Pencils | kimberly ah

Feb 11 2020

Japan 2020, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, Pencils

Kakimori

It feels like we just got home from Japan…which could explain why all of our Japanese snacks and stationery treats are still sprawled across my desk and Christmas isn’t completely put away yet…but I digress.

Kakimori was one of my favorite stops this trip. It’s a notebook boutique where you can create your own completely custom notebook. Kakimori’s goal is “to re-evaluate the importance of writing.” Their philosophy is if you can build the perfect notebook, you will spend more time using it. That’s my goal…to use this notebook. There is a wall of cubbies where you choose your covers and guts. From book cloth covers, to fancy waxed paper covers and leather covers, the combinations were endless. I had such a hard time deciding. You can kind of get a peek of the options here. There is really something for everyone, and also their stock seems to change a bit over time. There were some samples with this grid book cloth that was so fabulous, I think it affected my decision-making because I was so bummed it wasn’t in stock for me to use. This was my choice…or so I thought. Once I decided on my covers, I moved on to choose the insides. At first I was dead set on Tomoe River paper, but I write on that every day in my Hobonichi and when I tested some other papers, I decided to go with something new. You could also choose black or kraft paper, book journal paper (where it had boxes to rate books and write mini synopses,) and other guided papers.
In addition to making your own notebook, Kakimori offers a wide range of fountain pens, pencils, and other writing utensils. I am not really a fountain pen user…I can’t get my handwriting to look nice when I write with one, but I always enjoy checking out various inks and pens while I’m shopping. They had a well-curated selection of other specialty pens and markers. I’m always on the look out for a good white or silver pen. I don’t neeeeeed any pencils, but I really loved the script on this French pencil. (I did not buy it because I have a lifetime supply of pencils and then some…) Once you choose your journal materials, it takes a bit of time for them to put it together. There is a little waiting room with finished journals you can purchase. Instead of sticking around the store, we decided to go to Dandelion Chocolate for a treat while we waited. That s’more thing on the right…I still dream about it.

I’ll be back tomorrow to share my notebook and the other stationery I bought at Kakimori!

Tagged adventures, books, handmade notebook, Kakimori, office supplies

Dec 26 2019

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Christmas, Merry & Bright, Office Supplies, Pencils

Christmas Presents

It was a very good Christmas. As usual, I feel very spoiled by Naoto’s generosity. He gave me this very fun Ruth Bader Ginsburg gift set that includes cards, a notepad, a pin, a bottle opener, a sticker, a tattoo, and a hilarious gavel pencil. He also went to Greer and found another RBG notepad and he also picked out a cat notebook and the special Greer x Appointed blue notebook. It’s such a perfect shade of blue and I love Appointed notebooks…the paper is a dream to write on. And he picked out this sweet Traveler’s Notebook charm from Baum-Kuchen. We’ve done a few craft shows with Jessica Pignotti and I just love her style. He picked out this sweet carrot necklace and this Presley-like cat pin for me. Seriously, those tiny carrot stitches are so delicate and perfect. I can’t wait to wear them both. And finally, he stuffed my stocking with some treats he picked up while he was in Oregon in the fall. Nothing I gave Naoto comes close to what he gave me, but I do think these Dunkin Donuts sweatpants are pretty sweet, right?

Tagged Baum Kuchen, Christmas, dunkin donuts, Greer Chicago, office supplies, shopping, snail mail

Apr 22 2019

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adventures, Chicago, Forest Park, Oak Park, Office Supplies, Pencils, snail mail, Write On

April in Chicago in April

My pen pal, April, and her partner Geof were in town this month for a visit. They live in New Zealand and April is a huge fan of Presley so she stops in to see her when she’s in town. And, we always go to Greer when she visits. It’s so fun to shop in Greer with someone else who loooooves stationery and fancy office supplies as much as I do. We were the only customers in the shop while we were there, but you’d never know it as much as we were chattering about Mr. Boddington’s great style, vintage pencils, the many, many notebooks we have in our stashes, and the great variety of greeting cards at Greer. Naoto gave me a gift card to Greer for Christmas and this was the first chance I had to spend it. I still have some money left to spend again, but I this time I chose some Mr. Boddington’s pencil-themed stationery, a vintage pencil, and a new pencil bag. (Neither the vintage pencil nor the pencil bag are available online.)We also went to Quimby’s to look at zines and take pictures in the photo booth. (I can never pass up a photo booth.)April and Geof were in town for Record Store Day and they shopped a lot of the record stores in Chicago, so we took them to Val’s Halla and Old School Records in our neighborhood. Val’s had live music which really put me in the mood to shop. On their last day in Chicago, it snowed six inches, so our plans were adjusted. We ended up going shopping and to Portillo’s for Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beefs. Weirdly, we didn’t write any letters together this time, but there’s always next year!

