Office Supplies | kimberly ah

Feb 02 2014

crafty adventures, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

Letter Month, Round-Up 1

Letter Month started up Saturday–are you playing along?

I mentioned last week that I wanted to share each week’s mailings here every Sunday. (And I got sidetracked with a Law & Order marathon and the Super Bowl, so I’m already behind! Monday it is.) I sent out my first Valentines this weekend (shown up above, with sweet Presley). The rest should be heading on their way this week, thanks to a Valentine-themed crafternoon last Friday. I feel like I’m off to a prepared start for Letter Month…of course, that’s easy to say this early in the game!One thing I am trying to do this year is to use the Letter Month Participant stamps on each of my letters. I was pretty faithful about using them in 2012, but last year I kept forgetting. I printed out two sheets on regular paper and numbered them by hand. Then I cut them out each day (with my little Fiskars Stamp Scissors) and paste one onto each letter. The stamps usually end up on the back of the envelope (because sometimes it just doesn’t go with my mail art theme!) I’m hoping to remember to put one on each piece of mail I send out.

That’s all from the outgoing mailbox this weekend. How’s your Letter Month going so far?

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Jan 31 2014

2 Comments

crafty adventures, little red toolbox, Office Supplies, snail mail

My Little Red Toolbox | Bone Folder

My Little Red Toolbox is finally back again…

Today’s featured product is the very utilitarian bone folder. For the non-crafters out there, a bone folder is a tool that scores, smooths and creases paper. It is made from real bone (sorry vegetarians & vegans), but there are other options. Martha Stewart’s bone folders are made of plastic (but I find Martha’s don’t work quite as nicely as other bone folders). And, for the “Rolls Royce” of bone folders, the teflon bone folder is dreamy to work with. (I only own the teflon one because I temporarily lost my original bone folder. When I went to the store to buy a new one, they only had the teflon ones–which cost more than twice as much as the bone ones..sigh…the cost of being unorganized!) Today, I’m glad I own both because each has its own strengths for crafting projects.

I bought my first bone folder when I started “bookbinding” and making boxes from these kits at the Paper Source. The bone folder is crucial to perfecting the corner folds and smoothing the papers while adhering them to the book board. Now I use it more for origami and scoring card stock.

The real bone folder has a sharper point, making it better for scoring and getting a really clean crease in the cardstock. It’s so sharp that if you press down too hard, it can actually cut the paper. The teflon folder is much more forgiving. It’s not as sharp on the end and it doesn’t leave a sheen on the paper like the bone folder can. I use my fancy folder for more delicate papers and for messy projects. Glue doesn’t stick to it so it stays nice and clean. If you’ve ever tried to fold a piece of cardstock, you know that it’s difficult to get a smooth fold because the edge gets wrinkly. The red card above was folded in half without any help of the bone folder. See how it’s all sad and imperfect and lumpy? For the next piece of card stock, I used my ruler and the bone folder to score the fold ahead of time. It’s hard to see, but there is a faint scored line down the middle (or, almost-middle) of the card. The scored line allowed me to get a nice sharp fold on the card. See the difference?

I pulled out the bone folders to work on some Valentines. (Spoiler alert.) I decided to use the Paper Pastries Cat Note Template for some cards. (A 4-bar heart fits right inside…genius!) Because I was using card stock to make the cat, I wanted to score the folds in order to get a neat kitty in the end. I dragged the bone folder along the fold guides in the template to score them. Then, once I folded everything over, I used the bone folder to gently smooth the folds. It worked like a charm.

Off to make more Valentines…

*This and all posts about my little red toolbox are not sponsored posts. I just thought it would be fun to share my favorite tools for paper crafting. For more about my little red toolbox, go here.

Jan 16 2014

2 Comments

Christmas, crafty adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

More Mail Fun with the Cat Note Template

One of my favorite Christmas gifts was this ingenious Cat Note Template from Paper Pastries. It was a gift from Mollie, who knows me well enough to know that cats + letter writing = perfect gifts. I decided to use it for my long-overdue thank you note to Mollie.

