Win This Day Planner from Papaya!

To help make 2011 an awesome year for you wherever you're at in your life, Letters & Journals is offering you a chance to win this 2011 Weekly Planner from Papaya!  There is also one of these colorful and uniquely designed day planners in the monthly stationery giveaway for February. To enter just leave a comment with your email address. This drawing will also be promoted on Facebook and Twitter. Only one entry per person. On Feb. 5 there will be a drawing and we'll announce the winner.

UPDATE 2/6/11: The contest is over and the winner was Donna W. I've sent Donna an email for her mailing address. If by chance she does not respond, I will draw another name. Thanks, everyone. You will still have a chance to win one of these planners in the February Stationery Giveaway as there is a second one in the extravagant prize package this month.

 

 

Letters & Journals Magazine Update

Plans for the print magazine of Letters & Journals are continuing to move along; maybe not as fast as we'd like, but moving, nonetheless.

The Minnesota Magazine Publishing Association (MMPA) has a 2011 Minnesota Magazine Mingle later this week. This gathering is for editors and writers and is a great opportunity to see all of the different magazines published in Minnesota.

In February I'll be attending the Niche Magazine Conference in Austin, TX. It's the fifth annual conference created and hosted by Carl Landau. This magazine event is geared exclusively for niche magazines, which is exactly what Letters & Journals will be.

In May I'll be returning to the annual National Stationery Show (NSS) in NYC. I've been to NSS the last two years and am in heaven as I walk the floor visiting all of the different booths; seeing all of the new product as well as the familiar product that we see in stores and online. I think there were over 1,100 vendors last year. It's amazing and a lot of fun meeting all of the people who attend this annual event.

In the meantime, we are still working on our goal of getting to 5,000 names of potential subscribers for the magazine. We are at 2,700 names currently so it's good to see that moving in the right direction!

Edward Gorey Postcard #2

This year I am sending a postcard every other week from this gorgeous Edward Gorey Postcard calendar, which has 26 postcards interspersed throughout the pages. I first wrote about this on Jan. 3, 2011 (Postcard #1).

This week's illustration looks like a family who is serious about their knitwear. And if they were in MN this week, they would need every ounce of covering as the temps hover around 2 degrees.

The calendar's creator, an astute artist, was wise enough to put a portion of the postcard on a page in the calendar so that once the postcard is removed and sent on its way, you still have an image of something from the card, like this young person (below) enveloped in a winter scarf.

I selected the card's recipient, wrote a short note, found a colorful stamp, took this photo (while being sure to cover the address using an old family photo that sits on my desk) and popped the card into the local USPS mail drop. That was fun!

Check back in 2 weeks to see Edward Gorey Postcard #3.

Celebrate National Letter Writing Week

How will you celebrate National Letter Writing Week (Jan. 9-16, 2011)? You can bet that I will be writing a few letters. I have a lot of catching up to do as I'm notorious for waiting until something is due before I tackle it and I have been working all week on the Sketchbook Project (due to be mailed 1/15/11). My theme is 'Dirigibles and Submersibles' (think of Robert De Niro's flying machine in Stardust and Captain Nemo's submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). I will post more about this later.

I have been fortunate to hear from every one of my pen pals in the last two weeks and now I will be doing some serious letter writing to get all caught up. Because of letters and holiday greetings getting crossed in  the mail, I received two letters from a few pals which makes my tardiness look even worse than it really is.

A couple of the incoming pieces of mail pictured here are postcards from postcrossing. We used to use this  letter holder for bills, but I like it better for letters. Don't you?

I hope you will take a few minutes to jot off a quick or lengthy letter to someone who would love to hear from you.

Win this Key Pen from Jac Zagoory

You can win this Key Pen from Jac Zagoory! Just leave a comment here, or on Twitter (using @landjmagazine and Jac Zagoory #KeyPen) or on Facebook. Only one entry per person but feel free to promote this to your friends and followers everywhere, (A big THANK YOU to those who do!)

