Happy Tape?

The name alone was enough to send me to the website to check it out! What the heck is Happy Tape?

According to the Happy Tape website:
"Happytape is colored Japanese masking tape, now in the United States. It is made of Japanese washi paper. It's perfect for decorating packages, gift wrapping, scrapbooking, card making, fancy labels, and artsy collages. It's a little transparent, so it looks great layered. It tears nicely, too!"

So what the heck is washi paper? Well, I googled it and found this at the Wise Geek website:
"The word washi comes from Japanese words for “Japanese” and “paper.” Washi, also known as wagami, is traditionally a handmade Japanese paper based on three chief components: kozo or mulberry bark, gampi, and misumata. Each of the three has unique properties and is used alone or in combination in multiple types of washi."

I've seen decorative tape before, but I have never seen masking tape like this! There are amazing colors and patterns. Happy Tape has a blog where there are pictures of different ways people have used the tape - like the card pictured below (as well as scrapbooking, invitations, envelopes, etc.):

 

Happy Tape card by Christen (courtesy Happy Tape blog)

I happened to read about Happy Tape in Woman's Day magazine. They showed a lamp like this one:

 

Ada Table Lamp from Crate & Barrel

They suggested using the tape to decorate the lamp shade - which is not so unusual except that with this particular tape, you can easily remove the tape to change the look of the lamp as often as you like!

You could also use the tape to decorate a plain mat, such as this one from Michael's:

 

The prices are pretty reasonable. Single rolls are $2.50-$6.00; 2 roll sets are $11; 3 roll sets are $13.75; 5 roll sets are $18.75-$24; 6 & 7 roll sets are $27; 10 roll sets are $34-$36; and 20 roll sets (thin tape) are $36.50.