Christmas Gift Ideas: Goodies from my Stationery Store

There are only 8 weekend left until Christmas, an I don't know about you but I am definitely not ready. I am especially not ready to even start thinking about gifts but luckily, I own a stationery store! Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas?! Now I just need to find some manly bits of stationery for Farmboy (maybe something that ties in with his love for fishing?? Hmmm....).

To make your life easier I wanted to share some of the lovely pieces I have for sale. I offer worldwide shipping (there are some issues with shipping to SA but drop me a message if you'd like to order anything and I'll let you know about the bet way to get your your pretty goodies).

I accept payment by PayPal (you don't have to have a PayPal account) which means you can pay by credit card from anywhere in the world...yippe! Each order that leaves my store is beautifully packaged, making even the opening of the gift a lovely experience. Shipping generally takes 2 - 3 weeks for international orders so make sure to get your orders in soon.

Happy Shopping everyone!

WIN a Spring Inspired Package from Korea

The weather over the past few days has been absolutely delightful (it's the final days of summer and I know this means we are in for a very cold winter here in Korea). It really has felt like Spring, and to celebrate I'm giving away this very pretty package of stationery and beauty products from some of my favourite stores here.

Happy Friday everyone! The weather here in Korea has been feeling very much like Spring and to celebrate I am giving...

Posted by CityGirl Searching on Thursday, 10 September 2015

I've got face masks, nail polish, pencils, writing paper, and lots of other pretty goodies. All you have to do is head over to my Facebook page and comment & share the photo. This giveaway is open worldwide and the winner will be drawn on Tuesday 15th September.

Good luck!

GIVEAWAY! Win a copy of The Secret Garden Adult Colouring Book

I'm giving a copy of the beautifully illustrated The Secret Garden colouring book by Johanna Barsford. To enter all you have to do is head on over to my Facebook page and comment on the photo with your answer. 

>Giveaway open internationally.

>Winner will be chosen on Monday June 22nd at 10am Korean time.

Good luck! 

Secret Garden Anti Stress Adult Colouring Book by Johanna Basford

Colouring in books were always my favourite thing to do when I was little. I loved the thrill of filling a page blank page with my own hand, creating a world of colour from nothing but a few black lines. That thrill doesn't have to stop just because I have grown up. Colouring in as a hobby is becoming more and more popular thanks to ladies like Johanna Basford, creator of The Secret Garden; and Andrea Barras, fellow South African blogger, entrepreneur and creator of You Biscuit. 

Andrea has had an amazing response from South Africans worldwide with her #ColourInSA A1 sized poster for children & adults. Her poster is inspired by South Africa's beauty and individuality as a country and showcases a lovingly illustrated collage of South African objects, animals, structures, plants, products, icons and symbols that all South Africans can relate to. To find out more about the poster and to place your order, click here. It's wonderful to see a piece of art uniting so many people all over the world. 

I fist came across The Secret Garden while teaching my middle school students here in Korea. While walking around the classroom I glanced down and noticed a pair of students flicking through a beautifully illustrated book. Instead of being mad at them for not filling in their worksheets, I stopped to ask them about the book. The told me it was 'for stress' and then went on to show me pages and pages of intricate designs, just waiting to be adorned with colour.

I went online and searched for 'anti-stress' books and up popped The Secret Garden. There is an insane amount of pressure on middle and high school students in Korea to achieve the best grades in order to get into the few elite Universities. My students (13 - 15 year old girls) leave school at 6pm only to head straight to after school academies where they will study until until midnight before returning home to finish their homework. These colouring books have become a way for them to relax, to allow their creativity to engage while letting their minds unwind from the pressures of their textbooks.

Each and every page of this book is a treasure trove filled with illustrations of birds, flowers, owls, butterflies and so much more. And it's not just a colouring in book. The book opens with a list of treasures to be found, a design loves 'Where's Wally'; 63 beetles, 20 songbirds, 116 butterflies, 13 owls...this book will keep you entertained for hours. The Secret Garden has been translated into 14 different languages, the Korean version is the one pictured in this post. 

