I hope everyone is having a day full of happy handwriting.If not, try handwriting your grocery list, copying down a favorite quote or poem or just jotting out a a few pangrams. If you do, leave a link in the comments so we can marvel at your penmanship — for better or worse.
Happy Handwriting Day!
In honor of Handwriting Day, I picked out my vintage penmanship shirt to wear today. Yep, I am that nerdy.
The folks over at Paperblanks kindly sent me an assortment of notebooks to review. The books have such amazing details on the covers that I decided the best way to review them is with a video. (Please forgive the ums and ahs, this is the first time I’ve done this. I was nervous.)
To clarify from the video, I received four books in various sizes and formats:
| Description | Format | Size | Page Count | Price |
| DaVinci-themed Sun & Moonlight | Mini Reporter | 3.75×5.75″ | 192 | $11.95 |
| Letters of Inspiration: Florence Nightingale | Mini | 3.75X5.5″ | 176 | $15.95 |
| Mucha Tiger Lily | Midi | 5×7″ | 144 | $14.95 |
| Parisian Mosaic Mosaique Safran | Midi | 5X7″ | 144 | $14.95 |
All but the Florence Nightingale book had a black elastic closure. The Nightingale edition has a magnetic closure. They all have pockets in the back with book cloth gussets. All but the reporter-style DaVinci book included a red satin ribbon bookmark.
The line spacing is about 8mm which is probably equivalent to wide-ruled notebook paper. The lines are very fine and brown and do not run edge to edge but leave a small margin round the edge of the page. The spacing is a bit too wide for me, preferring the blank paper for optimum writing freedom.
The paper in the Paperblanks is the same as in planner I used all last year. I’ve included the writing samples here. I have to say that the warm white paper is pleasing and the overall weight of the paper allowed it to hold up to an array of writing tools including fountain pens with above-average results.
You can see from the back that the Sharpie was really the only tool to bleed through.
Overall, the Paperblanks books are some of my favorite notebooks. They are sometimes a little too elaborate for my everyday needs but the construction, paper quality and features plus the reasonable price point make them a good choice. To purchase online, Love Notebooks has the widest selection of books but I purchased my planner via Jenni Bick so I recommend them as well.
For more information, you may want to check out these posts:
Finally, I’d like to give away some of these books to some lucky readers. I’m going to giveaway the DaVinci reporter, the Mucha Tiger Lily and the Florence Nightingale. One to each of three lucky readers. Leave a comment and tell me which of these designs is your favorite or visit the Paperblanks site and tell which one you wish they’d sent me.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, January 26, 2014. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your 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(s) does not respond within 30 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. US readers only this time. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance (or customs fees) will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Paperblanks for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Today, Todoist upgraded its platform with web-, mobile-, browser- and desktop-based versions of the app and an all-new, streamlined look. They are definitely setting themselves to compete with Wunderlist. The new version offers free collaboration and what appears to be extensive functionality, especially with the collaboration tools and could give Basecamp a run for its money for small teams.
The regular apps and web interface are free. The premium account ($29/yr) offers additional features including adding notes and file attachments, task search, color-coded labels, email or text task reminders, automatic backup and synchronization with iCal. I think the premium version will be the way to go since being able to add text, images and URLs to a task would make things so much simpler. The price per year is less than Wunderlist which is $49/yr for collaboration but Wunderlist allows notes and images in the free version but there’s no indication in a list or sub-list that a photo or note is associated with the item. So it works… sort of. I certainly don’t think I’ll miss the wood grain if I switch.
I waffle between loving the cross-platform convenience of digital to-do lists and missing its paper counterparts and physically crossing things off, adding details and saving the completed lists. Being able to add a task on my phone, then review it or deal with it when I’m parked in front of my computer has a lot of appeal though paper could do the same thing.
This app seems like its is the best of all possible to-do list apps, sleek, streamlined and upgradeable for a small fee. Would you or have you tried any of these digital to-do lists?
In preparation for National Handwriting Day, here’s a little advice from Donovan B. from the Letter Writers Alliance on the best way to improve your handwriting. Thursday is Handwriting Day so get your pens, pencils, brushes and crayon at the ready!
When someone mentions “typewriter” and “calendar” in the same sentence, my ears prick right up. Add in a little paper mechanic magic and I am already writing the blog post in my head.
This darling little desktop calendar stands in its own 3D foldable typewriter. Just print out the pieces and assemble. Consider it as a great Tuesday morning office project. It is available for instant download for $4.99 via Sky Goodies on Etsy.
(tip via Teri of Fiberterian)
You may recognize this pen from Brad’s review posted a couple months ago. It might look almost identical because it is the same pen. Brad kindly sent it over to me after I whined mercilessly about not getting any love from Kaweco. Then he sent me a replacement nib for it so that I could have what in my head is the PERFECT pen.
I love Kaweco Sports with a retriever-like loyalty and the addition of the pattern mixed acrylic bodies take this pen to a new level of class and good looks.
I originally attempted to use it with the B broad nib that Brad had used but I found it too juicy for me. He sent me a fine nib in silver and I’m now in the process of ordering a silver clip to coordinate with it. While I think the gold nib on the amber body is gorgeous, I’m happy to let the Art Sport live its own life with its bright shiny new silver nib and clip.
Both nibs write as smoothly as I’ve come to expect from Kaweco nibs. Really, the luxury of this pen is the one-of-a-kind look of the acrylic bodies. Its a considerable upcharge from the standard Kaweco Sport pens. For me, its the right kind of upgrade. I would love an option to upgrade to a 14K gold nib on an Art Sport. That would be a holy grail pen for me.
I’ve included a little writing sample though its the same nibs as any of the other Sport line, it is not the same unit though so swapping nibs between a Sport and an Art Sport is not recommended since you’d have to remove just the nib, not the whole nib unit.
While the end cap has the gold logo and the nib is silver, I think its an acceptable arrangement. And oh, that amber acrylic is fabulous!
For reviews of other Kaweco products, see my Kaweco Student Review, Kaweco Guilloch 1930 EF, Kaweco Liliput EF, Kaweco Highlighter Pen and Kaweco Sports F reviews.
Stylus Fine Pens sells the Art Sports, in all the color varieties for $125 each. I really like the Alabaster and Akeshir versions as well.
Paper:
Pens and Ink:
Pencils:
Misc:
