Office Supplies | kimberly ah

Jan 09 2016

All I Want For Christmas 2015

Naoto spoiled me rotten this Christmas. The big gift was a trip to San Francisco to see our friends who moved there last year. He gave me a little Carry-On Cocktail Kit for the flight. It made me laugh and I can’t wait to crack it open once we are on our way.

He went to the Field Notes HQ during their open house and snagged the long-retired Traveling Salesman and Cold Horizon 3-packs for my stocking and gave me a box to hold my ever growing Field Notes collection. In other paper-y gifts, he gave me two sets of postcards from Craftgasm, two envelope pins from Paper Pastries, and from Jet Pens, a bottle of J. Herbin anniversary ink, a pencil sharpener, a white Decorese pen, a mint Kaweco Sport, and (unpictured) some Tomoe River paper, a new Frixion stamp, and a converter so I can actually use that fancy ink in my new Kaweco.

Yay for gifts that can be used up…except for the Field Notes, which will go into the “collection”.

Did you get anything fun for Christmas?

P.S. I didn’t get my usual zines in my stocking this year because I didn’t submit my wishlist early enough…so I ordered some as a New Years gift to myself! I’ll report on those soon!

Tagged Christmas, holidays, mail art, office supplies, snail mail

Dec 01 2015

Thanksgiving Mail

I finally finished my Thanksgiving invitation…about three hours before Thanksgiving. I wasn’t feeling very inspired in November but I really wanted the invitation to include the vellum ledger paper and vintage Avery metallic tape I bought on Instagram. (Note: Vintage paper sales on Instagram are very addictive. And fun.)

I always try to add a quote to our Thanksgiving invitations. (Here’s a list of some favorites.) “Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way” is a Native America saying and I love how optimistic it is. I typed it out on a leaf that I cut from patterned paper and layered it with some other leaves from my stash. I added a strip of the vellum and a bit of the tape and a Japanese stamp. Done, right? Well, no. I had to make a mess of things and try to stamp the year on the top with my giant number stamp. But I didn’t press down hard enough and the numbers were messed up so I had to write over the numbers…anyway…I’m trying not to dwell on the numbers…or the fact that I handed the invitation to my parents when they walked in the door on Thanksgiving Day…I did send some other Thanksgiving mail. A few weeks ago I attended the LWA letter social at my library and there were some vintage books available for mail art. I had too much fun choosing images for mail art. And when I didn’t use vintage paper, I had fun using postage stamps and turkey stickers to jazz things up. (That Write More Letters postcard is from Craftgasm. I added the turkey.) And now…holiday card season begins. Once I finish decorating, that is.

Have you started your cards yet?

Tagged celebrations, crafts, holidays, mail art, office supplies, parents, rubber stamp, snail mail, Thanksgiving, thrifting, vintage, washi tape

Oct 30 2015

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crafty adventures, Halloween, Office Supplies, snail mail

Halloween Mail

I’m behind on my Halloween mail because I got sick this week and I was down for the count for a few days. But, earlier this month, I got a jump start on sending some festive mail out to a couple of cat lady pen pals. I had these glow-in-the-dark cat buttons from La Familia Green that I wanted to send in a slightly more creative way than just sticking them in a plain envelope. I was inspired by the peek I had of my Presley patch from Margaret, so I decided to use a cellophane envelope instead. I used washi tape to attach the button to the card and wrote my note. I tried to place the buttons on the middle of the card, where the machine wouldn’t be canceling the stamp or printing the bar code on the bottom. I stuck it all in the cellophane envelope with an address label and added postage. Since the envelope was lumpy, I added the extra twenty-one cents. I also used a cellophane bag to attempt to protect the googly-eye “bra” on my mail art to Kathy. Thanks to a Halloween mail art party with Donovan, I’ve have a huge stack of Halloween envelopes to work through. Now that I’m feeling better, more spooky mail will be written. Better late than never, I guess.

