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It is that glorious time of year, where we fulfill our social obligations to family, friends and aquaintences. It is time to do the Christmas cards. However, all of the cards I run accross are made with very porous and open grained paper. I would like to use my wet flex nib pen to put some artful words in the card, but the card paper wicks horribly. Other than using a page out of my Rhodia book to include my words, is there a better solution for this? Is there a brand of Christmas card which is made of firmer and less wicking/bleeding paper?

The Boston Globe recently interviewed Crane & Co. creative director John Segal. http://postscript.crane.com/paper-habits-boston-globe/http://postscript.crane.com/paper-habits-boston-globe/ Reminds me of visiting my Uncle John's print shop as a kid. Happy reading and writing.

I found this sparkle paper on (Who'd have guessed?) a site that sells electronic parts overstocks. The paper is difficult to photograph. To the eye, it looks like silver glitter. To the camera it shows reflected light in several colors. All the photos are of the same sheet of paper. The paper is 22 or 24 pound. I use it when making greeting cards, but it takes fountain pen inks, too. YMMV. http://www.allelectronics.com/item/spp-1/sparkle-paper-8.5-x-11/1.html

Hi all, Until I fell in love with fountain pens earlier this year, I used Vistaprint for my custom greeting cards (I upload an image for the front). I recently did a test inside one of the cards I created through Vistaprint and while it wasn't as horrible as I had feared, before printing more cards for myself, I wanted to find out if anyone else had other recommendations for customized foldover cards. I did comb the forums and found some posts, but these were several years old and I know there is a good chance that companies might have updated their materials/process since then. Has anyone out there recently (e.g. within the past year) used Cafepress, Zazzle or Vistaprint? If so, how FP-friendly did you find their customized cards? Are there any other services you could recommend? I live in Canada, so am looking for services that ship to Canada and are still affordable. I'm mainly interested in foldover-type notecards in which I can upload/create my own front image but would be interested in hearing about any FP-friendly custom printing service. Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions! Debbie p.s. I know I could make my own cards from scratch and sometimes do, but also do cards in bulk as thank you notes, etc. Thanks!

Pink Roses Floral Stationery Portfolio I discovered this lovely stationery folio at Barnes & Noble this weekend. I couldn't resist the beautiful roses in pink and purple; so entirely perfect, as though they were made just for me. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f8/a3/bc/f8a3bc5c40443c4920f9f1fc5cdf48a6.jpg This folio includes 10 cards and 10 envelopes. They are decorated with roses. Even the inside of the envelopes have the beautiful rose design on the inside. The folios were $9 each. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c2/dd/59/c2dd5911191a3786dc3056fec033c9f9.jpg There were only two of these sets at my local B&N, and I had to get them both. I asked one of the clerks if they had these restocked often, and he confirmed my suspicions that they are unique and the stock is infrequent. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6e/70/9f/6e709f8ef27cb4bf159a527100d00602.jpg I was so excited to bring them home and test it out, but at the same time knowing I only have 20, I also want to cherish them and to savor each precious card and envelope! I inked up my TWSBI Mini Rose Gold & White with a broad Pendleton Butter-Line-Stub with Mont Blanc Lavender Purple ink. I think the dark purple ink coordinates well to the darker colors in the rose design. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/85/f0/34/85f0345e3cba7af006732ba830aacf24.jpg I wrote down verse one and verse three from an old hymn called "Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting." It is currently one of my favorite hymns and the words lift up my soul in beauty and peace! So I know the big question - Is it Fountain Pen Friendly? http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3c/3b/30/3c3b3048e35e0b30eb3c71e31f3add6c.jpg And the answer is YES! I did notice a tiny bit of feathering where the ink was laid down really wet, but I had just freshly inked my pen so there was a lot of ink in the feed - more than in an ordinary writing session. No bleed through, no show through. The paper is a bit thick, I am not sure of the weight as none is listed, but by my guess it is thicker than 32lb but not as thick as 65 lb. Again just my guess! The ink color looked absolutely gorgeous on the cream colored paper! Swoon worthy! I don't know if this would do well with something extreme like an Ahab flex, but for finer nibs/drier inks to moderately wet it appears fine from my one sample. As I use more through time and try different inks and nibs I will get a better feel for what this paper can handle. Here is the photo from the B&N website: http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780641699634_p0_v2_s260x420.jpg Over all I am very well pleased! My only regret is that I may never be able to find it again. I did with some searching find it on the B&N website, although it is sold in stores only and all stores near me (within a 3 hour radius) are sold out. Here is the link to the product on B&N website: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-pink-roses-floral-large-stationery-portfolio-s-10/12604445?ean=9780641699634&itm=1&usri=9780641699634 If I ever come across more of this gorgeousness I will definitely be indulging in purchasing more of it! Has anyone else tried any papers by the brand Kartos? The label also says San Lorenzo Italy. Please share your experiences and thoughts! And to leave us with a last image of those gorgeous roses... http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/cb/9e/c6/cb9ec6fc91109b4b441ea8cedb823e06.jpg

I would like to leave this message on this subforum too, but with a twist. As we can see in the chatter subforum: "Hello everyone! I would like to ask something, not for me, though: In the next weeks, there's a birthday for someone who is related to a member of this forum. As s/he likes to visit it from time to time, I can not give all the details here, but I can be vague enough for telling something here without giving away the surprise. I would like to do an origami proyect for him/her: I will write a birthday card and then send it with an origami figure (think of a crane, a bird, etc). Since a single letter won't cut it, what about sending lots of them? If you want to participate but origami isn't your thing, lots of tutorials can be search in youtube/google, from the easiest to the hardest " I need people who will write a bithday card for someone, but I'm a bit lost about what should I write on the card. Also, if anyone wants to participate by sending only a card (no origami figure), fell free to do so! By the way, if anyone needs more details, like address or who is the person I'm talking about, send a private message to me! Thank you very much for reading this post, and I hope that you all will help me. ~atamantara