Midori wanted to remind you how wonderful stationery can be. The fun of writing, the pleasure that comes with making someone smile. To thank you all for your support over the years, Midori is launching a 70th anniversary campaign.
Join us and see what the 70th year will bring.
MIDORI's aim is to bring you products that will enrich your daily life. If you can't help smiling when you use Midori products, they have succeeded. To thank you all for your support over the years, Midori has created limited-edition 70th anniversary sets of their most popular products for you to use with your favorite MIDORI stationery.
The set includes an MD Fountain Pen with a clear shaft and an original bottle of ink. The original ink color and the smooth writing achieved by the pen suit all writing styles. Makes a great starter set for people just getting into fountain pens!
The Multi-Year Diary enables you to collect memories from the same date in different years on a single page. Look back on where you were this time last year, or even three years ago, and record small changes or gradual personal growth over time. The joy of using this journal continues to grow year after year.
The Diamond memo has been a longstanding favorite since its release in 1961. Setting the standard for ring-bound memo pads, it has gathered a loyal following over the years. Seven varieties have been made available to suit a range of uses
The XS Stationery series was designed to create some of the smallest stationery in the world, combining functionality with portability. This eight-piece kit in a special case is ideal for the office, classroom and home alike.
Ukrainian folk artist Mariya Prymachenko was born on January 12, 1909 in the village of Bolotnya, Kyiv Oblast; she died on August 18, 1997.
Mariya Prymachenko was a self-taught artist whose popular work of the naive or primitivism genre portrayed Ukrainian folk art based on animal and plant life. Many of her masterpieces are included in a collection of folk art at the Ukrainian National Museum in Kyiv.
Mysterious and emotionally charged, her colorful work depicts age-old traditions of Ukrainian master-craftsmen, bringing forth their understanding of good and evil, of ugliness and beauty. Mariya Prymachenko’s art interprets fabulous mythological creatures and takes its roots in folk legends and fairy tales, nourished bу the real life and culture of the Ukrainian реорlе.
UNESCO declared 2009 as the year of Mariya Prymachenko.
Learn more here: https://www.wikiart.org/
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Celebrate International Women's Day by honoring women in Bookbinding. We are lucky to be part of this creative and hard-working lineage!
One of the by-products of the Industrial Revolution was a change in the status of women working outside the home. Working from home–doing piece work in and around all the other jobs that were part of running a home, or being part of the “seasonal work force” for her husband’s business–had been part of women’s lot for centuries. But as industrialization moved manufacturing out of the home and the workshop and into the factories, women as well as men followed.
The women, American-born and immigrant, who flocked to the American factories could count on making significantly less than the men, regardless of whether they worked in the mills of New England or the sweatshops in New York City. Bookbinding was one of the newly industrialized businesses that was relatively well-paid. In 1851, Horace Greeley of the NY Tribune estimated that a working-class family of five needed $10.37 a week to live on. (1) But most (male) factory workers didn’t make that. The average a man in a factory job could earn at this time was about $6 a week–roughly 2/3 of Greeley’s suggested household income. Women (and often their children) had to make up the balance.
Regardless of gender, work in a factory unrelenting: six days a week, 12-13 hours a day, with perhaps two half-hour breaks for meals. There were four more-or-less universally celebrated holidays: Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and “Fast Day.” For this a woman working in the textile mills might make $1-2 a week. Women working in the bookbinderies did better. How much better depends on when you ask, as well as whom. In 1835 (a year notable for strikes across the US, in many different industries) Philadelphia bookbinders not only moved to a $3/week minimum wage for women, but reduced the work-day to 10 hours. (2) But ten years later in New York City, the Tribune reported that there were between 2,500-3,000 “girls” engaged in the “respectable binderies” at wages ranging from $1.50 to $6 a week (the average being about $2.50 a week), depending on their speed and skill. (3) As a rule, bookbinding was a better industry for women than tailoring or the mills, but better, too, is a relative term.
Payment by the piece, which was common in factories and binderies, was another way for binders to keep their costs down. For example, for folding single octavo sheets (a signature) a worker might get $0.02 per hundred; for folding double octavo sheets, $0.035/hundred; for folding duodecimo sheets, $0.0525/hundred. Signature stitching, in the days before the advent of mechanical book stitchers, would bring $0.025 per hundred. (5) The by-the-piece payment system rewarded the fastest workers, although not always the best. Further, as one woman told an investigator in 1911, “I worked very hard, but I tried to keep a schedule, because if one girl turns out too much in a day, they’re apt to cut the rates.” (6)
Social stratification could also work to keep women’s wages low. In the Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners in the United States, published in 1911, class snobbery was listed as one of the obstacles to unionizing. “Bookbinders often consider themselves member of a “profession,” but look upon the women who feed the presses as “working girls.” It was hard to get the “professional” women to identify themselves with the “working” women, let alone join an organization with such a mixed membership.(7) Gradually, the need to come together to negotiate with the bindery owners overcame stratification.
