Saturday 6 January 2018

My Stationery Collection- Diaries and Notebooks




I am a big fan of stationery. I have loved it from a very young age. I am also lucky to have a husband who shares my love for stationery. I have a lot of stationery at home and thought of giving a glimpse of some of my favourite diaries and notebooks to you today. I will also share my other stationery in some of my future posts. Just to emphasise how important diaries and notebooks are for me- at work, I would be completely lost without a diary as it helps me plan on a daily, weekly and month basis and keep a track of the progress I make. On a non-work front too, I use diaries and notebooks for journalling, rambling, scribbling and making lists. Now, I may come across as a very organised person but I am not really one- well, maybe a little at work. However, I do try my best to stay organised. 

Here are some of my favourite diaries and notebooks that I have. Some of them are in active use and some will be soon:

1. Doodle Diaries:

There are soft bound diaries with very good quality binding. My husband gifted these to me and I think he purchased it on Amazon and there was an offer on it back when he got them. It was a set of 3 which came at a good discount. The third of the 3 is the same as the pink one. I use these for journalling. They are single ruled notebooks. The quality of the paper is quite good and also fountain pen friendly. I personally thought they are a bit pricey without the discount.



2. Mario Miranda Diary:

I bought this one in 2013 on Flipkart. The diary is a tribute to the cartoonist Mario Miranda who worked at Times of India, Femina and Economic Times. The diary is interspersed with several cartoons in it throughout. It used to put me in very good spirits. I am also sharing some personal moments present in the diary. The diary cover is hard-bound. I have not used fountain pens on it, so note sure if the paper is fountain pen friendly. It is a single-ruled diary.



Memory of a visit to the Annual Exhibition- Numaish


Memory of Celebrating 5 months of marriage

Visit to Science Museum


3. 2011 Diary:

I did not buy this one. It was a spare diary that my dad had with him and I asked him if I can use it and he kindly agreed to it. I started using the diary only from 2012 though. The cover is hard-bound with a leathery feel to it. The pages are quite thin but are fountain pen friendly. I use it mainly to jot down recipes and I also pin up recipes that I might have taken down when I did not have the diary with me. It is a single-ruled diary.


Glimpse of the recipe diary. Not the neatest I know!


4. Tiger Notebook:

I bought this at Deccan Pen Stores in Hyderabad. This is an ordinary unruled notebook by Classmate. I used this for doodling, scribbling and sometimes journalling. This notebook has been a good friend of mine as it was my only companion for a few months that I worked from home. The cover has a picture of a tiger as a part of the Save our Tigers movement, of which, I am an active supporter. The notebook has a soft bound cover. The unruled paper in it is quite good and fountain pen friendly too.



One of the many doodles in the notebook


5. "Self" Bound Notebooks:

I call these self bound because I bound them myself- yes, really! I took up some paper, folded them, sewed them and bound them myself. One of my husband's friends is so good at binding notebooks that she inspired me at this attempt. I bound these using cookie box cardboard. The one with the zig-zag cover pattern contains 75 gsm JK paper and my husband printed dot-pattern on them. The one with the flower cover has 90 gsm ledger paper and one can comfortable write with fountain pens on them. I am yet to write in them.

Zig-zag Cover

Dot-patterned paper
Flower patterned cover

Ledger paper and oh, I also sewed in a bookmark


6. Lucky Diaries:

I bought these on Flipkart. I have one for 2012 and one for 2014. I was unable to find it in 2013 or they were probably sold out. These diaries are produced by The Ink Pot (click here to read more). The diary in 2012 focussed on the theme, India and the one in 2014 focussed on Spirituality. The diaries have hard cover and wiro-binding. The most amazing thing about the diaries is the high quality pictures which are interspersed throughout and also as separators. Take a peek in the below pictures. I tried getting it again in 2015, 2016 and 2017 but they were no longer available of Flipkart. I tried ordering it through their website and had dropped an email to them as request but never heard back. I have not tried getting it for 2018. The quality of paper is quite good. Again, I have not tried using fountain pen on them. The pages in the diaries are single-ruled.


Colourful Lucky Diaries


One of the Separators
An excellent photograph inside one of the Lucky Diaries



7. Happiness Diary:

Though the official name of the diary is The Multiply Diary, I like calling it the Happiness Diary. I ordered this again on Flipkart. The book has a lot of high quality pictures as separators. The book mainly has children as a theme in their happy place. Most pictures make you smile but some do make you think- ewww. It is a wiro-bound book. It has a soft cover and the quality of paper is good. It also has lovely book marks throughout. Take a peek below. I have not tried writing with fountain pens in this. The pages in the diary are single-ruled.

The Cover of the Diary


Example of a separator
Example of one of the bookmarks


8. Store 67 Notebook:

I bought this notebook at Sapna Book Stores in Bengaluru. I have not found this notebook in any other shop so I am inclined to think that this is one of Sapna's own brands. It is just my guess though. This is an ordinary soft-bound notebook used by school-goers. It has unruled fountain-pen friendly pages. I used it for taking notes, journalling and testing out colour pencils for drawing occasionally.



9. Authority Wire-Folder

I bought this at Deccan Pen Stores in Hyderabad. I carry this usually in my bag. I take down notes, important things I randomly remember, shopping lists etc. The outer folder holds the smaller inner notebook. The inner notebook is a single-ruled wiro-bound and low width notebook. I have not tried writing with fountain pens in it yet. 

 



While writing this post, I realise it is extremely lengthy. I will do a part 2 of this soon. I would love to show you some notebooks that I got from a trip of mine a couple of years back and some regular diaries which I use to work out my finances in as well.  I did not really think I had these many notebooks and diaries until I started writing this post. Maybe at some point this year, I will get rid of some of them to make space for new ones :-) Sorry for the quality of photographs. I shot them in my phone and they look amazing there but not that great on the post.







2 comments:

  1. Same craze here too. Your 'Self' bound notebooks are good.

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    1. Thank you for comment and liking the self bound notebooks. Most book lovers also love stationery...just an observation 😊

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