"Hi! Back Again?"

In an old sketch on MadTV, these 3 girls working at a shoe store talk about they really need to be honest because they say they're going to do things, but it never actually happens. For some odd reason, Howard and I randomly quote bits and pieces of it. We even say, "Back again?" which is what the main character says when the guy she likes returns to the store. Well, yesterday I ended up hanging out with my mom again because I wanted to get a price adjustment on the candles I bought at Bath & Body Works since they went from half price at $11.25 to $10. I thought it was funny that we were there two days in a row, and I just kept thinking that one of them would say, "Back again?" 

We also went back to the Disney Store too since we were there. None of the Vinylmation in the box actually changed though, so I didn't trade. It's entertaining to me when I go so soon after a recent trip because our werewolf Pluto and vampire Goofy Vinylmation figures are usually still in the box!

My mom made the funniest comment when we passed by the stand of plushies! All of a sudden she goes, "Awww!" She said that it was sad how Piglet had such a small space on the stand! Haha, look at those 2 Piglets in that narrow area compared to Eeyore!

As we were leaving the mall via JCPenney, we passed by Claire's. Out of the blue, my mom said she wanted to go in to look around, so after years of not having stepped foot in the store, we were browsing once again! She commented that we used to hit Claire's all the time when I was a teenager. Even when we drove down to Florida and stopped at the outlets, Claire's was at the top of my list! Well, yesterday they were having a sale where EVERY item that was listed as clearance was $2 regardless of the actual price on the sticker. I definitely was excited when browsing, hoping to find a hidden gem. These My Little Pony BFF necklaces weren't THE gem, but I thought it was cute anyway. If we had daughters, I'm sure the little trinkets like this would be super cute in a Christmas stocking if they liked the characters.

These hats, on the other hand, were rather creepy! The images themselves are a little odd to wear atop your head, but the fake hair hanging from the back was a bit much! They were not part of the clearance items.

This Cinderella skirt was though! Again, if we had little girls, I would've scooped that up for just $2! What a cute skirt to wear for dress up with the satin and the tulle!

The clearance stuff required patience though because I had to search every row to actually see everything since there were some items where they only had one. I'm used to just glossing over things really quickly, knowing what I like and don't like. These keychains were things that I bypassed during first and second go around. How cute are they?! I'm sure if you knew how to deal with polymer clay, these things are so easy to make. I admit I've been slightly intrigued by polymer items because of what I've seen on YouTube and Etsy. There are people who would make even cuter versions that the ones found in Claire's! It would definitely mean getting into an entirely different crafting category though. I think it might be fun to try things out when I have kids are they're a little older because they we could have some summer fun!

By the way, recently all I've been saying/thinking is "When I have kids ..." haha. I do realize it. 

I have to say that normally I wouldn't deal with a price adjustment UNLESS it was a big one and I was definitely going to be in the area. However, the BBW price adjustment was TOTALLY worth it since I got $2.72 back, and that ended up paying for the one thing I found at Claire's and grabbed the moment I saw it! I actually mentioned to my mom the day before that I was on the searching for more pillowcases so that I can change them out more often. Plus, I'm not a fan of the cotton ones because they're hot in the summer and not as comfortable. Well, what do I end up finding? A Disney princess pillowcase! It was originally $15, but it was on clearance for just $2!!! Um, I think I might need to check Claire's more often for great finds like this! And in this case, it's a good thing I don't have a daughter yet because I'm happy to have this pillowcase for myself ... hehe.

Clearly, I am still 6 years old although strangely, I never really went through a Disney princess phase! I did, however, like all the Sanrio characters a lot so when I saw this tiny Hello Kitty pail at our next stop, I took a picture of it too. We were at Burlington Coat Factory since I wanted to hit AC Moore, and they're in the same shopping center. 

There are many women out there who have huge collections of designer shoes and handbags. My mom and I are not those women, haha. We do, however, very much enjoy looking at bags even though we don't typically ever purchase designer items. I mean, does it count to say I have two LL Bean tote bags? I mean, that's a good brand, right? Haha. I also have a LeSportsac crossbody (thanks to my students who gave me a check for Christmas one year!) that I use mainly in Disney and usually in the summer. I also have two Disney handbags and one tote too! Uh, do those qualify as designer? Haha, yes, I know that they don't, but we're okay with that! My philosophy is that you can use the same amount of money for ONE designer and get a bunch of different ones for various occasions! I love having options, and I do change my bag out rather often. Howard can attest to that because I have bags EVERYWHERE because I'll change them last minute before I head out, so the previously used one is on the floor. Whoops!

