Tape Obsessed

We admit it:  We are obsessed with All Things Tape.

(As if you couldn’t tell, right?)

The monsters, however, have hidden the Artist’s VISA card.  There may or may not have been An Incident involving some spray ink and the Cute Tape etsy shop that resulted in the whole stable full of monsterousness being fed beans and ramen noodles for a week.  Granted, there were some pretty journal pages and some ATCing that came out of the Incident, but there are only so many bean-fed monsters that can fit in one space before they get a little testy.

That’s why, when the Artist heard that Target (the big box store here in the USA, for any international folkses who might be reading) had some special edition paper tape that was just like washi tape…the monsters were undoubtedly nervous, and began to hoard bacon in strange places.

The good news:  Up & Up brand paper tape is freakin’ cheap.

We’re talking $4 or so for four rolls of 3/4″, very washi-like paper tape, bundled together by color.  Which is just about cheaper than one roll of the imported tape, with no shipping (obviously).  The Artist’s local Target had three colorways:  A green/blue/aquaish color, a red/pink color, and an array of blues.  There are four styles, as seen above — a translucent solid, a large dot, a small dot, and a chevronish side stripe.

There was much squealing.  The Artist contained herself to one pack of each available color, but considering she’s had it for about 12 hours at the time of this writing and has already been washi-ing up just about everything in the house…there may be more purchasing for stockpiling purposes.  Even though she swears she’s so over this hoarding thing already.  (Until there’s tape involved, clearly.)

Apparently, there’s also one more colorway:  an elusive yellow/orange combo that her local store did not have in stock.

She is already making plans to road trip to several area Targets this weekend to hunt the other colors.  There may be a bit of obsession involved.  She is readying her safari hat.

If you’re lucky enough to have a Target nearby, look for it in the special edition office supplies.

These are near the other office supplies, but aren’t actually with them, which makes us think that this is a special seasonal thing and won’t be there long.  (Target does that.  It’s awesome and annoying, all at once.)  And if you’re an office supply geek (like we tend to be, here in the cottage on the plains), fair warning:  there are tons of little doodads and geegaws that will make your pocketbook scream, even if it’s not filled with tiny imaginary monsters.  Binder clips and bulldog clips, pushpins and paper clips, post-it notes and ribbons and …and….and….  Seriously, folks.  It’s like a revel in a more stylish Office Max.  Bring a big cart.

A note, too:  All our tests have suggested that this is the real deal.

Unlike the paper tape we picked up a few weeks back, this stuff is washi tape for all intents and purposes.  Same sheen, same rippability, same translucency, same stickiness-without-being-overly-sticky that real washi tape has.  We’ve stuck it down on paper and cardstock, over gel medium and gesso, painted over it and under it, and haven’t had a single stickiness issue yet.  It conforms to shapes (like around cardstock elements), doesn’t peel up involuntarily, and was still able to be peeled up without ripping the underlying substrata when desired.  (Just like regular washi.)

We’re considering writing love letters to Target executives right now.

We’re not sure how long this stuff will be around.

So if you’re a tape freak, hie thee to a Target and grab what you can.  And if you see any of the yellow/orange, let us know — the Quest is ON.