Gettin' down 'n dirty at the Dollar Tree Party!

Where do you go, when you're supposedly living paycheck to paycheck, struggling and living the hard life, just so you can 'buy a little goody' when it's FINALLY payday?  For those of you who frequent the forum at Scrapbook.com, you'll know what that's about.   Hahaha.  Seriously, tho, the 'buy a little goody' is what cracked me up.   I've pimp-slapped people for saying things half as stupid as that- but, I digress.

Many of you already know that the Dollar Tree is one of my favorite places to shop.  It's one of the happiest places on earth.  Happiest because everything costs one dollar, not because you have to fight the dirty and/or crazy people who are pushing past you to get to the frozen food section.  I try to throw up my hands and say, "I'm not here for the paper thin dollar steaks!"  But they never ever listen.

Yes, you have to look past all the crap- but there are many surprising nice or useful things within that mass of humanity!

Tonight, I'd like to show you some of the most useful finds from the Dee-Tee, as I call it.

First, the flexible chopping mats.  These are terrific.  Two of these little dears in one package.  That makes them fifty cents each.  Before I got my non-stick craft sheet, I was using these with my Distress Inks.  And also as a cutting board, when I used my Exacto knife.  I still keep these on my table- they're just the right size, and you don't worry if you screw them up-  so they're also great to have around in case you have a few guests who want to play, too.  Each person gets a cutting/gluing/inking mat!

And see?  They must've known what I had in mind, too- even the packaging says 'Crafts.'  Useful!

Next up is another one of my favorite Dee-Tee crafting supplies!  The twine!

This twine is incredible- it's soft, it's off-white, it's a dollar.  You can use it to add a great vintage touch to something- as an accent or to tie on a few charms.  You can also make a little pool of Distress Stain on your mat, mist the twine with a little water- and rub the twine in it- and SURPRISE!  Custom colored twine!  420 feet of twine.  That's 128m, for you people who live in those classy places.  Glad it's printed in big-ass letters on the package, or my metric-challenged trailer park soul couldn't have told you.

There's more in the way of supplies at the Dee-Tee, but there's also great, cheap storage options, too!  For the next few options, I had to push eight of a woman's ten kids out of the way- they were lined up and blocking the entire damn aisle.

First up, these nicely plain glass vases- perfect for a slowly expanding collection of paper tapes!

Pretty, too, huh?

Now this next thing- I must also credit the Scrapbooks Etc magazine out right now- which featured this same damn thing.  But, they didn't mention that you could buy these retro sugar jars at the Dollar Tree- and I've been using these jars to stash stuff in, ever since one walked out of the Waffle House with me. For real.  It just followed me home on its own two feet.

Here, it holds a big handful of orphaned ribbon.  By that, I mean scraps or ribbons without spools.  This is their little support group.  They meet in a sugar jar and wait to be used.

Here's an empty (except for one string I put in, to demonstrate) jar that I'm going to fill with twine- as I'm always using it, and it'll be nice to have it right on my worktable but out of harm's way.  The Scrapbooks Etc. magazine shows these filled with Baker's Twine.  What will be the next hot thing once this Baker's Twine craze winds down a little bit?

The last thing I have to show you tonight is this great little easel- perfect to display a nifty card or rather thin mini-book!

Not good at using your imagination?  What kind of crafter are you?  Why are you HERE?  Alright, alright, here- I'll put that card I made last week on it, so you can get the full effect.

That's sexy, isn't it?

So, there you have it- the very first DOWN WITH THE DEE-TEE ROUND UP at The Kory K. SCRAPiVERSE.  There'll be more.  Cuz you can't keep my ass out of that place.  DOLLAR POWER!  Okay, Daddy gonna take a Benadryl and call it a night.  Sleep tight, my hookahs!