On hold

I'm not sure about this here little experiment of a stationery blog. I think for now, I'm going to incorporate everything into my personal blog over at Manufacturing Hearts, and become a bit more organised with that whole thing. Incorporating categories and tagging posts and such. Theres a lot of stuff I want to record and include in a blog, and if I had different blogs for all my interests I would have a fuck load of blogs. So, stationery will have its own little tag on my personal blog. For the time being. :)

The perfect bag

I've only had this blog a few days and I've so many ideas for things I'd like to write about or show you! I should probably write some of them down. Maybe I need to get a separate notebook for blog things. :)

One of the things that just popped into my head is THE MOST AMAZING BAG IN THE WORLD. I've been crushing on this inanimate object since the dawn of time. Or since I saw it for the first time at some point last year. Anyway, introducing the Kate Spade "All Typed Up Clyde" bag. I'm pretty sure its no longer available anywhere which is just as well really as I'll never have £500 or so quid to spend on a bag and if I did I probably still wouldn't.

 YEAH. I KNOW.

Bettie xo

Make yr own planner

When I get an idea in my head, a very specific idea, it's hard for me to settle for anything less even when what I'm thinking of doesn't actually exist! This is especially the case when it comes to planning and being organised. This year I just could not find the perfect diary, and I looked everywhere. In the past I've made my own, either from ready bought notebooks or made from scratch and coptic bound. This time I wanted spiral binding, and then I realised after talking to friends about binding their dissertations that I could get this done at Staples! Why didn't I think of it before?

I spent ages and ages playing around with layouts in gimp, but in the end I knocked something up in Word that worked just as well. I printed the pages at work (on a colour laser printer) just one sided so I would have the back of the page for notes. I listed the months across the top of each page and left empty boxes for the dates, so I could write them in myself. Then took the whole lot to Staples. It was under £4 in all, for the binding plus a clear plastic cover.

If you want to try making one for yourself, I'd recommend using thick card stock for the outer covers in addition to the clear plastic, or at least a thick piece of card at the back for support. Mine is quite flimsy with only thin card and the plastic covers are very thin - kind of like OHP transparencies.

What's your perfect planner?

Bettie xo

Wishlist

Being a skint student I don't have the cash for all the lovely stationery I'd like, but I can dream! I'll be blogging regular wishlists because I'm always discovering new and lovely stationery. Here are just a few items I'm currently lusting after.

Zebra Mildliners have been on my wishlist for months and months, but aren't they lovely? I particularly like the 'cool' set, which is the middle set in the above picture. As you can probably tell, they're highlighters, but in pretty soft colours rather than the usual fluorescent shades. Unfortunately, they're rather scarce outside Japan, but I did find them on a US site. They're available in sets of 5 or individually from Tokyo Pen Shop.

Paperchase mid-year diaries. Its that time of year when the mid-year diaries appear and I'm tempted to replace my half-used annual planner! Paperchase is usually my first stop for their ever-changing designs, and this year my favourites are 'apples' and 'rainbow house'. These two are both A5, with a week-to-view on the left and a squared note page on the right. Available in the Paperchase online store.

invite.L magazine editorial notebook. I discovered invite.L only a few days ago but I want everything! My favourite of the stationery items is this magazine editorial notebook. It's quite expensive (for me) at $24 but they do offer free wordwide shipping. They sell covers seperately, and have a clear vinyl cover for $5 or the bookcloth binding pictured above for $45, eep! They also sell washi tape and posh wallets, cases and pouches. Available in the invite.L online store.

That's all for now, what items are on your stationery wishlist?

Bettie xo

An introduction

 Hello. :)

It would seem my love of stationery and organising has driven me to create a blog to write all about it. Here I'll be posting about stationery I've bought, stationery I'd like to buy but can't afford, writing reviews, and generally rambling about paper and pens!

I hope you enjoy my posts, and hopefully follow my blog.

Bettie xo