A Dream Come True

I’m a sucker for office supplies, monogrammed items, and... office supplies.  For years when my grandmother asked me what I wanted for Christmas, my only response was, “Office Supplies.” 

“What kind?”
“Any kind.”

“What do you need?”

“All of it.”

"If you could have anything what would it be?"
"A really fancy tape dispenser."

Each year, she was faithful to answer my request and I was always thrilled to tear open wrapped boxes of pencils, pens, erasers, journals, tape, tape dispensers, whiteout, paper clips,  staples, and more.
Ohhh the wild, untamed days of childhood.

As an adult, my love for office supplies increased, as did my annoying inner need to be frugal. Sean and I went shopping last year and as we strolled through the aisles I told him there was something I’d had my eye on for two months.  I eagerly led him to the office section and when I pointed to a hot-pink clipboard he was bewildered.

“This?!?”

“Yes.”

“It’s $2.19. Why didn’t you just get it?!”

“The plain ones are 99 cents…I couldn’t pull the trigger.”

Long story short we got the clipboard… BUT I have NEVER been able to pull the trigger on the holy grail of office supplies… personalized stationary. While I know personalized stationary is pretty cheap these days, I still can’t bring myself to pay for something I don’t reeeaallly need. But then again I don’t reeeally neeeeed pints of ice cream, fancy eye cream, or caramel macchiatos... Life is so confusing.

Anyhoo, when I saw this project in the September issue of Country Living, it caught my eye.  I already had all the necessary tools and wouldn’t have to pay a thing.  Plus, I’d get that monogrammed notepad I’ve been wanting since '97.  Yess!!

So here you go:

First, I made a template for my notepad. It was a bordered rectangle with a fancy M in the bottom right corner. I formatted my page to be in “landscape” with 2 columns. When my design was right, I copied it in the second column.  It looked like this:

Next, I copied and pasted my entire page 10 times.  Now I had a ten page document of the same template.  I went back in and changed the colors of the letters and then printed the entire document TWICE.  I then cut out the squares…

Next, I cut a piece of cardboard (an empty box of rice) the same size as my paper.  This would be the bottom of the pad.

I stacked all the pages up, put a healthy layer of Elmer’s glue at the bind, making sure to cover the tops of all pages and the cardboard backing, (Country Living suggested Aleene's Tacky Glue), and then clamped it with binder clips to let it dry.  Once it was dry, I applied another coat of glue.

Once the glue was dry, I removed my clips and VOILA!   A real-life, monogrammed, notepad! The pages peel off nicely and everything. In the future I will try different kinds of cool paper,  add quotes or verses to different pages… the possibilities are endless!  Can you HEAR how excited I am?!??  PLUS it makes a great gift!  If I ever give this to a friend or family member, I plan on typing inside jokes, funny memories, or unexpected profanity on each of the pages. Life is good.

Not bad for 30 minutes, and since I have my template saved, it will be a lot quicker next time.

Thanks Country Living!

Mae Mae

P.S. Cue “She Works Hard for the Money", spin around in your chair one time, and get pumped! Statistically people are more productive on Tuesdays than any other day of the week.  LET’S DO THIS.