Bags of Love Personalised Gifts - Review

I love it when someone goes that extra mile to find a gift for me that is a little bit different so the "personalised gift" websites are a fantastic idea for exactly that purpose. When Bags of Love offered to send me a personalised journal my "stationery gene" kicked in and I jumped at the chance.


I have a favourite picture stored on my computer.  It was taken at Blackpool Zoo a number of years ago with our very first point-and-shoot digital camera.  I have always wanted it on a canvas but the quality isn't quite good enough.  It was, however, perfect for the cover of the journal.  It is a close-up of a peacock's tail and the colours on the picture are just amazing.

When the journal arrived I was more impressed than I thought I would be.  You all know I'm a Filofax girl at heart but this size of notebook is going to be ideal for note-taking at the up-coming Blog Camp and Cybermummy conferences next month.  The cover of the journal is hard-backed and slightly textured which, in this case, adds to the overall effect of the picture I chose to use.  The metal-tipped corners (front and back) are a brilliant idea as this will stop any damage to the journal when in every day use.  The inside of the cover is well finished too.



The journal is A5 size (145mm x 210mm) and is about 1 cm thick, so perfect for day-to-day use.  The 80 pages are a cream/ivory colour and they are 120gsm (for the paper geeks).  See below for the all important pen test.

pencil, biro, gel pen and ink
with the reverse of the page shown too
As you can see there is a slight show-though but I'm quite heavy handed with my writing and this could be part of the problem.  I don't think it is intrusive enough not to be able to use the next page.  All in all, I love the product.  It gets a massive thumbs-up from me.