In Link Love

Link Love: Doing The Things

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: Doing The Things

I am back from Chicago and slowly coming out from under a pile of emails, orders and unpacking all the boxes. So I am doing the things, trying to get some sleep and maybe even doing a couple loads of laundry.

I want to say thank you to everyone who came by the table at the Chicago Show, attending any of my workshops or placing orders while I was away. I am so touched at all the kind words, support and confidence. I am so grateful to you all.

So, enjoy this week’s Link Love while I take a nap.Love Ana

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Planners, Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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In feature

A Little Corner of the Chicago Pen Show

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
A Little Corner of the Chicago Pen Show

I drove up to Chicago to vend and teach at the Chicago Pen Show this weekend. I traveled up by myself (there is a whole flat tire story I will not go into here but, as always, there was travel drama!) and met up with my friend and contributor to the site, Jaclyn of Kaleidocraft Prints and her lovely wife Laura and we hung out for the weekend.

Jaclyn and Laura working hard at the Kaleidocraft Prints table. (This pic was late on Sunday so no judgement about sleepy faces! We were all shredded!)
Kaleidocraft Prints has a Gachapon Machine filled with charms. With a lucky capsule, you can get a special charm!

We were set up in the lower level ballroom (AKA the basement, the dungeon, the “cool kids room”, and “where all the stationery vendors are”) with about 20 or so other vendors ranging from makers, leatherworkers, sticker makers and Blick*.

The super cool folks at Blick! They are making big strides in the stationery and craft community and they are an Illinois-based company.

(*Why yes you can buy Col-o-ring directly from your local Blick Store now!)

Inky Converters! Our fellow Missourian!

Since I was working my table alone, I didn’t have many opportunities to walk around and see the 100+ vendors upstairs and, in some cases, I didn’t even know some vendors were at the show until I ran into them in the elevators.

My new friend Miki at Pineberry Paper. She’s camera shy but you can see her hand in the left side of the image.
Marty selling new and old Retro 51s. If you need a Retro, Marty is your man.
My table neighbors, Happiness Handmade. Such pretty stickers and such nice people!

As you can see, our little room was a great place filled with cool creators, smart people and we had such a good time. Many attendees enjoyed our little hideaway too. I heard many people say that our little ballroom was “where all the stationery was” which was interesting.

Moth & Maple Designs, handmade leather notebook covers

In the foyer downstairs there was a large table with ink testing stations, assorted tables and chairs and was quieter making a nice place for people to rest and relax.

VIPs and early arriving attendees were able to get a promotional tote from Atlas Stationers/Esterbrook. It was a really nice black cotton tote with cross body strap and a zipper closure (customer below shopping the Dime Novel Raven table has one). It was probably one of the nicest freebies I’ve ever seen at a pen show.

Dime Novel Raven is not just a blog but a pop-up shop too!

Over the weekend, I taught two workshops. I taught Gamify Your Life on Friday afternoon and then taught Sigils on Sunday morning. Both workshops sold out and were full of happy, active attendees. I think everyone enjoyed the workshops and got something out of them. Teaching these workshop has become one of my favorite things to do at events. I love helping people find new ways to use their notebooks and supplies and feel creative and productive. If you’re interested in taking one of my workshops, I will be teaching several workshops at the St. Louis Pen Show in June.

Overall, I think the Chicago Pen Show was a huge success for both vendors and attendees, even if I only got to see a little corner of the show.

Some notes about the hotel:

There were only a few small elevators that were SLOW. It made getting to and from rooms in busy times a long wait.

Guests staying in the hotel pretty much all agreed that hot water is not readily available. I took one tepid shower and had to make do in between. I luckily stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of the suburbs on Sunday night and took an epically long hot shower to make up for the weekend. The hotel was across the street from a large, high-end mall with lots of eateries for dinner but required crossing a large “strode” to get there.

The main ballroom was considered unusually cold and our downstairs room was a little warm.

News is that the 2027 Chicago Pen Show will be held at a different hotel a few minutes away that will allow vendors to be in one extra-large ballroom. I hope to see you at the Chicago Show in 2027 because I am definitely going to go back.

(*If you’re curious about the special limited edition Land of Inkin’ Col-o-ring, we will make them available in the shop soon. Consider signing up for our shop newsletter to be notified when they are listed.) 

In Pen Review

New uses for all these pens?

Author Laura CameronPosted on Leave a comment
New uses for all these pens?

If you are anything like me, you have a few pens in your collection. I’m not talking about the fountain pens (although those are certainly in there!), but the rollerballs, gels, highlighters, fine liners, pencils, erstwhile ballpoints… the whole lot. And while I keep them at my desk, and by my journals and notebooks I’m always looking for more places to use them.

2 cups, a case, and a swiveling wooden desk caddy are full to brimming with all varieties of fountain, ballpoint, roller ball and gel pens.

