Posts filed under Apica

Apica CD Grid Notebook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

The Apica CD notebooks are among my favorites for affordable quality. Bear in mind, throughout this review, that this product costs under $3. Yes, it's cheaper than a cup of coffee. But don't let the cost fool you into thinking it's flimsy. These books are nicely constructed with good durability. I've even chosen them as my official class notebooks for when I start school in the fall.

The covers are a thin, textured cardstock with a pretty printed frame design. They feel good and look elegant. The slim cardstock keeps the notebook lightweight while still providing some structure to it, which makes it perfect for school. There are enough pages for all my course notes, and I don't have to worry about it weighing down my bag or falling apart halfway through the semester. There are blank lines on the cover where you can record the contents of the book.

The notebook is thread-bound, with a sturdy sewn binding that is reinforced by cloth tape. The pages are bound in two signatures fastened together. The center of the book, where the signatures meet, lays flat. The other pages require a bit of training in order to lay flat, but they do once the spine is broken in. There are 52 sheets in the book, for a generous 104 writing pages.

The pages in this version are in 5mm grid, 81.4 gsm white paper. The paper is acid-free and can handle just about any kind of ink you throw at it. I emptied my pen cup at it, and the only thing that showed through at all was Sharpie. Even if you're writing in double-broad fountain pens and highlighting over that, you'll be able to use both sides of these pages for your writing.

I can't think of any other brand where you can get 100 A5 pages of impervious paper for under $3. Kokuyo comes close, and I love them, too--but Apica's books have slightly more pages, for slightly cheaper, with a better looking cover.

You would think, with all the notebooks I get to play with, that I would know immediately what ones I wanted to use for school, but it actually just made the decision harder. I'm satisfied with my decision, though. This notebook fits all my criteria of quality and cost.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on March 26, 2020 by Sarah Read and filed under Apica, Notebook Reviews.

Apica CD Notebook Wear Cover with Monthly Schedule Book Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)

It's time to plan your plans! Planning your planning! It's planner season!

Confession: It stresses me out. Because I know what I want. And I know what works for me. And they are not the same thing! I usually cave and buy a complex, ambitious planner system at the beginning of the year, stick with it through April, and then things gradually deteriorate until about... oh, now... and then I spend the rest of the year with just a monthly spread and a lot of lists.

I started this year with a Hobonichi Cousin, last year with a Weeks, and the years before that with complicated and over-decorated bullet journals. Starting last month, I switched to a plain, slim grid notebook that I drew my own monthly spreads in and I've been keeping notes and lists in the back half of the notebook. Not long after I set that up, this Apica Monthly Schedule book arrived, which is the exact same layout as what I had designed for myself. I know that this layout is all I really need to know where I need to be and when. Yes, the squares are small. But days are short! So, if I run out of room in the square, I've also run out of room in my day. You might be surprised how much I can fit in a square, though. I can still thoroughly overbook myself in this small space.

This faux leather cover has an interior fold that the schedule book slides into. It can hold two slim A5 notebooks, or one notebook and a memo pad, or one thicker A5 notebook. It has an interior card pocket, two ribbon bookmarks, an extra back pocket, and a pen loop. The stitching is neat and sturdy, so it should stand up to the wear and tear of holding a planner, though I do find that the faux leather can warp over time with use. The pocket slits tend to stretch and lose a bit of integrity after a while, so I'm not certain if it can manage a year of daily use.

The cover doesn't need to be for the schedule or planner. It can hold any of the Apica A5 notebooks. Or nearly any A5 notebook, for that matter, as long as it isn't too thick. It's a decent cover, but it didn't blow me away, especially for the $25 price tag. There are a lot of better covers out there for less cost, in my opinion. When this arrived, it was the bonus schedule book that really got my attention.

The schedule book itself is a thread-bound soft cardstock cover book in A5 size. It begins with a yearly overview page. I've never really figured out what those are for, so I typically leave those blank. Then, there are sixteen monthly spreads, all unlabeled, so you can start and end on any month. The monthly pages have a lined list along the left edge of the page for tracking tasks. After the monthly spreads, there are 15 pages of 5mm grid paper for notes and lists. The paper is fantastic. It's smooth, acid-free, and takes even the most broad and inky fountain pens without so much as a feather. The only pen that bled was a Sharpie fineliner.

It's certainly not a life-organizer. It won't have all the details of my comings and goings, or the minute breakdowns of my goals and plans. But it's the perfect place to keep the crucial info handy, and it's all I need to carry with me to make sure I don't double-book anything as I go about the day. I know it's all I need, because it's all I use for a good quarter of the year. The cover and schedule set is $25 on JetPens, and the schedule itself is only $3.80 for the A5 size. Yes, I can have all the planner I need, with some of the best paper out there, for under $4. I don't need a $50 planner.

Of course, I'll end up getting the big fancy planner, anyway. I always do. It never fails. And even if it doesn't help me organize my life better, at least it helps me get excited about the start of a new year. And when it all gets to be too much, I have this simple but effective tool to keep me going through what promises to be another busy year.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Sarah Read and filed under Apica, Notebook, Notebook Reviews.

Apica Premium C.D. A5 Hardcover Notebook Winner

If you want my answer to the question as to what is the best Moleskine alternative on the market, the Apica Premium C.D. A5 Hardcover Notebook would be it. Yes, it is twice as expensive, but it is at least as twice as good in my book. Hopefully the winner of this giveaway enjoys one of my favorites.