As a sidenote, I used my brown Mickey barrel bag (it basically looks like a Louis Vuitton bag, but it has MM and Mickey heads on it instead) to the 8th grade graduation last week. One of my siblings of a graduate who was one of my students two years ago said, "Of course you have a Mickey bag!" and I replied, "Yup, did you expect anything else?" Haha, my kids know me. 

Anyway, we browsed in the bag section at Burlington, and I spotted this adorable bag. It looks so perfect for summer and has a nautical look to it. At only $14.99 (compared to $30), I was rather tempted, but I recently purchased a bag for the summer months from Kohl's. I haven't used it yet though because I keep forgetting to bring it to my mom's house because I need to use Scotchgard on it since it has a lot of white on it. I don't want it to get dirty! The Scotchgard is supposed to be done outdoors, and when you're in an apartment, there is necessarily an outdoors unless I want to go outside in the parking lot and hang around my car ...

The only downside to the bag above is that it isn't one that you can wear on your shoulder. For me, that would limit the amount of places I would be comfortable using it because it would definitely not be the kind of bag I'd bring when running errands. The Lily Bloom bags below would be though! They're so bright and cheerful! They were only $12.98 (compared to $40). If I didn't have my bag from Kohl's, I definitely would have purchased one of these. It's definitely similar to LeSportsac in terms of the bright patterns, but I think the Lily Bloom ones as a whole are nicer. The construction of the bag also reminds me of all the Relic ones I've seen at Kohl's. There was another one I saw down the aisle that had a bicycle print on it, but I didn't take a picture of it. I found the print on Zulily here. When I did the search for Lily Bloom items, I realized it was Zulily where I originally heard of the brand.

We left the handbag section empty handed. Though there were a bunch of cute finds, we didn't need any of them. I said to my mom that it's okay to have a bunch of different bags as long as there's a use for each one and it's not replacing the use of one you already have. Alas, the ones I saw would've been replacements. But that's why I do take pictures of them because they're pretty there too! 

I wanted to go to the kitchen housewares section because there are always fun finds there if you're patient enough to look. While mom was looking at the snapware-type containers, I had fun with some oven mitts because as I've stated above, I'm apparently 6 years old.

They actually had a ton of lunch box options! Many of them were the Fit & Fresh brand, so along with the actual lunch box, they included the food containers and icepaks inside too. That ended up making them even better deals! My mom was searching for a new one that was a little bigger than the one she's been using since she's actually a healthy lunch packer with the fruit and all that, haha. Instead of doing that, I have a big Pyrex container of carbs or something, haha. But the two in the picture were the ones that we narrowed it down to, and eventually she chose the one on the left to better suit her needs. If I hadn't just purchased my lunch bag two years ago AND if I hadn't just placed a rather large order with Thirty-One, I could easily have been lured into buying a new one myself! I loved how they opened fairly large so that there'd be no need to maneuver the Pyrex container in them. I don't need mine to be fancy with room for ice packs though since I have the benefit of sticking the whole bag into the refrigerator at work.

We moved on to the baby section in the back, and it was like hitting the jackpot! Well, except for the fact that we have no babies on the way ... oh well! There were a TON of diaper bag options, and they were all so nice! I initially thought I'd go with an LL Bean bag as a diaper bag when the time came because of the fact that it could function as a diaper bag but not actually look like one. Then it could be used thereafter as just another bag. But then when I saw these Mickey ones, I totally changed my mind! When else would we be able to use a bag like that? My favorite was definitely the one on the left in the picture below. For $40, it'd make a great diaper bag! Of course, it would make more sense than the Minnie ones since even if you have a daughter first, who knows if the next kid is going to be a boy or girl?

As we walked down that aisle, every few seconds, one of us was picking out a new Disney one! I did love them all, but that first one really was the best. This one looks very much like a LeSportsac tote bag. I think the profile view of Mickey is absolutely adorable!

There was even a "mini diaper bag" that kind of looked like a cooler, but I don't think it was actually thermal-lined. It's probably more so for the quick things on the go.

You can see that it coordinates with this larger diaper bag. Ahhh, the choices! They're all so cute and perfect for a Disney-loving family.

