Working late in my studio tonight, I get a text from my husband that he made “Sloppy Joe’s” for dinner.  Yum. What’s a Sloppy Joe?

From Wikipedia: “A sloppy joe is an American dish of ground beef, onions, sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun. Commercially made sauces are also available…. The Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich was invented by a cook named Joe at a cafe in Sioux City, Iowa, as a variation of the popular “loose meat” sandwich (which does not contain tomato sauce).”

As my husband is learning to cook, I won’t hold it against him that he bought a can of the prepared sauce, but I will someday soon teach him to make it like my Mom used to. She’d first saute green peppers and onions, (always chopped very small) then add and brown the ground beef which she’d season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. The sauce? Heinz Ketchup mixed with Gulden’s Spicy Brown Mustard. (The 2 major condiments of my youth) Super simple and very tasty. She’d serve it along with her homemade macaroni salad – comfort food at it’s best.

When was the last time you ate a version of a loose meat sandwich? Do you have a special recipe for the sauce?

Blick in Allentown, PA will have a special mandala art demonstration by yours truly from 1-5PM. Stop by, say hi, win to win some free stuff and be sure to grab some Rhodia products while you are here!

From the Blick events page:

Thursday, February 9, 2012 is Blick Madness!  Join us at any one of our 36 store locations to play our Instant Win Game (while supplies last)!  Each piece is a guaranteed winner.  You could win discounts up to 50% off of your entire purchase or a $100 Blick gift card!  Don’t miss the opportunity to win big!

We’ll also be hosting a Valentine Card Making demo and a Screen Printing demo at each store location.  Take home your own card creation and screen printed tote for free (while supplies last)!

Enter to win a copy of Adventures in Mixed Media provided by Random House.  We’ll be raffling one off at each store!  Thursday, February 9^th, is also the last day to enter our $5,000 Dream Studio Sweepstakes and the art student exclusive sweepstakes for a $200 Dream Project!

It’s Madness!  Don’t miss this exciting, one day event full of fun, demos, discounts, refreshments, and more!  To find a store near you, please visit our Store Directory.

Many towns have some kind of First Friday events. In Bethlehem, we have a celebration of SouthSide businesses with music, food and wine tastings scattered throughout the shopping district.

Tonight at the Banana Factory where I am a current artist in residence, there will be 4 exhibit openings, including the resident artist “White Works” show. There will be live music, glass blowing, ceramic, and jewelry making demonstrations and much more! It all happens from 6-9pm – so if you can, be sure to stop by my studio #249 to say hello!

My 10×10″ acrylic painting on canvas above, “Hayden’s Adventure” was inspired by my friend’s young son and is also the piece I submitted into the White Works exhibit .

© Stephanie Smith All Rights Reserved.

While I’m still fiddling a bit with the theme and layout of the new Rhodia Journal Swap Tumblr blog – I’d like to introduce you to the 12 participants from out 1st ever Rhodia Journal Swap. (Click their links to visit their blogs/websites.) If you signed up but weren’t selected – hang tight! We are considering the addition of a second swap 6 months or so into the 1st swap.

Superbowl fever has gripped NYC.  Everyone I know will be glued to the TV or out at a bar watching the game on Sunday.  Except me.  My team–Green Bay–got knocked out, and the NY Jets never made it to the playoffs. My spouse is a big Eli Manning fan, so she’s rooting for the Giants.  Her family–Massachusetts born and bred, considers her a major traitor!

But ever since girlhood, when my Packers would go up against my Dad’s NY Giants, I have loved to bet on games.  This year is no exception!

Anybody who guesses the final score will get a new Webnotepad (flip top reporter style with dot grid) when they arrive from France!

Good luck!

My guess: NEW YORK GIANTS – 27   NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS – 24

Our UK friends at the Pens and Paper blog tested a number of notebook papers with four different fountain pens – each filled with a different ink. If you ever wanted to know how water based inks react on a certain paper, this is a great series of photos and commentary to help you choose the best product for your needs. The papers that were tested:

1. Whitelines (grid);
2. Rhodia Webnotebook (lined and dot grid);
3. Quo Vadis Habana (lined);
4. Monseiur (plain);
5. Moleskine (lined);
6. Leuchtturm 1917 (lined);
7. Rhodia ePure (plain);
8. Jottrr (lined/plain);
9. Rhodia Exabook (lined);
10. Clairefontaine (lined and Séyès ruled);
11. Smythson Featherweight (lined); and,
12. Archie Grand (plain).

Read the full post here.

Karen recently received some questions about Herbin’s Perle Noire ink. Since this is one I have reviewed and regularly use, I’d be happy to respond.

Is this ink a really dark black? While I haven’t tried every black ink on the market, I have used quite a few across brands such as Noodler’s, Sailor, Pelikan, Aurora and Diamine. It was important to me to find a very black ink and I was happy enough with the Perle Noire that I stopped looking. I’ve heard of Noodler’s having a number of different black inks that I have not tried. (I’ve only ever used their Bulletproof Black)

I also tend to place a certain amount of importance on the smell of an ink- Herbin inks have a slight sweet odor that I find completely acceptable. Some inks have more of a chemical scent which I try and stay away from.

