If you are like me, and there are plenty of us out there, then you are clicking on these pictures in order to enlarge them, and then poring over them, drooling.
Anyone who knows me well, knows that stationery is one of the best gifts I can receive. I love paper of all kinds; the textures, the smell, the feel, the design. Besides gifts from other people, I am constantly looking for paper wherever I am; garage sales, thrift stores, clearance aisles, and gift stores. I never pay the $18 price on the back of the box or I’d go broke. Instead, I feed my addiction by buying used, bartering, and keeping an eye out for clearance-priced stationery and paper. I have picked up a vintage box of stationery for as little as 15-cents and an expensive brand on clearance for $2.00. I go through a lot of stationery and printer paper, and so do my children. My daughter Beth and grand-daughter Rebecca are most like me in their love of paper. I put together a big gift bag of envelopes, decorated paper, and stickers for Becca for Christmas this year and that was a big hit. If Beth is having a bad week, I know the same thing can brighten her spirits.
I feel rich with all these choices. Like a shelf full of books, these drawers of paper give me great deal of satisfaction. Finding the perfect piece of paper to write a friend on is a delight to the senses.
Occasionally, I’ll go through these drawers and sort through the boxes of stationery and piles of papers and put together a packet to sell at my garage sale or my sister’s consignment store. My niece who works there could probably feed her own addiction just through my cast-offs. Knowing how much I love paper, she has asked me before how I can stand to get rid of any. The answer is simple, really.
Just having the paper isn’t enough. I have to use it and enjoy it. Sometimes a lovely design has a rough texture and I don’t enjoy writing on it. Other times the design becomes a burden to my sense of aesthetics. I have to ask myself things like: do I really want to write a letter to my friend Mary on vintage owl paper I bought for 15-cents? Whatever it is, if the paper isn’t being enjoyed and used, there is no point in keeping it around. By occasionally selling some of it, I don’t feel guilty buying something different.
Now I think I’ll go do something constructive, like write a letter to a friend.
Mary Potter Kenyon 