Before we left the baby section and then looked at the dresses really quickly, I got this picture of superhero sheets for a toddler bed. Haha, I liked how the superheroes were made to look cute!

Though we were there for a while, the only purchase that was made was my mom's new lunch bag. We were going to walk over to AC Moore, but a HUGE truck was parked next to my car, so I decided to move it. It was kind of annoying considering I usually park farther from other cars just so I don't have to deal with backing out of tight spots. The fact that the truck parked right next to me was irritating. It didn't help that we had to hop in the car where it showed the temperature to be 100 degrees! And yes, I'm aware the "Check Engine" light is on. It seems to do that with the extreme heat, and then it goes away.

The last stop was AC Moore. My intention was to pick up some 6x6 paper pads because I want to do a sunburst/starburst card where it would look better if all the papers were from the same stack so that it would coordinate. I knew there would be a lot of nice choices there as opposed to Michaels, so I specifically wanted to go there. But as you can see in the picture, each little stack would have been $3.58 whereas the bigger 12x12's were $8.99. It didn't make sense to get the little stacks although I do wish that they had the larger stack of the American Crafts "Summer" stack, which is the second stack from the left of the last full pictured row on the bottom.

I was able to find 2 of the smaller stacks in the 12x12, so that made me happy! As you can see in the pricing underneath, it stated that some were $8.99 and some were $6.88. I couldn't tell what the original price was, so I brought 4 that I liked to the register. I already knew in my mind which ones I'd choose if they all ended up being $8.99. Of course, they all were, so I chose not to buy one stack. I was going to just pick up two, but the last one was one I L-O-V-E-D. 

It's kind of crazy because I have NEVER done that with paper. I buy the value stacks at Michaels because you get so much bang for your buck, but in terms of patterns, it's definitely clear as to why these stacks cost more. I don't remember seeing them at Michaels, so that's why I was okay picking them up at AC Moore. I would have bought the smaller pads anyway, so I might as well get the ones that are more worth it. When I brought it home, I definitely thought that Howard would be like, "More paper?" But thankfully, he doesn't seem to mind it because he knows I'm not the kind of person who buys things on a whim. Even so, I thought it'd be somewhat appropriate to post these things I saw on Scrapbook.com's Instagram!

 

Since I purposely bought those stacks to cut, I know they won't just sit around and remain unused like the few DCWV stacks I purchased on sale from Marshall's and TJ Maxx. However, I think I'll at least wait until the next week starts before I make those first few cuts, haha. Now it's time to stop having adventures in stores and have more adventures at home!

Double Lunch Duty Day

I went to work today to sub for the Spanish teacher who is also the pastor who married us almost two years ago! I anticipated a fairly easy day since I actually still remember a lot of the Spanish I learned when I was in school (3 years in junior high, 4 years in high school, and 2 semesters in college since my college advisor kind of pushed to continue with it instead of starting a new language like I had wanted). Though I might not remember the words right off the bat if you were to ask me, a good chunk of it comes back when I actually see it written. Plus, it's still middle school level Spanish and not college level! 

The classes were easy for me and pretty straightforward as 8th grade was working on a project in preparation for their trip to a Spanish restaurant and 7th grade had lessons on "estar + adjective" phrases. I still remembered all the words except I did learn the word apurado (ex. "Estoy apurado" = I'm in a hurry). Those were the easier periods of the day. But then I also had lunch duty. Twice. Yes, I had to do lunch duty for both lunch periods!

First lunch is always easy as it's all the middle school kids and Pre-K and kindergarten. The assistant teacher is with the Pre-K kids, so they're always under control. A few of the kids in kindergarten might need a gentle reminder to continue eating their lunches, but other than that, they're also well-behaved as well. Middle school is the easiest. The only issues might be calming a handful of the girls who get a little loud, but other than that, they know the rules of the lunchroom and follow directions.

Unfortunately, second lunch is a completely different story with the 1st through 5th graders. The 3-5th graders are usually well-behaved, and even if they get a little rowdy, a simple correction or a nice "You won't have recess" threat gets them in line. The younger ones are a handful though as there's a constant need for "Sit down the right way; I don't want you to fall" or "Why are you out of your seat?" The elementary school kids also have higher pitched voices, so their voices seem much louder to my ears. 

