Notebook Stories

These Postalco notebooks (and other accessories) look nice but are pretty pricey! The two notebooks below are each $50 or more.   “Alexander Calder may be best known for his kinetic mobiles, but the sculptor himself was also in constant motion. His oeuvre suggests an attention that shifted effortlessly across art and objects — from […]

How to keep a sketchbook, and why! In this Urban Sketchers Chicago blog post by Barbara Weeks, the benefits include the expected, such as developing your drawing skills and capturing fleeting ideas, and also things you might not think of: “5. Cheaper than a psychiatrist This reason may be my own little reason but I […]

This week’s addict was spotted on the F***Yeah Notebooks and Journals Tumblr page, a good source for notebook eye candy! Pepperguy says “I have a bit of an addiction.” I’d love to see more beyond this tantalizing glimpse of Moleskines and Field Notes!   See more at I have a bit of a notebook addiction. […]

Here’s the stash of notebooks I brought back from my Amsterdam/Paris trip. First, two little notebooks from a local newsstand/bookstore near where I was staying. They had a nice selection of school supplies, and other notebook brands such as Moleskine, but these two were inexpensive and not like others I’d seen elsewhere. The blue one […]

I was in Washington DC over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and thanks to a tip from a reader, I went to one of the Smithsonian museums to see a cool little exhibit on artists’ diaries: A Day in the Life: Artists’ Diaries from the Archives of American Art. It’s not a huge exhibition, and the […]

Life notebooks always catch my eye in stores. The covers look so elegant in a modern yet retro way. And the paper always feels so smooth and silky. This one above was a freebie from the generous folks at Notebook Maniac, who sell a variety of notebook brands, many from Japan, including Life, Midori, Tsubame, […]

Nice looking but expensive journals made with reclaimed leather and fabric: See more at Peg & Awl.

This week’s addict was brought to my attention via an email from a reader named Reema. Krystina wrote about her life-long habit of journaling at her website, Baraka Birth. “I’ve been keeping a journal since 1991, when at age nine I was a gap-toothed kid tearing up the playground in New Delhi, India. That first […]

Midori’s Traveler’s Notebooks are so widely popular, they seem to be almost the only Midori products you ever hear about. But they also make this lovely line of spiral notebooks named after animals (and an insect). From the descriptions at the Miscellaneous online store: Midori Spiral Ring Notebook is a series of notebooks with a […]

I jotted this brand down after seeing one of their products somewhere– I don’t remember where or when, or what I saw, but their website offers some lovely letterpress journals in various designs:   See more at Papercup Design.