Hi everyone! Today is the last day of National Stationery Week and I've been meaning to share with you guys some awesome notebooks that I picked up a couple of months ago, so I thought now would be the perfect time, as sort of my little tribute for this special week! I am a huge fan of stationery, and like most lovers of all things stationery-related, I'll admit that I have a bit of a hoarding problem when it comes to these things *glances over at the towering mass of Funko Pop! figures to my right, and the army of plushies surrounding me...* :D I have little will power when it comes to notebooks, even though I still own a plethora of unused ones; I cannot walk past any pretty notebook that catches my eye. And the problem only intensifies if it's fandom themed! So here's a post attributed to my mighty need to collect notebooks, and it's one for my fellow potterheads! I hope you all enjoy reading :)
Usually all of my stationery purchases occur when I occasionally venture out of the house to spend the day with my best friend and we go shopping somewhere; it's like my brain panics that it's going to be ages until I go out again and that I MUST stock up on new notebooks or something XD Retail therapy is a thing also. Otherwise, it will be when I'm browsing around online throughout the month and putting together my wishlist posts, and I cannot resist adding something to my cart. However this time around, I have YouTube to thank for helping me add to my notebook stash! I watch quite a few Harry Potter fandom channels because I'm a big ol' magical nerd, and I started seeing hauls popping up for Poundland's Harry Potter range. I was pretty surprised to see that Poundland had created their own line of wizarding world merch, and as soon as I discovered that this range included notebooks, I was super curious to get my hands on a few!
Being a spoonie, I don't get out as much as I'd like, and so I asked my mom to pick up a few notebooks for me the next time she went into town. She picked up all four notebooks that my local Poundland had in stock, but I think there's a few more designs available too that our small store didn't have at the time. They were around £2/£2.50 each which is an absolute bargain! I really wasn't sure what to expect considering they were manufactured by a £1 store, and whenever I've bought stationery from discount/bargain stores in the past, I can never be sure how good the product is going to be, quality wise. However what I'd seen of the designs had me optimistic, and I was super excited to see them for myself! Let me tell you all about them...
So the first one is this gorgeous colourful Hogwarts crest notebook. I absolutely love how eye-catching the cover is, and how much detail it has! The patterns surrounding the crest makes me think of the banners that cover the stands for each House during a Quidditch match, and I think because of that for me this notebook cover just screams Hogwarts House pride! That's why I'm so relieved that the sigil for Ravenclaw could easily represent both an Eagle and a Raven. If you're new to my blog, I'm a Ravenclaw and I'm sure if you're a fellow fan of the franchise, you'll understand how annoying it is that so many merch brands seem to think that the representing animal for Ravenclaw is a raven >.< It bugs me that people always think it's an understandable mix-up since raven is in the name, but if that's the case then why do they always get Gryffindor correct with his lion sigil, instead of mistaking it for a Gryffin/Griffin... it's not called Liondor but they always get that one right? Hahaha okay, rant over XD Anyhow, I feel like the people on the Poundland design team for these products still thought that the mascot animal was supposed to be a raven, since there are little ravens in the blue Ravenclaw print surrounding the crest, but because they have tried to make it look fancy, the one in the Hogwarts crest ends up looking more like an eagle... and I'm obviously happy about that :D
As gorgeous as the print is, I cannot help but also be a little disappointed that the colours for Ravenclaw, blue and bronze are instead blue and grey, but it still looks cool and so I can ignore that I guess. Apparently there were no Potterheads hired for the design of this merch... oops.
Here's what the inside of this notebook looks like. It's difficult to see but the lines are actually a brown shade as well as the crest in the corner of the page, and they match the band around the notebook. I really like that they gave this notebook a brown band as it goes really well with the gold on the Hogwarts crest, and it gives the design a more old-fashioned vibe. It's nice that the details on the paper inside the notebook are brown too, because it makes a nice change from the standard black. I really like that the pages are simplistic in design, and they don't have a huge, busy, faded print across them like some notebooks do. It's all down to personal preference, but I much prefer just simple lined pages; having designs sometimes distracts me when I'm writing and I also have a tendency to doodle on or trace over the design when I'm bored, haha. Anyone else guilty of this?
