Hallmarket Notebooklet Review

Hallmarket Notebooklet

Back in September, Hallmark Cards Inc. hosted its third annual Hallmarket. It is a chance for all the artists and staff at the company to sell their personal creations, from paintings and prints to jewelry, clothing, accessories, home furnishings and toys. It is a dizzying array of products and if you are in or near Kansas City, this is not an event to miss if you like handcrafted goods. Spotted this year perusing the wares was a member of the Kansas City Sporting soccer team and members of the local press — both shopping and reporting.

But the point of all this is that this year, to commemorate the event, Maura Cluthe and Stacey Lamb collaborated to create the first ever limited edition Hallmarket notebooklet. This is a small notebook the size of a Field Notes with chipboard cardstock covers printed with one of Maura’s hyperdoodles in black ink. Each book is signed and numbered and comes with a postcard from the event and a button badge. I believe they used Pinball Publishing‘s Scout Books.

Hallmarket Notebooklet

The paper inside is a blank, crisp white, 70lb, 100% recycled paper for sketching or writing and the paper withstood just about every tool I threw at it. There was a little show through with the permanent pens (like a Sharpie Pen, Le Pen Permanent and the like) but otherwise the paper performed very well.

Hallmarket Notebooklet

I would like to giveaway one Hallmarket notebooklet to a lucky reader. Leave a comment here and give me one factoid you know about Kansas City, true or false, to be eligible.

FINE PRINT: Giveaway ends at 10pm on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 (US Central Time). All comment must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Friday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear.

Oh, Hello Friend Desktop Wallpapers

Oh, Hello Friend January 2013 wallpaper

I don’t know if you like changing your desktop wallpaper regularly but I do. Unfortunately, finding pleasing but not disruptive wallpapers can be quite challenging. So I was pleased to find that Oh, Hello Friend offers a free desktop wallpaper for your computer, cellphone or iPad each month. Most months the wallpaper is a lovely calendar but for January of this year, as if she knew I would be too far behind to get it to you in time, is an inspirational message.

Happy National Handwriting Day!

ana-NHD

Today is National Handwriting Day, at least here in the US, though I don’t think too many people celebrate it with as much fanfare and enthusiasm as I do.

The date of January 23 was selected because it is also the birthday of John Hancock, best known for his legible-but-large signature on the US Declaration of Independence. So, in spite of continued cutbacks in funding for teaching handwriting in schools in the US, I still want to recognize the day with much fanfare and ballyhoo.

I went in search of handwritten examples of Handwriting Day enthusiasm and found some fun examples from friends old and new. I also enlisted the help of some of my more talented co-workers.

Actual handwriting from Hallmark lettering artist Sarah Cole
Actual handwriting from Hallmark lettering artist Sarah Cole
Handdrawn lettering by Hallmark designer/illustrator Lauren Schimming
Hand drawn lettering by Hallmark designer/illustrator Lauren Schimming

Hand written by Madeline Tompkins of TagTeam Tompkins
Hand written by Madeline Tompkins of TagTeam Tompkins

From Thee Blog from 2012
From Thee Blog from 2012
photo by Ivan Romero
photo by Ivan Romero
photo by Kyle Steed
photo by Kyle Steed

According to WTVY in Dothan, AL it is also Pie Day (according to the Pie Council — who knew we even had one) and Measure Your Feet Day. Now you know.

Visconti Bakelite-Like Ink Cartridge Case

photo ©Choosing Keeping
photo ©Choosing Keeping

Last week, I got a tip about the Visconti Bakelite-like ink cartridge holders available on Choosing Keeping. Each sells for £4 and holds seven short European standard ink cartridge refills in a coordinating color to the case. Upon further research my friends found a US vendor selling the same item for $6.90 via Amazon.The prices are pretty comparable whether you order domestically or abroad.

I have a decent collection of fountain pens that use these short cartridges so I am always looking for a good option to carry a few extra cartridges with me for those “just in case” moments. The Kaweco cartridge dispenser is super cool and I load mine randomly with various ink colors for a little ink roulette but I love the vintage classic look of these Visconti cases that would coordinate perfectly with my Kaweco Guilloch 1930 fountain pen.

photo ©Choosing Keeping
photo ©Choosing Keeping

Can you tell I like the green one?