Today's Jet Pens Delivery!

Although today was a typical, awful Monday, I did have one great surprise awaiting me at the end of a long day.  My latest shipment from JetPens arrived!  I am in love with anything colored Mint Green right now, hence the three mint inks below.  It is kind of funny just how much variation there is within the ink colors, but more on that another time. 

The three mint pens together... (I do have a holder the Kuratake Refill but the current refill is firmly stuck in there.  Any tips on how to swap them out without damaging the refill or the holder is appreciated.)

Tip of Pilot Super Petit.  I think I will like these pens for journaling, mostly.

I also purchased some fabric tape that was on clearance and a glue pen.  I normally use the glue dots that come in the little plastic thing like white out tape. I am interested to see if this causes rippling on the page.  I have had trouble with liquid glue doing that in the past and then have always thrown it away.

I am excited to try the fabric tape, I plan to use it in my next set of planner pages.

So it has been a year since my last update....

Well it has officially been a year since my last post.  So it probably goes without saying that it has been a crazy time for me.  Last year, I was excited to have more time to post due to a job change and then last November my job chose that moment to explode.  When it finally calmed down towards spring, I took another job within my company and that one is currently still exploding.  But I did manage to finish my graduate degree which freed up some time, so I am just left with work to take up my time.  Throughout the craziness of the year though, one thing has remained constant---I still LOVE pens and paper.

I have managed to continue to collect items throughout the year.  I have a bunch of new things actually, including a nice assortment of pens/paper I purchased when my husband and I traveled to Sweden and some other European countries this summer.  So barring any uptick in crazy-town stuff at work, I have quite a few things to share!

One of my favorite purchases from the last year, is this file cabinet for pens.  Who doesn't need one of these?

Pen File Cabinet!!

I picked this up from The Container Store.  I purchased it in-store when I happened to be near one, but I assume they sell it online as well.  I did have to look at several to make sure there were no scratches or dents so that is one good reason to pick it up locally, if there is a Container Store near you.

This cabinet feels very solid, sturdy and it is metal, just like a regular file cabinet, only smaller.  The plastic inserts are sold separately and help to divide up the drawers.  They aren't necessary, but I wanted them so I could sort my pens.  The inserts had two size choices, one deeper and one that was shallow.  I purchased a mix, but ultimately ordered replacements for the shallow inserts.  They just didn't hold enough pens.  I have left the bottom drawer without an insert for now, it is just a catch all drawer.  This cabinet  holds all of the pens I have from JetPens and the like that I have at home and I rotate items between this and my desk at work. Right now I have around 300 pens in this cabinet and I think I could fit at least 150 more without a problem.

As you can see from my photo, I also have a small cardboard type drawer organizer on top of the metal cabinet.  This is pretty much only for mass market pens and markers. Just to compare the two, I think the cabinet makes for much better organization than the cardboard drawer simply due to how much it holds and the fact that the drawers are more shallow than the cardboard, you can actually see what you have. 

Keep in mind, this metal cabinet is not small, it takes up quite a bit of real estate on my craft desk.  Even though it is large, I would love to pick up one or two more in the same color as what I purchased.  I figure I could easily fill them up with additional JetPen items over time.  For example, I just purchased all 18 colors of the Uni Mitsubishi Pure Color Double Sided pens. They will probably take up about half of the depth of one the compartments of the plastic dividers.  That is another reason I love the dividers as I tend to buy all the colors of a pen, so it is great to be able to store them all in one spot together.

Does anyone else use a cabinet like this or have other innovative ways to store your pens?

My Dysfunctions Journal Review and Giveaway!

I know I do. I have an abundance of daily frustrations and issues, not to mention a strange fear of escalators. Which is a real problem during the holiday shopping season... But now I have something that will help me get over my escalator craziness...


I was excited to be contacted by KnockKnock to review the My Dysfunctions journal. This journal says it all on the cover. The first few pages are also a nice discussion of the transformative powers of journaling, but it is written with the little bit of snark found on many of KnockKnock's products.


The pages have great prompts to start you off if you can't think of anything dysfunctional to write about. (I truly don't have that problem.) I love the pictures at the bottom that asks "what would make it better today," they are a cute touch.

The prompts, drawings, and colors keep this journal from taking itself too seriously. It gives a fun place to write down your dysfunctions and I appreciate that it basically keeps you to one page per prompt. This is helpful for people who are new to journaling as well because there isn't a sea of blank pages to intimidate the writer.

