Graphic Design Love

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My favorite corner of the web: Stationary edition

Well hello there! I'm back with another edition of 'My favorite corner of the world wide web' to let you all know about my latest obsession. I found Pei Design a couple of months back when I was browsing Pinterest for new stationary (seriously, how is this shop not super famous?). I specifically wanted a notepad and a small notebook to use for scripture study but was having such a hard time steering away from Rifle Paper Co notebooks. Now don't get me wrong I love me some Rifle Paper designs, specially the notebooks but I wanted something different since Ana Bond's designs are everywhere *ahemmm* copycats *ahemmm*

Anyways, I found this store and fell head over hills for it in a second. Everything is so femenine and colorful and pretty it makes me want to buy everything. I had literally like 20 tabs opened with everything I wanted from that store but soon enough I found myself thinking what I always think when I buy stuff online "I wonder what's the deal with their shipping? Do they sip internationally? How much is it going to cost?" I wrote them an email and this is what happened.

*instert angels singing* I got an email back from the owner herself a few hours later not only telling me that she did ship internationally but also that she would give me a 15% discount so I could cover shipping expenses and it wouldn't add up to an insane amount of money. I emailed her back to ask if I could pay via paypal (tough costumer, i know!) and sure enough a couple of minutes later I had completed the transaction.

A couple of days later I received my order. I can't even begin to tell you how in love I am with what I purchased. Not to mention the beautiful packaging! I die.

I whipped open the Confetti notebook (pictured above) and started examining it. I do take my stationary pretty seriously! It is 3.625" W x 7" H and has 188 pages so it's pretty portable and light. The gold foil on the spine and first page are divine. The paper is so white and thick, it holds the ink perfectly and the bleeding is minimum, It holds micron pen ink perfectly as well as colored pencils and soft water based markers. Washi tapes also hold perfectly! Stabilo point 88s do bleed a little bit though so I'm just going to keep it simple with my journaling materials. 

I will be sharing pictures of my journaling and the inside of this amazing little notebook soon here on the blog so in the mean time I urge you to go take a look around this amazing stationary shop and get something for you or for a friend. I can promise you won't regret it!

Pretty DIY Paper Placemats

I keep planning ways to make Valentine's extra special this year because it's probably the first time ever  that I'm in the mood to celebrate. I've practiced making heart shaped cookies, paper garlands and even pink pancakes and I can't get enough of it. That's why I decided to make some pretty quotes paper placemats to keep it romantic!

I had such a hard time when I was thinking about what to draw on the placemats. I kind of knew I wanted a hand written quote but how to decide when there are so many good quotes out there? I searched and searched and nothing seemed good enough. I finally came across Oscar Wilde's book "The Happy Prince" which I love and instantly remembered that pretty quote:

'Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and a richness to life that nothing else can bring'

It's a pretty long quote and I wanted the placemats to be simple so I went with my favorite part and trashed the rest.

Next I had to decide how to write it. I'm known for my sucky penmanship but I am studying and practicing calligraphy so I was pretty sure I wanted to incorporate that. I kind of went with my gut and improvised. I got it kind of right the first time I tried so I went ahead and traced it back on Kraft paper.

I did encounter problems in the process the main one being that when I started tracing with a sharpie the first time and it bled SO much! You couldn't even understand where the lines went and everything became one horrible blob so I had to start all over again and trace it with a thin marker that didn't bleed. But after that it was a breeze.  It took me 35 minutes in total from the moment I started sketching on a piece of paper.

So there it is! I'll be sure to make more for our Valentine's dinner. What quotes should I include? What are your favorite ones?