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As you may very well know by now, I have been cramming my arts & crafts box, which I lovingly named Pierre, with all sorts of washi & masking tapes. It’s gotten to the point where I can barely close Pierre‘s lid. I’ve been using washi & decorative masking tapes a lot more in my stationery crafts, & I’ve even used them in spicing up a few Christmas decorations. When I brought back my new batch of washi tapes from my Asia trip, I was partly thinking that Jian would only complain that I never use these tapes, & partly thinking about ways I could use my new tapes. So, I decided to come up with a DIY project & decorate a few of my blank notebooks.
I had got the inspiration from a vlogger on YouTube who showed off a custom hand-drawn notebook that her friend had designed for her. I was so inspired by this YouTube vlogger, but alas, I cannot draw to save my life. I can barely draw stick figures, no matter how much I practice. So…instead of drawing a custom cover art, I thought about using other materials, & that’s where my washi tapes came into play. Of course, using washi & decorative masking tapes to customize something really doesn’t need any explanation, but I figured I’d show you what I’ve done & how I did it.
1. scissors, 2. blank notebook (or any object with a blank, smooth surface), 3. decorative masking tapes of your choice
Basically, there’s three materials being used, & approximately three steps to decorating the item of your choice. First you select the decorative tapes you want to use. Next, you cut a strip of tape to the desired length of the object. At this point in the project, you can also cut your tape into various shapes & patterns. For example, you can cut the ends of the strip of tape to look like a ribbon. Finally, you affix the tape to your object. Yes, that was entirely obvious, but maybe this will give someone out there in our world wide universe some inspiration for themselves.
And…Here is the final result.
I bought these three Moleskin notebooks from Target & tried to use as many of the washi tapes from my Asia trip as possible. The first notebook is a sweet pastel theme. You can’t really see it from my photo, but the notebook is supposed to be a soft pink. I used some fabric masking tapes with some paper washi tapes to give the cover a little bit of texture. I wanted to choose colors that would stand out, but would also match the pink notebook.
The second notebook is a khaki color. At this stage of my DIY project, I couldn’t think of any specific design or pattern, until I came across my London themed tape roll. The inspiration hit me like a ton of bricks & I turned this boring notebook into a London/UK theme. I was especially proud of myself when I was able to add in the part of the tape that says “This is London“. I thought it was very fitting (& very much a lucky coincidence) that the words ended up on the bottom corner of the cover.
The final notebook in the set is a lavender color. I had already decided on using my special edition Sanrio stamp tape. I was trying to get as many of the characters on the cover as possible. I even tried to fill the entire cover with the stamp tape, but the band of the tape was too wide, so I wasn’t able to fill the cover completely without some overlap, which would cover up the stamp design. So, I ended up leaving the top portion of the cover blank, which I think makes the design look even better than if I had filled the whole cover. Filling the whole cover would have made it look to busy anyway. I added a few of my own Hello Kitty stickers just for fun, & there you have it!
I feel like although I have a very creative imagination, & I’m pretty good at decorating cards & stationery, I’m not very good at executing arts & crafts projects or DIY projects. My intentions come from a good place, but I can never really quite make it take shape. So, for me to actually finish a DIY project & it looking pretty good, I’m quite happy. Maybe this is a sign for more arts & crafts projects in the future. Cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
I have a moderate amount of things to tell you. My trip to Lake Tahoe, Ca with Jian turned out to be a success! We had a great time, & let me just say that once you stay at the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, you can never go back to plain old Marriott (which in case you didn’t know, both hotels are owned by the same umbrella company). Jian & I both enjoy & prefer to stay at Marriott & Marriott affiliated hotels when we travel. We earn tons of rewards points which we can use on various amenities at the hotels, & use to get free nights. So we used out points to stay one night free at the Ritz-Carlton in Truckee, Ca.
The hotel was so swanky & luxurious. You’re right in the middle of all the ski slopes & powdery snow. We really felt like we were in the middle of a snowy wonderland. Everywhere you go throughout the hotel grounds, you will be asked for your room number (because the staff is strict about letting only hotel guests use certain amenities versus the North Star ski lift guests), then the hotel staff will address you by name. I felt like a VIP guest when they recognized our names. We truly felt as though we were staying in an upscale lodge-y cabin. The hotel was so beautiful. I only wished I had taken my little nephew & niece. They would have loved it.
When I go on vacation, I often forget to take pictures of my hotel room. To me, there isn’t much point. It’s a box with a bed, a dresser, a desk, & some lamps. Do you really want to see my toilet & shower? This time, I lazily tried to take some decent pictures of my room.
Our room was pretty cozy. It was not quite a suite size, but it wasn’t small by any means. I mean, hello, we had a sitting area AND a gas fireplace. We could even open the windows onto the extremely narrow “balcony” (if you could even call it that. I’d call it a sliding glass door that fully opens, so you can feel like you’re outside.). We didn’t have much of a view of anything spectacular. Unless you count the main gondola station as a nice view. We had to keep the drapes closed for most of the time because there were too many kids staring directly into our room from the gondola station.
