Note: When selecting a pen for your journal or planner, make sure the ink is waterproof. I started using a Staedtler Triplus Fineliner in my daily notebook a couple of months ago. It’s thin, easy to hold, available in lots of colors, and doesn’t dry out when the cap is left off overnight. Unfortunately, I forgot to check whether the ink was waterproof. And then this happened: Don’t let this happen to you. It was…
A few weeks ago, I mentioned my notebooks and sketchbooks. I also keep a calendar-style scrapbook, using a 9” x 12” wirebound mixed media Strathmore Visual Journal as the substrate. Each two-page spread covers a single month. I glue in decorative paper, photographs, ticket stubs, and ephemera I’ve found along the way. By the end of 2013, my scrapbook documented two years of my life. It had grown fatter than its spiral binding could accommodate,…
Today the United States Supreme Court ruled that the religious rights of a closely held for-profit corporation take precedence over the federal law (the Affordable Care Act) that mandates health insurance plans offered to the corporation’s employees cover the certain preventative healthcare services, including contraception.* Hobby Lobby, the arts-and-crafts retailer, is at the center of this controversy. Don’t like their policy? Don’t shop there.** In the past, I’ve shopped at Hobby Lobby when I could manipulate…
Have you ever thought about what the phrase “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear” really means? It’s another way of saying that you can’t make a high-quality product from poor-quality materials. Don’t waste your time and money using cheaply made, sub-standard materials; it will only cause you frustration and end with work you simply aren’t satisfied with. If you want to produce quality product, use quality materials. (If you are patient…
It’s no secret that I have an addiction to pens (and pencils and paint). When I see pens on clearance, I’ll test one out to see if it’s one I’d like to add to my collection. Sometimes, the only testing surface available is the shelf tag itself. One day as I uncapped a pen to test, I reached for the shelf tag and realized, to my surprise, that I had Been Here Before.
