I’m so excited for this post today! I’ve been working on it for quite awhile now and had planned to have it up sooner, but V.B.S, wheat harvest, classes and then getting sick just made it practically impossible. But, I’m finally sitting down typing through this and I can’t wait to hear what your thoughts are! Did I miss anything? Comment below and let me know your favorite brands or products!

Purple Handcrafted Leather Journal with Closure – RSVP Handcrafted – Around $40

One of my most favorite products in this review is this leather journal from RSVP Handcrafted. Made with premium vegetable tanned leather and a natural tanning process giving it a very firm feeling leather. I chose the purple color for the journal and then a turquoise name tag, with a “branches” stamp. I also requested that it have the leather closure on the side.On the inside, you can see that it has a sturdy, 6 ring binder. Perfect for taking notes, using as a travel journal, or about anything else you can think of!

On the inside, you can see that it has a sturdy, 6 ring binder. Perfect for taking notes, using as a travel journal, or about anything else you can think of! I am so pleased with how this turned out!! It is beautiful and the color is stunning.

I am so pleased with how this turned out!! It is beautiful and the color is stunning.

To pick up your own (custom) leather journal, please check out the links below:

RSVP Handcrafted Website

RSVP Handcrafted Etsy Shop

Turquoise Handcrafted Leather Journal with Closure – RSVP Handcrafted – Around $40 I’m not going to go into too many details about this one because it’s virtually the same as the one mentioned above, but there are a couple of small differences:

The color of the journal is turquoise, the name tag is tan, and the stamp is the “Aztec” stamp. It too is made with the same premium leather and is a beautiful piece.

Pick up your own personalized journals here:

RSVP Handcrafted Website

RSVP Handcrafted Etsy Shop

Old Leather Jade Ultra – PaperBlanks

For many years, I have drooled over the PaperBlanks journals. I loved the intricate patterns and details (check out the ones below) and they made me feel as if I was taking a step back in time when I held one of them. So I’m sure you can understand my excitement when the company emailed me back and said they wanted to be a part of this!

The first one I would like to show you is the Old Leather Jade Ultra journal. It’s made to capture the flavour of Renaissance-style binding and the fine Moroccan leather that was used for crafting covers in that time period.

Inside, you will find 144 lined pages and a pocket in the back to catch any loose pages or notes. This is a beautiful notebook and would make a stunning journal or keepsake!

Signature Edition Azure Midi – PaperBlanks

It’s up for debate as to whether I love this Midi or the next one better, but they both are beautiful! Here we have the Signature Edition Azure Midi that has 240 lined pages, a delicate red ribbon, pocket in the back for loose notes and an elastic band that can wrap around the front cover of the journal. This is a beautiful, timeless notebook that would look great even just sitting on a bookshelf thanks to its textured spine and cover. As with all three of these products from PaperBlanks, the paper quality is excellent and would take ink wonderfully. Check out the link above for more info or keep scrolling to see the rest of the products in the review!

Silver Filigree Aubergine Midi – PaperBlanks

The Silver Filigree Midi is one of the most stunning journals I have received. The detail on the covers and spine is intricate and the pages inside are just waiting for a fountain pen to cross over them.

You’ll also notice the locking metal clasp on the edge of the book, and as in the other Midi, it comes with a red ribbon marker, memento pocket in the back, and 240 pages of lined paper.

If you love the filigree but aren’t sure about the color, check out the link above to find Blush Pink, Esmerelda Green, Shadow Black and Maya Blue in several different sizes.

Action Journal by Behance: Ghostly Edition – The Ghostly Store – $17.50

The action journal is by far one of the most practical versions of a notebook that I have seen. It combines the wonderful qualities of making a to-do list (also called action steps) with the versatility of dot grid pages. This particular one I picked up is the Ghostly Edition, which means that it has the purple color throughout. You can also find this in blue, red, orange and green, with a variety of sizes and binding options.

Cadeneta Turquoise Faux Vegan Leather Travel Journal – Cadeneta Notebooks – $30

A cute little leather journal from Cadeneta notebooks that’s my favorite color? Yes, please!

This beauty is a turquoise travel journal (or diary, notebook, etc.) that’s made from vegan leather.

It has a beautiful, bright color on the outside, and then this bright blue felt-like inside. You’ll also find a very long leather strap closure that wraps around the journal at least three times, and holds all of your papers and notes inside.

As for the paper, it has 240 pages of simple, white paper sewn inside. Shipping out from Spain, you’ll be very pleased if you decide to pick up one of these beautiful journals!

