Make it: Faux-dori Notebook Planner

We are back with a fresh DIY for the new season; I am fast becoming a planner addict, but I needed to kerb my spending and find a way to use up some of my already huge stationery stash. When I got a travel planner as a gift a few months ago, I realised I could use up all those piles of thin notebooks if I made myself some of my own Midori style planners.  So today I am going to share how I made two of my favourite's.

Paperchase for National Stationery Week

If you LOVE stationery, like we do, you will no doubt have noticed that this week gave us all an excuse to let our inner (and often outer) notebook geek loose as we celebrated National Stationery Week. It was way back in 1997 that H and I made our first ever trip to visit the promised land that is Paperchase Tottenham Court Road flagship store for college supplies and we have been regular worshippers ever since. So when they asked us to come along and hang out for an evening and play with a bunch of stationery goodies you can imagine what our answer was.

If you have never been to any of the larger Paperchase stores they really are worth a visit, they go all out with they merchandising and displays. We started the evening by taking a walk around the store and taking in all the beautiful new ranges and making mental shopping lists of what we were going to be purchasing before we went home!

The super chic Get Organised collection always looks amazing, now with even more added copper accents and Monochrome mixes so well with it.

The newest American Beauty range includes some of my favourite pieces from Ban.do, Kate Spade and American Crafts. Not to mention a Pinterest worthy collection of pastel storage and inspirational foiled notebooks.

Being the planner geek that I am I spent a longer than healthy time at the planner wall, serious planner girl goals right there! Summer vibes were in full force around the store with palm print, flamingos and pineapples all making us wishing the sunshine would hurry up and come to stay!

One of the many reasons I love to come to the TCR store is their selection of handmade papers, they are just amazing and the selection is huge.

Some of our favourite brands are also here including The Makery and MT washi tapes.  How gorgeous is this washi wall!

After a wander it was down to business, the business of flatlay-ing our little hearts out!! The workshop was lead by the the lovely Louise from The What Now Blog and we were given a basket full of gorgeous Paperchase stationery and got to create some amazing flatlay images.

It was honestly so much fun, you know we love a good flatlay photo so it was fun to experiment and work with the other bloggers too! We worked with the gorgeous Carol from Muff and Teacake and met up with our current YouTube girl crush Natasha Nuttal from Graphic Fantastique, and fellow bloggers Jaye Rockett and Emma Jane Palin. Here are just some of our favourite images from the evening.

Thanks so much to the team at Paperchase for having us along to the event and meeting up with other bloggers is always fun! We had such a lovely evening, and yes I ended up making some purchases before we went for dinner, it would have been wrong not too.

What have you been doing to celebrate National Stationery Week?? Link up your Instagrams, twitters and blog posts below so we can head over and take a look!

Have a lovely long weekend
Sammy and H


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Whats on my desk

We shared our desks way back in January and so we thought we would come back this time with our different desks as we have day jobs alongside blogging.  Last time Sammy showed us her home space and H showed off what was going on at work. This time we have had a swap, so first up Sammy.

Last time I shared my home office desk, this time you get to see my desk at Sew Crafty HQ. I'm sure you can see that my set up is pretty similar but most of the work I do here is planning, admin and photo editing so it is a little more business-like than my home office. The thing that is on my desk most of the time at work is my planner, it is my daily to do list so I have it at hand to make sure I haven't forgotten anything important. I have a few trinkets under my monitor as well as a bunch of sewing supplies to use as photo props when taking photos for our website. To the left of the picture out of shot, is where I do most of the small photography for Sew Crafty so it is handy to have bits and bobs to hand.

Now, for H's home desk.  My desk at home has various duties from work desk, to dining room table and sewing space and sometimes just a dumping ground.  So it can go from looking nice and tidy to messy in a matter of hours.  It is a useful space though to keep many things that I use alot from my many notebooks, diary and for some reason I have my ipad on at the same time as my laptop most of the time!  The rest of my desk around this is a mass of photos, business cards, bills, pen and pencils, things I have made for tutorials - no need to water plants anyone and some bits from HEMA that they recently sent us for some Easter treats, you may even be able to spy the Easter chicks in this picture.  They just epitomise Easter to me!