One final thing that makes me love this notebook is that the cover includes the Latin part of the Hogwarts Crest :) Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus translates to Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon, so I always smile whenever I see this school motto XD And thus it is fabulous that it's on my notebook so I can have a giggle everytime I look at it!
The second notebook has a very awesome design, which whenever I look at makes me think about certain scenes in the books/movies, so that's always wonderful. Poor Harry! I really like all of the various fonts and lettering that they have chosen to include in this notebook's design. Just like the first notebook, it has so much detail. I like all of the little touches that make it resemble an actual newspaper, such as the page number, the issue number, reference to other articles to be found inside, etc. It's all very cool! I'm not so much a fan of the grey striped background that they've done, as I'd have preferred a more newspaper-esque one but I can see why they chose it... it matches the overall colour scheme well.
Something that I dislike about the cover is another fandom-specific related problem. I feel like the Quibbler, being the newspaper that typically publishes articles about subjects that are more unique and less likely to be shared in other wizarding newspapers, wouldn't have been sharing an article on 'How to Identify Mudbloods' or a wanted poster style story on Harry Potter. Considering Xenophilius Lovegood (Luna's dad) is the editor and a friend of Harry's and the members of the Order of the Phoenix, I don't think he'd have been publishing about Harry in this way, and so maybe the title on the notebook cover should have been The Daily Prophet instead, but it's again not a problem... I can still enjoy the design :)
Even if I wasn't a fan of the cover, the design on the inside certainly makes up for it!! Yayy, it's dedicated to Fred & George's Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes business (haha, that sentence is a bit of a tongue twister to read aloud :D)! I love the bright yellow that Poundland has used, as well as everything else about the design. It's fantastic! The pages of this notebook are very plain in comparison, with grey lines and logo of 'The Quibbler' in the right corner, but as I said, I love simplistic designs so I'm more than happy with that.
One final thing that makes me love this notebook is that the cover includes the Latin part of the Hogwarts Crest :) Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus translates to Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon, so I always smile whenever I see this school motto XD And thus it is fabulous that it's on my notebook so I can have a giggle everytime I look at it!
The second notebook has a very awesome design, which whenever I look at makes me think about certain scenes in the books/movies, so that's always wonderful. Poor Harry! I really like all of the various fonts and lettering that they have chosen to include in this notebook's design. Just like the first notebook, it has so much detail. I like all of the little touches that make it resemble an actual newspaper, such as the page number, the issue number, reference to other articles to be found inside, etc. It's all very cool! I'm not so much a fan of the grey striped background that they've done, as I'd have preferred a more newspaper-esque one but I can see why they chose it... it matches the overall colour scheme well.
Something that I dislike about the cover is another fandom-specific related problem. I feel like the Quibbler, being the newspaper that typically publishes articles about subjects that are more unique and less likely to be shared in other wizarding newspapers, wouldn't have been sharing an article on 'How to Identify Mudbloods' or a wanted poster style story on Harry Potter. Considering Xenophilius Lovegood (Luna's dad) is the editor and a friend of Harry's and the members of the Order of the Phoenix, I don't think he'd have been publishing about Harry in this way, and so maybe the title on the notebook cover should have been The Daily Prophet instead, but it's again not a problem... I can still enjoy the design :)
Even if I wasn't a fan of the cover, the design on the inside certainly makes up for it!! Yayy, it's dedicated to Fred & George's Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes business (haha, that sentence is a bit of a tongue twister to read aloud :D)! I love the bright yellow that Poundland has used, as well as everything else about the design. It's fantastic! The pages of this notebook are very plain in comparison, with grey lines and logo of 'The Quibbler' in the right corner, but as I said, I love simplistic designs so I'm more than happy with that.