Basically, you just trace the template onto any paper of your choice, cut it out, fold it up and it it’s ready to tuck into a 4-bar sized envelope. (Which, at 3 5/8 x 5 1/8, is almost the smallest mailable envelope size.)

You can use the cat template on plain paper and write your letter directly onto it, but I decided to use the template to make an “inner envelope”. I used an old USA Philatelic magazine as my template paper and then I wrote my note on a 4-bar flat card (from Paper Source). I used my bone folder (more on this tool, soon!) to help crease the edges as I folded the template up with the card inside and I used a piece of washi tape to hold it together. The template comes with marks to make slits so you can tuck the folds into the slits to hold without the help of washi tape, but I like using up some of my washi stash, inch by inch. (You can see the “slit indicators” on the right and bottom sides of the template.)I tucked the kitty in a fuchsia envelope, used my new Vintage Email stamp (clearer picture below…gold is hard to photograph!) and called it done. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of my corresponding cherry blossom postage stamp before I dropped the thank you in the mailbox.)I’m looking forward to creating more cat-themed mail soon!

Tagged Christmas, crafts, diy, mail art, office supplies, snail mail

Dec 31 2013

4 Comments

celebrations, holidays, homemaking, Merry & Bright, Office Supplies

New Year, New Calendars

The new year is catching me completely off guard. Thankfully, I have a few calendars to keep me on track.

I bought the Sakana Saijiki fish calendar for Naoto. It is full of amazing illustrations of sea life and calligraphy that I cannot read. I’m excited to have a grid again. The calendars that I bought last year were all more decorative than functional. The fish calendar will hang in the kitchen, so it will be nice for Naoto to see what we have planned for the month.

The little “Things With Faces” calendar was a gift from Mollie. I’m looking forward to breaking out my colored pencils or watercolors and filling the pictures in each month.

And the Orange Beautiful calendar was a gift from Donovan. The colors and the fonts are perfect.

As far as a datebook for 2014…well, I’m still waiting. After a couple of months of waffling, I decided yesterday to go back to using Franklin Covey. Once my pages come in (MID-JANUARY!!) I will do a little post on my set-up.

Today I am cleaning house and stringing up a garland for our teeny New Year’s Eve party tonight. We are having dinner at Golden Steer and drinking cocktails at home and maybe making a few resolutions…

Happy New Year!

Tagged celebrations, holidays, home, homemaking, office supplies

Dec 17 2013

1 Comment

Christmas, crafty adventures, holidays, Office Supplies, snail mail, vintage

Christmas Card Writing Party

On Sunday night I hosted a little Christmas card writing party. I sent out some (last minute) vintage invitations from Saturday Morning Vintage. Aren’t they cute? It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but I added a touch of glitter to each wreath using my favorite glue pen and some Martha glitter. I typed up gold labels for the addresses (some were mailed, some were hand delivered) and embellished the envelopes with some washi tape. Fun stuff. I started collecting my holiday-ish supplies all last week. I have loads of things, mainly from making my own cards in the past. On Sunday morning, I covered the table with kraft paper and set out the stamps, tapes, inks, Stickles and stickers. (I learned from the best by attending so many LWA socials!) On Sunday evening, the ladies came over and we ate funeral buns (I told you they would be a new party staple!) and salmon dip and caramels. We enjoyed mulled wine and got more done than I thought we would! Jackie already finished her holiday cards, so she painted some ornaments. Karen and I wrote our cards. I got through the L’s…not including my pen pals (because their envelopes are more involved than some of the rest of my list). Tonight, my goal is to finish them up…I’m in a mail art kind of mood, so it should be a fun project!

I’ll report back on the cards soon. I want them to make it to their destinations before sharing on the blog.

Have you finished your holiday cards? Have you been getting a lot in your mailbox?

Tagged Christmas, crafts, holidays, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Nov 08 2013

1 Comment

crafty adventures, holidays, Office Supplies, thrifted, vintage

Vintage Paper Hoarder

I am working on my Thanksgiving invitations today. I have a plan and it involves using up some of my vintage paper collection. I have a giant bin of ephemera that I’ve collected over time. Many things were purchased from Saturday Morning Vintage (Xenia’s shop is so good and most of what is shown above is from a Thanksgiving paper pack that I bought this year.) and from flea markets and thrift shops. Few things in life make me happier than discovering an old box of labels or flashcards at the thrift store.

