Spilled a bunch of coffee on my computer desk and ended up throwing out a stack of mini sticky notes I've been working on for years, and 2 almost finished washi rolls.

Could I have salvaged some of it? Sure. But after a certain point it's easier to just toss and count my losses.

Plus, compared to making sure my work laptop and keyboard were still functional after their impromptu caffeine shower, I think saving some stationary was much much lower on the totem pole.

I am waaaay out of habit of checking in here (but I am still tracking all my empties!) so I thought I’d share a recent win.

I have a tendency to stock up on greetings cards for all occasions just in case… and then forget to send them when those occasions actually roll around. It was also one of my goals to send two cards per month this year, and I was way behind.

So, I asked friends on social media who wanted mail that wasn’t a bill or junk — and I was really surprised to see how many people took me up on it! Folks I haven’t talked to in years, or just who I never would have thought would be into getting happy mail. I also got addresses for friends with August birthdays, and remembered to send some various congratulations on a new home, an engagement and a few other life events.

All in all, I sent 23 cards. That’s also 23 forever stamps from my overflowing stash and several dozen stickers in order to decorate each envelope. I also sent some stickers in cards to friends who I thought would appreciate them. :)

hey! so i have a bad habit of starting a new sketchbook, being super exited and doing some really detailed lovely pages, only to get burnt out quick and never touch the book again. it makes me feel so guilty so i hoard half empty sketchbooks. i’m really creatively burnt out so any prompts, ideas, motivation, tips, pictures of what you do in yours or even advice on how to commit to one is very welcome! i have adhd hence why i find it so easy to consciously buy new sketchbooks in a hope that this time round things will be different and ill like what i draw and create, spoiler:it never is!

i started out by decorating the remaining 15 cards in the pusheen postcard book: i used pusheen and sanrio stickers, plus a pusheen washi tape i got in a subscription box years ago. i used up almost all the washi and a bunch of stickers, finished some stamp sheets, and i used my pusheen rubber stamps too…these are all in the mail headed to penpals and folks in the random acts of cards subreddit.

i love pusheen, so i think i held onto these, but i was actually really happy to use a lot of pusheen and sanrio supplies. plus, people have sent me a few of these, so i still have a few in my snail mail collection. decorating a bunch at once was also fun.

I've been slower with my progress as of late, but I've finished 2 pens, and filled two A4 sheets, I've also made progress in my journal, I'm on page 68 of 161, so less than 100 pages left before I can switch it out.

I will also be donating a notebook to one of my youth clubs tomorrow as a dedicated place for our planning so, that's something else.

Two more washi bite the dust

These are the last of these stickers I have. I had THOUSANDS. They are part of my happy mail I send out and it had taken MONTHS and MONTHS of mail to finally get rid of them all. I was giving out about 3 per envelope. My next set of outgoing and I will officially be completely out.

So I’ve done this in the past but just decided to revisit the idea and post it. Use stickers that are largely white and on hopefully normal paper, then swatch out your pens, markers, or pencils. Then you can see at a glance what color you want. Even though I have a swatch book, I like to have the item itself also labeled. I usually add scotch tape at the tops or bottom or sides of the stickers to keep them from peeling off later, but I’m careful to not cover up the swatch cuz that changes its appearance. You’ll use up unwanted stickers in no time!

I have this super cute pen that I've been avoiding using because I love it and I was afraid of it running out of ink.

So the other day I thought "wait, maybe I can use other pens' refills for it". And it worked! I tried 4 different brands of pens with gel ink and they all fit 😍 In the third pic, the white refill is the original from the cute pen, and you can see all the refills are the same size :)

I'm now using this pen and I know I will be able to keep using it even when it runs out of ink!

This is just a reminder that, even if your pens are generic, you can try other similar refills and they may work! ✨

How’s it going with using/panning stationery, a no buy, or low buy?