This silver pen has a hefty weight to it for being only about 4"tall. The medium/fine point has an easy ink flow and you feel like you are holding more than just a pen. The design, color and weight of the Key Pen all work together to create a pleasant and unique writing experience. It's not like holding any old pen you might pick up from your desk. This one speaks to you.

Jac Zagoory designs his own pens as well as other desk art and accessories which includes pen holders, letter openers, inkwells, rocker blotters, card holders, staplers, staple removers and more.

Next week we will have another item for review and giveaway. This one will be Jac Zagoory's Ripple Stand. Intrigued? Stay tuned!

UPDATE: 1/12/11 We have a WINNER! Lynn F left this comment on Facebook, "I'd love to have this pen for my graduation present, it would be great to have for taking notes in college next year." Congratulations, Lynn. I will contact you and get your mailing information.

There were 29 entries between Facebook, my blog, my website blog and twitter. I wrote each name on a piece of paper and listed where they came from (so they would be easy to find) and then selected the winning name from a beautiful hand-made bowl made my brother-in-law, Matthias, who is a potter.

 

January Stationery Giveaway

Welcome to the January Stationery Giveaway at Letters & Journals! Everyone who is signed up to receive the monthly e-newsletter is automatically entered into the drawing. If you don't want to sign up for the newsletter, but still want to be eligible to win, I can add you to the second list (email me here), which still has you eligible for the drawing, but the only email you will get are the updates on the status of the print magazine which is scheduled for later in 2011.

New this month is this awesome Soar Pen from Jac Zoogery Designs. 

"The warmth of the sun. Migrating birds in flight. Joy is simple. Reach for inspiration!"

Jac's site has the most unique stationery items I have ever seen. This picture does not do the pen justice. If you have time visit the site and it check out. While you're there check out some of Jac's other pens and office supplies. He was generous enough to offer a couple items for individual giveaways that will take place sometime during January.

Another new contributor is Hello Lucky who has donated these 3 cards below. Check out the colorful website and blog for whimsical letterpress designs and inspiration.

Flying Wish Paper offers their large wishing kit for some lucky person to make 50 wishes.

"Write it. Light it. Watch it fly."

The cute poodle cards by Haley are back! Haley's Handmades offer 4 greeting cards with her trademark poodle sketches. Haley's site also offers notepads, calendars, bookmarks as well as hand sewn items.

Robin at In My Book has offered 3 of her cards/bookmarks with the wonderful pencil drawings depicting some genial scene. You're going to want these. When I first saw them at the Bookstore at Fitgers (Duluth, MN), I couldn't decide which design to purchase, so I bought one of each!

And what would a stationery giveaway be without a nice journal? This month Crane offers a ribbon journal for writing down your private thoughts and lofty aspirations.

Good Luck!

Edward Gorey Postcard #1

The Edward Gorey Postcard Calendar includes 26 postcards in the spiral bound postcard size book. I mentioned that I purchased one of these calendars in this blog and Julie (aka Okami) suggested that I post a picture of each of the postcards as I prepare to send them throughout the year.

'What a great idea!' I thought. And here we are with the first card going out in tomorrow's mail. I decided to send the first postcard to Pamela in CA as I am behind in my correspondence with her.

(Thanks for the suggestion, Julie!)

For those of you not familiar with Edward Gorey he is the creator of the wonderful animated opening to the PBS series 'Mystery' that has been around for many years.

Set in a vaguely Edwardian time frame with a decidedly English overtone, Gorey's work shows the influence of his love for British literature. Ill-fated children with baleful faces, anthropomorphic creatures of untraceable biological lineage, shadowy adults on the verge of mysterious errands; these are but a few of the intriguing characters who habituate Gorey's world.

A nice bonus is that for each postcard that is featured in the calendar, there is a miniature reference to the postcard on the following page, with an image from the card (shown below).

If you'd like to purchase your own Edward Gorey Postcard Calendar 2011, I've seen them for half off Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Anyone who would like to receive a postcard from this collection, leave a comment with your email and I will see what I can do.