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Monday, March 01, 2010

$ense & $ensibility Monday: Cheap, Chic Stationary


I am a sucker for cute stationary. Journals, note cards, legal pads, planners, memos, cute labels – I love them all! If I had an unlimited budget, I would probably spend most of it on stationary.
Alas, I do not have an unlimited budget. When I need some more, I do budget in the printing of some formal correspondence and note cards with my name or monogram on them. You can never go wrong with a nice correspondence card, especially when it’s edged in hot pink!

But for day-to-day cards and notes, I don’t want to spend too much on them. That’s when the lovely thing called the internet comes into play. There are so many fantastic websites where you can find printable stationary for FREE. Yes, you read that right, for free!

One of my favorite sites is DIYPlanner.com. They have a ton of templates of planner formats, recipe cards, meal planners, and other paper goods submitted by readers. Just browse their Templates Directory to see what takes your fancy. If you’ve listened to Kimberly talk about Planner Pads and thought about getting one for yourself, look for Planner Pad-inspired templates on DIYPlanner to get a feel for how the system works. That’s how I first decided that buying an actual Planner Pad was worth the investment for myself!

One of my favorite resources is OnePrettyThing.com. Here you can find tons of different crafts. But, if you go to “Categories” and then choose “Printable Roundup” you’ll find a horde of free, cute printables for your life. From recipe cards to memos, you’ll fall in love with some of the things offered for free by designers. These Parisian calling cards always make me think of Kimberly! And these Tweet Love notecards make me want to leave fun notes around the apartment for my roommate. In fact, I think I might just do that tomorrow morning to brighten her day.

Cute stationary needn’t cost an arm and a leg. If you can afford fancier paper, go for it. But don’t forget that there’s a whole world of free printables out there, just waiting for you to print them out. Or, take a chance and design some yourself. See where your creativity leads you!

Katharine Albritton is an art market specialist and writer. Read her art market blog and follow her on twitter.


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3 comments:

Melita said...

i too love stationary but can't afford to spend tons of money on it. thanks for sharing these online free sources :) hugs!!

rachal said...

Love that idea!!! Thanks for your posts!

Arwa said...

I'm really excited to poke around these resources. I LOVE stationary. Yay!