Scribble and Dot 160gsm Notebook Review

January 23rd, 2021

I received a beautiful new A5 dotted journal from Scribble and Dot and I was super excited to see it. I remember receiving The Scribble and Dot Dachshund last year, which came in a beautiful light blue cover and I fell in love. The notebook felt so premium, and I was keen to see the new range. I've reviewed the A5 Dachshund along with 4 other dot grid journal options in my 2020 notebook review video and blog post.

Packaging

I got the 160gsm A5 Monstera Leaf notebook in a deep green. The notebook arrives in a chic black box, enclosed in tissue paper and is a pleasure to unwrap. It looked so beautiful I almost didn't want to take it out. The first thing that came to mind was, what a lovely gift it would make. So I ordered one for niece!

Outside

The cover is a lovely dark dreen. I love green because it makes me think of nature and the outdoors, and this shade was perfect for triggering those feelings.

There is an elegant gold foil leaf on the front cover. It has a clean and polished look. I have seen some journal covers with foil designs that shed glitter, no fear of that happening here.

The Scribble and Dot covers feel velvety and this was no exception. They also feel sturdy and padded, which is a pleasant surprise and not something I've seen in other A5 notebooks. It's a vegan cover and felt a bit like suede.

There is an elastic enclosure to hold the notebook together, a pen loop, 2 page markers and a pocket at the back.

Binding

One thing I noticed shortly after was that the binding is visible from the top and bottom of the notebook. The notebooks are bound by hand and the binding seems pretty strong, which is all you want. However, the binding is red and visible from the top, which I personally would have preferred not seeing.

Inside

The first page of the journal gives you space to write your name and the date you started your notebook, in a clean and simple grey font.

You then have a page for a key and 2 pages for an index. I don't always use these pages when they come with journals, but it doesn't really bother me having them there. At least it will encourage me to set up an index, which I always want to do and often don't get around to doing!

The pages are numbered in the same grey font used in the first few pages. The numbers are quite large on the corner of the page and do stand out.

The dots are 5mm and very faint, almost difficult to see at all. I've never seen dots this light before, and I like the idea of it. You get to use the dots to guide your designs but also not have them be visible in photos.

The journal lies flat when open. The pages are 160gsm and bright white (unlike the Dachshund pages which were ivory).

Pen tests

There is a dedicated page for pen tests and the pens I tested were:

a sakura pigma micron fineliner, a faber castell fineliner, a tombow fudenosuke, a tombow brush pen, a sharpie, a gel pen, a fountain pen, an Archer and Olive acrylograph paint pen and a water colour crayon to see how the page responds to water.

The sharpie is the only pen that really showed up behind the page but i've never found a notebook that can handle a sharpie.

I didn't apply much water to the pages and there wasn't any wrinkling or warping. However, with any 160gsm notebook, there will be warping and pilling if you aren't careful with water. There was no feathering around the fountain pen. A pretty successful pen test.

Options

Scribble and Dot have 5 different colour options for A5 dot grid journals. They are priced at £14.95 (around which is a brilliant price for a 160gsm premium quality notebook. The designs, the cover, the paper quality are similar to the other A5 journal options out there, so it's great that these come at such an affordable price in comparison.

You can find some of the Scribble and Dot notebooks on Amazon or from their website.

It's safe to say, this would be a great option for any bullet journaller or stationary lover.

With love,