Papercut and Washified Bookmarks

This is a post-Christmas post. I was just too busy that time with work and with my craft give-aways that I was not able to blog about it. Anyway last Christmas, my former officemates/girl friends and I had sort of a reunion get-together. After several months of not seeing each other (some of us - like me - moved on to another company), we decided to get together last Christmas for a reunion. It was nothing big. We had take-out food, some good old board games (we are an avid fan of these games), as well as reminiscing moments of the times we were still in that old office.

As I love those friends very much, I really had to make something for them for the holidays - it may not be that expensive, but at least something with my personal touch on it, and a simple reminder that I remembered them. So, I prepared the personalized papercut bookmarks decorated with washi tapes.

As I'm an avid fan of papercutting and washi tapes, I took the occasion to share this passion with my friends. I sketched their names on the bookmarks to make it personalized, carved their names and the design using papercutting techniques, and decorated the top part of the bookmarks with washi tapes. To make the bookmarks appear laminated, I bought some cold laminating film from Bee Happy Crafts and carefully pressed the bookmarks in between the laminating film. The washi tapes were bought from different sources (PaperBlushPh, Bee Happy Crafts, Washi Works, and Hey Kessy). The papercutting skills, I learned them by attending a Papercutting + Washi workshop also from Hey Kessy.

Washi-tized Phone Case and Charger

Last week, I ordered a couple more rolls of washi tape from Hey Kessy and Bee Happy craft shops. As the rolls of tape arrived, that feeling of excitement crept into me as I slowly gazed into each roll of tape - each having a unique design. I was initially planning to use them to cover my son's school books - or at least the spine and edges - as these are "fragile" parts of any school book.

As I was preparing the books, the paper covers, and the rolls of tapes, I got a phone call from a friend on my mobile phone. As I picked up the phone, I noticed how plain-looking my phone case was. Though I like the blue green color of my phone case, its plain-colored appearance seems dull and boring. So immediately, after ending the call, I decided to use one of the rolls of washi tape to decorate my phone case. I chose a tape design that would complement my phone case's blue green color, and one that wouldn't look so girly and cutesy (heaven knows I am not really a fan of all pink, and flowers, and girly stuff like that).

I decided to decorate my phone, but a sense of simplicity should still be present. As such, covering the entire phone case with washi tape was not really an option (besides, washi tapes in Manila are not readily available in local bookstores and the prices are not like the ordinary scotch and masking tapes). So I just spread the tapes across each other forming a cross on the back side of my phone case.

As I was still in an excited state after decorating my phone case, I also decided to apply some washi tape on the plain white portion of my phone charger. I decided to use the same roll of tape for the charger so that they (charger and phone case) would be match. Fortunately, my hands and my fingers did not fail this time. And even though it was just a simple one, I can say that this first washi craft of mine was something I should be happy about. Looking forward to more washi crafts in the near future. :)

My "washi-tized" phone case and phone charger.

My Initiation to Deco and Washi Tapes

As school opening draws near, I am looking for ways to cover and decorate my son's books (their school does not allow the usual plastic cover) so that it would last till March 2014 and at the same time will make it more interesting for my son to read. As I was searching the internet for craft materials and craft projects for my son's books, I stumbled upon the decorative and washi tape products.

Decorative tape is like your typical scotch tape, except that it has designs. A usual roll is about 5mm in width and the entire roll is about 6-10 meters long. I was able to buy my 3 rolls from a local bookstore (National Bookstore). Each roll costs about P60-P70 pesos, and there are a wide array of designs to choose from.

On the other hand, washi tape is said to be Japanese masking tape (i.e. from washi paper). It is like your usual masking tape, but the texture is a bit softer, and there a LOOOOOT of designs to choose from. There are a lot of sizes for washi tape - i.e. 15mm (the normal width), the slim 5mm, and the wider ones that measure from 18mm, 20mm, 25mm, and there are even the 30mm width. The length of an entire roll is usually 10m. Unlike the decorative tape, the washi tape is not readily available in the local bookstore. I had to search some online stores, in order to buy my first 3 rolls (got my first 3 rolls from Hey Kessy). Depending on the tape's width, the shop's pricing and shipping fees, the price range of washi tape is about PHP75 to PHP120 per roll. As there are a lot of online stores that offer washi tape, it is important to check which designs are being offered by which store, at a much lower price. I also suggest to check the shipping fees charged by each online store, as there are those whose shipping fees are much higher, so it might be wiser to place all your orders under one package.

Incidentally, my first 3 orders from Hey Kessy came with a freebie postcard. I really found the postcard cute and adorable. Being a sun worshipper - i.e. I prefer the sunny summer weather than chilling rainy days - the Mr. Sun and the Cloudy Men design of the post card is always a great reminder of the fun-filled days of summer.

Watch out for future posts showing how I will put to good use all these (and probably more) deco and washi tapes! :)

The Deco and Washi Tapes from National Bookstore and HeyKessy.com

Freebie postcard (for April) from HeyKessy.com