Posted on by Karen Castro

Hobonichi Weeks/Standard Travelers Notebook

Okay, this tittle seems a bit confusing and honestly I am too! Haha

I hope you guys had a wonderful 4th of July and are doing amazing, enjoying every minute. I know it can be hard but is sad to see time past and noticed how time was wasted in nonsense, believe me it happens to me all the time but I am trying to change that!

Either way, let’s get on with this confusing tittle. Since 2019 I been using Hobonichi Weeks, it have been my favorite size and planner. For a person like me who really don’t have much going on and have a very simple life this planner worked so well for me.

2022 Planner @TheJournalingType IG

Although I noticed that one thing I enjoyed the most was planning in the form of journaling. Basically by the end of the day I will write what I did, little things of my days. Last year I divided an area for writing little reminders and I would also use the right page for Task/tracking for the week.

It worked out well for a few months, I really liked this setup but I am a simple girl and not every week I feel up to use this setup, sometimes I just wanted to write and that’s it. No planning, writing task or reminders.

December 2022 Planner @thejournalingtype

I have used many Hobonichi weeks just for journaling in the past but after a while I felt that the setup that Hobonichi Weeks have was getting in the way of my creativity, BUT no one makes such well made pretty covers with delicate paper like Hobonichi 🥰.

I came across a video of people cutting their Hobonichi Plain A5 notebooks into Weeks size and I WAS intrigued. I needed to buy one and try it out. Of course, the cover is nothing like my Weeks but I wanted to try something similar.

Unfortunately I was broke and buying a $22 notebook from JetPens wasn’t an option at that moment. So I remember I had a DayFree A5 from Hobonichi and I only used a couple pages, so I looked for my notebook and on my way I went to Fed-Ex!

I have to let you know that, I bought a Hobonichi Weeks size notebook a couple of years ago but haven’t used the notebook because of the paper quality. And at that time there wasn’t a lot of options where I could have bought a Hobo Weeks size notebook, not like this year, where there is a lot of shops making their own notebooks with Tomoe River Paper which can’t complain.

I wasn’t going to say this but I went to UPS to do the cutting and well they were confused lol! But it was okay because there was a FedEx a few steps away so I was glad, embarrassed but glad!

The lady in the counter didn’t seemed happy, I tried my best to help by nicely asking her if she could cut the notebook 7.4in x 3.7in but she said that she could cut the width but not the hight, I was sad but I already drove there and well honestly didn’t mind.

This notebook is the hight of a standard notebook and the width of a weeks. AND is the most amazing thing everr!

@thejournalingtype

I made this ‘cover’ because I love covers and I felt crafty! I have some scrapbook paper that I been hoping to utilize. I used some distress ink, stencils and I finished it up with a stamp! Pretty nice not going to lie ❤️!

After holding it and just flipping through the pages I felt that this size might be a new size for me, I would like to do again but with a Plain notebook. I do enjoy Hobonichi products, their paper and how well is put together. Plus I think I like the idea of creating my own cover.

First journal page @thejournalingtype

Here is my first page in this notebook, nothing but great time using it. I have enough space to craft around my spread and space to writing as well! I have felt so creative using this notebook and it was worth it, I am actually happy she couldn’t cut the hight of it because I wouldn’t have ever discover this “size”.

I feel that the Travelers Notebook Standard Size is a good size but not for me, I find it a bit too wide for me and I like the idea of a narrow notebook. Another size I enjoy quite a bit is a Personal size, I own an insert from PaperPenguinCo and is super good but I keep going back to weeks!

So this experience have been fun and I love that this new notebook helped me be more creative. I had many days where I felt like journaling in it multiple times a day while still using my weeks and standard planner all at the same time.

I have some decorated pages that I haven’t done any writing to it but this video was uploaded a couple of months ago so I have journal in it some more.

I probably would have finished this notebook by now but I started to journal in my new Hobonichi Techo and since I bough a January start planner on April I been trying to journal from January to April while still journaling in my daily and weeks. I had to let go of the Standard Planner, it was too big and too much for me.