By 1913, women bookbinders outnumbered men substantially: 12,960 men worked in binderies vs 18,449 women. By that time the desired wage for a trained woman was $10 a week, with an 8-hour day and overtime pay. (8) A $520-a-year wage in 1913 fell well below the average individual income of $800; women’s income was still meant to be a supplement to a man’s.
Read More HERE at the website of The American Bookbinders Museum.
]]>Moleskine planners for 2022 make it easier to stay organized.
A planner is more than just a calendar. It is a tool you carry with you everywhere you go that keeps you on track with your deadlines, meetings, and appointments. More often than not it holds the forecast of the year ahead and as time moves forward, it stores the memory of everything you have accomplished, from day-to-day activities, celebrations, anniversaries and people you have met with, to goals and dreams.
At the end of the year you can look back through the days and relive your best moments, taking stock of where your journey has brought you. And unlike your digital calendar, your paper planner will never need recharging or leave you stranded on the go with insufficient battery power.
Different layouts meet different needs. Whether you write a lot, like sticking mementos into your planner, or have tiny writing and fill its pages with to-do lists, there's a format for you. From extra-small to extra-large, horizontal to vertical, hard or soft cover, Moleskine Planners will take you from pocket to desktop, January to December, and even analog to digital. A daily planner gives you a full page for every day of the week - ideal for busy people with lots of scheduling to do, for anyone wanting to zoom in on the day-to-day details, or keep a daily diary. Also great if you just like to have a lot of space to play around with. Choose between pocket and large and soft or hardcover.
Weekly planners are great for goal-setting. The two-page layout, with calendar days on the left and space for notes on the right, is perfect for keeping those weekly lessons, deadlines or projects in check with enough room for extra info, sticky notes and last-minute ideas. The horizontal and vertical layouts are perfect for long-term planning, go-to overviews and keeping the headlines of activities in mind.
Monthly planners help you keep the big picture view. For truly organized types, color coding activities will reveal long-term patterns. For the less organized, never miss a deadline, payment, or meeting again.
Choose your favorite size: pocket, large or extra large.
Working alongside other local organizations, prosthetists and physical therapists the DC Amputee Cycling Clinic organizes a cycling event, through Rock Creek Park, as a way to help get amputees more active and teach them new skills, such as adaptive cycling. Organizer Katie Savage believes that teaching new skills and working out, not just your body but your mind, is vital to healing.
Jenni Bick Custom Journals is honored to be able to participate and donate journals, featuring an inspiring quote from our 2021 Black Voices Collection.
There are a multitude of reasons for why journaling is so beneficial. One of them being that it not only helps to unlock your inner potential but it is a key to self care and self healing. We make the journals but you give them new life and new meaning. Thanks to people like Katie and her organization, we'll always be dedicated to making and bringing you the best journals we can find.
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Poetry holds a special place in our communities, our culture, and for many in their own everyday lives. National Poetry Month was inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. It is the largest literary celebration in the world, highlighting the importance of poetry every April in hopes of inspiring others to keep celebrating poetry all year long.
This April marks the Academy of American Poets 25th annual Poetry Month. To celebrate, we are now accepting submissions for our Third Annual Poetry Contest!
THREE winners with the best "Renewal" themed poem will be selected by our staff. The 3 lucky winners will each receive a $100 Gift Card! The rules are simple:
At Jenni Bick Custom Journals, we believe that anyone can be a poet, you just need the right tools to inspire and foster your creativity.
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Client: BrainJolt Media
Product: Moleskine Hardcover Notebook - Black
Customization: Foil Embossed Logo
BrainJolt Media is in the business of capturing attention and engaging audiences on the web. Not an easy task in a sea of content and nonsense social media postings. Working toward this goal is a a small team of energetic content creators, and the team is growing quickly.
To help build their corporate culture, BrainJolt makes sure everyone in the office has their own Moleskine notebook, branded with their logo, of course!
~ Nicole @ BrainJolt Media
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Blue is a dusty, stone blue, like a delphinium or the spring sky at dusk.
Rosewood is a deep, rosy pink, an elegant shade with a vintage feel inspired by wild roses.
Petal pink is an airy, subtle blush, evoking spring blooms and bridal bouquets.
Lavender is a gorgeous purple-grey, the color of its namesake wildflowers or clouds during a storm.
Fern is a light, grassy green, a fresh, energizing shade.
Let’s talk specs--the softcover binding is flexible enough to be convenient and portable, but sturdy enough that you can write in your lap. The lined pages are archival and acid-free, so your writing will withstand the test of time. The heavy and luxurious 120 gsm paper is fountain pen friendly, as well as accommodating to a wide range of mediums for writing, drawing, sketching, and painting.
We source the leather for this collection from the same American tannery, Moore & Giles, that supplies the leather for our longtime favorite Islander Collection. Fans of those journals will love these fresh new colors. Best of all, the hand dyed leather and handmade construction ensure that each and every journal is as unique as the words you’ll write in them.
Whether this is your first journal or a new addition to your ever growing collection, we can’t wait for you to try them!
]]>In celebration of Black History Month, this collection of journals highlights Black authors who use their voices to inspire, engage, and empower. These authors, amongst countless others, have used their words to raise up the voices of the African American community. Their words remind us that we also hold the power to enact change through our writing and our stories. It is our responsibility as individuals to enact the change we wish to see in the world.