Tagged adventures, Chicago, Chicago stationery shops, forest park, office supplies, pen pal, Record Store Day, snail mail, vintage

Mar 30 2019

1 Comment

GalaxieSafari, Office Supplies, Pencils, snail mail

Happy National Pencil Day!

I’m celebrating by writing a few notes with my favorite pencils and prepping my calendar for April…it’s National Card & Letter Writing Month! Do you have any pencil or letter writing plans this weekend?

Tagged celebrations, Galaxie Safari, holidays, National Pencil Day, office supplies, rubber stamp, vintage pencils

Oct 23 2017

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celebrations, crafty adventures, Office Supplies, Pencils

Origami Chopstick Holder

I’m the worst you guys! Thanks so much to Susan for reminding me in the comments to post the chopstick/pen holder! I took these pictures back when it was still summer, but then didn’t love the lighting so I figured I would take more, but then the busy-ness of October caught up with me. And now that I’m more free, we’re hitting a rainy spell in Forest Park, which isn’t helping with bright pictures! So, I’m posting these today with hopes of a sunny morning soon so I can update with some brighter, clearer pictures. I really love how easy this project is and I’m trying to find long, skinny objects for all of my friends so I can wrap their gifts in fancy paper holders.

You can use any kind of paper for this project, but I find handmade papers to be most forgiving. (This section at Paper Source is a great place to look for types of handmade papers that work well for origami projects. Steer clear of anything that is flocked or may be too thick to fold well. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them!) When I made Karen’s pencil holder, I used a lokta paper and I’ve used Japanese washi as well. Both of those fold beautifully. Wood based paper will work just fine though, so you can use wrapping paper or anything pretty you have on hand. It’s just not always as easy to manipulate and tends to show mistakes more.

You’ll need to cut your paper to an 8×8 inch square. I used a ruler and scissors for this since the paper is too large for my paper cutter. Do your best to get nice straight lines since origami is a pretty exact science. My paper had a deckled edge so I placed that at the top to add some interest to the collar of the pencil/chopstick holder. You could also cut the deckled edge off and just have clean edges all around. A bone holder (that thing on the right) is helpful to smooth your folds, but if you don’t have one, you’re fingers will work just fine.
Flip your paper over so the pattern is facing down. Fold the paper in half. Open and fold the right half to meet the center fold. Then fold the left half to meet the center fold. Unfold and now you should have four equal sections in your square. Fold your left corner down to meet the first fold (from the left.) Fold your right corner down to meet the center fold. Now fold the left side over to meet the middle. And fold again in the same direction. It’s kind of like rolling it closed. One last turn and this is what the back should look like. Flip it over and this is what the front should look like. (But turn it back over because we need to finish the back part.) On the back side, fold the bottom up about a quarter of an inch or so. This will be the bottom of the holder. Use some clear tape to hold it closed. I know washi tape would be cuter here, but most of it won’t hold securely on handmade paper. Clear tape gets the job done.
Stick in some chopsticks, pencils, pens, magic wands…and you’re done! I made a bunch for my birthday party this year and for Hasegawa Tanabata. All the different patterns make a pretty table (or picnic!)

Let me know if the instructions are confusing and I’ll try to clear them up! And please send me pics of your finished origami pencil holders!

Tagged celebrations, crafts, diy, Japan, little red toolbox, office supplies

Sep 08 2017

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celebrations, crafty adventures, Office Supplies, Pencils

First-Day-Of-School Pencil Pack

pencil gift, first day of school, CW Pencil enterprises, folded chopstick holder, pencil paper Karen started a new job last week teaching a class at University of Illinois at Chicago. We wanted to give Professor Karen (I’m sure her students call her something more formal.) a little good luck gift to send her off on her first day. Frixion pens, Japanese pens, CW Pencils, editing pencil, highlighter pencil, combo pencil, pencils Like me, Karen loves Frixion pens, so I pulled a .05 from the “Japanese vault” and added it with a couple of pencils from C.W. Pencils. The Editor looked like a perfect pencil for grading and planning. (Are papers still graded on…paper?) And the Graphite/Highlighter combo seemed perfect for planning and note taking. I folded a little origami pencil holder for them out of my new favorite pencil paper. I’ll post a quick tutorial for the pencil holder next week. It’s so easy and they have so many uses! (They’re actually chopstick holders!)

