Our world is shrinking. The Internet was predicted to save us paper, bring sweeping changes to the way we communicate and bring the world together, connecting us all as a community over distances.

I don't see less paper use, maybe even more as people print things from the Internet, including their bills, statements and such which are sent via email from their paperless accounts with banks, insurance, utilities, etc. The corporations can show a savings in paper but, in reality, it has just been passed to the consumer.

Snowmen greeting cards created with marshmallows and candy. But, I'd have more fun making them as a toilet roll version. An upcycled version with things from the recycling bin. I'm going to start saving finished toilet paper rolls and other bits and pieces and see what I can come up with. Everyone needs a project.

Source: Marshmallow Snowmen Holiday Card Pack

There is, still, something I like about writing by hand that I miss when I'm typing on a keyboard. There is a smoothness to the pen and paper and I like having good penmanship. There is no penmanship at all with a keyboard.

Today I found a note from Perfect Pen, a site selling pens and etc. They say 95% of people write their name first, when they get a new pen. I don't know if its true. How would you find out about that. Chances are someone selling pens and seeing people test them before buying, would know. So it could be true. What did you last write, by hand? I wrote a grocery list. But I also sent out handwritten Christmas cards this year.

I write down ideas for stories or non-fiction ideas for posts to my sites. Sometimes they never become posts. Lots of ideas are written and just don't develop further, or get mislaid somewhere, one way or another. But, I still like writing ideas more than typing them. My brain works differently while writing.  A bit slower and not as directly focused on the idea while I have the distraction of the pen, paper and penmanship. More than likely that changes how the ideas develop. Typing is so instant.

National Ballpoint Pen Day is June 10th. It's the day the patent for the ballpoint pen was filed.

Have you ever gotten into calligraphy, with fountain pens? I did a little of that. In high school I had a fountain pen. It was fun to write with but not as clean as a ballpoint pen. Of course, there have been pencils since the age of the dinosaurs (not literally). Pencils are just not the same, though artists still draw with an assortment of them.

Today, even though it isn't Ballpoint Pen Day, take a look at all the pens you have collected, scattered, around your home. Get some scrap paper out of the recycling and test all your pens. Not many have the option to be refillable and reused now. Or, people almost never seem to do that. Too many freebie pens given away to take the time to recycle them. Unless you have a favourite pen. I did have a favourite ballpoint pen but it was kind of exotic and I couldn't find ink to refill it. If you can find a use for the pens that no longer work, got dried out, or broken, that's great. Most likely the best you can do is get rid of them and have that much less clutter around.

Happy pen testing. Will you scribble something or ring true to the theory that the first thing you write with a new (sort of new) pen is your name?

Besides journals (diaries) and of course, books,  writers tend to keep:

• scrapbooks
• found objects
• photographs
• quotations
• newspaper/ magazine articles

Which of these do you keep as a personal interest or creative inspiration, or both?

Paper flowers are more than rolled up newspaper or cut up bits of paper stuck together. There is a trick to getting the right look and shape to form flowers. But, you can use a variety of paper from tissue paper, crepe paper, newspapers to toilet paper even. You can also use paper quilling and origami as techniques in making your flowers.

Toilet paper was made into flowers and used to decorate the car the bride and groom would drive away in at weddings. Now people use tissue paper or fancier paper stock to create the "Just Married" sign and decorate the car. When I made flowers for my brother's "Just Married" sign I used plastic to form the flowers. I guess that's great for weddings which get rained on. But, it wasn't as nice as the old paper flowers we used to make.

Don't forget origami when it comes to making paper flowers. Give yourself some time to practice with different paper folding ideas. Don't expect every flower to work out your first time around. It takes some practice to work out the bugs, especially for the complicated looking flowers. One nice way to get started by making pinwheel flowers.

For pinwheels you need a square of paper and then you cut four times from the corners to the inside. Leave the centre uncut. Take one corner at each cut corner and pull it into the centre. Pin each of the corners to the centre with one pin and fasten them there. Now you need a stick for it to spin from.

Quilling is also known as filigree. I haven't tried paper quilling. But, I know you roll, shape and glue paper together to create flowers and other art.

Consider recycling gift wrapping paper as paper flowers. Magazines, with their glossy pages, make good flowers too.