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

Aug 05 2015

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Japan 2015, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Naoberly's Noodle Tour, Office Supplies, Spending the Yen

Spending the Yen 8: Ramen Souvenirs

We picked up a few silly treats during our visits to the Ramen Museum and the Cup Noodles Museum. I’m a sucker for a good gift shop and both museums had few offerings but some really fun stuff. I try to get something useful or something we can use up, but I don’t always succeed. We each chose a porcelain ramen spoon at the Ramen Museum. We will most likely use them as soup spoons, but maybe they will inspire us to make ramen at home? They also sold ramen bowls, but spoons took up much less space in our suitcase! The images on the spoons are logos from old Japanese ramen shops. We thought the ramen cart was classic and of course, I chose the ramen chef cat. Naoto got a ramen t-shirt (he’s sporting it at Mister Donut in the picture above). Hisae told him he looked like an American tourist because Japanese men do not wear t-shirts with pictures on them…I guess that’s why we had to sit in the English-speaking room at Maisen!The Cup Noodles Museum had a few paper-y delights for me. I picked up a few pencils while I was in Japan this time. The Cup Noodles Museum logo pencil was one of them and I thought these build-your-own-ramen stickers were cute. The only postcard the Cup Noodle museum sold was this hologram one. Depending on how you look at it, you can see the cup noodle or a cross-section of the ingredients (top pictures). These little Cup Noodle notes are my favorites. They’re 3-D! On the top, there’s a place to address the note. And inside, there’s a place for the message. Then, roll it up, tuck in the tab and place the Cup Noodle on the recipient’s desk…a Cup Noodle note cannot be missed! (Just ask Presley. She got her treat last night!)I purchased this Ramen Log at Loft. I have a failed history with book logs, movie logs, dream logs…pretty much all logs, but for some reason, I was compelled to buy a ramen log. I’m hoping, with the team effort of Naoberly’s Noodle Tour, we can keep up with it. Inside, there pages and pages where you can rate the broth, noodles, and toppings and there’s a place for photos. I’m looking forward to filling up the pages with our past and future ramen stops!

Do you have favorite souvenirs?

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

Jul 27 2015

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crafty adventures, Japan 2015, Office Supplies

Sakura Ballsign Knock Pens

Every time I step into Loft, my second favorite stationery & more store in Japan, I head directly for the pen displays. I stand there, section by section, trying out all of the different pens, different colors, different styles. This time, I was shopping for a new pen that I could use for letter writing. (My reliance on the Frixion pens has gotten risky for letter writing since some of the ink disappeared on the way to Tacoma, Washington recently.) So I was shopping for something a little bit more permanent. I found and fell in love with these Ballsign Knock gel pens. They come in a few different varieties, but I ended up getting a pack of the metallic ones that can write on dark and light paper, a pack of the shimmery ones that glitter in the light, and a single neon one. My favorites are the metallic ones. I love pens that write on dark papers, and I was excited to have some that went beyond the normal white, gold, and silver options in my arsenal. I love the metallic gold (it’s almost a white gold), green, blue, purple, and pink colors, but sadly, they don’t show up as strong colors on black paper. (It’s hard to tell from the picture, but they read more silver metallic on the black paper.) I think part of the reason is the colors aren’t very dark to begin with and that they have a 0.6mm point. (I like a thinner point on my pens, but I’m also not sure that this style comes in other sizes.) I still love the way that they write and the way that they look on dark paper so I’m pleased with my purchase. (Plus I have these other Ballsign gel pens in my pen stash and their true colors show up perfectly on dark papers. I’ll be sharing more about them in a future blog post.) The glittery ones are a lot of fun, but only show on lighter papers. I purchased the 0.8mm points in these (again, I think that was all Loft offered) and the thickness is perfect for showing off the shimmer of the ink (the box calls them lamé). The colors are very opaque and the ink flows really well. These will be fun for addressing envelopes and making mail art. I almost bought a box of the neon pens, but I decided that I should leave some pens for the other people. So I just bought the red one. (Neon is out of style now anyway, right?) But I like the width of the neon red pen and there was a tiny bit of skipping at first, but it got better as I used it a bit. It’s hard to tell from my picture, but the ink really pops off the page.

