If, like me, you’re the kind of person who thinks the words ‘stationery’ and ‘sexy’ fit perfectly comfortably in the same sentence together, Nancy and Betty Studio is definitely for you. Just click the link have a look for yourself.
Nancy & Betty are an independent stationery design company, obviously really passionate about what they do. They use recycled card and paper. They print using vegetable-based ink. They’re based in Great Britain. They’re designs are simple and fun. Tick…tick…tick…tick… that’s me checking things off my imaginary list of ‘plus points’.
Not only are all the products lovely but every picture is a joy to behold.
This is my favourite mini so far! A book necklace and a wearable journal. I love the elastic holding it together.
I will definitely be making more but this one is MINE.
Some pictures from our last craft stall. This was a great event, well organised and tons of fun! Best sellers for us were the origami crane mobiles which went down a treat- I think because we had the gazebo to hang them from so people could actually see them properly!
Ever the attentive stall holders:
Looking forward to our next stall at the end of August – details to follow soon.
Finished my prototype holiday checklist/notebook! It has titles for destination and date, plus sections with space to write what you want- divided into essentials, toiletries, accessories, clothes and miscellaneous. Then there are a few blank pages for general holiday notes:
This one I’ve done for myself, as a tester, but I will do proper ones with neatly printed insides! It’s been made using coptic binding technique, covered in nice paper and sewn with very sturdy black waxed thread. There’s room for 8 holidays in here.
A friend commissioned this fabulous blank notebook for writing recipes in. Love the cover paper she chose! I cut out a section and added a title on the front.
It’s a mere two weeks before I will be jetting off on a family holiday to Positano, Italy, for some much needed rest and relaxation.
Of course I will be taking a notebook and pen/pencil with me, but sometimes it just doesn’t cut it to simply have a couple of items loose in the bottom of my bag. This, I feel, will be one such holiday and I will need something a bit nicer; a grown-up pencil case, basically, so I can keep all my stationery essentials handy, compact and tidy.
And so I explored the web to find the best travel stationery sets I could. Here’s what I discovered…
Having written the line about wanting something grown-up, it turns out that one of the best little all-round sets I stumbled upon is in fact a Hello Kitty one. It has a ballpoint pen, pencil, ruler, eraser, notepad, felt tips, plus (and this is what makes it so good) a sharpener that catches the shavings. I feel this is essential for a travel set, when you won’t know if there’ll be bin handy. You can get it from Tesco and it’s pretty darn cute:
If, however, you’re looking for something a bit more upmarket, why not try this travel set in a fancy leather case? According to the site it’s “A luxurious way to carry all your stationery essentials”:
Just want to do a bit of sketching on your holidays? There are quite a few sketching wallets about. This one’s from Derwents and contains a sketch pad of nice paper, nice pencils/charcoal etc., an eraser and a sharpener:
This little set from Ryman’s is pretty handy, with just the basics of nice pencils, erasers and that all important sharpener. This one not all collects the bits, but it has different sharpening sizes for drawing/writing etc. Who knew these existed? Not me! This one’s also nice and compact, with good quality erasers that sit nicely over the tops of the pencils:
Now that you’ve got together the right set of pencils/pens etc. you’ll need something to put them in. Good old Paperchase has a great selection, ranging from eco-friendly wooden ones to nice soft zip-up ones, both plain and patterned:
And finally, for any of you hardcore crafters out there, why not try making your own from this awesome tutorial?
When my friend Helen won the letter writing competition I recently ran, I assumed that she’d commission me to do robots on her prize of a customised letter and envelope set. However, when I asked what she’d like, she said she’d need some time to think about it.
After a few days she got back to me with her request. Could she have robots, please?
I’m really happy with the result!
(I think this guy’s my favourite. Shh.):
These were great fun to design.
It was a close call.
The runner up letter was from my mum- she has lovely neat handwriting and used matching Miffy stationery:
She wrote about the fact that one in five children have never received a letter. Very sad indeed!
The winner, though, was my good friend Helen, who wrote in pink ink and decorated the edges of her letter with blue glitter.
She also recommended an author I’d not heard of – Emma Newman – who I’m looking forward to checking out.
For her customised prize, she has asked me to adorn her writing paper and envelopes with robots!
I’m on it – will post the finished results soon.
Sigh! Pretty things.