Okay guys, I know I been rambling about this journal for a while now and honestly is 2:46am for me right now and I think I should end this post here.

I wanted to share this notebook/journal that I had no plan of it and it end up being the best notebook for me. If you guys would liked an updated journal flip through let me know. I can post the video here or you can go follow me on TikTok @TheJournalingType!
Thanks for reading and being here, have a wonderful week, God bless you all!

Posted on by Karen Castro

Passport Traveler’s Notebook

Hello, fellow journalers! How is this Tuesday treating you? Is it snowing where you are?

It was crazy raining all morning, and it will be snowing until 2am of the next morning, let’s see how it goes!

I wanted to talk about passport traveler’s notebooks! This is a size I have been using since I started journaling, actually, I don’t know if I already talked about this but my first notebook for journaling was a Moleskin cashier that I used to buy in T.J. Max back in PR. It was a journal and a place to keep track of my students and their progress. Later I learned more about journaling, stickers, and washi tape and so I went into a rabbit hole haha

After using an A5 as my journal for a few months I got my first passport on AliExpress and it has been the size that I fall back on all the time. Is also the size I use when traveling, is so convenient.

Chic Sparrow classic passport in the Outlander collection, the color Fergus.

Since I started journaling in a passport traveler’s notebook I haven’t loved any size like I do for the passport. One of my other most used sizes/notebooks is a Hobonichi Weeks size and I love this notebook the reason why I keep using it is because I like the Hobonichi Weeks and I love the different covers they come out with every year, I just wish I could buy a Hobonichi Weeks without the planner part because this size is perfect for me, and like I said, I love the covers but either way, I got a little side track.

Another thing I love about Passport TN’s is that I can fill out one entire insert on a trip. I love having different inserts for each trip, it brings me joy when I take them out, is like every insert is a little memory and there are many memories I would like to keep.

This here are all my passport I have finished since 2019, around 6 inserts. I currently am in the process of finishing one and I am about 6 pages away. It’s funny because I could definitely see myself finishing 2 to 3 inserts a year but I have around 3 to 4 different journals every year, so some years I can finish 2 inserts, and if I am lucky 3 but most time at least 1 a year.

Look how chunky this is!!

This is a Chic Sparrow Passport Plus, a discontinued leather. Is a TN with 6 elastic, 1.5″ inches wider than the original passport that’s why they called it a “Plus”. I don’t really use this size, I used to when I had a passport planner but now it houses my finished Passport Inserts!

And this is also a Passport Plus, where I house my recent TNs from last year. The cover is Chic Sparrow from the Austen collection, color Emma which is available in their website! I have a link here for 10% off, I get 25 points if you use my link (you don’t have to but it would also help me.) The Austen collection is very much loved by almost every Chic Sparrow lover, is a pretty leather.

A passport is a pretty small size, sometimes you have to be a bit creative to get the most out of your pages. I like to use two pages or more for journaling but never just one. I journal in even numbers, for example, If I want to journal more after my 2 pages I would do 2 more, so 4 pages but I wouldn’t do 3. Is that weird? I don’t know…
I like when both pages are related, okay, I don’t know what I am saying at this point or if I am making any sense, sorry.

But because I do one spread, I have a larger canvas to work with and have more space to glue ephemera and add writing as well. There is so much you can do if you get creative.

For example, you can also add another page to your spread, you can either glue it in the middle of the two pages or use a washi tape or a stapler. A paper clip is removable and I like its aesthetic of it.

If you look at this slideshow, I used two pages, one for writing a quick entry and the second one I glued in a menu, I had to cut down the menu, and I didn’t like how it looked folded. I added some Distress Ink to my menu, I like the look it gives, and is buildable. It is a great mixed media and I love using it in my journals.

You can also just glue in one big ephemera, I do this all the time. Sometimes I really like saving packaging, I like the nostalgic feel of it.

