fancy shmancy

We admit, we have no idea what "hand turned" means (we're guessing it's like "hand carved" or just plain "hand made") but it sounds really impressive. We also really like that the pen's components are made of 24k gold. What can we say? We're really just gold diggers at heart...

[Hand turned Bloodwood Pen, $26 from The wooden knot]

is it the way it's carved whilst being spun, the way baseball bats are made? -diane

like "undo" but better

Let's get really down and dirty geeky here: we LOVE erasers. When I was little, I used to buy erasers and never use them because they were too pretty. These stationery erasers from One Good Bumblebee ($8 for a set) would definitely have fallen into that category...

champagne tastes on a beer budget?

Instructables has a great how-to on creating "the world's best writing pen" in under $20.

Anyone have any other money saving stationery or writing utensil tips?

[Via boing boing]

this is totally random...

But does anyone remember PUFF PAINT PENS??

One of our oldest friends used to do puff paint craftery in elementary school. It was pretty awesome. She made all her own t-shirts with iron on designs and puff paint. Oh yeah.

Does anyone use these things anymore? Also, we have to admit. We love the name of these: Dong-A Popcorn Puffy Paint (10 pens for $12, from Jetpens.com).

And here's a video in case you need a refresher on how to use 'em:

bring them back to life?

We love the MacGyver Challenges in Ready Made Magazine, so imagine how ecstatic we were when they created a challenge for something that is near and dear to our hearts: dead pens. Every once in a while, we'll find a dead pen we forgot to throw away and think to ourself, "Oh, isn't there anything I can do to make you useful again?"

Well, since we're only good at buying crafts and not necessarily great at making crafts, we can't join the challenge. But we know you can. You're waaay craftier than us.

And while you're at it, give us a sneak peek at your crafty project before it wins and gets featured in the magazine. For more info on joining the challenge, check out the ReadyMade blog (the deadline is July 31st, so hurry!).

[Image via AMagill]

for the love of color

The other day, at work (my day job, shh...) I declared, "If I have to write with any more black ink, I'll get bored to death." So yeah, not the most insightful statement one could make. But very true nonetheless.

When did black and blue become designated as "business" colors? If I were running my own business--we'd all have to write with purple ink. Is that too immature of me? What color ink do you prefer?

[Image from hiromama]

national stationery show: rock scissor paper

We were so happy and lucky to meet Heidi & Susie from Rock Scissor Paper. This was their 9th year at the stationery show, so they told us newbs a thing or two about what was up with the stationery world. We talked about a bunch of stuff: design, typography, being a font nerd... In fact, Heidi was talking about how "FONT NERD" would make a great t-shirt. We agreed and told her we would proudly wear it. And blog about it all the time. Then make other people wear it. And take pictures of those people to put on the blog (it's a sick cycle). Speaking of pictures, get ready because here are a bunch of 'em... Oooh, watch out. Here's where it gets naughty...

lovely weather

Just because I've lived in Brooklyn for years (originally from California) doesn't mean that I'm used to the seasons changing. In the dead of winter, it always feels like the cold will never end and I'll be strapped in my coat forever. Well, the latest bout of good weather makes me feel like the sun will perpetually shine and oh how happy that makes me. Carry a rainbow-y nice day in your pocket with this MMMG pen from Poketo ($5), or, if you're not into the sun so much, there's a cloudy pen too.

it's a mystery

If you have secrets (top secret secrets) but want to share them with a select few, you might want to purchase this invisible ink ($16 from the Library Shop). Just be sure to instruct the receiver to expose the paper to some heat (don't torch it, try a light bulb)--the invisible ink will turn blue and then disappear again when the ink cools off. Beats swallowing the paper or implementing some sort of self-destructive device a la Mission Impossible. But hey, if you don't have $16 but still want to share your secrets, check out these instructions from Wiki How on how to make a secret note. [Invisible ink found via Cool Hunting]

suck, write, call, repeat.

Besides the fact that this "cell phone charm" might be ridiculously unwieldy and that "cell phone charms" are kind of inappropriate unless you're a character in a manga comic or a 13 year old girl, this little ditty is pretty dandy. Why? 1) It's a multi-tasker. 2) You'll always have a pen to write pretty letters. 3) All you need is $2.55 (and strapya-world.com) 4) It's a LOLLIPOP. Candy, people! Sweet sweet candy! [Thanks Shiny Shiny]

highlight of my life

Yes, we were the kid who begged her mom for the newest Lisa Frank stationery set. We had a sticker collection. We liked to go school shopping just for the new notebooks. But what is one other geeky secret that we need to share with the world? We LOVE highlighters. (Especially when they come in a 3 pack for $4.99.) There's nothing better than breaking into a new package of highlighters and splaying them out on our desk in a semi-circle of highlighter love. It's sick, we know. (You can also get that pen for $4.19) [via Outblush]

type

We're not sure if anyone else feels this way, but we've always had this romantic notion of how great it would be to own a vintage typewriter. Maybe it stems from our childhood days of dreaming about becoming a writer, tap tap tapping away on an old Underwood in a dimly lit room. But once we actually decide to buy one and start searching on eBay, we begin to wonder...what's the point? Finding a typewriter pre-1980s that would still work seems like a tough feat and what we'd really want to do with it is write letters, so owning one that doesn't function would be useless. Does anyone out there own and still use a typewriter? Are they just slowly becoming (or maybe they already are) extinct? Seems like such a shame to stop using them. Maybe we just can't let go of our own romantic notions... [Photo provided by NicoZ]

um, wha???

From the site, "Pencils made from the carbon of human cremains. 240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash - a lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind." We could make a joke about recycling or something, but that seems a little inappropriate. [Via apartment therapy]

because you love to multi-task

$8.00 at the curiosity shoppe (Thanks Oh Joy! for the tip...)

candy-colored love

For us, sitting down to write a letter is definitely a kind of ritual. We gather all our favorite tools around us so that we have everything we need within easy reach: stationery, addresses, stamps, and our new favorite goodies, Winsor & Newton drawing inks. We are completely smitten with our old tyme pen, and ever since we got a set of these, we've been considering making the love affair official. With a big variety of vibrant, cheerful colors that come in sweet little trapezoid-y bottles, you'll want to display them on your desk when they're not in use, which, if you're anything like us, probably won't be often. Winsor & Newton Colored Drawing Ink Pearl Paint