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Category: Gift & Stationery

My Favourite Books of 2011: Siobhan (Marketing)

by Siobhan
Art & Photography + Craft + Food & Drink + Gift & Stationery / December 20, 2011

Yesterday Dan talked about his favourite book of 2011. I can't quite narrow it down to ONE, so instead I've picked one favourite book for each day of the week... plus a little something extra for Sunday. This is essentially my ideal week, in book format.

Monday. We all know what Mondays are like. The day you need a hit of inspiration. And a cup of coffee. This book will give you a double shot of the former (sorry, you'll have you grab your own latte.) Paper Cutting: Contemporary Artists, Timeless Craft is totally gorgeous and full of amazing work by talented artists working with paper.

 

 

Tuesday is when you really start to wake up for the week. And you'll need your wits about you when you grab your scissors and a fresh sheet of paper, then fold, pleat and crumple your way to creating the incredible shapes in Folding Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form.
(P.S. If you're into paper folding, you'll love this documentary I recently saw on the Knowledge Network, Between the Folds.)

 

Wednesday is a funny day. Come on, hump day. Time for the brilliance and hilarity that is Hark! A Vagrant. If you don't already know Kate Beaton from her website, trust me, your life will be better once you do.

 

 

By Thursday, your work week is in full swing, and you can take on anything. You can even build a toaster... from scratch! As in, hey, let's dig up some precious metals out of the ground with my own two hands and make some wire, then figure out how to make plastic... Or at least you can read about a guy who really did this in The Toaster Project: Or a heroic attempt to build a simple electric appliance from scratch.
 

 

Friday is when you start to wind down, dream about the weekend that's oh-so-close.... a dream which involves owning a big old house in the country with chickens running around the yard, and your husband making you breakfast in bed, with poached eggs laid by your very own chickens. (Reality: let's just go out for brunch downtown.) Chicken and Egg: A Memoir of Suburban Homesteading with 125 Recipes is full of lovely design and photos,  stories about keeping chickens, and recipes for both cooking up eggs ... and chickens (sorry, chickens!)

 

A Saturday behind the pottery wheel is a good, good day. If you don't have clay or a kiln on hand, check out The Ceramics Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques.

 

Sunday is a perfect treat. Much like Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop. These are some of the cutest, most perfect looking cakes you'll ever see (and maybe even bake). The book's pages are also scalloped for an added dose of cuteness.

 

 

And last but not least, for a litttle extra on Sunday (cause you know everyone wants to extend the weekend just a little bit more), I'm also going to include my favourite non-book item from 2011. I am admittedly biased here, but hey, this is my list. Shoegazing Notecards were put together by the gorgeous and always inspiring UPPERCASE magazine, based on a photo story they did in their magazine: UPPERCASE asked readers to send in photos of their feet. I was lucky enough to have a couple of photos in the spread... and now UPPERCASE partnered with Chronicle to put 20 of those photos onto notecards. Mine's the one on the red carpet with all the brightly coloured shoes. A friend of mine also has her feet on one of the notecards, wearing her roller derby skates. Here's the spread from the magazine - the notecards are also super cute and designed with classic UPPERCASE style.

So, that's my week in books for 2011. Looking forward to 2012!

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Intern Insights: Writing & Moustaches in November

by Janet
Art & Photography + Gift & Stationery + Vancouver / November 03, 2011

It's NOVEMBER! You know what that means: stores are breaking out the Christmas specials, Starbucks has their Candy Cane lattes and men grow their moustaches for a good cause (Movember).

It also is, in the literary and online world, National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo is "30 days of literary abandon" and what better way to get started on your next novel than with a Moleskine and NaNoWriMo's own “Ready, Set, Novel!” (Chronicle Books)?

The spirit of writing a novel in a month isn't to churn out the next bestseller or Nobel prize winner, it's to connect online with fellow word-lovers and to find your creative self. Write with abandon for the next thirty days and you may be surprised at what turns up.

