Many of you know that I've ben a fan of Erin Condren Planners for a while now, but I haven' talked much about their notebooks. I've been using the 7 x 9 & 8.5 x 11 notebooks for a few years now and am convinced I will never go back to the run of the mill coiled notebooks.
I primarily use the smaller 7x9 notebooks for note taking at work, since most of my meetings are short and I don't end up filling an entire 8.5 x 11 with notes. To be honest, I feel like I have a bit of whitespace left on the 7x9 sheets too, so when I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Erin Condren team on their new notebook launch I was beyond excited.
They now have A5 sized notebooks! I've been using the A5 books for work for the past few days and they've proven to be the right size for me in my job.
In addition to the A5 notebooks, there were a ton of other new releases I got to try out.
Check out my initial thoughts video & peruse through some pictures below...
All of the Erin Condren products mentioned can be found HERE
Small Acrylic Desk Organizer
These organizers are on par with the existing acrylic desk collection items we've grown to know and love from EC. I really like the compact size - it's ideal for the limited space available on my desk.
Ballpoint Click Pen (3 pk)
I'd order these pens in a heart beat. The ink is rich but doesn't seem to smear, the colors are soft and pretty, and the barrel of the pen feels nice in my hand.
I'm a little underwhelmed with the stamp pens. I love the idea, but feel like they feel short. I might be using them wrong, but it was hard for me to get nice/even coverage when using the stamp end. I feel like I'd rather just manually draw a circle or asterisk when needed. Each pack comes in a set of two, with one end being a fine point black pen, and other other being a colored stamp.
Asterisk Pen
Clip
The pen clip is surprisingly snug when clipped on a notebook cover. I've had very good luck with a variety of pens staying put when attached to the various notebooks I tested it on. It's adorable and functional. I ended up really liking this and will probably buy one in each available color (gold, silver, and rose gold).
Dual Tip
Fine/Chisel Tip set of 6
I have a love/hate relationship with this set. The set has a nice selection of colors. One end has a colored fine tip pen that coordinates with the colored chisel tip on the other end. I used one of the pens, along with a black pen from the ultra fine tip marker set to take a sample page of notes. The color was rich, didn't smear, and didn't bleed through or shadow through the paper. I LOVED that. What I didn't love was that after taking the notes, there seemed to be ink lightly collecting around the fine tip end of the pen, and it had gotten on my finger. I didn't notice that with any of the other markers in the set, but I had only used them for light swatching. I'd need to use them a bit more before I can make a decision on whether or not to recommend them. I WANT to love these, but I'm not yet convinced the quality is there. In the last of the three pictures you can see what I mean about light pooling. It's not bad, but it did get on my hand.
Dual Tip
Highlighters set of 6
These I do like so far. This set also has a nice selection of colors. One end of each has a black fine tip pen and the other end has a muted color to be used as a highlighter. I used one of the pens to take notes and I didn't notice any of the leaking that I noticed with the set above, although the barrel design appears to be nearly identical. I'd need to use them a bit more before I can make a decision on whether or not to recommend them.
Metallic Marker Set of 10
I really like these markers too, but I can't think of how I will use them. They're too chunky to take notes with, but I really like the boldness of the colors, and the ability to write on darker paper. They're light weight, but they're hard, rigid plastic so it doesn't feel very good to write with them.
A5 Classic Lined Notebook & A5 Productivity Notebook
I really love this smaller size. It's small, making it much more portable. Similar to the 7x9 and 8.5 x 11 notebooks, the covers are interchangeable, but unlike the other sizes, the A does not appear to be perforated. Examples of the layouts can be seen above with he dual-tip marker swatches. Below you can see a size comparison...
The bottom of the stack is an 8.5 x 11 coiled notebook, topped with a 7x9 coiled notebook, topped by an A5 coiled notebook, topped with a softbound notebook.
7x9 Vegan Leather Classic Lined Notebook
I like the rigidity of the vegan leather covers. They feel smooth and look great. How pretty is this floral cover?! These covers, like the other vegan leather planners and notebooks, are NOT interchangeable. And like the other vegan leather covers, they can be embossed with up to 4 characters.
Vegan
Leather Folio &
The folios have been out for a little while now. I bought this one to pair with my LifePlanner. I found that since I use sticker kits in my planner, it got a bit too chunky for the folio, so I started keeping a 7x9 notebook in it instead. I like to keep some to-do stickies and a letterhead set in there as well (always be prepared!) :) You guys...this cover...did you know you can upload your own image for the planner covers? This setup embodies my happy place...gold coil (!), soft blue folio (!), bulldog puppy on the cover (!).
A5 Coiled Address Book
There's a lot to be said for keeping a hand written address book. I don't do it, but I feel like I should. Maybe getting one in the mail to test out is a wake up call for me to get off my rear and fill it out? This address book is filled with the classic Erin Condren colorful palette we're used to, and has the Mid-Century Circles design on the cover and on each section divider. Each tab covers 3 letters (with the exception of Y & Z which has 2). Each section has space dedicated to 42 entries (except for Y & Z which has 24). The very last page has dedicated space for essential numbers.
Ultra Fine Tip Markers
These markers are not new with this release, but they deserve honorable mention. I've been using these for several months now and they have quickly become my go to for planning, correspondence, AND note taking. The markers have a .3 mm tip (just slightly more fine than the fine tip markers (which I also like). The ultra fine tips seems to glide across the paper a bit more smoothly that the fine tips. If you don't already have them, I highly recommend picking some up.
I did show of a few more new items (including new sticky note pockets, silver & gold ball point pens, a Swell water bottle, a sticky note roll, and a large organizing caddy) in the You Tube video above. Go check it out!
If you're new to Erin Condren, take advantage of the link below and you'll get $10 off your first order: