Review: Hand Stitched Leather T

I ordered a handmade leather cover for my Hobonichi weeks last month and it arrived just yesterday, 3 weeks after the seller shipped it. I purchased the Weeks cover from this Etsy shop for 35 euros after watching a review from a Youtuber the other day. The leather looked so nice in that video so I decided to get myself one since the price was rather affordable and it was free shipping.

Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, the package arrived in a bit deformed shape. There was another plastic wrapping made by the Japan post office and a little note stating that the package had arrived drenched so they had to dry it off for some time in their office before sending it to me. They even apologized that they had to send me the package in that state. I mean, it’s not their fault the package got deformed anyway lol. Japanese companies are so good with customer service, I swear.

It’s a bit hard to notice, but you can see the signs of the wrapping paper got wet on the right side.

I was a bit relieved that the leather cover itself had sustained no damage from the water seeping through. Tanya (the seller) even included a bonus key holder. The leather smelled so nice and I love how thin and floppy the leather is. I thought I could just ignore the damaged package since the product was alright until …

There was a chipped part of the leather on the backside of the cover! My heart sank a bit when I discovered it. I’m fine with scratches on the leather but a chipped part … Sigh.

Other than the chipped part, the interior of the cover seemed fine. There’s a tiny stain on the upper left part but I guess complaining about it wouldn’t change anything lol.

The planner fits perfectly inside the cover. It closes nicely too. When I made the order, there was an option whether I wanted an elastic closure and pen loop and I didn’t opt for it since I don’t want to drill a hole on my cover. Based on the Youtube reviews, you could also request specific designs such as secretarial pockets on the sides. I didn’t ask for any either this time and I kind of regret it. Haha.

Overall, I think the product is well made. But I guess I’m a bit disappointed with the cover because of the chipped part and stain since I had high expectations from reading the shop and Youtube reviews. I originally thought of ordering another cover for my other planners if it had turned out great, but I guess I’ll put off that idea for now.

Stationeries from Classiky

I got myself an early Christmas gift this year. This time I purchased everything from the online website of Classiky, which is a Japanese ‘antique’ store. Most of the items there are hand-crafted. They have an array of items besides stationeries as well. I think they also do shipping outside Japan if you’re planning to buy in bulks.

Alright, onto the products!

The first and biggest item I have here is their popular wooden toolbox. I’ve seen a lot of people use their smaller versions to store their stamps and little accessories but I decided to get the bigger one as I needed space for my new washi tapes.

You can take the tray out if you don’t use it. There’s also a clip in the inner lid so you can bring your small notebook around with you. I personally use the tray for my stamps since it fits perfectly fine.

I like how they don’t put their branding anywhere visible outside the box but instead they engraved their details on the inner part of the lid.

Next up, we have the tiny bits of the purchase. I bought two ceramic plates and 4 sets of washi tape. Let’s go with the plates first.

This is not Classiky’s original but a collaboration with a maker named kata kata. They have a series of animal-haped plates and I like the whale the best for it’s huge and long size. I actually got this for my mom since I know she’ll love these kind of things to display it in her kitchen.

I also got the cat-shaped one. I chose the smaller version of it since the whale one is big enough already. The small ones can be used for side dishes or just simply a place to put your keys and other small things.

3 of the washi tapes are Classiky’s original (if I’m not mistaken). I love how simple and vintage their design looks. The one with the white wrapping is made in collaboration with Shun shun (I love how all the maker’s names are repetitive). At first. I thought it was a bit expensive but it turns out each roll has a whole damn lot. It’s so much thicker compared to my normal 100 yen Daiso tapes and I feel extremely pleased by the amount!

Grid set, old book set (1), old book set (2), and Shunshun’s from left to right respectively.

All of the tapes above are really beautiful. I especially love Shunshun’s for the cute designs. I’ll probably post a sample of these tapes sometime in the future lol.

I got to excited unwrapping everything I forgot to take a close of picture of the note they stick on the wrapping for this drawstring pouch. Basically, they sent me this pouch as a little gift for purchasing their products. I’ve never received a freebie from purchasing anything (except skincare, I guess) so I was really excited! I love their shop so much!

Alright, that basically ends this long image-heavy post. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed receiving and unwrapping them. If you are interested in purchasing Classiky’s products from outside Japan, I believe there are some resellers out there that carries their products as well.

Until the next post!

More stationery bits: Letter book and stamps

I actually purchased some of the items here this month but decided to save it because I thought I’d purchase some more, but I guess not lol. Financial problems.

First we have this beautiful letter book that I found in Amazon. I originally discovered it from MyLifeMits video from her CuteThingsFromJapan haul. The price was so expensive in their website so I thought I’d search for one in Amazon and turns out they’re 1000 yen cheaper!

I really love the patterns they have in this book. I feel like it’s almost a waste to use them. There are total 50 patterns in this book and each pattern has two pages. They’re perfect for letter writing, crafting, or even wrapping!