Cadeneta Burgundy Faux Vegan Leather Travel Journal – Cadeneta Notebooks – $28

This journal is pretty much the same as the one above, so I won’t go into too many details about it. It’s in the burgundy color with the same leather wrap, and a little bit of a different stitching pattern on the spine. It also has a black felt inside with white stitching.

As for paper, it has 256 pages of plain, white paper sewn into it and would be great for keeping a small journal if on a trip or vacation!

Blue on Grey Circulo A4 Notebook – Paper-Oh

Here we have an A4 Paper-Oh notebook from their Circulo collection. It’s the Blue on Grey color option and is so cute! It’s a very large size, with more than plenty of room to write and jot down notes or thoughts. I love the magnetic closures and the satisfying “snap” they make every time you shut it! If you’re looking for something cute, yet functional to hold college lecture notes, recipes, notes or plans, or anything between, this notebook has plenty of room for it.

If you’re looking for other sizes or colors, be sure to check out the link above! You’ll find a variety of blue, grey, red, etc.

Black On Grey A4 Cahiers Notebooks – Paper-Oh

Next on our list is another little treasure from Paper-Oh. This is actually a set of two cahiers in the black on grey color scheme. These are very similar in layout to the notebook above, but they don’t have a magnetic closure. As with the one above, there is a ton of room to write or doodle on the 80 lined pages you’ll find inside and they’re very slim and easy to grab and tote around with you. (More colors and sizes can also be found in the link above!)

Puro Teal A6 Notebook – Paper Oh

And… Our last product from Paper-Oh is this cute little A6 Teal notebook. This is from their Puro collection and my favorite size of any of them!! It has 128 ruled pages in it, as well as a cute little half page folder/pocket on the inside of the back cover. If you’re wondering if the notebook has a little bit of shimmer to it.. Wonder no more! Yes, it does have a subtle shimmer!

Lastly, just like with the others, check out the link for more colors and sizes (hint, there’s purple!).

Walmart Notebook Brands

This particular category of notebooks I can’t really share any links to, because I don’t have any links! These all came from the office supply section in Walmart, and I just have to say, Walmart has really stepped up their game in the paper goods section. I keep a close eye on this aisle because they are always switching it up and adding new items.. Some of the common brands you’ll find there are Pen + Gear and Markings by G.R. Gibson.

Here are a few more pictures of a couple of my favorites from Walmart:

This particular one has a wood grain cover with “notes” on it, and then a vintage world map on the inside covers. It’s simple with ruled pages on the inside and an elastic around the covers to hold it together. While I don’t love this one quite as much as the one to follow, it’s a very close second!!

Here is actually a set of two notebooks that I found at Walmart. I picked up the larger marble journal awhile back and then was looking (at a different Walmart, a couple months later) and found this matching smaller journal! It was meant to be!

The only difference between the two is that the larger one has months/days across the top of the page, while the smaller one simply has a space to write a title and date at the top.

So, keep your eye on the office supply area in Walmart, you never know what little treasures will pop up!

Large Blue Universal Notebook – Rite in the Rain – $25

This next piece of notebook goodness is the Large Universal Notebook from Rite in the Rain. Now, I have to admit. I have heard of Rite in the Rain for years, but never actually tried their products! I’m glad I did though. Because I have now found a smudge-proof way to keep track of my recipes in the kitchen!!

You know what I mean.. Those times when you’re working on making your favorite batch of salsa or a new jelly and you accidentally spill water or juice on your recipe? There’s nothing worse than being mid-cooking fiasco and having to halt because you’ve lost your instructions.

Meet your solution – This notebook from Rite in the Rain had water put on the pages and left for several minutes while I took pictures/messed around with produce in the kitchen, and you know what? I wiped it off and the fresh ink never smudged a bit. The paper had a tiny bit of a wrinkle where a big drop or two had sat, but it was perfectly fine!

So if you’re looking for a waterproof notebook, this is the company to check out! They have a whole selection of sizes, styles, and products to meet whatever need you have.

Whitelines Paper Products

These next four items are all from Whitelines, and the cool thing about their products is that you can write or draw on the paper and then, using the app, upload your sketch or notes to your phone. Now a quick word of warning, don’t do it with pencil! I tried it and you can see my results below versus with a pen:

The paper and app both worked really well when I uploaded to my phone. Everything went smoothly and I can’t wait to give them a try when I have time to do some more detailed lettering or sketching. If you’re a college student like myself, the ruled notebook or notepad would be amazing to take lecture notes on and then upload to your phone!