For our second annual Black Voices series we asked our team to select 4 authors that not only embody the power of the written word but have also used their own voices to further equality for people of color. Learn more about the authors we selected and why below.
Angie Thomas is the award winning author of several bestselling books for young adult readers, notably 2017’s The Hate U Give. Her works inspire youth to find their own voices and tell their unique stories. In an interview with NPR, Thomas states, “I… want [young readers] to realize and understand that activism has different forms.” Her work exemplifies the way that fiction writing can be an activist practice.
Nikki Giovanni is an acclaimed African-American poet. She started her decades-long career as a trailblazer in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s, going on to produce a prolific body of work that continues to remain influential today. Her work has been awarded countless accolades, including seven NAACP Image Awards, the Langston Hughes Medal, and the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award. Her work prominently features themes of Black power and gender equality.
Audre Lorde was a groundbreaking feminist, civil rights activist, and writer. She earned an MLS degree from Columbia University and was influential in academia from early in her career. She described herself as a “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Her work addresses the intersections in her experiences of race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a journalist and writer who has been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and many other publications. His writing addresses a range of social issues, and particularly focuses on white supremacy and issues facing Black Americans. His 2014 piece “The Case for Reparations” was identified by The Atlantic as one of “the most important pieces from our archives on race and racism in America.” He is the recipient of a National Book Award and the MacArthur Genius Grant.
]]>We are so excited to finally share our newest addition, SPECIAL EDITION YVES KLEIN BLUE REFILLABLE LEATHER JOURNAL , with you all!
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This limited edition journal is inspired by the "the most perfect expression of blue" used by renowned French artist Yves Klein. Klein used International Klein Blue, IKB as its also referred to, as a central theme in many of his works. His use of this rich and vibrant blue cemented not only his reputation as one of the most astonishing artists of his generation but also the limitless possibilities of color.
Now in 2021 a new blue called YInMn Blue, the first blue pigment to be discovered in over 200 years, is finally available to the public. The pigment is far more vivid and saturated than Cobalt or even Prussian Blue, making it a must have for many artists. Although they're not the only ones that are trying to get their hands on YInMn Blue.
Even industrial companies want to use this new pigment because of its opaqueness and ability to reflect infrared radiation. Making it a top contender for use in building materials.
Today YInMn Blue's versatility encompasses part of Klein's philosophy that color is an “open window to freedom, as the possibility of being immersed in the immeasurable existence of color” . All this, 65 years after Klein first entered what is now known as his "Blue" period, changing how we viewed color.
We invite you to explore not just the limitless possibilities of color with this journal but also the endless possibilities of a blank page waiting to be filled by you.
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If you want this year to be the start of discovering more about each other while growing your goals, plans, and dreams together, it's time to start a couple’s journal!
]]>Many customers have let us know that their packages are delayed this holiday season. We are all worried about Christmas packages arriving on time. We are doing everything we can to ensure on-time delivery. However for some packages, delays are inevitable.
When the USPS’s tracking system marks a piece of mail as “In Transit to Next Facility,” it’s actually just a placeholder message meaning, “We don’t have a more specific scan today, but rest assured, it’s en-route.” It shows up once there has been no other scanning activity within the last 24 hours. Since trucks and trains can take several days to cross the country and move parcels from one hub to the next, there can often be a couple days between scans.
This happens with Priority Mail shipments, since the USPS contracts with FedEx to fly Priority Mail between hubs, which can sometimes take 36 hours or so, and FedEx doesn’t scan individual USPS packages in the course of carrying USPS bags and containers around the country.
A package could have become stuck in transit because it was stopped at a border crossing, in a vehicle accident, because a blizzard has stopped traffic, because the local post office or hub is currently overloaded with packages, or any number of other things which would slow down the movement of the courier vehicle.
Usually, the tracking system indicates if the package is stuck in transit. If the parcel has not moved for some time now, then most likely some of the above mentioned reasons have occurred.
It is important to note that the tracking statuses can sometimes take up to 24-48 hours to be updated, so do not panic yet if your parcel has not changed its status yet. Your package is still within the courier network and, unless otherwise noted, should be delivered. Shipment movement information is captured each time a tracking label is scanned in the USPS or UPS delivery system. There may be several days between scans if the shipment is going cross-country or moving between countries or territories.
With the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is common that parcel scans are missed. Still, your package is in transit and will catch up with scans soon. Once an item is posted, it's on the move.
It's easy to get anxious if your UPS tracking status says "In Transit: Please check back later for scheduled delivery" or "Your package has been delayed due to events beyond our control" with no further updates.
Due to COVID-19 outbreak, UPS is experiencing a rush of packages and there can be delays. All the shipping companies are slammed because of all the volume. There are trailers sitting at facilities full of packages because they can’t be processed. Give it a day or two and see if it clears up.
In March 2020, UPS suspended the service guarantee for all shipments from any origin to any destination as part of the company’s response to the virus.
