Mr. Q and I can be opposites in some ways, but there is one thing that we share a common love for … office supplies.
I know, that’s kind of weird, right? Or is it? Maybe lots of you also have a secret passion for pencils, fresh tablets of paper and those old heavy tape dispensers. Do you?
My love of office supplies goes all the way back to my childhood. I can clearly remember visiting my grandpa Quist (dad’s side) and spending time in his home office. He had one of those big old steel desks, sort of like this one …
And he had lots of cool drafting pencils, little boxes of pencil lead, and various other old office supplies in his drawers. I remember that he had the coolest sharpener for his mechanical pencils, like this one …
I loved sharpening all of his pencils. I would pretend that I was a clerk in an office somewhere, taking calls on his old rotary telephone.
Really, it’s no wonder that I ended up becoming an accountant, is it?
I wasn’t really thinking about those memories when working on today’s projects, but as I was staging my photos they were brought back to mind.
Which brings me to the projects at hand.
Recently Lynne from ellen j goods reached out to me to ask if I would like to try out her new line of stencils in designs that are based on old German grain sacks. I don’t think I could say ‘yes’ fast enough. Even without my recent resolution to say yes more, I would have said ‘yes!’
Just a few days later I received the stencils in the mail. I love that she offers a variety of sizes, I especially like the smaller 8″ x 8″ versions.
I wanted to give them a try right away, so I pulled out a small wooden box that my friend Sue found for me.
It was super simple to paint up the box in Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky, and then add a portion of one of the 8″ x 8″ stencils to the top and front of the box using Gravel Road.
I love the subtle look of the dark grey stenciled over black.
In fact, I liked it so much that I pulled out a 2nd box that I’d found while garage saling and gave it the same treatment using part of another of the 8″ x 8″ stencils.
I think these look totally legit, don’t you? These pencil boxes would have looked right at home on my grandpa’s desk next to his funky mechanical pencil pointer.
I lined both of the boxes with some Paris map paper from October Afternoon (no longer in business).
The black and white paper worked perfectly with my color scheme.
As I was staging the pencil boxes for photos, I decided that a drop cloth would create a better background than the white waxed wood of my table top. And of course, I couldn’t just leave it completely plain.
So I stenciled it with the Koch Lions 1871 stencil from ellen j goods.
Isn’t that gorgeous? It would be perfect for pillow covers, or on the seat of a chair. Hmmmm … that has me thinking about a chair I’ve been meaning to get to, I may have to try that.
But in the meantime, those 8″ x 8″ stencils are perfect for use on smaller projects and I know I’m going to get lots of mileage out of them.
Be sure to check out the stencils at ellen j goods, and if you’ve got some time you could also check out Lynne’s YouTube video featuring the stencils here.
So tell me, do you share our fondness for office supplies? Or are we the only ones?
q is for quandie 
I love Lynne!! Everything she makes is beautiful. She is an amazing artist all around.
LikeLike
I agree! Her style is right up my alley!
LikeLike
My family owned an office supply store when I was growing up and I am definitely an office supply lover. I would often go to Daddy’s office after school and “help” my grandmother in the store. I think Daddy stocked school supplies in the fall mainly because, with six children, we used a lot of them.
I wandered over to ellen j goods to take a look – what an interesting selection Lynne has of stencils and other things. Thanks for the heads-up.
Sheila
LikeLike
Wow, that would have been my dream … a dad that owned an office supply store 😉
LikeLike
Great find on the stencils! These would be perfect for my cigar boxes! Thanks for the tip on her website…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Linda! I am so excited to see what you will do with a few of the others! Christmas, perhaps? Hint, hint. 😂 Your projects are perfect. I love how we can use parts and bits of each of the stencils!
LikeLike
I know I’m going to find lots of projects to use them on! Thanks again Lynne 🙂
LikeLike
I love office supplies, too! We have an old tape dispenser we use with our double-sided tape and one of those round doo-hickies that hold office stamps. I also have old brass alphabet stencils and plenty of writing instruments…more than anyone could ever use in a lifetime!
LikeLike
I remember those stamp holders! How fun 🙂
LikeLike
Did you use the same paint to stencil on the drop cloth?
LikeLike
I used the same black paint that I used to paint the boxes, Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.
LikeLike
I love office supplies! Your boxes are awesome. The stencils are very cool. Thanks for sharing 😊
LikeLike
You’re welcome!
LikeLike
Oh my! That brought back so many memories for me. I used to play teacher when I was helping my little brother learn how to read. Of course, I had to have my little table set up like a teacher’s desk. I think that started my love for office supplies. My daughter has the affliction as well! So, if you ever need more pencils or notepads, let me know!
LikeLike
LOL, thanks Suzi!
LikeLike
Ohmygosh! I love them so much! I could only afford to order one at the time I placed my order and I can’t wait to use it! Putting them on the boxes was perfect- they look lovely! I also have a love for office supplies and after retiring this summer after 34 years of teaching, I realized just how much! #boxesofpaperstuff❤️ #NoOfficeToHideItIn!
LikeLike
Congrats on your retirement Susan!
LikeLike
I, too, love office supplies – my passion is ledgers! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE old ledgers. So fascinating to me. When cleaning out my mom’s house after she passed, I found my dad’s ledgers from when he was the secretary for the Bricklayer’s Union. So fun to read them and of course, I have them on display. The stencils are great too, I will go over and check them out. I use stencils but I must confess, I’m not good at storing them!
LikeLike
I love me some ledger paper too! In fact, spoiler alert, you may see my love of ledger paper in an upcoming post. As for storing the stencils, I haven’t really got a good system for that either. Right now I have them all in a giant box and it’s a real mess. I need to experiment with some better ways to store them!
LikeLike
You are not alone. I have a stash of office supplies – just in case. And the boxes look awesome. I’m off to look at the stencils on her website. Because along with office supplies, a girl can never have enough stencils. 😉
LikeLike
So true, good point Marguerite 😉
LikeLike
Oh Miss Quandie, this post is a PERFECT display of your talents! You have show-cased your projects within the frame of an awesome, engaging, and sweet story! I just loved this post! It took me back to my childhood and got me nostalgic about something I haven’t thought about in a long time. As a kid I used to love love love going to the mill offices…….my dad’s secretary, who was there for YEARS, loved his kids to pieces and would let me take whatever I wanted from the huge office supply closet! I’m thinking it must have been my first experience of a “shopping high”!!! And I love German typography! I think because I speak French, I’ve gotten tired of its typography……I see what it’s saying and more often wonder “why?”.The German is more interesting to me visiually! Just LOVED this post!
LikeLike
It seems like most of the German language stencils are just names of people and places, and dates, while the French ones are saying something flowery. Or they are saying ‘cakes and pastries’, or some such thing. I wonder why that is?
LikeLike