I remember where I got this because it was at Downtown Disney, 2022. My boyfriend and I went to Downtown Disney with my family and we bought some drinks and Pretzels from the cart in front of the Disney store. They might not look that much but for me, there is a story of that day and the place.

The good thing about having a journal is that it is yours and you can add and do whatever you want if you want a simple journal just for writing then perfect. You journal however you feel like it, these are a few of the many ways I like to journal and for me, the passport is such a great size, I feel like I can do so much in this small size.

Well guys I think this has been a great little post, showing you guys a few of my journaling spreads and the way I enjoy journaling. It’s fun and it helps, it definitely has helped me during the years, creatively and mentally.

So start journaling, you don’t need a “fancy” notebook to start. I had many notebooks from Walmart and T.J. Maxx before I found out about Traveler’s Notebook.

I will try to make a video this week about my passport and more tips on ways to journal. I will also include flip-throughs of past passports from trips. So go ahead and SUBSCRIBE to the channel to know when I upload a new video.

Thank you so much for being here and I hope this post was useful and fun.

Have a wonderful day and God bless you all!

Posted on by Karen Castro

Multiple Journals

Hi guys I hope you all having an awesome start of the week. Is labor day and well as much as I want to be one of those people who earn money from home and living the life, that is not me!!! I am not much of a people person and is funny because all my jobs have been either working as customer service, being a teacher or my first job that was teaching violin. I prefer working alone but seems like all my jobs tells a different story. Right now I work as a support advocate, at least that’s how they call it here. I work helping people with brain injuries, hoping that in some future they can be independent and go back to the community. It can be a very rewarding job but some weeks are harder than others.

So let’s talk about journals. When I first started journaling I bought an A5 notebook from AliExpress, I didn’t know about different type of papers and pens I just knew I wanted to journal. I am not saying I never journal as a kid, I did I just can’t remember much and I don’t even know where they are. I knew I had one and I left it in my grandmas house and my brother took it to write his stuff, I was mad haha

I used to do a lot of drawings, I miss doing that. This was the third page of my first A5 journal.

So I think after a week or two I got interested in a Passport, that was an eye opening. My first passport was from AliExpress too, at first I was just using it for planing, it looked like a nice size for that, quality of the cover and insert was very good for the price. So I used my passport none stop, I would show it to my parents all the time even if they didn’t found it that interesting haha

I would a lot of drawings and be like “hey dad look at this” and he would ask me if I draw it myself, was it hard to believe that I could draw decent things? haha

The cover that this passport haves is from Chic Sparrow, after I received the TN from AliExpress I liked it so much and started getting into TN’s.

It was still 2018, I got interesting in journaling around end of October, start of November. I always been a paper/notebook type of person, I LOVE notebooks.
I stop by Walmart and found a pocket size notebook and well being the person that I am I bought it for $3 I think, it was made for painting I believe.

That’s when I was like “well I am not going back to A5”, pocket felt like such a comfortable size that I just didn’t want any other size.

NLP

From that day until July 2019 I used the pocket for everything, at first I wanted to journal about Criminology terms, different type of sick people that will bring them to kill someone, type of sickness and all that. I love it, I wanted to also study criminology and forensic science. I watched a lot of Criminal Minds and NCIS and that’s how I learned about all that and I wanted to journal about it, do my research and keep it in a notebook. Whatever I found interesting in the series I would write it down and do more research later.

Unfortunately that didn’t last long because after doing that for 2 to 3 weeks I started using it for everything, that was my main journal.
After I used that journal for a couple of month and was reaching the end, I started looking into journals for the other haft of the year. I have seen hobonichi before and I really wanted one, I think before I got the A5, that AliExpress notebook was a test before I actually bought a Hobonichi one.

