Archive for Editorial
Art Journaling on Tumblr
One of my favorite blogs is Art Journaling – a photo blog on Tumblr. I can scroll through the images forever & ever… so much inspiration, so much feeling of connectedness through all the different peoples art expressions. When I started to journal, I’d occasionally draw in my books but now I do it a lot more- to the point of dedicating whole journals to the cause. I especially have fun painting and coloring the backgrounds in which to return at a later date when the creative bug bites.
Have you ever tried art journaling? If no, take a look at some of the images on this site and let me know if they leave you feeling inspired….
Want to learn more about art journaling? Check out these sites:
Art Journaling as a Creative Process
Black Friday Madness
The day following Thanksgiving in the US is commonly known as “Black Friday” and though not a holiday, it is the official start of the holiday shopping season when most non-retail employees have the day off and retailers offer incredible deals to encourage spending.
Sale items are often offered so low (and in limited quantities) that people will camp overnight (or longer!) to be one of the 1st people to buy the designated item. The excitement to receive a low price large screen TV or laptop has resulted in people being trampled and sometimes even killed by frenzied shoppers.
I just don’t understand. I can’t think of a single thing that would get me to go through that much time, effort & chaos. But then again- I don’t have children and maybe that adds a layer I’ll never understand.
Are you going to do any Black Friday shopping?
Special uses for dots?
It turns out that our dotPads and dotWebbies are extremely popular and I got to wondering who may have discovered any special or unique uses for the dotted paper. I know I’ve seen several people use them for practicing calligraphy – and one person told me they used them for mapping computer networks. I can personally envision them being used for designing a garden, drawing up plans for a dream home or creating a map to a stash of buried treasure.
How are you using your dots? Show me and I might just share here on the blog – send pics to stephanie@rhodiadrive.com
Link Share Friday
Ideas for Creative Writing Projects and Practices at Writing Forward
“Woodlands” Journal at Ingrid Dijkers
Overdue Webbie Review at Rori Rants
Franklin-Christoph Penvelope 6 at Whatever
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen Hard Tip Review at The Pen Addict (One of my fav’s for drawing!)
November Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper at Journaling Arts
hoodoo_operator shows off some Rhodia at EDC
De-ice with Rubbing Alcohol at Cool Tools
A clean desk encourages letter writing at The Missive Maven
Spirals get Bound at Quo Vadis Blog
Does Grammar and Punctuation Matter in Journals? at Journal Addict
Linde Werdelin SpidoSpeed Black Orange at Monochrome
1946 Silver Pearl Vacumatic Major at Fountain Pen Restoration
21 Secrets 2012 by Dion Dior
Vintage Vintage Leather Black Writing Case, Stationery and Correspondence Holder pictured above available in Inklinks Etsy Shop.
Exacompta No. 1 {Another Flip-Thru} from Tammy on Vimeo.
Great Gift Idea: Gfeller Case for Webbie
For those of you looking for a leather cover for your Webbie, may I suggest a Gfeller notebook cover? It has a unique slit in the rear pocket which allows you to utilize the elastic band and can be ordered with an interlocking pen loop.
The cover above is pictured as new, a natural English Kip leather finished without the addition of dyes or other cover-up colorants. The age beautifully over time as is shown in the photo below.
Finished your Holiday Shopping Yet?
I know some people like to shop early, but I am not one for early decorations and blaring holiday music the minute the clock strikes midnight on November 1st. The only shopping I really love is at the art store or book store, though I can’t deny the amount of cool stuff in the stores that only seems to show up around this time of year.
As the variety of online retailers continues to climb, people are able to experience shopping from the convenience of their homes to avoid the rampant holiday commercialism but I think maybe something is lost during that process. I worked in a mall for 10 years and dreaded every holiday season but once I left, it was easier to see how special and magical a time of year it can be to the wee ones. One thing that I did enjoy was that everyone in the world seemed to show up to that tiny mall around the holidays – I got to see everyone.
Most people I hear from are not a fan of the early holiday retail push – what do you think about it? Does it help to get you in the holiday mood? Or do you simply tune it out?
I am a Post-it Junkie
Any time I walk into Staples and see this display, it’s like I am immediately 8 years old again and seeing the toy aisle at Christmas time for the very first time. I know I have no need for any more of these products but I look them over again and again, certain that there must be a new color or new size that I can’t live without. I am a complete sucker for the little plastic flags and divider tags and there are piles of them all over my house.
Do you use any of these products? and what did people do before these were invented? Scotch tape? I wonder if the tape market took a hit when people started using stickie notes.
Veterans Day 2011
Veterans Day is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday observed on November 11 which marks the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice which ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)
Today is expected to be the last Veterans Day of one of the longest military conflicts in our nation’s history, as we welcome home our Iraq war veterans. Dec. 31 marks the the date by which virtually all 39,000 troops left in Iraq have been ordered to return to the United States.
New Rhodia Circa Meeting Books now available from Levenger!
Check these out! Exclusive to Levenger are the new Circa Rhodia Meetings books!
From the Levenger website:
- Annotation margin is compatible with the Cornell method of note-taking
- 60 Circa-punched sheets of 90-gsm Clairefontaine paper, milled in France
- 1/2-inch Circa discs can hold up to 80 sheets
- Durable translucent cover with Rhodia orange cover sheet
- Pages are printed in Rhodia’s signature purple
- Printed and assembled in the USA
- Junior: Paper, 5 1/2W x 8 1/2H; cover with 8 discs, 6 5/8W x 1/2D x 8 5/8H
- Letter: Paper, 8 1/2W x 11H; cover with 11 discs, 9 5/8W x 1/2D x 11 1/4H
So what do you think, will you buy one? I myself am a big fan of the Meeting Books and also of the idea that I can rearrange things at will.
