Paperchase and Vapiano with Roses in December’s Hetty Stratton

Another one of the highlights of my trip was meeting Hetty Stratton from Roses in December, aka Paula. We met last year during a mini-meet and have kept contact since then.

Paula is the one who gave me the ladybug I am holding in the header photograph of my blog. She has also sent me wonderful wonderful RAKs including my beloved David Bowie Dividers!

We met on a blisteringly hot day in Paperchase in Tottenham Court Road. I don’t go there very often as it is fairly far away from where I usually find myself. But it is so wonderful I just adore being there. It is HUGE – on three floors! And they have so many own-brand products you don’t see anywhere else – not even in other smaller Paperchase shops.

I was very taken by their own-brand  Zanzibar series organizers which were in teal with large parrot art on them. I also loved a spiral binder with ladybirds all over it.

They have endless rows of notebooks, stickers, pens, bags, art supplies and even quite a good range of Filofaxes (better than Selfridges in any case).

 

After wandering around Paperchase for quite a while we stopped in at Tiger Stores to look at their stationery. They are very cheap and not always the best quality but if you want something nice that definitely won’t break the bank, Tiger is great. I particularly like their paper clips, magnetic bookmarks and their tiny little office supplies in a box you can keep in your bag.

We then walked down Oxford Street to Vapiano where we have eaten before. We each had an enormous pizza (yum!) and almost a litre of water apiece – it was really hot!

We chatted away for hours and hours. From the moment I met Paula last year I felt like I had known her my whole life.  What I love about Paula is how she uses her binders to the utmost. She also makes her organizers look absolutely beautiful and doesn’t spend a fortune doing it. Last year when I saw her binder (a pink personal Classic) I fell in love. I had never seen washi tape or stickers or decorated dividers in a Filofax in real life before and they were lovely. Paula makes all her own dividers and most of her inserts and they look so professional she could do it for a living. She has post its, different lists, gorgeous quotes, inventive dividers and really nice notepaper which she usually repurposes from bargain notebooks. I tend to end up with things I don’t use and Paula inspires me to take half-used notebooks apart and use them for something else. Since she sent me some, I am even using washi these days, even just to mark off free days at work.

With her she had her Songbird and her brown A5 Amazona – both of which looked amazing. It is so nice to see someone really using their binder to record all kinds of things. If you want tips and tricks for doing this yourself, check out the link to Paula’s blog which I have put above. You will be able to create lovely things without it costing a lot at all.

Thank you for a lovely day Paula!