Recess gets even crazier whether they're in the gym or outside. Since there was supposed to be rain, I kept them indoors so the chaos was a little bit more insane. I had to deal with a lot of reprimanding and dealing with minor injuries and a few tears (from a kid, not from me, haha). One of the boys had a sweatshirt that zipped all the way up to the tip of the hood to completely cover his face. He zipped it up, and I told him that he wasn't allowed to have his hood on like that in school, so he undid it. Just a minute or two later, it was zipped up again all the way so I told him to sit out because was disobedient right after I corrected him. Immediately, the pleading began. "Can I just have one more chance?! I promise I won't do it again!" No amount of begging would change the consequence, but once he sat down, he started saying, "Is it for all of recess? When can I get up? Can I go play?" No, kid, NO! The more he asked, the more it reaffirmed my decision for having him sit out for the rest of recess, which was really only 5 minutes anyway.

Besides, I had to deal with two of the upper elementary school boys who were arguing about accidental versus intention "tackling" when grabbing the basketball in their game of Knockout. I said to them that if they couldn't get over whatever happened, they could both just sit out and not play at all. Sometimes it's kind of funny noticing that more of the drama occurs with the boys than it does with the girls!

When the bell finally rang, I looked at my mom who has to experience second lunch every day and mouthed, "Thank God!" Phew, I survived. Haha, and the kids did too. Even though there are some kids who continuously misbehave and need correction, I also do love seeing the quieter ones or the helpful ones who make it easier on me. There were a few younger boys who were trying to protect a group of girls as they reenacted a wedding because some naughty boys were trying to mess with their pretending. Then there were two other boys who were helpful in getting all the balls collected and put back in the sack. I see the kids like that and know that their parents taught them well!

I was exhausted by the end of the day and eagerly awaited my return home! My mom and I stopped by just a few places on the way back to the house. One of the stops was AC Moore, but I didn't part with any of my money because I really felt that I worked really hard today to earn it! I did snap a quick picture of one of my favorite parts of the store. I just like seeing such a wide assortment of colors when it comes to the two widths of ribbon that I purchase. I was going to pick up some white or silver since those neutral colors work well for treat bags and such regardless of the cardstock color or pattern, but then I just couldn't deal with the idea of spending part of today's paycheck! I'll be back for them in the future when I need 'em! It just makes more sense to purchase it there as it always has the outlet pricing since I wouldn't exactly use 50% coupons at Michaels, haha.

But for now, I think the reward for a long day is going to be SLEEP. Oh, how wonderful that sounds, doesn't it?

So Long, Joann! Thanks for the Clearance!

As a couponer and frugal shopper, 50% off is a wonderful thing. That's why I refuse to purchase anything in a craft store unless I'm using a 50% coupon. Thankfully, the stores take competitor coupons, so I've been able to build up a good part of my supply this way. What's even better than 50% off is 75% off though! Unfortunately, that wonderful number came at the price of our Joann store closing. I heard about the closing through my friend Joanna when it was still only half off, but this past Saturday, Howard and I were going to be in the area, so we stopped by to take a look. Once I saw that it had reached that wonderful number and saw what they had left in the store, I was a happy camper! I texted my friend to let her know since she was waiting too.

At the front of the store, they had the cages with Cricut cartridges! I took a look and picked up a few like Winter Frolic and Mini Monsters. I wasn't sure if the deduction was on the $14.99 that was on some of them because that would mean cartridges for $3.75! But then as I stood there, I decided it was better to spend that money on other items since I wasn't dying for those images. The monsters would have been cute to have if I didn't have a Silhoutte where I could ask Howard to maybe design even cuter images! They did have one or two Create a Critter, so that would've been an AMAZING buy because it's one that I use most often. But I decided to focus on the assortment of punches from Fiskars, EK Success, and Martha Stewart. They also had Tim Holtz embossing folders and Cuttlebug folders too! I'm surprised they still had all these options available. It was the perfect time for a new crafter to get some basic materials. 

In fact, as I was around these products, a lady with two young kids came up to me and asked me, "Do you scrapbook?" I told her that I did (I don't really scrapbook, but a lot of the tools are the same as cardmaking). She was asking about the Fiskars templates (the orange stencil on the middle right of the above picture). I actually have some of those and the tool with the blade that goes along with it. It was one of the bigger craft supplies that I bought at AC Moore when I was much younger. She also asked me about the punches and the dies because she didn't know how they were used. She was clearly a new crafter or someone who was interested just by seeing the low prices, and I was more than happy to share with her the knowledge I had. I may not be up to date with what new products were introduced at CHA (other than the new We R Memory Keepers punch board for 3-D flowers ... LOVE!), but I know about a lot of the products in the chain craft stores.  