As a thank you to all you wonderful readers I will be giving away a copy of The Secret Garden this week! Make sure to pop on over to my Facebook page to find out how to enter. >>>

CityGirl Searching

20% off My Stationery Store in Honour of National Stationery Week!

Today marks the start of National Stationery Week in the UK and to celebrate I'm offering 20% off all items in my stationery store! I'm mad about the gorgeous stationery items here in South Korea and I think you will be too once you see what lovely bits of paper goodies I have in stock. This special discount is only valid until Friday the 1st May. Below you'll find just a small selection of what I have in stock, simply click on each image to be directed to the store.

Simply use the following code to access your 20% discount:

happymail

Happy Shopping everyone!

I ship world wide. Shipping costs start from $2 and you should receive your package within 2 weeks. If you are based in South Africa shipping will take longer, please be patient. Please also note that for basic shipping there is no tracking number or insurance (as these make shipping very expensive). If you would like a tracking number or insurance please email me for rates).

Payment is securely done through Paypal (which you can make payments on without a Paypal account using your credit or debit card). If you have any further question please feel free to email me using the contact form above or by clicking here.

Happy Shopping!

New Items in Stock in my Stationery Store

I want to share with you the new items that have just been added to my stationery store. Shipping starts from just $1 (depending on the weight of the item/s) and I ship world wide, except to South Africa**

Click the 'start shopping' button below to be directed to my store!

x

Animal Gift Bags $2.50

Slim Notebooks $2

I am very sorry that I am unable to ship items to South Africa due to postal delays, postal strikes and high costs. Please bear with me until alternative shipping methods are available for South Africa.

Free Shipping for my South African Readers Ordering between now and Dec 26th!

For all my South African readers, I will be home for 3 week visit from the end of December until the middle of January and I wanted to offer you all free shipping on items in my stationery store! I will be in Johannesburg for a few days and then the majority of my time will be spent in KZN (Pietermaritzburg). If we can arrange a convenient meeting place during that time then I will simply pop your order into my suitcase and bring it along with me, saving you the hassle of worrying about items not arriving in SA.

All you have to do is go to my store (click here) select your items, and then choose the 'Pick up/Local delivery option' for shipping. Payment is done using your credit card through Paypal, which is very safe and secure. 

I have also made up a few custom packages for customers who have emailed me items they would like and then I have given them my South African banking details to make payment. Let me know if you want to do something similar, but hurry as time is running out! 

Happy hopping everyone!

New 2015 Calendars in Stock in my Stationery Store

I have some gorgeous new 2015 calendars in stock in my stationery store as of this morning. There are two desk standing calendars and one wall hanging calendar. All of them are unique and beautifully illustrated to help you get your planning for the new year done in style.

Introducing TJ Stationery {and a GIVEAWAY}

Today I want to introduce you to tj stationery & gifts, an Australian based gift and stationery store that celebrates the simple pleasures in life. 

"Meet Jenny, a simple girl with an appreciation for all the little things in life. She lives in a humble Sydney apartment with her partner and bunny. One day, out of desire to do something that truly made her happy, she decided to start her own online store - combining her love for drawing and obsession with stationery. tj stationery & gifts is her creative outlet, a place where she can express her ideals of happiness, in the hope of spreading happiness to others".

You can find tj stationery & gifts on Instagram and Facebook, as well as in their Etsy store where they stock all kinds of pretty things to brighten up your day.

{Giveaway}

Jenny is giving away this lovely set of 6 letterpress cards for you to spread a little love to those around you. Perhaps someone you know needs a little cheering up, or maybe you want to say a little thank you to the lady next door who sporadically gives you fresh veggies. Whatever it is, use them to celebrate the simple pleasures in life.

This giveaway is open worldwide!

Just use the entry form thingy below (all you have to do is find us both (@CityGirlSearching & @tjstationerygifts) on Facebook and tweet about the giveaway...it's super easy!)

Winners will be announced on Thursday 4th September.

Good luck everyone!

