office supplies | kimberly ah

Jan 19 2018

2018 Calendars

The Adami Hasegawas are staying organized this year! Last year Naoto joined Forest Park’s Diversity Committee. Between his two jobs and his meetings and our social lives, I was afraid he’d start double booking himself, so I forced a calendar upon him. I think he liked it, because he used it a lot more than I thought he would. For Christmas I got him the Standard Memorandum. It’s really tiny. Perfectly pocket-sized with enough room to write his work schedule and maybe one other note. I also introduced him to the wonders of the Frixion pen for calendars. I am on my third year of using the Hobonichi Techo. I love it. For me, it’s the perfect size. I like the daily pages for list keeping and just writing random things about my day. I always decorate the monthly spreads, and the daily pages are more utilitarian. (I can’t believe I’ve never blogged about my love for Hobonichi…) I ordered my Hobonichi from Jet Pens. In the past, I’ve ordered directly from Japan, but this year, Jet Pens had everything I wanted now that they are an official Hobonichi shop. A lot of their Hobonichi offerings are sold out by now, but this post is great for going over all the different options, sizes, and accessories. This year I treated myself to a new cover-on-cover. In previous years, I just had a clear cover and I put postcards and stickers inside to personalize my book. The Tokyo themed cover, with its whimsical drawings of ramen and cats and sushi and donuts won me over. I also ordered this handy page keeper. It tucks into the back pocket of the cover. And then the elastic holds the daily or monthly page of your choice. It’s pretty handy. A few years ago, I told you about the Heather McAdams Everything But Country Calendar and Show. This is only our fourth year of owning this calendar, but this year marked its 25th anniversary! We just love the drawings and the birthday and facts for each day. Since we don’t write on a big communal calendar at home, this one works perfectly for our kitchen.

How about you? Are you a paper calendar and planner person? Any favorites?

Tagged Heather McAdams, Hobonichi, home, homemaking, Japan, office supplies, shopping, washi tape

Jan 11 2018

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adventures, crafty adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, GalaxieSafari, holidays, Oak Park, snail mail

Petite Boutique 2017

In November, I did my second Petite Boutique and my fifth craft show ever! Petite Boutique is so well organized and popular in Oak Park. We were in the sunroom again, the same spot as last year, which was perfect. This is the sunroom from the outside. Isn’t it gorgeous?
I didn’t really change a ton on my booth set-up. I re-used my Kimberly AH banner since that’s what I used last year, but I need to consider a new banner with Galaxie Safari. I’d like something to go above my booth so you can see it when people are standing in front of my table. Something to work on this winter… I rigged a little bar to hold my “Comparison is the thief of joy” letterpress print and got a felt board for pricing. I really resisted the felt board since it’s so trendy, but really, you can’t beat its convenience and simplicity. I still love my card rack. It’s not big enough for all of my designs now (yay for new products) so I highlighted holiday cards, best sellers, and newer designs in the rack. The other designs were in a wooden box. I feel like last year, my holiday designs sold best. But this year, it was a nice mix of things since I had so many other (birthday, love, thank you, friendship, etc) styles to choose from.
I added a ton of framed quotes, so I no longer had space for my typewriter. The framed quotes sold really well, which was so exciting. This particular saying sold the best. I actually came home after the show Friday night and made more to sell on Saturday. I’ll be adding a greeting card to my shop next week, too. (As a side note, I’m so excited for the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. I think we need to throw a huge party.) Naoto was a great sales assistant. He wore his Mr. Zip t-shirt “uniform” and manned the booth while I ate lunch and walked around and assisted with bagging and answering questions. It’s so nice to have a partner who is so supportive of this! This winter I’m trying to research and apply to more shows. They have been really good and really fun for me. I am, at my core, a last minute person so planning six months to a year ahead of time is mind-boggling, but necessary. I’ve already signed up for two shows in Berwyn this year at Friendly’s Tap. (I’ll be there April 21 and November 17!) And I’m applying to a few more thanks to friends I’ve met along the craft market way. If you’re local and know of any good shows, I’d love to hear from you!

Tagged adventures, crafts, forest park, holidays, mail art, office supplies, shopping, snail mail, vintage

Dec 30 2017

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Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Under the Tree

Santa was good to us again this year! Presley got a fantastic new toy that is already MIA. It came in a little party popper, that doesn’t pop because that would be scary for cats. It was a cute package though, as you can tell by Presley’s happy face. I gave Naoto a Yeti mic so he can start his podcast in the new year. We’ve been talking about it forever, so it’s time! I also gave him some “high-end” instant ramen that shall have its own post here soon. It’s really good. I also gave him some new t-shirts from Sumo Fish and some new food socks. In addition to the Putz church, Naoto got me booze…shocking, I know. He found North Shore Distillery’s fall release, Ethel’s Eye of Newt Cordial. I’m looking forward to trying it…or saving it for next Halloween. And he added to my Letherbee collection with their Autumnal release. I have been buying Letherbee’s seasonal releases for a few years now and they’re always delicious and unusual. He also bought me two Mitsubishi Kohitsu Shosha 10B pencils. The lead is the softest made and oh my, is it ever! I promised myself I’d practice hand lettering this year (instead of giving up after five minutes) and these are perfect for that. And I got an Egg-a-Go-Go tea towel with the cutest cat carrying a parcel. And I got a new cat screen print from Fancy Seeing You Here. (Thanks to Melissa for giving Naoto the hint about this!) I’m so excited to frame him up and expand my desk art!