Cited from UPS.com: "Effective March 26, 2020 and until further notice, we have suspended the UPS Service Guarantee (also referred to as the UPS Money Back Guarantee) for all shipments from any origin to any destination. For all U.S. origin shipments, the Service Guarantee suspension became effective as of March 24, 2020."
It can be frustrating to wait, but your package will be delivered.
It is important to keep in mind that the estimated delivery time is exactly that, an estimation. It is an average calculated based on the time it usually takes to a given courier company to bring a package to its destination.
The estimated delivery time depends on the distance and the type of service you have booked.
Most likely, it will turn up in the next few days
If your tracking number says delivered and you haven't received your package, here are a few tips:
Please check with your neighbors. If you live in an apartment complex, please check with your building.
USPS and UPS delivery vans have GPS that sometimes automatically updates a shipment as "delivered" prematurely. Please wait 2-3 business days because the package was most likely marked as delivered accidentally, and will arrive soon.
If the package still hasn't turned up in the next week, we'll be glad to file a claim with the Carrier. Before we go to that step, though, let's give it a few days.
Wrong or incomplete address – This is the most common cause for undeliverable shipments. You should always double–check if your address has all the necessary details for it to be transported. Contact the courier company once you have realized that your order has some incomplete or wrong details written. The courier company will then make the changes.
Weather conditions or traffic – It is not so rare that during busy periods, such as holidays, or heavy snow, the parcel would take longer to arrive at its destination.
News outlets have taken notice of unprecedented shipping delays this holiday season. Here is a sampling of recent news coverage:
Snowstorm and holiday shipping gridlock delaying nearly 10 million packages a day, CBS News
Thousands of delayed packages are piled up at Pa. Postal Service facilities, Philadelphia Inquirer
Don’t let delayed packages ruin your holidays. Here’s what to do instead, The Washington Post
]]>It’s hard to know what to do. Over the last few years, as the kids have scattered around the USA, and school schedules have given way to work schedules, Christmas, and Hannukah, and Thanksgiving, have become almost the only time the whole family can get together.
For Jenni, Christmas at her Mom’s is the most special time, especially the traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Thanksgiving is my big day, everyone at our house, sharing love from my kitchen. Of course, traditions have changed over the years with new faces joining our family, and old ones moving on, but the holidays remained always a time to cherish each other. But what are we to do this year? There’s little we want more than to be together, and nothing we fear more than making each other sick. We still haven’t really decided what to do. What about you? Do you have your plan yet?
For Jenni and I, as for many millions of Americans, the holidays are always also a business season. In one capacity or another I’ve worked over 40 Christmas retail seasons, and Jenni 30 plus. More than once one or both of us have closed a store to rush home Christmas Eve, or lit the Hannukah lights in the back room. Many years we drove through the night heading to Washington DC from Martha’s Vineyard, dashing down interstate 95 in our four wheeled minivan. For us every retail Christmas was hard, exhausting work, always teetering on the edge off chaos. And also, every retail Christmas was exhilarating, full of bonding with staff, suppliers, and, yes, the UPS guy, or the ladies at the post office.
If we are confused this year about our family celebrations, we are only slightly less uncertain about what “the season” holds for our family business. If we fill the store with new merchandise will people come, and how well can we serve them with a six customer limit on who we can let in the store? We’re more certain about shoppers on line, but with a reduced staff will we be able to help everyone in a timely manner? And will the delivery services hold up to the increased demand, from us, and from much bigger companies? For me one Christmas Miracle is always watching the already overworked postal and UPS workers load up several hundred packages on Cyber Monday, or December 22, confident they’d all end up under the tree. It’s being said a lot this year, but let me add my voice to the chorus – these men and women ARE among the heroes of our time, and it’s great to see them get some recognition. But will the system be able to handle that last holiday rush this year?
Frankly this has been a hard year for us. Thankfully we’ve been spared by the virus, and know our woes are nothing compared to those who’ve lost loved ones or cared for the sick. It hurt to close our Martha’s Vineyard factory warehouse, but at least everyone there remained in good health. The DC store was closed entirely for much of April and May, and didn’t open to the public again until July, but our internet sales continued and over the summer we slowly brought staff back, though now there are seven of us instead of fourteen, and what awaits us is more uncertain than anything we’ve faced since we first opened our doors. And it’s not just us, our suppliers are also facing shortages off labor and supplies. It’s a balancing act between just not being able to do all we know we need to and trying to be sure we can serve as many of you as well as you deserve.
The only way we can see to deal with these circumstances is to try to spread our business out a bit. Last Saturday we started putting Christmas cards out in the store, three or four weeks earlier than last year. And we’re going to have our annual “Black Friday Cyber Monday” sale early too. We don’t have all the details down yet, except we’ll offer the same discounts we normally would, only earlier and for a longer period of time. With uncertain supply chains we might put the most popular items on sale as they come in, but our overall goal will be to give you the bargains you’re used to, just not concentrated on one weekend. So keep your eyes on your inbox, we’ll be joining that deluge of emails you’re already getting, sorry about that.
We’ll do everything we can to help make your holidays a success. And, by the way, if you’ve figured out how you’re doing the holiday please share any great ideas you’ve come up with. Post below, or share your story on our Facebook page. We’re all in this boat together, together we can make it.
