Whenever we travel, I always try to collect little souvenirs (tickets, brochures, etc.) to put in a scrapbook. I used to make a lot of scrapbooks before, but it's been awhile since I've made one because I kept putting it off until I had a chance to print pictures and design the layout I wanted.

Recently, however, my cousin got me interested in planners and Traveler's Notebooks (TNs). I've had planners and bullet journals before but, except for drawings I made using watercolor pencils, I didn't really decorate them. Seeing what other people created with washi tapes, stickers, and stamps gave me so much inspiration that I decided to create my own TN.

A lot of TNs include the planning part of the trip, but because I prefer planning trips on my computer, I decided to make my TN more like a scrapbook/diary. Popular TNs are usually leather-bound and have notebook inserts, and while I've seen several that I liked, I felt they were too small and/or didn't have enough pages for what I wanted to do. Muji has a dotted ring notebook that was my top choice but I wasn't sure where to buy it.

I decided to look for other alternatives online and that's how I found designhatch.


Designhatch sells notebooks, planners, list pads, cards, and desk pads. The item I was after, though, was this dotted notebook. It comes in black, red, and tan. I decided on tan, since I thought it looked really nice and it reminded me of sand.

At P210, I thought this was reasonably priced. What gave me pause before ordering was the fact that the items would be shipped via Xend. I know Xend is pretty reliable and a lot of businesses use them, but having received a couple of packages recently via DPX and Fastrack which has rates half that of Xend, P90 seemed pretty steep. After a few days, I decided to just go ahead and order anyway.

I ordered Monday morning, and my order arrived on Wednesday. 


My order was wrapped in plastic and bubble-wrap, for added protection, which I thought was really nice of them. The notebook was just the right size for what I had in mind. (I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I had meant to take better pictures, but I forgot and by the time I remembered, I already had a couple of entries in my notebook.)


As you can see, the notebook has a lot of pages, so it's great if you have a lot of things you want to write on it.


Here's a look at the inside pages. I loved the quality of the paper. It's very smooth, and there's minimal ghosting, even when I use stamps.


Overall, I'm happy with my designhatch experience. I would have preferred a cheaper courier (or the option to choose a different courier?), but it's not a dealbreaker. I would definitely order again.


Designhatch
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