Beautiful stamps from 小島印房 (Kojima Inbou)

Next up is stamps! I got these three beautiful plant stamps from Kojima Inbou’s online shop. They’re pricey, but for a good reason. The detail and quality are top notch and I had trouble picking which stamps to go for. In the end, I picked the bamboo, eucalyptus populus, and hyacinth (from left to right, respectively). They were hand-packaged really beautifully but unfortunately, I was too excited when I received it and didn’t get a chance to take their pictures lol. Maybe next time.

Next I got these very detailed stamps from KNOOPWORKS, also from their online shop. Price-wise, they’re a bit more expensive from Kojima’s but they’re really beautiful in their own way. I can see myself using these stamps faithfully in my journal in the future.

That’s it for my small purchase this time! I really wanted to shop more but I really should stop myself from constantly purchasing these things. Ugh.

Hobonichi, Traveler’s Notebook, and other accessories for 2019

This post is image heavy.

For the past several posts, you know I had a huge dilemma for which planner/journal I should get for 2019. I knew I said that I wouldn’t get a Traveler’s Notebook. Surprise, surprise. I did. (If you knew me, you should’ve seen this coming.)

Hobonichi

I really like the quote for 2019 but I got sick of it really quick because almost every unboxing video on Youtube had their users reciting the quote over and over again lol. (My fault for watching too many unboxing videos.)

I went back to the ‘Original’ version of the journal instead of getting the ‘Avec’ split version because I’m planning on using the book for writing purposes only. I probably won’t decorate every single page like I used to do lol. I’ll simply use it for a daily journal, no more no less.

Also, as you can see, I decided not to get any cover this year because I got the Blue Traveler’s Notebook instead. I’m going to reuse my tori to hana cover from this year for 2019. I also got myself a box of fountain pen ink refills and refills for my favorite jetstream pen. I got 2 clear cover-on-covers. One for my current tori-to-hana cover, one for a just-in-case cover. (You’ll never know.) Hobonichi used to give out these covers for free when you purchase a cover + book set, but not anymore, so they were on sale.

This year’s freebie is a paperweight. It’s quite heavy (duh) and I think it’s really nicely made but I don’t really use it. Maybe I’ll just put it on my desk for a little decoration. I’m glad that Hobonichi decided to make a useful freebie for 2019. (I don’t even know where my dice and toaster plate went.)

To be honest, the pen contributes a lot to my decision making this time lol. If they had came up with a flashy colored pen again, I might have skipped purchasing Hobonichi for next year. Hey, don’t judge me. You know I’m a sucker for cute and pretty things.

Traveler’s Notebook

Yes, yes, I know I said I won’t be getting a TN for now but I kept changing my mind every now and then and in the end, I got it. I decided that this would be my to-go planner for uni.

If you purchase the normal set, you’d get the leather cover, an extra band, and a pouch. But since I got the 2019 Diary Pack, they added an extra freebie of decoration stickers. Also, the inserts that came with the cover is not a plain one, but a weekly spread instead. (The set with monthly is also available separately.)

Weekly spread view. The book is split into two.

I don’t have a pencil board for the passport sized notebook, yet. So I decided to get one this time. I fell in love with the colors and design. And the gold foiling! It’s just gorgeous!

And etc.

I dropped by Hirose to get them. The stamp is not the best quality but they’re good enough for journaling on blank pages. I also got two different sizes of black ink pads (don’t ask me why, I don’t even know). They’re not the cheapest and I’ve only tried the VersaCraft for now, but I really like the quality. I originally tried searching for the ink pads at Daiso but couldn’t find any. So, yeah.

Just a list of things I’m interested in lately

This is going to be the most random post about my bucket list I’ve every written, probably.

Nintendo Switch

A few days ago Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing will be coming to Switch in 2019 and I couldn’t resist the excitement! However, I’ve just purchased a 2DS recently so I guess I’ll have to resist purchasing a Switch for now lol. Who knows, they’ll be releasing a special Animal Crossing skin in the future?

Obviously, Hobonichi

I know I’ve made a post about the Hobonichi covers I’m interested in this year. If I’d been in Japan on the day of the release, I would’ve definitely purchased soda water, but since I’m still stuck in Indonesia, I ended up browsing more of the other covers I didn’t pay attention to in the first place. After looking at some Instagram photos from other users, I became attracted to this leather cover. I’m so tempted to get it but the price is too much!

Postcard with quotes from Tools to Liveby

There’s also this combination of cover that I came up with! I plan to stick this postcard to the black cover as a decoration to make the planner prettier! It will certainly cost less than purchasing the leather cover, but I’m still unsure. I’ve never seen a leather cover that beautiful, so I’m really torn! I would like to hear your opinion about which cover I should get so please leave your opinion in the comments!

Blue Traveler’s Notebook

The blue TN was actually released earlier this year but I’ve been holding myself back because I already have 3 TNs that are lying in my drawer unused. This is probably just one of my urges to purchase stationery, so hopefully it’ll subside soon. The blue color is so pretty, though!

Stationery bits

Washi tapes, fountain pen, fountain pen ink

Perhaps I’ve watched and seen too many aesthetic Youtube and Instagram feeds. I have a Pilot Kakuno fountain pen, but it ran out of ink so I’m debating whether I should buy the ink refill or the cartridge. People say the ink bottle lasts you longer than the cartridges, but it’s still expensive in a way so I’m still debating about it.

