Shopping Highlight: a stationery tour through Berlin

Last month we had a little city trip to Berlin, Germany with my husband and in-law family. Of course I also had to look up some great stationery stores there and in this post I would like to share the ones I visited. It's going to be picture heavy visual tour from here out which I hope you will enjoy.

Shopping Highlight: Appelboom Pennen in Laren

This past Saturday we had third FPNL group meet-up and this time it was arranged by group member Chaïm and store owner Joost whom organized a meet up in Laren where Appelboom Pennen physical store was also located. About 40 of our group members came, we chatted, there was a "guess the pen brand" quiz and even an ink smelling (and tasting apparently!) showcase (which I missed because I was in the store oogling all the pretties in the store then!)... a lot of fun and interesting things happening makes for a fun filled day!

Here is a photo impression;

It was a HOT summery day so the venue was a wee bit crowded not only by people but the heat as well. So we left in groups to the store to make sure that that wasn't too crowded either...

The store looked very elegant and so many pretty things to see! I esp loved these shelves full with ink bottles! It was tempting to get a LOT there but I reigned it in and bought only 2 products!

I bought the TWSBI Al-Pink and Robert Oster Tranquility ink - the KWZ ink was bought by my husband - and the rest were all in the amazingly generous goodie bag Joost provided for us! Super sweet and I can't wait to try out all my goodies!

Looking forward to the next pen meet. Definitely stop by the shop in Laren when you have the chance! 

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by my blog today :)

Shopping Highlight: Arturo Manuel Papeleria in Valencia

Last week I was going through the pictures in my phone and I noticed that I have not yet told you about the wonderful stationery shops I had found in Valencia while being on vacation there last March. Well, let me correct that mistake and share one of them with you today, Arturo Manuel Papeleria. This is a picture of the storefront and judging by the advertisement displayed, it looked promising and let me tell you it definitely was!

This is the view when you come in. It's actually quite a large store and they have a variety of items for sale, from from office furniture to luxury fountain pens and even art supplies!! Let me tell you, I was like a kid in a candy store!

The view from the opposite end of the entrance. The kind lady you see at the counter helped me a lot, showing me pens (there were a couple I wanted to see) and I found more of my fave turquoise ink ever and made it my Unicorn Ink!! Yep!! Ok, this is going to be picture heavy, so you can see more pictures of the store below and all will be revealed about the Unicorn Ink as well :)

Shopping Highlight: Kowalski and Gotham Comics in Valencia

This March we've been to Valencia for a week and I wanted to share some highlights with you of shops and places I loved. A note to start off: Valencia is a wonderful and relaxed city, but be aware that the Falles festivities (including ear deafening fireworks!) start from the beginning of March and end on the 19th. While we loved seeing all the wonderful Falles works every neighborhood made, the fireworks was not something I particularly enjoyed. It wasn't a 4th of july, or NYE sparkle show either, it was more a bombardment of firecrackers which were LOUD and SCARY. Honestly, we felt terrified and wished we booked a week later! Never the less, it was a beautiful city, was amazing to see all the Fallas works and definitely an experience to have been there during that time. 

Let's start with one of my fave aria's in the city and that is Russafa (or Ruzafa) which is a popular aria among young creatives. There are several streets on which you can find some amazing fun stores and in the Carrier Dénia on number 20 you will find Kowalski; Cusas Bellas Artes ATC. It's a gallery/arts supply/ vintage/books and shoes store. Now, that is putting the ETC. to work! Eclectic assortment in a small space and definitely worth the visit! 

Storefront during night fall. I love that the shops are open until late :)

This friendly lady gives you a warm welcome at the door.  

The store is packed full with art supplies, art work for sale, shoes, books and vintage items.

So much to see in such a small place! I could have spent days there and yes I did return there 3 times, much to the owner's amusement and delight :)

They also had a whole array of sennelier watercolor tubes and acrylics

And I found a great watercolor set my lovely husband gave to me for my birthday (I was in the store on my birthday actually a month ago now and it was like being a kid in a candy store!)

