Showing posts with label Matrikas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matrikas. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Matrikas' The Creative Woman's Journal



As we go about the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we often pen down notes on little Post-Its or little chit-blocks. Every room of my home has little notepads and pens in some corner or other, to be used, whenever the need arises.


However, there are moments when the little stack of note paper is not enough. Our feelings and thoughts demand to be put down on paper; paper that will be saved carefully and reviewed with love over the years.


Over the last year, I discovered the beauty of Rhonda Byrne's books - 'The Secret' and 'Daily Teachings'.  I've been wanting to pen down significant lovely positivity upholding thoughts in a journal. But which? .... Being a stationery-mad woman, the journal itself had to be 'special'. Just the sight and feel of the journal ad to be uplifting, in itself.


And then, along came Matrikas, like an answered prayer, with their bloggers' contest for their Creative Woman's Journal. 
                                                                      
                                                                     


Since I was in that particular frame of mind, I chose the pink butterfly journal, with it's message 'To dream'. It fit perfectly in my mind-space, inspiring me to dream of greater heights, to soar beyond one's perceived limits, because that is exactly what a butterfly does. From its stages of caterpillar, to pupa, to butterfly, it embodies the faith one has to have in the Universe, to be in the moment and do one's best, struggling against what seems to be adversity but eventually emerging; due to that very adversity, as a glorious, beautiful life-form, soaring into the sky, making the world more beautiful.




Starting to plan writing this blog post, a little poem formed in my mind last night; I thought it would be a good idea to focus on it this morning. Here it is, in its final form, on the first page inside the cover. 




I realised that the best use of this Matrika's Creative Woman's Journal for me, would be to use it for inspiration. Once it's complete, I will be using it to open to random pages to read out a couple of inspiring passages to my children, because the first thing we do on rising in the morning, is to go out on our verandah and say thanks to the Universe for all that we have been blessed with.





This beautifully designed journal has it all - lined pages, blank sheets, nature-inspired colouring pages, since adult colouring books are all the rage now, helping to de-stress our modern lives.












Colour your heart out!












 There is lots of doodle-space!

    There are pages of stickers, encompassing our moods and desires.  It's got space for almost everything one could wish for!  There is a well-thought-out envelope inside the back cover - I'm going to put in sheets of stickers for them to be handy to use! 





The journal comes with an elastic band around it, which is a great idea because I might put in little cuttings as well. I probably won't be using the elastic pen holder, because I love using different pens and inks, making the entries more colourful.  



In terms of technical matters, the Journal is very well made, has good paper, probably 80 or 90 gsm., which allows the use of even a broad-nibbed fountain pen and does not bleed ink on the reverse. The  printing is excellent, that is the hallmark of all Matrikas products.  The rounded corners are specially pleasing to me. The pricing initially seemed a bit steep to me, at INR 450, however, with all the possibilities in this journal and considering how truly lovely it is, well-designed and thought out, made with love, it's worth it!


The thought of starting my day with this Journal, allowing my mind to be free and to fly higher is an invigorating one.  It is made to encourage creativity! And all creativity is actually dependent on imagination!



These journals will also make the perfect gift for a lot of women I know!  
Thank you, Matrikas!




Sunday, June 4, 2017

Smart Block Flexi notebooks

Here's another notebook I bought recently, from the new Smart Block Flexi range from Matrikas.


Looks good
Smooth paper
Lined, A4 sized, 29.2 x 21 cms
180 pages
Rounded corners!! :)
The cover is green/pink/blue/purple, with interesting designs.

I looked them up on the Net and found that there are variants in size, page count, ruled/unruled,  available.

The one I bought, 180 pages, A4 sized, cost INR 73.

  Matrikas, you continue to impress!



Wednesday, December 24, 2014

MATRIKAS Panache notebook

  Now the Panache notebooks come in 3 sizes, A5,  A4 and Std sizes and have 192 pages. These are perfect for office use, or as in my case, in a medical clinic or even for senior school and college students. The hard bound cover has a good design which is not apparent at first glance, but can be seen particularly at some angles. 






The A5 one is easy to carry around in one's handbag. The paper is smooth, like in all Matrikas products, but, like for the Personality Journals, I'd have liked a bit thicker paper. The binding is good, the satin page marker is useful and convenient.







The A4 ones are priced at Rs.190/=
A5 at Rs.110/=
STD size at Rs.135/=

Yes, this one gets 4 stars on 5.















Tuesday, December 23, 2014

MATRIKAS Personality Journal

This is a nice journal from Matrikas. It's a good size of 24.5 x 17.5 cms., hardbound with a design of a famous Indian personality on the cover. The pages have inspiring quotes by the personality. They are available in 6 designs, with Mahatma Gandhi, Sai Baba, Vivekananda, Chanakya, Mother Theresa and Dr. Ambedkar as the personalities.




I wanted to use the Mother Theresa one for my personal use since I'm a doctor and her work for the sick strikes a chord in me. The cover is a beautiful one in different shades of blue and white. The cover is foil stamped to give a special embossed kind of effect. Nice to the touch.













The journal has the usual pages for personal data, addresses and telephone numbers, etc. There is also an interesting page for the biography of the personality.

Each journal has 224 pages.










What I particularly liked were the 12 pages dedicated to each month where one can have the whole month at a glance. These pages are followed by regular pages with space for a date but there are no dates given, unlike a yearly diary. Each right hand side page has a thoughtful quote made by the personality.







The paper quality is nice, smooth too; but it would have been better to have slightly thicker paper, considering that it's not a notebook, but a journal. The journal has a satin page marker, useful for marking your place.






All in all, quite a decent journal. Each one is priced at Rs.215/= I'd give it 4 stars out of 5, simply because I'd have liked a thicker paper quality. But it's a good one, Matrikas!


Tuesday, August 5, 2014

MATRIKAS Cube Works Flexi




Cube Works Flexi by MATRIKAS are good notebooks in vibrant colours.  Attractive plastic sleeves over a soft cover give them just the right amount of flexibility and protection.








They come in two sizes - A4 and A5.

The A4 sized ones are good for college and office use for making notes or keeping records.
The A5 sized ones are perfect for school use or casual use.










A5 and A4 together



They have 160 pages and are available in eight colours.

They are centre pinned and lined with a section on the top right of each page for the date. 











The paper quality is smooth and allows for writing with ink on both sides without smudging.  I particularly like the fact that the top line is darker but not double. I also like the non-margined look.





I am known to be finicky about my stationery but I must say that these notebooks pass my quality test with high grades. The only negative from my point of view is the date column. I would have liked to have the notebooks without it since I'm not a college student anymore!


All in all, these Flexi notebooks would get  4.5 stars out of 5!! A pleasure to use!

For more information on their products keep watching this blog!
You can also drool over their products at http://www.matrikas.co.in


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Notebooks, journals and more!



Aren't these great? I received these wonderful looking stationery products yesterday from Matrikas. There are notebooks, journals, ring books, little notepads and more.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to review each product on this blog so keep visiting!

Yes, the creators at Matrikas sent them to me. But rest assured that my reviews will in no way be biased. And if there is enough interest generated, maybe we'll organise a contest and have a give-away!