Outgoing Happy Mail

Hello everyone,

a few weeks ago I sent some happy mail to the USA. It's my first artsy happy mail creation and therefore I would like to share it with you :)

First of all, here's a quick flip through:

After binding the pages and crafting the envelop, it looked like this:

I already have so many other ideas in my head for more artsy happy mail creations - can't wait to start working on those :)

What kind of happy mail have you sent lately?

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

Martha's Poppy Seed Torte

Hi everyone,

I figured I didn't post anything food related lately so I thought I could bother you with something yummy today :)

Last weekend I felt like baking. Recipe of choice was Martha Stewart's Poppy Seed Torte!

I made a few tweaks to the recipe but all in all stuck close to the original version:

• less sugar
• whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour
• ground almonds instead of ground walnuts
• no almond extract
• no confectioner's sugar for dusting

And that's how the result looked like:

Fresh out of the springform!

Super fluffy inside :)

Totally yummy, I tell you, it was all gone within a blink of an eye ;)

What did you bake lately? Maybe you also tried out a Martha Stewart recipe?

Yours
Uta

Pen Tips

Hello everyone,

a little while ago, I was gifted six pen tips from my friend Dena. Today, I want to show them to you in more detail....

The names of the nibs where NOT written with the nibs on the right!

As you can see above, three of the pen tips where made by Esterbrook. According to Wikipedia, Esterbrook once was the largest pen manufacturer in the USA founded in 1858 by Richard Esterbrook. They produced dip pens until approximately 1967, the year in which the company was acquired by Venus Pencils.

While looking up the Esterbrook company online, I stumbled upon The Esterbrook Project, a great website with lots of information about the company and the nibs. And according to The Esterbrook Project...
...the R. Esterbrook & Co. Radio Pen #942 was produced in the 1930s (more information)
...the R. Esterbrook & Co'S Falcon Pen #048 was one of the most popular Esterbrook nibs, listed in the company's catalogue over decades from 1876 on (more information)
...the Esterbrook School medium Firm #556 was for example listed in ads from 1918 (more information)

The Barion Pen Co. is unfortunately hard to find online. I could not find any proper website about them despite lots of auctioning platforms offering some of their vintage nibs. If anyone of you has some information about the company and/or their nibs, please share it with us in the comment section.

According the the Pittsburgh Digital Library the J.R. Weldin & Co was founded in 1852 as the J.R. Weldin Book and Stationary Store. The company operates under the name Weldins today. Unfortunately, I could not find any information about the Falcon Pen tip. Again, if you know more, please let us know.

The School Nib #53 by Electric is yet another mystery. There are a couple of nib listings online but it is hard to come across some information about the company. So yet again: If you have some information, please be so kind and share it with us.

Alright, that's it so far for today.

Here's a quick video where you can see the nibs "in action" :)

And here's a close-up of the writing from the video...

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

Vintage-Inspired Poetry Pictures

Hello everyone,

not too long ago I ordered a package of vintage-inspired poetry pictures at Amazon and I thought they would be worth sharing :)

Here we go...

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

My new Harry Potter inspired Journal for 2017

Hello everyone,

I just recently moved into a new journal and I thought I should share my new journal with you before I actually start writing in it :)

So my journal of choice this time is The Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Journal by insights!

As you can see in the video, I already own The Harry Potter Hogwarts Journal by insights about which I already wrote a short blog post a couple of months ago.

Does anyone of you also own a Harry Potter journal or plan do buy one?

Thanks for watching!

Yours
Uta

Simple Booklet [Tutorial]

Hello everyone,

today I want to share with you a simple A5 booklet I made just recently:

I used the following materials to craft it:

• Scrapbooking paper for the cover
• D-C-Fix foil for the cover
• 5 sheets of simple printer paper for the pages
• Thread for the binding
• A drop of glue

I had all these things already lying around so I did not have to by anything for this project.

So here're the instructions:

1. Take some scrapbooking paper in the size of the sheets of paper you intent to use for the pages. This will become the cover. Fold it in half. Also fold the sheets of paper in half.

2. Cut out a piece of d-c-fix foil which should be slightly bigger in size than the cover. Then put the foil onto the cover.

4. Cut the foil around the edges and the spine as shown in the picture below.

5. Then fold the foil over all around. It might be a bit hard to properly fold it, a ruler or bone folder might help.

6. Use a needle or peak to make little holes into the spine of the cover. I used a peak as you can see and I decided to make a tiny hole every cm (2.5 cm are about 1 inch). Afterwards do the same with the sheets of paper.

7. Using thread and a needle, sew along the spine through the cover as well as every sheet of paper. Simply go up and down, up and down,... until the end of the spine....

...then turn around and sew all the way back.

8. Tie a small knot to secure the binding. I also put a small drop of glue onto the knot to make sure it does not unravel.

And that's it!

Let me know what you think about the tutorial! And in case you are actually making some booklets for yourself using it, let me know as well, I'd love to see your results :)

Happy crafting, everyone!

Yours
Uta

Bullet Journal Calendar Setup for 2017

Hello everyone,

at the end of December I finally took care of the basic setup of my 2017 bullet journal for work. This basic setup mostly consist of some calendar overviews. Check out the video below to see what I'm talking about...

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

January 2017 Planner Setup

Hello everyone,

it's 2017 and I finally moved into my new planner! Well, I actually already moved into it in the last week of December but don't tell anyone ;)

I decided to decorate and set up my planner month per month. So during the last days of December I took on January. And this is the result:

I stuck to a quite simple and clean design with just a bit of color here and there as well as some simple stickers. The theme is clearly Winter.
Besides birthdays and certain appointments you can also find some moon related icons in there. That's because just recently I got myself a moon calendar for 2017 and am planning to integrate a few of the recommendations from it into my daily life. If you want to read some more about it, keep reading. If not, feel free to stop here :)

Alright, so you decided to keep on reading. Well, here we go...

First of all I divided the days of January based on the zodiac signs into root, flower, leaf and fruit days.
Root Days: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Leaf Days: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Flower Days: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Fruit Days: Aries, Leo Sagittarius

Now together with the actual moon phase on a certain day (waning, waxing, new, full) there are special recommendations of what to do and what not to do during a special period of time. Here are a couple of examples without going too much into great detail:
Example 1: Air your rooms thoroughly on flower and fruit days. Air just quickly on leaf and root days.
Example 2: The waning moon phase is perfect for cleansing masks. The waxing moon phase on the other hand is perfect for regenerating masks.
Example 3: On flower days you should pay extra attention to your hydration, especially between 3PM and 7PM.

I decided it would be too much to put all that information into the monthly layout. So I just noted down which kind of day it is, the moon phase and a tiny window icon which indicates either air thoroughly or air quickly. Further information will be available in the weekly overviews where it actually says "cleansing mask", "avoid fatty foods", etc.

Alright, so far so good. Let me know whether you are interested in my moon calendar and what else you would like to see/read about concerning my 2017 planner!

Until next time...

Yours
Uta