Back to School: Supplies to Inspire a New Start!
Despite finishing my education well over ten years ago, there’s just something about this time of year that fills me with the urge to buy new stationery. Shopping for the perfect pencil case and filling it with freshly sharpened pencils unlocks so much excitement and anticipation for the next twelve months. Ahhh, you just can’t beat that new pencil smell or cracking the spine on a fresh notepad!
Whether you’re heading back to school, college or university, sending your little ones off to school, working in education, starting an evening class or just want a good excuse to treat yourself, stay tuned for my “back to school” stationery picks…
While I’m pretty firmly in team “hardback journal”, there’s just something delightfully nostalgic about an exercise book. Risotto Jotters (fun to say!) are designed and printed in Glasgow and feature serious old school vibes. If you prefer a slightly larger page, look no further than the iconic Cornell lined / gridded notebook. It’s perfect for lecture notes or planning out an essay or project.
I don’t know about you, but gel pens were basically currency at my school, and 12 year old me would have lost her mind over the vibrancy and juiciness of these Gelly Roll Moonlight fluorescent gel pens! They’re satisfyingly opaque, even on coloured paper.
These bright stripes erasers remind me so much of the souvenirs I used to buy on school trips! Thankfully, these are much more efficient at actually erasing. They’re medium hardness and perfect for correcting HB-4B graphite.
I hadn’t written with a fountain pen since school until I got one for my birthday last year, and now I’m obsessed! These Lamy Safari fountain pens write so smoothly and come in a choice of five bold colours. I think “mango” is my favourite.
Perhaps even more excitingly than the choice of barrel colour is the fact that you can now buy coloured ink cartridges for your Lamy Safari fountain pen! Gone are the days of blue or black.
I extensively tested highlighters in one of my previous blog posts and it would be remiss of me not to give a shout out to my fav - the Zebra Kirarich glitter highlighter. I didn’t know I needed my highlighting to be glittery, until I tried this!
The jolly bright orange plastic of this geometric shape stencil gives me serious old school vibes, possibly because it reminds of a Spirograph! While it may not help you create mesmerising spiral doodles, it *does* make drawing evenly sized and spaced squares, circles, hexagons and triangles a whole lot easier! Perfect for using in your bullet journal, and it doubles up as a ruler to make the most of your pencil case space.
Speaking of pencil cases… what’s a gorgeous new stash of stationery without somewhere to keep it? These exclusive soft cord pencil cases are made in Scotland, fully lined and big enough for Tombow brush pens!
Markers are absolutely a back to school essential, regardless of how many posters you have to make these days! These Stabilo Pen 68 markers have fine tips which are perfect for precise colouring and bullet journal headings.
What’s a fresh start without a little encouragement and reward? Mark your achievements with these gold and silver or rainbow bright star stickers. Or if you’re looking for something to decorate your homework diary (do those still exist?), lunchbox or bullet journal, these 80s accessories stickers from Pipsticks have it covered! Literally.
…and finally, what kind of 80s kid would I be without a shout out to the Penco embossing label maker?! My parents had a similar one when I was a child and I grabbed any opportunity to label everything I owned! I walked around with “right” and “left” on my trainers for a year. This one can emboss both upper and lower case letters as well as numbers, punctuation and a choice of cute symbols.
Whether you’re heading back to school or not this season, have a good one! Nikki and I would love to see your back to school stationery choices or planner spreads, especially if you’ve been inspired by any of the ideas in this blog post. Please tag @nikkissupplystore on Instagram, where you can find heaps more journaling and stationery inspiration. You can also follow me, @joy.margot, for more craft content and pictures of my cat, Juniper.