Notebook no.3 has to be my favourite design of the bunch! I am delighted with its cover, which is literally a perfect copy of the official wanted poster for Sirius Black in the movies. I really like the font and the wording of this poster and I have almost bought it to display on my art-print wall several times, but now I have this notebook instead! I don't know why, but I love the aesthetic of historical wanted posters, printed in black-and-white, with typewriter-esque lettering on, and an almost faded sepia background that makes me think of old parchment. A little detail that I think is fabulous is the way they've coloured the title letters, it somewhat reminds me of watery ink.
So this notebook cover just appeals to my tastes, and I think it looks marvellous! I like that the photo is much more clear to see than the one of Harry on the front of the Quibbler notebook. I don't know what more to say about this cover, than it makes me want to buy several more of the same notebook :D Do any of you guys also have a problem with buying multiples?
As you can see, this notebook also has a more detailed, amazing inside/back of cover, featuring The Marauder's Map! I am really over the moon with the design of this notebook and this addition to the inside is just the icing on the cake as they say. Can you all tell how much a fan I am of the Prisoner of Azkaban?? :D It's my favourite of the movies, and joint favourite book along with Half Blood Prince. I couldn't not like this notebook to be honest! I love the colouration of the map, with the crimson red and browns, and I love all of the stories surrounding it, and I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to write in the notebook at all as I don't ruin it!
The paper in this notebook is similar to the others in detail, but has faint black lines and a Harry Potter logo in the corner. If I had to name something that I think could be improved about this notebook, it would be this logo. It would have been cool for it to be an illustration of the Grim or a black dog in general to symbolise Sirius' Animagus form. But oh well!
This is the final notebook that I bought in my little Poundland haul, and it's another Hogwarts House theme. Compared to first notebook I talked about which is very bold and bright with it's colours, this one is more muted/faded, and although I like both cover designs, I think I prefer the more vibrant one. However, this one's design is still excellent for its own reasons. I love the muted colours because they remind me of pastel shades, which I love. I like that all of the House sigils are featured as well as the school crest. Something that is a great detail are the knight's helms at the top of each House symbol :)
My favourite thing about the design of this cover is that it looks really old. It has an almost scuffed look like a textbook that has been so well used by hundreds of students over the years that it has lost its shiny, brand new look and the cover is marked, faded and close to looking tatty. It makes me think of the more ancient books that might be hidden around Hogwarts school, and it is aesthetically-pleasing for its historic vibes. I am as much a history fan as a fantasy fan, so I'm all about this cover design. Even though the Ravenclaw on this notebook's Hogwarts crest is clearly a raven.... but lets ignore that XD
This notebook has the most boring inside design of the lot, but I'm not too bothered to be honest how the inside looks. I mean, it's amazing to have fancy designs inside but I'm not mad if they don't. A pretty notebook can make you more inclined to write for sure, but I write a lot so I'm just happy to have an abundance of paper available! Another small change that I think would have been nice for this design would have been to make the elastic band around it tan or brown in colour to go with the scheme of the notebook, but again this is a minor detail that isn't really important when the notebooks were such a brilliant price!
So here is my complete Poundland Harry Potter notebook haul! The store released lots of other bits and bobs in this collection, such as mugs and stickers and more! Look how beautiful all of them look together!? I love the thought that has gone into making several different designs, and even thought there's little things I'd change and no-one seems to know the correct Ravenclaw crest, I'm still very happy that I own these notebooks!
One of my favourite things about them is that Poundland dedicated to add an elastic band around the notebooks, and I much prefer notebooks that have these since I am constantly scribbling down notes on miscellaneous notelets and memos, and then popping them inside my notebooks. It's a very common thing in my house to hear me swearing to myself because I've picked up one of my notebooks quickly and all of the papers have fallen out and spread across the floor XD So these bands help that not happen as easily and for that I am very thankful! My final questions to all of you are: which is your favourite notebook, and why? For those of you who hadn't heard about the Poundland Harry Potter merch before reading my post and want to grab some wizard-worthy goodies for yourselves, I hope that your local store still has items in stock :) Let me know if you manage to get some stuff, I'd love to see your haul!
