pens | the papercutting nerd

If you’ve known me since I was kid, then you know I’ve always kept some sort of notebook/planner. I was always jotting down favorite quotes, tasks or coursework notes.

If you went to school with me, you know I HAD to take notes and I ALWAYS used different colored pens to highlight different aspects of the subject matter. If I made a mistake, white-out was my best friend. If I didn’t have white out, I often rewrote the entire page. I needed it to feel clean and pretty.

Reflecting back, it seems silly, but I know that the rewriting and art of making my notes pretty was my way of ingraining the information to memory. It is how I learn as a visual learner.

Enter my workforce era –> you’ll still catch me with a notebook or list pad!

You can imagine my glee when I saw that paper planners were making a comeback. Now I could keep appointments and my to do lists in one place. Best. News. Ever!

However, my need for it to look pretty is still totally there, so I had to find a solution. I needed my notes/lists to be in color to separate projects, but I didn’t want to be that girl that walks around with colored pencils. So I was on a hunt for the right writing utensil.

As a scrapbooker, I have all kinds of pens and none were just right. I love the find point of the Staedtler pens, but they are permanent. I use them all the time for my crafting projects, but if I make a mistake, it’s easy to try again with my arsenal of supplies. I’ve tried using them in my planner, but it drives me crazy having to scratch out a mistake. For my at home planner, I have a lot of predetermined boxes and subject areas, so I have no problem using the Staedtler pens then. I have more difficulty in using them for non-planned items (like jotting down to do lists).

In February, I saw a pic on Instagram a fellow crafter who uses the Pilot Frixion erasble markers for projects. ERASABLE marker? What?! I immediately looked them up…there are plenty of crafters who showcase them in youtube videos. I was instantly mesmermized.

Imagine my sheer joy when I discovered they also made erasable gel ink pens! Now…we all have terrible memories of the erasable pens from our youth, so I was a bit skeptical. I did some homework and saw that Staples and Target sometimes carried these pens, so I was a mission to get myself a set to try out. I picked up a 3 color set and immediately knew that these were perfect for me. So of course, I bought the 24 pack via amazon (I don’t think a US based company sells these pens yet as my packaging was in Japanese – I think). I now carry them around in a pencil case in my purse, and I pull out a few at time in meetings. If people watch me erase my notes, I immediately get questions or it gets grabbed out of my hand to examine closely. It’s always pretty funny.

My “pencil” case that carries my Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Ink Pens. I also have a Frixion erasable highlighter and the SIgno White Pen (for when I need to write on dark paper) and black fine tip Sharpie.

I think I’ve even been the reason that 3-4 of my colleagues have purchased their own sets since I got my set. They are amazing and great for us paper planner folks! Below is a photo sample of fixing a mistake.