Time for another true confession: I have made my own stationary. :ph34r:

I'm using Hammermill 24lb/96brightness inkjet paper. I love this paper! Inkjet paper seems to be sized just right for absorbing liquid inks.

But rather than use it as a full sheet, I use a Fisker wheel paper cutter with a deckle edge wheel. By cutting it in two, I get two small sheets that fit in a standard invitation envelope by just folding them once in the middle. And the deckle edge keeps the paper from being too boring!

Sometimes just tearing the sheet along the edge of the desk creates an interesting rough edge as well. But the invitation envelopes are a little tight if you don't get it perfectly centered. That is when I use the typical 6 3/4 envelope and fold the paper in thirds.

Obviously we all have computers, and I'll bet you have a printer too. Nothing like a quick printed monogram to add a little formality to the stationary as well.

The 24lb paper costs a little more than the 20lb, but a ream (500 sheets) is still under $10. And by cutting the sheets in half, you are under a penny per "page".

Does anyone else create their own? Any special secrets you'd care to share?

Very .

I used to take a piece of paper, cut it in half then make lines on it with a gel pen.

I just recently bought a ream of this paper. It is good with thin stingy medium nibs, but with wet and slightly wide mediums, the line looks a lot wider than say on Clairefontaine paper. I think this paper absorbs and spreads ink too much to qualify as good FP paper. It certainly is useable, but I was a little disappointed.

I completely agree with Stylo on his comment on Hammermill paper.
I use Staples® Bright White Printing Paper (24 lb, 97 brightness) and Staples® Printing Paper (24 lb, 92 brightness). The later one is on sale right now. It works surprisingly well with FP. Absolutely no bleeding and feathering. Very good workhorse. I cut it in half and bind them using plastic or wire combs to make a notepad. No problem with two side writing.

I use a variety of papers, but I also find the following tool VERY useful for making your own stationary. http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/

This tool allows you to make lined, graph, and other types of paper for specific uses. I use it to make lines on parchment paper for letters. It creates a PDF that you can use to transform any type of paper into stationary, calligraphy practice sheets, etc. You can vary the density of the lines, margin widths, number of lines per inch, and more! I found it while browsing one day. Have fun.

Kendall

Now this is why I come here!! What a fun looking site. Thanks for the reference.



If the Staples brand paper is better than the Hammermill, I will try some.

Thanks for the great tips!

I find the following links helpful when printing my own stationary:

Simons Notepad Maker
Cornell Maker
Notepad Generator

Personally I use the second one as I love the layout of Cornell Paper.

My letterhead is printed out on my color laser; I've been very impressed with the way its paper, Hammermill 28lb Color Copy paper, takes FP ink. (However, I only use Legal Lapis - it may perform differently with other inks.)

It has the smoothest surface I've yet encountered, and shows zero feathering even with the incredibly wet 2668 nib on one of my Esties. The surface is a very bright white (112, I believe) and FP ink just seems to "jump out" at the reader.

I've gotten it at Staples and Arvey.

Thanks for the links ZXC.

I can vouch for Slushy - she's made some pretty nifty sheets of stationery with ordinary metallic gels pens!

I too have made my own stationery with the computer and printer. I have a book of illuminated letters, numerous different samples of each of the 26 letters - and it also has a cd-rom with black and white tiff files (they are huge though). So I just pick an M that I like at the time, open it in PhotoShop, resize it to an inch and a half or so, and color it in the hue of the ink that I plan to use (or a complimentary color) and print it out. It is great fun, looks quite snazzy (if I do say so myself!) and the paper is more than decent too.

I recommend this method for anyone who either doesn't have any nice stationery or what they have doesn't quite fit the occasion.


Marina.

very creative stuff. I think I'm going to get creative one day and do that too

Marina that's an amazing design!!!!!

Looks so cool. I think i'll try to find a similar design for my initials!

thanks

Oh, Marina!

Thanks for sharing your stationery monogram idea! I have some nice black and white versals in a computer clip art file. I'm just beginning to learn a little bit about Photo Shop, but I didn't know I could color my b & w versals!

Judybug

I also found a clipart database. It has a bunch of letter in tiff format, and all animal including octopus.

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/sitemap/sitemap.htm

Now I have to think hard between, initial, octopus or skull for a letterhead....

I like your design, Marina. BTW I write with Skrip turquois in my journal. I like the way the words stand out on the page.

Kendall,

Thanks for the link to www.incompetec.com ! What a great website! I can print lined paper in landscape format, cut it in half, and it fits my planner. I printed out some dot paper, too. I think I may like it as well as lined paper.

Judybug

One of their templates is also nice for writing guides to print out and slip beneath unlined paper. (Although I've since graduated to using Excel for that, as the incompetech one is beta and a little buggy.)

I really like the Hammermill 28# color copy paper and have been using it quite a bit, but one side is *much* better than the other. I think it's the slightly shinier side, but it's pretty hard to see. One side is perfect and the other spreads quite a lot.

WOW! Thanks. This is a great tool. Someone asked about how to make lines on paper from computer. It doesn't get any easier that this. And, you get a whole lot more.

Yes, this is one reason that I come here as well.