Check out the products pictured here:

Lined Wirebound Notebook 8.5″ x 11″

Sketch Book 9″ x 12″

Lined Legal Pad 8.5″ x 11.75″

Engineering Pad 8.5″ x 11″ Squared

Nomatic Notebook – Nomatic – $25

This next notebook is another one of my favorites. Maybe it’s because of the beautiful color, or maybe it’s the two elastics on the outside.. Perhaps it’s the three ribbon markers inside. We’ll never know, but it’s still a fun notebook to check out!

So, this is the Nomatic Notebook. It features a hard cover, dual elastics, lined, blank and perforated pages, a pen holder, folding pocket, and a lay-flat design. What more could you need? I’m in love with all of the options I already mentioned as well as the matching planner that you can get along with it!

Be sure to check out the link above to find more info on both of these great products and pick one up for yourself!

Confidant Notebook – Baron Fig – $18

Our next product is one that I have heard so much about. Baron Fig was one of the first names I was told of when asking for suggestions on notebooks.

This particular one is the Charcoal Flagship Confidant hardcover notebook. It comes in Light Grey or Charcoal and three different sizes. You can also find it with blank, ruled and dot grid layout with perforated pages on acid-free fine grain paper.

When it comes to hardcover notebooks, I am a little bit picky about the spine on them as some of them have a rounded spine and other have somewhat of a loose fabric over the spine. This particular one runs a little more on the loose-fabric side of things, but still has a very nice cover overall.

Hardcover A5 Pink Notebook – Leuchtturm1917 – $20

Next, we’re covering one of the most popular notebook brands out there – Leuchtturm! These reminded me a little bit of a Moleskine in terms of layout, but the overall quality of the book is excellent. I cannot wait to use this one in one of my A5 traveler notebooks.

So, this is a pretty up-front kind of notebook. It has a brightly colored hard cover with lined pages and numbers on the right corner of the pages. There’s an elastic band to hold the book together and a ribbon marker that compliments the color of the cover. Also, in the back you’ll find a pocket that’s perfect to stuff lecture notes and campus maps into. (If you’re a student… If not, there are still about 5,000 other ways to use that pocket!)

Be sure to check out the link above for more colors and sizes!

Emerald Bullet Journal – The Bullet Journal – $25

Next, we have a notebook that falls under the planner category a tad more than just the basic notebook. It’s the Offical Bullet Journal that has grown to have a very wide and devout following of users.

This hardcover journal includes a dot grid layout with an elastic around the outside and three ribbon markers inside. It also has numbered pages and a “key” in the front for you to use throughout your planning.

As for how to plan (or just write) with this, there are a variety of ways. You can get the basic idea about how to use it on their website (link above) or check out one of the many Facebook groups out there!

(Psst.. This is actually a Leuchtturm notebook, so it’s very, very similar to the one pictured above this!)

Monolith Hardcover Notebook – Code & Quill – $25

One of the bigger notebooks featured in this review is the Monolith by Code & Quill. This giant is wonderful to hold in your hand! It has a pebbled cover and can be bought in two different colors: Gray and White. It can be bought with 192 pages of either indention ruled, dot grid, or both kinds of paper.

If you’re looking for something to make lots of drawings or notes in, you will be getting a great deal here! The size and overall layout is amazing and I highly recommend any of the Code & Quill products.

Traveler Soft Cover Notebook – Code & Quill – $15

Our second product from this brand is the smaller, thinner “Traveler” notebook. This is a soft cover notebook with 120 pages of dot grid and indention ruled pages. It’s very flexible and slim, and the perfect addition to any traveler’s notebook, or just to be kept handy in your bag.

Silver Webnotebook Ice Collection – Rhodia Notebooks – $20

This next notebook is one from Rhodia’s Ice Collection of Webnotebooks. It’s a large, Silver Webnotebook with a hard-bound Italian leatherette cover and 96 sheets of 90 g ivory paper. It also has a silver ribbon marker, elastic band, and inner pocket for notes and cards. You can get it with either dot grid or ruled pages.

This is one of the prettiest and most professional notebooks I have received. It could easily be tucked into a leather pouch with a Kindle or iPad and taken to work. Check out the link above for more sizes and information!

Red Bookbound A5 Indexed Notebook – Clairefontaine

Out of all of these A5 notebooks that I was sent, this was probably one of my favorites! Mainly because of the layout of the pages. They aren’t fancy, just ruled pages with an area at the top for the date and a title. Also, this book offered numbered pages and an area for an index at the front. A red soft cover with complimentary elastic band pulls this book together and gives you a perfectly simple notebook to use in so many different ways!

