Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. 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!




Friday, June 7, 2013

Maped Eraser Caps

Eraser caps are somewhat hard to come by here in India. After I caught the eraser-cap-bug, I hunted high and low for them. Finally, found a pack of Maped eraser caps.

Nice and colourful with a peculiar shape. They look strong enough too.  But, I won't say they're great. Decent but not great. They erase all right, but are not stable enough on the pencil. There is a bit of a wobble and they tend to crack very soon.

Hmm, they'll get a rating of 3 on 5.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

BILT Matrix Notepads

Some years ago, I'd discovered the BILT Matrix Conference Pads - wonderful paper, excellent quality - a pleasure to write on.

Two weekends back, I got reunited with BILT Matrix - this time, with their A4 sized single lined notepads. Ahhh, the joys of owning good stationery! Since then, I've gone and got myself their Youth series of A4 pads and some of their Premium A4 and A5 notepads. The Youth series have the same smoothness, but have thinner paper - good for writing letters internationally where the weight counts. The Premium series have 70 gsm paper - perfect.

The pricing is excellent too, with the Youth series A4 sized 100 page notepads at Rs.29/= and the similar Premium one priced at Rs.42/=

Only drawback - not many stationers in the area seem to stock it - apparently BILT has very poor marketing and their salesmen hardly ever drop in to the stores. This is most unfortunate because I would rate BILT as having the best quality around. What we need is also a good online stationery store, like Office Depot. Ballarpur Industries Limited, are you listening?

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Paper Mate Eraser Caps

Write something... erase. Write more... erase. I love writing with pencils, and find eraser caps very convenient, either when the original eraser tips of the pencils have worn off or for pencils that don't have an eraser in the first place. After reading plenty of reviews on Amazon.com, I settled on Paper Mate Arrowhead Eraser Caps. I must say, I'm very satisfied.

They're much better than the Office Depot ones I'd used earlier. The Office Depot ones were thinner and hence wobbled every time while erasing something. They slipped off the pencil and split after a while.

Paper Mate Arrowhead Eraser Caps
The Paper Mate ones are standard pink in colour, are made thicker, hence they are firmer, don't wobble and are more stable while erasing. Initially I felt as though the eraser might slip off the pencil, so I used to hold the eraser onto the pencil while erasing the matter. But now I find that it's not needed - the eraser cap does not slip off! These eraser caps erase well and last long. They're priced well at less than $8 for a box of 144. One box will last a long time, but just make sure you store it in a Ziploc bag so that the erasers don't get dry.

Highly recommended!! I give them 5 stars!

Amazon.com has the best price, here's the link!

Paper Mate Arrowhead Pink Cap Erasers (73015), Pack of 144

Friday, May 3, 2013

Apsara Pop & Apsara Joi Extra Dark Pencils

We grew up in India with Nataraj and Apsara pencils which were two of the few pencil brands in the market between 1970-1990. Only after liberalisation of the economy in the early 90s, did stationery begin to boom in India and consumers had more of a choice.

Apsara Joi
I learnt only recently that Nataraj and Apsara are both brands made by Hindustan Pencils Pvt. Ltd. Not only do they have a huge market share of pencils in India, but they also export their products to over 30 countries. Their products conform to European safety norms, all their ingredients are non-toxic, and they continue to make the effort to develop plantations to ensure renewal of the wood they use. This makes me happy to support them!

In recent years, Apsara has been coming out with beautiful pencils!! Apsara Pop and Apsara Joi are two of their many different series. Hexagonal pencils with a smooth lacquer finish, extra dark smooth lead and the wood sharpens very well.
Apsara Pop

The box of Apsara Joi pencils has pencils with different coloured lacquers, but each pencil has primarily one colour with alternate thin stripes of a different colour. Each pencil of Apsara Pop has two colours separated by white thin stripes. Each box comes with a free eraser and a long point sharpener.

I highly recommend these series of pencils!!
For ratings, I give Apsara Joi 4.5 on 5 and Apsara Pop gets a 5 on 5.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

My First Ticonderoga


I picked up a blister pack of 4 'My First Ticonderoga' in 2009 on a trip to the US. The blister pack has 4 pencils and a sharpener.

They're fat pencils, in the trademark green and yellow Ticonderoga colors. Absolutely perfect for little hands who're just beginning to write. However, I'm mad about stationery so I started using these myself.

I absolutely love them!
Compare the thickness with a regular pencil


I enjoy the control that the fat pencils give. Smooth core with a neat eraser. The pencil weight is just enough for little hands to manage conveniently.

The hardness of the pencil is a standard US #2 which is the worldwide HB. I personally prefer softer pencils, but for children, HB is possibly more suitable since they tend to use more pressure while writing.

To understand pencil grading, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil

Unfortunately these Ticonderoga pencils aren't available in India; however, you can buy them from Amazon.com with ease. If you have someone traveling to India from the US, you can buy them off Amazon, have it shipped to the person in the US who can then bring it to you! I plan on ordering a bigger pack soon!

I give them a rating of 4.5 on 5.  (Just because I'm a wee bit finicky)

Here's the Amazon link for the bigger pack of 12 (much more economical than the blister pack of 4) :
Ticonderoga My First Ticonderoga Primary Size 2 Beginner Pencils, Box of 12, Yellow (33312)