Stay well, Robby
]]>Yes!
Store pickup is available every day, from 11-6. We are located at 1300 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Place your order online, select Pick Up instead of shipping, and watch for an email to let you know your order is ready. Curbside pickup orders are generally ready in about 4 hours. Personalization may add 1-2 days to turnaround time.
We are doing everything we can to minimize contact and keep our team and customers safe.
When you arrive at the shop, please follow the posted instructions and call us at the shop to confirm you are there for pickup. Kindly wear a mask and keep 6’ between yourself and others. Our team member will meet you just outside the door. We’ll have plenty of hand sanitizer available to keep things germ free!
We’re working hard to get your orders ready as quickly as possible! In most cases this will take only a few hours. Personalization might add 1-2 days to our turnaround time, so we can be sure our most experienced embosser handles your request.
You will receive an email as soon as your order is ready for pickup.
Shipping allows our team to safely work behind the scenes to send goods to you — no contact required. This allows us to keep our teams safe and minimize interactions for everyone.
It's the safest way to operate right now and we hope you'll consider the cost a small price to pay for the convenience and safety.
As always, for orders of $100 or more, shipping is free.
We ship most orders via Priority Mail, and they typically arrive in 1-2 business days. If there is an unexpected delay, we will do our best to let you know.
We are fortunate to have a spacious store and back room to work in and keep your shipments flowing. We are following all CDC and local DC government guidelines, including working in small teams in staggered shifts to minimize our staff's risk, increased sanitization, and wearing masks.
]]>I’m a 62 year old co-owner of a small business selling journals, pens and stationery just below Dupont Circle on Connecticut Avenue. Up the block my uncle once had a book and record store where I got my first weekend job, 50 years ago. A family friend ran a camera store and photo studio in the space next to us. Even though I went away for 20 years this is my home ground. We are three years into a ten-year lease, and this was the year my wife Jenni and I were going to consolidate and possibly expand. Now, of course, we’re just wondering how we will survive.
In March we laid off 28 workers here and at our sister company in Massachusetts. Thanks to a PPP loan we are able to pay half of our employees for the next eight weeks – thank you, America. But what then? What about all the tourists who won’t shop this summer in DC? What about those lost sales which won’t allow us to build up to our back to school selection for September, much less prepare for the holidays? What about the 1500 Mother’s Day cards we bought in January? What about the vendors we can no longer pay, many of them literally kitchen table presses? What about our staff? And, what about our future?
No, we’re not a necessary business, though I know many of our customers would disagree. To them a good journal is as necessary as a book, or that new movie, that favorite sport, an ice cream cone, a haircut might be to you. People plan their lives in our journals. They do their art, write their poetry, record their lives, seek spiritual expansion. Fortunately, we do have a website, and can ship to people who can’t wait, but 2008/09 almost broke us, and this…
We’ll do what we can. In February we installed hand sanitizers just before all the suppliers ran out. Staff literally spent all their free time cleaning. But our journals are meant to be held, our pens to be played with, our paper to be fondled, and we would not and will not let our shop become a vector of death and disease. We worry about our future, but not at the expense of another person’s life.
Ultimately whether and when to re-open to the public is an ethical question, a question of risk and values. Scientists can’t tell whether or not to open, only how we as owners and what we as a society can do to make it as risk free as possible to do so. So we follow the news, try to understand the rapidly advancing science, and wait for the answers we need. For our little shop I want to know just how airborne the virus is, and whether we’re really seeing casual transmission through contact on surfaces. We want to see the curve really bend, and for scientists to tell us an effective system of testing and contact testing in place. Heck, we just want to be able to get regular testing for ourselves and our staff.
We always tried to bring beauty and love into the world and we won’t stop now. We’ll figure something out, we have a healthy family and a community who love our store. It won’t be easy, but we know we are still among the lucky ones. And as eager as we are to see you face to face, across the sales counter, or in among the shelves, we will wait for the scientists to tell us it’s safe.
]]>Online orders are now shipping. With a skeleton crew of just Jenni and Robby, we are embossing and shipping out online orders every day. With just two of us working, please expect some delays, but rest assured we are working as fast as we can to get your orders shipped.
Our retail store at Dupont Circle remains closed for now.
The District of Columbia has mandated that non-essential businesses remain closed to the public until May 15 (This date could change, no-one knows yet). The rest of our team is sheltering at home, and we are all excited to see your smiling faces in the shop when it is safe to get back to normal.
While we are able to ship online orders, we cannot offer curbside pickup until we are given the green light by city officials.
While we wait for the store to reopen, please keep up with us on social media, where we are doing our best to provide you with journaling content. If you have specific questions, please email info@jennibick.com.
We hope you all stay well. And we are grateful for your ongoing support.
Warm wishes, Jenni & Robby Bick
]]>Our retail store at Dupont Circle and our online operations are shuttered for now. The District of Columbia has mandated that non-essential businesses cease operations until at least May 15. This is a heavy blow for our team, who is struggling to stay afloat. Rest assured that we’re working on new ways to provide you with great customer service and quality paper goods when we reopen.
