Craft and Tell from Elmer's and X-Acto

One weekend at the end of March I hosted a Craft & Tell gathering sponsored by Elmer's and X-Acto who sent a box of crafting nirvana (see below) for a marathon session of gluing, cutting, coloring and creating. For those of you who wished it could be you, then this may be your lucky day! Read on! (You can skip to the bottom where the details are if you're in a hurry!)

It worked out that a few people came on Saturday and then a few more came on Sunday. In the picture below you can see Becky, Lana and Katie hard at work. Becky and Lana made cards, while Katie used the X-Acto knife and the circle cutter to create designs she will use on her individually designed t-shirts. She was very happy to have these items to take home. She especially liked the color of X-Acto knife (dark pink.)

Lana made a few different cards including this one for her best friend, Kay (Katie to you and me.)

 Here is Katie using the circle cutter. She loved that it was so easy to use and so easy to adjust settings to cut different size circles.

Below is a sample of one of Katie's specially designed shirts. Isn't this awesome! (Twilight fans will recognize this.)

Becky cut the card stock she used in her handmade cards with the new cutter that X-Acto sent with the package. Once we figured out where the blade made the cuts, it was a snap.

Becky made a few different cards. I admired her colored yarn so she shared some with me. What a good friend. Talented too.

Ashley and little Kiera used the foam boards from Elmers to create their individual masterpieces.

 On Sunday, Niki and Lynda got busy. Lynda made a poster and Niki made a card. Niki liked the nice quality of the sculpted scissors.

Me? I like to make cards too, but this time I made a collage. I find I am keeping more bits of scrap and whatnot to make postcards to send to all my postal friends. Loved using the Elmer's Dot Runner.

Want to host your own Craft & Tell?  Elmers and X-Acto will send to TWO LUCKY WINNERS a mini Craft & Tell package featuring these items:

o  3  X-ACTO Retract-a-Blade knives
o   3  CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Sticks
o  3  CraftBond Tape Runners
o  3 Mini Bi-fold 9x12 Foam Board packs
o  1 Painters Markers pack
o  1 X-ACTO Decorative Edge Scissors pack
o  1 Circle Cutter
o  1 X-ACTO Self-Healing Mat
o  1 Glue Dots pack
o  2 Photo Corners packs (various colors)
o  1 Gel Pens pack
o  1 Tacky Glue bottle

Just leave a comment here stating that you would be interested in winning the Elmers and X-Acto Craft & Tell. 


If you want to see more blogs about Craft & Tell, check out the Facebook or Twitter links below.

www.facebook.com/elmers

http://twitter.com/elmers

www.facebook.com/xacto

Thanks, Elmers and X-Acto! It was a lot of fun! Loved trying the new products and getting new favorites. Mine were the paint markers.

Letters and Change

It's hard to imagine that there are people who don't love new stationery and a good pen. It just fills my heart with joy when I can spend an afternoon or evening writing letters using the tools that I love. And with some stationery, I am reluctant to use the last piece as it means that the warm glow I get when I see it will no longer be a possibility.

I get this same feeling when I use the last of a favorite stamp, postcard or note card. It seems irrational, yet there it is. Minor in the scheme of life, I know. How lucky we are when we can notice and care about the little things in our lives.

I have a friend dealing with the affects of cancer and its treatment, as another friend goes through the loss of her sister. One friend is going through the intense trials of managing the cascading effects of change to the lives of her ill and aging parents while another deals with the fear and uncertainty to her life when her son joined the army. No less is the loss of a pet as Missive Maven is experiencing with the death of Memo. Or the sudden and unexpected loss of a job for a pen pal who is a single income household and recently purchased a new home.

Trust me when I say I appreciate the moment of my life right now when it is not buffeted by illness, death and catastrophic change.

Edward Gorey Postcard #4

The Edward Gorey postcards continue with this fourth card going out in the mail this week. Not all of the postcards in this postcard calendar are black and white. It's nice to have variety.

Keeping with the theme of variety, I think I will change this up and send this card to someone I don't normally correspond with.

Singer

Actor

Politician

Newsmaker

CEO

Author

I will think on this for a day or two and see who I am inspired to send this to. I'll keep you posted.

Ringbound Journal Giveaway

Letters & Journals is giving away one of these ring-bound journals filled with blank pages (and an occasional vellum page with a light design- see photo further down the page.) Just leave a comment and I will draw the winner next Sun., March 27, 2011.

These journals were purchased at a hospital gift shop earlier this year and are published by Lone Elm Studios. "Lone Elm Studios is a new coordinated gift collection of nature inspired fun and functional products, with many made of environmentally friendly materials."

These hardcover journals offer nostalgic old world charm by using covers of old books like the Standard Graded Course of Study journal above with the purple butterfly superimposed for added effect.