At the same time, I have taken up quilting in the past few years. And you know what you need to do sometimes in quilting? You need to mark sewing lines on your fabric.

I recently worked on a project where I needed to mark approximately 200 fabric squares with sewing lines. Normally you mark the fabric on the back side so that once you’re done sewing an trimming it ends up on the inside of the quilt. And there are plenty of markers for this. Some folks use Frixion pens, some use water soluble fabric ink pens (to varying degrees of success). I even found a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in white that was sold in a few fabric stores as a way to mark dark fabrics.

Well, heck. I have so many writing implements… I don’t need a special pen! So here are my tests. In general they more or less look the same. I will say that in practice the mechanical pencil skips a lot on the fabric (the point is small enough to catch it). I’d probably have better luck with a regular old #2 pencil, but I married an engineer so Bic mechanicals are plentiful around our house. One of my favorite gel pens, the Pilot G-2 Juice writes better on a paper than fabric. And surprisingly, one of my ho-hum tests of yesteryear, the Pentel GlideWrite series, has proven the most reliable on my fabric!

Looks like I’ve got plenty more writing, and quilting, to do!

In feature

A Little Story About Boxy, The Lost Box

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments
A Little Story About Boxy, The Lost Box

I wrote this story for a customer whose package went missing for over a month. When it finally arrived, she asked where he had been all this time. So I wrote this story. (Names have been altered for anonymity.)

This is the story of Boxy, the little package who went on a big adventure.

Mr. Bob dropped little Boxy off at the USP station early one morning on his way to the office. He often helps Miss Ana out when she’s packing orders and updating web sites and feeding the cats.

It was a little hectic in the UPS station that morning and the staff was crowded with all the boxes and packages waiting to go out on the next truck. At one point, Katie, a new employee stumbled over a pile that had accumulated on the floor and the whole pile went tumbling.

Our hero, little Boxy was accidentally kicked under a table in the chaos and he was left to wonder “will anyone ever find me? I’m filled with happy little goodies for Miss Margaret and she’s going to be so sad if I don’t make it to her.” He tried to tap the table leg to get someone’s attention but his soft little Boxy sides didn’t make any noise. Poor little Boxy!

Many days passed and Boxy started to accumulate dust bunny friends, little scrap of paper detritus and even a few pieces of string. How long would he be under here before someone found him???

Then, one day Miss Ida, who cleans the shop, poked her broom under the table and realized she hit something. She slowly got down in her knees. Her knees are a little rusty, being a lady of a certain age, so she slowly got downand peered under the table to see little Boxy. He stretched his packing tape as far as he could to try to reach her. “Miss Ida! Please help me! I’ve been trapped under this table and Miss Margaret is waiting for me!”

Miss Ida reached out for Boxy but her arms weren’t long enough so she grabbed her trusty broom and used it to scoop little Boxy from the back corner of the table. The broom was dusty and little Boxy was worried he would sneeze and blow all his packing tape off.
Miss Ida scooped him up and gave him a quick dusting with the edge of her sleeve. Realizing little Boxy had an important mission, Miss Ida left a note on little Boxy for the morning staff to get him in the system and delivered to Miss Margaret as fast as possible.
In the morning, Fred arrived to the shop and saw Boxy sitting on the counter with Ida’s note. “Oh, little Boxy! Let’s get you sorted and on your important mission!” Then Fred scanned his barcode so that Boxy was in the system and ready for pick up.
Next thing Boxy, knew, he was tipped into a bin with all his other packaged friends and there was so much chatter.
“I’m an Amazon return.”
“I’m going to young Timmy filled with grandma’s birthday gifts. I’m not sure Timmy is gonna like the purple handknit sweater but she did wrap it up in fun balloon paper!”
“I’m carrying important documents. Did you see all my insurance and signature required forms?”
One big box closest to Boxy asked where he was going and he had to tell his whole sad story of being lost but the happy ending of being found now and how he was now on his way to Miss Margaret filled with stationery treasures.
The big box started to relay little Boxy’s tale through the whole bin and the next thing Boxy knew they were all elbowing Boxy to the top of the heap so he didn’t get lost or stuck in the dark ever again!
Soon, the big brown truck arrived to take the bin full of Boxy and all his new friends to the sorting station so that they could set off on their adventure. … stay tuned!
In Pencil Review

Colored Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Alpine Frost Bicolor 9-Piece Colored Pencil Set

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Colored Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Alpine Frost Bicolor 9-Piece Colored Pencil Set

One of my favorite colored pencils are the Caran d’Ache Supracolors and the extra-posh Luminance pencils. I also love two-ended pencils. Caran d’Ache calls these BiColor and occasionally release sets of these little gems. For this winter, they released the Alpine Frost boxed set and who doesn’t love a boxed set! So, Caran d’Ache Alpine Frost Bicolor 9-Piece Colored Pencil Set (currently $34.31) was kind of a no-brainer for me.