While we are able to accept orders, we cannot ship or offer curbside pickup until we are given the green light by city officials.
While we wait to reopen, please keep up with us on social media, where we are doing our best to provide you with journaling content. If you have specific questions, please email info@jennibick.com.
We hope you all stay well. And we very much appreciate your ongoing support.
Warm wishes, Jenni & Robby Bick
]]>At Jenni Bick Custom Journals, we continue to closely monitor the recommendations and reports about coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Washington metropolitan area.
Our retail store at Dupont Circle and our online operations remain OPEN FOR BUSINESS, operating as usual. Looking ahead, local businesses like ours will surely be impacted in this period of uncertainty. Rest assured that we’re working on new ways to provide you with great customer service and quality paper goods even while taking precautions as the situation develops.
For the health and safety of our community, we have developed the following guidelines:
While we expect the store and web operations to continue on our regular schedule, please check the website for up-to-date information. If you have specific questions, please call the store (202-721-0246) or email info@jennibick.com.
We hope you all stay well. And we very much appreciate your ongoing support.
Warm wishes, Jenni & Robby Bick
]]>In Pathways, Garmey creates tableaus of animals’ habitats from around the globe, inspired by these animals’ instinctual flow with the balance of their ecosystem. Each tableau incorporates a book structure that suggests the innate encyclopedia of knowledge of nature that guides each animals’ place in the world.
The books contain suggestions of migratory maps, daily paths, flora, and fauna. Each animal tableau has a presence of intelligence and dignity in each way of life. All of these animals are impacted by human lack of deference to the balance of nature and indeed our entire planet. In contrast, these animal tableaus bind artifacts of human origin with the animals’ natural worlds, reminding us of our ancient roots in positive and fruitful acknowledgment of animal power and coexistence.
Gray Crowned Crane - 3' H - beads, cut paper, wood, wax. 2016
Stephanie Garmey creates imagery inspired by her collection of natural objects, materials, and taxidermy animals. Her meditations on nature use a variety of media approaches: constructions and installations, book arts, painting, cut paper, embroidery, encaustics, wood, glass, drawing, and light.
Installation view of black tyvek cut paper tents with lights. Flying silhouettes of black tyvek birds. 2013
Tree of Knowledge (Detail) 2016
More of Garmey's work can be found here
The IA&A at Hillyer (formerly Hillyer Art Space) is a program of International Arts & Artists (IA&A), a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally. Hillyer is IA&A’s contemporary arts center based at our headquarters in Washington, DC. Committed to serving the public and supporting artists at all stages of their careers, Hillyer presents a series of exhibitions and programs that feature local, regional, and international artists. Hillyer was founded in 2006 and continues to provide significant support to both local and international artists, as well as presenting programs that reach a broad audience and create a platform for dialogue. Their website can be found here.
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Have you ever wondered what makes a One of a Kind truly one of a kind?
]]>The manufacture of Faber Castell indelible inks for fountain pens is an art form. Each one of the vibrant colors inspired by nature requires its own formula and the highest quality ingredients. The excellent quality shows itself in the even flow of ink and the fact that you can start writing with the fountain pen almost immediately, even after long breaks.
An ink is called indelible if it is smudge-resistant, reproducible, light-fast and waterproof, cannot be erased and is resistant to many chemicals and solvents. The elegant glass bottle of the ink becomes a beautiful ornament for every desk. All Graf von Faber-Castell inks are also available as ink cartridges.
A handwritten thank you or greeting card is considered a special appreciation. Just as timeless as such a gesture: fountain pen ink in classic Carbon Black.
Anything but pale: Stone Grey ink on white paper. A very classy connection!
As mystical as the night blue sky: Midnight Blue encourages us to rediscover the charm of our own handwriting.
The light reflections in the glass flacon stage the pure brilliance of the ink, allowing the noble Royal Blue to shine in all its nuances.
Simply heavenly: Cobalt Blue sets the tone.
Blue magic: This brilliant ink tone inspires us to put down our thoughts and ideas with a beautiful fountain pen.
A jewel for every desk: Fresh turquoise ink in an elegant, finely fluted glass flacon.
Green light for vibrant colors: Viper Green boosts our creativity.
Naturally beautiful: Soft Moss Green, inspired by nature's abundant colour spectrum, touches the senses.
A class of its own: gentle, earthy olive green provides a feelgood atmosphere.
Our free-flowing ink in warm Hazelnut Brown gives handwritten lines a particularly noble note.
Pure Elegance: Our ink in Cognac Brown blends perfectly with the precious woods of the Graf von Faber-Castell writing instruments.
Developed with utmost craftsmanship, passion and precision, like all our inks: Burned Orange.
Racy in red – the traditional racing colour now takes a pole position and wins both men’s and women’s heart at full throttle.
For a sensual writing experience: our brilliant ink in intensive Garnet Red.
Ink in a rush of colour: Electric Pink proves its fascinating radiance and sends every female heart racing.
Nostalgic flair: Violet Blue was the favourite colour of Ottilie von Faber. By her marriage to Count Alexander zu Castell-Rüdenhausen in 1898, the new line of Counts von Faber-Castell came about.
