- February 12, 2016

My Favorite Planner Pens & A Spread Using ONLY Pens?!

One of the things I love about the Planner Community is how helpful and kind everyone is to each other. It’s such a positive environment for creativity and organization skills to develop and flourish.

Part of that positivity comes from sharing our discoveries, our favorite supplies and techniques, and encouraging others to try something new. For this post, I’ll be sharing my favorite Planner Pens – the pens that I use frequently in my planner. From my favorite basic black pen to my favorite bright, decorative markers, you’ll see exactly what I use and why I like them.

I’ve also created a planner spread that is 100% hand drawn. As much as I love all the beautiful stickers on Etsy and the adorable stamps from Studio Calico that I use almost every week, I wanted to challenge myself to create something beautiful with just pens and markers. Repurchasing stickers or finding the perfect stamp set that fits your schedule can be spendy and tricky and time consuming! I want to show that with just a few pens (and a secret tool!), you can create a beautiful, colorful, interesting spread.

But first, the pens!

I have a few deal-breakers when it comes to pens: They have to write well (duh!), they have to come in cute colors, and they have to have minimal bleed-through. All of the pens mentioned in this post meet all those criteria!

These Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens are my #1, go-to pens. Between the color options and the fine felt-tip that doesn’t dry out, these pens are amazing for using in your planner, journal, note taking, writing cards, whatever! As you can see, I’ve purchased a few sets because I love them so much! And seriously, I have had the largest set for years, and they all still work wonderfully. So they are definitely worth the investment if you’re looking for colorful pens that won’t bleed through.

And then there’s the Staedtler Triplus Color Fiber Tip Pens! This is a great set to have around. The colors match up almost identically to the pens, which makes them perfect for using together. Again, these pens do not bleed through. You can see them slightly through the page, but it’s not too noticeable.

I received three of these Le Pen pens as a gift, and I’ve been hooked ever since! They’re so sleek and pretty to look at, but they also write well too! They’re very similar to the Staedtler Triplus Fineliners, but the colors are different (and I love a Periwinkle Blue and Lilac Pink!). These pens are also pretty affordable if you just want to pick and choose a few colors that you like.

I used to use these Tombow Dual Brush Markers a lot when I stamped with my Grandma, but I’ve only now started buying them for myself. They’re amazing markers to plan with, as they can be used as a marker/pen AND as ink for your stamps. They also can be used in watercolor painting, as they are water-based! They’re pretty cool. I love the look the brush-tip gives to my handwriting, especially when I want to add a title or important event to a page. They also have NO bleed through. Which is pretty amazing considering their pigmentation. I highly recommend picking up a few of these in your favorite colors.

Can I do a planner post without mentioning the Target One Spot? (I don’t think so!) Although these pens aren’t the best quality, they’re definitely worth the price. The gels pens come in some beautiful neon colors, and at 3 for $1 they can’t be beat! The Gold Metallic Marker is great if you’re looking for a gold-Sharpie-like-look without the same bleed through. The color reads a little more brown-yellow than true metallic gold, but it’s worth it for the lack of bleed through.

And now a few randoms… I mentioned the Uni-Ball Signo White in my Rubber Stamp Starter Kit post and my most recent Plan With Me video, because it really is the best white pen. Ever. It writes well on colorful paper, AND it can be used as a fine-tip whiteout if needed. It’s perfect for those little stamp smudges and smears. And the Pilot Multi Ball Ballpoint Pen is a great fine-tip pen for planning. It has a very thin tip and writes beautifully.

Real quick, here’s a look at what each one looks like:

And the bleed-through:

And now, for a planner spread using ONLY pens! “How?” you ask?

I used my Tombow Markers to add light washes of color to titles and important tasks, using both the brush tip and the marker tip to bring variety to my handwriting. And here’s the secret weapon: Drafting stencils. If you want perfect checkboxes, circles, or rectangular labels (like I placed around each day of the week), a drafting stencil is the perfect tool. Of course, I don’t think everything has to be perfect. But it adds a fun contrast to the rest of the hand-drawn, hand-made look. You can find these at almost any art, office, or drafting store, and strangely, I think they’re cheaper in store than on Amazon.

Unlike stickers or washi tape or other embellishments, pens and stencils are re-usable almost indefinitely (or until the ink runs out). If you want to start planning but feel overwhelmed by all the supplies out there, this simple approach might be the perfect place to start!

I hope this post is inspiring to new and practiced planners alike. I’m always looking for new techniques and elements to try out in my planner, and I love sharing my own pages in the hope that it might be new and fun for someone else! Your planner is the perfect place to try out new things, as you only have to look at it for a few days, and then you get to start fresh!