I’m also planning to get another fountain pen because I feel my current one is too light? It has no weight to it so I wanted to try out the heavier ones.

The washi tapes are self explanatory lol.

The Little Book of Hygge

One of the Youtubers I like mentioned this book a long time ago and she just made a new video about traveling to Denmark, so she brought this up again. This time, luckily, Amazon had it on stock so I plan to get it once I get back to Japan. Isn’t the cover pretty? That being said, I’m never a fan of self-help books because I feel they don’t really help me, though. To be honest, the reviews are pretty mixed but I’m just a sucker for beautiful things so let’s see how this book is.

By the way, Amazon finally has the Kawaii Tarot book in stock! Aaah, my wallet!

Fujifilm Instax Printer

I was originally eyeing the camera version instead of the printer, but after watching some explanations about the camera and printer, I became convinced that the printer version is better since you can pick which photos you want to print and not waste films in the process. I think it would be a nice touch for journalling! The refills are not cheap so I’ll have to take that into account as well.

DSLR Camera

This camera was released last year and I think it’s called T7i or 800D outside Japan. It’s an entry-level camera which is great for both photo and video.

I’ve always wanted a DSLR camera but nowadays I begin to doubt the need of one since you can take both decent photo and video with your smartphone. I still like the idea of having at least one nice camera for trips and whatnots, though. No matter how advanced a smartphone camera can be, I still think it can’t beat an actual camera.

The problem is, of course, the price.

That will be the end of my current bucket list. I know this is too long and I feel like I want too many things lol.

Hobonichi Techo 2018 Line Up

All images used here are from Hobonichi’s website.

Yes, it’s that time of the year already! My favorite planner brand has revealed its new line up at their website. Unfortunately, I have to say that the designs for 2018 don’t really pique my interest. I only have my eyes on three planner covers for this year’s, which I still don’t know if I’ll purchase, yet.

Hydrangea cover from the A6 Color series

I don’t know why but simple and calm colored covers always catches my eye more than anything. The Hydrangea cover has a similar color pattern with this year’s Sherbet which involves a mix of blue and pink. The only difference would be the darkness and paleness of the color. I do love this one better compared to Sherbet because it gives off a sophisticated feel to it. The book and cover set cost ¥3780 which is probably the cheapest of all other cover combinations.

Makoto Kagoshima’s Bird, Flower, Willow A6 cover

Different from Hydrangea, the “Bird, Flower, Willow” cover is made from linen which makes it more special compared to the other covers. The downside is that you don’t really want to put a plastic cover on cover to protect this original linen cover since it’ll just erase the uniqueness. It sells at a higher price for ¥5400 for the book and cover set. I’m afraid of staining the cover if I use it (since I’m so clumsy), but otherwise, this cover is gorgeous on its own.

“Irma” might be the only cover from the Weeks series that I fell in love with. Since this is a wallet type cover, it doesn’t include the main journal inside. This is also the most expensive cover that I liked which cost ¥12960 (yes, hella expensive, I know). If I were to purchase this cover, I wouldn’t use it to store my journal, but rather use it as a wallet. I know this is probably not worth the money, though. Haha.

That ends my whole rambling about the new 2018 Hobonichi line up! What do you think about the covers for next year? Which one caught your interest?

Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours

I recently just purchased this new watercolor set because the brush from my previous set had some … problems. The brush wasn’t that good and even though the whole set came with a place to put water, it wasn’t really that efficient and just made things messy when I tried to adjust things.

I did several searches on Youtube and other websites and found out that this watercolor set is good for beginners (I started watercolor at 10 years old but I still am a beginner until now, lol.) It comes in 12 basic colors, the main body compartment, and a small compact brush.

The whole thing, still new and untouched

The palette does come with the basic ‘Chinese white’ color but there’s no black, unlike the Kuretake set, which I find it a little bit inconvenient sometimes when I need to achieve a darker shade. However, I think most artists don’t use black and white that often because they use other darker colors to achieve the colors they want.

The pamphlet with shades (not all colors listed are in the palette)

There’s also this handy color chart that came in with the box itself. But in the end, I always make my own color chart on a piece of watercolor postcard because it’s more reliable. Haha. I can always mix and match the colors to make new combinations as well!

The brush is only 10.5cm when extended, which I think is really small even for my tiny hands. It’s hard to paint huge areas with this brush (obviously). This led me to purchase a really cheap but nice water brush from Kuretake which I will feature in my next post.

I was quite surprised when the paint came off from the mini tray while I was unwrapping the labels. This didn’t happen to this particular color only. In fact, 6 colors came off from its tray. Sometimes I also find one or two trays get stuck to the ceiling of the box when it was closed because the paint was ‘sticky’. 😆

Unwrapping the watercolors one by one was definitely time-consuming, but it is the most exciting part of getting this palette. Haha. I tried to find out as well if the company sells specific color trays for when people run out of it, but it seems they don’t. Well, or at least I couldn’t find it on Amazon.