Confessions of a School Supplies Addict
I have a confession to make. I'm an addict. A school supplies addict. I believe I'm not alone in this addiction, and I know lots of women like me who can stay all day in a bookstore and just browse through the pens, paper, art supplies, till nightfall.If people collect paintings, toys, designer bags, or pig figurines (my cousin does!), I collect unique office/school supplies. Indulge me in this post because as mundane as it may seem, it's something that brings me much pleasure, and who knows, you might find it interesting too:)So it all started with my maternal grandparents who were travelling all over the world and would bring home interesting pasalubongs for us grandkids. Because I grew up with my parents' Printing Press business, the love for "paper and pen" was inborn, fueled by Lolo and Lola's global finds, and later on, my own travels, I inevitably and unknowingly started and grew this collection.Following were some of Lolo and Lola's gifts. My cousins and I each had these and since we were all girls, (except for one cousin in our batch), we loooved them to death!When I was around 10 years old maybe, they first gave us this little box of supplies called Team Demi:
The scissors and cutter are now missing but I can't bear to get rid of this piece from my childhood.They also gave us this pen, pencil and highlighter set:
Then later on they gave us these credit card size wonders: My Zebra Cardy 1: Pen and lead pencil, and a ruler on the side
*Photo taken from fountainpennetwork.com, because mine is hidden away in a baul now:)My Zebra Cardy 2, which had a pair of scissors, single hole puncher and cutter. Still one of my faves unfortunately was stolen last 2011:(
**Im posting this here in case someone knows where I can get one. I found this online once and one of the pieces were in some sort of museum of vintage office supplies! (Photo from the web)And something I still use today: my Factory, a swiss knife- inspired tool with scissors, one hole puncher, scotch tape, tape measure, cutter, magnifying glass:
Adding to these pieces, I've gotten around to finding more nifty gadgets which I carry around often depending on where I am going.My foldable stapler by Uchida Yoko Japan:
Muji scissors and cutter, Scotch magic tape and binder clips
Assorted stuff from all over: Ikea scissors set, Muji mini coloring pens and stamp set, 3m Post-it notes from National Bookstore, Schneider markers from Office Warehouse, Pencils and Giant paper clips from Smiggles in Singapore. Now you know where to find me whether here or even abroad:)
Then I found these three babies in a store in The One mall in HK last year:
Scotch tape dispenser: open
Scissors: closed
open
Stapler: closed
open
I'm also ecstatic Dymo is back. I love it even more than my digital label printer.
Love this handy Slide Rule Cutter by Fiskars which i use when i make cards
and I still have my Dad's old long arm stapler which I now use to make Reese's handmade storybooks
Last Christmas, Gary gave me this Victorinox SwissCard lite. He sure knows how to make me happy:)
which has scissors, pocket knife (one from this swiss army knife list), screwdriver tool, pen, magnifying glass, flashlight, tweezers and ruler. It reminded me of my lost Cardy 2, but definitely an amped up version.
I love my collection as it is. But the added joy is knowing that it is all useful. I love wielding out my tools when they are needed most! Times like when my kids ask me to open a bag of chips or open tough toy packaging, or when I work on-the-go and need to staple documents together, or when, during an event a client wants something taped or cut, and voila, I have everything I (and they) need at hand!That's when I love my supplies even more, and the hunt for more interesting variations of my OC solutions goes on...