I do want to talk about the overall quality of the book and paper. I wrote a short review with a Sailor Recruit Fountain pen (pictured above) I ordered from jetpens. You can click on the picture to see how the pen works and my initial stream of consciousness type thoughts on the book, but I am going to summarize them as well.
The book is well constructed with a sturdy, heavy cardboard cover and sewn in, bright white pages. It doesn't stay completely flat yet, but I think it would with use. The pages are thick. I don't know what type of paper is in here, but the fine point sailor fountain pen did not bleed or feather. I think it is a great gift idea! And lucky for you all, I have an extra one to giveaway!

Giveaway Rules:

Comment on this post by 11:59 PM Central time on 12-09. Make sure you include a way I can contact you to claim your prize. I use a random number generator either online or having my dog pick a number out of a hat. Probably the online number generator... I will post the winner on the blog and contact you on 12-10. You have until 12-16 to send me your address or I will pick a new winner. I will ship to anywhere in the world so everyone should sign up! Feel free to advertise this giveaway on your blog too! Also, please be kind enough to visit the link to KnockKnock and check out their other great items, they have something for everyone.

Pilot Frixion Color-Pencil-Like Gel Pens

So, my absence is partially explained by this post! We are moving in a month and a half to a town across the state. It is a big scary move where I have to give up an 8.5 year job and friends in exchange for my husband to be an engineer. This is where the silver lining is, his salary will continue to finance my pen habit. So the move is bittersweet.

We have been out of town for several days searching for a place to live. Because I am an organized person, I wanted this move to be organized. Therefore, I present my moving book.

I took a junk journal that had been lying around. I have two more that are identical, it was part of some box set I just had to have for Christmas a few years ago. There are no markings on the book so I don't even know/remember what brand it is. The cover got icky on this one, so I thought I would use it for our moving book. The index cards are there just to show you how I made the tabs along the side. These are plain Mead bookmark index cards bought at office max. They have muted yellow, green, blue and red edges and the back is a solid color. I also have used these to take notes on and have taped them directly into the notebook.

The notebook paper is thin. You can see that I wrote with a pen on the previous side and it shows through easily. I know I will never use these as a journal now because of the paper, but I will keep them around for a random project or two.

The pens are the new Color-Pencil-Like Frixions. They are erasable and erase much much better than the original set of blue/black/red I bought last fall. I think this type wins hands down compared to the non color pencil type.

The yellow is light. I think the pictures make it look darker than it really is. With both colors you can see that the darker colors are only because I went over the lines several times. Both erase well. Much better than I expected them too. I also have this pen in gray and I like it just as much as these two.




As a random side note, below is my most recent jetpens.com order. Some things I ordered for others, because we often group the orders together but 11 of these puppies are mine:

Products
1 x	Pilot FriXion Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Ink Pen - 0.7 mm - Ultramarine	$1.95
1 x	Pilot FriXion Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Ink Pen - 0.7 mm - Purple	$1.95
2 x	Zebra Sarasa Gel Ink Pen - 0.4 mm - Green Black	$3.00
1 x	Sura John & Mary Pencil Pouch - Large - Green on Black	$3.50
1 x	Platinum Preppy Ink Tip Refillable Sign Marker - Purple	$2.25
1 x	Pilot FriXion Color-Pencil-Like Erasable Gel Ink Pen - 0.7 mm - Yellow Ocher	$1.95
1 x	Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen - Blue Black Ink	$3.00
1 x	Platinum Preppy Marker & Fountain Pen Refill Cartridge - Purple Ink - Set of 2	$1.50
1 x	Pelikan P460M Pelikano Fountain Pen - Medium Nib - Red Body	$18.40
1 x	Zebra Sarasa Gel Ink Pen - 0.4 mm - Olive Green	$1.50
1 x	Zebra Sarasa Gel Ink Pen - 0.4 mm - Red Black	$1.50
1 x	Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Multi Pen Ink Cartridge - 0.4 mm - Cherry Pink	$2.00
1 x	Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Multi Pen Ink Cartridge - 0.4 mm - Green	$2.00
1 x	Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Multi Pen Ink Cartridge - 0.5 mm - Aqua Blue	$2.00
1 x	Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 3 Color Multi Pen - Pen Body - Black	$2.25
1 x	Pentel Hybrid Technica Gel Ink Pen - 0.3 mm - Blue	$2.25
1 x	Pilot Color Pen - 0.5 mm - Green	$1.20