Amongst the many items included in the Leeds Blogger Meet Up goody bag was a voucher from Personal Planner. I did originally think that it was a discount code, but after going on the website and popping the code in, it turned out to be completely free! With this voucher I could create a planner or notebook with a value between £25-£33. I decided to create a notebook, as I'm not one for using diaries - I feel like I have to fill them and it's more of a chore than a pleasure! Onto the planners themselves... as well as unlimited design choices, Personal Planners feature frosted front and back plastic covers, an elastic closure, moveable ruler and plastic wallet. There are three sizes to choose from (small, medium and large); I created a medium one that measures 16x14cm. This is the perfect size for popping into a bag, big enough to get everything you need in it but small enough to not feel like you're wasting page space.


The fun bit came when it was time to design my notebook - and there were so many choices! The most exciting part for me was choosing my cover design. There were many predesigned options available but I was able to upload my own image, which pleased me no end! I chose the background that is currently on my blog, however it hasn't printed too well and is not very noticeable at all. So if I order from Personal Planner again I will need to make the design more contrasted - something to keep in mind! You could also add text onto the cover, with various placement and styling options.


The next step was deciding how I wanted my pages. The notebook is split into four sections and each one can have a different style. I opted for horizontal ruling all the way through but this could have been squared, dotted or even sheet music! Again the colour of the lines can be changed. In this section you could also pick the colour of the ruler; I opted for white. There was also an option to personalise an information page with whatever information you would like. In this section you can change the text colour but not the font, which would have been nice but doesn't bother me much to be honest.


Because these planners/notebooks are custom designed it does take a couple of weeks for it to arrive. I received a dispatch email 10 days after I created it, and it arrived 3 days later - so a couple of weeks is pretty accurate! It arrives partly disassembled, but putting it together was easy and just needed a little common sense. The notebook was much thicker than I expected it to be and just screams quality - this is going to last me years, providing I don't fill it up too quickly of course. If I ever manage to fill it, I will be purchasing one of these again as I was very impressed with the service and quality of the notebook - top marks all around!

Personal Planners* can be created at their website and vary in price from £17-£33.