Second, is this ink pH-neutral? From JHerbin.com: “Herbin uses all natural dyes in their fountain pen inks. This natural composition is reflected in the very neutral pH of the inks.”

Third, is this pen a ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ ink? In my own personal experience, I would call this a “wet” (quite free flowing) ink – and is probably the “wettest” of all the Herbin inks. (I’ve tried them all)

Fourth, which pens would be best suited to the J. Herbin ‘Perle Noire’, or will it work well in ALL fountain pens? It’s going to be a matter of personal opinion of which pens would be best for this ink. It’s suited for all pens, but one must consider the  pen/ink/paper combination as a whole. Since it’s a fairly “wet” ink, I’ve found that I like it best in a thinner nib on quality writing paper.

Lastly, what is the drying time of the Perle Noire ink? This will depend on the paper you are using as well as the relative humidity of where you are doing your writing. Fountain pen friendly papers tend to slightly resist inks which mean a slightly longer drying time. I’ve never noticed that this ink took longer to dry than any other. (As much as I can remember anyway… I’ve tested a lot of inks and I’m getting old.)

Click here to read my original review of Perle Noire
Click here to see a comparison of 4 black inks including Perle Noire

From www.officemuseum.com Large Office. Photograph by National Photograph and Advertising Co., Chicago, IL.

Cleaning Fountain Pens at Pentamento

Notebook Necklaces at Notebook Stories

Intuitive Ink Prep at Creative Every Day

What’s in your DIY Toolkit? at Lifehacker

Eight Charachteristics of Good Writing at Writing Forward

Carving stamps the other way at daisy yellow blog

LiveScribe your planners and notebooks at QuoVadis Blog

Pen Storage: How do you store your pens? at A Penchant for Paper

US Postage Rate Increase in January 2012 at Missive Maven

Fountain Pen Nib Comparison Video at The Pen Addict

Abandoned Hollywood Theater Hidden Above NY Shop at WebUrbanist

Favorite Brand of Fountain Pen Ink- The Poll Results at Inkophile

Starting a New Journal – Which Format do you Use, Digital or Analog? at The Gadgeteer

Visit www.officemuseum.com for many more vintage office photos like the one above.

And finally, searching “Office Supplies” on Pinterest cool stuff!

FOX CLASSICS – Forever Classic ID – A Full Minute from The DMCI on Vimeo.

Thank you to everyone who signed up for our 1st ever Rhodia Journal Swap! We had quite a few entries and it wasn’t easy to chose 12, but we did. Once I confirm their participation, the swap will commence!

You might like to know that since we had so many people sign up for this first swap, we are considering implementing a second one in 6 months – stay tuned!

Okay yes. I’ll admit it. I am slightly addicted to Pinterest. What is Pinterest? It’s a virtual pinboard that allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things we find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

I love browsing to find new ideas for patterns color combinations to use in my art. I find so much inspiration there…

Are you using Pinterest? How do you like it? Pin any Rhodia lately?

National Handwriting Day was established by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association  in 1977 to promote the consumption of pens, pencils, and writing paper. January 23rd was chosen because it is the birthday of John Hancock- the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.

In this modern age of computers, I love how so many people continue to joyously express themselves through paper and their choice of a manual writing device. Oh happy day to paper & pens & pencils!

Several years ago when I first started writing with a fountain pen, I quickly discovered that many brands of paper did not play well with the water based fountain pen inks that I had grown to love. This lead to my somewhat obsessive testing & publicly reviewing various paper, pen & ink products on my personal blog biffybeans.com. While some brands like our Rhodia & Clairefontaine products are known to be fountain pen ink friendly, (no bleedthrough, seethrough or feathering) this recent post on the Writer’s Bloc blog says it best:

“Each fountain pen nib, each brand of ink, each color of ink and the paper in each notebook or journal will interact differently when used with each other. The equation pen + paper + ink = good/bad results changes each time you change a component of the equation.”

I’ve also found that humidity can sometimes be a factor in how quickly the ink dries (or fails to dry) on the page.

Have you found a specific combination of paper/pen/ink that you are happy with?

I’ve always been more of a fan of writing on off-white paper than white. I think the off-white is easier on the eyes for long writing sessions, but I do like the intensity of  a white page for brainstorming, mind-maps, and event planning. Fans of fountain pens love to use the plethora of available ink colors and while I know that white paper will really show them in their glory, I don’t mind the nice warm hue that the off-white paper adds to my favorite ink colors.

Which color paper do you prefer and why?

Last call! Interested in participating? Read on, then fill out the form below by tomorrow Jan 18th. We’d love if you would share this opportunity with your friends! Questions? Please submit via comments.

• 12 people will be chosen to participate and will each receive a large orange dotWebbie in which to create. You do not have to be an artist/writer to participate. This 1st swap will be open to US residents only. (Future swaps may be expanded outside the US)

• Each participant will create on a specified amount of pages within the book and then is responsible to package and mail each book to the next person on the list at monthly intervals. (USPS 1st class mail or Priority shipping is recommended at a cost of roughly $5-7 per book) The participant address list will be structured in a way that should allow the shortest shipping time (and cost) between each person. In the end, you will get back the book you started which will be packed with interesting things…
  

• The theme of the swap is “Favorite Things” and can be widely open to interpretation via: thoughts, ramblings, short stories, poems, lists, art, doodles, clippings, printed photos. We ask that content be safe for public consumption.

