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The Trouble With Pretty Notebooks

I collaged this mini notebook. This is part of my City Cats Collection. One client bought the full collection. This was my favorite



I have a weakness for beautiful notebooks.

Give me a lovely cover, good paper, and a design that catches my eye, and I’ll probably stop to admire it. The trouble begins when I bring one home.


I like buying notebooks from popular Japanese brands, but lately, I’ve been making a lot of my own, with my own designs for the covers.

Sometimes, a notebook is so pretty that I hesitate to write in it.

I start wondering what deserves those pages. Should I use it for important plans? Creative ideas? A journal? Something worth keeping?

And before I know it, the notebook is sitting on a shelf, waiting for a purpose grand enough to justify opening it.

And you know what’s worse than that? Discovering them a few years later and they’re already yellow or moldy. That sucks.

But I’ve learned that a notebook doesn’t need an important assignment to be useful.

It can hold grocery lists, unfinished ideas, messy sketches, calculations, reminders, and thoughts that may never turn into anything. Not every page needs to look beautiful, and not everything written inside needs to be worth preserving. This is the most important thing that I’ve realized. 

I don’t need to have perfect penmanship or know calligraphy. 

I don’t have to decorate every page. 

Sometimes, my thoughts crash through my mind at mach speed and I don’t have time to make my handwriting pretty. If I don’t write them fast enough, another thought will come crashing through that will make me forget the first one. 

I’ve also become more particular about what makes a notebook genuinely pleasant to use. A beautiful cover is wonderful, but the paper matters just as much. So does the binding, whether the pages lie comfortably open, and whether my favorite pens behave well on the surface.


I made this notebook from scratch. It was a prototype. My client asked that I make one for a debutante. I was still figuring things out, so I made one for myself first. 
This will be my next journal. 

Thermal glued notebook with mixed media collage 
By Lady E



A notebook should invite me to use it, not make me afraid of ruining it.

After all, the prettiest notebook in the world isn’t doing much if I’m too reluctant to write on the first page.



With elegance and quiet fire,


Lady E
Founder, Glow by Lady E
An editorial space for stories, art, and intentional living


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