A Visit to the University of Minnesota Bookstore

I love a bookstore that has an insane amount of notebooks and pens. Welcome to the University of Minnesota Bookstore (Minneapolis).

On the right we have a long aisle of notebooks - all sizes and bindings.This is one of the few places where you can buy a left-handed notebook.

On the backside of the same aisle are even more notebooks and some folders! The selection doesn't get any better than this.

 

Notebooks are everywhere!

On the left we have an aisle of pens, pencils and markers. As a good pen store does, they have slips of paper available so that the pens can be sampled.

I must have spent two hours at the store. They do have quite a bit of other items for sale such as gift items, school clothing, etc. It's a wonderfully laid out store with a wide selection of items. Index cards, anyone?

They also had some name brand notebooks including Rhodia, Moleskin Clairefontaine, and Leuchtturm1917.

Where do you find the best selection of pens and notebooks for brick and mortar stores?

Put a Stamp On It

There was a scavenger hunt at the National Stationery Show (NSS) this year! Legion Paper, NSS, Paper Chronicles, Parse & Parcel, and the Rifle Paper Company sponsored this year's stamp collection called #PutAStampOnIt.

The box to hold all of the stamps was designed and created by Rifle Paper and printed by Legion Paper, who also printed most of the cards in this lovely 2018 card collection.

Ginger P Designs with the Occasion Group created the glitter foil border design below. Like many, I miss stamps with their amounts on them and wish the USPS would find a way to re-incorporate them.

I met Val of Lily & Val and she was so sweet and personable I could have visited with her for hours. I love the gold foil stamp design on this floral image. Simple, yet evocative.

Based in Knoxville, TN, the Smarty Pants Paper Co is all about bright colors, bold graphics and vintage style. Don't you love the lip stamps and wouldn't they be fun to use?

Euni + Co, based in Seattle, (below) started as a calligraphy studio and then expanded into other paper goods

These little unicorns are in a stamped shaped envelope that opens in the back to reveal more information about Halifax Paper Hearts.

This card by Paper Bandit Press was unique with its images and also the red clear overlay that went atop the white card to reveal the hidden images in the card.

Paper Bandit Press makes letter press cards and posters.

The stamp sheet below was created by the Regional Assembly of Text and they were creative enough to include "An Application for Maintaining a Friendship Over a Great Distance" application on the backside. Don't you love it?

They're based in Vancouver and once a month their LETTER WRITING CLUB meets and everyone is welcome to attend and join in - all supplies provided. When I plan a trip to Canada, I will keep this mind for my itinerary.

The Imagination Spot has this adorable snail mail stamp. What adds to this stamp (in addition to whimsical illustration) is the postmark. Kind of wishing there was an option to purchase postcards of some of these super cute cards.

As you may have surmised, Page Stationery is based in Virginia. This stamp card captured the great outdoors with their heavy card stock postage stamp. On the back it says "Let the Adventure Begin".

Hester & Cook, based in Tennessee, offers a wide variety of stationery and gift items. This adorable, sparkly unicorn postage stamp card is emblematic of their style.

Boss Dotty celebrates "strong women through playful illustrations that are laced with humor and a can-do attitude".

The Pinwheel Print Shop specializes in hand lettering and illustration for their fresh, whimsical designs. Owner, Colleen Reid is its Chief Snail Mail Officer.

I met the lovely Colleen, owner of the Colleen Attara Studio, at the show. She was a delight and she shared with me one of her handmade journals (altered book) which was incredibly detailed and inspiring (saving this for a future blog post). Her beautifully crafted card below shows her vision of the world coming together to support each other and work as one. After all, We are all in this together, aren't we?

Fresh Out of Ink is run by husband and wife team, Katy and Albert, who fell in love via snail mail when they were both 14. Sweet, huh?

Up With Paper is not only the original pop-up greeting card company, they're also the world's leading marketer of innovative, three-dimensional greeting cards and stationery products. Their #PutAStampOnIt entry below is a highlighted in rose-gold ink that, sadly, does not show up in the photo.

Sisters, Alice and Doris, love mail and puns so making cards is a natural fit for them. I Loot Paperie is based out of Pasedena, CA. Their design below is the perfect image for snail mail. I love it!

One of my favorite #PutAStampOnIt cards is the one below from Good Juju Ink, who believes that anyone and everyone can change the world one perfectly imperfect illustration at a time.

