Inspiration comes in so many forms, and can feel so good in your hand... like these solid graphite pencils from the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. The weight is SO nice! And then combine it with great colors from your usual graphite options to gold, silver, and purple!!! And on top of that, add great quotes from some fun and inspiring artists... does it get more NOTCOT than this Warhol quote? "I never read, i just look at the pictures." ~ Well that just about sums up how i feel about why i needed NOTCOT.org in my life, sometimes we just need pictures to float through us to interpret as we wish...

Others are:
Max Ernst: All good ideas arrive by chance
Marc Chagall: Great art picks up where nature ends.
Robert Rauschenberg: "Now" is my competition.
Robert Rauschenberg: A canvas is never empty.
Pablo Picasso: Everything you can imagine is real.
Diane Arbus: Nothing is ever the same as they said it was..
Salvador Dali: I don't do drugs. I am drugs.
Salvador Dalí: Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.

Luckily the Moderna Museet has a webshop too! See more pics on the next page as usual...

TO PAGE 2 of "Moderna Museet Graphite Pencils"! ----->

Tags: gifts - museum - pens - quotes - shopping - stockholm - sweden

My pens got envious as soon as i opened the latest email from the folks at Merchant 4 ~ their new Place For Trace ~ pen/pencil and tracing paper roll holder... so pretty, so simple... it makes me want to drill holes along the edge of my desk to line up all my pens/markers/pencils... i suppose it would end up like a colorful picket fence of writing instruments (and maybe x-actos too?) around my laptop and such? Anyhow, take a peek at this new desk accessory on the next page!

afterthought: i wonder if these holes fit sharpies?

TO PAGE 2 of "'Place for trace' Merchant 4"! ----->

Tags: gifts - home - pens - shopping - wood

On random inspiration ~ i was unpacking my bags from freshly getting back to LA ~ and realized being at a conference and sitting in talks was much like being back in school... flowing out of my bags come notebooks, pens, conference packets, scraps of paper, and more covered in scribbles and notes and doodles of an abundance of ideas!

On an even sillier note ~ i realized i'm totally obsessed with the DWR Tools for Living Press Kit that doubles as a super functional notebook that has nice stark white pages and fun super thick cardboard covers! And the Federated Media pen from the CM Summit has been great as well - both visually and functionally (so much, that i even stole dan's). Both have been ending up in my purse repeatedly enough that i thought they warranted a random sunday post! And while i was showing you that... my "speaker's gift" from FM was a nice and subtly branded Moleskine! Which is awesome, except playing with it during the summit, made me realize - i find a blank white piece of paper amazingly inspiring... but RULED PAPER, kind of freaks me out. I think there's something about lined paper that is just too rigid for me - definitely a big fan of the free form. Take a look at closeups of them all on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "On Notebooks and Pens"! ----->

Tags: book - dwr - events - notebook - paper - pens - press kit

For pen lovers, I just received this new alternative to space pens and INKA pens ~ that can write upside down, under water, in space, etc due to the pressurized ink cartridges! Tombow (whose markers and glues i've loved since childhood) have their own version, the Object XL that we found over at adorable Tortoise Life on Abbot Kinney last night. The although a little larger than my INKA Titanium that has been on my keychain for some time, i love that with one action you can extend the top which makes the pen tip appear, and makes it the perfect length to comfortably write with... no caps or little pieces to lose, or clickers to accidentally help a pen scribble in the innards of your purse/wallet. Apparently you can even put a Fischer PDA Stylus in. Full unboxing images below ~ it makes a gorgeous gift!

TO PAGE 2 of "Tombow Object XL"! ----->

Tags: gifts - pens - reviews - shopping

Inka Special Edition Titanium Pen review! First impressions? Love it. Anything that i can sit here and not stop playing with for a good hour or so while working must have something going for it. Silly details that grabbed me first - the design, its sleek yet rugged - it feels like quality in your hands, and it is everything i always wished the space pens were. (those were far to slippery and shiny feeling)... Granted i also have a soft spot for titanium and carbon fiber. Also it looks a little like a titanium/carbonfiber cig hanging from my keychain... love that it doesn't scream PEN.

Inka was founded by Greg Adelman, an engineer/entrepreneur with a good number of years working military and oceanographic industries designing and developing instrumentation and equipment... so is it any wonder that when he failed to find a suitable pen that could withstand the harsh marine environment he developed the concept for the Inka Pen? (I love product design which emerges from a genuine need, not simply an idea to fill an assumed niche.) Packaging + pictures + more thoughts below.

TO PAGE 2 of "Inka Titanium Review"! ----->

Tags: pens