 

There were tons of options for sewing rulers. If I didn't have my Martha Stewart ruler, I might have purchased one. My MS one is awesome though because I found it in the AC Moore clearance bin, and it has a slightly rubbery material on the bottom so it's not easily shifted when I'm using it to get exact layers. There was some embroidery floss options too. Howard and I both remarked that our moms used this to cross stitch when we were kids. 

 

Though most of the store was empty and some aisles were blocked off to customers browsing the remaining products, there was one aisle that still had plenty of FABULOUS merchandise! Howard had strolled through the entire store while I was still examining the punches and dies, and he said there were still stamps left, so I made a beeline to that aisle. This would be a great time for some new stampers to pick up a little bit of variety because they had some Memento ink pads in Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa (I already have them along with the ink refills) and one StazOn pad as well. Behind the sliding doors, you can see they also had plenty of the Versa Magic Dew Drops 4-packs. I had wanted those a few years ago, and I would have purchased them now, but I wasn't sure if they'd dry out quickly. Howard and I examined EVERY row to find some good stamps. I'm very excited about the ones I found.

There were also packs of David Tutera cards and envelopes, which I thought was funny because I feel that serious crafters score and cut their own card bases. In the past, I purchased card packs, and I still have some of the really large ones that I use on special custom orders that need larger die cuts. But then I realized it's so much cheaper to do it myself. That's not to say I don't like the Michaels card packs because those were the most sturdy and would save time. But I just chuckled that David Tutera has his own products as if they're more magical than the regular ones. 

They still had some individual pieces of scrapbook paper. We looked for Disney ones, but the two options they had weren't good enough to warrant even the $0.25 cost. Looking through these aisles required a lot of patience because things were scattered everywhere. There was chalk and embossing powder sets and markers. It was actually easier that a lot of the aisles were empty because it would've required half a day to go through all of them if they were filled with random finds since we were there for over an hour.

We also quickly walked through the aisles that had the remaining material. Though I don't sew, if there was any super cute Disney material, I would have bought it to make pillow cases or something. They only had Finding Nemo fleece material. For those who like to sew, I think there were still some great options left including animal prints and sports teams prints.

The most intriguing section to Howard was the selection of OttLites! I purchased a task lamp when I first started crafting more seriously because it mimics the light of the sun, which makes it easier on the eyes. There was a change in how long I could craft because there wasn't eye strain. I would actually wake up more using my OttLite too. I used it to photograph my cards since my initial photos used to have the yellowish cast, so it was a fabulous $30 investment. A year later, there was a big sale on them, and I bought another for $20. That one is up high on a closet shelf as I haven't yet needed to use it because my original one has lasted for a LONG time! I haven't even had to change the bulb yet, and I use it EVERY DAY when I'm sitting at the desk. 

Well, because of the store closing, some of the floor lamps would be so inexpensive compared to the $209.99 price tag! Howard looked up reviews and stood there debating for quite some time. It was actually super cute. There was one made out of metal that didn't have a price on it, and so he brought it with us to the front to find out the price. It would've been $76, so we put it back because we weren't in desperate need of it.

Despite there only being one person being checked out at the one register that was open, it took quite a long time because the system wasn't scanning properly. The employee had to split the order for the discount to apply. I didn't mind waiting because I felt that it was completely worth my time to get all this amazing stuff! I also texted Joanna to ask her if she was looking for anything in particular in case she couldn't make it there and I could pick it up for her. She replied and said she was there, so I looked for her and saw her browsing! I talked to her for a while and met her friend as well. She told me later that night that she was there for a few hours! I definitely understand!

After filling my basket, I did go through it again and pulled out about 4 items that I chose not to get. I had time to think about the products. Even at such cheap prices, I always think about how I can get entire CVS hauls for so little, so I want to watch the amount that I spend anywhere. My final out of pocket cost was $45.95 including tax. I saved $126.60! It was an amazing score.

