3 Sept 2010

Hestia drools over ....new journals

Bookshops are my refuge from the slings and arrows of every day life.  When I enter a bookshop, the same sense of peace infuses me that I’d imagine people experience when they enter a church.

Somehow, nothing bad can happen to me while I’m perusing books.  I love the smell of the new paper and the print.  I love the uncracked spines.  I love the weave of safety, sanity, beauty and escape that I find amongst the book stacks.


I also love beautiful things (see earlier post on Favourite Men).  I especially love beautiful things with a sense of humour (see in particular Dave Grohl and Johnny Depp) hence my delight at finding my local bookshop stocked a new range of stationery.

Running your own business is a fraught affair these days, but running a business on a small Scottish island takes a leap of faith that borders on the irresponsible.  How glad I am that the lovely Karen threw herself out over the abyss and started a bookshop here.

Print Point is not the most enchanting name for a book shop, but that's because they also offer printing services (see, it all makes sense really.  I bet a man chose it though.).  But the bit I wanted to share with you today is the new stationery.

Journals are a particular weakness of mine.  I buy them all the time, each one sits expectantly on the shelf, waiting for the day for A Project to seduce my mind and for my pen to ink-up its virgin pages.

Y'see, for me there's no need to change job, change city or even trade-in Tertarus for a big wolfhound to get a fresh start in life - all I need is a new journal with sheafs of blank paper, a pen and an Autumn evening by the fire with a glass of wine.


These ones, above, come in two sizes.  The 'If found, do not publish' size is £3.99 and the '1970s style laptop' one is £5.99.

Then there are these script-fronted ones - which I adore.  I've got a thing developing about typography, I think! And these hardback journals are reminiscent of the Aardvarkonsea.com posters that I love.

I've made the photo rather large so that you can read the inscriptions on the fronts.  There's six styles in this range.

Hmmm I might buy 'Earth Shatteringly Amazing Ideas'!

These ones are £5.99 each

Karen didn't just buy the journals, oh no, she bought a whole slew of other bits and bobs that go towards making the journalling experience all the more enjoyable.

The pens are £1.99 and are inscribed 'Practice Autograph With' or 'Lose in Bag '

The pencils are embossed with 'My Millionth', 'You'll miss me when I'm gone' and 'Rest Behind the ear and then look for'. £1.99 each



There are two rulers - 'This sentence is 6.9cm long' and 'Use as a comb if Bald' - £1.25 each

The eraser reads ' Pretend You're Never Wrong' and costs £1.25

The pink pencil case reads: 'Use as a V small pillow' and costs £4.99

There is a felt tip pen set at £3.99 with 5 pens.

And lastly there is a note block that says 'Stupid Little Notes' or 'To Do or Not To Do'

Karen says that if anyone is interested in getting an item posted out, she will charge £1 per item P&P - but if you wanted to order more than one thing, she will work out a better price - especially if it's just a pencil or eraser!

You can contact Karen at 01700 503389 from anywhere in the UK.

Thanks for reading this all the way through to the end, I like to support local businesses - and to share things that take my fancy with you, my reader :-)

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow......

13 comments:

  1. I really like the Waldo Pancake stuff, but would like to support your local shop so bookmark this for a little bit later in the month to be all ready for the new term (work in a university so have a few more weeks yet!)

    New stationary makes everything better. It really does. I need to write in my beautiful elegant journal tonight (it makes me feel like a grown up - even though I am clearly a moody teenager who somehow has grey hair encroaching!)

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  2. I love the one that says "Evil Plans and Stuff" I feel like being evil! Like you, I love stationary, writing on that first page of a new notebook is akin to eating cake!

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  3. When I travelled, which used to be a lot, I'd buy a new journal to catelogue my adventures. I've lost the habit these days, but my wife is still at it, journaling that is, so I can feel a purchase coming on. Thanks for posting this Ali.

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  4. Yep, I absolutely have to have 'Evil Plans & Stuff', and maybe a few more. I'll be in touch.

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  5. Clearly, a trip to Scotland is in order! No matter how pooky things are, a browse in a stationer's sets all to rights. (As evidenced by the large collection of notebooks and pens keeping me company here in my office!)

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  6. I have to admit I love book and stationary shops, I love buying cards too, I can spend hours reading them and touching all the lovely paper crisp and unstained .. everything in my house gets stained ...xx

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  7. I'm torn between 'If found don't publish' and 'Stupid little notes'
    - and yes, always good to support local businesses, so keep on shopping!

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  8. I'm loving these and btw have told you off in my comment box!

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  9. There are now at least 6 things I want, plus a few that would be good for friends!

    (I have the same feeling with book shops. They are my church!)

    I shall be phoning Karen!

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  10. I entirely agree about the loveliness of books and paper, but being a registered pedant, and on the police files for it, I did worry a bit about the alternative spellings of 'stationery' and 'stationary' in some of the Comments. I only mention this because I went into a shop once and asked the girl 'Do you keep stationary' and she blushed and said 'Well I try to, but sometimes I have to jiggle a bit towards the end'. Yes, I was puzzled too.

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  11. JohnB - I cannot think WHAT she might have been alluding to at ALL!

    LM - Karen's lovely and always on the look out for new loveliness to stock in the shop!

    Mrs Make Do - Will beetle off to your comments to see what I've been told off about lol!

    Mrs TNMA - I do. When I find books that I want, it's so easy to order from Amazon. I always give Karen first refusal. I tell her how much they cost on Amazon and if she can match it, I get them from her (or if it's just a pound or two difference I still get them from her!)

    Wildernesschic - I too am a stainer. A hand-wiper, that's me. That's why I own no white clothing at all ;-)

    Anastasia - hop over the pond! You'll be very welcome :-D

    Santa - good choices! I can't make my mind up at all!!

    Legend - you blog, so that's a bit like journalling, only in public! You should start journalling again if it's something that makes you happy.

    Mrs Fab - like cake...only minus the calories! How many times have you written ONLY on the first couple of pages and then ran out of steam?!

    Siobhan - bookmark away! The more the merrier ;-)

    Ali x

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  12. Oooh! These are fantastic! I certainly shall be buying some. I can't work out which are my favourites though. I adore books. I buy them mostly in used hardback's from Amazon. Used books are the way forward I think. I'm trying to be green xx

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  13. Christina - Lovely to see you back after your marathon Mrs Jones session!

    I always buy paperbacks for holiday reading in charity shops. Then I can either leave them behind for someone else to read or bring them home and recycle back into the charity shop!

    Ali x

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