]]>The District of Columbia is a city filled with creative thinkers and doers. To engage some of the imaginative minds that fill our city, we celebrated National Poetry Month with a poetry contest. With dozens of entries, we had a really tough decision to make, but finally the team was able to narrow it down to three winners. Each received a $50 gift certificate to spend in the shop.
Congratulations to our three winners, and thank you to everyone who participated!
]]>The National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC, and celebrates the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan. Today’s Festival now spans four weeks and welcomes more than 1.5 million people to enjoy diverse and creative programming promoting traditional and contemporary arts and culture, natural beauty, and community spirit. Events are primarily free and open to the public.
In Washington, DC the Cherry Blossoms are expected to reach peak bloom between April 3-6.
The National Park Service defines the peak bloom date as the day on which 70% of the blossoms of Yoshino cherry trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open. The date varies from year to year depending on weather conditions. The blooming period is defined as the time when 20% of the blossoms are open until the petals fall and leaves appear. The blooming period starts several days before the peak bloom date and can last as long as 14 days. However, frost or high temperatures combined with wind or rain can shorten this period. The following is a comparative record of past bud development. The date listed is when 70% of the buds have reached each stage.
For everything you need to know, visit the Website of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. To celebrate all year, shop our Cherry Blossom Collection, a curated selection of notebooks, journals, and paper crafts inspired by the beautiful Sakura.
]]>For many people, getting organized is one of those items that remains on the top of their priority pile but never actually gets ticked off.
If you’re one of those individuals, chances are, you’ve churned through dozens of notebooks, journals, planners, and apps in the hope of locking down that one organizational system that works for you.
But the outcome is more than likely always the same: you try to make yourself fit the system instead of making the system fit you.
If this sounds familiar, you might want to give bullet journaling a try. This organizational craze, which has saturated the news and social media for a while now, is like a planner, to-do list, diary, and sketchbook all in one.
It’s also a trend that shows no signs of slowing down.
Read more on Health Line
]]>I’ll be honest: I’m envious of diary people, the smug, strange genre of human being who possess the discipline to sit down before bedtime and compose actual introspective paragraphs about their daily lives.
But I, too, keep detailed accounts of my days. I itemize groceries for a chicken and feta meatball recipe I want to make next Tuesday; I make a packing list, complete with details about underwear and shoes, for a weekend trip; I brainstorm birthday gift ideas weeks in advance. I spend as much (or more) time detailing my life’s story on paper as diary people do, but I do so in a considerably less romantic and much more control-driven way: I’m a planner person.
According to Dr. Perpetua Neo, a London-based clinical psychologist who studies everyone’s favorite generation to shit on, I’m far from alone. Many other millennials are obsessed with organizing the most minute aspects of their lives, like meal planning, errands, working out, and socializing with friends — and that need for organization comes from a craving for control, which is driving their shopping habits for products like physical planners and bullet journals.
“Millennials are often demonized as being entitled, but actually, the problem is that Generation X just grew up in a context where housing was much more affordable and jobs were more long-term,” Dr. Neo said. “It’s easy to dismiss millennials for being different than their parents’ generation, but in reality, life has changed a lot.”
She continued: “This generation has seen a lack of economic as well as political stability with things like 9/11, and when there’s a lack of stability, we have anxiety. Anxiety is all about that lack of control.”
As millennials struggle to balance side-gig on top of side-gig, Dr. Neo said that paper planners are an attractive way to effectively organize the demands of modern life because they provide a refreshingly tactile break from technology.
According to Emily Roberts, a New York City-based therapist and author of Express Yourself: A Teen Girl’s Guide to Speaking Up and Being Who You Are, writing down tasks and to-dos has productivity benefits over typing them into a phone or laptop.
“When you write it down, you take control over your day or week,” Roberts said. “Writing something down makes it more important in your mind, and you are more likely to remember it.”
She also believes that the analog nature of using planners makes millennials feel more confident about even the most delicate of organizational balancing acts.
“We often get sucked into our devices and waste so much energy,” Roberts said. “One of the negatives about using a device to help manage our lives is that we rely on it and depend on it to remind us of what needs to be done. This makes us less confident, and our memory becomes less effective.”
Of course, young people aren’t contenting themselves with penciling in dates and meetings the way previous generations have. They’re using the bullet journal method, an aesthetically pleasing system that allows them to organize events, notes, lists, and tasks on paper exactly the way they want to.
The flexibility and customization that the “bujo” method promotes gives millennials the space to jot down a ton of information about how often they work out, what they eat, what they wear, and even how much they spend; without even realizing it, much of this generation became committed members of the quantified-self movement, which “embodies self-knowledge through self-tracking.”
As a result of the bujo trend, brands like California-based ban.do have seen planners and paper decorating accessories quickly rise to become their best-selling products. “When we first started doing these five years ago, I bought every planner that I could get my hands on and really dug into them,” Ali Labelle, ban.do’s design director, said. The planners (much like ban.do’s products overall) are clearly marketed towards women, and Labelle said that their core demographic are millennial women who “want to bring a little fun into a mundane practice.”
