Being a scrapbooker, I love paper. I’m sure other scrapbookers will know what I’m talking about, I’m just drawn to anything that’s pretty, patterned or unique.
As someone who grew up with dreams of travelling the world, I find myself looking for interesting or quirky reminders of the places I visit.
The history student inside me loves the glimpse into decades (or centuries) gone by as well as the here-and-now.
On my travels recently, I’ve stumbled across some incredible little boutiques selling a wide range of paper goods – long sheets of patterned papers, notebooks that inspire me to write inside them, intricate prints on handmade paper, second-hand postcards with messages written in foreign languages and vintage stamps from countries that no longer exist.
These shops have been real highlights of my holidays. The souvenirs I buy from these stores make me recall the exact time and place I got them, how I found the shop and what it looked and felt like inside – I definitely couldn’t tell you the location or anything interesting about where I bought that souvenir magnet in Santorini that’s sitting on my fridge.
So I’m going to start sharing my paper boutique finds here on the blog, starting with my most recent trip to the Czech Republic, where we spent Christmas and New Year…
Name: U Zlate Cise
Location: Nerudova Street, Prague – this street is on the hill you walk up to reach Prague Castle
What’s so great about this one: While we were ambling up the hill towards Prague Castle, I spotted this little shop. At first glance it looked like an antique book shop but when I looked more closely at the shelves I realised they were packed with all kinds of antique paper goods in addition to books. There were boxes of old Czech postcards, second-hand cardboard portfolio wallets, old European advertisement clippings, packets of old stamps from the last 70 years or so, vintage envelopes & maps – almost any kind of paper ephemera you could think of, it was an amazing find!
I could have spent hours in there searching through all the boxes and shelves, there were just so much to discover in there – but we had a castle to visit that day as well, so I had to pick out a few things to buy before moving on.
What I bought:
I went to another boutique paper shop while I was in Prague, which sold only handmade paper goods – so that will be the next post in the series.
Have a great week! Don’t know about you, but I’m already counting down to the weekend and it’s only Tuesday…
N x
Tape strips courtesy of Pugly Pixel
3 comments
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February 6, 2011 at 6:08 pm
paper boutique find: Prague part 2 « scrapbooking + other adventures
[…] so great about it? This was the second paper shop I found in Prague (I wrote about the first one here) and I hunted down this boutique after reading about it in my Lonely Planet guide, in their […]
March 21, 2011 at 7:55 am
February 6×4: Mulled Wine in Prague « scrapbooking + other adventures
[…] you may have read in one of my previous posts, I stumbled across an amazing paper shop in Prague and ended up buying a bunch of vintage Czech stamps, so I wanted to incorporate these […]
September 17, 2011 at 8:21 pm
Richard McMillan
Hello! I came across your site after searching for “antique paper Prague” prior to a visit to Vienna and Czech Rep in July. I made a note of the store on Nerudova St. My wife and I stayed in an apartment close by the castle so one day we made a trip up the hill and I visited the store. WOWWWWWWW!!!!!!! What an amazing place. It was every bit as good as you said it was and better. I am a graphic designer and I found a wealth of old photos of Communist era, 50s bottle labels, match boxes, vintage invoices from 1890s, old magazines etc etc. I had to return to the store a second time on my own having arranged with my wife I’d be away for hours and hours and hours! Even then I was unable to really check out all I wanted to. But hey… I guess a return visit is in order. Prague is a TOTALLY amazing city. Thanks soooo much for the tip about this store. It really made my visit! Richard McMillan