My Week #10

This week I loved my layout (if I do say so myself), and I apologise for the terrible lighting. I used the bunting washi tape I bought from chaoticstationery on IG which I love! I also got a bunch of goodies in a RAK which I'm also using (rainbow striped deco tape, floral and heart sticky notes). The heart stickers and two kawaii stickers were free in my order from KiddyQualia, the kitty sticky flags were from eBay (just search cute sticky notes and you'll find a bunch!) and the owl sticky note was from WHSmith.

How was your week?

Small Stationery Haul

So today I decided to go for a walk around my small town of Hereford. It doesn't have many shops so finding good stationery at reasonable prices is quite small. I spent around 3.5-4 hours walking around from shop to shop, looking for new stationery to try out. I bought 9 items which all added up to just under £16. I will talk you through what I bought and where I found them. The only thing I haven't photographed alone is the clear pocket which is in the first picture underneath everything else. I got it for £0.50 from Wilkinsons and I'll be using it for my Samaritan's training handouts and notes.

I have been searching for these awesome Knock Knock brand of sticky notes both in stores and online, with no success. But when I walked into Waterstones, I found several different designs for £2.99 each! Okay, it's pretty expensive, I would've preferred £2 or less then I would've bought more designs, but seeing as I cannot find these anywhere else I thought I'd get a pack of the design I liked the best. The other designs they had were Note To Self, OMG, and the Someday set. The sticky notes itself seems to be good quality and is able to stick well to my Filofax pages, however there isn't a great deal of space to write.

 I am still interested in getting more designs but I'd prefer a lower price... If you know any sellers or stores online, or if you're willing to send me some, please leave a comment or email me! 

This beautiful owl sticky note set was found in WHSmith. They had a range of cute stationery but their prices are way too high to buy them all (otherwise I definitely would!). I walked around the store looking for mainly sticky notes and stickers to use in my Filofax, or to send to penpals, and I found this one for £3.49. The price is very high, but I couldn't resist it. Owl stationery is VERY hard to find online and in stores, so I couldn't pass it up and I knew I would use it regularly. 

They seem to stick well to the pages, and have enough space to write on without having to write very small. I would recommend them, but make sure you are going to use them so not to waste that much money.

These washi tape sets were both from Wilkinsons and have been available for quite a while. My local Wilkinsons only open late last year, so I've only been to the store 2-3 times, and each time I would pick the washi tape up and then put it back down. I've seen other people use them with fairly good reviews. The sets cost £1.75 each which is reasonable as you get two washi tapes of different designs and sizes. They had 1-2 other designs but they weren't as nice as these two. 

When I stuck them down to my desk, they seemed to stick well and weren't very thin which is good. I definitely am going to use them in the future, and I am glad now I bought them. I would recommend them.

This cute pen is also from Wilkinsons and was a very good price of £1. I wasn't looking for pens specifically, but they were just too cute to pass up! Wilkinsons have other notebooks, notepads, pens, letter sets and so on in this design, and I would definitely recommend them. I don't use notebooks very often, but if I did I definitely would buy them!

The pen itself is comfortable to hold and write with, and the ink flows very nicely, but the ink doesn't dry very fast so it will likely smudge. For the price and the design, I would definitely recommend the pen for anyone who loves wildlife (and cute designs in general ^_^).

I have been looking for a nice white or clear pen holder to go on my white desk from Ikea, but I couldn't find anything big or nice enough. However, today I found this very nice pen holder in Wilkinsons for £2.50. I think this is a great price for the pot, seeing as plain and not as appealing pen pots in place such as Ryman and WHSmith are double the price or more. I have put the owl pen in there to show you how much room it has, but in the future I will be doing a desk tour post and it will feature the pot being fully used :) Wilkinsons also has other products in this design such as paper holders and magazine racks.

These simple address sticky labels are also from Wilkinsons at the price of £0.60 for 30 labels. They are going to be great for my penpal envelopes and were an unexpected but happy find! Whether you send out mail regularly, or just now and again, I would definitely recommend to get some of these because I guarantee these will come in good use!

And lastly, I bought these three lip balms from Wilkinsons for £0.99! ( know they're not stationery, but I thought they were a great and cheap find that I thought I would share. They come in the flavours strawberry, watermelon, and grape. I've currently tried the watermelon flavour so far and I can say that the lip balm is not too thick or watery, and the flavour isn't too overpowering or weak. I would definitely recommend them for people who get dry lips like myself :)

So that was what I spend nearly 4 hours buying, and I am pretty happy with all of the products. They are all going to come in handy and be put to good use. Let me know if any of you have bought things from either the stores mentioned (whether it's the same product I've bought or different) I would love to hear your reviews on them, and how you use it :)

10 Facts About Me!

I personally like to know people who run the blogs I like (not that I know of anyone who likes my blog ^.^) so I thought I would do a facts about me post so you can get to know me :) Any questions feel free to comment or email me!

