Random Fun Things Around my Desk at the Library

As the library cataloguing technician, I get my own desk and, as someone who loves decorating, you can bet I went all out! Here are a few fun random things around my desk at the library that I work at!

Since my desk area is in the corner of the room, I dubbed it "Kaylie's Magical Corner" and set up a letter peg board that says "Welcome to Kaylie's Magical Corner." I try to make my area feel magical with colour, decorations, and knick-knacks.

I had double copies of certain books from the Mini Brands Books surprise capsules that I bought so I decided to bring them to work! I set them up on some of the mini shelves that came with the books and added one of the mini magnifying glasses that I also received from them. The addition of the miniature Trolls doll was to add some decoration to it.

I have started collecting holiday rubber ducks to use as decorations during the various holidays. I have quite a few holidays covered but still need rubber ducks for Thanksgiving and Halloween. I'd also like to get some rubber ducks for Pride Month!

I love my holiday rubber ducks so, when I saw giant rubber ducks, I just had to get one for my desk to leave out all year! I even made some laminated holiday bowties for him so he can match the various holidays!

My co-workers and I like to decorate our area for holidays so we have fake eyeballs and bones for Halloween. I thought it would be funny to store them in the drawers on some rolling tool bench stools that we have. Because what could be cooler than having random eyeballs and bones in a drawer?!

There was a closet in the library that had been locked for years because nobody had the key. At one point, the closet had to be forced open and there were a bunch of old programming materials and puppets inside. We found a weird chicken puppet holding a pickle on a stick and thought it was hilarious so he just hangs out with us now.

I once received a homemade "Dammit Doll" from a local seamstress called The Siller Sew'er. The basic idea of this doll is that if you're frustrated, you can throw the doll around to get your anger out. Sort of like hitting your pillow or going to a rage/smash room where you can smash things to get your anger out. So, I thought it would be fun to designate it as a communal dammit doll for the whole office!

We have a pothos plant in our office and we have been guiding it to grow across the top of a large doorframe using hooks. I decided to print out some Barrel of Monkeys images to decorate it. 

There is a crack in one of our walls nearby so I decided to make monsters to have coming out of the crack as a joke. They are inspired by the eye lichen from the film Labyrinth! One of my co-workers even made a sign warning not to feed them. 


Cheers,

Kaylie

Random Fun Gifts That I have Given to my Boyfriend

As a "just for fun" post, I thought I would share some of the random fun things that I have given to my boyfriend as gifts. Some were joke gifts since I love including a joke gift when giving any kind of presents!

We are starting off with Banada Duck because he's awesome! I gave him as a joke gift because I thought it was just too funny! He's yellow, which is my boyfriend's favourite colour, and he reminds me of the goose from Untitled Goose Game which my boyfriend and I played together. He is actually a garden statue but my boyfriend keeps him by the door of his apartment and I pat him on the head and greet him whenever I enter and exit.

While at an antiques market, I saw some moustache tea cups! These tea cups were created to protect the moustache of men from being ruined by tea. Since my boyfriend has facial hair, I just had to buy one for him!

This Fruity Pebbles candle smells just like cereal! It's from an amazing local business called Joyful Home which makes the most fantastic candles! When I smelled it, it reminded me of my boyfriend because he drinks a lot of milk. Since my thoughts instantly went to him, I just had to gift it to him. Plus it being yellow was just icing on the cake!

This dancing sunflower was a major joke gift. I thought it was too funny plus, again, it's yellow! It is very similar to the famous dancing cactus. It plays music, dances, and mimics voices.

Cheers,

Kaylie

Dewey Decimal Star Stickers DIY

When I was a kid, I took a babysitting course. At the end of the course, we had to do a quiz and the instructor then marked it and put reward stickers on it. One of the stickers was a custom sticker that said "Mrs. [last name] thinks you're a star!" (name omitted to maintain privacy) and it had a cute picture of a star on it. I really like stickers so I have never forgotten that sticker. Recently, as a library cataloguing technician, I was inspired to make a variation of that sticker with a library twist! 523.8 is the Dewey Decimal number for star so I made stickers that say "Cataloguer Kaylie thinks you're a 523.8!" and added a cute star picture. My coworkers thought they were adorable so I made the same stickers for them with their own job titles and names. Funny how one can be inspired by something as little as a sticker that was received years ago!

 

Cheers,

Kaylie

Happy Mail at Work

As a library cataloguing technician, I often have to send things to other branches through our inter-branch delivery system. It's usually replacement supplies or tags for certain items. I always send them in a clear ziplock bag with the branch's name written on it as well as a short note of what's inside (just in case there are staff who are not up to date and are wondering why I sent it to them). One day, I decided that this method was boring and wanted to make it a bit more fun. I wanted to send something that would make staff smile and would make me smile when I send it! I was inspired to start sending them happy mail. The basic idea is that you send something fun! I was also inspired by the blind date with a book product that people have been selling where the book is covered in a specially folded brown paper so that it has a pocket where the seller also includes fun extras like a tea bag, bookmark, sticker, etc. Since I am the CATaloguer, I decided to go with a cat theme and found some cute printable cat notepaper online for writing my notes. I also used fun cartoon images of cats with books to create my own stickers to stick on my notes. I still have my Dewey Decimal holiday stickers and Dewey Decimal star stickers as well. Lastly, I found some bookmarks and book quotes to print on cardstock and include as my little extra gift for the staff. Work notes and deliveries don't have to be boring and we all need a little cheer every once in a while!
 
Cheers,
Kaylie

Scrabble Tile Word Art DIY

My boyfriend and I are big fans of meaningful gifts. He has given me framed images that he created that are connected to our dating history, like a map showing the place where we first met and an image of the night sky of the day that we started dating, while I have written him a poem that I framed for him. Another gift that I gave him recently was a piece of Scrabble tile word art that I created in a frame. I glued old Scrabble tiles to watercolour paper, spelling out both of our first names and crossing them so they connected via the "i" like in a crossword puzzle. This can be done with any names as long as they have a letter in common. I then glued a heart gem to it as well to add a bit of colour and decor. More decorations could be added but I wanted to keep it simple. I then took the glass out of a frame, because it wouldn't fit the thickness of the tiles, and framed the piece. This is such a cute personalized decoration for couples, families, and friends! You can use names or even words that fit a specific theme and then decorate accordingly. 

Cheers,

Kaylie