Join the challenge with the techo team! First-time decoration for your techo

Tools & Toys Report 2023 Apr

Spring has arrived. For those who are starting to use a new techo or seeking a change in their techo-life after using it for the past three months; this time, we would like to share some ideas to enjoy your techo even more, by trying out creating a spring-like fun techo ourselves.

We had six members of our techo team join try it out. We gave them some stationery and asked them to decorate their techo as they like. There are actually many members of the techo team who have not decorated their techo. Let’s take a look at how their techo turned out to be.

We tried out the popular decorative stationery

Hirano(Writer)

An open-minded writer, who plans a lot of our content. He is the one who came up with the themes for the “Theme of the Day” Deco Rush. He usually keeps her techo simple and writes only text in it.
Sakaki(Website planning)

Works for website planning, marketing, and sales promotion. She is also a mother of two children, and is powerfully juggling work and parenting on a daily basis. She is not a decorator, although she uses three types of techo; Cousin Avec book for work, the 5-Year Techo for keeping track of her children, and the Weeks for meal planning.
Yanai(Production management)

Works for production management from planning to sales of techo-related products. Enjoys a laid-back styled techo, in which she writes short notes little by little. Found here and there are illustrations of cats, which is her favorite animal.
Okada(Sales team)

Handles communication with LOFT and other domestic wholesalers regarding sales of techo-related items. He is known in the company for his techo in which he writes his journal and physical condition figures in large, bold letters with a brush pen. Rumored to be called “Okada, the Brush Pen Master” by some people.
Tang(China sales)

Takes charge of various tasks related to sales in China, such as managing social media, creating planning pages, and design. Her techo is written mainly in text, but also enjoys decorating by pasting paper or washi tapes. As someone aware of the trends of planners and stationeries in China, she decided to try out creating a “Salted planner,” which is very popular in China!
meron(Designer)

Designs for website content and events. She spends her busy days observing plants, insects, and other living creatures, as well as enjoying music, illustrations, and a variety of other hobbies. The techo that she writes about her daily life is as joyful and cheerful as meron herself.

How much they usually decorate their techo:
None→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→A lot
Okada　Hirano　Sakaki　Yanai　Tang　meron

What kind of stationery did they use?
How did it turn out?
Let’s take a look!

: Added some excitementwith a combination of differentDeco Rush!; Added some excitementwith a combination ofdifferent Deco Rush!

Hirano used the “Theme of the Day” Deco Rush together with Deco Rush of other designs. He also used stencils to add cute speech bubbles and lines.

Hirano: The addition of a fortune-telling aspect, where you never know which pattern will appear, adds an unexpected sense of joy and motivates me to write my journal. I used stencils to help me out since I’m not used to decorating my techo. Just putting some Deco Rush in a speech bubble looks kind of cute, doesn’t it? I also recommend using a wavy line to separate the memo pad on the right side of the page.
(I later found out that the Deco Rush used on the 13th was caviar. Sorry I got it wrong!)

Tools: The combination of different types of Deco Rush is a playful way to have fun. Using various stencils makes the page very colorful!

Items used

: Enjoyed record keepingwith her children usingiNSPiC and KITTA

Sakaki kept a record of her days with her children using photos printed by “iNSPiC,” a printer for smartphones. She also used Kitta in various designs to edge the photos and paste her children’s drawings.

Sakaki: I was surprised at how easy it was to print photos, even for someone like me with a lazy mind. The hearts and glitter stamps on the photos were chosen by my children. The pictures drawn by my children were usually pasted on with glue, but I was amazed at how much cuter they became just by pasting them on with the Kitta. It was so much fun decorating with my children!

Her daughter, now in the second grade of elementary school, also tried decorating her own techo. “She was so excited the moment she saw it. She also enjoyed writing on the Kitta.”

And: Look at it! I didn't realize how charming it could be just by pasting whatever you want. We can tell that they were excited to create the page, and it will be fun to look back on it later!

Items used

: Picture diary style pagewith stencil matching tricks

Yanai used five different “Hobonichi Stencils” to write her memories of a particular day. The ultra-fine “Hi-Tec-C Coleto” pen is perfect for the detailed expressions of the stencils.

Yanai: I’m usually better at freehand drawing, so this was my first time using stencils. I thought stencils were for drawing symbols, but I found out that if you use them in various designs and at different angles in all kinds of places, they can also be used for drawing. I’m not good at drawing tiny things, so these stencils were great for drawing in detail, and I was able to draw a lot on the Original size techo page.

Toys: The combination of different designs makes it look like a picture diary, and using the speech bubble as a cloud is so cute! It makes us feel that the combination of designs can create anything.

Items used

: Added color to the usualbrush pens to make the pagemore vibrant; Added color to the usualbrush pens to makethe page more vibrant

Okada usually writes his notebook with a single black brush pen. Just using a colored “Brush-Touch Felt Tip Pen” and the Deco Rush “What a feast!” design created a bright page!

Okada: I wondered what it would be like if I color-coded the pages where I usually write only with black brush pens, and this is how it turned out. Simply by color-coding the page with green for locations and pink for store names ended up making the page look pretty. I thought it would be impossible for me to make my techo look fun, but once I tried, it was surprisingly easy for even someone like me.

Tools: With just a little creativity, the page looks easy to read and understand later! The Deco Rush “What a feast!” design accents the page.

Items used

: Various types of washi tapesmade the Salted techoslightly more vivid

Tang created a “Salted planner,” which is popular among Chinese planner users. She made a “Salted planner” with a lot of white space and pages organized in calm, beautiful colors, and arranged it to be a little more vivid with cute tapes.

Tang: A “Salted planner” is a planner that uses mainly fresh colors such as blue and green. This time, I made a techo using colors often used in Salted planners and cut out detailed patterns from washi tapes and the Kitta. I started by creating the surface with a large piece of washi tape such as the Omiya Yogashiten striped pattern. Then, I placed small patterns on top of that intuitively. I also wrote letters in parts and made sure to leave a lot of blank space.

And: Even if you cannot draw, you can use the patterns on the washi tapes to create such a lovely page! We also like the spring-like colors.

Items used

: Full of illustrationwith two different color pens!; Full of illustration withtwo different color pens!

meron’s multi-colored techo uses “Mildliner” for the monthly calendar and “Dual Brush Pen” for the daily pages. Though the pages are filled with multiple colors, the pages have a sense of unity.

meron: The point is to choose specific colors for the things I often write, such as green for titles and plants, brown for hair, and so on. Keeping the colors consistent makes it easier to see what is written, even if there is a lot of writing. Then, I fill in the spaces with yellow glitter, which naturally makes it look more cohesive. The daily pages are even easier since all you have to do is draw lines and fill them in! Just use a few colors of the Dual Brush Pens and blur them with a water brush to create a gradient, and it would look nice.

Toys: Wow! That's quite a lot of writing! She gradually became able to balance her writings as she continued to draw. Watercolor paintings with markers does sound easy.

Items used

Decorating your notebook is actually very easy,
just by combining various stationery items
and using some creativity.
We hope our ideas would help you make
your techo a little more colorful.