In the past few years, I've started keeping a journal, which led me to planners and back into keeping a little sketchbook around. As with any creative hobby, I’ve acquired, then decluttered, and repurchased many supplies over the years. I thought, I’m always being nosy about what others use so why not share what my favorite tools to use are?

Please note, that you do not need all of these things to start journaling, to keep a planner, or a sketchbook. These are just the tools that I use which bring my little neurodivergent brain happiness!

In 2021, I started keeping a bullet journal-style planner to both organize my days and keep track of all my reading. I would log how many pages I read that day and what books I read that month. At the time of my searching into bullet journals and what people were using, I discovered Leuchtturm1917 & Archer & Olive. I’ve been using them ever since, though I lean more toward Leuchtturm1917 because it's less expensive.

While bullet-journaling gave me the ability to completely customize my planner to look however I wanted it, the days I spent hunched over giving myself back and hand pain just wasn’t worth it. In 2023 I made the switch to the Hobonichi planner after some research into what other people who went from bullet journals to predated planners.

Bullet Journals/Planners
Leuchtturm1917 (A5 80gsm, dot grid)
Archer & Olive (A5 160gsm, dot grid)
Hobonichi Cousin (A5)

When it comes to sketchbooks I feel like I've tried so many out there. From plain printer paper to ring-bound to hardcover. It seemed like I finally found the perfect one until the pages started to fall out.
In truth, I had put off getting a new sketchbook for a while as I felt that maybe I didn't need a sketchbook. Drawing was more of a hobby for me anyway, but who knew not having a creative outlet (or multiple) would feel like I was getting cabin fever? Luckily, this past year when I found Talens Art Creations books. I've been enjoying my time creating little drawings and taping things on its pages. I can see myself buying from this brand again once this sketchbook is full!

Pens, Inks, & Paint

Before I got into all this journaling and planning I never truly paid that much attention to the pens I was using. I knew that I liked the Uniball gel pens, but I never noticed that they came in different nib sizes. Once you notice the way the pen writes, how thick or thin your lines are, or how nice it feels to write with, you won't go back. A good pen is life-changing!
I end up using a mixture of supplies to write in my books from pens to markers and highlighters. This is just a condensed list of the ones I use not including the multiple colors I might own in the same pen.

Pens, Pencils, Markers
Zebra Mildliner Highlighters
Tombow Monograph Mechanical Pencil 0.5
Zebra Sarasa Clip Vintage Pens 05
Muji Gel Pen 0.38
Tombow fudenosuke soft pen brush
Uniball Signo RT 0.38
Tombow Brush Markers
Crayola Finetip
Crayola Color Pencils
Sakura Pigma Micron Fineliner 01, 03, 05, 08
Prismacolour Cool Erase

Truth be told I haven’t pulled my paints out to use in quite a long time so I won’t talk about them all that much. I am hoping that in the new year that will change, so until then I’m not letting my collection of paints and inks grow until things get used up! Paint & Inks*
Ferris Wheel Ink Beaver Dam Brown
Liquitex Acrylic Ink Carbon Black
Golden Fluid Acrylics
Holbein Acrylic Gouache
Amsterdam Standard Series Acrylic
Apple Barrel Acrylic
Folk Art Acrylic

Armed with my sketchbook, planner and tools there’s only a few extra things that I almost always have with me when I decide to have myself a little creative session and that’s stickers, washi tape, a couple erasers, correction tape, tweezers (for the stickers), a stencil and ruler. These things, much like a lot of what I’ve mentioned earlier, are not things I need in order to write or draw but things that I find help me be creative.

If you do purchase any of these products, I highly encourage you to get them from a local arts & crafts supply store instead of big companies like Amazon.

Below is a list of stores I enjoy supporting!

Blick Art Materials
JetPens
Scrapbook
Stickii
The Washi Station
Papershire
Yoseka Stationery
Archer & Olive

None of the links are affiliate links nor do I earn commission from any purchases.