You can find inspiration just about anywhere if you look close enough. I found mine in a tiny little antique shop nestled down a narrow street near the Royal Palace in Monte Carlo.  Tucked in a box was this old wooden handled stamp with a brass stamp plate and on it an anchor and two B’s. It was like fate. My last name is Butler Beling and my husband and I had just bought a house back home by the sea. I took it to my printer of many many years who can work miracles and I highly recommend! Ray Pepitone of RAP Graphics found an anchor icon so similar to the stamp it almost looks like we stamped the paper (you can find free clip art on the internet, try clipart.com) He then added the two B’s back to back on either side of the anchor to make up a PDF to print.  We printed the anchor in navy blue and the B’s in steel gray, because these are the colors in my home. Yes, even for my stationery I’m following my home’s color palette- I’m sure by now you are not surprised. Check out your local yard sales, thrift shops and consignment shops for old magazines, record jackets, product labels, letters and postcards -usually these are all things with creative fonts and designs that might just spark an idea in you. -Lynn Butler Beling

Above, I made 5 x 7 notepads as our personal ‘house’ stationery. A few other ideas to use a monogram or icon like this are to print cocktail napkins, aprons, matchboxes, pencils, tote bags, even a decal for your mailbox!  Below, a view of Monte Carlo where I found our stamp. (Come follow me on twitter… I just recently mentioned how this trip on a Seabourn Cruise from Barcelona to Monte Carlo was one of the best vacations we ever took!- @lynnbutlernyc)