As I was sifting through my ephemera stash, I was thinking about my 2013 goal to spend out. While I’ve done a very good job wearing out my clothes, using up my stationery and scrapbook supplies, eating my Japanese snacks and hanging up my artwork, I’ve been hesitant to use up the vintage stuff…the stuff that I can’t replace quite as easily… But it’s better to let these papers live on in another form (as mail art or an invitation) than to languish in a bin, right? So I spent part of my afternoon sorting through things and pulling out pieces for certain projects (Thanksgiving and Christmas related right now) and sorting the rest by color or style. I am now prepared to use up and spend out some of my collection. I’m moving a little bit of it onto my desk so it’s handy for mail art and leaving the rest in the bin ready for the next project.

Hopefully, I can finish up the invitations this weekend and show them to you next week, once they’ve arrived at their destinations. In the meantime, have a good weekend!

Tagged celebrations, crafts, holidays, mail art, office supplies, snail mail, Thanksgiving

Nov 01 2013

4 Comments

adventures, Halloween, Office Supplies, snail mail

Spooky Saturday: Halloween Letter Social

Last Saturday was Halloween themed. After the Casket Races on Saturday morning, I went to a Halloween Letter Social at Pieritz Bros. The Letter Writers Alliance once again teamed up with everyone’s favorite office supply store to host letter writing and typewriter typing. I used that festive orange number up above…it typed like a dream in a lovely cursive and I was able to crank out three letters during the social. Thanks to the Halloween Mail Art Workshop, the Letter Social, and a letter writing cram session on Monday morning, I have almost caught up on my correspondence. Almost. I used some of my vintage postage, but I really loved the look of the Johnny Cash stamp on the black envelopes.

It feels good to be participating in the world of mail again.

Tagged adventures, Halloween, holidays, mail art, office supplies, snail mail, washi tape

Oct 09 2013

3 Comments

adventures, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail

Good Things From The Yubinkyoku

As I mentioned in my first post about sending postcards from Japan, I couldn’t wait to pop into the post office for some postcard stamps and postcards. While I was buying those, I scoped out some of the exclusive yubinkyoku (post office) stationery. Pictured above is the classic red mailbox postcard, the classic red mailbox glue stick, the Japan post letter set (including stickers of a mail bike, a mail bag, a mail truck and a mailbox) and a letterpressed postcard. They are all part of the Posta Collect Basic stationery series presented by the post office. The papers used in the letter set and postcards are really thick and lovely. The postal clerk was adamant that the big red mailbox postcard was not for international mailing, but Naoto sent me one a few years ago during one of his solo travels to Japan and I got it…so…mail at your own risk? I also bought a sheet of these awesome constellation stamps. Japan is very on-trend with their postage…constellations are everywhere lately!It’s hard to see in the pictures, but the stars are gold foil and the pictures are holographic silver. Apparently these stamps are the third in a series of constellation stamps. (You can see the first set here and the second here, scroll down.) I’m bummed I missed this first two. And while I was at the post office one last time, I could not pass up the other Letter Writing Day stamps. I fell in love with the depictions of summer in Japan, especially the somen (bottom left), the roasted barley tea (second right) and the flowers and vegetables. And obviously the little girl writing a letter, the red mailbox and mail truck sealed the deal.

Japan really knows how to do postage stamps and merchandise…I think the USPS should take note!

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan, letterpress, mail art, office supplies, shopping, snail mail

Oct 08 2013

4 Comments

adventures, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies

Brass at the Big Red Paperclip

If I had to narrow it down…if Naoto said that we could only go to one stationery store in Japan…(that would never happen) I would choose Itoya.