Goodbye Joann! I'm sorry that you didn't survive here on the island. I remember when this location used to be Creativity where I purchased some stamp sets as a kid. I wonder what is going to take its place. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying my new crafting goodies! To help keep our apartment neat, I took pictures and immediately opened the packages so I could put the items away.

I picked up foamies sheets because I'm almost entirely out of the foam adhesive that I purchased from Oriental Trading. I don't want to repurchase them because I had some dud sheets where the glue was dry, and I don't like to use the thickest ones. I figured I could purchase foam sheets and just use my ATG to make my things pop off my cards. My intention wasn't to get bright orange, but that was all that they had, and I wasn't going to pass on it for $1.49 a piece. With the liquidation discount, each one was $0.37, which was fine by me because they're really big sheets (12x18in). They had a few more sheets, but they were covered in glitter, and I wasn't about to deal with it when it wasn't from my own project! They also a few white sheets, but it was MUCH thinner, and they were dirty.

Out of all the Fiskars punches, I only chose two of them. I was so delighted to find that they had two different sized hexagon punches! I see so many designs of cards with different hexagon patterns, but I just didn't want to spend the money on them with a 50% off coupon. These were $10.99 and $17.99, so with the sale I only paid $2.75 and $4.50. That's an AMAZING price for these punches. I didn't even care that the larger box was slightly opened. These were designed so that it's easier on your hands to punch (I have a heart one already), but they do take up more space to store. That's what I explained to the lady who was asking me questions about the products. They're perfect though for mass producing cards or when punching out pieces of leftover cardstock/patterned paper.

When I was searching through the supplies, I hadn't even noticed that they had Cuttlebug folders! Howard fond them hanging. They also had one Swiss Dots one, but I already have it. The smaller ones were Juli's Garden and Mr. Maverick, and they cost $5.99 ($1.50 with the sale). The larger one was Honeycomb and cost $7.99 ($2.00). The only disappointing thing was that the mustache one didn't scan, and the cashier scanned the Honeycomb one again instead of Juli's Garden. Oh well, I didn't notice it until we got home. I knew she had to scan some of the same items twice, but I wish she was a bit more careful about what she double scanned because that would've been an extra $0.50 in my pocket. I guess I can't blame her because at this point, she's not necessarily caring as much. The lady in front of us had asked her if she was out of a job, and she said yes.

As you saw in the picture above, there were a good amount of rubber stamps available, but I absolutely wanted the flower stamps. When my mom asks me to make cards for her, she likes a lot of the floral ones because they're basic but can be very colorful too. I had actually seen some great stamp techniques using the tall flower too, so I was ecstatic to be able to grab it. The one on the far left is also one I'm excited to use because I can use some different colors of inks with it. Lastly, that duck was just too cute! The stamps ranged from $5.99 to $9.99, so that meant $1.50 to $2.50 a stamp. If you're a stamper, you know that's a steal for intricate wood mounted, red rubber stamps. I use clear stamps more often these days, but when I do go back to my red rubber stamps, I always ask myself why I don't use them more often because the quality is amazing.

I was incredibly thrilled when I found bottles of Glossy Accents! Originally $6.99, I only paid $1.75 for each one! I already own one bottle, and I've only used it on a few cards because I didn't want to have to purchase more. However, now that I have plenty of them, I'm going to use it even if I have to mass produce cards! For those of you who don't know what it is, you basically squeeze the liquid on the card or image, and it dries with a slightly raised glossy finish. If I had these bottles, I would have used it on the goggles for the swimming bears on the cards for my sister-in-law. Those goggles were big though, and I would have used a LOT of my one bottle. Now I'm looking to see where I can use this! There were 3 bottles in the stamping closet, and I happened to find one more near the register that I snatched.

The last two items are shown below. The balloon punch was with a bunch of other large punches in a random aisle. Howard and I looked through every single one, and if I had the money, I would've purchased more, but this balloon punch was definitely the cutest one! I will have to figure out what I can do to make a simplistic yet amazingly punched card. The Paper Crimper was one that made my eyes widen when I saw it. Years and years ago, I saw this item in my rubber stamping books (you know, before you could just find everything on the internet and still had crafting books as resources!) and was intrigued. Then I went through a phase where I knew it wouldn't be worth it because you don't use crimped paper on many cards. Then I came back to loving the idea of throwing a textured layer (more textured than just embossed) on a card. These items were must haves for just $5 a piece when they were both originally $19.99.