"Ready, Set, Novel!" is a great writing workbook. Whether you're a first time novelist or seasoned writer, it has a lot of great prompts and exercises to get your brain thinking about the world you're about to create.

My book is slowly filling up, it's one of two writing tools I always carry around. The other is my Reporter Moleskine.

Here are some great resources and tips to get you started on your masterpiece:

• The Snowflake Method - starting a novel and staring at a blank page can be daunting but with the Snowflake Method you can start with the big picture and work your way into the details.
• Creative Writing Exercises - some great prompts by Penn State University's creative writing course
• Nine Steps to a Novel - Author Garth Nix's 9 Steps
• Craft of Writing - Science Fiction Writers of America's blogs with many writing tips and strategies

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down in front of a typewriter and bleed." —Ernest Hemingway

 

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Moleskine Star Wars

by Siobhan
Gift & Stationery / September 30, 2011

Moleskine.

Star Wars.

Two of your favourite things, am I right?

Well, now they have joined forces...

Read more details about Moleskine's Star Wars limited editions on Moleskine.com.

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What to expect… When you are expecting at Raincoast

by Liz
Fashion & Textiles + Gift & Stationery + Health & Wellness + Humour + Kids + Parenting / April 28, 2011

When you are having a baby, and work in an office, you can expect a number of things:

- Doors will be held

- Food is always  being offered

- Co-workers will discuss upcoming business while simultaneously rubbing your belly

But when you are having a baby in an office that deals with the distribution of top publishers from every genre, you can expect the extra gift of 'how to' and 'how not to' manuals of pregnancy and parenting to pile up on your desk (it's like little stork-elves appear in the night and hide baby books around my work area)

This is what has been delivered so far:

Pregnancy Planner: Essential Advice for Moms-to-Be (Chronicle Books)

- This is a great weekly planner that gives you facts, tips and hints about what is going on every week of your pregnancy. This week's interesting tidbit: My baby's teeth are already growing!

I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper: Loving Your Marriage After the Baby Carriage (Chronicle Books)

- While I'm not ready to trade my husband in yet (thank goodness he cooks AND cleans!) this is an excellent book to keep on the bookshelf for after the babe is born and I need reminding of why I got into this whole mess in the first place.

After the Stork: The Couple's Guide to Preventing and Overcoming Postpartum Depression (New Harbinger)

- I can't really predict what will happen when our kid arrives but I can try to prepare in advance for what I can only imagine is an incredible emotional and physical upheaval. This book provides powerful tools for dealing with all the many changes that will come our way.

My Mom, Style Icon (Chronicle Books)

- Based on the awesome blog, Piper Weiss reminds us that our moms were people—young, hip, fashionable people—before we came along to monopolize their time. This book is an excellent reminder that having a baby doesn't mean I have to change who I am.

Mama's Big Book of Little Lifesavers: 398 Ways to Save Your Time, Money, and Sanity (Chronicle Books)

- As a first time parent any advice is appreciated. This book is full of hints and tips to help parents keep their sanity. Such as always carrying wipes, and if our child is messy eater don't let it stop us from eating out—just tip well! (as a former waitress I really like this one)

Fortune-Telling Book for Moms-to-Be (Chronicle Books)

- This is a fun little gift book full of ancient wisdom and old wives tales to decode everything from your baby's gender to their post-natal temperament. So far things I have learned are that tying knots during pregnancy can make labour difficult (note to self: give up macramé asap), and that I should eat avocados for a healthy and beautiful baby (but that a beautiful baby will make a homely adult... oh the dilemma...)

And I can't even get started on the baby name books we have. I'll save those for another post.

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New Passions

by Siobhan
Gift & Stationery / March 02, 2011

It's not quite the first day of Spring yet, but I'm tired of grey winter weather (and what's this about hurricanes predicted for BC today?!). I am ready for Springtime.

Spring is all about reawakening from our winter slumber, shaking off our grey-sky blues and reigniting our passions. So I was quite pleased to see that Moleskine has created a whole line of videos to showcase their new Passions Journals. Moleskine has added several new topics to their popular set of Passions Journals this season: Style, Travel, Gardening, Dog, Cat, and Baby.