P.S. Thinking of our friends (and family!) in Florida and the Carolinas this weekend as another hurricane heads for the US. The devastation on the islands in the Atlantic is just heartbreaking. And still thinking of our friends in Texas who are cleaning up after last month’s hurricane.

Tagged celebrations, crafts, diy, Japan, office supplies, shopping

Sep 06 2017

Chalk-Full of School Supplies

I think my husband’s punning is rubbing off on me…

I have a little chalk theme going on today. I am old enough to remember chalkboards. Our school transitioned to white boards during my high school years. Mrs. Petersen kept her blackboard though. I always appreciated that about her. I always found the marker to be so slippery on the white board. It didn’t have the same feeling as writing with chalk. And the sound! Normally, chalk sounds so pleasing scraping across the board. But then there’s always that one moment when the chalk makes that horrid high-pitched squeak that catches everyone in the room off-guard. I wonder if that sound is why white boards were invented. I ordered this Hester & Cook “Midtown” white pencil because I’m always looking for a new way to write on dark papers, especially this time of year as I gear up for Halloween mail. I was pretty skeptical about it because colored pencils usually don’t show up well on dark papers (in my experience.) But the pencil was really good! I thought it looked very chalk-like and it writes sort of like a cross between a crayon and a colored pencil. It was a little waxy, but it wrote smoothly, and like I said, covered the dark green paper well. (I smeared it a little bit…) Hester and Cook chalk pencil I plan to use the pencil to decorate the table and black place cards for our next Phantom Flight Night. Though I really like the classic green chalkboard look, too. I picked up this Nihon Rikagaku black chalkboard tape set at bunbougu cafe last year. (The green tape in the top picture is also Nihon Rikagaku. I found that at the Paper Source Warehouse Sale, though it is not carried at Paper Source.) Nihon Rikagaku is another old Japanese company. They’ve been making chalk since 1937 and since 1960 they’ve hired adults with cognitive disabilities to work in their factories. (I didn’t know this at the time of my purchase, but it makes me want to look for more Nihon Rikagaku products on our next trip. You can find their basic chalk on Amazon!) The tape is made from Japanese washi paper and it’s coated so chalk can be erased easily. I’ve only used this on gifts (like it shows on the tiny package label) so far, but I think it would be a fun way to label things in our pantry.

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

Aug 30 2017

Red/Blue Pencils

Ok back to school supplies!

I’ve been using these red and blue editing pencils in my planner this summer. I got the Caran d’Ache from CW pencils last year and I just uncovered the Mitsubishi (similar) in my Japan drawer. (The Japan hoard is vast, guys!) caran d'ache and mitsubishi red and blue pencils, planner checklist, So…I know this is groundbreaking…I use my red/blue pencils to mark my to-do list. (As you can see above, last Thursday was a very productive day.) When I complete a task, I check it off in blue. When I don’t get to something, I draw a red arrow next to the task so I can move it to the next day. I know I could do all of this with a plain lead pencil, but where’s the fun in only having one pencil in your pencil cup?I hosted book club this month and I used the red/blue pencil to keep track of RSVPs. Blue checks for yes, red X’s for no.
So, which pencil is better? Honestly, I just reach into my pencil cup and grab the closest pencil. I’m not using them long enough to truly have a favorite. (Though I do tend to be biased towards all things from Japan!)

The Caran d’Ache is a bit softer, and apparently the lead is water soluble, though I’m not drawing or coloring in my planner, so it doesn’t really matter for my uses. The pencil is a hexagon, which can sometimes be more comfortable than the round Mitsubishi, but again, I’m just checking off to-do lists, so I’m not holding it for very long.

The Mitsubishi is a firmer lead and a round barrel. But the writing feel is similar to the Caran d’Ache. I love the way they both write in my Hobonichi planner, very smooth and easy. Even though the pencils look like the colored lead would be very different, the colors look pretty much the same to me. The Mitsubishi red is a bit more orange and the blue is a tiny bit darker (it says Vermillion and Prussian Blue on the barrel,) but the two pencils are very close in color.

I’d love to hear how you color code your checklists.

Tagged crafts, office supplies