Tombow- Quality Correction Tape, Adhesives and Art Products

For more than 100 years, Tombow has been an industry leader in affordable, quality office and art products. Here, it’s a name mostly recognized in specific groups such as artists or scrapbook enthusiasts. But in Japan, Tombow is a household name as a maker of wood pencils. Children there grew up with Tombow pencils the way Americans had Dixon Ticonderoga. Tombow still makes pencils, but here they’re associated with a range of products with the common thread being consistent quality.

Tombow Dual Brush Markers

The pencils Tombow sells here are mostly for drawing. Drawing pencils are designed to withstand heavy use and resist smearing, and Tombow’s packs include pencils of various hardness to produce different shades. Also popular for artists are dual brush markers using blendable, non-bleeding water-based ink. Each pen has two tips- a fine tip for lines or other precise work and a brush for coloring with broader strokes.

Tombow Mono Correction Tape

Along with writing utensils, Tombow has also made a name for itself through a pair of running tape products. Whether adhesive or correction tape, tape runners can be very finicky, sometimes tangling, not sticking to the paper, or not advancing properly. Tombow tape dispensers avoid these problems better than many of its competitors in both its adhesive tape series popular with scrapbookers and its correction tape- a useful item to have around the office.

Now’s a great time to try out Tombow products! We’re running a sale on Tombow correction tape and have a coupon for $10 off Tombow dual brush markers until the end of the month!

Tombow Adhesive to the Xtreme

Crafters have stood by Tombow's adhesive tape since forever. That's not going to change any time soon. It flows smoothly, distributes adhesive evenly, and is so much easier to use than glue sticks or anything similar. One of its (few) limitations, however, is the strength of the adhesive. It works great attaching papers and photos to books or boards, and that's all it's normally asked to do. But when it comes time to work with heavier craft materials, the first inclination is to reach for the glue gun or something stronger. Wouldn't it be great if the convenience of Tombow dispensers could be used on projects requiring strong adhesive?

Tombow Xtreme Adhesive

Feel free to insert a fanfare of electric guitars. Tombow's Xtreme adhesive is packaged in a dispenser similar to the classic Mono or craft adhesive, but the tape itself is super-charged (insert cheesy lightning effects) to be up to five times stronger than the average adhesive tape dispenser. Along with everything the standard Tombow adhesive will rock, the Xtreme model allows you to work with wood, glass, fabric, plastic and a variety of other materials. This extreme video shows it in action:

Totally Extreme Xtreme Demo

With this new product, crafters can now easily incorporate award ribbons, small medals and other memories, adding dimension to any project. The Xtreme adhesive is permanent, archival, and acid-free. Most importantly- it's refillable. In addition, buy at least $75 worth of qualifying Tombow products (including both the Xtreme and original adhesive tape runners/refills) and Tombow will send you a gift card!

Tax Season's Greetings

There's an old notion of getting a visit from the tax man. As if today's income tax is some reverse Santa Claus taking a percentage of toys from boys and girls based on income level and number of dependents. We should be so lucky. There is no gentleman knocking on our doors and handing us a bill. It's up to each individual to recognize that it's that time of year. They have to do their own math to figure out what they owe (or pay someone to determine what to pay). Most importantly, everyone needs to have the pertinent information available in order to prepare their taxes.

For businesses, that means they not only need to have their own finances in order, they need to provide W2 forms for their employees. The sooner they're sent, the happier the employee.

Tops Laser W-2 Forms

For smaller businesses that don't outsource their payroll, Tops makes it easy to order and print their own essential tax forms. These W-2 forms are compatible with laser printers and can be printed directly from payroll software. Tops also provides envelopes to ensure security, along with 1099 forms and matching envelopes.

The real key to avoiding stress at tax time is to be prepared in advance. Throughout the year, keep all tax information in some sort of file. Track deductions throughout the year with a planner rather than try to go back through old receipts and figure out which purchases are applicable. This helps in the event of an audit as well, as that kind of documentation is hard to forge in hindsight when planners from the previous year go out of stock. If you're filling out the forms by hand, you'll also want a calculator, a reliable pen with anti-alteration features, and, let's not kid ourselves, correction tape.

Nature's Undo Button

Finally, with so much sensitive information out in the open, some of it may need to go away when the filing's done. Households and businesses alike will want to make sure their shredder is up for the task.

Gift Card From Tombow

We love Tombow products around here. Not that that's controversial. Their adhesive dispensers and associated refills are best-selling products and their correction tape dispensers have been described as the Cadillac of correction tape. It doesn't take much prompting to get us to gush about their products, but some recent developments has us even more eager to talk about them.

Tombow Mono Adhesive Dispenser

Tombow actually sells two versions of its popular adhesive tape. There's a version that you would buy in office supply stores, targeted towards creating presentation displays. Then there's a version sold in craft stores, aimed at scrapbookers. It's all the same stuff, just with different packaging, and Tombow has come to the realization that doing this was kinda silly. So they're phasing out the office version, the ever-popular TOM62201 dispenser and its TOM62202 refill, and selling the same thing everywhere. Equality for the win!

This is fantastic news because while it's the same tape we all love, the Craft Collection version, model TOM62106 with refill TOM62107, has 33 percent more tape on each roll. That means more bang for your buck for all your scrapbooking and office needs. The Craft Collection refills will still fit the TOM62201 dispenser and work just as well.

Tombow Craft Collection Adhesive Dispenser

Best of all, from now until July, ordering $50 or more of eligible Tombow products will net you a $10 gift card from a number of popular retailers and restaurants. A $100 purchase gets you a $25 gift card! Check out this page for the rebate form and a list of eligible products. Most correction tape products are on the list, as are the Craft Collection adhesives, making this the perfect time to switch for those used to ordering the TOM62202 refills.

Using a Tom62202 without a Tom62201

I don't know how many people have ever been in the predicament that I was in a few weeks ago, but I was working on a crafty project and was on a tight budget and was looking to save any bit of cash I could. Everybody knows about Tom62201 (Tombow's flagship adhesive dispenser) and just about everybody also knows that Tombow offers refills in the form of Tom62202.

A fine specimen of Tom62201

 Any Tom, Dick, and/or Harold can look at the Tom62201 and see that there isn't a whole lot there.  Some translucent plastic bits, some transparent plastic bits and two rolls.  It's kind of like a Blueberry iMac, and a cassette tape got into that transporter from The Fly and this is what stepped out from the other side.

Tom62202 ready for the runway

Now if you are like you me you see the Tom62201 and the Tom62202 next to each other and think, man it's only missing the encapsulating plastic bit.  I can buy a Tom62202 and save myself a dollar.  Well sir, I'm sad to inform you that there are some extra bits that the Tom62201 have that are not easily replicated just by holding it firmly.  Attempting to use the refill by itself will fail just about completely.

But if you have already gone over the deep end and need to get something done ASAP and you only have a Tom62202 at your disposal you aren't out of luck.  I found that if you just use the roll of adhesive and take it off the plastic bits you do end up with a convenient roll of double sided tape.  Peel off enough of the end for a tab, roll out your tape sticking it to the surface as necessary.  Tear your tape off from the role as necessary.  When you are ready to affix your two items, put the tape roll aside and remove the backing from your item.

If you follow the Tom62201-less method it does have an advantage on large surfaces as you won't have any side of your double sided tape exposed to the elements for much longer than necessary.