The orange Public School journal opens to a vellum page music sheet followed by ragged edged off white pages until you come to the next vellum page divider.

Homestyle, the wholesaler who makes the journals, includes a list of online vendors who sell Homestyle's offerings.

Leave a comment by Sun. March 27, 2011 on this blog and I will select the winner who will have their choice of the orange butterfly journal or the purple butterfly journal.

Update 3/27/11: The winner is Shawna! I sent an email requesting your address and journal preference, Shawna. Thanks!

A Creative Piece of Mail

Finding any mail in my mailbox is cause for celebration but some days I'm lucky to get a unique and creative piece of mail such as this. These kinds of letters and envelopes are a joy to admire and be inspired by. This one comes from Stephanie in NYC who is terrifically talented.

I remember getting my first piece of mail art in college from a high school classmate. This was in the 1980s, long before I even heard of mail art. She cut out a portion of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger and used that for a postcard. I was smitten! What grand ideas could I come up with once I was inspired by her cleverness? Alas, none that I recall. But I'm smart enough to find friends who share their creativity and unique ideas with me. That's pretty smart.

My Love Affair with Note Cards

It's not all about pretty stationery, fine point pens, fun stamps and colorful markers. Sometimes it's as simple as sharing a thought on a unique and appealing note card.

The gorgeous dragonfly note card (created by Heron Dance) was purchased on a recent visit to the MN Landscape Arboretum. We went in the dead of winter (February) to bathe our senses in the colors and scents of living greenery. I posted a few pictures of the Arboretum on Flickr if you're interested.

This next card was purchased at Silverwood Park, a local nature preserve, which I have written about previously.  I have walked the path in this photo many times.This card is the artwork of Shirley K. Doyle.

One of my favorites is this picture of a mail box that I bought while visiting Austin, TX last month. Published by My Blue Bonnets, this card inspires me to start a collection of mailbox themed photos. This is number one.

"There is something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery." ~Charles Dickens

Indeed there is.

Edward Gorey Postcard #4

The Edward Gorey postcard theme has encouraged me to learn more about Mr. Gorey and become more of a fan of his. In Feb I had heard it was his birthday (Feb 22) as there were a few blogs mentioning this. Here is one and another and another.

One of the blogs mentioned his home in the Cape Cod area is now a museum, so naturally, I have added this to my list of places to visit. I love literary themed travel and have been busy planning a trip to New England later this year. (If you also like literary themed travel, check out the blog Literary Traveler.)

This 4th postcard is of Mr. Earbrass, a novelist '...studying a game left unfinished.' I think this card needs to go to a dog loving accountant in Florida who is bogged down during the busy tax season. This woman is also the one who suggested that I include in my blogs something about each of the cards that I send. Thanks, Julie!

If you are an Edward Gorey fan you can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Sytlish Blogger Award

Journaling Journeys has awarded Letters & Journals with the Stylish Blogger Award! 

Wow, our first award! Thanks, Shaynie!

Here's what you gotta do:

1. Thanks and link back to the blogger who passed this award onto you

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award other recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

 

7 Things about myself

 

1. I love to read and usually have 2-3 books going at the same time

2. I love England- the history, the landscape, the culture

3. I love to visit book stores and paper stores

4. I love to doodle and have bought drawing books to improve my doodlings

5. I'm from North Dakota

6. I worked in a bookstore (surprise) for 10 years

7. I have more blank notebooks than I know what to do with

I award Julie at Whatever.

Winner Announced for February Stationery Giveaway

The winner for all of the February Stationery basket was number 248.  The holder of that lucky number? Mary Johnson from MN. Mary was notified and now has a package of stationery wonderment en route to her home.

You can see the full list of prizes here. The March giveaway is underway, plus we will have a couple one item giveaways planned for the month of March also thanks to our special sponsors who sent in extra items for the monthly giveaway!

There are two ways you can win any of the monthly stationery giveaways:
1. Be signed up for the free Letters & Journals monthly e-newsletter
2. You are put on the mailing list for information regarding the premiere edition when that information is available (No subscriptions yet- just a heads up on the status of the print edition) Send info here.

Newsletter Updates

If you don't receive the Letters & Journals monthly e-newsletter, chances are good you have not seen the two new articles that were highlighted in the February newsletter.

LaMucca: A Toulousain Papeterie is a wonderful first person account of a visit to LaMucca, a stationery store in France. Filled with pictures and beautiful descriptions, you won't want to miss Kelli Billstein's journey to this little corner of the world.

The second article highlights the travel writing supplies I used on my recent trip to Niche Magazine conference in Austin, TX.

Both articles offer lots of photos and a genuine interest in our subject: stationery.