rhodia notebooks; substance over style

I'll be the first to confess that I used to be quite fickle when it came to notebooks but one notebook changed my opinion. The notebook in question is a Rhodia one I found in the sale at Paperchase.

Rhodia notebooks aren't ugly - they just appear a bit... masculine and macho. For some reason, black and orange are colours I associate with the male population. However, orange (on its own) is one of my favourite colours (hence why this Pantone notebook just had to be mine) and with these Rhodia notebooks at such a good price, it was one bargain I couldn't pass on.

The only ones in the sale were the black Rhodia A5 ruled hardback notebooks with the logo in orange.

The design isn't unexpected - it is a black notebook with the Rhodia name and logo in orange on the front. I like how it is quite minimalistic as it will lend itself well to being jazzed up a little.

I'm intending on washi-taping the spine to label the notebook.

As soon as I opened the notebook, I think I fell in love. The paper is a lovely bright white with a purpley grey rule and when you stroke the paper, it is so smooth. If I had to design my own notebook, I am pretty sure I would want the inside to look like this. The paper is quite similar to Oxford notepaper and that is definitely not a bad thing. At the back, it says that the paper is 80g in weight.

To end this blog post, I have done a pen test on the paper - after all, no notebook review could be complete without a pen test, right?!

Overall, I am very impressed with the paper quality, but with the Rhodia brand strongly associated with the Clairefontaine brand, I wouldn't expect anything less than a high quality notebook. And the not-so-pretty design? Not a problem - the spines will look lovely on my bookshelf once they are jazzed up!

I know there are a lot of Rhodia fans out there and I also know that I am very late to the Rhodia party but boy, am I glad I found these notebooks. Please note that I bought these notebooks earlier this year - I've only just started to use them; hence the delay in posting about them!

my week round-up #47

Here was my week and here are the blogs taking part in this week's round-up:

{1} Life of Kitty
{2} My Purpley Life
{3} The Simple Life
{4} Miss Mai's Adventures
{5} She's Eclectic
{6} Star Gardener
{7} Sailor Mouth
{8} Innocent and Twisted
{9} The University Project
{10} Little Red Moose
{11} Addicted to Stationery
{12} My Organized Mayhem
{13} Filofax Is My World
{14} Break of Light
{15} Coffee and Stationery
{16} Miszapatosmetenruido
{17} Everything IB
{18} Rain by XOXO
{19} Lucy Wonderland
{20} Ginger Fox
{21} Askatla
{22} Cider With Sophie

Want to join in? Click the button below for more info :)




NB: Inclusion on my weekly round-ups do not mean that I endorse any of the products or services sold by readers in the list and I do not get commission from any sales that may be the result of a click-through.

my week #84

This week, I had nothing timetabled for Wednesday but it didn't feel that way. Because Monday and Tuesday were full days and evenings, I had left all my work (due on Thursday) for the Wednesday and that made my 'day off' less enjoyable. However, exams are in three weeks so I would most probably have been revising anyway!

Catching Fire was released this week (if my planner isn't lying to me) and my friends and I are hoping to see it sometime soon. Because we don't get each week's timetable until the start of the week (Monday at 12pm), plans are often shuffled and re-shuffled until a better week crops up. 

How was your week?

review: introducting Katie Leamon

If you've never heard of Katie Leamon - don't worry. By the end of this blog post, you'll hopefully have heard of them and seen some gorgeous bits and pieces they have to offer. 

Katie Leamon are a greeting card and stationery brand but what sets them apart from other brands offering these products is the fact that their stuff is very pretty and I'm sure will be appealing to many of you (especially if your tastes are anything like mine). 

Georgia, from Katie Leamon, kindly sent me a small selection of the products they have to offer and it came packaged like this:

The (very cute) striped string is a lovely touch and the included products look like they were designed especially for my tastes (they weren't - in case you were wondering ;) ).

First up, I thought I'd start with the greeting cards. I was sent two:

And:

I definitely prefer the second 'You're lovely' card but that may be because I'm biased towards handwritten block letters. The quality of the printing on the front is very good and when you turn over and see the Katie Leamon stamp (no picture of this unfortunately), you can definitely tell that it is handprinted as it is slightly wonky on the first 'J'adore, amore, love' card.

Next up are the gift tags. They also feature the striped string but instead of being red and white, they have burgundy/brown and white stripes.

The tags are ten centimetres in height and 4.9cm wide. The prints are appealing too and when you turn them over...

They have a 'to' and 'from' section. The tags are made of thick card (the website says they are made from 350gsm ivory card).

Finally, a notepad:

Due to its size, this notepad is designed more to sit on a desk at home than something you would slip in your handbag and take out with you on a daily basis. It measures 22.7cm in height and 10.1cm in width. There are 100 pages in this notepad and the paper is ridiculously thick for a notepad (120gsm!).

With regards to the design of the notepad, I love the pink and white/cream stripes and also the design of the 'notes' section at the top. This is definitely one product that I think looks too pretty to use!

Overall, the products are high quality and are definitely geared more towards the female market. They would be great for personal use and would also make great gifts (stocking fillers, anyone?). Another thing is that the products have a premium appeal to them but they don't come with a premium price tag and are actually very reasonably priced.

Katie Leamon also offer notebooks but I can't comment on them as I've not seen one in person. From the greeting card, tags and notepad points of view, the products are unique and would make a lovely gift for someone who is into pretty stationery and things that have a tinge of vintage about them.

Thank you again to Georgia and Katie Leamon for sending me these products to review. This is one brand I will be hunting down in London as there are another few bits and pieces I want to purchase from the range.

NB: Although these products were supplied as samples, it has not affected my opinion in any way. Also, I don't receive commission from any links from this blog post.