Here are some videos that I hope will get you all fired up about your passion, whatever it may be.

Moleskine Passions Style Journal

 

Moleskine Passions Travel Journal

 

Moleskine Passions Gardening Journal

 

Moleskine Passions Dog Journal

 

Moleskine Passions Cat Journal

 

Moleskine Passions Baby Journal

You can also sample and download some of the interior pages from the Moleskine Passions Journals on Moleskine MSK.

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Valentine’s Day is a Week Away!

by Siobhan
Gift & Stationery / February 07, 2011

Consider this your official warning: Valentine's Day is one week from today. Now you have no excuse to forget! Here are some great V-day gift ideas, instead of the usual last-minute box of chocolates...

Books

Journals and Postcards

Coupon Books

 

(P.S. Also check out our kids blog for lovely books to share with your little ones.)

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Chapters-Indigo Relaunch Their Website

by Dan
Gift & Stationery / October 04, 2010

Canadian bookstore Chapters-Indigo relaunched their website at the weekend. Not only does the redesign look very pretty (see above!), but for the first time you can now buy gift and paper products online, including Moleskine notebooks and a beautiful new line of Indigo exclusive limited edition Moleskines:

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The Boho Index for Big Cities and Small

by Jamie
Design & Typography + Gift & Stationery / June 11, 2010

As the Canadian distributor for Moleskine, we are always looking out for information on people who love Moleskine. It is truism is that if you do creative work in your life you are probably a fan of Moleskine.

Richard Florida, theorist of the Creative Class, has a good post over at The Atlantic Monthly that discusses a recent study on the Boho Index for major North American cities (with populations over a million). Florida cites work from the Bohemian Index from the Martin Prosperity Institute that tracks cities with the highest percentage of working artists, musicians, writers, designers, and entertainers. Turns out that Canada is a Boho Haven.There are three Canadian cities in the Top 10; Vancouver is # 2, Toronto # 4 and Montreal rounds out the top ten. While flattering, none of this is hugely surprising.

But one of the major knocks against Creative Class theory is how can creative people actually afford to live in Creative Class cities? Most artists can't afford a fair-trade, organic, shade-friendly coffee at 49th Parallel in Kits let alone buy a house, condo or rent a single room apartment in Vancouver. This is what is cool about this index--it ranks smaller cities too, and here, Canada does very well: Halifax, Victoria, Peterborough, and Guelph all who have Boho Index values above the norm.

Lesson from all this? Grab your Moleskine Notebook and move to Peterborough, you will be very happy.

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Our Top 10 Picks for Father’s Day Gifts

by Siobhan
Art & Photography + Film + Food & Drink + Gift & Stationery + History + Humour + Music + Parenting / June 02, 2010

Sure, you could get him a tie.

But if you're looking for something a little more exciting, here are our top 10 picks for Father's Day gifts...

Handy Dad: 25 Awesome Projects for Dads and Kids


The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Man Skills


Dear Dad


Memento: An Autobiography Journal


2048: Humanity's Agreement to Live Together


Bee


Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline

 

Moleskine Passions: Book Journal / Film Journal / Music Journal / Recipe Journal / Wellness Journal / Wine Journal

Old Man Drinks: Recipes, Advice, and Barstool Wisdom


Ribs, Chops, Steaks & Wings

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Passionate about food? Win a Moleskine Passions Recipe Journal from Foodista.com!

by Siobhan
Contests + Food & Drink + Gift & Stationery / March 11, 2010

What was your favourite thing your grandma baked for you as a child? Does your dad make brilliant BBQ? Does your best friend make a mean guacamole?

Moleskine and Foodista.com want you to share your favourite recipes passed down from friends and family. In the spirit of sharing, they're giving away a set of Moleskine notebooks, including the new Moleskine Passions Recipe Journal.

For all the details and to enter the contest, visit Foodista.com

 

P.S. Also be sure to check out the other titles in the Moleskine Passions series - and watch the fun video trailers for each book!

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