Review: Midori Join Dots

Dot markers/highlighters might seem niche but I think they're pretty useful. 

I loved the colours of Midori's Join Dots so I decided to give it a try. 

 

Each Join Dot is the length of a pen but has 3 different colours that are stackable. 

I bought the Mocha set, which includes mocha brown, cafe latte and greige. 

The round pen tip is quite stiff, this helps in making different thicknesses of lines when used as a highlighter. 

Also, the colours are very pretty. Muted and warm. 

Like with other dot highlights/pens, you can use the pens for making to do lists, highlighting and cute illustrations, making it perfect for diaries and journals. 

I love this set for the colours, and because it's by Midori, the quality is really good. 

The ink did not bleed through the paper, although I did find certain pens did not over when trying to write over it. 

I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for this series and buy other colours. 

What do you think? 

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October 2025 Printable

Spooky autumn month of October is upon us!

Download here: PDF

For ibon/netprint information, please see our instagram post.

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Review: Hancoco Deco Stamp

  

It’s another stamp review! 

The Hancoco deco stamp comes in a set of 2, each stamp is 50mm x 12mm and the design can be layered or used on it’s own. 

Obviously I have to pick the cat design. 

                          

The stamps are self inking, each comes with it’s own cover that doubles up as a stamping guide. 

The cover has a notch that you can use to line up each stamps so it layers nicely. 

This part is a little unclear to me. 

The stamps/cover combo also has a built in masking tape cutter. 

It looked like one could place masking tape on the cover, stamp it and then cut it to size. 

The problem I had was that I could not successfully stamp any of the washi tape that I used. 

I’m wondering if I’m maybe using the wrong washi tape? Let me know if you’ve successfully stamped any washi tape. 

Overall, the system, works well on most materisl. 

The ink was pigmented and crips and the designs are really cute. 

I did find the design a bit small and it was difficult to write anything other than numbers on it. 

If you have small handwriting, I saw go for it. 

But I don’t think I will be purchasing any more stamps from this series. 

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Review: HiLINE HB Test taking Pencils

In Japan, its common to purchase pencils specifically for test taking. This is because not only do they need to be HB [for the OCR machines to be able to read the answers], some schools also require the pencils to have no words or diagrams printed on them. 

Here are some test taking pencils I purchased recently.

Product name	HiLINE Orenpitsu HB Pencils, Test Pencil Set of 3
Part Number	PA002-540
size	Pencil - H160mm, 4g / Cap H45×D12mm, 2g
specification	Three HB pencils with erasers and hexagonal shafts, plain body, exam-prepared design, with three break-resistant, connectable caps
Manufacturer	Kutsuwa Co., Ltd.

Features:

Break-resistant pencil

Long-lasting lead 

Less likely to stain paper

Smooth writing

Eraser at one end

Break-resistant & connectable caps

In addition to the "usable" features, these pencils also come in lucky colors like gold, silver and metallic red. They are also have 5 sides [pentagon] making them less easy to roll away. In Japanese this is 五角 [Gokkaku]. This also sounds like 合格[Gokaku] which means to pass(exams) in Japanese. 

Is this something common where you are from?

Would you try them?

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September 2025 Printable

 

September 2025 Printable 

Download here: Link

For netprint and ibon information, please see our instagram.

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Review: Mildliner Fragrance Limited Edition Scented Ink

Popular highlighter series Mildliner has a new limited edition collection!

Fragrance

Featuring Scented Ink

There are 6 in the series.

With the names and flower drawings on the markers themselves.

Like the usual mildliner, they are water based and has both a thick [4mm] nib + thin [1.0-1.4mm] nib.

Here are the swatches

The scents are quite strong but not overly potent. They seem to be quite relaxing and remind me of fancy hotels XD

I feel unless you intend to highlight the entire page of text, you should not feel overwhelmed. The scents last quite well as well. I have opened a journal page a few days later and it brought about a lovely burst of perfume. 

What do you think?

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Review: Laconic A5 Field Pad

 

I use my phone for a lot of notes, my daily schedule and to do lists but I still like to keep a written version I can look at in an instance. 

The Laconic A5 Field Pad in beige is my current daily driver. 

The field pad is a hard cover folder with a clipboard and a pen holder.

It comes in 2 sizes, A6 and A5 and a variety of colours. 

Included with each field pad is a monthly calendar set and grid a notepad. 

As you can see, I replaced my notepad with a lined version which is a refill you can buy. 