Sakura also offers a pastel version that can be used on dark papers and a regular ol’ gel ink version (in a 0.4mm point). All in all, I’m really happy with these pens. They are nice and slim and comfortable to hold. Time will tell if they are good workhorses for letter writing and list-making. I’ll have to put my precious Frixion pens away to find out.

Tagged crafts, I *heart* Japan, Japan, mail art, office supplies, snail mail

Jul 21 2015

9 Comments

Japan 2015, Office Supplies

Pilot Frixion Stamps

I’ve never done a post about Pilot Frixion Pens, but they are my favorites. (I’ve mentioned them in these posts.) I love that they are erasable, because I’m a perfectionist at times, and I love the way my handwriting looks when I use them. I use the pens mostly in my calendar so I can easily erase appointments when plans change. When I read about the Frixion Stamps, I immediately put them on my shopping list for Japan. (This should tell you so much about my Tokyo shopping addiction!)I sometimes regret not buying all of them (they are sold individually, but you can see all of the options here on Amazon), but since I also have a planner sticker addiction, I chose the four that I thought would be most useful for me: the umbrella for tracking rain in the garden, the coin purse to mark pay days, the birthday gift to remind me to buy or send a present, and the birthday cake for noting birthdays. Just like the Frixion Pens, the ink is erasable, so if plans change, you can erase the stamp with the rubbery edge of the cap. The stamps themselves are about 1/2 inch square and a little over 2 inches long, so they can easily fit into a pencil pouch for on-the-go planning. The stamped images are about 1/4 inch and fit perfectly in smaller calendar squares. So far, I am using the coin purse and the cake on my monthly calendar spreads. And I’m using the gift and the umbrella on the daily pages. (I guess mainly because buying and sending gifts is more of a to-do list item which I put on daily pages and because this summer has been rainy so I don’t have room for a hundred umbrellas littering my monthly calendar spread.)

Like any new stamp, using the Frixion Stamps takes some getting used to. At first, I was pressing too hard and the images were getting all muddled together. They really take a gentle touch. And, though the stamps dry pretty quickly on normal paper, they dry really slowly on the smooth Tomoe River Paper in my Hobonichi Planner. (But, if the ink smears or transfers to another page, you can just erase any mess.) Now that I’m used to them, I’m really enjoying using these little guys.

(Rumor has it that Jet Pens will be carrying the Pilot Frixion Stamps soon!)

Tagged crafts, gardening, I *heart* Japan, Japan, rubber stamp, washi tape

Jul 07 2015

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adventures, Japan 2015, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail, Spending the Yen

Spending the Yen 7: Kyukyodo

Kyukyodo, Tokyo, Ginza, stationery store Last year, Jess introduced me to Kyukyodo and I fell in love. Located in Ginza and just down the street from Itoya, Kyukyodo is filled with traditional Japanese stationery and paper gifts. The store opened in Kyoto in 1663 and moved to Tokyo in 1880 and it’s still run by the same family! The building is dark brick and very traditional looking, sandwiched between modern steel and glass towers in Ginza. Kyukyodo has only two floors dedicated to the shop: the main floor with all of the stationery and handmade washi gifts and the second floor with amazing (and expensive) calligraphy supplies and wall art.* We spent most of our time on the first floor, but I think the best part of shopping for stationery in Japan is that you can get some really fantastic stuff without spending a fortune. I bought some really lovely letter paper. On this trip, if it had a hydrangea or a cat on it, I almost always bought it… The letter papers are gorgeous. The hydrangea paper is so thin its almost translucent and the kitty paper is lovely washi and the cat and Kyukyodo are embossed. I bought a greeting card with the same cat image to send to a friend for her birthday. I also bought a few sheets of washi paper stickers. The sleepy kitty and “fist-bump” cats were obvious must-haves and the hydrangea stickers have a really pretty texture and delicate gold accents. And I bought plenty of these postcards to send to pen pals and to save in my paper collection. Wind chimes (top left) are a very big thing in Japan this time of year so I bought the cat postcard to remind me of the season. And I love that bottom right card with the pigeon and the Ginza Wako Clock Tower, which is right by Kyukyodo. I found this little video on YouTube where you can see the real clock tower:

And, of course Kyukyodo has beautiful flat paper bags and will separate your purchases into the proper omiyage packages, one of my favorite things about shopping in Japan!

