#papercoffeeandher

[papercoffeandher]

My friend got me 2 beautiful notebooks from her recent trip. :) Beige colored, plain off white smooth pages A5 sized, coffee coffee. Yumm. :)

How do you like your Mondays?

Paper: New notebooks.

Coffee: Monday morning coffee - Nescafe gold.

[papercoffeandher]

Yesterday's sexy me finally, getting out of the house after getting sick and resting at home, ready with pen and paper on the way. :)

Paper: Planner 2023

Coffee: Hot tall mocha with skimmed milk, picked from Starbucks!

Be your awesome self, people!

We're awesome people!

Also stay healthy and don't get sick, and I understand if you don't want to leave coffee completely through any healing process. But find your middle grounds, and way arounds, and ways to balance things out, and do what it takes to take care of yourself. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Take care of yourself. Take care of yourself.

[papercoffeandher]

Hey lovebugs!

Hope you're doing well today!

Coffee, planner and a bookmark.

I think I kind of like this little poem.

I like to think of it as a short prayer.

I haven't made meaning of the act of 'praying' in my life yet. I want to. Figure this out, you know. I want to figure out what it means to me, to pray. Find some prayers I resonate with, affirmation or meditative or chanting types, I don't know.

Do you pray? How do you pray? Who do you pray to? Why do you pray?

Would you share what you do and believe in with me? I am at a very begining stage of my journey in this. Praying.

And not religion.

Such less exploration and experience so I won't say a definitive No, but I am not inclined towards finding myself a religion I feel belonged to.

Let's see.

Paper: Daily planner, a bookmark.

Coffee: Hot yummy morning coffee - Nescafe gold.

[papercoffeandher]

Things you do for yourself and yourself only. :)

Paper: Personal diary and a small journal.

Coffee: Perfectly warm morning coffee. Country bean Hazelnut Instant Coffee powder.

Do you like the taste of hazelnut?

[papercoffeandher]

A new place.

An evolving me.

Let's make home. :)

[papercoffeandher]

Hi! :)

I buy stationery. In a common person's view - a lot, in a designer/artist/stationery lover's view - a decent amount. So I don't buy diaries and sketchbooks (only) when I need them. I buy when I spot something beautiful.

Now obviously it's always a question, what content should I start putting in it? Do we already have an idea or intention or do we wait? It takes me 3 days to 2 years to come up with what any sketchbook is made for. Every time I need a new one, I visit my stock and see if any of them make sense for the work I want to do. I imagine the text or the illustrations or the photographs (elegantly describing scribbles) in that bundle of paper. I think of the size, texture, and color of the paper, the paper's width, and the binding, would I need to tear pages? would I like the diary spiraled then? would I like a hardcover or soft, with pages more closely bonded or looser? would I like an envelope in the back? Answer: ALWAYS. If the pages are ruled, grided, or page-numbered, everything changes. And the page corners being rounded or sharp makes a difference. The shape of the diary (I do have more than quadrilaterals) is obviously very important! Hmmm... Whether or not it has an elastic holding all the pages together is a question. If you're putting and sticking things inside, you'd want an elastic for sure. It also kind of feels safer and private and just closer, if it has an elastic.

Most of my diaries, journals, and sketchbooks are A-5 or A-6 sized, have plain colored soft covers, and are perfect-bounded with off-white plain (100 and above gsm) pages inside.

The ribbon bookmarks that come along are mostly left unused on the last page, I already have a set of bookmarks ready to be paired or yet to be made.

Theenn there are associations, where did I buy the diary, what was I feeling then (if I remember), and did someone gift it to me if so that becomes another long story.

Many times (most) I think of the content and look at my shelf and none of the options make sense. So, with some guilt in my heart, I go and buy one. At times I feel the need to make one myself, a diary I mean, so I take paper, cut, arrange, stitch, and cover, yeah, you get the point.

But that diary has to make sense to my mind. Even if the only content I can imagine is the first page or just the topic, or if I know the space I want it to take in my bag or who was the predecessor of the new diary.

EVEN IF I change my mind later.

It has to make sense (then and for real).

I can go on and on about this (as you should be able to guess by now).

Anyway. So I am going out for some time, to another state and city on the 10th of May and I'm really looking forward to it. So for my trip, I have chosen the perfect diary. :) And it's this. :) For the trip. :) Yeah.. a lot of smiling, I have been so excited to use it, for so long. A year-ish. So yay! Ok bye. :)

Paper: Kraft Sketchbook Toned paper, 100gsm (feels thinner), 6*6inches (yes square and tasty archival paper! :D), not suitable for watercolors :/ (but challenge accepted!) new diarrryyyyy!

Coffee: Hazelnut (hehe) country bean again (but not a great idea to have 2nd cup of coffee today when my head is hurting like this). I WANT MOREEEEE.

Ok, thanks for reading till here if you did! I'm so tired.

How do you start a new diary? Tell me what you think of? Or what you don't?

