Is anyone else as baffled as me that we’re already a month into 2025? It seems like only a minute ago it was New Year, and now here I am, writing my January 2025 update post! 

You may have noticed the title of my monthly update post has changed a little with the New Year. Previously I named this post ‘My Most Used Pens and Inks’ of the month, but I’ve decided to change it to my Stationery Favourites of the month, partly because it’s a little more succinct, but also because that then encompasses any other stationery items I might want to talk about. Fountain pens and inks will remain the main focus of this blog, but sometimes I want to chat about the notebooks and planners and washi tape I’ve been using too!

But let’s start out with the fountain pens:

Fountain Pens and Inks

Two of my most used fountain pens of January 2025 have been the two pens I bought in the November sales: my Leonardo Momento Zero Nuvola Lilac, and my Sailor Pro Gear Cantaloupe. 

I still love having the Leonardo paired with Wearingeul Jane Eyre, but I’m not loving the Sailor Pro Gear paired with Diamine Coral as much. I love the pen, and the ink works fine in it, so it isn’t a compatibility issue. I’m just finding that on second thoughts, I just don’t love Diamine Coral that much, and it definitely isn’t a good colour match for this pen. I haven’t yet finished the original fill, but I think it might be time to clean it out and try a new ink!

The other fountain pen I’ve been using a lot this month was actually a Christmas gift, and I’m so excited about this pen! I’ve had my eye on the Lamy Lx for quite a while, but don’t think I’d mentioned this pen being on my wishlist to anyone, but somehow my friend ended up picking this for me for Christmas! She got me the stunning Rose Gold version, and even had it engraved with my name, so it’s fair to say this is such a special pen! 

I initially had it inked with Herbin Bouquet D’Antan, which was nice. But when I bought Diamine Weeping Willow with some Christmas money I knew they’d be the perfect pairing, and I was right! I’ve been loving using this pen and ink combination throughout January!

Other Pens

As far as non-fountain pens go, my most used has been another Christmas gift: the Tom’s Studio Wren pen. My fiancé bought me this little pocket pen for Christmas, and it’s so incredibly cute! 

I love the fact that I can still use my fountain pen inks with this pen, and the filling method is absolutely fascinating…but I’ll save all that for the upcoming review I’ll be doing. It’s such a fun and unique pen though, and I’ve been enjoying using it. 

I’ve also been using my Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel gel pen a lot this month, and it’s become my planner pen that I keep with my Hobonichi A6. 

Notebooks

I can tell just how deep I’ve gotten into the fountain pen hobby by how obsessed I’ve become recently with paper! I started out just loving the pens, then expanded that to inks, and now, it’s all about the paper, which I think is a common way to descend down the fountain pen rabbit hole. That’s why my favourite notebooks of the month are my A5 Rhodia pad, and my lined Hobonichi A5 notebook. 

I mentioned in my Notebooks I’ll Be Using in 2025 post that I would now be using a Rhodia pad for drafting my blog posts, and it’s quickly become my favourite notebook to write in (which is good news for my blog…I just want to write blog posts all the time!). I’ve previously always picked notebooks for their aesthetics, and so the idea of writing in an orange wirebound pad would have shocked me a year ago. But I just love the smoothness of the paper, and how no ink, no matter how dark, seems to bleed through. And as it turns out, the spiral flip format is actually pretty handy!

And as for the Hobonichi notebook, I didn’t actually mention it in my 2025 notebook post as I hadn’t got a plan for it then. But I’ve since started using it as a pen and ink review notebook, where I keep a record of the pens and inks I have paired up, and how I like the combination. I feel like this could be a useful record for the future, when I’m looking at what inks to pair with what pens, and it’s just fun to try out all my pens on the Hobonichi paper (although I do get some ghosting and bleed through with the Hobonichi paper, so I don’t like it quite as much as Rhodia)!

This newfound obsession with paper is putting the Empty Notebook Project in jeopardy though. My urge to buy more notebooks with better paper, or to try out different papers is strong, despite the fact I’m supposed to be using my existing stash instead of buying new. Plus I’m now wondering with some of the notebooks that survived my initial purge whether or not I’ll ever feel compelled to use them, even if the cover is pretty, because of the paper quality… A second look through my stash might be in order for February!

So how has your January been? And what have been some of your favourite stationery items of the month?