Review update - aliexpress travel notebook

I did it, I moisturized the leather to see if the scratches would buff away easier. I like the look of it now, the leather is darker and I can still see the colour variations. Sadly right after I moisturized the leather it became much easier to scratch or at least more noticeable because the scratches are really light and the leather is now dark. I'm letting it dry  a bit now and will see how it wears over the next week. 

Here are pictures of the now darker leather. 

Review - Handmade Vintage Traveler's Notebook Genuine Leather Cowhide diary spiral looes leaf journal

Today I am reviewing a Fauxdori I purchased from Alice's Sweet Castle on Aliexpress. I selected the 22x12cm Standard size in Red Brown for US $24.90.

I was really impressed with how fast the shipping was, I ordered on the 22nd and it arrived on the 31st. The parcel was well packaged in a padded envelope with extra padding inside. The deal I got included extras which aren't always included with a fauxdori. There were a lot of options go go through before finalizing the order.
1. select the size you want,
2. pick one of 7 colour choices, Order and then in notes indicate the following:
3. pick which notebooks you want, there are 4 options for passport size and 9 choices for standard size.
4. select which of 3 folder options
5. choose one of 12 pendant/charm.

The company also sent some extra elastic for repairs, a brass pen holder, and a leather bookmark. I selected 2 dot grid notebooks and a blank monthly notebook along with a pvc zipper pouch, and a clock charm.

The notebook is quite nice, the leather is stiff but will soften with use and some rolling. I did notice a very strong leather smell with a slight chemical tinge to it. I had to air the cover out for a few hours before  completely moving in.I really like this warm brown colour and the tab on the closing elastic is growing on me. The 'dori has the closure elastic on the spine which I prefer and come with 1 internal elastic so it's good that they sent it will all 3 inserts and the folder pre-inserted along with extra joining elastic. The charms at the bottom of the booklets are attached to the extra elastic loop. I found that the closure elastic was very tight and pulling in the edges of the notebook so I untied it and loosened it after I took these pictures.

The leather is sturdy enough to hold itself flat when empty but you can see how tight the elastic is when you take off the tension and allow it to curl, So far it seems to be the correct amount of tension for the notebook. I will need to find some leather conditioner to give this cover some moisture as it seems quite dry and is taking scratches and scrapes very easily. It will definitely show the journey I take it on through life and the dangers of my purse will be obvious. Over all I am quite pleased with this purchase. It is my first Midori style traveler's notebook and I think I made a good choice for my starter cover. My homemade inserts and kraft folder look pretty good inside it too.


 

Edited Aug 2, 2015 to add more pictures.

Caught the Planner Bug

I have felt like I needed something more than just the calendar on my phone for a while. In December I started to use the Family Planner version of a Plum Paper Planner and it has really helped to be able to see the monthly overview and a whole week at a time with a row for each member of the family and extra rows to decorate or use for activities for the whole family. I fell down the decorating rabbit hole too with washi tape and functional stickers from Etsy. I love my small collection of stickers and clips and bookmarks but I don't like how big the book is. Often I would set up my week on Sunday and then not look at the planner at all until the following Sunday. I need something that I can take with me so that I remember all the little things that I have to do during my lunch breaks and after work before going home, I would sometimes get home and then have to leave again because I remembered the 3 things I forgot to pickup as soon as I parked the car.

I started to stalk the facebook groups to see what other people were doing to keep track of their lives. I had seen the Midori travelers Notebooks (MTN) on Goulet Pens a few years ago when I was looking for fountain pens but didn't see the point of a small journal since I hadn't kept a journal since college and for a year after hubby's accident, I also couldn't handle the price it seemed like a lot of money to spend on a piece of leather with a blank notebook. With my new searches into planners I saw new inserts with monthly/weekly/daily calendars and some great layouts which just might work for me. I picked up a field notes sized fauxdori, a knock-off journal cover based on on the MTN to give it a try. The cover was on sale and the small size seemed good to me. I printed up a montly calendar and a gid notebook to give it a try. I love this colour and the size was definitely handy, I even printed off a monthly calendar and made some inserts to fit in it.

Purple PocketJot

Inserts for fauxdori

This PocketJot worked pretty well for a while, but it was too small to put in more than just the basics and I never did figure out what to do with the grid notebook. So I kept looking. 

I came across Bullet Journaling which seemed just simple enough to work for me. I looked at facebook groups and youtube to see how other people were using this system and saw that some of them were using MTNs and making changes to match their own lives. I decided to try bullet journal insert in the 'standard' size just to see if it would work for me I love the free inserts from My Life All In One Place by Ray Blake. I have used this insert for about 2 weeks and it has gone everywhere with me to make sure nothing gets missed. So far it has worked for me. I have added a weekly overview so that I can still see where everyone is each week and catch overlaps which could trip us up. I think this is going to work for me.