Kleid x Eric Small Things 2026 Diary Giveaway

The new year is right around the corner, do you know where your planner is? If you are still looking for something fun and functional, why not try the Kleid x Eric Small Things 2026 B6 Diary? The front part of the notebook features a two-page per month calendar, and the back 70 pages are Kleid’s classic 2 mm grid, making it a great combo for broader planing uses.

I have one Diary to give away this week, in the Navy cover color, so read the rules below and enter away!

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Giveaways.

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring Notebook Review

Kokuyo got me before with the Perpanep range, and once again, they have landed right in my wheelhouse with their Good Tools lineup, specifically the Soft Ring A5 Notebook.

As best as I can tell, the Good Tools collection is Kokuyo’s way of offering a curated group of desk accessories. Everything seems to be accounted for - from pens and paper, to scissors and staplers. A basic white aesthetic runs through all of the products (did they get ahead of Pantone?) with only a few pops of color seen throughout the full lineup.

I’m a sucker for this look, but I wasn’t into the pens, and I don’t need any of the accessories. So, where did that leave me? Paper. Specifically, the Soft Ring A5 Graph notebook.

To cut directly to the chase, this notebook is perfect for me. Maybe I think that because I had zero expectations going into it. It was an add-on to an order, and I had no plans for it outside of testing some gel ink pens inside of it, or using it as part of a giveaway. It has quickly become a notebook I reach for more than most, even for fountain pens, and even for ink swatching.

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring A5 — *The 0.4 mm Zebra Sarasa R colors pop off the page.*

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring A5 Back — *More of a shadow on the backside, as opposed to ghosting.*

That it holds up well to a lot of ink on the page shouldn’t surprise me - Kokuyo has always been a good choice for that. My issue has always been formats. The Kokuyo Campus product lineup is great, but I never dialed in which one of the many (MANY!) options is for me. They make for great recommendations though, because the quality is always there.

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring A5 Fineliner — *Smooth for fineliners.*

The Good Tools Soft Ring nails everything that I’m looking for in a product. For starters, the plain design looks fantastic. I can keep it clean like it looks now, or I can customize it in many different ways with stickers, art, washi, or whatever. The A5 size is perfect for a desk or on the go, and the Soft Ring binding won’t scratch up anything it lays on or next to, like wire binding would. The page perforation is clean, and the Grey 5mm grid is exactly the right shade to provide guidance, and stay out of the way.

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring A5 Ink — *Ink swatches with the Kakimori Steel Dip Nib.*

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring A5 Ink Back — Gas Works Park went through the back, only because I ran a second layer over the top and the steel nib breaks up the page. I even added water to Penn Cove Mussel, which is second from the top left, and nothing went through.

It’s right there with the Kokuyo X Platinum Preppy Perpanep, which is about as high of praise as I can give. For less than $20 combined I can have a brilliant pen and paper combo. What am I doing with my life? 🤣

KOKUYO Good Tools Soft Ring A5 Fountain Pen — Van Diemans Nightfall is part of their Dual Shader series, and while the full color range isn’t S-Tier like it would be on classic Tomoe River 52 gsm paper, it shows off a lot, especially in the right light.

Kokuyo’s prices are always reasonable, and $10.50 for 70 sheets (140 pages) - in either Graph or their popular Dotted Line format - is exactly that. Unless you require a hard cover notebook, I think the only thing holding this notebook back are the lack of a Dot Grid, or even a Blank page. On quality alone, it’s more enough to be your primary paper in most situations.

I said I didn’t need anything else from the Kokuyo Good Tools lineup, but I guess it is time to take another look after all of this fawning over a plain white notebook.

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

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Posted on December 8, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Kokuyo, Notebook Reviews.

Misfill, Paper Trail Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

Read:

— Introducing "On the Paper Trail," a New Podcast/Video Collaboration with Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens! (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Ink Review 2887: Endless Candy Sea (Mountain of Ink)

— The Retreat (From the Pen Cup)

— Break in the Action — December Notes (Line Variation)

— Selection from Shiki no Hana (ZEN in TECHNICOLOR)

— Different Tools Different Marks (Comfortable Shoes Studio)

— Metamorphosis: MD Cotton Thick Notebook (aum-kuchen)

— KGC unveils ‘Everytime x LAMY’ collaboration set (The Korea Post)

— An Immersive, ASMR-Style Look at Japanese Woodblock Printing (Open Culture)

— Benu Haute Satin Fountain Pen (Penquisition)

— Inkmas Day 1: Oblation Papers Oblation Olive (The Well-Appointed Desk)