Hubby and I went to the 9th Annual Easton Art Affair this past weekend. While it is a very small arts fair, it is a good one. All of the artists are very talented, and the pieces are usually interesting and beautiful.

This year, Mestari Designs, owned by artisan Stan Cook and his wife, was in attendance. Originally knows as Long Hollow Pens, the name was changed in 2008 to reflect the other items produced by the company. Mestari uses every type of wood imaginable for pens, sketching pencils, and other gorgeous items including platters and bowls. Some of the pens available include pens crafted out of ancient wood from Scotland, antique wood from Ohio and other states, and olive wood from Bethlehem. I was truly impressed with the quality of the pens.

Based in Letart, WV, Mestari Designs offers some unique and beautiful items. I highly recommend taking a look at their web site, and checking to see if they will be at an art fair near you! You can contact them for more information here.

In 2005, the Montblanc Pen Company started the “Sign Up for the Right to Write” campaign in conjunction with UNICEF, in an effort to raise money to help children around the world learn to read and write. The campaign was very successful, and Montblanc has expanded it since then, including celebrity involvement.

The Montblanc Meisterstuck #149 collection is the symbol of the campaign, and a beautiful pen. The nib of each pen is hand engraved with the number 4810, the height of Mont Blanc. The 149 is packaged in a beautiful presentation box, complete with an inkwell. A beautiful pen, created for a beautiful cause! Purchase a Montblanc Meisterstuck #149, and help stamp out global illiteracy.

It is not often that you find excellent craftsmanship for a reasonable price.  This is what you find at NFW Watches. The watches are beautiful, and all show a style that is unique in the watch world. NFW Watches has been chosen by some pretty impressive organizations to develop watches for them. While the average person is not an impressive organization, she is able to wear the same quality watch.

Right now, the NFW website does not show any of the smaller faced/ladies watches. The company is in the middle of revamping its website, and the new site will have a section for the ladies watches. Until the new site is launched, however, there is no way to enjoy the beautiful ladies watches NFW has to offer. That is, until now. Thanks to George Fox, president of NFW Watch, and Aaron Fuhrman of Zeitlos Imagery, Her Watch and Pen is pleased to offer a look at these unique and stylish watches.

The Ladies Vector 36mm, comes with a stainless steel bracelet, and a crocodile
grain Italian leather strap. It comes with several face colors, including both pink and blue Mother of Pearl, white, black, and brown.

The Ladies Milan is a gorgeous watch! At 24mm x 34mm, it also comes with both a stainless steel bracelet and a crocodile grain Italian leather strap.  

	Ladies Vector in black. This is a gorgeous photograph!
Ladies Vector in blue and pink
	Ladies Vector Chronograph in black and white
Ladies Milan--I wish this watch had a date window. I love it's shape, and the face is beautiful.
	The Milan is also available in pastel colors.
Strap options for the ladies watches

Looking for some good gifts for the upcoming graduation season? How about a nice pen for the graduate. I know–it is such a unique gift, and no one else has thought of it. Right?

Well, if you do want to go the pen route, there are a lot of new options out there. The Fountain Pen Hospital is offering the Bexley Pen Pearlesse Collection at over $100.00 off regular retail price for a limited time. This is an incredible deal for a truly fine writer that any graduating woman (or man) would love to own.

We will be looking at other deals over the next few weeks, but this is one of the best we’ve seen so far!

Traser has a line of watches for women! Traser manufactures Swiss made watches with trigalight® technology. Trigalight® is a self-activated self-powered light source. Traser states on it site that the watches’ luminosity is 100 times better than in other watches without the technology, and that the luminosity will last twenty years, or more.

At 44mm, the large-faced watches are designed with women in mind, and the company claims they are the easiest watches to read. The lume on the ladies’ watches even matches the color scheme of the watches–pink watches shine with pink Trigalight®, and blue watches shine with blue Trigalight®! This is a pretty neat trick, and one I have not been seen before.

Just something new and fun!

There is something about a watch made from ceramic. The cool, smooth feel is truly unique. My first ceramic watch is an Invicta Women’s Pro Diver Collection Ceramic Two-Tone Watch in black and white. Like Invicta’s Lady Abyss Diver, it is a typical smaller-faced dive watch, with a simple design.

The face of the Pro Diver Ceramic has a subtle pattern to it that does not distract so much as to prevent the wearer from seeing the hands clearly. The hands are just wide enough to make them very easy to read, and are painted with Tritnite® luminous paint, as are the hourly indices. A magnifier above the date window makes the date hard to miss on this watch. The bezel is unidirectional, bearing larger dot, dash, and arabic numbers than those on the face. The crystal is sapphire-coated and scratch-resistant. It is a true dive watch, with a screw-down crown and water resistance to 200 meters (660 feet)

The sharp, two-toned band of this watch is ceramic The band has some play in the links, but not enough to make it feel loose or flimsy. The push-button clasp is tight and secure. The black of the case and band is not a true black. It is closer to the color of hematite, but is still quite pretty against the white center stripe on the band. Unlike many technical looking dive watches, it is a stylish watch that can be worn in most casual or dressy situations. The feel and design is simple, but beautiful.

The Invicta Women’s Pro Diver Collection Ceramic Two-Tone Watch comes in blue and white, and brown and white, along with the black and white. As with all other Invicta watches, it is available at many Online retailers, as well as many brick-and-mortar locations.

Dial window material type: scratch-resistant-sapphire
Clasp: push-button-clasp
Case material: Ceramic
Case diameter: 35 millimeters
Case Thickness: 11 millimeters
Band material: two-tone-ceramic
Band length: womens
Band width: 16 millimeters
Dial color: black
Bezel material: Ceramic
Bezel Function: unidirectional
Calendar: Date
Movement: swiss-quartz
Water resistant depth: 660 Feet
Warranty Type: 1-Year Manufacturer

Spring is here. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and pens are in the air. Well, not really.

However, if you really want to celebrate spring with a pen, then the Namiki Nippon Art Flower Basket fountain pen is one way to do it. The Nippon Art Pen uses the beauty of the hira-maki-e technique against a beautiful black lacquer background. The flower basket design displays images of several flowers native to Asia. The fountain pen comes with a 14K gold nib, available in fine or medium. The pen comes in a traditional-style wood gift box from the Orient. This pen is available at many fine pen retailers, and would add functional beauty to any collection.

There are a lot of people who wear their watches on the side of their wrists. My father is one of them. He has a small flat spot on the side of his wrist, that his watch rests on perfectly. Not many watches fit this spot on his wrist, so he is picky about his watches. He only has a few, and he wears them because they feel comfortable on that spot on his wrist.

Side Watch manufactures watches for people like him–its watches are designed to be worn on the side of the wrist. Side Watch offers nine styles of watches, ranging from a simple fun-faced watch, to a chronograph with gems around the bezel. With tons of colors and faces to choose from, Side Watch may just be the perfect watch for side-wrist wearers!

At Baselworld 2009, Japanese watch manufacturer Seiko introduced its new line of watches. The International Ananta line incorporates some of the Seiko technology that was perviously available only in Japan. There are five styles available, including some spring drive models. However, there are no women’s models! All of the great technology that Seiko offers, and not one women’s model in the new line.

Sad.

The Paradise Pen Co., of Denver, CO, decided that people who like to use Sharpie pens should have a choice of what those Sharpies look like. The Sherpa is a pen cover or shell, designed to go over the body of a Sharpie pen. It will also fit several Uni-Ball pens, and Accent highlighters. It comes in ten great designs, and retails for $29.95. Visit Paradise Pen, or Sherpa Pens to see all of the styles!