The Birthday Card Edit

Struggling to think of how to say Happy Birthday in a clever way to yet another Facebook friend? (I usually opt for the very original ‘Happy Birthday’ followed by a balloon or that party-popper-esque emoji). Well that’s probably because late September and early October are the most birthday-packed times of the year, with today – 5 October – being the most popular birthday.

So Happy Birthday (insert balloon or party-popper emoji here) if today’s your birthday. Or if one of your best girls is celebrating and you’re on the hunt for paper pretty and a sweet little present for under a tenner then look no further. (And hop over to Rock My Family where Charlotte’s talking gifts for littles).

The Pretty Ones

Anyone else love Rob Ryan and his beautiful, intricate paper cut outs? I swear they started a lasercut craze and now you can get the most gorgeous paper cut cards from the likes of notonthehighstreet and Etsy. My auntie bought this beauty for Lyra and it’s now on my list of things-to-frame.

Studio Seed sells a TONNE of pretty paperware and I would happily buy this ‘Hooray’ card for each and any of my mates.

And how sweet would this M&S card be accompanied with some of these tassly earrings that are all the rage, or perhaps a tassel cushion.

The Funny Ones

Rich pretty much wet himself when he watched the Gavin and Stacey episode in which Smithy gives a best man speech and holds up a piece of bread and says “I’d like to raise a toast”. So this one’s for him.

Charlotte recently bought this card for someone who’s old enough to know better but young enough to get away with it, and I adore this ‘Stay weird’ card.

And if you’ve just remembered that it was so-and-so’s birthday last week, then you probably need to let them know that Belated is the New Black.

The Cute Ones

You know when you find an online shop and you just want everything in there? (Cox and Cox and Nkuku I’m talking to you). Well I never thought I would be obsessed with a site that only sold greetings cards but it’s happened, folks. I would like to buy every single card from Ruth Jackson’s Pencil Shaving Cards empire. The designs feature actual pencil shavings. The wobbly little penguin! The lion one! The unicorn! All so simple but all so sweet. I love the story behind Ruth’s cards too. And you know they’re gonna be good if John Lewis stocks ‘em.

Kikki K

You know when you discover an actual shop and you just want everything in there? Well that happened to me when I lived in Sydney and stumbled across a Kikki K at the top of Westfield Bondi Junction. It was a beautiful, blisteringly hot day, and I should have been on the beach, but I couldn’t tear myself away from all the stylish stationery. My little sister or my mum usually treats me to a Kikki K pen and matching notepad for Christmas. (Lyra has recently started using one of said notebooks as a ‘school register’ and seeing the pretty pages scrawled over does devastate me but if it means she’s going to practice her writing then I can’t really complain, can I?!).

Anyway, it seems that it’s not just Lyra and I that are crazy for Kikki K as Lauren has also recently purchased the ‘I’m bananas for you’ card in the header image above. And the announcement that Kikki K have a Stationery Lovers Advent Calendar out made my heart actually skip a beat.

Where are your go-to shops for paper pretty?

GIFTS UNDER A TENNER