Normally, the only BiColor pencils I can find from Caran d’Ache are the standard red/blue or red/graphite style which are part of their Graphicolor line. Caran d’Ache has many tiers of colored pencils. The Luminance line is their lightfast, museum-quality pencils. They also have the aforementioned Supracolors which are the artist-grade water solubles. They also make Pablos which are their artist-grade non-water soluble line. Then there’s the Swisscolor which are the student grade which are available in water soluble (a little paint brush printed on each pencil will help tell the water-soluble for the non-water soluble).

Unfortunately, I could not find any specific information as to whether this series of BiColor “Alpine Frost” pencils use the artist-grade or student-grade leads. Based on the price, I hope it was the Supracolor cores but at this point I am just going to experiment and see how they perform.

Several of the colors are particularly light in the cream, white, light blue and grey range as would be expected for a wintry theme. The set also include a metallic gold and silver (which interestingly enough are not on the same pencil). The silver has a green on the other end and the gold has a black/black-brown on the other end.

The set also includes a paint brush, my clue that this is a water soluble set.

Tested on Tomoe River paper, with water, the lighter colors disappear almost completely. I need to retest on a dark paper or layered in a larger project to see if they help create highlights and range.

On Col-o-ring paper, which has a bit more tooth and texture, the colors appear a bit more vibrant. The smoothness of TR paper makes it more difficult for colored pencil to adhere. Save colored pencils for toothier papers or dedicate a notebook with more textured paper to experiments with pencils.

I think the color assortment is lovely but the price point is a bit high. A set of 18 full-sized Supracolors is about $54. This set is 18 half-length colors plus a brush and originally retailed for $45. That said, these BiColors are good products from a good company but sheesh! Everything just continues to get more expensive. It is a pretty set and would make a good travel companion for travel or just going to the park.

In the end, I’d say if you are a collector or a sucker for packaged sets, grab this while you can since it was a seasonal collection and might not be around much longer. If you are curious about products like the Supracolors, I recommend finding a local art supply store like Blick where you may be able to buy individual pencils and be able to pick and choose a few colors and a few brands you might like. No one says you have to own ALL THE COLORS especially if you like to draw or color with just a few colors.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in today’s post were provided by the generous support of our Patrons for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Chicago, here I come!

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Chicago, here I come!

I leave on tomorrow morning for the Chicago Pen Show in Oakbrook, IL. I grew up one suburb over in Elmhurst as a kid so I’m tickled to be back in the neighborhood. I will be going to the nearest Buona Beef for their awesome vegan Italian Beef while I’m there.

If you want to find me at the show, check out the the interactive map. Or just know I’m downstairs, across from Kaleidocraft. Looking at the map and the huge number of vendors that will be in the main ballroom as well as downstairs, be prepared with water, snacks and some comfy shoes! WOW! This show has really grown since the last time I was there.

The location of The Well-Appointed Desk at the Chicago Pen Show.

I will be bringing all my new rainbow sticker collection designs, a new batch of Soolla pouches, stamps, and lots of lovely letterpress products.

I can’t wait to see everyone and show you all the new products we have.

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

Check out our Patreon where you can get inspiration, gossip and free printables that include a biweekly podcast and more. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Tools

Glue Review: Kokuyo GLOO Tape Runner

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment
Glue Review: Kokuyo GLOO Tape Runner

This year I’ve been trying to add more ephemera to my journal. What I lack in artistic talent, I’ve been trying to make up in stickers, fabric scraps, ticket stubs and the like. One thing that I’ve noticed is that washi tape doesn’t always seem to want to stick in my notebook of choice (from Notebook Therapy).

If I go back to earlier in the year I can see that the tape is lifting up from some of the things I’ve added in, and started to bend and fold.

I suspect that the paper in the notebook has some kind of coating or treatment on it that is preventing the washi from getting a decent stick, but it’s still a problem I’ve been trying to solve.

Enter GLOO. When I was browsing on JetPens a few weeks ago I decided to give the Kokuyo GLOO Tape Runner – Medium Permanent Adhesive ($6). It comes in a small package which includes your first roll of GLOO tape and a handheld dispenser. I was also excited to see that it is refillable – adhesive refills are available for $4.50.

The dispenser is packaged in entirely Japanese packaging, but there is a nice infographic on the back that shows you how to load and unload the adhesive, and how to use the dispenser.

Basically the unit swivels open so you can run the adhesive tape along your flat surface. The gears within the unit turn the tape, dispensing adhesive in light blue lines. Then you stick and go.

I used the tape this weekend and I’m excited to see how it works with the paper. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it solves the problem!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.