I bought this beautiful postcard, with a couple of others, at a car boot sale yesterday.  It’s not in great condition, but I thought it was so pretty.  The postmark on the back dates it to February, 1915.  Printed on the back is the following:

This is a HAND-PAINTED REAL PHOTOGRAPH of a BRITISH Beauty.

MISS GLADYS COOPER

I bought the card because I was charmed by the picture, but when I got it home and read the back, it made me smile even more.

My Dearest Sis,

I suppose by this time you have got off with some of the soldiers at Frome or Westbury. If they were nice ones keep them till I come down, or tell them you have a nice sister that wants a young man.

Love From Your affectionate Sis

Hilda

]]> http://www.papernation.co.uk/blog/2010/08/09/a-postcard-from-1915/feed/ 1 http://www.papernation.co.uk/blog/2010/08/07/my-new-imperial-typewriter/ http://www.papernation.co.uk/blog/2010/08/07/my-new-imperial-typewriter/#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:18:30 +0000 Emma http://www.papernation.co.uk/blog/?p=904 I’ve been having a bit of an Angela Lansbury moment this afternoon having sat down at my new Imperial typewriter to bash out the next instalment of ‘Murder She Wrote’ – oh if only…..

This is it,  my Good Companion portable typewriter -

and here’s the rather stylish metal carrying case  -

You may be wondering why I bought this little piece of  last century cutting edge technology.  There’s no reason other than I saw it in the local reclamation yard last weekend and thought it looked lovely.  I resisted until today when I obviously decided it was imperative that I own an Imperial portable typewriter.  There it was sitting on the same bench – it was meant to be.

It does actually work and I’ve typed a few words but the carriage return sticks a bit, no matter, I think I have a long way before I publish my first novel.

I’m very pleased with my purchase, it was the typewriter or an iPad, how could I not.

Working at Papernation I obviously love stationery of all sorts and I’m a collector of bits and bobs to clutter up my desk.  It’s not a conscious decision to buy or acquire “desk accessories”, it just happens.

Anyway I was looking at this rather ugly paperclip pot -

- and I thought  it could do with a bit of refurbishment and I had just the thing – my MT tape – and here’s the finished result, which I think is quite cool -

MT tape is masking tape in fabulous colours and designs from Japan.  It has so many uses I can’t list them here but it’s great for wrapping presents, sticking photos in a travel journal and decorating  just about anything.  It’s also great because you can peel it off, re-position it and re-use it.

You can see a range of the tape that we have here but be sure to check back as we have new designs coming next week.

We love this brand new ad for Stabilo pens. It’s due on TV from next week, and will be showing though the breakfast TV slots.

There are six different cover designs and the diaries have everything you need to keep organised throughout the year.  They’re a handy pocket size,  10cm x 15cm (4″x6″) and have a hardback cover and elastic closure band.  There’s a page for personal stuff, name, address, email, etc, monthly planner pages, pages for notes, names and addresses section and maps of the London underground, New York subway and Paris RATP system.  The diary pages are in a week to view format with a separate Saturday and Sunday rather than the usual shared space, which is handy if you have a busy weekend schedule.

The six designs are:  Keep Calm and Carry On, Flora & Fauna, World Map, Paris, Travels and Flora Bird.

View all the diaries here

Oh yes, and and the full range of calendars should be arriving in our warehouse next week.

The tape comes in an array of gorgeous colours and patterns, as well as different widths.  Here are a few to whet your appetite:

Using the tape couldn’t be simpler – just stick it on the item you want to decorate – and if it doesn’t look exactly right, just peel it back and start again! Because it’s a paper tape, you can write on it too!

And if you need some ideas on what to create with this fabulous tape, here’s some inspiration:

Use the tape to:

• frame your kids’ art on the fridge
• decorate a pen pot for your desk
• create mini bunting
• pimp your Moleskine or other notebook
• mark important pages in a book
• decorate writing paper and envelopes
• make greeting cards or scrapbook collages

Some great examples:

Photos courtesy of MT Masking Tape

And finally – my own creation…I made this bookend last night using a brick I found in the garden:

Today’s Big Bank Holiday Bonanza Competition is another photo competition! This time, we want you to ‘display your desks’…just tweet us a photo of your desk…it can be untidy, piled high with all sorts, or a gleaming example of minimalist chic.  There are no hard and fast rules for how we’ll pick the winner – it will simply be the desk that says something to us, that appeals the most in some shape or form.  So let’s see your desks….

The prize for today’s competition is shown above, a Modern Geometry business card holder and set of two pen pots.

As with previous competitions, we’ll add the entries to a gallery on this page, so you can see how the competition is shaping up as the day goes on…

UPDATE:  The winning desk is LitoApostolakou – congratulations!

The winner will be announced at the end of today, and we’ll post entries here throughout the day.

HAPPY DOODLING!

UPDATE – 8.45 SUNDAY 30TH MAY

WE HAVE A WINNER – MrsTracey!

To enter, just tweet a photo of your furry feline friend (or friends) to @papernation, with a few cute details.  The winner will be chosen at the end of today (Saturday).

Here are the entries so far…

UPDATE – 29 MAY – 9.25PM

THE WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED – GIZMO!

Anyway, the first offer we have is FREE delivery on all UK orders throughout the Bank Holiday weekend.

Second offer:  10% off all sticky notes and memos.

More offers and competitions will be announced throughout the weekend!

Everyone who reviews one of our products online this weekend will be entered into a prize draw to win a £25 voucher to spend at Papernation! Just go the item’s main page, find the ‘Write Review’ button at the bottom, and tell us what you think!  Please add your email address to your review so that we can contact you in the event that you win the prize draw.   We’ll remove the email address from the review before it’s released for publication on our site, and we’ll keep the email address only until the competition is over.  That’s all there is to it, couldn’t be easier…