Any familiar items on your desks?  I think we clearly like just having stuff around us if these pictures are anything to go by.  If you would like to show us and our readers what's on your desk then just send us an email and we can show off other peoples desks too!  Just out of nosiness probably!  ha ha.

H & Sammy, xxx

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Makers Month: British Stationery Wishlist

You know we are suckers for stationery around here and Makers Month gives us the best excuse to search out the best of the British paper pushers to add to our most wanted list. Who are your favourites???

Happy Jackson Notebooks  /  Ohh Deer Plan of Attack note pad  /  Studio Sarah Greetings Cards  /
Oh Squirrel Pencil set  /  Pygmy Cloud Paper Tape  /  Nancy and Betty Weekly Planner   /  Blogtacular and Lollipop designs Planner  /  Undercover UK Leather Ring binders  /  Oh No Rachio Notebooks

Have a great weekend
Sammy xxx

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Make it: Notepad Cover and Pen Keeper

If you have been coming here for a while you will know that H and I are both massive stationery geeks. Lately I have been trying to use up some of my notebooks and bits that I have collected over the years and ran in to an realisation, if its not pretty I don't use it. So to solve this problem I have been using my scrap-booking stash to pretty up my boring old note books by making covers for them.

To make a notebook cover and pen keeper you will need: an A5 notebook, two sheets of 12 x 12 card-stock, your sewing machine, some elastic and thread.

Step 1. Stitch your two sheets of card-stock together, I like to use a zigzag stitch, I use a jeans needle when sewing paper.
Step 2. Line up the spine of your notebook with the join in your papers and fold one side over the front cover of your note book.
Step 3. Fold the cover of your notebook closed.
Step 4. Hold the back cover in place, re-open the notebook and fold the back piece of card-stock over the back cover.

Step 5. Take your notebook out of the cover and head back to your sewing machine. Stitch down the folded over flaps. 

Step 6. Pop your notebook back in and mark a line 0.5cm below the bottom of where the notebook sits.

Step 7. Take your notebook back out and stitch along the line that you have marked. Trim off any excess. 

Step 8. Slide your notebook into your new cover.

It is that simple, but it makes a boring functional notebook into a pretty Instagram worthy piece of stationery joy! Now for the cherry on the top, a cute and functional pen keeper. 

Step 1. To make yourself a pen keeper you will need some elastic. 

Step 2. Wrap your elastic around your notebook and cut it to size.

Step 3. Stitch it into a loop. 

Step 4. Pull the elastic around your notebook and mark where your pen will go using your finger.
Step 5. Stitch across to make a loop for your pen.
Step 6. Put your new pen keeper around your new notebook.

I am going to be making lists of lists now I have this gorgeous set of matching stationery.  I have used scrapbook paper for mine but you could use fabric or old maps, even paper shopping bags. The same technique would work for any of those materials.

Are you a stationery addict like we are?  If you have a go at making your own do share it with us using the #livelovemake

H and I are heading out to the Knitting and Stitching show at Olympia today, what are you guys doing this weekend? What crafty fun will you be having?

Sammy xxx


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Link for the week: Archie Grand notebooks

I have had a long found love for Archie Grand since I first saw the notebooks in London Graphic Centre and so I thought it time to share the love with you lovely people.

http://www.archiegrand.com/NOTEBOOKS.html

The notebooks are a great size, not quiet A5 but a bit slimmer, making them perfect for carrying around.  I also love the fact that they have plain paper, giving me the opportunity to draw or write wherever I like. Plus they come in lots of lovely colours.

They are just notebooks I hear you say, yes, but on the front them have these fab little sayings, which just make me smile and I think that makes them a perfect present for someone who has the job or temperament that they are suggesting.

You can go for: Artists I met and Liked, Directors I met and Liked, Blondes I met and Liked or even Husbands I had and Liked, to name but a few. Plus they look lovely all fitting on the shelf next to each other.

I think the next one should be 'bloggers I met and liked' don't you?

Love it

H

Live it: Japanese Gocco Printing Workshop at Craft Central

Last week I attended Craft Central in London.  I have been to one of their workshops before and so was really looking forward to it.  About a week after I booked the hugely popular (it has sold out in hours previously)‘Craft It Yourself: Printing using Japanese PrintGocco machines’, they emailed me to tell me that the workshop was going to be slightly different than advertised.