1. I am currently 19 years old.
2. I live in a rural part of the UK on the borders of England and Wales. It takes about an hour to walk through the entire city, so you can imagine how small it is! There aren't very many shops here, so it's very hard to find stationery you're looking for.
3. I am in my last year in college studying Public Services and aspiring to become a qualified Paramedic. I feel I have a passion for first aid, and I love helping people in anyway I can.
4. I have 6 cats called Oki, Pepper, Shiloh, Penny, Luna, and Mila (I am not a crazy cat lady I must state!).
5. I don't drink, smoke, or take drugs.
6. I have recently started to read a lot, including the full Harry Potter series, and a few Stephen King books. Currently I have roughly 65 books.
7. I have had my tonsils removed in 2011 and appendix removed in 2013.
8. I have always had a big interest in stationery, planning, and organising. I found out about Filofaxes in the end of 2012 and bought my first one in January 2013 which was a Black A5 Identity (it now has a new owner in America). I bought my second and current Filofax in June 2013 which is a Pink A5 Finsbury.
9. I dye my hair very often, and I learned how to cut and dye hair at a young age.
10. I am a recovered anorexic and bulimic; I also have been diagnosed with depression and chronic anxiety which I take regular medication to control. I don't speak often of these issues, but I am more than happy to answer questions or share my experiences in order to help others understand what is it like to live and deal with one of those disorders everyday, and to help people who are struggling today.

My Week #9

This week was quite busy as you can tell. I had the day off work Monday which was nice.  I also received a RAK from Stephanie in Germany on Wednesday which was such a lovely surprise to come home too! I'm half way through my Samaritans training which I am enjoying so much, I've learned so many skills already :) I had to go on a long hike Thursday through muddy fields, forests etc and now I have a cold and cough :( I received my washi tape order from ChaoticStationery from Instagram which I will also have a review post for anyone thinking of ordering from her shop :)

How was your week? Did you do anything interesting or new?

Just a quick note for everyone

This blog used to http://strawbubbi.blogspot.co.uk but I changed the name to http://spreadthegiggles.blogspot.co.uk as I felt strawbubbi didn't sum up what my blog is about. I post mainly Filofax/Stationery things at the moment, but I will be also posting more about my life, being in college, studying to become a paramedic, and my general thoughts and interests :)

Thanks!

Review of Chaotic Stationery order

I ordered three different washi tapes from chaoticstationery on February 17th 2014 and I received it on February 24th 2014. This is my first time ordering 1) of instagram and 2) from chaoticstationery, so I wanted to do a review on my experience and order satisfaction for others to read. The washi tapes Venetia sells are 1 yard long, which makes it really easy to keep them in your Filofax card slots for easy access when you're away from home, as well as trying washi tapes out you want to buy rolls of but are not sure if you will like them.

 ** When ordering from Instagram, please look for reviews of the seller as there have recently been some fakes **

This was what I received in the envelope; the three washi tapes (1 yard long each) on a clear plastic which fits easily in my A5 Finsbury credit card slots. I also got a lovely cute note from Venetia herself (I love when sellers add a little thank you note as it makes your purchase feel more special!).

These are the washi tapes stuck on my desk so you can see what they will look on a clear background (note: the pink paper on the blue washi tape is from a piece of paper, it wasn't sent like that). I love all the washi tapes, they're easy to cut and stick on the paper, they give a clear finish and don't come up once on the paper. 

I am definitely going to order some more washi tapes from Venetia as the shipping was very fast from Greece to England. The washi tape is good quality and the way it is packaged makes it easy to either leave at home or have on the go inside your Filofax or a stationery pouch/pencil case. I would definitely recommend her services, she is a very lovely person, great communication and is very happy to work to your needs :) The price for the three washi tapes and shipping was $6/£3.58, a very good price in my opinion.

If you're interested in ordering from chaoticstationery, get in touch with her via her Instagram, check out her blogspot, or email her: vkimioni@gmail.com

My Week #8

This week was a basic pink theme with animals (owls, a fox and a cat) sticky notes and stickers ^.^ I'm not quite girly but having a pink cute theme definitely brightens up my weeks and my mood. The back of the project life card has my week dinners on them :)

How was your week? Do you pre-plan your weekly layout and themes?

My Week #7

This week was blue, yellow and white themed. Everything you see besides the very important sticky note and the washi tape was sent to me :)

How was your week?

Filling Up My Expedit Unit From Ikea

I bought the IKEA Expedit shelving unit a few weeks ago, and I love it! My bedroom furniture is white, and my desk is also from IKEA, so it fits in very well. At first, I really didn't know what I was going to fill it with. I mainly thought about boxes (either white or a rainbow scheme) and maybe some cute thing here and there... But now I've moved all of my books there in a rainbow order as I had too many to fit on my desk shelf. I really like the look of it, and wanted to show how I had set mine up! I'm still looking for more boxes to put on the bottom 4 shelves to hold Filofax related things (washi tapes, stickers, sticky notes etc) and a place to put anything college related. 

So yeah, this is my current set up! I love seeing how others set their units up so if you have one please let me know and I'll check it out :) My inspiration was from various pinterest and Flickr photos as well as Angela from paperlovestory, so thank you Angela for the inspiration!

My Week #6

Nothing much happened this week. I ordered a new pair of gym shoes and two tops which were on sale from Sports Direct and it arrived Monday, and also started the Insanity workout. I got paid on the Friday which was nice ^_^ I had a Functional Skills maths exam Thursday morning which went okay *fingers crossed* and had my first Samaritans training session Saturday!

How was your week? Did you try anything for the first time?