Archive for the ‘stationery’ Category

paper mountain

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

paperwork

Thought I was lost? I was. I am. I’m stuck in paperwork hell and I’m unable to see the carpet through the sea of bills, filing and tax nightmare that is currently my bedroom floor. This picture is pretty much me. If the next frame of this series had the lady sliding back down the pile and knocking it over and making more of a mess, then that would be completely accurate.

Anyone who came to my house for Layla’s birthday probably saw the walls of my bedroom lined with folders, papers, piles of goodness-knows-what and if they looked closely they might have seen the top of my computer monitor on my paper-covered desk. That was last week, but the sad part is, it’s been that way for months. I’ve put it off and off and procrastinated my butt off, but it’s finally caught up with me and I’m dedicating my life right now to getting myself organised.

This time I’m going financial year to financial year, trying to get the whole year into one large folder. Problem is the receipts. I need a whole other BOX to house that babies. Clearly, I buy too much. And clearly I don’t buy enough paperwork storage. But what is the perfect way to store this fire hazard? I hate that we’re meant to keep things for seven years (or is it 5?) – HOW? I think the tax department should hand out rebates for Kennards Self Storage…

And if my attempts at storing the paperwork aren’t bad enough, I’m also useless at keeping up with all the things that need immediate attention. Like bills, forms, passport reapplications – I’m even slack at claiming Medicare or sending off invoices and they’re giving me money…

So, I must have some sort of allergy to paperwork. But I’m doing my best to overcome this. This year is set – I finished it today – which is great news for the accountant who I plan to see in JULY this year, not November. But there are some seriously overspilling folders temporarily stamped with years that date back to 2004, so I’m guessing it’s going to be a while yet before I’m back in the land of living. And blogging.

If you’re truly horrified by this post and have some secrets of organisation/paperwork you wish to share with me, I will be sooooo eternally grateful!!!

{image by Google Images}

Posted in all about me, stationery | 20 Comments »

why write when you can stamp?

Friday, April 9th, 2010

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Apparently my laziness has reached a new low. I’m now so lazy, I can’t even be bothered to write my own name. So I had a special stamp made up so I can just press it on in one swift, easy motion… I discovered Etsy seller Emilie Friday via The Blah, Blah, Blahg during my Blogging Your Way course. I was meant to be reviewing Miss B’s site, but her post on this calligrapher had me linking through and ordering a stamp with my name and blog address in pretty cursive. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with it at the time, I just wanted it. This was obviously before my Unintentional Spending Ban.

And so it arrived, I loved it, played with it and popped it in my “stamp” box, knowing it’d come in handy at some stage. I’ve been planning to have mini business cards for the blog and my work by Moo, but like a lot of things I plan to do, haven’t got around to it yet… So I grabbed some scrapbooking paper, leftover bits from my sister’s wedding and even some envelopes with cool security prints on the inside (the diamond pattern!), glued onto thin cardboard, got stamping and cut out into small rectangles to pop in my wallet. I usually just end up writing the blog address and my name on a piece of paper, so this has got to be better than that! And I can handwrite my email address or phone number – if required – on the back.

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I think these little stamps are great for small businesses – especially those in your own name! Think of all you could do: “with compliments” slips, the backs of handmade cards or receipts/invoices, swing tags, envelopes etc. Also check out the larger stamps with full addresses for business or personal mailing and letterheads.

And as an added bonus, it’s great for keeping fidgety three-year-olds busy while you’re trying to take photographs for your blog and they’re “sooo bored”. Here is Zak’s handiwork (below) and I’d have shown you my clever advertising idea (he stamped all up his arm and on his hands until they were black) but I did the grab, rush and scrub before my walls were covered in black handprints…

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And so, if you’re not sick of seeing my name in stamp form, check out the first pic again for my wish to you! See you next week.
Bx

Cute Calligraphy Self-Inking Stamp, $US30, Emilie Friday

{Images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}

Posted in buys, discoveries, shopaholic, stationery | 14 Comments »

bridal shower invites

Monday, February 15th, 2010

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Welcome to Monday! I hope you had a lovely weekend – how did you spend yours? I was a single parent this weekend as Steve headed off with the boys for his brother’s bucks weekend. He returned in one piece, which was nice. I visited with my sisters to plan some wedding decorating for my baby sister’s wedding and tried really, really hard not to get too close to my baby nephew for fear of spreading my germs (I am STILL sick. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?!?!). That was torture really – how can you not just swoop up an adorable baby and shower him with cuddles and kisses and belly raspberries?!

