Flow Book For Paper Lovers

Last week I shared a photo of a book that I had just received. At the time it got to me I didn't have time for a proper post. Since then I've had time to look (and drool) over my Flow Book for Paper Lovers and I've decided that the time has come to share in a little more detail.

Flow is a Dutch magazine which is printed quarterly. I've never actually gotten my hands on the magazine, but from what I understand it focuses on creativity, mindfulness and papery goodness. They have so much papery goodness that a few years ago, to celebrate an anniversary, they released their first Flow Book for Paper Lovers. It was such a hit that it soon sold out and they have made two more versions of it.

The one which Mr Click ordered for me a couple of weeks ago is the third iteration (the one decorated with a pattern of oranges). And it is exactly what it says on the cover; a book for paper lovers.

I'd seen someone showing off their copy on Facebook and immediately fell in love with the idea. It's not got a whole lot of writing in it, but what it does have are a variety of different sorts of paper and paper crafting bits and pieces. It appealed to me because of the writing paper, envelopes and stickers that come with it; since looking through it I've falling in love with some of the other things in it too.
The book boasts over 300 pages of goodies and they're not lying. When Mr Click handed me the package I wasn't expecting the size and the sheer weight of it. It's a big, bulky book and I am still amazed at the quality of it. This isn't some cheap collection of writing paper and stickers; this is good stuff.

Just inside the front cover is a little vellum pocket with a set of five little cards; they're like trading cards with pictures and text on them. I think that some will be used in my Bullet Journal and others (like the 'Thank You' one) will be used for my pen pals.

The book is then divided into three; A Little Snail Mail, A Little Happiness, and A Little Crafting. I suspect that the first section will be used up first. A whole host of artists have contributed patterns, sketches, drawings and prints which have been used in a variety of ways throughout the book. I won't go into everything that you'll find here because part of the joy of unwrapping this book was the discovery of all the little treats and surprises within the covers.

The Snail Mail section includes a lot of pretty writing paper (plain with a picture on one side, patterned on the other), there's also tags, postcards, a dress up postman doll and lots of funky stickers. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this stuff. At the moment I'm using up a fairly boring lined pad for my letters, but as that comes to an end I'm going to start using this paper for my pen pals.

The Happiness section is a little more random and has a mix of patterned paper (I suppose you could use this for scrapbooking or writing, it's plain on the other side), pictures with quotes, wrapping paper, tags, pictures, and posters (including one with a dial you can spin to decide what sort of day you're having). Many of these are designed to be framed or pinned up but there's no instructions for what you're supposed to do so really there's no limit to what you can do with them.

The final section is Crafting supplies (though as you can see, there's an awful lot of overlap between the different areas). This one has the things that actually need to be made and don't have the same flexibility in their use (though just because something's meant to be used in one way, there's nothing stopping you from using it in whatever way you want). It begins with a lot of bunting (I have plans to use some of this for my birthday, I've been missing the paper chains we put up for Christmas so maybe some garlands and bunting will fill the gap), then there's a French street scene with stick on characters, a collection of houses to put together, more stickers and colouring pages.

There's even a little pocket (with another garland tucked into it) where you can stash the stuff you are working on, pages you've pulled out of the book and odds and ends which you don't want to use.


This was a gift so I don't know exactly how much Mr Click paid for it, but it came all the way from the Netherlands in under a week! This would make a brilliant gift to anyone who enjoys cutting, sticking, writing, or pretty much any other hobby involving paper. The only thing I have to get over is tearing out the pages (which are helpfully perforated to make that task easier); luckily I've had plenty of practice at treating books in ways they should be treated with my Wreck This Journal, otherwise I might not be up to the job!