*I apologize that I didn’t take any interior photos, but it was very busy that day and I wasn’t sure of the rules. Itoya doesn’t allow photography in its store, so I wanted to make sure I extended the same respect to Kyukyodo.

Tagged adventures, crafts, I *heart* Japan, Japan, office supplies, snail mail

Jun 24 2015

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adventures, Japan 2015, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail, Spending the Yen

Spending the Yen 6: Fish Stamp

I picked up this kanji fish stamp in Itoya during our trip and I’m so excited about it. I’ve seen these stamps in previous trips and I’ve always loved the artistry and meanings. I wish I’d written down the artist’s name. He has a whole collection of these stamps, with simple drawings mixed with kanji. This one in particular means (roughly translated) “a feeling that you are face to face even though you are far apart”. Isn’t that a perfect description of letter writing? Naoto, who isn’t often impressed with rubber stamps, convinced me that I needed this stamp in my collection. I’m glad I let him talk me into buying it!Yesterday was a most beautiful day and I spent some time on the balcony writing letters and using my new stamp. I stamped it on some sticker paper and cut out a bunch of stickers to send to pen pals. I’m very happy to share these sentiments with my letter writing friends!

Tagged adventures, crafts, diy, I *heart* Japan, Japan, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, summer

May 11 2015

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

Spending The Yen 5: Hiragana Stamp Set

Once again reviving the Spending the Yen series…

I bought these hiragana* stamps two years ago in a tiny scrapbooking store near an izakaya where Naoto and I shared dinner with his family. When I bought them, I didn’t realize how frustrating they would be to use. Every time I wanted to write something, I had to ask Naoto to spell it out for me. So I put them away in the spare room and forgot about them until recently. Every once in awhile I’d see them sitting on the shelf, taunting me and the money I’d wasted. But, now that I’ve had some practice during my Japanese class, I’m using them! I’m still pretty slow, but I can usually pick the right sounds for the words and names I’m trying to write. (Though, I still have Naoto check my work to be sure!) Here’s a peek at the whole set. (Some of the characters may be upside down because I put them away haphazardly last time.) When I use them, I have my textbook open to the hiragana chart so I can refer to it as I sound out the word. (I don’t have my hiragana sounds memorized yet…) It really does remind me of learning to read as a kid. I’m slowly getting better with practice, so I’m trying to stamp a random Japanese word on outgoing mail for the rest of the month. (I’ll let you know how that goes!) I have “arigato” (“thank you”) down thanks to writing a few thank yous lately.

*If you don’t know what hiragana is, this site does a nice job of explaining it. It’s basically the Japanese phonetic script–each “letter” represents a vowel sound or a combination consonant/vowel sound. There are forty-six sounds. In some ways, they are easier than English because each sound only makes that sound. (Unlike in English where we have the long e, the short e, the silent e…) But, the letters are difficult to decipher sometimes and very challenging to write, I think.

Tagged adventures, crafts, I *heart* Japan, Japan, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail

May 08 2015

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adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Write On Challenge Recap

I know it sounds cliche, but where did April go? I feel like I blinked and here we are in May and my mail pile is growing!! A lot of people who haven’t written in awhile reappeared in my mailbox in April. (Just to be clear…I am not complaining. I am the most patient of pen friends because there are times I take forever to write, too!) After a bit of a dry March, it’s good to find letters waiting for me again. Now I just need to spend some time this weekend catching up on my pile.

How did your Write On/National Letter Writing Month go? I sent out forty-one pieces of mail: twenty six letters, eleven postcards, three international, and one mini-package. (So far this month, I’ve mailed seven cards, thanks to Mother’s Day!)

In other (awkward) news, I joined Kathy and Donovan (and Katie!) at the Letter Writers Alliance Clubhouse for the Virtual Letter Social last weekend. I had a great time writing part of a letter (pictured at the top) and chatting stationery, pens, postcards, cocktails, 1970s organs… Thanks, Kathy and Donovan, for inviting me!

Tagged adventures, mail art, office supplies, snail mail