You can also buy undated monthly and gantt chart refills. 

I started out using the monthly calendar view but realised I did not look at it as often as my phone calendar so I switched it out for a to-do list (I used one from Offcut). 

It's nice to have a to-do list on the left and a regular notepad on the right. 

I use both extensively and swap it out often. 

    

If you're like me and you like to have a brand new sheet of paper every other day, or even every day, I think the Laconic field pad system might work for it. 

My one gripe is that the pen holder is a bit small. I like to use a multi colour pen so it's a bit of a squeeze to get it in the pen holder, I also had to pick the energel 3 specifically to fit. 

What do you use think of the field pad, do you see this as a good daily driver? 

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Review: Soffice Notebooks by LIHIT LAB

Being a left hander, I am always looking for stationery more suited to me. One of the more recent introductions to the stationery market that I like buying is the soft ring binder notebooks.

And recently, LIHIT LAB has released a version of their own; soffice.

As you can see, the notebook is very thin and the ring binder is smaller than most as well.

The notebook is able to lay flat on its own; making it very easy to write on. The soft, thin ring is designed so that you won't feel it even if your hand touches it when writing.

The last page before the back cover is a built in plastic file holder. Perfect for holding all your bits and pieces.

It's not bulky and is convenient to carry around.

Not only that, when you are done with the notebook but want to file the pages with others, you can easily cut through the soft ring binder to remove the pages.

What do you think?

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August 2025 Printable

Its still summer in many parts of the world so we thought we bring on some summer cheer!

Featuring bright summery colors in this month's free printable!

Download here: PDF

For ibon/netprint information, please see our instagram post.

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Review: Nakatoshi Design Roll Rubber Stamp

I am back with more stationery finds from DAISO!

Today, I'm reviewing the design roll rubber stamp! A commonly used item in journaling but at a fraction of its usual high price tag.

I picked up both the patterned version and words version.

Each "roll stamp" has 12 different designs. 

To test them, I also picked up a stamp pad from DAISO.

It features 6 different colors in thin strips. Making it more compact than carrying 6 different ink pads. And since the roll stamp has designs with a thin width as well, it fits perfectly!

As expected, they stamp without any issue. The plastic handle is easy to hold as well. My only gripe would be that it is hard to rotate the cog wheel to change the design. The pointed edges are a bit sharp so please use carefully.

However, since they do not come with a cover of any sort, you must clean it throughly after each use and before storing. Else the leftover ink will stain your other things. 

Overall, I think its cheap and easy to use. And if you were only to buy one, I think the one with words featuring days of the week is more useful. 

What do you think?

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Review: Pilot KIRE-NA Highlighter Pale Tone Set

It's another highlighter review! 

This time it's the limited edition KIRE-NA pale tone set from Pilot. 

The set includes 5 pale colour highlighters and a flexible ruler. 

 

As a bonus, the deconstructed packaging yields a zipper case you can use to store the highlighters and ruler, very smart! 

The five colours are pale tone and if you're into pastels, this is for you. 

There is a blue, pink, green, grey and yellow and each pen is double sided. 

Highlighter and marker. 

The ruler is interesting. It's flexible and rubbery, even though it's clear. 

It's not my favourite kind of ruler but it's a nice addition, especially with the highlighters. 

The highlighter tip itself is pretty cool. It has plastic strips on the bottom and the top, these serve as built in guides, and keeps dirt away from the highlighter tip. 

Other features include smudge proof ink and finger grips. 

I'd like to use these a bit more, but the zipper case, perfect pale tone colours make this set very interesting. 

What do you think? 

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REVIEW: DAISO Log Stamp [Weekly, Calendar and Tag]

DAISO is fast becoming one of my favorite places to buy journaling goods. 

Their current LOG STAMP range is a perfect example of their current lineup.

I picked up 3 of the stamps from the range.

The stamps are nicely sized. Good for use in an array of sizes of notebooks and memo pads.

They also feature a neutral color palette; making it easy to coordinate with your favorite colors.

They are also self inking and do not require you to use an ink pad.
This makes them a lot more portable as well. The ink used is black, which matches with most palettes.

The sharp lines stamp nicely and do not exude too much ink. 

The low mess and versatility makes it a perfect addition to anyone's stationery collection.

What do you think?

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July 2025 Printable

 

July 2025 Printable 

Download here: Link

For netprint and ibon information, please see our instagram.

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