I still want to tell you about our Christmas dinner adventures, so…be prepared for more Christmas posts into the new year.

Tagged Christmas, holidays, office supplies, shopping

Dec 27 2017

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Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, snail mail

Holiday Cards 2017

Hello from freezing Forest Park! I thought I’d share our 2017 holiday cards now that most of them have made their way to the destinations. I mailed most of them out mid-December with little fanfare. I didn’t decorate any envelopes this year. Sad, right? I did, however, finally use my very special J. Herbin anniversary ink.

The neon pink cards are from Hello Lucky. The cocktail cards are from Made in Brockton Village. The wintry birds are from Saturn Press, and as I’ve mentioned before, they don’t have a website which makes them the most charming stationery company ever in my book.

I’ve been such a bad letter writer this year, so naturally I’m going to put “be a better letter returner” on my new year’s resolution list. Hopefully this week I can respond to anything left in my stack so I can start 2018 with a clean slate.

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

Nov 10 2017

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adventures, Christmas, crafty adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, GalaxieSafari, holidays, In My Neighborhood, Merry & Bright, Oak Park, Office Supplies, snail mail, vintage

Petite Boutique

Sorry for the radio silence around here. I’ve been typing and cutting and pasting new cards for Petite Boutique this weekend. If you’re in the area, stop by Pleasant Home in Oak Park tonight and tomorrow to shop handmade. It’s a really great show and I always love seeing friendly faces.

This is one of the new Christmas cards, inspired by the (wonderfully terrible!) Hallmark Christmas movies I’ve already started watching. I’ll share some more next week! Until then, have a great weekend!

Tagged adventures, Christmas, crafts, forest park, holidays, mail art, office supplies, shopping, snail mail, vintage

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

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crafty adventures, Office Supplies, Pencils, snail mail

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

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crafty adventures, Office Supplies, Our Pleasant Home Book Club, Pencils

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

Aug 27 2017

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Office Supplies, snail mail, washi weekend

Washi Weekend: Back to School Edition

washi weekend, MT tapes, sparrow notebook, school supplies I’ve been in 100% neon mode for my mail and my planner this summer. I’ve been using all of my neon washi tapes, pens, pencils, stickers and papers. It’s been fun, but I’m ready for a change, a change to school supplies. Even though I’m not going back to school, I ordered myself a few pencils from CW Pencil Enterprises last week. Those new pencils got me in the mood to refresh my desk space and break out some back-to-school treats from my washi and Japan stationery hoard. I have a “Japan drawer” in my desk that holds a bunch of washi tapes and backup pens. Since we most likely aren’t going to Japan this year, I’ve been dipping into my stash more and more. It’s like having my own little store to visit. washi weekend, MT tapes, sparrow notebook, school supplies I bought a few limited edition washi tapes during our last trip that fit the back-to-school bill perfectly. The top two are collaborations between mt and two iconic Japanese brands, and the bottom one was a special tape created by bunbougu cafe. The first tape (similar) comes from the Tsubame Notebooks in Japan. These notebooks are iconic in Japanese schools, kind of like composition notebooks here in the U.S. Except, as usual, Japan Does It Better! The paper is high-quality and works really well with pencils and a variety of pens. (This JetPens video shows it all nicely!) Tsubame Notebooks have been hand-bound since the 1947 and have remained unchanged since then. I just love the graphic sparrow logo. And here’s a little secret: I bought the notebook after I bought the tape. Fueki glue, Japanese glue, washi weekend, MT tapes, school supplies Fueki glue is another popular Japanese school supply. Fueki-kun, the little yellow mascot, is a pot of glue. It’s made from 100% corn starch and is safe for young children. Fueki has been around since 1925 and offers a large line of products, including (grown up) glue sticks, India inks, paper supplies, and even cosmetics. I’m a bit older than the Fueki-kun market, but I thought the little pot was so cute and it was only sixty cents so I bought a few. The little dog makes such a cute tape, don’t you think?

And lastly, a little bit about the bunbougu cafe tape. It has drawings of pencil sharpeners, pencils, and pencil marks. Next to the pencil sharpeners, it says, “gari gari” which is the onomatopoeia for “grate grate.” (Things sound different in Japanese–all of their animal noises are different too!)