Charlie Brown Christmas Stamps

I'm super excited about the Charlie Brown Christmas stamps that go on sale October 1! I love colorful cartoon stamps and these ones look super, don't you agree?

I was almost 4 years old when the "Charlie Brown Christmas" aired in December 1965, so I grew up watching this perennial favorite.

I can see myself writing more letters and sending more cards just to use more of these delightful stamps.

You can pre-order your stamps now or wait until they go on sale on October 1. Visit USPS to learn more.

What's your favorite holiday stamp?

Desks and Maps and Letter Cubbies

We were in Bovey, MN not too long ago which has a cafe + antique store with rooms of stuff for sale. Unfortunately, what I really wanted was this letter cubbie with all those slots for mail, notes, stamps, postcards; but it wasn't for sale. Isn't it perfect?

That sent me to Pinterest where I looked for ideas on creating my own - or looking to find ideas on how to get one.

The photo below came from the Eclectic Home Tours blog found via Pinterest, because when you do a search for "vintage desk", you find some awesome stuff. Behold!

This next one is credited to Home DIT and is part of the 21 Cool Tips to Steampunk Your Home. There is no cubbie, but the chair, desk, lamp and wall map make for an appealing office setting.

What does your dream desk/office look like? Do you have a letter cubbie to organize all your mail? Send pictures!

University Bookstore & Stationery Supplies

I recently went with a friend to the University of Minnesota bookstore. Look at this row of notebooks!!

It was notebook heaven! There was also a great selection of pens, but that aisle was too busy to take a photo. But it wasn't too busy that I couldn't find a few pens to buy, plus two highlighter pencils ( pink and a green).

I also bought the notebook (spiral bound, green paper). Couldn't resist!

Letters & Journals Update

It's been awhile since I've done any update on the status of Letters & Journals. I've met with a designer on getting a new website and have begun plans for a future Kickstarter Campaign but it's been slow-going. My full-time job requires a lot more of my time than my previous job did and when I get some free time, I like to unplug - take walks, read a book, write a letter.

But don't give up hope! This magazine, website, community is near and dear to my heart, and finding ways to make it successful and appealing to those who want it as much as I do is a driving force for me.

I received a lot of wonderful feedback from fans and readers on ideas to offer for donations to the future Kickstarter campaign. Thank you! I'm continually taking notes for future ideas, adding images and articles to my massively overflowing folder of ideas, plans, articles, layout, contests, conferences, retreats. There is so much possibility here and it's just a matter of taking steps to get us closer and closer to the actual print magazine. Thank you for your patience!

My New Favorite Pen - The Pilot Multiball

I have a new favorite pen that I purchased through JetPens. I always order a few of my trusted favorites and then one or two new, untried pens to get my total to $25 and enjoy the free shipping option.

I love a fine point and a generous flow of ink and the Pilot Multiball delivers on both counts! I had been using a Pentel Tradio Stylo Fountain Pen, which I still use and LOVE, but the Tradio is scratchier and seems to me more delicate, which can be a good thing and is part of what makes it a special pen for me.

But at $1.65 the Pilot Multiball is more of a good, everyday pen.

You can see the fine point of the pen in these pictures. The flow of the ink is constant and effortless and soft, almost like a creamy drawing pencil with a deep, rich flow.

This pen comes in blue, green and red (as well as black) so I will plan to have the full assortment of colors in my stash of stationery treasures.

Grace of Gratitude Journal Winner is...

Christi S from Colorado is the winner of the Grace of Gratitude Journal by Deborah Perdue, with illustrations by Tara Thele. Congratulations, Christi!

Christine from New Shelves Distribution will mail your journal to you in the next week or so.

Thanks to all who entered!

Contest Entries

The Gratitude Journal contest entries started to hit the mailbox this past week!

Love getting mail and love to see the creativity of postcards and mail art selected.

Have you sent your entry in yet?

"Grace of Gratitude Journal" Giveaway

Letters & Journals is hosting a new giveaway with this beautifully illustrated, spiral bound journal. The Grace of Gratitude Journal has illustrations and quotes interspersed on its glossy, smooth writing pages.