Personalized Notebook/Planner – May Designs – Classic $15

We’re getting close to the end of this review, but it wouldn’t be an Ultimate Review without sharing about the May Designs products! I realized after I had picked this out that this was a notebook review… Not a planner review! But nonetheless, I still wanted to share about this awesome brand with you.

Here is one of their May Design notebooks. They offer three different sizes and more cover patterns and personalization options than you can count!! This is a classic size with a blue tile cover, and one of my favorites! These would fit great in their May Design Folios, or also in some of the traveler notebooks that I shared with you in the Ultimate Traveler’s Notebook Review.

You can get a variety of inside layout options, but I decided to mix it up and get one that offered a weekly layout at the top of the page and then a graph grid at the bottom. But you can also find dot grid, ruled, weekly planners, and so much more.

Handbound Custom Backpocket Journal with Secret Belgian Binding – Curnow Bookbinding & Leatherwork

This cute journal is one of the brightest that I received. I love the binding and colorful hardcover used for it! It’s 5″ x 8″ and full of Tomoe River Paper. One of the nicest parts of it is how the covers lay flat when you open it up to write in it.

If you look at their Facebook page, you’ll see that they offer many different styles and cover options, as well as options for ruled, plain, square grid, or dot grid paper on the inside. You can also order different sizes and notebooks, so be sure to check them out!

Unique Handmade Embroidered Notecard Journal – Embroidori Journals

These little journals are from a new line that will soon be available at the Embroidori Journal Etsy shop! Perfect for those times when you have more to say to a loved one than can be fit onto a regular notecard, you just jot it all down in one of these little journals and mail it off in the matching envelope! Full of dot grid paper, they’re perfect for keeping a short travel diary in and then mailing off to someone. Also be sure to check out the embroidered traveler notebook inserts from this shop in the other review.

Spiral Bound Notebook – Plum Paper

I currently am using a Plum Paper planner as my daily planner and I just love it. This first notebook from them is very similar to it, as they both have the decorative (yet sturdy) cover with a clear, hard plastic cover over the top, pulled together with a sturdy spiral coil, and colorful tabs and dividers.

For this particular notebook, I customized the cover and then picked out lined pages and a few different add-ons. Inside a standard notebook, you’ll get 60 pages (120 front and back) and you can choose from lined, dotted, graph, or blank pages.

Overall, this is one of my favorite spiral notebooks and you can even coordinate the notebooks to match perfectly with your planner!

Don’t forget! You can also customize your notebook and get add-ons with it. Here, you can see a close-up of the four add-ons that I chose. At the top left corner, you can see the blog add-on complete with a blog post schedule, area for post topic ideas, inspiration, blog to-dos, etc. (there are a ton more different helps and pages in that add-on!).

In the top right corner, you’ll find the to-do lists that would be super handy for making a quick shopping list.

Then in the bottom left corner is the fitness add-on, because who doesn’t want to keep track of their progress?!

And then in the bottom right corner, I chose an additional add-on of “notes” because I wanted a few pages of dot graph paper in the book, to go along with the lined I had chosen for the main portion of it!

Perfect Bound Notebook – Plum Paper

This little notebook comes with a book-like binding and 50 pages of lined, graph, dot grid, blank, or calligraphy practice pages. It’s cute and functional! The cover is made from durable, water-proof cover stock with rounded corners, and is roughly 5 by 8 inches. While this one doesn’t allow for add-ons like the others, it’s still the perfect size to fit into a purse or use as a field notebook.

Grace, Not Perfection Simplified Journal – Emily Ley

This is our last notebook in the review!! It’s the classy and beautiful “Grace, Not Perfection” Simplified Journal from Emily Ley. I just recently have gotten back into the daily journaling (or, almost daily) and this would be a great way to start off if you haven’t been writing daily for awhile! I love the almost “prompt-like” pages, with their little notes about “this went well today” or “this was challenging today” and so on. It’s a very simple journal to follow along with (very straightforward) and would be great to be kept on a bedside for some evening writing!

On a side note, you’ll love the outside just as much as the inside! It’s made with a soft-green hardcover and has the title of the book in gold foil on the front cover.

If you’re curious about how the inside of the book looks, or just what to expect from it overall, check out the pictures above!

So, I hope you enjoyed this review! It was a ton of work, but also a lot of fun. I can’t wait to hear what you thought of it and let me know in the comments what I missed!