Speaking of gondolas, yes, they are fast & efficient. However, no, I still do not like them. Against all of my fears of heights & free falling, plummeting to my untimely demise, I sat in a gondola. Jian & I wanted to see what was going on down at the North Star village, & let me tell you, it wasn’t anything spectacular. There were a few mediocre family restaurants, lots of timeshare real estate offices, & most of the shops sold over-priced outdoor gear. We were debating on whether to go ice skating or not (I’m an intermediate ice skater, & Jian is a beginner), but the ice skating rink looked more slushy than firm, like it was in desperate need of some Zamboni TLC. I will firmly say that swallowing my fear of heights to ride a gondola was NOT worth it. The entire ride down & back up to our hotel I was white-knuckle squeezing the seat cushion & cursing up a storm. Jian tried to reassure me or tried to get me to admire the view, but I just couldn’t wait to get out of our death trap. It didn’t help the fact that we stopped every few feet to let the oncoming gondola pass by us before we could move again. That was the worst part for me, all I could focus on was how much our gondola was swinging back & forth. Well, I got at least one photo out of it.
So, later that evening, we made reservations at our hotel’s more formal hotel. I wanted to join Jian in having a few cocktails, but for whatever reason (maybe it was the high altitude) I was feeling tired, so I only drank one. Our dinner was lovely. The service was fantastic, but I guess that’s to be expected at a high-end hotel. The food was not so fantastic. It was good, but nothing spectacular. The filet mignon Jian ordered was slightly over-cooked, & the greens on his dish was over-salted. I ordered a roasted duck dish that was supposed to include crispy duck skin, but the skin on my duck was nowhere near crispy. The rest of my dish was adequate, but not memorable. The only dish we were really wowed by was our appetizer. It was a pappardelle pasta & mushroom dish that was very delicious & well-seasoned. That’s what made us happily anticipate our main course dishes, but ended up being disappointed. Our one consolation was that our cocktails were good, not too strong or watered-down. Our favorite meal was the room service we ordered. We didn’t even stay at the restaurant for dessert, so we went back to our hotel room & ordered dessert from the room service menu. We ended up choosing a plate of cookies & two glasses of milk (in which they only brought us one glass). Of all the cookies we ate, my favorite was the chocolate chip. The other cookies were too sugary sweet.
I was a little surprised that there were so many families with young children at the hotel that weekend. I was kind of expecting more young adult couples at the hotel…you know…knocking boots, since it was Valentine’s Day weekend. However, I was quite relieved that the hotel played it low-key that weekend, & didn’t go overboard with the lovey-Dover decorations or advertisements for romantic couples massages & dinners. Over all, we had a blast playing around & taking long hikes in the snow. We played a game to see who could step in a snow bank & see how far down their foot would fall into the snow. Amazingly, we only got snow in our shoes once, & it didn’t even make our feet wet. Thank goodness for Scotch Guard! Spraying that stain repellent all over our shoes really worked wonders & kept our shoes dry the entire time. We were a little sad to leave such a swanky hotel, but we’re happy to be going home to wash all the salt off our car. Until the next trip…cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
ALL Credits Belong To: PASCAL CAMPION at www.pascalcampion.com; Artwork Shared Via: http://www.pinterest.com/pascalcampion
Wow, I can’t believe January is almost over. Time is flying by so fast. Lately, it’s been quite chilly where I live, especially in the evenings. So, I’ve been taking more baths in the past few weeks. I know that my region is still not out of the drought danger zone, therefore, I try to make a conscious effort to reuse/repurpose my used bath water in an attempt to not waste water.
When I take baths, I fully utilize my private time in the bathroom. I am not ashamed to say that I can take a bath for up to two hours (on occasion). According to today’s Pop Culture standards, “Netflix-ing & chilling” is the cool new “hang out” thing to do. For me, I believe that bathtime is my favorite chill & relax thing to do. After I shut the bathroom door & step into the hot bathwater, I can totally tune out the rest of the noise going on around me & unwind for the day.
I have a routine (go figure…) that I always follow before I step into the bathtub. I like to first clean the bathtub a little to get rid of all the loose hairs & soap/shampoo residue from the previous showers. (Nobody likes to take baths in a dingy tub!) Then, I like to set up all of my bath products around the bathtub in advance, so that I don’t have to get up every two minutes to grab something. While the tub is getting pre-filled, I will then utilize this time to pick a fresh set of clothes, brush my teeth, neatly arrange my towel right next to the tub, & finally…grab my tablet & the little blue plastic IKEA children’s stool that I use to prop up my tablet.
After I’ve gone through my pre-bath bath routine, I am now ready to, as the kids say these days, “Netflix & Chill”. Sometimes, I will watch an entire movie while sitting in the bath. Other times, I will play games or read an e-book. When I am in my bathtub, I feel like I am in my own little bubble, undisturbed until the moment I step out of the tub. Once I am in the tub, there really is no other thing to do but to relax. I don’t have any particular order or routine in which I clean myself. I just let all of my muscles relax & zone out for a little while. There are some times when I take quick & efficient baths just to clean myself & go. There are other times when I will truly use this time for myself, & sit in the bathtub until the water starts to get cold.
No matter how much time I spend in the bath, I will try to save my bathwater & reuse it to water the plants around my house. It’s often very tedious & boring to scoop out the water into a bucket & haul the heavy bucket to my garden. I often have to make multiple trips, but at least it saves water. I often get achy joints when the weather gets colder, especially when it’s raining outside, & taking hot baths greatly soothes the pain in my joints. I thoroughly endorse taking baths whenever you can. Save the bathwater, & reuse it to water plants. OR, do as the Japanese people do & reuse the used bathwater to wash clothes. When the weather is less than warm, it’s always fun to take baths. Cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
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