Review: Life Canvas stationery and organisation products!

Hi guys!
Today I'm reviewing some samples kindly sent to me by Emily at Parragon, from their new range of stationery called 'Life Canvas'!*

Life Canvas is a range of stationery and organisation products, designed to help you organise your life in style. They have many products, including A5 journals, A6 organiser notebooks, notebook organiser sets, notepads, sticky note sets in tins, more sticky note sets called 'Stickipedia', colourful notebooks, travel journals, family journals, drawing, doodling and scribbling books, and sentimental books, including 'The Story of me and My...' (Dad, Mum, Grandpa or Grandma), 'Memories From Your...' (Mother or Grandmother), and 'It's All About...' (Me or You)!
Their designs are pretty and cute, with butterflies, birds, and even a Pop Art style!

Check out their website here! 

Emily sent me an A6 organiser notebook, a notebook organiser set, and a colourful notebook!


Colour Notebook-

I really like this little notebook! It's called 'Purple Rain', I'm guessing after the Prince song! The other notebooks in this range are called 'Blue Sky', 'Silver Fox', 'Sunshine Yellow', 'Red Hot' and 'Acid Green', and their covers are the appropriate colour. I love the colour of this notebook, a true purple, darker than the above photo shows.

But what I really love about this notebook isn't the cover; it's the inside which counts! I've seen so many notebooks where it seems like the designers and manufacturers have concentrated on what the cover looks like, and just leave the inside pages looking boring! Life Canvas' notebooks are just beautiful in comparison!

The inside cover invites you to unleash your creativity...

And each page, with its lilac background, pale purple dotted lines and purple borders, has a quote or fact about the colour purple! Each page is different, no quote repeated, and the pages are well-designed so that the quotes aren't in the way of your writing, and don't distract you! I really love this attention to detail, it makes each page special even before you start writing on it!

Pen test:

The paper doesn't perform so well with some of my inkier pens, including fountain pen ink, rollerball ink and highlighters, and of course a Sharpie! So I would use a ball-point or gel pen in this notebook. However, I think the beautiful pages with the lilac pages and cute quotes make up for the poorer paper quality!

A6 Organiser Notebook-

I really like this little organiser. Like the colourful notebooks, it's really well designed, or even more so!

One of the best things about this notebook is that it's divided into sections and subsections with cut-out top-tabs and side-tabs!

The top-tabs are 'Notes', 'To do', 'Ideas', and a larger section 'The Best...'

 ... which sub-divides into 'Music', 'Books', 'Films' and 'Websites'. There are also 3 blank sections, which you can label to write more of your favourite things, following the pattern of the 'The Best' section, or you could make your own sections.

Sorry for the blurryness!

 Each section has approx. 30 pages to write all of your notes, lists etc!
My favourite thing about this notebook is how beautiful and detailed the pages are! Each page is different, with lovely butterfly designs and coloured backgrounds, including pink, lilac, blue, green and cream.

In the notes section there are some lined and some blank pages, so that you can write, draw diagrams, draw pictures, etc.

 The A6 Organiser Notebook retails for RRP £8.00


Last but not least, was:

The Notebook Organiser Set-

This is so beautiful! My favourite of the bunch!!

The front cover has an elastic, although I don't really know how it is supposed to hold it closed, because it's not well designed...
... but that's all made up for by the beautiful inside!!

It's made up of three sections:

Sticky notes on the left

An A5 notepad in the middle, which is perforated at the top for easy removal of the papers

And an envelope on the right to hold all of your important bits of paper!

When closed, this set would be perfect to hold your important documents, tucked in between the closed flaps, to carry in your handbag, at work, and store on your desk. It's effectively like a desk on the go- you have everything you need except for a pen!

The sticky notes are beautiful, and I did a little experiment with them: I removed a sticky note (the bigger purple one in the middle on the right), and stuck it into the purple notebook. As I was hoping, there was no sticky residue left on the sticky note below from the one I had taken off! I've experienced a lot of other brands' pretty sticky notes leaving residue, so I'm very happy that these don't!

I then unstuck and restuck the sticky note five times on the page. When I restuck it for the final time, I tested to see how well-stuck it was to the paper- barely any lift-off!!

The Notebook Organiser Set retails for RRP £10.00

I really like these products, and I think the whole Life Canvas range is really beautiful, well-designed and creative! Thank you to Emily from Parragon for sending me these products to review!



*I was not paid to write this review, however the samples were sent to me to review free of charge; all opinions are my own.

NatStatWeek- My favourite stationery: Sticky Notes!

(Sorry for this post being late! ;b )

I have a lot of sticky notes (a.k.a. Post-It notes), but how can I not- they're so useful!!
I use them for taking quick notes that I only need temporarily, for lists etc on my dashboard/WO2P and other places in my planner, and for more permanent info in my Egyptology research filo, which I can move from page to page as I work, and then stick them down again to store them.

I actually prefer cheaper sticky notes because I mostly use them for temporary things, so I don't want to use expensive (i.e. Post-It brand) ones, when I'm only going to use them for a couple of things and then throw them away. So I don't mind if they don't stick very well!
But for things that need to stick for longer- e.g. in my Egyptology filofax- I use 3M brand's Super Sticky Post-It Notes!
I really like cute and novelty sticky notes, but when they're limited edition (e.g. seasonal ranges from Paperchase) or ones I won't be able to get again (e.g. grid Post-Its from the USA sent to me by Kristin), I feel like I can't use the, so I keep them in my stationery box and I don't use them!

Here are some photos of my collection :)

These are my main sticky notes in one of my Hello Kitty boxes :) A mixture of Martha Stewart, Post-It Super Sticky, cheap ones from supermarkets etc, and other ones. I take this box to my desk so I can use my sticky notes there, or with me when I'm working in bed with my filos or books :)

The sticky notes drawer in the set of drawers on my coffee table. It's basically the same contents as my Hello Kitty box duplicated, but missing a few as I can't fit them all in. The big pink one is my new Post-It block I got quite cheap from Staples! I love this drawer as it is so useful when I'm sitting on my sofa, it's within an arm's reach so I don't have to get up ;b (Lazy me!!)

Martha Stewart Avery sticky notes and tabs sent from the USA by Amy! I feel like I shouldn't use them as lots of them are discontinued and I can't get them again, but I've got some others I bought from Staples here in the UK which I'm using, so I might start using them after those!

These are my novelty and cute sticky notes, mainly from Paperchase, but also others I got as gifts, e.g. Hello Kitty :)