Big Giveaway WINNER! And 10% off Promo for ATELEIA, Doane Paper, and Dudek Modern Goods

We had a great response for the ATELEIA, Doane Paper, and Dudek Modern Goods giveaway and thanks to all that entered! And the winner of is:

Congrats, Tyler! Connect with me through the Contact page to claim your prizes.

SPECIAL 10% OFF PROMO

Also, ATELEIA, Doane Paper, and Dudek Modern Goods wanted to run a special short term promo for 10% off goods in our stores using the promo code CLICKYPOST.

Offer is good for 10% off any pens or pen sleeves through ATELEIA and anything in the Doane Paper or Dudek Modern Goods stores through September 27th! 

Blok Notebook - Grid Blok by Blok Books

I was contacted recently by the folks over at Blok Books about reviewing one of their products and I'm looking forward to sharing some thoughts.

A neat fact, Blok Books is actually a company local to me and the books are produced right here in Phoenix by a small bookbinder which is pretty cool. Small business is awesome.

The Blok products are centered around design and experience. The owners of the company, David Rengifo and Steve Smit, are both artists and designers so they seemed to know what they wanted.

The first noticeable features are the sharp edges and orange accents. The cover of the books are a thick laminated card stock with a matte finish with an embossed "BLOK" logo. Orange looks great as an accent. A bit flashy, but fits the overall style and branding of the books so well. These look like they are produced by a company much larger than they are which is a compliment. When a smaller company can produce locally made products as sharp as these, that is a huge win and accomplishment. 

Rather than the binding being glued like most comparable books on the market, these are sewn and bound in a process called "Smythe Sewn" which allows the book to lay completely flat and the pages won't fall out.

When I say "flat", I mean flat. I don't think I've used a notebook that actually fulfills on this claim as well as Blok. 

The book also comes with an elastic strap to keep it closed which is similar to that of a Moleskine or Leuchtturm 1917 books, but without the "faux" leatherette type of material on the covers. It doesn't feel quite as soft as these others, but the book begs to be used.

There is a small square in the spine section of the cover that allows for a clicky pen to accompany you with the book. There is even a space between the pages and the edge of the cover so it will fit and not bend anything.

The book comes with 128 pages that are just about an A5 size. 

I opted for the "Grid Blok" which is a dot pattern. The dots are a subtle grey and easy to follow. I went directly to fountain pens for my initial tests and the book did fantastic.

I've used three different pens with different inks in the book and all performed well. Dry times were considerably long...

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Most of the lines were crisp and sharp, but there were a couple of spots that barely feathered.

These books are a bit pricier than some others on the market at $25 apiece, but dang they are nice. The paper is great, the lay-flat design, good looks; lots of great features that push our buttons. I would definitely recommend them to try to a stationary junkie or someone who appreciates a nice notebook. Visit blokbooks.com to see their selection and thanks again to Blok for sending this sample for review!

Big Giveaway! ATELEIA Raw Aluminum, Doane Paper, Dudek Modern Goods

This is going to be an exciting one...

With my recent review of the ATELEIA raw aluminum pen, Chris was kind enough to offer an Energel version of the pen to be given away to a reader!

In addition to it, I thought we'd make a bit of a "kit" out of the giveaway by also including two large utility notebooks from Doane Paper as well as The Groove pen and notebook holder from Dudek Modern Goods. All of these products are made in the USA and distributed by small businesses (including mine) in the stationary community.

I know I can speak for all of us that we are grateful for the support we receive for our goods and take great pride in sending out our wares. 

This is a really fun prize and am excited to pick a winner! See how to enter below:

CONTEST RULES (the "fine print"):

- Contest will run through Saturday, September 19th and will end at 11:59pm Arizona Time, USA

- To enter, leave a comment below (limited to one entry per person; no cheating!): what are your favorite small business products in the "stationary/writing" category? Or, what are you looking to buy soon?

- I will arrange the entries in numerical order and randomly select a winner.  The winner will be announced on the blog on Sunday, September 20th and will need to connect with me within a week to claim their prize. 

- This giveaway is open to both US and International readers.