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But I also got my act together and finished Gretchen’s bridal shower weekend invitations. A while back I made a (very) mini moodboard of the colour palette and a few ideas that I thought summed up how the day would look. Then I condensed it even more to fit in my Amy Butler journal (I’ve got serious mileage out of that one!), took a photograph of it (below) and turned it into the invitations. I had planned to stitch the two pieces of cardboard together (the other side has all the details – we’re hiring a beachhouse. heaven) with the sewing machine but got lazy and short of time so cheated and did the fake dash lines instead and then glued them together. Then it just looked weird and impersonal with no names to the recipients, so I used my fancy schmancy decorative-edged scissors and cut some plain white cardboard into nameplates, handwrote their name and tied it up with a ribbon. And then I was happy with them. I like that it gives the guests a little idea as to what might be in store on the day… And I thought I’d share it with you as an idea if you ever have the job of organising the bridal shower/hens weekend/shower weekend/whatever.

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Now I just have to prepare myself over the coming weeks to be child-free for two nights for it! I haven’t left Layla overnight yet and even with Zak I think it’s been three whole nights – two of them only because I was in the hospital after giving birth to Layla. We’ll only be half an hour away but……. Any tips for parental separation anxiety? Ha!

Posted in craft, stationery, wedding | 7 Comments »

modern vintage correspondence

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

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Calligraphy, wax seals and lace… there is something so beautifully old-fashioned about these things, they sometimes seem out of place in today’s fast-paced, techno world. But they’re far from stuffy if slightly modernised. After recently finding the “G” stamp and wax stick I used to seal our wedding invitations more than six years ago, I decided to mix the old and new and create handmade cards for some of the events I have coming up.

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I love calligraphy, but I’m much better at making smudge marks than beautiful curvy words with the traditional tools, so I swapped the quill and black ink for a white ink pen and black card stock, drew a ribbon of doodley lace and wrote a fancy-but-not-too-fancy congratulations along the top of it. I dressed up the envelope by using decorative-edged scissors on the back flap and sealed it with the G stamp (albeit, slightly crooked!) – appropriate considering Cass is marrying into the Graham family (Mitch is Steve’s brother). Simple but striking. I think. But I’m not one for buying Hallmark anymore and seeing as the invite stated no gifts, I thought a little handmade card along with a bunch of hand-picked lavendar from the garden might make a more meaningful “no gift” gift than someone else’s work. Or, maybe I’m just cheap!

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On that subject, I often wonder how my handmade cards are received. Many people I know don’t appreciate handmade or understand the world or Etsy or realise the giver is thinking more about them by creating something than buying something. So do you think there is ever a time when you should leave it to the professionals? Weddings? New babies? Or can it be handmade all the way?

Have a lovely weekend – I have Mitch and Cass’ engagement party Saturday, some cabin painting to do Sunday and the funnest-ever “homework” to do in-between. I’ll tell you more about it Monday. What’s more, I’ll show it to you Monday. I’m feeling all very inspired again lately to create – patterns, paintings, cards, moodboards, vignettes… It’s energising to see the results and so I hope if you have some spare time this weekend you do something creative too. It’s good for the soul! x

{images: Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}

Posted in craft, stationery | 10 Comments »

project tuesday: DIY personalised gift wrap

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

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I realise this is hardly genius, original or in need of a dedicated project post, but bare with me! With so many people I know having babies at the moment, little gifts are in order. To make them that bit more special, I decided to wrap them in personalised paper. All you need is access to a computer and a printer that prints in colour and A3, or for really small gifts, A4 is totally fine.

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There is no need for fancy fonts – simply use the symbols in Wingdings and Webdings which are in pretty much everything like Paint and Word. Then alternate the baby’s name with a symbol and choose your colours. Copy and paste until you’ve filled the entire page, print and wrap! Easy. Symbols range from the skull and crossbones and bus seen here to ambulances, aeroplanes, famous landmarks, arrows, flowers and patterns. To get the symbols here try:

Bus: Webdings “v”
Skull & crossbones: Wingdings “Shift n”
A good flower for girls: the asterix in Georgia font
The font for names: Georgia

I can’t show you what’s inside because I haven’t gifted them yet, but let’s just say that Oobi Baby and Bonds together make great gifts for newborn girls and boys. Have a fab day!

PS: the ribbon is Martha Stewart. Warning on that, when you buy ribbon from Martha, check the price first and don’t look all gobsmacked at the counter when they tell you the total price! It was something like $20! But I do love.

Posted in craft, party, project, stationery | 20 Comments »