Authored by Deborah Perdue, with illustrations by Tara Thele, the Grace of Gratitude is a lovely way to capture the words, doodles and illustrations of the things in your life that warm your heart.

Below is a view of the open book (excuse the dark shading around the edges as the view is from a Flip Book Demo which you can see here to view more pages).

The book has 140 pages, with 40 pages for journaling. However, I wouldn't be averse to journaling and doodling on the pages with quotes since there is so much white space.

Published by Applegate Valley Publishing, the journal sells for $14.95.

How can you win this awesome journal? Easy! Just send me a letter, notecard or postcard saying that you would like to win.  Please mention GRACE OF GRATITUDE JOURNAL somewhere on your mailed entry.

Letters & Journals
PO Box 120052
St Paul, MN 55112

All entries must be received by April 18, 2015. Please include your name, mailing address and email.

All entries will be numbered as they arrive and I will do a random number generator based on the number of entries on Sun April 19. Winner will be notified by email and announced on this blog, Facebook and Twitter the week of April 20.

Filofax, Tabs and Planners

I was on my weekly Pinterest visit today (twice a week/30 minutes) and as I kept pinning items with TABS in them, I realized that I love TABS! They appeal to some inner organizer in me and I think they're useful and appealing.

I love It All Etsy Shop

I didn't realize how many types there were, although I probably should have. They were everywhere- scrapbooking, organizers, planners, etc.

Looking to find a bunch of tabs on one page, I did a search for "filofax" and came up with this, which is just the top of the page! (see below)

Pinterest is a visual smorgasbord of images that are just like finding your favorite photos from magazines that you would (maybe still do) cut out and put on your bulletin board. But it gets even better because you can classify (tag) them and put them together by subject.

Here is a quick glance at a handful of my boards.

I have a lot of fun on pinterest and really love to see the creative ideas, wonderful crafts, breathtaking photos and amazingly inspired photos and images from all over.

One of the things I like to find are easy doodles, images to draw so that I can spruce up my journals, letters and envelopes. So I have a board called "Learning to Draw" with many illustrations that mostly look within my doable parameters, i.e., not too hard. But rather than taking time to practice drawing ones I have pinned, I just keep looking for more.

This is why I limit my time on Pinterest. It's just so darned addictive!

In a future blog, I will share some of what I have on my other boards- Mail, Envelopes, Journals and Office Supplies. Oh, the joy of it all!

Flow- A Paper Magazine

I recently discovered Flow Magazine, a magazine for paper lovers that originates from the Netherlands. The magazine is thick, printed on heavier paper stock and also has an assortment of goodies that can be taken out of the magazine. Paper, a gratitude journal and an envelope (ostensibly for an advertiser , but I will craft for what I need.)

Flow is more than just about paper. They highlight articles on happiness and simple pleasures, creativity, nostalgia. Some of their department headings include:

Live Mindfully

Inspiring Lives

Feel Connected

About half of the articles appealed to me (pens, Japanese papers, The Artist's Way workshop) while many others did not, but that's about the same as any magazine.

You can see a preview of parts of the magazine on the Flow website as well as on the free online magazine site Issuu.

How Flow began (from their website):
The best things happen when you dare to follow your heart. And that’s exactly what we did when we hatched this idea for a new Dutch magazine in an attic room several years ago. We dreamed of a magazine with which we could explore our love of paper. A magazine of unhurried time, all about doing things differently and making new choices. Small happiness, daily life and the beauty of not always managing to be perfect. That is how Flow began. Flow is all about positive psychology, mindfulness, creativity and the beauty of imperfection. We love illustrations and in each issue there is a gift made of our much-loved paper. We print the magazine itself on different types of paper.

A magazine on paper. I think I'm hooked! Unfortunately, at a cost of $22.50, I'm not sure I'll purchase each of the future ones. Maybe I'll sit in the coffee area of the local Barnes & Noble and peruse at my leisure. Sometimes that's good enough.