The joy of a new notebook

[MyMachineAndMe]

I'm surely not the only one? I was telling dh that I've almost finished my current notebook and that it's exciting because it means I get to start my new one. It's a beautiful notebook - it has a gold, shiny cover - and I've got the nice gold shimmer ink to use in it.

When I said all this, Dh looked at me like I've got two heads, as did one of my dc (the other has a better understanding of all things stationery).

Light-hearted question obviously, but do you get excited by new notebooks?

Just cleared out the cupboard under the stairs and found a hidden stash of unused notebooks.🤣

Cute cat!

@Hippywannabe Wow! Which one are you going to dive into first?

My new pen and notebook arrived from the wonderful Cult Pens. Their service is second to none.

Wow that's quite a collection of books! Which are you going to use first?

I had several unused ones and forced myself to use them before buying more (being skint helped with that) and now I have just 2 empty ones.

I've never bothered decorating my planners before but thought I'd have a go with this year's (not sure how long that will last when I'm back at work) and copied a picture of a beach hut because my favourite place is at the seaside.

That is a beautiful cat 😍

I keep looking at cult pens and dreaming! I think they have a YouTube channel too.

Love the beach hut @MyMachineAndMe - your lettering is fabulous. I'm sure you've mentioned it earlier in the thread but what pen do you use to give the nice thick downstrokes?

It's a Noodler's Creaper. I like it and it didn't cost much but it does get mixed reviews. It had a very strange smell at first as well because of the material it's made from.

To get the line variation you need a pen with a flex nib - the tines open slightly when you put pressure on, which leads to a wider line: https://endlesspens.com/blogs/ramona-writes-whats-whys-and-hows/what-is-a-flex-nib

So I've decided my lovely new notebook is going to be filled with things I hear that I can use in future writing. Whether they're funny, sad, lovely or just poignant.

But today I finally added the first sentence. Which was uttered to me earlier by my hilarious 15-year-old when I was watching some trashy TV.

So good to write down things that have made your jaw drop , a comeback or something sweet your kids have said , .Love it , get it down .

Yes, snippets of random conversations sometimes makes a good starting point for a lot of creativity. I like your handwriting btw; it's very neat!

Here!!!

Thank you. That's what I think of as my messy writing too as I may have had a few wines tonight so I was writing really quickly. 🙈

Maybe I need another new notebook for drunk scribblings. I have some amazing ideas when I've had a few too many. 😁

Oh I should say, whoever mentioned about the warm water for a clogged fountain pen, thank you so much. It worked. Mine was still just not behaving quite right so I took the ink cartridge out and washed the nib and bottom part of the pen, so much ink came out, even once I knew it wasn't from the cartridge. I put the same cartridge back in and it's perfect now. So it needed the wash out.

I love that this thread is still ongoing. It's a real heart warmer. Thank you!

I too need to clear out or use my notebook stash.

I have been giving away sone to friends /uni colleagues when we meet up.

Partner knows to collect any notepads from any insurance conferences he attends!

I use a nice a4 one for work to capture tasks for that month with a reporter jotter for the weekly immediate ones. Metallic project books are great for tracking studying projects.

Finally finished off my stash of to do list I got from various university student stationary stores - so very much law student focused for example. Motive stationary was one. I follow them all still on Instagram.
I shall not go into WHSmiths for that lovely grey Filofax thing. I won't!!! I may.

This is a very inspirational thread @Tarkan @Guiltyfeethavegotnorhythm0
I think you have turned on a lightbulb in my brain by simply stating write down random ideas and stuff you hear! Thank you.

I just found this thread in Active! I love notebooks but am guilty of saving the nice ones because they are too nice to use. The Paperblanks ones are so beautiful - I get a mini diary from there every year.

I like the idea of a notebook of quotes, both from books/films and real life. And a handwritten to-do list is so much more satisfying than a typed one

DH has quite a collection of old fountain pens, and occasionally a nice one has come my way. They always seem to leak though, even the expensive ones And I'm left handed which doesn't always make it easy to find a good one.

Resolved to review my stash this weekend!

Sounds like you've got an amazing weekend ahead @AllLopsided !

We went school uniform shopping this morning and I couldn't help touch and flick through some of the notebooks, planners and diaries that were available on the way past. Dc2 and I are going shopping again before the end of the school holidays to see what is new since last time.

AllLopsided I love the idea of film quotes. I particularly love old films from the 30's to 60's and I hear some absolute classics then soon forget them😔..when I was young I used to love writing down lines/passages from books and any words I particularly liked.

I cleared the cupboards in my dining room the other day and found some notebooks I’d forgot about.I love notebooks and happy to have found this thread.

I'm about a third of the way through the gold book now and am beginning to think about what I'll use next. I have my eye on this beauty: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1439726868?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title and may have already bought some red shimmer ink to use in it...

That notebook looks lovely!

I think there needs to be a list of online shops for nice notebooks.

https://cottonon.com/UK/typo/stationery/writing/

https://www.waterstones.com/category/stationery-gifts/stationery/notebooks-journals/page/1

https://www.papersmiths.co.uk/

These are some places I've bought from before, as well from Amazon.

I love this thread! Coming back later to marvel in your new notebooks and share mine.

I like to look for notepads that aren't either A6 or A5 but they seem harder to find than ever. I do have a lot of these standards A sizes already but I have a variety of books for different reasons - square dotted, lined, blank. I'm after a soft/softback pad ATM - the one I have now is from Paperchase - it's 5" x 6.25" (about 12.5cm x 16cm) so it's not A6. It has a stitched spine (not stapled) and it's blank although lined would be fine although I do need blank pages for sketching things in 3D with dimensions marked on - it's one of my haiku pads - I try and write them when I'm traveling and walking - they are like photographs in words of things I've seen only, to me, better - like postcards to myself. I've just been looking on Amazon and can't find anything that hits the spot. Any ideas? Links?