The Well-Appointed Desk

Black Friday Purchases

AnaDecember 2, 2013Leave a comment

Note: Some of the items mentioned below would not strictly be considered “office supplies” but I thought you might enjoy them. Please leave comments if you’d prefer less (or more) of this sort of post. Thanks!

I was in Chicago for Black Friday again this year. I decided the best course of action on such a nutball shopping day was to shop local. We definitely wanted to visit Pieritz again so we visited other shops in the Oak Park area as well. My husband discovered the fabulousness of HooDoo Headwear, a beautiful hat shop that opened in July. He bought three hats! And we both put the independent bookseller, The Book Table, on our radar after discovering a classic Chris Ware illustration of their storefront on their web site.

I visited with my pen pal Kimberly and her husband and we all had lunch at the Prairie Bread Kitchen. The cookies, coffee and tuna melt were all excellent.

Then we decided to trek into town and hit Challengers Comics and meet with the postal princess and comic book super heroine Donovan. We also bought a load of new reading material.

At Pieritz I was able to purchase a new pad of Clairefontaine Triomphe paper ($5 at Pieritz, online from JetPens $9) and a pack of red labels ($4). At The Book Table, I bought a packet of Telegram Postcard from Girl of All Work ($6.75) and a copy of The Drunken Botanist ($16) which I highly recommend for the cocktail connoisseurs out there.

At Challengers, we bought an array of graphic novels including the Mind MGMT Volume 1, Mister X: Eviction and Batman: Death by Design. Oh, and I found a booklet of watercolor postcards by Jill Thompson (signed!).

What did you do with your Black Friday shopping day?

In photo

Holiday Cheer: Office Style

AnaNovember 27, 2013Leave a comment

Do you string fairy lights across your cubicle wall or put a tree on your desk to get into the spirit of the season? If not, maybe its time to put a little holiday cheer in the office? Hang some decorations from your bulletin board or wall.

Maybe download some printable stationery “From the Desk of Santa Claus” to write your lists and notes?

Hang a wreath or a stocking from your chair or on the wall in your office?

Or for an understated sense of holiday cheer, download a desktop wallpaper and tune into a holiday radio station or Spofity playlist and sing along to a little Bing?

In feature

Desktops for Desk Nerds

AnaNovember 26, 2013Leave a comment

While hunting around on Simple Desktops, I found a whole collection of office supply themed desktop wallpapers. There’s lots of other simple, graphic wallpapers for fans for superheroes, space, color and pattern too. They are all free to download.

In feature, photo

Are You Sending Holiday Cards?

AnaNovember 26, 2013Leave a comment

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas Card time, isn’t it? The biggest trend in holiday cards is photo cards and the easiest way to do that is online. There are lots of possible services but I thought I’d give a shout out my recommendations (there’s a little plugging the firm as well).

First up is Tiny Prints. Their quality is top notch with unique, fresh designs. They’ve recently added foil stamped designs. They offer postcard, flats, folded and round cards as well as a range of die cut edges for each design. They are offering a 25% discount until November 28 so if you hope to use one of their fabulous designs (and save some money), you’ll have to act fast.

Minted is another personalized card company with some great looking, modern designs and this year, they are offering foil as well as the more common digital litho offered by the other companies. You can also choose from several different die cut shapes like wavy edges, rounded corners or tag shapes. They offer flat cards, folded cards and mini booklets. They have a 15% off sale through today: November 26.

Hallmark Personalized Greetings (plugging the firm!) offers a wide array of photo card options including the premium foil stamped designs and sleeved designs. They have multi-image and multi-panel designs as well as classic postcard styles and folded cards. Their are laser cut and ornament shaped cards with ribbon ties to hang like an ornament. Upload your address and have cards sent directly to your mailing list or have the stack sent to you and address them personally. Hallmark is offering 40% off all holiday cards through 12/26 with the offer code HOLIDAY40.