So that haft of the year I decided to get a Hobonichi A6 avec, Weeks and an A6 week planner. I did not utilize this notebook like I though I would. Having the dates on top made me feel like I need it to journal everyday, that I couldn’t miss a day and I didn’t like that feeling.
So I start using the passport as my journal, it was great, I took it to my Cruise trip and I journal everyday, I even took my camera in the library and recorded a journaling section. Passport was the best size I could have ever discover haha

This here is the Hobonichi A6 weekly, I end up taking it with me when I would go to work. I was a cashier, when I was in the register I would document my day with time stamp. It was on of those journal that I didn’t care much for stickers and extras. Some day it was a bit slow, journaling helped.

I did a flip through of that traveling journal if you guys are interested in see it. Here

So after testing so many journals, writing in them and traveling with them this is what I am using today.

Hobonichi Weeks

Tim Holtz washi tape is so awesome!!! I also love the distress ink, I use it all the time 🙂
Went crazy with Tim Holtz distress ink.

After using this for daily journaling for the first time last year October, I liked the idea so much that I end up doing it for a couple of months. I stoped and a few months after 2020 started I decided to use it as a regular journal and not as a daily journal. I mean come on, who can write in that tiny rectangular, one daily? Nope. I also liked the idea of writing in a 2019 planner in 2020 haha

I finished the 2019 planner and I started a new one in August. I know is a planner but something about using this planner for another purpose feels good, I should go to jail for not following the rules for this planner haha

Police: Why you here?
Me: I used a planner as a journal
Police: Excuse me?
Me: I should be punish but I will let you know that the moment my pen touched that paper there was no going back and I will do it all over again.

Okay, let’s stop joking around, so my next journal is:

A6/Pocket Notebook:

Lady Catherine, Chic Sparrow. Love this color, matches with my weeks. Is this month TN color (and I also have it in a passport size :O)
simple journaling
(seems like every time I journal and I come back to read it I misspelled a word or used the wrong word)

Using Leuchtturm1917 A6 Graph

So pocket is the easy journal for me. Is graph paper, sometimes I just journal which is the purpose of it. Sometimes I want to document so I add paper, labels or receipts. I journal but I also document, it can be more personal sometimes.
I like it, I am not haft way through but by the end of this year I probably will. Any traveling that I do or will do is going into this journal, so is basically my travel journal.

There are a couple projects that I am doing and I like to write about it here. When it comes to daily journaling, the pocket is the best option.

Passport:

Now passport I have said this before, I think, is my favorite size (just in case I didn’t). I finished an inserts 3 months ago I believe and I decided to give it a rest since I am using Weeks and Pocket for journaling.

Like I was saying earlier, the first pocket I own, I wanted to make it into a little book. Just information of things I find interesting and there I was sitting, thinking, “well I have new inserts, maybe I can start doing that again but in a passport” and that’s what I did. I called it “The Book of Knowledge”, I came up with this name when I was using my pocket. I always though it was an awesome name, hopefully there will be multiple volumes of this, for example, 2 to 3 inserts (little notebooks) you know, I think is a great idea.

Dream Analysis and well my theory. Is just a though but it would be cool if it was like that.

So I am currently using 3 journals and each of them haves a purpose in my stationery life.
Lately I been kind of neglecting my journals, some weeks I work 56 to 60 hours. I been a bit tired and just a little drain, I am saving money for a project that I am doing which I will tell more later although it does not have to do with journaling or stationery. My family is traveling again from PR to help me with this project, this will be the second time they will be here for this. They are so supportive, so I am working hard to save money for that.

So yeah guys, this are my little babies for now, I love my journals, I treat them with care haha
I am happy I did this, I been meaning to talk more about my journals and how I started journaling.

If you want to share how did you started journaling that would be great. Actually I am very interested to know what TN size you use and if you have a notebook/paper you prefer. Also your prefer fountain pen if you use one or gel/ballpoint/rollerball, I WANT TO KNOW!

If you have gotten this far, thank you, you get a gold star! I hoped you liked it and follow for more.

Have a wonderful day, take care and God bless you all.