Image Description: title card. It has four strawberries, one in each corner, and written in the centre of the image is “Stationery Review: The Happy Planner – Mini Notebook” in large hot-pink text.
Item: Mini Happy Notes – Live Colorfully
Category: Review/Feedback
Cost: AU $13.72 (Shipping Fees: Free Shipping via Amazon Prime)
Date of Purchase: 08/03/2020
Date of Delivery: 17/03/2020
Store: Amazon – Australia
Image Description: The front-cover of the Mini Happy Notes – Live Colorfully notebook. The discs binding the notebook together are hot-pink. The front cover background is white with coloured stripes. The cover is divided into three sections of diagonal stripes. The first section is black diagonal stripes, the middle section is rainbow-coloured diagonal stripes, then black diagonal stripes. There is a large gold circle superimposed in the centre of the cover. It contains the white text: “LIVE COLOURFULLY BABE”.
Image Description: On the left-hand side, is the inside of the front cover. The background is white, it has multi-coloured stars and multi-coloured polygon shapes scattered randomly across the cover. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, the introductory note has been removed to show the divider. The background is black, with multi-coloured confetti sprinkled across the page, with white text in the middle: “hooray for today”
Image Description: On the left-hand side, is a divider. The background is white and has rainbow-themed verticle stripes down the page. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, is lined paper. The background is white, with teal-green dotted horizontal lines. There is also a page-border (on the side where the discs are connected) which is teal-green with white stars
Image Description: On the left-hand side, is lined paper. The background is white, with teal-green dotted horizontal lines. There is also a page-border (on the side where the discs are connected) which is teal-green with white stars. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, is a divider. The background is white, in the bottom-right corner is the text: “RADIATE POSITIVE VIBES”. The word “POSITIVE” is in rainbow-colours. There is also a thick page-border (only the right-side) with short horizontal rainbow stripes.
Image Description: On the left-hand side, is a divider. the background is white, it has multi-coloured stars and multi-coloured polygon shapes scattered randomly across the cover. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, is lined paper. The background is white, with teal-green dotted horizontal lines. There is also a page-border (on the side where the discs are connected) which is teal-green with white stars
Image Description: On the left-hand side, the background is white, with teal-green dotted horizontal lines. There is also a page-border (on the side where the discs are connected) which is teal-green with white stars. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, is a divider. The background is comprised of shades red and pink. There is white large text in the centre: “LIVE MORE WORRY LESS”.
Image Description: On the left-hand side, is a divider. the background is white, with a criss-cross pattern of verticle and horizontal black lines. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, is lined paper. The background is white, with teal-green dotted horizontal lines. There is also a page-border (on the side where the discs are connected) which is teal-green with white stars.
Image Description: On the left-hand side, the background is white, with teal-green dotted horizontal lines. There is also a page-border (on the side where the discs are connected) which is teal-green with white stars. In the middle are seven hot-pink discs that bind the notebook together. On the right-hand side, is the inside of the back cover. The background is white, it has multi-coloured stars and multi-coloured polygon shapes scattered randomly across the cover.
Review:
~Size Matters: I think the Mini-size is excellent for Bullet Journals. The Mini = 5.5″ wide x 7.5″ high or (for those who don’t use inches) 13.97cm x 19.05cm. So an A6-sized notebook. This makes them portable and, depending on much content inside them, not too heavy(for me anyway).
These books fill up fast and it’s difficult to turn the pages without damaging them, which is why I would also recommend purchasing the Classic/Medium-sized discs to expand the notebook. The Mini is 7 discs and Classic/Medium is 9; so you’ll have a couple extra discs left over.
~Accessory Packs: While all the Happy Notes notebooks come with paper, I’ve found that the Mini-sized products have a better range of accessories. The Mini-size accessory bundle comes with a blank six-month planner pack. I haven’t seen these bundles available in Classic size, however, I am limited by what’s available at Carefully Crafted and Amazon (Australia).
~Flexiability: One of the strengths of the Discbound system is that you can move pages or whole sections around at will. While I find the Planners unsustainable, the notebooks are flexible and adaptable. Want to move all of your collection pages to one section? Done. Want to have your Bullet Journal divided up into yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily sections? You can definitely do that.
All in all, while I have mixed feelings about The Happy Planner notebooks, I am definitely happy to recommend the Happy Notes notebooks. It may take a while to wrap your head around the sizing issues, however, I think the versatility and flexibility of the Happy Notes notebooks make it worth the effort.
Ambiguous Pieces 