My Favourites: August Stationary Haul

I am obsessed with stationary. I used to work in one of the big office stores so you can imagine how much of my monthly wage I actually ended up keeping hold of. You can never have too many pens, notebooks, pencils and colouring pencils. I don’t care how old I get, I will always love this time of year as its an excuse to browse all the new stationary. Why should it only be the kids and teenagers going back to school having all the fun in buying stationary? Exactly!

I wanted to share some of the stationary that um, cough, fell into my basket or more accurately, made a flying leap. I love things that help keep me organised (I need all the help I can get,) and seriously, I have so many pens but that still hasn’t stopped me buying more so my haul is a mixture of various things. Where I can, I have put a link to things in case you want to check it out (I have not been paid to feature any of these products – they are things I have brought and just wanted to share.)

Firstly, it’s The Weekly Times from Fox & Star. £11.95 + postage and packing. 

I’ve previously mentioned this on social media. I saw this in a haul I watched on You Tube and absolutely loved the look of it. There are fifty sheets in total and what I love about it is that it includes Saturday and Sunday too. A couple of desk planners I have brought in the past only cover Monday to Friday and for what I want to use it for, which is blog planning, this is ideal. It’s also not dated so it’s flexible in where in the year I decide to use it. I love the fact that it has a protective plastic cover and it’s so smart in appearance. I adore this desk planner and it is going to become a permanent item in my stationary pile.

The second item in my haul are these Harry Potter themed notebooks from The Literary Emporium (£4 each.) 

If you’ve not guessed by previous posts, I love Harry Potter and get excited when I find Harry Potter themed things. I adore these three notebooks from The Literary Emporium. They are A5 in size and have 80 recycled pages so they are perfect for slipping into my handbag. I have been using the ‘Advanced Spells’ book for my to-do lists and it’s great for that too. The quality of the paper is lovely and the covers are quite sturdy (mine has survived a few trips in my bag which is a little like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag.) You can buy just one book at £4 or all three for £10. Bargain I reckon and a must for Potter fans who also love to write.

Paperchase and WH Smith Goodies.

My haul would not have been complete without pens. I have gone a little mad on that front (I can eat rice for the rest of the month, right?) Where pens are concerned, I tend to find ones I like and stick with them but I have branched out a little this month. I have brought a packet of the Staedtler triplus fineliners and adore them. As well as those, there’s these lovely gel pens. They are from Paperchase and come in such pretty colours. Like the triplus pens, they are so lovely to write with and great for when I want to write in different colours for different things I am working on – for example, Novel Kicks or my own book.

The other set of pens are absolutely gorgeous to write with and I’ve been using them for a while (but brought a new packet this month.) They are the Schneider Slider Memo XB ballpoint pens. They are so smooth to write with and I’m slightly obsessed with them. They are an example of pens I’ve discovered and stuck with.

Along with the cat pen (see below,) I’ve continued with the cat theme. Paperchase have loads of lovely cat patterned stationary at the moment and I’m in heaven. I couldn’t resist this pencil case.

I also couldn’t resist these little page markers from WH Smith. I use them in my to-do notebook and they are great for marking the current page I am on.

Next is a To-Do check pad from Hema & 7 year Kitty Pen. 

Again, I saw this on a You Tube video and I had been looking for something like this little to-do pad for a while. I love lists and I seriously need them when I have loads to do as I am likely to forget to do something otherwise. The paper is lovely and it’s so cute. I glue a page from here into the Harry Potter notebook on a daily basis and it fits so nicely. I am getting a load more done since I’ve brought these. I am not sure whether Hema are stocking these directly now. I brought mine from Etsy. I love it. I also love the pen which is the 7-year Kitty pen. I am definitely a cat person and the little cat on this pen reminded me of my own cat, Buddy. This is a lovely pen to again, have with me in my handbag. I have been using it a lot and so far so good. You can buy the pen from Liberty.

Secret Garden Adult Colouring Book by Johanna Basford (RRP £9.99.) 

The next item a lot of you will be familiar with I think and that’s the Secret Garden Adult Colouring Book by Johanna Basford. I’ve had this a while but have been obsessed with it over the last few weeks.

I adore colouring (yes, I am 33 and I love colouring.) I find it so therapeutic and it’s lovely to sit down and do for a while (especially if I’ve had a particular stressful day at work.) This is a pastime I have always enjoyed; ever since I was little and so the fact that there are adult colouring books available is something I am very happy about. This was the first one I brought and I love it. It’s so beautifully and intricately drawn. It’s a pleasure to colour in this book. I am eagerly awaiting Lost Ocean, which is due out in October.

The Literary Listography (Chronicle Books, 2014, RRP £12.99.) 

The Literary Listography: My Reading Life in Lists. I think the books in this series are really fun and this particular one was made for me – it’s books and lists!

I am looking forward to filling this in. I like books that give me a record of things (which is why I like the Q&A Five Year Diary.) It’s nice to go back and see what it was that you were liking etc at a given time. It would almost be interesting to fill one of these out every year. That would be an interesting project. The questions in this are really fun. For example, my favourite book covers, my literary heroes/heroines and fictional heroes I’d like to go on a date with (Mark Darcy.) I think I am going to enjoy filling in this book and I can think of a few friends who would like it too.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.