Hello Lucky offers some unique design elements, beautiful type and patterns but they don’t have a lot of the bling that the larger companies offer. A lot of their folded cards feature artwork on the cover with the option for a photo or newsletter on the inside so your family and friends can admire your handsome family or a simply lovely card. They have location-specific illustrations and silhouette skylines Chicago, Boston, New York, San Francisco, LA and London.

If what you want are photo-free, elegant, classic holiday cards, Crane & Co offer a selection of their boxed cards. Their cards are engraved, embossed and include lined envelopes.

Are you planning on sending cards this holiday? Have you chosen your cards yet? Addressed and stamped them? Are you making your own?

In video

Video: Making Mail Documentary

AnaNovember 25, 2013Leave a comment

Making Mail is a Kickstarter funded documentary about mail art and the folks that create it. The film has been produced and is now being submitted to film festivals, this is the trailer.

(via Paper Pastries, Suburban Pen Pal and Letter Writers Alliance)

In link

Link Love: Miscellany Loves Company

AnaNovember 25, 2013Leave a comment

There were lots of hard-to-categorize bits of wonderfulness on the pen-blogospere this week including the epic link list from the Pen Addict Podcast Gift Guide Episode (#81) which is a link list onto itself.

Fabulous Miscellany:

Pen Addict Podcast #81: You stole my Wish List Item featuring ME! with huge link list (via 5by5)
Cut Once Heirloom Ruler on Kickstarter (via Office Supply Geek)
Royal Visit: C.S. Lewis’s Royal Typewriter (via La Vie Graphite)
Is it Ms. or Mrs.: The Crane’s Blue Book of Stationery (via My Pen Needs Ink)

Letter Writing and Post:

Harry Potter USPS postage stamps! (via USPS)
The Art of Letter-Writing Isn’t Lost on These Scribblers (via NPR)

Paper:

A4 in America (via Rhodia Drive)
Rethinking the DIY Planner for 2014 (via A Penchant for Paper)
Public Supply Noble Notebooks (via A Continuous Lean)

Ink:

Diamine Salamander (via FPQuest)
J. Herbin Rouge Hematite Reviews (via No Pen Intended and These Beautiful Pens)
Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki (via A Penchant for Paper)
Inky Fingers? ReDuRan Is A Must Have For All Fountain Pen Users (via Unroyal Warrant)
What’s Standard Rollerball Ink Made of? (via Gizmodo)

Pens:

Houston, We Are in the Pocket (via The Pen and the Paper)
Pilot Prera Review and Giveaway (via From the Pen Cup)
Ed Jelley’s Pen Inventory (via Ed Jelley)
Kickstarter Visionnaire Review (via Dante Bertana)
Kaweco Elite (via Pen Addict)
TWSBI Vac 700 Oil & Lube (via FPQuest)
Pen of the Year 2013 (via Gold Spot Pens)

Digital:

Pardon my repeated turns to digital recently. As computers, cell phones and tablet devices are as much a part of our working life as pens, paper and staplers, I feel its worthwhile to include references occasionally.

Pencil, digital stylus (via FiftyThree)
Photoshop + Lightroom CC package is just $9.99/mo through 12/2/13 (via Adobe)
What Screens Want (via Frank Chimero)

In feature

Field Notes: Colors Edition Winter Cold Horizon

AnaNovember 25, 2013Leave a comment

In case you missed the news last week, Field Notes announced the Winter Edition of the Colors Series called Cold Horizon. It is a another departure from the traditional Kraft cover version. This time the covers are a gradient blue and each of the three books are a slightly different gradient but they can be lined up to transition in color from one book to the next. The covers are a glossy coated stock this time to enhance the icy cold look. Inside is the standard Finch paper stock printed with grid marks and tinted in light blue, light green and cool gray — each book a different colored stock inside.

I think this edition is distinctively different from previous incarnations. I’ll be curious how people react to the new Field Notes Cold Horizon once they have it in hand. I need to renew my subscription ASAP to make sure I get at least one set to review and compare.

A set of three Cold Horizon Field Notes sell for $9.95. A year’s subscription is $97 and includes four quarterly editions, starting with the Cold Horizon, and a bonus 3-pack of Kraft mixed and a 3-pack of Kraft Grid.