Drink water before coffee today!

[papercoffeandher]

Second cup of coffee in one day is so yum yum. :)

Work and F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Paper: My work notebook.

Coffee: Third Wave Coffee regular hot mocha.

[papercoffeandher]

Hi! :)

I’m her (from the username), and I’m here.

I like and drink quite some coffee, and I love everything that’s paper. Books, journals, planners, sketchbooks, just paper, printouts, many many printouts, bookmarks, and then all paper and nonpaper stationery (just saying). I think I am a frequent user of, well, paper.

I’m not always great at getting or staying motivated. This blog is my attempt to help myself. This - taking good pictures, creating, sharing my thoughts, or just sharing good pictures of paper and coffee, I think this could help.

Once I have put things cleanly on the table, I might be more likely to open some and get working. A kind little push. :)

And as I work through my process, maybe this place could inspire you too.

Coffee-cup-cheers to making our journeys more fun. :)

Let’s do this!

Also... Fun question: Can you guess my favorite color? :D

Paper: 2023 planners and a tissue.

Coffee: Regular hot cappuccino at Third Wave Cafe.

[papercoffeandher]

It's been so long. I've been so lost.

So many times I took pictures to post here. Tried to push myself. Hmm.

I guess posting right now is something I can be proud of. I guess for now, this much is ok.

Showing up.

Paper: 2023 Planner continuing to 2024, small pocket diary for daily to-do lists. :)

Coffee: Hazelnut Cappuccino (Starbucks)

[papercoffeandher]

Yep. Long lonnngg time. Hi. :)

Explored a new place. Might go there more.

It's been some difficult weeks. Months. I hadn't opened my planner in so long. And wasn't going out much either. At least not alone.

Anyway. Hi. :)

Hope you're doing well.

Oh also, I have been using my iPad more, so paper and coffee weren't always there together.

I was working on my website when I clicked this photograph. Revamp. Exciting. :) And super delayed. :P

And a long long process. Have to add and change categories in about 260 blog posts and till now I've done 50.

I like it here.. hmm. Interesting.

It's so so hot here. Oh yeah, the cafe was extremely hot too, I will need to reconsider it then.

The coffee was cold though. Hence the tissue. :D

Anyway. Nice to be here again. I'll try to post more consistently. Since I just discovered it, I like it here...

Paper: Planners.

Coffee: Trioccino from Blue Tokai. (No, I don't know the pronunciation.) :P

Ok. See you.

Soon, hopefully.

(Post from September 1)

[papercoffeandher]

Does using a scale in origami count as cheating or something? :P

Thanks to my brother for the beautiful sheets.

This photo is a bit old now.

But origami has been helping me deal with the headspace I'm in currently.

I feel too tired to talk further. I just really really wanted to upload this before the image and the experience becomes obsolete.

Also uploading pictures from other moments in life, I was trying to make pictures with similar color palettes come together. Something something.

Oh.

A tip maybe, from my very little experience w origami paper:

When you're folding to make a corner into like a tip type of thing, folding like triangles.. uh.. let me try to explain again... SO. Strike that, yeah, so.

When you're trying to fold - to make any one corner meet another, it is helpful to focus on placing the edges and the angles correctly instead of gazing at the corners and basing your fold on them. It is much more seamless, and accurate and lesser effort if you just focus on the edges meeting correctly. The corners come out to be cleaner.

It is helpful even more so, in case you're trying to fold AT the corner. I mean: Suppose you are making a fold and the corner has to be folded to meet the same corner, so, some edge is being folded to form a triangle. Imagine the bottom corner of a cone - and the paper is flattened - that's the 'corner fold' I'm talking about.

(I'm quite interested in knowing if anyone understands this without pictures, so do tell, seems like a fun challenge at this point.)

PS: It would be hilarious if you make all the effort, understand what I mean and then realise or think: that's so obvious!

:D

Paper: Origami bird. I've been referring to it as a sparrow for my joy. :)

Coffee: Starbucks hot mocha, one evening.

See you! Have a great day ahead.

(This is obviously a write-up of multiple days ^)

How are you today by the way?

I've been quite self-absorbed.

I wish to ask a loved one how he is, I'd like to know.

Ok. Meanwhile, you be kind! And to yourself as well! :)

And a reminder:

You're enough.

[papercoffeandher]

Hi :)

How are you today?

Not perfect? That's ok! Me neither. :)

I read a quote a while ago on Pinterest and wrote it in my notebook to share with you today.

Might still print the actual image to put it in my room.

2 random but important topics to talk about:

1. A friend of mine never liked coffee, and drank some cold coffee to give me company in cafes, but that would be with a lot of sugar and chocolate chips and whatnot. He couldn't bear 2 sips of black coffee or cold brew.

