April 2026 has been a bit of a stationery bonanza for me, for a couple of reasons! One: it was my birthday this month. And two: it was the Northern Pen Show on April 25th. I also made a pretty big stationery purchase too, so I have a lot to talk about in this post!

So this month, instead of splitting this post up into different stationery items, I thought I’d just talk separately about what I got for my birthday, what I bought at the pen show, and what I bought outside of it. So first: birthday stationery!

Stationery I Got For My Birthday

The first bit of stationery I got for my birthday was from my best friend, who now lives in Canada. She ordered me some lovely stationery goodies from Papersmiths: this gorgeous paperback notebook, a gel pen, and a notebook band.

I wasn’t actually aware of the Papersmiths store, but the quality of this is all so lovely, I’d absolutely buy their products in the future. The notebook paper is lovely and thick, and I’ve tried a variety of gel pens and fountain pens on a test page, and there’s barely any ghosting, let alone any bleed through. I also love the pencil-style appearance of the gel pen, and it fits perfectly into the handy book band. So I was absolutely delighted to receive this from my friend!

The second bit of birthday stationery I received was this pocket Moterm ring planner from my sister. I’ve wanted to try the Moterm brand for ages, but had no idea my sister even knew about this brand, so I was so surprised and delighted when she gave me this! I’ve now replaced the old pocket Finsbury Filofax I was using as a purse/planner with this Moterm binder, and I’m absolutely loving it! 

Stationery I Bought in April

I bought a couple of bits of stationery prior to the Northern Pen Show: the Quirky Cup Collective pen I got from a local bookshop, and the Esterbrook Estie in Bubblegum Pink. I really like both of these, but the Estie, in particular, I’m obsessed with!

Stationery I Bought At The Northern Pen Show

2026 was my third year attending the Northern Pen Show, and I think this may have been the best show yet. The show had moved to a different venue, this time The Crowne Plaza in the centre of Chester, and not only did it feel bigger and less cramped inside, but I’m pretty sure there were significantly more stalls. 

My fiancé had given me some money for my birthday ahead of us coming to the show, and it was honestly so hard to pick what to get, there was so much that caught my eye!

In terms of pens, I bought two of the new release pens I’ve had my eye on (and that I discussed in this post), the Lamy Al-Star in Flamingo Pink, and the Kaweco Sport in Shadow Green. 

As for notebooks, I got this absolutely gorgeous chunky notebook with dot grid paper. This is one of those notebooks that feels too beautiful for me to sully it with my chicken scratch, but I’m determined I will actually use it for something! I’ve broken it in with a pen test at the back anyway, and the paper is really lovely quality. 

And lastly, my Mum and Dad bought this pink pen stand for me at the show. I’ve decided to use it as my ‘Currently Inked Lamy’ stand, as they fit really nicely! 

So it’s been a really good month for getting new stationery, and I’m obviously not expecting every month to look like this! In May I’m hoping to just have a good time using all my new (and old) stationery, particularly because I’m starting a bit of a new project, which I’ll be posting about here on the blog, probably in a couple of days.

So how has your April been? Have you got any new stationery? And what has been your favourite stationery item of the month?