spring break!

I’m off to Death Valley with sketchbook and camera(s) in hand. I’ll be back next weekend.

morning meal with moleskine

My morning meal, laptop and planner (with handy-dandy new homemade pen holder, more details on that later) on a sunny day. I love toast with Marmite!

moleskinerie: new stamps from Magnetic Poetry

Armand sure has a quick eye for new stuff. Here is his post on the new product from Magnetic Poetry, Words and Crafts. It's a set of 70 (or 42, for the smaller set) stamps with handles. It's supposed to have "precision placement" which makes sense as the stamp backings (usually a contoured wood block of some kind – I don't know what it's called technically) are the exact shape of the letter, allowing one to see where the letter's being placed.

They come in three different fonts: Traditional (70 pieces, upper and lower case, $20, apparently Times New Roman Bold), Classic (42 pieces, upper case only, $15, similar or perhaps identical to Copperplate Regular) and Breezy (69 pieces, upper and lower case, $20, similar to… something unidentifiably funky). I'm leaning toward Traditional, myself. These would be great for not only craft projects, but to personalize things like the Moleskine Cahier, which would take well to ink.

Go check it out. Great deal for a quality product.

rustico leather journals

These exquisite leather journals, in varying sizes, closures, and colors, are available from Rustico leather goods.

From their website:

Every one of our books receives personal attention, ensuring that only the highest quality is produced. We personally hand tear the paper, hand stitch the paper into the leather, and hand cut our leather. Our Creative Designer personally inspects the books before they are sold to ensure that they represent our finest work.

I especially covet the journal shown at the top, in gorgeous brown leather with hand-torn pages. I like the tab closure – I'm not too much a fan of a string closure as it tends to get in the way while the journal is in use.

Their website seems fairly new, but go check it out. Journal prices range from the $12 3.25" square 100-page Everyday Small Journal to the $20 3.25" square 96-page Quote Book (with hand-torn thicker paper) to the aforementioned lavish $75 Travel Journal.

Rustico seems like a great establishment. Their books would be perfect for chronicling a vacation or just to carry in a purse. Their photo albums are also worth checking out.

levenger

Levenger sells some beautiful "tools for serious readers." I first learned about them when I was on my index card kick, but since then I've switched to my Moleskine planner and my 3×5"s are sitting on a lonely corner of my desk.

As far as notebooks, journals, and planners go, this is definitely something to look into if you're all for high quality and don't mind paying a little extra. Almost everything they carry can be monogrammed for yourself or your company, which is cool.

Shown above (from top) are a composition notebook, their SwiftNotes system (too small, alas, to hold a pocket Moleskine), and their index card accordion folder in a gorgeous green leather.

Check them out. If you have Levenger stuff already, tell me what you think of it. I'm considering investing in a nice notebook or folio.