paper goods

My retirement plan consists of heavy investments in stationary.

A long time ago, I used to write letters A LOT, as in I had to get a small filing cabinet to keep track of all my penpals. You see, I was a willful child and got grounded constantly so, with no phone or active social life, I put a cheap ad in Maximumrocknroll to meet people who liked Skinny Puppy since fans were few and far between in Richmond, VA.

The letters came pouring in from all over the country and when I wasn’t brooding over my journal, I was sending off elaborate letters to my new strange and wonderful friends (even a few prisoners who happened to subscribe to the zine… it’s not like my innocence hadn’t already been stolen at this point but the education I got on heroin was unsurpassed by anything my fellow 14 year-old friends knew). Eventually, my life took some dramatic shifts and I suddenly quit writing to everyone and was forced to get rid of all the letters. I did save the photographs of my pen pals though. Here’s one especially beautiful boy, Aeryn from Florida. Almost 15 years later, I have no idea where anyone is.

So, I still have a soft spot for paper and find it difficult to pass up interesting letter sets and stationary I stumble upon when out and about.

My collection of San-X has gotten out of control. (I mean, c’mon! It’s sooooo cute, and so much better than Sanrio!) When I started collecting, it was extremely hard to come by. Online stores weren’t common and the Japanese online stores were in well, Japanese. Now I don’t think I’ll be able to retire to Baja on my collection, as the value has dropped considerably thanks to the high availability.

My favorite set of all is this Tara McPherson collection. The sad thing is, I don’t want to write on any of it! I just want to admire it like some sick hoarder. It’s really not healthy.

TFAW has sooo many awesome stationary sets in addition to the Tara one, by talented illustration artists and they’re really inexpensive! I want them all!

MOO is one of those great new companies that allows you to be your own designer. You simply upload your own digital pictures, edit them and you can make sticker books, notecards, buisiness cards and a bunch more. I’m really itching to do a sticker book (since stickers are another problem area of my collection).

Letterpress is making a huge comeback. It’s an archaic way of hand-printing compared to our digital age of high gloss high speed printers but, the fact that it’s done with so much love and attention to detail makes it that much more special. Etsy is probably the best way of seeing all the beautiful textural designs out there.

These are pretty darn cute (too bad our dollar is worthless right now for international shopping). I must have the rockin’ squirrel memo pad!

These sweet little notepads were featured on a few blogs this past week and sold out as singles (you can still order and wait) but not in muti-packs… would make cute little gifts to remind those you love to not be so hard on themselves!

Maybe it’s time to sit down and write some real letters!

PS – speaking of paper, this journal is adorable, especially if you’re a list freak like I am!!!

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Tagged as: geek