Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper!

Some carnivals have roller coasters, fried dough, and oversized stuffed animals as prizes. This carnival offers just as much fun and variety, if you love handmade Japanese paper, fountain pens, Filofaxes, and 15-year old spiral notebooks. Every month, a different blog will host this traveling collection of the best posts about pens, pencils, notebooks, and other related topics. (More information here and here.)

I’m so excited to be launching the Carnival with such a great collection of posts. The submissions were everything I’d hoped for: a wide range of topics from a variety of blogs, some that I knew well and some new ones I’ve just discovered. It was hard to select a few favorites to highlight as Editor’s Picks, so I chose a few from the blogs that were new to me.

Editor’s Picks:

Clement Dionglay presents I Love Notebooks posted at Rants of the Archer.
Nifty says: If this hadn’t been in the carnival, I definitely would have made it an “Addict of the Week” post!

Kim presents Head to Head Highlighters posted at Prosaic Paradise.
Nifty says: you don’t see too many side-by-side highlighter comparisons–especially not ones that conclude that they’ve found the holy grail of highlighters!

Blackwing 602 pencil presented by pencil talk, who says, “a pencil review, in fact :-)”
Nifty says: wow, there is an incredible amount of detail and history in this review of a no-longer-made pencil with an unusual design. Great photos too.

Monda presents Reading the Minutes posted at Fresh Ribbon, saying, “Sometimes old notebooks have secrets…”
Nifty says: I love it when notebooks can capture bits of history like this.

Now on to the rest of our carnival, organized by topic.

New Product News

Tom Oddo presents Cross 2009 Fall Line Sneak Peek posted at Goldspot Pens, saying, “New Cross products due out Sept 1st.”

Alberto presents Pentel Slicci 0.8 mm metallic gel pens first impression posted at Lung Sketching Scrolls, saying, “Some sketches and initial review of the new Pentel Slicci 0.8 metallic gel pens”

Notebook Reviews

Sam presents Review: Asda Executive Notebook posted at Future; Nostalgic.”

Judy Hudgins presents School (supply) Time! posted at Knottyneedle, saying, “Just a general statement on the advent of school supply time and notebooks purchased recently”

Michael C presents The Quo Vadis Habana Notebook posted at Takenotesonthis’s Blog, saying, “Hopefully my wonderful experience will radiate through this review. I intended for this review to spark some great interest in not only Habana and Quo Vadis products, but also in all notebook and stationary products alike.”

Flea presents Ode To Shakespeare posted at Be A Survivor.

CynthiaNiklas presents Review: Pen and Paper Test in a Ciak Journal posted at Journaling Arts.

Pen Reviews

Nrepose presents Zebra Clip On Multi posted at Unposted.

Okami0731 presents Featured Pen – Retro 51 Cioppino posted at Whatever.

dowdyism presents Review: Zebra F-701 posted at The Pen Addict, saying, “The Zebra F-701 is a pen that has been around for a while, but it is new to me, and many other readers as well.”

Kew L. Ang presents Lamy Safari posted at My So Called Life, saying, “Lamy Safari is an entry level fountain pen and it is also the cheapest from this German Company. The pen has a black chromium plated steel tip and the body was made of ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic. In the middle of the body, there is a little window displaying the ink level and the pen cover has a gigantic clip. At first glance, it is young, chic and colorful. The pen screams our practicality rather than something that look nice on your pocket. The pen comes in Blue, Black, Red, Yellow, Orange and recently in bright Pink as a special edition.”

Margana presents Time for a Purple Fix posted at An Inkophile’s Blog, saying, “Inkophile is about fountain pens, ink, and the paper that suits them best.”

John Hartzog presents Tommy And The Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A posted at Pens And Pencils, a drafting pencil review.

Sketchbook Art

Cheryl Lowry presents Ampad 8×5: Notebook of my youth posted at Strikethru.

From Our Own Collections

Nan Barber presents It’s That Time Of Year Again!! posted at Philofaxy.

James presents A Fountain Pen of Note posted at Everyday Correspondence, saying, “Not exactly from my collection, but from Thomas Jefferson’s. On a recent trip to Monticello I was able to photograph this pen from the 1820s. In my post about it, I also mention Jefferson’s ivory notebook and provide a link to the history of Jefferson’s involvement in the development of the modern fountain pen.”

Steve presents Filofax – My Own Story posted at Steve Morton.

Jackie Flaherty presents Pens & Notebooks posted at Letters & Journals, saying, “I am one of those people who collects notebooks and pens unabashedly. I don’t even need a reason to write…just a fine tip pen and smooth writing paper.”

Vintage Writing Keepsakes, because I’m Sick of Talking Politics is presented by No Telling, who says, “…because sometimes the perfect little notebook has a bit of history…”

Mom Birthday Cards Printable is presented by Home Life Weekly, who says, “I have put together my printable Mom Birthday cards to share with you. They are really easy to make all you need to do is download the Mom Birthday Cards print and fold”

Hilary presents Decorative Japanese Bindings posted at A Yen For Paper.

That concludes this edition, but don’t worry, another Carnival will be rolling into town soon! The next edition will be hosted by The Pen Addict on September 8th. Make sure you submit your post by5pm on September 6th using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page. The carnival is organized by me, Nifty at Notebook Stories, so if you have any feedback or suggestions about the frequency or topics of the carnival, or if you’re interested in hosting, please contact me! Thanks for reading!