always been eager to knit one for myself as a kicky little tunic for winter.

Here’s what it will look like when finished (from the last version I knit):

And here’s what I have so far:

Here’s hoping your November dreams come true as well!

In feature

What the heck is a Planner Convention?

Author AnaPosted on 8 Comments
What the heck is a Planner Convention?

This weekend, I attended the Chicago Planner Convention. This was its fifth year in existence but also its first year in a new hotel in downtown Chicago. As a new attendee to this event and a first-time Planner Conference attendee, the only point of reference and comparison I had was to pen show events. So, the remainder of my descriptions and opinions will be through the lens of a regular pen show attendee and first-time planner conference attendee.

First off, what do you do a planner convention? If I experienced it correctly, attendees did a lot of the same things we do at pen shows: shop a marketplace of new-to-you as well as familiar favorite vendors and attend classes, workshops and lectures that talk about the whys, hows and whats of planners, journaling and writing. While a fountain pen show might have classes on tuning nibs, painting with your fountain pen inks or swatching you inks, the planner conference focused on topics like Visual Notetaking, how to use specific planners, bullet journaling, mind mapping, and using certain types of pens or stamps or other tools.

Unlike fountain pen shows, the Chicago Planner Conference included a keynote event on Saturday morning that brought all the attendees together in one room to hear featured speakers.

I travelled to the conference with Lisa from Vanness Pen Shop and Joe Crace from Gentleman Stationer. For the weekend, we were Team Vanness.

The event is incredibly well-structured and organized. Prior to the event, attendees received documents with descriptions of classes and workshops, options to participate in a first-timer orientation and many other options. There were also Facebook groups for attendees and another specifically for vendors.

Friday, the show opened with opportunities to pick up badges and swag bags and a cocktail hour & shopping event. The cocktail hour was sponsored by Cloth & Paper and each attendee received one free drink ticket to use on Friday night. As a vendor, we were delighted by shoppers who were browsing the market with a cocktail in one hand and their credit card in the other.

One of the key activities at the was the Saturday Keynote speaker “general session”. Part of the excitement for this event is that each table for the event is festooned with product swag. Tables are sponsored by a specific shop or vendor and each person at the table is provided with a goodie bag or some sort full of gifts. Prior to the weekend, attendees are given a chance to vote for which table they want to sit at (options were sponsors from Vanness Pen Shop to Cloth & Paper to Pelikan, Zebra and Rickshaw Bagworks. Each person who sits at the tables also brings a small “table mate gift” in the form of candy, stickers, charms, etc. so that upon arriving the tables are literally buried like the base of the tree on Christmas morning.

Before the “table gifts” were added to the Vanness Pen Shop table.

Once the excitement of the pile of gifts subsided the speakers were able to share their stories. Saturday afternoon was filled with the workshop sessions. Some were hands-on, how-to-make style workshops while others were more lecture/discussion-based. Lisa hosted a class about fountain pen basics and what papers work best for fountain pens. Joe and I provided AV support and occasional snarky side comments. I was more the snark than Joe. He’s too nice to snark.

Saturday evening after the workshops provided attendees with more opportunities to shop and visit the marketplace before donning their party clothes for an evening of cocktails and dancing at “Planchella” — a planner-themed, Coachella-inspired dance night.

Even the bathroom was decked out with decorations, mints, lotion and more. So thoughtful!

Sunday wrapped up with another coffee reception and market shopping followed by another all attendee session and finally a one-hour “Power Hour” in the marketplace before heading home.

As a vendor, the Power Hour shopping event provided a last-minute rush of shopping and, for attendees, an extra discount from some vendors to entice a few final purchases.

In between, since most attendees were staying at the hotel, there were secret swag drops and swaps held randomly throughout the hotel. Did I mention there was a special app just for the event that provided alerts on your phone for when sessions were starting as well as all these little swag drops? Yes, it was THAT organized.

There was also a whole host of volunteers who helped vendors, attendees and everyone in between navigate the event, answer questions and just be awesome. Volunteers watched our table, brought us water, helped us when we got lost and would just check in with us as vendors throughout the weekend. Thank you to each and every one of you who took time to help us. Also, the valets and the bellhops at the hotel were amazingly kind! Kudos to the staff at the Hilton!

Overall, the event seemed more focused on the workshops, lectures and meet-up than the marketplace which I think is a smart move for these activities as well as a little better for attendees since as much of the event is focused on the “how to use” and “why to use” as it is on the “buy more to use”.

I hope that pen shows slowly morph to be more like this event. I don’t want to get rid of all the things I love about pen shows. I still think pen shows have done a better job at creating after-hours hang outs and opportunities for the community to share and boI was so new to the community and coming at it through the vendor’s helper position rather than a full-fledged attendee.

Stay tuned! I will be giving away a metric ton of swag later this week to create your very own virtual Planner Con!