Padfolio Hack

One of the more interesting customer giveaways at the National Stationery Show came from Independent Greetings, specializing in on-demand printing. As my friend C's small company does some specialized card printing, she took a number of their samples and I also received one of their padfolios--a medium-sized orange vinyl book with a notepad on one side, a Uni-ball fine point pen in the middle, and sample cards in an accordion on the other side.

Looking it over, I realized that one of my favorite notepads might just fit into this. So I found one, played around with it and found that a Rhodia No. 16 pad will fit quite nicely. That the padfolio is a dark orange with black trim and elastic enclosure is a bonus, matching the Rhodia colors quite nicely. Definitely a keeper, so my thanks to Independent!

Penmanship via Google Books

I was paging through Google Books' Penmanship of the XVI, XVII and XVIIIth Centuries, amazed at the beautiful handwriting, when I came across the above scan. I love the pink latex fingers!

Mean Cards at the NSS

Another snarky card company we saw at the National Stationery Show was Mean Cards, stories of daily peril both real and imagined. They had some of the best drawings and tag lines, and the booth was set up with large and small framed cards. The art work reminds me of xkcd which I'm sure (ha ha) is a coincidence.

Check out the Mean Cards website where you can find retailers in your area, as well as jump to their blog. They also have an iPhone App, and you can follow them on Twittter @MeanCards.

The card above reads: Enough with the iPhone/it doesn't love you back (there's no app for that).

Publish Post

Which One is the Dog?

From a website that features cute pictures of sleeping animals, here's a Shar Pei conked out on a bath towel.

Kum Pencil Sharpeners at the NSS

Walking around the National Stationery Show I spotted several booths carrying Kum pencil sharpeners. Eventually my friend C and I found the Kum booth, and had a fairly long talk with a very patient and generous rep--he gave us each a 1-hole brass sharpener and a Correc-Tri Sharpener and Eraser.

I am absolutely amazed at this small 1-hold brass sharpener--it really is sold brass and heavy. According to the literature, the sharpener is a standard wedge profile and precision-made of milled massive brass. There is a recessed grip zone so you have a firm hold while sharpening a pencil; a carbon-steel blade, and a hammered and polished surface.

According to one website, the sharpener's high-carbon steel cutting blade features Dynamic Torsion Action. DTA enables the dual task of cutting hard graphite while shaping soft wood, so the blade can be flexible or rigid as needed. In addition to all this, the steel blade is protected against rust by careful polishing, eco-friendly (of course!) ultrasonic cleaning, and by a micro-thin oil coating.

The Correc-Tri Sharpener & Eraser has a 1-hole magnesium alloy sharpener, and comes with a waste container, a translucent non-smear eraser, and a pencil hole cap. It's available in orange or blue, and the triangular shape makes it a stand-out in the pencil case.

Of course, I'm not much on pencils but I think that will change now that I have my Kum brass sharpener. But what about the Correc-Tri? Maybe a giveaway next week? Hmmmm.

How to Stop Pen Thieves & Forgetful Borrowers

Here's an interesting way to stop pen thievery and those memory-impaired, "did I borrow your pen?" friends: the Borrow My Pen Collection of 8 screen-printed pens. How does this stop someone from taking your pen? It's what's printed on the pen that keeps people away. Bottomless buffet, anyone?

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  From barely there to awesome hair in just one hour

Black Pencils at the NSS

One of the interesting details at the National Stationery Show last week was the abundance of black pencils with jeweled caps. Everywhere you looked booths had them as adornments and sale items. Several booths were dedicated exclusively to black pencils and they also had different types of caps you could buy to adorn the pencil ends if you wanted something other than colored jewels.

Above is one of the jeweled cap pencils I received at one of the booths (as I was drooling over the all-graphite, wood-less pencils on display). This black one with the orange jewel has a soft, smeary lead (possibly a B), and because of that it may not be used much for writing. But I'll find something to do with it, I'm sure. It's really very pretty as is, so I could just keep it on my desk for general admiration.