• There are 96 sheets (192 pages) in a large Webbie. Your minimum contribution in each book will be as follows: Fill 6 pages on one side. (Leaving the other side blank) Start something on 1 page to be completed by the next person, finish something on 1 page that the previous person started = 8 pages per person (6+1+1) x 12 = 96. You MAY fill 12 sheets (6 pages both sides) if you desire.

• Participants agree to scan/snap/snag/upload/tag images to a group Tumblr blog documenting their process which could include: content, you & your Rhodia, your creative process.

• You own all the rights to your original content in the books and on the web. By submitting images to the group blog, you grant us permission to share them (with attribution) to the Rhodia Drive Blog and also our Facebook page. We encourage you to share your content via your own blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc.

If you are reading this via e-mail or in certain feed readers, you may need to visit http://rhodiadrive.com/ to see the form.

We recently received this request from a fan and are wondering what you think – would you have a use for a Webbie Lite?

“I love my dot Webbie and would love it even more if a slightly different version were available. I am thinking about one with a thinner cover (like the premium pads) and slightly fewer pages (~72 vs. the current 96) but still with the elastic closure and expandable pocket and still with the gorgeous ivory 90g paper.”

From Mike in AZ

Can’t remember your dreams? I’ve often heard that the best way to remember them is to write down anything you can remember immediately upon waking. Much insight and inspiration can come from examining our subconscious.

To learn more about keeping a dream journal:

Remembering Dreams

How to Keep a Dream Journal

Benefits of Keeping a Dream Journal

Dream Journals: Dream Telling

Keep a Dream Journal – Why Bother?

Dream Journaling 101: How to Keep a Dream Journal

It’s here! Time to roll our our first ever Rhodia Journal Swap: “Favorite Things.” Interested in participating? Read on, then please fill out the form below by Jan 18th. We’d love if you would share this opportunity with your friends! Questions? Please submit via comments. 

• 12 people will be chosen to participate and will each receive a large orange dotWebbie in which to create. You do not have to be an artist/writer to participate. This 1st swap will be open to US residents only. (Future swaps may be expanded outside the US)

• Each participant will create on a specified amount of pages within the book and then is responsible to package and mail each book to the next person on the list at monthly intervals. (USPS 1st class mail or Priority shipping is recommended at a cost of roughly $5-7 per book) The participant address list will be structured in a way that should allow the shortest shipping time (and cost) between each person. In the end, you will get back the book you started which will be packed with interesting things…
  

• The theme of the swap is “Favorite Things” and can be widely open to interpretation via: thoughts, ramblings, short stories, poems, lists, art, doodles, clippings, printed photos. We ask that content be safe for public consumption.

• There are 96 sheets (192 pages) in a large Webbie. Your minimum contribution in each book will be as follows: Fill 6 pages on one side. (Leaving the other side blank) Start something on 1 page to be completed by the next person, finish something on 1 page that the previous person started = 8 pages per person (6+1+1) x 12 = 96. You MAY fill 12 sheets (6 pages both sides) if you desire.

• Participants agree to scan/snap/snag/upload/tag images to a group Tumblr blog documenting their process which could include: content, you & your Rhodia, your creative process.

• You own all the rights to your original content in the books and on the web. By submitting images to the group blog, you grant us permission to share them (with attribution) to the Rhodia Drive Blog and also our Facebook page. We encourage you to share your content via your own blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc.

If you are reading this via e-mail or in certain feed readers, you may need to visit http://rhodiadrive.com/ to see the form.

Are you a fan of our Rhodia Drive Facebook page? Yesterday it was revealed to our Facebook fans that something new will be blooming in the Spring with our new orange covered dotPads. Are you excited? We had many, many requests for these.

What other kinds of Rhodia products are you hoping to see in the new catalog?

We recently received an e-mail from a Rhodia fan looking for some kind of folio/pad holder that would hold an A4 top wirebound pad and allow him to flip the pages without removing the pad from the holder. I don’t use the top wirebound pads and don’t know what to suggest to him other than maybe having Gfeller make something custom for him.

Can you help point our friend in the right direction?

It’s happening!!!

I am putting together the final details surrounding the 2012 Rhodia Journal Swap and expect to start searching for our 12 participants sometime next week. If you haven’t heard about the swap, we are going to be providing 12 large dotWebbie journals to a dozen creative people to utilize for a few weeks at a time, who will then mail the book on to the next person, and so on, until it reaches the last person who in turn, mails it back to the person who started that book.

The dozen participants will be sharing their creativity via a group Tumblr Blog for us all to see.

You do not have to be an “artist” or a “writer” to participate, You should however, be creative and willing to share. This swap will be open to US residents age 18 or older. An international swap may happen at a later date.

More details, including the *Theme* of the swap, to be announced soon!