Rekindle Your Love of Journaling with the Help of Menw Hurkens

Now, more than ever, is time to take things slow and commit to the joys of slow living. Instead of Netflix and chill we recommend: journal and craft. Our first stop is Menw Hurkens – a master of papercraft and vintage ephemera. Her Etsy store, Rippels Paperhugger, features the ideal collection of labels, tags, and wax stamps – all you need, basically, to jump-start your journaling experience.

But you can also enjoy Hurkens’ collection without taking part in it. Based in Maastricht – the southernmost corner of the Netherlands – she shares her passion for all things paper through her buzzing Instagram page. Her posts include tips on hand sewing paper, collage journaling snippets and – the cherry on the cake – her incredible wax seals, all handmade with special care and attention to details.

According to Hurkens, her love for crafting began early on, when she was just a child and fascinated by the desk of her father – a retired architect. “I couldn’t get enough of the pens you had to refill with ink, the enormous rulers and drawings with all these lines on it,” she shared with Surely Simple. “It felt like a trip to wonderland when I went to my father’s office and I could take a glimpse at his desk. Now that I have my own desk, which is not nearly as neat as my father’s was, but I spend a lot of time here trying to send some of my creativity and love for paper into the world.”

Her large collection of stationery now includes rubber stamps, washi tape, paper and vintage paper, pens, wax seal, stickers, envelopes, and notebooks, among many other treasures. “Some of my favorite things to do is decorating envelopes, making flipbooks and collages and write letters,” says Hurkens. “I seriously get happy by unpacking mail and discover a little bit of the world from the person behind it and the generosity is amazing amongst this community on Instagram!”

You’d want to join the community.