Web Planner Review from Sandra Strait of Life Imitates Doodles
Sandra Strait, author of the popular Zentangle inspired blog Life Imitates Doodles recently reviewed our new Rhodia WebPlanner.
(The WebPlanner) “has Rhodia’s signature silky smooth paper, and the overall look aims at elegance rather than flash. You’d think elegance would be difficult when some of the print is orange. However, combined with gray print, it has a surprising sophistication.”
Sandra – we just love your tangle designs in our Rhodia products! Please visit her blog for the full review – maybe even stick around and peruse her amazing tangle designs which are all accompanied with step by step patterns on how to create them.
Fond Food Memories
My grandmother used to drink Folgers instant coffee. (The best part of wakin’ up, is Folgers in your cup!) She’s been gone since 2000 and I wonder what she’d think of all of the gourmet coffee available today. She had been a cook in a nursing home for 18 years somewhat of a food snob long before the Food Network started converting us. She’d go on group tours to other countries – to Italy to see the Sistine Chapel, ask her about the trip and she’d describe it by the food she ate.
I remember once sitting on her couch and watching a cooking show where they were making something with portabello mushrooms. I told her I wished I could make that dish but how portabellos (at the time) were pretty expensive. I couldn’t even get that out of my mouth before she is pulling a $10 bill from her change purse and pressing it into my hand. “Buy them” she says…
I really appreciate that she encouraged me to experiment in the kitchen. I only wish that I would have written down some of her recipes. She made a meatloaf that I still dream about – nothing has ever come close.
Is there anything that one of your relatives used to cook that you long for? Something that you have tried to replicate but cannot?
Photo courtesy of Mike Rodriquez.
Rhodia’s 2 Night Stand
For the second year, Rhodia has sponsored the 2 Night Stand held this past weekend in Chicago, IL.
What is the 2 Night Stand?
Thinkers & makers dive into a weekend long creative bender. Brilliant concepts and ideas are explored. No deliverables are promised. People come to think, be challenged & collaborate.
2 Night Stand is an invite only event that brings together a select group of creatives to collaborate. The entire creative process is catalogued and posted live online and they consider it a creative growth experience. Visit the event feed for more photos from the event.
Most Popular Pads
The most popular Rhodia pads are the No. 11 & No. 12 (3 x 4 and 3 3/8 x 4 3/4 respectively). This has held steady for a number of years–people like the pocket-size ease and convenience. 
But another size is rapidly closing the gap…the No. 16…which is sized at 6 x 8 1/4. So much so, one of the top two may be replaced by the end of this year.
Are you surprised? What is your favorite size Rhodia pad?
Outage Continues – Update!
*Update! No sooner than did I drive home from the library did I notice lights on in my neighbor’s window. Yaaaay! Power has been restored! I didn’t think we’d get it back until Thursday night – so happy! I’ve got my heat cranked and am not turning it off until I start to sweat.
Today is Halloween and still no power. Electric company website has updated the estimated time it will be restored from noon today, till 11:00 pm on Thursday.
I have been driving around to charge my cell phone in the car and to find some place to work via Wi-Fi. Panera didn’t have a single available parking space and so I gave up on the neighboring Barnes and Noble.
I am now sitting in the library (amazed that I found a parking spot) only to discover that their Wi-Fi is down and all computer terminals full. So once again, I rely on my trusty 3G iPhone to provide you an update through my WordPress app.
At least it is warm in here. There is a local woman here who is homeless. I’ve seen her in the library before. Sitting here now listening to others talking about being without power I imagine for a brief time, some elements of our world are now like hers.
Stay warm people – each moment I am realizing how much I take for granted. Might be time for me to say a few words of thanks….
Power Outage
It shouldn’t be snowing in October in northeastern Pennsylvania- and certainly not 7-10 inches worth. The leaves hadn’t even finished turning colors and now most of those trees have lost their limbs due to the weight of the snow. Roads in my neighborhood look like a war zone with all the downed branches. My power was out for most of Saturday, came on for about 3 hours late in the evening, then out again and it’s been out ever since.
No electric. No heat, but we do have hot water. Neighbor has a gas stove so I baked up a bag of chicken patties and cooked off 22 eggs- pretty much the only things in my fridge as I luckily didn’t go shopping for the obligatory eggs, bread and milk. (I guess everyone makes French toast in the snow.) I didn’t grab snow goodies because I didn’t know about the storm until midday Friday. In lieu of heading to the store, I cleaned my furnace grates and turned on my furnace for the first time this year. I thought that would be a good idea but since it’s powered by electricity, it is somewhat irrelevant as I type this into my phone while wearing 3 layers of clothes under a blanket and wearing a spelunking headlamp.
I do not live in a rural area and power outages of this length are relatively non-existent but not to worry- I am treating this like an adventure. My only real concern is for my bird- I have a cockatiel named Sunny and I am worried he might freeze his feathers off. His cage is covered with blankets and I ran out to a local drugstore and bought him a hot water bottle which I put at the bottom of his cage. I think he will be okay.
Dinner was Popeye’s chicken and we are listening to football on a portable radio. I read for a while on my Kindle. Been saving my phone battery and only checking the web for brief snips at a time. The electric company website states the power should back on by noon tomorrow (Monday) so hopefully I can get things back to normal. Power goes out, you see how much we take for granted- all of the little conveniences in our lives…
Since I didn’t take any pictures of the storm with this phone, I am instead including an image of a local favorite hot dog shop.
Happy Halloween!
PS This is my first time posting from my phone. If the formatting is all wonky, please forgive me
