A Gift for Your Stationery Basket

ByJennifer Mackintosh Posted on

After posting about my Stationery Basket, Elisa wrote:

I am looking for 8.5 x 11 pages, or similar to that size, but not the 5×8 paper. I want something lined and something that I can write on with an ink fountain pen. I just browsed all the sites, but I can’t find it! I will keep looking, but please write back if you know a place.

Elisa, I am finding the same challenge!  I would love to find an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of stationery paper, but I simply cannot.  So, I made my own, and I’m pleased to share them with you so that you can download them and use them in your own stationery baskets.  It really couldn’t be simpler.  Just click on the links provided at the bottom of this post, and save to your desktop.  Print on nice paper.

I tried two different colors of paper.  I really wanted a light Robin’s Egg Blue, and ordered a turquoise paper I hoped might be the right color, but it’s really too deep, too bright and dark.  If you know of a good source for a nice Robin’s Egg Blue 8 1/2 x 11 paper, please do leave a comment for me!  Edited to say that I found my Robin’s Egg Blue paper at Paper Source, the color name is Pool.

The other color I chose is a pretty, creamy ivory linen color.  It’s perfect for stationery because it’s soft on the eyes and the light gray lines on the stationery are visible but they don’t stand out.  I’m very happy with this paper.

With the paper in hand, I set out to find some lovely vintage clip art that was in the public domain.  The Graphics Fairy has always been a favorite resource of mine and I chose several graphic images I liked for the stationery you see pictured.  There are a variety of lovely choices offered, and all of the images are copyright free (in the public domain).  If you don’t see something you like here, why not browse around and make your own stationery to suit your tastes and preferences?

I started with a simple document and added light gray lines to the page….because….well, I have a hard time writing in a straight line without guide lines.  I’ve always wished I could do this, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful, so I rationalized that it would be better to have lightly printed shadowy lines…than to mar my stationery with my drifting penmanship.  Thus…

From there, I dropped the vintage images in place.  I edited all of them in terms of size, and flipped a few images.  Click on the images to blow up the pictures and get a closer look.  The link to download each image pictured is below each image (you’ll need Adobe Acrobat to view and open these).  Hope you enjoy!

(note – if you prefer not to print in the blue color, simply set your printer to print a black and white image.)
ribbon banner with oak leaves
There are two final designs that are not pictured:
fleur de lis in top-center of page
children at play
I enjoyed putting these together so much that I may make some more stationery sheets soon.  I’ll be sure to let you know if I do!
Happy letter writing!
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18 Comments

  2. Oh my goodness!!! Thank you SO much!! This is so sweet of you to take the time to do this. I love these pagers. I ordered the ivory paper and downloaded these and can't wait to write a letter. Thank you so much!

    Reply

  7. If you have an Office Depot near you, they have TONS of various weight paper in lots of colors. You might find the color you seek there. I would recommend actually going to one and looking, rather than doing it online. Might be a drive, but worth it if you get the paper you want.

    Reply
  18. Pingback: A Sunny Space to Exercise the Imagination and Create | Wildflowers and Marbles

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