I put the paints in a Koi pocket watercolor travel set of which I took the pans out. I wasn't enjoying those at all so it was time to upgrade! I am loving these sennelier paints very much!

Back to Valencia in Ruzafa, Gotham Comics was also definitely worth the visit since they are the only comic show we encountered which sold comics in English as well! That was the reason my husband went to the store, me... well I found a different reason...

and his name is Sami. And he is a sweetheart!

This cute black cat greets everyone at the door with a friendly miauw and he certainly stole my heart! 

He came for pets and snuggles every time we visited!

His owner wasn't too amused Sami kept bothering us while shopping so he was told off, but we know he was just making sure we felt welcome in the store :)

Thanks Sami for helping me through Cat-withdrawal symptoms while in Valencia!

When you're in the aria have a drink at Café Berlin, and see here for more shopping tips in the aria. GNOMO is an awesome store with hand made items and illustrations as well.  

Next week I'll share some of my fave stationery stores in Valencia. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Easter weekend!

Shopping Highlight: Art Specially 2017

Well as I hinted last Friday, last weekend was spent at the wonderful Art Specially event in Nijkerk. My lovely husband came with me (both days) to share in the crazy fun and also to make sure I didn't spend too much. Well the latter spectacularly failed, haha! But we definitely had crazy fun!

There were a lot of workshops/make and takes were offered this year again but we only had time for a selection. Also there were lines for the very popular workshops, like the notebook decoration by Papillon Hobby. We sat in line for 1 1/2 hours for that one. It's good to have a buddy with you so you can take turns in waiting. It was well worth the wait and fun to use a new to me product; Cadence brands wax, stencils and media. We also had workshops with Dylusions paints (dress card), paper artsy and infusions powders on gelli plate (the Happy cards), Dina Wakley paints (the house tags), Distress ink layering (swirl tag) and dual emboss resist technique (the happy day card). 

On the left works I made and on the right the works my husband made. He got a lot of fun comments on being one of the few guys there attending the workshops :) I learned a lot these two days and I can't wait to implement some of these fun techniques in my own works. And I learned a great way to customize my Rhodia/Leuchtturm notebook!

The trends/pushed products on the event this year were: Distress Oxides, Cadence products (seriously almost every stand was pushing this new brand!), Pan Pastel, alcohol ink on yupo and gilding wax/faux metallic effects. I managed to resist buying a few of these pushed products, like the gilding wax, but also came home with a great deal of other things. 

Well... like I said, not spending too much has spectacularly failed this year! So happy this is just a yearly event! I had pre-ordered the Distress Oxides and saw Corrie Herriman live doing a demo with them at Hobby Compleet de Duif stand. I'm really excited to give them a whirl! I also pre-ordered the Lindy's magical shakers and am very happy to have found the Scribble Sticks. I'll to a comparison of both those products with similar products because I am curious on the differences between them. Will of course share my findings with you. All the paints and deco arts media were on sale and well since I love a good sale and wanted to have the dylusions paints for a while, so I went for it! A bit light on the stamps this year around, but that´s because I had my eye on different media to try out. You gotta make choices somewhere right? ;)

My husband also made some purchases and went for a set of ZIG's Clean color brush set

Got a set (and some extra) Zig Clean color real brushes at the Artspecially crafty market last weekend. To learn a bit more about blending, color and this whole, "coloring" business because they just seemed so accessible. My first real "attempt" at using them in the corner and little Meesha giving her (dis)aproval 😅.

Een bericht gedeeld door Blaze8t88 (@cornelius.grayl) op 5 Apr 2017 om 2:23 PDT

and I love that he is trying out this new to him medium :)

I am looking forward to use my goodies this weekend.
Have a great one you all and thanks for stopping by :)

Shopping Highlight: Papeleria Ferrer in Seville

A bit behind schedule, but I didn't want to keep this gem, which I found in my travels in Seville, from you any longer. A true paradise for fountain pen lovers alike, Papeleria Ferrer in Seville.

