Fountain pens have been around for ages, but their popularity took a blow with the advent of rollerball pens and ballpoint pens. These options make a seemingly better alternative as they need not be refilled with ink. They are cheap and disposable, so the convenience factor made many people switch. But a fountain pen is an asset for someone who views writing as an art. Not surprisingly, these writing tools are making a strong comeback now that people have time to slow down and appreciate everything beautiful. Let us share some reasons to jump on board the bandwagon, whether you have ... read more
Magical Unicorn Activity Chest from The Works
Unicorns seem to be absolutely everywhere these days. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm more tuned in to them with a step-daughter who is obsessed, and also a daughter who currently hangs on to every word she says. The thing with having a daughter is that I see trends and obsessions from my childhood come round again with her, but the unicorn thing is something that I think completely passed me by when I was a child. I remember crazes for collecting erasers, those puffy stickers, random bits of stationery and even yo-yos advertising soft drinks, but unicorns don't feature anywhere in my ... read more
Personalised Leather Pencil Case from Hope House Press
As daft as it may sound, the current school year is actually drawing to an end. I know we're not quite at half term yet, but it is only days away, and once that's over there are only six weeks until school is out for summer. It means that the more organised parents and class reps are starting to think about gifts for teachers and it's very much with this in mind that Liz from Hope House Press asked me to review their new personalised leather pencil case. Now I should admit that I already am totally in love with Hope House Press and their products. Last year I was sent one of their ... read more
Writing with the Parker IM Pen
As anyone who knows me in real life will know, I love writing things down. I love handwritten lists and action plans. I often jot down notes for blog posts in a notebook before sitting down and typing them up. I'm one of those people that nearly always has a notebook on them and it's full of everything from what I need to buy the next time I'm in town, through to my travel bucket list. I'm also a huge fan of handwritten letters and cards. I may not have the time to write as many of them as I'd like to, but there's something special about sending and receiving things in the post and a ... read more
Collecting Memories with Hope House Press
Cast your mind back to April if you can... Back in April the world seemed like a simpler place didn't it? Yes 2016 hadn't started amazingly, some celebrities had died but we had no idea back then that Brexit and Trump would be coming later on to make the world seem like the crazy, crazy place it is today. The other thing that happened back in April is that we all went off on holiday to the Isle of Wight. You may recall that last year I won a whole load of holiday vouchers in some little Facebook competition and so we were lucky enough to be able to book a more trips away than we might ... read more
Why I will be sending Christmas Cards this year
If you're on Facebook or email I'm pretty sure that over the next week or so you'll start seeing messages along the lines of: Just so you know we're not doing Christmas cards this year, but we will be making a donation to charity instead. Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year! That's all fine and dandy, and everyone's entitled to do whatever they want, not only at Christmas, but for the rest of the year too. But as someone who hasn't given up on Christmas cards I thought it about time to actually shout about why I will be sending them this year, and why I'd encourage others to do the ... read more
What do a cute little tin, potato starch and almonds have in common? #StationeryWednesday
I'm pretty sure that none of you will have guessed that the answer is adhesive paste. Or more specifically Coccoina Adhesive Paste, as sold by Bureau Direct. I included a tin of this in a recent review order and to be honest it's sat there on my desk looking incredibly cute for a while now. So much so that I almost didn't want to open it and stop it just looking sweet in any way. But last week I got my Cricut machine out again and when it came to sticking some things I had cut onto cards I reached for the Coccoina instead of my usual glue stick. The Coccoina worked really well as a ... read more
A new home for my lists #StationeryWednesday
As I'm sure regular readers know - I am a complete list lover. I have lists for everything and my to do lists run my life for me. It's the only way to ensure that everything in this busy household gets done. In the past my lists have often just ended up as part of my main notebooks that are in use at the time, but one recent review item from Bureau Direct seems to have changed things. Let me introduce the Mark's Storage it A6 notebook. With the innovative plastic cover with a ziplock section where you can keep (and still use) your smart phone, it's certainly different from many other ... read more
Traditional handwritten letters #StationeryWednesday
It's a while ago now since Nickie and I shared what was in our January review packages from Bureau Direct and since then I've just been so busy using the stationery that I've struggled to find time to actually review it! To me though that's a sign of good stationery - something that just gets used because it's so perfect for the job, not just because you're reviewing it. Firstly I was sent the Crown Mill A5 Writing Set. Now, the main reason for asking to review this was to fit in with one of my new year's resolutions which was to sent more handwritten letters to friends in the post. As ... read more
Stationery Chat #StationeryWednesday
It's fair to say that I'm absolutely loving working with Bureau Direct reviewing their stationery products. I might even go as far as saying it's a dream job. Our latest review parcels arrived today so fellow Bureau Direct blogger Nickie from Typecast and I decided to get together and have a chat about what we received. Disclaimer: The Bureau Direct products featured in this video were received for review unless stated otherwise. ... read more