Last week I announced my blogger relationship with Bureau Direct, a most fabulous online stationery store that I had ordered from in the past. I have been challenged to select something each month that I would like to try out. Not an easy task when you have the pick of the website.
However, I know that I want my stationery to be fun and affordable. I want it to be useful rather than decorative and I want to enjoy using it. So I took my time choosing a few items that I could use every day and got rather excited when the parcel arrived, so much so that I decided to share it with anyone who wanted to watch...
The mini notebooks are just the right size to tuck in the back of my Filofax or my handbag and the paper doesn't bleed as it is very good quality. The sticky notes came in tabs of 20 stickers so I removed five from each pile and stuck them on the dashboard of my Filofax to use when needed. They look really unusual sticking out from the pages of my bullet journal.
My BOAT (Book Of All Things) is crammed full of notes, flyers and business cards from meetings and conferences so I chose the notebook strap to hold it all together. The bonus with the Papelote straps are the really handy pen loops that are incorporated (great when you use a moleskine notebook which doesn't incorporate a pen holder). Something to bear in mind though is that I selected the A5 size notebook strap and this fits perfectly around a personal sized notebook (eg. 20cm x 13cm) and just about stretched around my tablet case but wouldn't fit around my A5 Filofax.
Now, the J. Herbin pen and ink set was the bargain of the year. It retails at £10 on the website at the time of writing and is supplied with 18 inks (you have a choice of three tins of six cartridges in a variety of colours which you can mix and match). The colours I chose were Lierre Sauvage (green), Perle Noir (black) and Lames de Cassis (purple). The green is the exact colour of green that I love writing in and the black is... well... black. The purple is the one I was looking forward to using the most and was expecting a deep purple colour but it isn't as dark as I hoped. It is worth noting that some online reviews have mentioned that the nib feels quite scratchy and the only time I have found that is on poor quality paper. The more I am using the pen, the better it is feeling. The barrel is a good thickness and weight for everyday use too - I do have to have the lid perched on top though as it is a small pen. I write A LOT every day and have used about a quarter of one cartridge in a week. So, on average, this means that the three tins of cartridges will last me 18 months. Now that really IS value for money in my book!
Finally, Bureau Direct included a little surprise gift for me - an ingenious little gadget with a Japanese mechanism - the staple-less stapler. YES, I KNOW! My brain wouldn't compute either. Anyway, what it does is punch a hole in the paper, cut a slit behind the hole and pushes the paper through the slit. This clever cut-and-push method holds about four or five pages together. This mini video I made might help you understand it a little more. It's so clever and is a really handy addition to my desk.
Now, the J. Herbin pen and ink set was the bargain of the year. It retails at £10 on the website at the time of writing and is supplied with 18 inks (you have a choice of three tins of six cartridges in a variety of colours which you can mix and match). The colours I chose were Lierre Sauvage (green), Perle Noir (black) and Lames de Cassis (purple). The green is the exact colour of green that I love writing in and the black is... well... black. The purple is the one I was looking forward to using the most and was expecting a deep purple colour but it isn't as dark as I hoped. It is worth noting that some online reviews have mentioned that the nib feels quite scratchy and the only time I have found that is on poor quality paper. The more I am using the pen, the better it is feeling. The barrel is a good thickness and weight for everyday use too - I do have to have the lid perched on top though as it is a small pen. I write A LOT every day and have used about a quarter of one cartridge in a week. So, on average, this means that the three tins of cartridges will last me 18 months. Now that really IS value for money in my book!
Finally, Bureau Direct included a little surprise gift for me - an ingenious little gadget with a Japanese mechanism - the staple-less stapler. YES, I KNOW! My brain wouldn't compute either. Anyway, what it does is punch a hole in the paper, cut a slit behind the hole and pushes the paper through the slit. This clever cut-and-push method holds about four or five pages together. This mini video I made might help you understand it a little more. It's so clever and is a really handy addition to my desk.
So what do you think? Have I whetted your appetite? As I'll be working with Bureau Direct for about six months, I want YOU to have a nosy through their website and challenge me to try something next month. Let's test my stationery obsession!! I'm also going to hunt out clever little gadgets, irresistible bargains and genuine recommendations. Keep an eye on the #StationeryWednesday hashtag on Twitter and my Instagram account.
Everything mentioned in this post:
Paperways Mini City Notebooks - pack of two - London | Marks Ticket sticky notes | J Herbin rollerball pen & 3 ink tins | Papelote Notebook Strap - A5 - Green | Kokuyo Harinacs Staple-less Stapler
I really recommend that you sign up to the Bureau Direct newsletter - it's delivered each Wednesday and an exclusive 10% discount code is shared on the first Wednesday of each month (if you miss any newsletters, you can find them here)
Because this is a blogger/brand relationship, here's a link to my disclosure policy