They are located on the Calle Sierpes #5 and it's really hard to miss with this gorgeous storefront. It's a small-ish store but packed full with fountain pens, craft supplies, notebooks and other fun stationery types. Pictures say more than words, so here follows a visual impression of the store.

And a glaring selfie. Yes, I'm wearing my doctor who shirt, one of many, actually. It was super bright when we came past it so all the window front pictures have a glare. Nothing can be done about that, but I do apologize for the lack of better quality pics of the storefront. Hopefully you can make out that it´s a well packed store and has very diverse stationery goods. There is a lot more to see on the inside too!

A variety of stationery and other fun goods

Kaweco and Cross display cases.

The Pelikan display case gave me pause...

I gaped upon this gorgeous LE Pelikan, The hanging gardens of Babylon, and it was impressive to see it in person. At 3500€ well it's definitely one for the serious collector.

After you´re done shopping, head out to the right side where you will find La Campana for some delicious pastries.

My husband just could not resist this cream filled puffed pastry... it looked a bit fishy to me ;)

Papeleria Ferrer also has a facebook page where they update the new arrivals and when you´re in Seville it´s definitely worth a visit. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

namasté

Shopping Highlight: Maspapeles in Seville

One of my fave things to do while I am on vacation is to spot some great stores (esp. stationery ones obviously) and I like to share a few I spotted in Seville when we were there earlier this month. There are a few so I'm doing this in a couple of posts. I am starting off with this gem we found while doing a 3 hour walking tour in the city.  By the way, the tour was via Feel the City and very informative and fun to do (but oh boy, we walked a LOT!)

So along the way in our tour to the Triana aria, we walked past Zaragoza street and on number 17 we saw this storefront of Maspapeles. We immediately took note of where it was on our map because it looked promising to return to. It definitely was as we returned to the store twice. The first time I was in awe of everything they had (incl. A very special Kaweco that went home with me, but more about that later) and forgot to take pictures. I corrected that the second time around though. Lots of pictures coming up:

It's a big store filled with a lot of fun stationery goodies.

A wall with journals, diaries and tools and boxes to help organize your desk.

Like this fun set inspired on the Real Alcazar motives.

Displays with pens (lamy, faber castell, kaweco to name a few) and even rubber stamps and craft supplies! This is like my dream store!!

They also sell handmade and unique jewlery.

And look at that beautiful wall of gift wrapping papers. They are also quite bike friendly, as you can see :) They allow customers to park their bike inside while they shop, how neat is that?

This is the view from the back of the store to the front. The employees are a super friendly bunch and have great customer service. The second time around I got to chat with a very nice lady, her name is Maria and I think she is the owner of the store (forgive me if I am mistaken...) She told me a lot about Seville, fun eating places and other stores. She was so kind to give us a "real map" of the city because she found the tourist maps to be really crappy and wanted us to have something proper :D The reason I came back to the store was to get more cartridges of Kaweco Summer Purple which I received with this pen 

The Kaweco Art Sport Samba. It's such a gem and I'll post more about it in a future pens and ink post, but this combo was golden so naturally I wanted to buy more cartridges. Well Maria actually gave me 2 packs of this gorgeous color for free, ontop of the one that I got when I bought the pen. I think it was mainly because of the fact I was so very enthusiastic of the pen and color combo, haha! SO very sweet of her to do so and I thank her and the other employees wholeheartedly for their kindness and time they provided us when we were in the store!

You can find more info, including opening times, on their facebook page and when you are in the aria, definitely stop by their store to have a look.

Calle Zaragoza is a fun street and here is another shopping tip for a vintage and scandinavian inspired clothing and housewares shop which is catty corner from Maspapeles:

It's called Hameväki and they sell clothes from Marimekko and Orla Kiely among others. I just love that style! If you're done shopping and a bit hungry, head further down the street to number 5 for an excellent lunch at La Azotea. Hopefully these tips were useful for you when planning a trip to Seville :) Next week I'll share more of my fave places.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

namasté

Disclaimer: This posts contain no affiliate links and nor have I been  sponsored in any way to write a review about these places. These opinions I shared here are my own.