Let's Talk Products

I love trying new products....sometimes they live up to their claim and sometimes they are disappointing.

Papermate Ink Joy Gel pens are AWESOME! I love the colors, I love how smoothly they write with out bleed through and well....I just adore them. They are a little "pricey" though so for sure look for coupons and sales.

The little blue plastic pouch is a makeup bag from Dollar Tree....the set fits perfectly.

Next up we have some stamp sets from Michael's The four little sets are in the "Dollar Spot", but they cost a 1.50 each. I wish the days of the week also included Saturday and Sunday. For cost they actually stamp pretty well but you need to use a good ink pad and a light touch. The larger set is also from Michael's and its part of the new Recollections planner stuff. I can't remember the price but I think it was around 7.00. For the price I actually think the smaller sets stamp better. Also the larger set is created for a personal size planner so they are TINY.

I actually bought these last year around this time or maybe a little later when school stuff starts popping up. They were in Target's Dollar Spot...which as we all know has items that are more than a dollar. I can;t remember but I think the were three dollars. They are sentence strip holders that teachers often use in the class room or they hold flash cards too. I use them to hold a variety of items for my planners. It helps get the stuff off the desk top but still in clear view.

I hope you have a great creative weekend!

Washi Holder

Do you know what washi is?  If so you know that people LOVE the stuff. You can find beautiful and pricey tubes of it at Michael's and Hobby Lobby or you can pick it up at the Dollar Tree. People most often use washi in planners or scrapbooking but there are tons of other creatives uses for it! What ends up happening as its so cute and mostly inexpensive that people quickly accumulate quite a collection.

I've stored washi in jars, in baskets, in plastic tubes and all other sorts of places and then I watched a youtube video on a DIY washi holder and decided to create my own!



The one on the right is a wooden washi holder from Michael's which is about 12-14 dollars but you can use a coupon of course!  I suppose the idea is to pull your strip of washi and then use the cutters to remove it and then use it but I tend to want to take the roll off and use it which is a lot of work with this storage piece because it basically involves taking the whole thing apart to get your washi roll off. The one on the left is my DIY using a shoe box, old wrapping paper roll and duck tape!  You can also use a hot glue gun to attach the rolls to the box.

Here's the first tip.....


If you buy a patterned roll of duck tape you might want to use a random pattern if matching it up perfectly is a must for you! I probably could have taken a little more time and done a better job but since it really doesn't show I didn't!  You can also use a solid color. Duck tape is about three dollars at Walmart and right now they have some rolls on clearance for 1.50.



Here is the holder with two of the tubes inserted. Again you can run some hot glue down the back of each tube before inserting it into the box.


This little cutie cost really less than a dollar to make because you really don't need a whole roll of duck tape. If you want to you can make additional ones and then attach one to another to make a large holder.  This holds 50% more than the one from Michael's, is easier to get rolls in and out, takes up the same amount of desk top space and cost a fraction of the cost of the white one. You can also totally coordinate it with your room/desk color scheme because there are hundreds of patterns/colors of duck tape.

Here's the video I used for inspiration and hers is totally cuter than mine but I think I did ok for a first try!

I hope this inspires you to get your washi organized....or at least sends you to the store to get some create rolls of washi for your own fun!