Inklings Paperie, based in Detroit, was founded by Lindsay Henry who believes in the power of the handwritten note, and is committed to creating products that inspire kindness and bring joy to life's many little celebrations, as perfectly illustrated in the card below.

Finally, we have the Gotamago Collection which features original ink-and-watercolour illustrations designed and printed in Toronto, Canada. I wish my pictures would capture the way the gold foil glitters on the card.

Now the challenge is how to keep and display these postal gems and keepsakes.

One Million Lovely Letters

Jodi Ann Bickley began writing letters to strangers while trying to overcome challenging health issues and depression that she suffered from after having a stroke and a brain infection at age 23 in 2011.

She set up a website and asked people to email her if they wanted her to write them a letter. She asked them to tell her what they were going through so that she could reply to them and their issue (ill health, losing a home or loved one, unexplained sadness - you get the idea). Soon she had hundreds and then thousands of emails asking her to send them a letter.

She found her purpose. At least for now. At least to get her through her current life challenge. Isn't that something we all want and look for? Serving a purpose.

Then she had a book and received even more requests. Now she has a team of helpers so they can reach even more people.

One Million Lovely Letters: When life is looking hopeless, one inspirational letter can change your life forever

Letters are something simple that anyone can do. They are such a great way to reach across the chasm - geographical, physical, emotional - and touch someone on the other side by your caring and your thoughtfulness.

Who will you write to today? Thanks in advance for helping to make the world a better place by your caring.
 

Journal Winners

Fox Chapel Publishing giveaway has two winners! Congratulations to Linda Hutchinson and Kathy Delumpa Allegri! Please send me your mailing address to my email and I will get your selected journal off to you!

Thanks to everyone who left comments and mailed in entries! Stay tuned for another giveaway soon!

Highlights from the National Stationery Show 2018

The 2018 National Stationery Show was a fabulous showcase of so much stationery goodness! Booth after booth offered eye-catching displays and products as well as having super-friendly and passionate people.

 This pictures were from the Sakura of America booth. My favorite is the seahorse stationery!

Who doesn't love beautiful quality lined envelopes?

All in a lovely stationery set.

The images below are from the Lily & Val booth. I fell in love with these prints of store front images. Aren't they gorgeous?

I love them so much I can't pick a favorite.

The only thing missing is a storefront image of a bookstore.

This lovely Keepsake Kitchen Diary from Lily & Val is a combination cookbook, journal and scrapbook. There is so much inside there that it would be best to watch the video on this page of their website.

 This is just a portion of what I saw at the 2018 NSS. More to come in future blogs.

Getting Ready for the National Stationery Show 2018

The National Stationery Show (NSS) is held every May in New York City and this year, for the first time since 2011, I will be attending.

This annual trade show showcases product and trends from 750 vendors/booths to over 8,000 visitors, mostly store owners and product buyers.

Years ago I visited the Rifle Paper Co at the show when they were just starting out. Now, I see their product everywhere, including this lovely postage stamp that was released earlier this year and was designed by Anna Bond (co-owner and founder of the Rifle Paper Co) for the USPS.

I wonder what treasures I'll find this year? I plan to take lots of pictures and maybe some video and will share all when I return from the show next week.

Stay tuned.

Pilot Fountain Pen Review

I recently purchased this affordable fountain pen to add to my small fountain pen collection. I don't use fountain pens too often but I'm trying to improve my skill level and comfort with them, so I selected the Pilot Metropolitan Collection Fountain Pen.

The pen was less than $13 on Amazon. The description calls it a medium nib, but it looks and writes more like a fine point to me. I usually prefer fine point pens but had opted for a medium nib to change things up a bit.

The pen comes with both a converter and an ink cartridge. So far I've only used the converter as I have so many bottles of ink (14 and counting).

In the images below I used Private Reserve Ink Bottle Copper Burst which is a lovely shade of brown.

The pen writes smooth, but I've found that it skips occasionally causing me to have to go back and rewrite a letter.

There is no bleed thru in the Moleskin notebook, but you can see the outline of the words through the paper. The weight and feel of the pen are good - not too heavy and not too light. I find the smooth barrel of the pen beckons to me from its perch when I'm using a different writing instrument. Each pen has a different purpose. Not all are meant for every day use.

Overall, the pen writes fairly decent, and for the price it is a good buy.

I haven't tried the ink cartridge and probably won't for awhile as I have so many bottles of ink to dip into. I'm glad to be back to having a hand fountain pen at my desk and may look at what it will take to get my others out of their boxes.

What's your favorite writing pen these days?