for well-seasoned productivity

// march 2021 🌱

[ 03.29.21 ]

“I’d welcome you home, then.”

I love Wolf Children~ It’s one of my favorite movies of all-time. I cried my eyes out during the first half of the film when I watched it for the first time. Without spoiling, I resonate with the themes of the movie ridiculously much. 

i’m almost done with a notion template and i’m really excited to see how it’ll look completed :DDD

05.06.2021

I’m late to posting my June bujo cover page but here it is!!! I’m actually super satisfied with how it turned out. Also hibiscus lemonades have become a thing™️ in our house.

I got productivity on my mind 🌱

So I am a massive stationary addict and over the years I have had A LOT! I know what good stationary is so I thought that I would share with all you guys my favourite pens to use in my notes and in my bullet journal.

1. Muji Gel Ink Pens

This is the pen I use in a daily basis for all my school notes and class work! It is probably my favourite pen that I have ever used to write with. I also really like the coloured pens for writing key words. There are so many things that I love about this pen but here’s a quick summary:

It basically works like normal literally until there is absolutely no ink left. This is really different to most other pens that I’ve used that have tended to lose most of their colour as they begin to run out of ink.

I really love the dark black colour, which I think always makes my notes really easy to read.

It doesn’t smudge during writing.

I really love the 0.5mm width because it’s not too thin but not too thick. It’s perfect!

It’s really nice to hold in the hand and doesn’t hurt my hand after writing for a long time like most other pens do.

Of course, even though this is literally the best pen I’ve ever used, there is one slight negative that I’ve found:

It can occasionally smudge when highlight with quite a liquidy highlighter but I don’t tend to highlight that often but if I do I use Mildliners (see below), which I’ve found don’t really do it that much.

2. Pilot Juice Metallic Pens

These pens are really new for me as they were bought for me for Christmas by a friend but they have instantly become a favourite!

Pros:

The colours a gorgeous but subtle. They catch the light really well so I use them to write key words in which I think is really effective!

You don’t need to put much pressure to write with them so my hand doesn’t cramp when writing with them.

The silver one in particular is really great because it’s really light but catches the light probably the best out of all the pens so becomes really bold when it does.

Cons:

I haven’t really found many cons thus far when using them apart from the fact that the actual diameter of the pen is a little too thick for me because I hold my pen in a really odd way so can be a little uncomfortable.

3. Stabilo Point 88 Pastel Pens

I love these pens and like the metallic pens I use them to write key words. My favourite one is probably the grey one, which may sound a bit odd cause it’s not really an exciting colour, but I use it for examples and little notes in margins because it doesn’t really stand out too much but you can still read it.

Pros:

It is a really nice to write with. I honestly can’t explain what is so nice about it, it just is.

The thickness of the line is really perfect.

The colours are pastel but still bright and easy to read.

Cons:

I use line Tipp-ex that you can usually write straight over but with these pens I can’t do that, so if I make a mistake I can’t really redo it which kinda annoys me.

On some paper, these pens can bleed a bit which isn’t great. In my school books they don’t because the paper is glossier but in my note books at home they do bleed.

4. Mildliners

I absolutely adore Mildliners. Everyone who follows a few studyblrs will have seen Mildliners because they are pretty well loved in the studyblr community and for good reason. I use them loads to add lots of colour to my notes. In the picture I’ve included some of my favourite colours.

Pros:

I love all the different colours because it makes my notes seem much more colourful and original. Everyone who has tried my Mildliners have always loved all the different colours.

Unlike most other highlighters, I’ve found that mildliners don’t really smudge pen ink which is really good because there’s nothing worse than trying to make the word more readable and end up with one big smudge.

I love the grey pen (as pictured) and I use it to add shadow to boxes with formulae in or diagrams. It’s probably my most used used pen in my pencil case apart from my actual writing pen.

I’ve found that they last a really long time. I know some people have found that their mildliners run out quite quickly but that has not been the case for me. I got these pens over a year ago and use them pretty much every day but they haven’t faded at all.

Cons:

They can smudge some pens occasionally but I think they are definitely better than most other highlighters.

Some of the colours are a little bit dark to use as highlighters but this is fine for me because I just don’t use those as highlighter- I just use them like normal pens.

They can go through some types of paper if it isn’t very glossy.

5. Stabilo Highlighters

These highlighters are classics. The colours are just really iconic, particularly the neon ones. The pastel ones are particularly popular now and most girls in my school have them. I also have these highlighters in the Cool Swing style which have slightly thinner nib and thinner body.

Pros:

The colours really are iconic. I really love the subtle pastel highlighter colours and I think each one compliments the others. The neon colours - particularly the yellow and orange - are really bright and are great for getting your attention.

They last a really long time and don’t really fade at all even if you use them a lot.

The nib of the pens stay quite solid for a long time.

They really are just really classic highlighters and I think everyone should own at least one of these.

Cons:

They can smudge most pens quite a lot.

They often bleed through most types of paper so when you go on to the other side of the paper they are quite a lot of marks from the highlighter.

Some of the neon highlighters are a little bit dark for highlighting.

6. Tombrow Dual Brush Pens

These pens are really popular in the studyblr community and so I thought I would buy a set to try them out. I am really glad I did because they are truly wonderful pens. Pictured are some of my favourite colours.

Pros:

There are loads of different colours to choose from and lots of different sets to choose from as well. For example, I’ve go the primary, secondary, pastel and bright colour sets. I have not yet found a colour that I don’t like yet.

The brush part is really great for lettering. I’ve tried to use many brush pens but these are the ones that I’ve found it easiest to do lettering and calligraphy with.

The grey brush pen is one of my favourites again (can you tell I really love grey pens) because it is brilliant at doing shadows particularly on lettering.

The thin nib is nice and thin and even after constant use has not lost any of its shape or sturdiness.

Cons:

There really aren’t any cons to these pens rather than perhaps they can go through slightly on some papers if you go over it too many times but it really does not do this that much.

7. Papermania Metallic Pens

These pens were in my amazon wish list for about 6 months but I just kept putting off buying them but now I use them almost daily on post it notes and to add something a bit different in my notes.

Pros:

They really do look metallic . There are lots of pens that I’ve tried that are supposed to be ‘metallic’ are just a bit sparkly but these really do seem metallic and catch the light so well.

The colours are quite unique because even though you have the classics (gold, silver, etc.) there are also some blue and green ones that are really cool to add something interesting to my notes.

Cons:

The nib on the ones I use the most has lost some of its firmness so the line is much thicker. You can probably see this in the picture.

If you go over what you are writing too many times it can start to clump a bit which doesn’t look great but this is one if you go over the same line a lot, so isn’t too bad.

This week, a mass grave was discovered at a former Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, BC. The grave contained the bodies of 215 Indigenous children.

For people outside of North America, residential schools were places that Indigenous children were sent to, to have their language and culture stripped away from them. They were literally stolen from their families, and scattered across Canada, to ensure that they would be surrounded by children who didn't speak their language. They were given Christian names and forced to speak English. They were horrendously abused, and the survivors have been traumatized.

Hundreds of children never returned. The assumption has always been that they died. This has now been confirmed.

The school in Kamloops closed in 1978. They are now trying to identify bodies to inform family members. The last residential school closed in the 1990s. There is growing demand to search all of them, but the government hasn't responded to that, as of yet. Ottawa JUST gave in to pressure to fly the Canada flag at half mast. They weren't even going to do that.

I can’t believe we’re in June already. My brain is still in April.

Well, since Victoria is back in lockdown again, I’m actually going to be productive for once.