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Craft Inspiration Paper Stationery

I love pens

Pencils, too. Writing implements in general, really. Love ’em. And I don’t care who knows it! Yes, it’s National Stationery Week, here at last to help get Britain writing.

It’s actually got me thinking about my own pen collection and how I write, and I’ve come to realise that I’ve neglected things of late. Even though I write often, draw often, always carry a pen with me along with something to write on, I seem to have lost that urge to always write with a beautiful pen, on quality paper, taking the time to write carefully and neatly (though it doesn’t help that most of my writing is done on my rather rickety train journeys to and from work.)

However, I’ve decided it’s time to get back on track! Starting with a good spring clean of my pens, which are all over the place. No more grabbing the first ball-point I see and scribbling things down! To inspire me, I’ve been browsing the internet looking for… well, looking for inspiration. And inspiration I have found:

Is just an awesome pen/writing/stationery-related blog!

“Specialists in classic, hard-to-find and niche pens, pencils and refills from the world’s biggest manufacturers.” A brilliant selection, good for browsing.

Doesn’t have the most enticing website, but gets almost full marks for it’s range of writing implements and the glorious ink  ‘Col-o-rama’ (they lost points due to the Americanism – ‘color’ not ‘colour’ – though I agree that they couldn’t exactly have ‘Col-our-ama’). They also have some pretty sexy ink bottles:


Plus the best pencil sharpener EVER:

Moving on slightly from pens and writing… plantable paper! Who knew? Not I. This is a wondrous site dedicated to eco-friendly paper and seed paper:

“Why do we use seed paper in our products? Because seed paper from Botanical PaperWorks is made with post-consumer material, meaning that no new fibers were used in the production of this paper. And because when the paper itself is planted, it composts away leaving only wildflowers (or herbs, or vegetables) and NO WASTE!”

I NEED to get me some paper that turns into flowers.

A lovely shop situated in Bloomsbury, with a wonderful stationery section; but don’t worry if you can’t get there in person, they have an excellent on-line store for your perusing pleasure. As well as some great pencil sets:


They have a fantastic selection of washi tape:


What are your plans for National Stationery Week?

 

Categories
Craft Paper Stationery

National Stationery Week – The Competition

In light of the upcoming National Stationery Week, I’ve decided to run a little competition amongst my Facebook friends (indeed, the ones who are actually my friends!).

All they have to do is post me a hand written letter. That’s the whole brief, they can make of that what they will!

As a prize, the best one will be able to commission me to customise a lovely set of envelopes and note papers.

I will be posting the best entries and of course their customised prize. Watch this space!

Categories
Notebooks Paper Stationery

National Stationery Week! 22nd – 28th April, 2013

While National Stationery Week is a mere 7 days away, I am glad I’ve found out about it at least a little in advance.

As it says on their site, ‘National Stationery Week is a celebration of the written word and all things stationery.’  And just to be clear, that’s stationery with an ‘e’, NOT stationary.

The idea is to encourage more people to write by hand and I for one am all for that. Not just because I want to sell people my notebooks- although actually, that is the main reason I started making them in the first place. I love writing things down, I wanted to do it more often and to create beautiful, fun places to write thoughts/ideas/lists in!

Here, then, are my favourite stationery items from The Craft Fantastic:

Simple, single section notebooks with beautiful paper all the way from Florence:

Japanese stab-bound notebooks with hand-drawn stencils adorning the front:

Delicately detailed A4 landscape notebooks/journals/scrap books:

Fun geometric shapes on simple stab-bindings:

Miniature books, for miniature thoughts:

Fancy Coptic binding:

Beautiful black hardback with a metal key:

Keep your eyes peeled for new stock, plus some goodies especially for NSW!

Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

New blank notebooks – with or without a key?

So I made up a new blank notebook. Ivory paper:

Red and gold headband:

Simple black cover:

The intention was to stick a decorative metal key on the front, but I can’t quite decide how to place it. Which looks best?


Categories
Inspiration Paper Stationery

Weekly Inspiration – Letters Of Note

It began with an innocent discussion on snozzcumbers, and ended with this link being emailed round the office from  Letters Of Note:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/08/thank-you-for-dream.html

This website is a definite must visit for anyone who likes reading, writing, letters and words.

Here are some of my favourites:


Categories
Craft Notebooks Stationery

A trio of mini notebooks

Craft complete! The cover material came yesterday and I finished my trio of miniature notebooks. Very happy with the results:

Categories
Stationery

Reasons to send Christmas cards

And when I say Christmas cards, I mean proper snail mail cards, none of this e-card nonsense!

  • EVERYONE likes getting post. The less mail we get through the door, the nicer it is to get something worthwhile!
  • It shows you’re thinking of people and it’s nice to be thought of. Even in the smallest way.
  • It keeps you in touch with people you don’t see often.
  • They make you feel more festive.
  • You can’t put an email on the mantelpiece.



Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

Knitted and paper craft stall

Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

Craft stall – November 4th, Northampton Saints Grounds

Come along! We have the usual paper goods, plus lots of snuggly knitted things for winter and some Christmas stock, too.

Categories
Craft Paper Stationery

More on Folksy!

I’ve added more festive Christmas gift tags to the Craft Fantastic Folksy shop!

I’ve also added some knitted hair bows:

You can check out the shop here.