Canadian Gift Guide

I am a sucker for pretty writing utensils. As a kid, I loved getting my school supplies list and eagerly anticipated purchasing new pastels (who ever used those things, really?), unpractical jewel-inked pens, smelly markers, Laurentian pencil crayons, and sparkly gel pens. As you grow older, buying pens becomes a year-long activity linked primarily with your office’s supplies budget. Still, I have bought a few specialty items for myself over the years that do NOT stay at my jobs when I hit the road.

I first heard of Marvy’s LePen set three years ago, after a beautiful photospread in In Style of all things. I coveted. Badly. And I sprung for a set, that I treasured when making notes on the clients I worked with and the tasks I had. A LePen is ironically kind of an uber fine tipped marker. The ink is blessedly acid-free and non-toxic, and each barrel matches the colour of the ink making it easy to find what you’re looking for. Plus, they are amazingly completely smudge-free!

These pens can be used for everyday use, or you can save them for signing greeting cards or crafty endeavors like scrapbooking. Much like the Timbuk2 bags I referenced the other week (which, in the creepy internet stalker department have popped up like dandelions with web advertising), these also make a fantastic back to school gift for any students in your life.

You can buy each pen for about $2 Canadian – I spotted them online at a Canadian site called Scrapbook Star – or you can do what I did and purchase the full rainbowtastic set from American-based Lytha Studios for $27 USD at a reasonable shipping rate and timeline. Taste the rainbow people! Only, not literally.