We went there for the first time in 2011 and spent an entire day exploring the NINE floors and picking out a few things here and there to bring home. This vacation, we made time for Itoya again. We stopped there after a disappointing morning trying to go to a few shops that were randomly closed or were pretty disappointing or not what we had expected. The day was kind of a bust, so Naoto offered up Itoya as a “sure thing”. Even though my feet were killing me, I was hot and I was feeling bummed about the day, I took him up on the offer…because who says no to Itoya? (No one.)

Unfortunately, Itoya is in the middle of a remodel, so they moved out of their nine floor building with the big red paperclip sign (pictured here in my 2011 blog post) and into a temporary location about a block away. I didn’t care. It was still fantastic…though I suspect some of their inventory was not on display. But they still had plenty to choose from…which was evident by the seven Itoya bags I brought home with me. (You pay for your items on each floor, so by the end if you’re anything like me, you end up with a small collection of purchases.) I bought everything from washi tape, letter sets and paper to pretty handkerchiefs and some new Deco Tapes.

The one item on my wish list is pictured above. Ever since I saw it at Itoya in 2011, I’ve been thinking about the Midori Brass Pencil Case. So fancy, right? Over the past two years, I almost bought one online several times, but I just couldn’t swallow the large price tag…so I decided to wait until we went back to Itoya so I could avoid the huge mark-up and import fees. Plus, sometimes I just like to buy things in stores, where I can hold the items and fawn over the packaging a bit before making my purchase. And, some Midori products are made in China…I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t spending a lot of money on something that was Japanese without really being Japanese-made. So, once we confirmed the Made in Japan stamp, I knew it would be my “splurge”. While Naoto and I fawned over the Travelers Notebooks and other brass bits, he talked me into buying the Midori Brass Ruler. It measures in centimeters (which is completely confusing for my US-educated mind!) but I plan to use it more for its straight edge than measurements anyway. I am so pleased with both purchases. They are lovely, useful and the brass will wear beautifully over time. Thanks for your patience with getting back into Japan month…things are winding down–only a few more posts to go! And, I just got access to the pictures from our Honor Flight last week. I can’t wait to share about our amazing day in DC!

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan, office supplies

Sep 16 2013

9 Comments

adventures, coffee talk, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail

Heaven is bunbougu cafe

Stationery store + coffee shop = heaven, am I right?

Hisae (Naoto’s older sister) played tour guide for us during part of our stay in Tokyo. She mentioned that she had a “surprise” for me. Well, the surprise was bunbougu cafe and it was more amazing than I could have imagined.

(This is where I will tell you that I regret a few things about our trip to Japan. One is that I didn’t carry my “big” camera with me very often and another is that I didn’t take more pictures. Sigh. Sorry for my poor iPhone photos!)Bunbougu cafe is in Omotesando neighborhood. It is in the basement of a building and you walk down into a stationery shop and cafe. There are place mats (seen above) at each seat and pens, rubber stamps, markers, colored pencils and other art supplies are available to borrow for doodling and writing. They have a full menu available, but we came right after lunch, so we ordered drinks and doodled a bit at the table as I sat amazed at this incredible cafe concept. While we waited for our drinks, I poked around the store. Bunbougu sells stationery, cards, pens, stickers, washi tape, pen cases, boxes…pretty much anything you could imagine needing if you’re a letter writer or journaler. In addition to the obvious Japanese stationery offerings, they had a lot of my favorite American designers at bunbougu. I saw lots of Rifle Paper Co., Yellow Owl Workshop and Chicago’s own Field Notes! Field Notes were even one of the bunbougu employee’s favorite picks! I limited myself to a few purchases (which I will share in a bit!) and spent most of my time hanging out with Naoto and Hisae drawing at the table and enjoying my coffee. As if being a stationery store/cafe didn’t make bunbougu awesome enough, they have a membership option. For 700 yen (about $7) members receive a key to the stationery drawers at each table. Members have access to the “secret” pens, stationery, art supplies and other treats in the drawers. They also get invited to members-only events and seminars about stationery and other paper-y things. Isn’t this a genius concept? Now, who wants to move to Omotesando with me to join bunbougu cafe? Better yet, who wants to open one here in Chicago? For a great article and better pictures of the bunbougu cafe, go here!