Since I opened all the packages so I could put my new tools away, I tried the crimper and laughed and giggled like a little school girl. I even had Howard try it. Haha, I'm so easily amazed.

New goodies make me a happy crafter, and I can't wait to start incorporating these things into my cardmaking. I'm sorry, Joann, that I got so happy at your expense!

That Extra 20%

I've been watching those Michaels ads for a sale on Recollections paper for a few weeks.  Every Sunday morning, I have checked.  There was a sale for 3 for $10, but I'm in it for the REAL sales!  And alas, this morning there was the 4 for $10 sale WITH the extra 20% coupon to use from 4-9pm today only!  Yay!  I had to make sure I hit the store after church because I am completely out of some colors!  (I apologize for the sideways pictures; I rotated them, but they won't adjust.)

I bought 3 packs of the primary colors.  I never thought I'd need just the primary because I had the Wausau 12x12, but I guess after Cricut-ing for quite some time, I eventually ran out!  I love all the other Recollections colors like Soda Pop and Butterfly, but I guess when it comes to some cuts, the basic colors are a must!

I also use a ton of black with the Cricut as it's often a layer.  It's also awesome for those silhouette cuts!  I have the Wausau 12x12 of that too, but I'm getting close to finishing that pack, and I'd like to save my 12x12s for things that actually need to be that big.  That's why I bought 3 of these as well.

Since it was 4 for $10, I needed to pick 2 more packs.  I have enough of the other colors and the kraft for the moment, so I got a pack of just red since that is the color I ran out of quickly due to it being used rather often AND for Christmas cards.  Then I got a pack of white so I can use it for card bases (I have a 250 stack of Wausau white cardstock that's good for layering and such, but it's rather flimsy for card bases).  I hope it's as durable as the colors.

As I was just strolling up and down the aisles, I stopped by the punches since they were 40% off.  With the extra 20% off, it made it a teensy bit cheaper than just a 50% off.  I have been looking at a lot of paper flower arrangements for parties and weddings, and I was thinking about doing the centerpieces for my wedding.  I don't know if it'll be possible, but I'm always intrigued by the pictures I find!  I saw this when it first came out on Scrapbook.com, and I was tempted to get it.  Thankfully, I saw the picture of this in the Michaels ad because I had never seen it at my M's beforehand!  Yay for sales + coupons!  It cost $8.15 (regularly $16.99).  I'm excited to try it after I watch some videos and make sure that I want to keep it.

The last thing I purchased was Recollections cling stamps.  I had seen this nativity set way before the Christmas season, but when I went there recently on Black Friday, I couldn't find it!  For some reason, I was able to find it today.  It was on clearance for $4.99 so I couldn't use the extra 20% off, but I bought it because I didn't want to miss out on it.  Personally, I'm not so sure I like the kids dressed up as animals, haha, but I love all the other stamps!

Well, that was my mini haul!  Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my new goodies!

The Lure of Paints

I'm a paper crafter.  I've always been into paper crafting since I was really young.  I use stamps and now the Cricut, but that's pretty much it.  I don't explore other mediums rather often.  That's part of the reason why I started The Greeting Farm's HeART Journaling because I wanted to be "forced" to try new things without worrying about making a mistake.*  Paint is one thing that doesn't seem as if it's made for me because it's a bit too free form!  I'm not artistic; I'm crafty!

Well, our crafty friend Martha is making that a bit difficult for me though!

Back in August, Howard accompanied me on a trip to Michaels.  We were just taking our time and walking around when we saw the paint aisle had changed since the last time we had been there.  They were stocking the aisle with new products by Martha Stewart!  Wait, glittery paint?  Um, I want some!

I don't know what I'd do with any of these paints, but putting glitter or shine or shimmer in anything definitely lures me!  Maybe I'll look into wood pieces or other things around the house to up-cycle or alter.  No, I haven't purchased any yet, and I don't intend to, but boy, I always love looking at all the new products and tools she makes (haha, even though I'm not a fan of actually watching her).

*Alas, I have dropped out after week 5.  I debated it for a while and discussed it with Howard.  I was having issues doing the assignments because although I had fun doing them and was happy to complete them, it hung over my head like a homework assignment with the Thursday due date.  I knew that if I was feeling that way during the summer, it'd be even worse during the school year.  Now that I've been back to work for 3 days (teachers only), I'm glad I made that decision.  Too much to do!