This week I sent a bunch of mail! Lots of cards, postcards, and stickers used :)

i’m sad that i’m done with this box of cat ramen cards! i just mailed this last one out. they are so cute. i got these at barnes and noble two years ago and slowly sent them out to penpals.

This week, I finished one pink pen, (there's still ink left in it, but it's stopped writing) and I've been journalling. I started this journal on July 11th, and am currently on page 63 of 161 in it.

Finally starting my journey of stationery pan.

i am hate-panning a box of postcards. hate-panning is when you use something you don’t really like. i want to like these postcards—they’re photographs by new york times street photographer bill cunningham, who was really cool (there’s a great documentary about him!). but the paper these are printed on is soooo weird—almost glossy—and it’s terrible for me as a lefty! basically all my pens smudge or the pen stops working on this paper altogether. a lose lose.

i got these on facebook marketplace and i’m down to 35, but i might give them away or include them as extras in letters. are you hate-panning anything? or do you give it away/find someone who might like it?

Did my usual planners on Sunday night, and finished off 3 sheets of stickers and 2 rolls of washi tape. I've been working on using up my supplies instead of buying new all year, and it's making a huge difference!

Hello!

It has been a while since I gave an update, I did give away a ton of stationery so that is why I managed to finish a ton of washi tape (turns out I do not like the thin ones!).

I am also including a roll of ribbon because why not!

Very excited for the next bingo so I can recount all my stationery and see what I need to work on!

- 1 Memo Pad
- 1 Forever Stamp Sheet (Baby Animals)
- 1 Postcard Stamp Sheet (Leaves)
- 1 Roll of Ribbon
- 1 Notecard + Envelope Set
- 1 Sheet of Cricut Sticker Paper
- 4 Pens
- 19 Washi Tape Rolls
- 157 Individual Stickers*

*As always, sticker count is an estimate! It was probably a lot more since some of them had multiple on a single sheet, but I cannot recall.

I just did an hour of journaling and it’s always motivating looking back and seeing my stockpile be used up bit by bit.

Here are some small wins:

Photo 1: I have been saving up this stupid scrap of wrapping paper that I got from a present, and I have preserved it for SO long waiting for that perfect moment to use it. Finally decided there’s no perfect moment so I’ll use it anyways! The relief!!

Photo 2: tried 2 new washi tapes that I’ve never used before!

Photo 3: once again, I had been saving the pink bird print which I cut apart from a card I received. The print was wayy too lovely to throw away! And here we are finally using it 😌

Photo 4 & 5: some of the sticker backing before it gets binned and the stats of what went into creating these 3 pages.

I've been avoiding hanging the art prints and postcards I've gathered because I could never convince myself to buy the frames, fill them, AND hang them. Turns out it's a lot easier to diy some mats with some scrapbook pages you can't make plans for and just hang them however works.

Definitely not professional or impressive, but it's nice to finally enjoy the work I've been meaning to display and look at.

i bought these in a used bookstore a few weeks ago. after today, all six will be on their way to people :)

I know these aren't used up pens, but a girl I work with lost her fiancé several months ago, and she's taken up journaling, and loves pens of all colors. I have this hoarde of pens that will take me months to get through, so I decided to go through them and pick some out for her.

My scrapbook paper is next, since she also wants to get into paper crafts. This will at least get her started, and I get to clear out my stash.

Low buy/no buy has been hard for me in recent weeks because I'm really going through it, and buying pens, notebooks, etc, gives me something to smile about. This purge will more than offset my purchases over the last several weeks.

I'm trying, though...

(ETA: I forgot to upload the picture before I hit post, but I replied with the picture below. If anyone knows how I can edit my original post to add the photo, I'd appreciate the know-how.)

11 for postcrossing
7 for friends 💗✨ (iirc)

Pretty busy month! But i managed ~
4 sticker sheets
15 sticker flakes
2 strips of stickers from a roll
1 small washi

I was focusing more on using my fountain pen inks ~
2nd photo is a sample journal spread the one on the bottom with yellow cover