Show your love with...Stationery!

It's National Stationery Week this week - and we're obsessed! We thought we'd use this excuse to share a few of our recent local favourites for giving away!

These cards are made by the very talented René Mullin over at Placed. We love the fact that the cards are in Irish plus the really cute and simple designs. They're all made with good quality card and are blank inside so you can create your own message and personalise it for the recipient. We intend to give most of these away, but are planning on framing the 'Baile' card for our house! We bought these at the Cultúrlann in West Belfast, but there are plenty of other stockists plus René has her very own etsy shop! She also has some cute homewares and learning diagrams which would be great if you're trying to teach your child Irish (or to decorate their room)! Placed also have a blog here !

Another batch of Irish language cards (are you sensing a theme...). Contrary to this post, Irish language stationery is pretty rare to come across, so naturally we snap most of it up when we see it. This particular set is from Cártaí Rúbaí and we fell in love with the cute little illustrations. Honestly i've been praying someone I know will have a baby just so I can send them the elephant card! Again, we bought these in the Cultúrlann (it has an amazing range of Irish crafts/gifts/stationery and books) but now that i've been on the Cártaí Rubaí website, there are definitely a few more items I have my eye on...

The final set of cards are from local Co. Down artist Sarah Majury at Blue Door Studio. We think the illustrations (and the quotes) on these cards are amazing, and, having bought from both Sarah and her Mum (who is also a part of Blue Door Studio) at St. George's Market, we can attest to the fact that they are both lovely women who have great stories to go behind each design - i'm not sure you can say that about Hallmark! Check Blue Door Studio out at St. George's Market on Sundays between 10am and 4pm.

Hopefully this has inspired you to check out these amazing artists and also artists in your local area! If you have any favourites you think we should know about, let us know!