Labelle and her team solicited a lot of user feedback in designing and updating their planners. For example, ban.do users often prefer a horizontal page format but want space to add their own workflow columns. The team also regularly checks in on Instagram to see how millennials customize their pages; #omgbandoagenda is a hashtag entirely populated by users who share tens of thousands of photos of how they customize their ban.do planners.
“It’s a huge trend in the planner community to post your week planned out. People get really excited and they spend a lot of time formatting the planner; they really take it upon themselves to use things like washi tape, gel pens, and color coding,” Labelle said.
Surprisingly, despite being a generation marred with debt and financial insecurity, millennials who favor paper planners tend to spend between $60 and $80 on an average purchase, which typically includes both a notebook and a planner.
“Paper goods are a growing and thriving industry,” Song said. “The feedback that we regularly receive is that the tangible action of writing something down is satisfying. We know people keep and collect their Appointed planners. It’s about a sense of accomplishment, or it’s practical to hold onto them for reference.”
Natalie Daher, a journalist based in New York City, said that using a physical planner helped her establish a much-needed feeling of authority over her life during the stressful time after she was laid off.
“It gave me the ability to juggle several streams of income, my personal life, and work tasks in a tactile way,” she said. “I’ve hit a steady groove now where I constantly keep track of my tasks and events by day. I even document whatever kinds of media, culture, or art I consumed that week, so I can keep track of different podcasts and books. It helps me make sure I’m listening to or reading new things.”
Daher also said that while she regularly cruises the bullet journal hashtags on Instagram to see how other millennials have styled their weeks on paper, she finds the pressure to make her own weeks look “picture-perfect” enough to post too stressful. Dr. Neo said she often asks patients to be honest with themselves about whether Instagramming their planner pages contributes to that sense of control and mastery over their lives, or whether it’s simply a performative act that triggers counter-productive feelings of anxiety.
Unsurprisingly, social media’s tendency to present influencer-ized #goals lifestyles can also exacerbate the need millennials feel to control aspects of their lives they feel the least secure about — like eating and exercise.
For example, making a detailed weekly meal plan that includes a vegetable-heavy grocery list and recipes is a way to feel in control of one’s diet. Meanwhile, a millennial might meticulously outline a work-out plan in their planner to feel fitter and healthier. “We are being taught that we need to healthy,” Dr. Neo said. “That’s a lot of pressure, especially in age groups [like millennials], and so planning is a way to have control over the way your body looks.”
On top of the creative draw of bullet journaling, Daher also said that she loves how her planner gives her the freedom to visualize and manage the time she dedicates to self-care, which she accomplishes by crossing out an event or leaving intentionally blank spaces on days where she feels it’s time for a break.
Likewise, Ali Labelle sees ban.do users carving out time to reflect through many of the weekly spread photos they post to Instagram.
“People are realizing that it’s good to take a minute and think about what’s coming up, like, ‘How do I need to prepare, how am I fitting in my self-care into that routine?’” Labelle said. “A lot of women are sitting down on Sundays with their planners. I think it’s because our intoxication with ‘busyness’ is, to some extent, dying down.”
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Reprinted from Vox, by
Some clarity and inspiration from Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio. Amy teaches art as self-care classes online. Visit her website for a deep dive into the world of art journaling and to sign up for a free class.
An art journal is the same as a written journal, except that it incorporates colors, images, patterns, and other materials. Some art journals have a lot of writing, while others are purely filled with images. It’s a form of creative self-care.
The beauty of an art journal is that anything goes. It’s a no holds barred space where I can express and explore my feelings through images, writing, and just playful mark making. It’s a healthy, expressive outlet at the end of the day and one of my best coping skills.
Regardless of whether or not you have any art “talent” or training, all you need to art journal is some simple art materials and a willingness to play with the art materials. It’s the play that’s healing!
This is what I love about art journaling. My pages frequently go through several stages and layers. Often I will just spill out my feelings on the page in writing, or “scribble” a bit with a paintbrush. I don’t worry at all what it looks like, I just allow myself to “let it all hang out” and that feels good. It often helps me de-stress, get things off my chest, or figure out exactly what is bothering me about a particular situation.
The next stage (which might happen that day, or a different day) I would layer over the page with a stamp pattern, finger paint, gel pen scribbles, gesso, or collage. I love watching my confused, stressed out, annoyed, worried page turn into something new – and often – something imperfectly beautiful. It’s a great metaphor for life – being willing to stay with my feelings, try some healthy ways of airing them out and understanding them, and watching them transform.
Here’s some samples of the types of art you might make in an art journal:
It’s never too early to get a head start on planning for the new year – especially when there are so many fun and unique diary covers to choose from!
Our collection of 2019 12-Month Dayplanners has finally arrived. The collection features a wide variety of cover designs from the recently released and bestselling series. And with four unique interior layouts to choose from, these planners are the perfect companion to help you begin the new year organized and in style.
This year Paperblanks has added 17 new cover options to their collection of diaries – designs that have never been offered as 12-Month Dayplanners before.
Be sure to check out our must-read tips before choosing your next dayplanner!
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