So this notebook cover just appeals to my tastes, and I think it looks marvellous! I like that the photo is much more clear to see than the one of Harry on the front of the Quibbler notebook. I don't know what more to say about this cover, than it makes me want to buy several more of the same notebook :D Do any of you guys also have a problem with buying multiples?
As you can see, this notebook also has a more detailed, amazing inside/back of cover, featuring The Marauder's Map! I am really over the moon with the design of this notebook and this addition to the inside is just the icing on the cake as they say. Can you all tell how much a fan I am of the Prisoner of Azkaban?? :D It's my favourite of the movies, and joint favourite book along with Half Blood Prince. I couldn't not like this notebook to be honest! I love the colouration of the map, with the crimson red and browns, and I love all of the stories surrounding it, and I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to write in the notebook at all as I don't ruin it!
The paper in this notebook is similar to the others in detail, but has faint black lines and a Harry Potter logo in the corner. If I had to name something that I think could be improved about this notebook, it would be this logo. It would have been cool for it to be an illustration of the Grim or a black dog in general to symbolise Sirius' Animagus form. But oh well!
This is the final notebook that I bought in my little Poundland haul, and it's another Hogwarts House theme. Compared to first notebook I talked about which is very bold and bright with it's colours, this one is more muted/faded, and although I like both cover designs, I think I prefer the more vibrant one. However, this one's design is still excellent for its own reasons. I love the muted colours because they remind me of pastel shades, which I love. I like that all of the House sigils are featured as well as the school crest. Something that is a great detail are the knight's helms at the top of each House symbol :)
My favourite thing about the design of this cover is that it looks really old. It has an almost scuffed look like a textbook that has been so well used by hundreds of students over the years that it has lost its shiny, brand new look and the cover is marked, faded and close to looking tatty. It makes me think of the more ancient books that might be hidden around Hogwarts school, and it is aesthetically-pleasing for its historic vibes. I am as much a history fan as a fantasy fan, so I'm all about this cover design. Even though the Ravenclaw on this notebook's Hogwarts crest is clearly a raven.... but lets ignore that XD
This notebook has the most boring inside design of the lot, but I'm not too bothered to be honest how the inside looks. I mean, it's amazing to have fancy designs inside but I'm not mad if they don't. A pretty notebook can make you more inclined to write for sure, but I write a lot so I'm just happy to have an abundance of paper available! Another small change that I think would have been nice for this design would have been to make the elastic band around it tan or brown in colour to go with the scheme of the notebook, but again this is a minor detail that isn't really important when the notebooks were such a brilliant price!
So here is my complete Poundland Harry Potter notebook haul! The store released lots of other bits and bobs in this collection, such as mugs and stickers and more! Look how beautiful all of them look together!? I love the thought that has gone into making several different designs, and even thought there's little things I'd change and no-one seems to know the correct Ravenclaw crest, I'm still very happy that I own these notebooks!
One of my favourite things about them is that Poundland dedicated to add an elastic band around the notebooks, and I much prefer notebooks that have these since I am constantly scribbling down notes on miscellaneous notelets and memos, and then popping them inside my notebooks. It's a very common thing in my house to hear me swearing to myself because I've picked up one of my notebooks quickly and all of the papers have fallen out and spread across the floor XD So these bands help that not happen as easily and for that I am very thankful! My final questions to all of you are: which is your favourite notebook, and why? For those of you who hadn't heard about the Poundland Harry Potter merch before reading my post and want to grab some wizard-worthy goodies for yourselves, I hope that your local store still has items in stock :) Let me know if you manage to get some stuff, I'd love to see your haul!
Thankyou for reading!
♥
What's your favourite Harry Potter book and/or movie?
Do you have a favourite character?
Mine are Severus Snape & Luna Lovegood!
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These were from Poundland?! Wow they're such good quality! They look fabulous and perfect for lots of note taking.
ReplyDeleteI swear since I stopped venturing into Poundland they get all the good stuff, but when I go in they never have anything good that I see via blog posts and social media. :P
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I've seen this in store and was never really sure, but seeing this has definitely made me want them! The elastic band is really underrated, in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteNaomi xo
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