He recently shifted somewhere for work and today he messaged me saying that he just drank one liter of black coffee and then had an energy drink to stay awake and energetic in the office because his head was hurting, because he couldn't sleep, and this was like before 10ish am in the morning. And for breakfast, he had a banana. He is feeling better. But. I don't feel good about it... I mean. When he told me he started drinking coffee, about 10 days back and drank a few cups and cans of black coffee now and then I was like ok yay we can kind of talk about coffee now. But then. Hmm. I am sharing my worry right now. I remember when another friend started taking 4 times the coffee she usually put in little water, to stay awake in the night and work, and it just got really bad because anxiety swept in soon enough. And I see my heartbeat getting faster and breathing getting tougher if I put more coffee powder or shots than usual in my drink... I don't want this to be his solution. It's easy. But it's addictive. Caffeine. And it can go down. Some people I know just chain coffee and smoke and it doesn't seem very healthy. It's really attractive, to be honest, I feel myself slipping into it sometimes too, but, must hold back.

Hm.

Interesting to look at coffee as a concern. Sucks actually.

2. On another topic. I met a new person. :) And she was so so sweet and beautiful and she's a freelance illustrator, artist, chuck the tags. But she has such good energy and I loved her doodles. She was kind and observant and patient and caring and acknowledging and a good listener and not loud. It was good. And she smiled. And other people there smiled and laughed too. It was beautiful. :) I went out after a long time. I am using the word 'was' because I met them yesterday. Anyway! My topic was: she was telling me how she has so many stickers but she doesn't use them because - then they'll finish and I think also where to use them.

I hear so many stationery lovers hoarding beautiful stickers and washi tapes and diaries and not being able to get themselves to use any. I don't face that problem a lot. I do plan and open things when they suit my needs but I don't have a problem opening and using them.

So I just thought I'd share a few tricks. Maybe they'll work for you.

With diaries, if I just can't get myself to write or draw (because what if it's not a 'perfect' work and the diary gets 'spoiled'), I just make a small scribble or a big scribble :P on the first page. It breaks the fear because the first page is already 'ruined' and the second one can't be 'worse'. You can also try leaving one or a few pages in the beginning or just using a random page. I do that too.

With stickers, the question is often where to use them and where will they look perfect and appropriate. So I just pick a few and paste them anywhere in any (mostly private) space. Like on anyone's door or switchboard or a remote, where it doesn't matter what you put and no one is greatly disturbed or offended and it's just aesthetic and fun. I giggle, laugh, and smile a lot doing that. It's like randomly throwing colors, here and there, which don't bother anyone and give me a small project of composition making. I think my approach is, to use the first things (pages of diaries or stickers) quickly and not as 'meaningfully' (like in this case: don't put the stickers on your personal devices like laptops or phones just yet) and you get calmer about the next steps.

This also reminds me, of sticky notes. To keep vandalism minimal, harmless, and little in size, I write funny or motivating one-liners and put them here and there in cafes and washrooms, or park benches. They stay temporarily so I don't think they bother a lot. That's also where my bill origami boats go. It's just fun. And non-pressurizing and just as easy to slip in.

Maybe give the first sheet of your new bundle of wow pages to someone else, and you can choose your favorite and start doing something.

Side note: My " I don't know if I'll be alive tomorrow." mindset kinda helps in this case, allowing me to make the best of today.

What will we do taking the stickers and the tapes to the grave?

Hope that didn't sound gruesome!

Ok, missing readers, bye. :)

Thanks for giving me space to express still! I wanted to use so many emoticons through the sentences but then thought they are after every 5 words so I'll just keep it to words (as much as possible).

Paper: Little journal.

Coffee: Cold coffee (Nescafe gold coffee powder)

[papercoffeandher]

Paper: Photographs on my wall.

Coffee: Cold coffee made of Neacafe gold coffee powder, sugar, milk and ice.

:)

How're you?

[papercoffeandher]

Hey. I haven't been doing too well. But.

Hm.

I did go out for a while today though:

Paper: A book gifted by a friend.

Coffee: Cappuccino with chocolate syrup.

I couldn't read much though. Really couldn't concentrate.

Mother made this beautiful wall ornament as a present for my birthday. I absolutely obviously love it. :) and my brother made me breakfast-in-bed pancakes. :) I love pancakes.

So yay.

I'm loved.

Hm. One of my favorite songs is: Orange tree by Billie Marten.

You take care.

[papercoffeandher]

It's raining outside.

I am in love with this tumbler, it has no condensation problem whatsoever.

I have been parting my hair from the middle, these days.

I am coloring.

Paper: Mandala to color.

Coffee: Cold coffee Nescafe gold.

I sit with the window open at the risk of ruining this parked car. I want to change that now but don't have the keys.

So, it's a waiting game at this point.

Do you like rain?

(28/06/23)

[papercoffeandher]

A picture from yesterday. The dining table downstairs is very different in color from everything in my space.

I'm a bit off. So.

Take care, stranger. :)

You're doing good. I'm doing good. Everything's ok.

With love,

S.

Paper: My regular planner.

Coffee: Nescafe gold.