Korean Stationery Giveaway!

It's my birthday month, and to celebrate I want to give away some of my absolute favourite things from South Korea. I want to thank you for all your comments, tweets, likes and love for my little blog and I thought these cute goodies would do the trick.

Here's a little list of what will be inside your pretty package:

A collection of cute socks

A variety of stickers (some in the form of sticker stamps, puppies and other decorative stickers)

2 rolls of beautiful, high quality washi tape in mint green and gold

Avocado Leave-in Hair Fluid -My absolute favourite hair treatment from SkinFood

Mango Seed Lip Butter from The Face Shop

a few surprise extra's

To enter, just use the easy entering system below. If you have any problems with it, first try refreshing your bowser, or pop me an email (citygirlsearching-at-gmail-dot-com). You should be able to enter from your mobile device too!

Good Luck!

*Entries close on July 29th at midnight.

*This giveaway is open worldwide, in other words open to everyone, wherever you may be in the world

Pretty Packages in the mail

A few weeks a go I received a very lovely package in the mail from my friend and fellow South African blogger, Nadia. Everything was put together with such care, such love and all in all...such pretty-ness! These pretty little packages are taking the world by storm under the name 'snail mail' (just do a search on Pinterest or Instagram to see the amount of time people spend on creating pretty packages of stationery and letters to send to friends and pen pals across the seas). 

In essence snail mail is the term given to the physical mailing of letters, which is such a rare thing these days with people opting to instead send instant texts and emails instead of the slower (ie snail) postal service. But, nothing quite beats that feeling of receiving something special from the post man, and that is what Snail Mailing is all about. Nadia has written a wonderful post with more information on snail mailing and how to find pen-pals to exchange packages with...click here to see more.

I have received some lovely packages in the past few months...click here and here to see them. 

Do you enjoy snail mail? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below <3

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DIY Christmas Advent Calendars

Today my lovely friend and fellow blogger Caitlyn (who is also a qualified Life Coach here in Korea, in case your looking for someone to help you find some direction in your life CLICK HERE!) organized a wonderful morning of Christmas DIYing. It just so happened to be four of us South African ladies who were able to make it, and over some delicious milk tart, we cut and stuck, and giggled and laughed the hours away.

It was a wonderful way to start sharing the Christmas spirit. We each brought enough little prezzies to fill 24 bags, and after we had decorated and filled each bag, we chose one bag for each day leading up to Christmas, knowing that some of the bags would contain surprises from each of us. 

Such a fun morning.

This was such an easy DIY, and there are still 6 days left till December for you to get your advent calendars ready...click here for some more inspiration.

Thank you for organizing everything Kit! It was a wonderful morning.

x

And the winner is...

And the winner of a very pretty package of stationery is..

Well done Jowhara! Please get in touch with your postal address, and I will send your package off to you very soon.

And to every single one of the 151 people out there who entered my giveaway, THANK YOU for entering.

My online store will be up and running {SOON} and then you too can have a slice of pretty-ness. I am fighting with the postal service in South Africa (that is the holdup) everything else is up and ready to go. As soon as I win the battle, you will all be the first to know.

Have a wonderful weekend!

x

September through Instagram

 We are in the second week of October already, and it's starting to get very chilly here in South Korea. I miss last months lazy Autumn evenings, wearing pretty dresses with no need for a cardigan. Now its straight into jackets and scarves and hoodies and boots!

So long September.

x

Stationary Giveaway {WINNER}

And the winner of a gorgeous collection of South Korean stationery bits and pieces hand picked by me is...

Well done Nicola! Please drop me a tweet/email/comment below with your postal address and I will get your goodies off to you right away!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

xxx

Letters from across the sea...

This parcel arrived for me from a very dear friend in South Korea. Claire and I first met while waiting to board our plan for the start of our Teaching English in South Korea Adventure. That was in 2010. 

We have been friends ever since, and even though vast amounts of oceans separate us, whenever we do chat over Skype, we pick up right where we left off every time. I miss you Clairebear. Thank you for the wonderful package!