Here is another awesome guest post from my sister Sandy, about her Reflexions sketchbook. I mentioned how she uses it in my Lists, Lists Everywhere post. Here she goes into more details! I feel like I should be taking notes...About a year ago, one of my co-workers turned me onto Reflexions spiral bound notebooks. I ordered one, and I love it! It has a hard, black cover, in a double wire spiral, field sketchbook style. The front cover can flip all the way around, onto the back of itself, creating a hard surface to write on while you’re standing (say, taking a quote from someone) or making notes “in the field.”
I carry the 7’ x 10’ size, but the sketchbook I use also comes in 5 ½” and 11” sizes. The paper is acid free in a light cream color. It’s a 70lb weight and has an even texture that takes ink, colored pencils, chalk, and pastels like a champ. I can use this book very efficiently, because the lack of bleed-through allows me to use both sides of every page.
Reflexions also has other cool products, such as the notebooks with the white, linen cover, which I happen to find exceptionally gorgeous!
This website is the one that I order from when purchasing my Reflexions notebook:
http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/Paper/Drawing-and-Multimedia-Paper-and-Boards/Reflexions-Drawing-and-Sketch-Journals.htm
To piggy-back off of Laurie’s blog post Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures, this IS my catch-all, overflow side-kick to my Quo Vadis Trinote planner.
My Reflexions notebook is in chronological order. It is a reflection/reflexion of my life. It shows that my life is a tapestry of personal and professional aspects of my life. There are lists how I feel about a decision I need to make (Pros vs. Cons), lists of bills that I need to pay (before I started using my Trinote religiously for this purpose) intermingled with quotes from our clients that I include in our marketing brochures, and theme ideas for my son’s birthday party. There are notes from marketing strategy meetings at work, lists of apps that I want to put on my iPhone, Avon orders that I need to place for my Avon customers, and information about puppy training classes that I might register my boxer puppy for.
So, my Reflexions book is something my planner could never be. It is a chronological record of my thoughts and feelings, as well as a gathering of detailed information and lists, where as my planner is a chronological record of my tasks and appointments. I love them both, and both are necessary in my life to keep me focused and clear minded.
which would you recommend for me? Sandy's "reflections" or the one you use for lists/tasks? My planner is a monthly one, because I NEED to see the whole month at once. so i need something to use for lists and small journal entries. what would you suggest?
ReplyDeletealso, I'm trying to figure out how to put my pic on your blog site!
Hi Melody,
ReplyDeleteWhat type of notebook you need depends on not only how you will use it, but how long you want to keep it. If you want to keep it forever, make sure the paper is acid-free and that the cover will survive your use and storage. If you'll carry it everywhere with you, you may prefer a pocket size. But if you want to write a lot, do mind-mapping, or make big lists you may prefer a larger page size.
Some people prefer spiral-bound so they can fold the notebook back on itself. Some people prefer bound (whether hard or soft cover). There are staple-bound books that are less sturdy, but are slimmer.
I've never used Moleskine Volant notebooks, but they are slim, come in a variety of sizes, are thread-bound with a flexible cover. Moleksine notebooks are the standard by which many people measure all notebooks, they have archival paper, good bindings, an elastic band and a soft or hard cover.
Clairefontaine notebooks have better paper than Moleskine, colorful covers, and a variety of bindings including spiral, cloth-bound, staple-bound, hard backed etc.
Those are the two brands I use most of the time. For some real notebook knowledge, go see Notebook Stories: http://www.notebookstories.com/
(Where they are currently having this month's Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper which has lots of cool articles.)
Putting your picture on my blog: do you mean over in the sidebar under Followers? You click on the Follow button above the pictures and then choose your profile to use. You may need to create a profile if you don't already have one.
Let me know how it goes!
LOL @ "Hi Melody." There's another Melody that comments here sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHI MOMMY!! Glad you got your pic to work!!