Exaclair Exacompta Prestige Journal 21 Daily Planner 2011

Exaclair Exacompta Prestige Journal 21 Daily Planner 2011

So, up for review today we have the excellent Journal 21 daily planner from Exacompta! A sample sent to me by the Amazing Karen of Exaclair (for which I am very grateful), I actually plan on using this planner for the next year, so some of this review will be ongoing. The main purpose of this initial review is to point out all of the features included in the Journal 21.

The Journal 21 I received features the Soya cover, a smooth, supple leather-like material which is saddle stitched. While the cover is nice, the journal itself is the star of our review today.

The little slip-cover insert included states the following:

• Refillable
• 8 am – 9 pm
• Rules with monthly tabs
• Yearly planning
• 15 months monthly planner
• Address pages
• Tear-off corners
• Sewn binding opens flat
• Superior quality 72 gsm tinted paper
• PEFC certified
• Acid and chlorine free paper
• Made in the USA

Yes, there is a reason I bolded that last point. Exacompta is proud of the fact that they manufacture their products here in the US, unlike many other manufacturers which have out-sourced their production overseas. I respect them all the more for this point and wanted to make sure I mentioned it.

The first several pages features an information page, US and major world holidays, telephone access codes, and time zones. Directly following them are the three semi-annual planning pages (July-Dec. 2010, Jan.-June 2011, and July-Dec. 2011). These are followed by the monthly planning pages which cover November 2010 – February 2012.

Finally we reach the crowning feature of this fine planner, the day-to-day planning section. This part features a whole page for each day with a  line for each half-hour from 8 am to 9 pm. At the top of the page is the day of the week, the number date, and the month. Directly below on the left it tells you which week of the year it is as well as what day (counting backwards and forward). Directly across the page is a miniature calendar of the current month as well. This format looks beautiful, and I really am excited about getting to use it, but there is one thing that irks me slightly… The tear-off corner is extremely close to the 9 pm designation (which is really not a major issue, just a nitpicky editing issue).

After the day-to-day section is a two page spread yearly planner for 2012, which features a small block for each day. Last, but not least, is an address book, for you to jot down those important numbers before you forget them… Again…

As I mentioned in the beginning, this is an excellent and beautiful product, and I can’t wait to begin using it and being able to provide some more feedback throughout the year!

Note: I am not an employee nor and I am in any way affiliated with Execlair or Quo Vadis. This review is in no way affected by the fact that this item was a free sample from Execlair.

Exacompta Nostalgie Journal (Exacompta Forum Journal)

Exacompta Nostalgie Journal (Exacompta Forum Journal)

Thanks to the benevolent kindness of Karen of Exaclair, I am now the proud owner of several Exacompta products! And as such, I plan on reviewing them all over the next several weeks… The first up is the “Celtic” Nostalgie Journal.

This beautiful journal from Exacompta is actually a journal cover which can be refilled with any of the journals/sketch journals from the “Basics” series. I must admit, I was drawn to this one because of my heritage and love of Celtic music. The Celtic Nostalgie features a beautiful pattern of Celtic knots as well as a Celtic font on the cover and spine. While the cover is not true leather, it does have a leather-like texture and the embossing holds beautifully and is very vivid and crisp. The cover is saddle-stitched with a light thread which beautifully offsets the tan and tawny color scheme.

While the cover is beautiful, the main focus of this review is yet to come… Inside this beautifully wrapped package is an Exacompta Basics Forum Journal. Featuring 64g (or 80g, their website is a little unclear on that matter. While their catalog states that they are 64g, their paper chart states that they have 80g paper. As for myself, based upon the ink test, I think it might be closer to the 80g, since the fountain pen ink almost did not bleed at all) white satin finish paper in a 365 page daily undated format.

Each page features a short line for each hour from eight a.m. to seven p.m. in two boxes at the top left and right of the page as well as three center lines, one for the month, day, and year respectively. All the printing on the page is done in a pale dark green ink, which contrasts the satin white pages very well. Each page also has the bottom corner perforated so that it can be removed. This handy system allows you to quickly flip to the next un-written page.

Also included in the Forum notebooks are a plethora of charts and information, including weights and measurements, conversion tables, area codes for frequently called cities and countries, time zones, a travel and expense record, as well as a small address book.

Edit: Thanks to John M., who commented on this post, I remembered one of the features that I completely neglected to discuss… I even took pictures to show this feature and posted them, but apparently just forgot to talk about it. The Forum Journal lays flat… “What’s so great about that,” you may ask, and in reply I say that it is one of the best features I’ve ever seen in a notebook. As a left handed person, it is very hard to find a notebook that is comfortable to use due to the fact that my hand either is raised up on the spine (in sown/bound notebooks) or on the binding in spiral notebooks. Due to this, it’s sometime uncomfortable for me to write. The Forum Journals lie extremely flat, allowing my hand to flow across the page, with none of the discomfort of a normal journal!

All-in-all, a beautiful little notebook, the Exacompta Nostalgie Celtic Notebook is truly an excellent offering from Execlair. Check out some more photos below (Note: Some of them are rather large hi-res photos/scans)…

Before I close out this post, I want to once again thank Karen from Execlair who was awesome in sending me such a wonderful batch of products! I look forward to trying out and reviewing the other products she sent me in the near future. Also, feel free to comment on the new “photo gallery” feature in this post… Does it make things look more clean? More crowded?

Note: I am not an employee nor and I am in any way affiliated with Execlair or Exacompta. This review is in no way affected by the fact that this item was a free sample from Execlair.