What's UP in KORYLAND?!

It's been a busy week! 

A busy CRAFTY week, too!  Which is always good.  Isn't it?

I think it's a combination of the darker weather, the cooler weather and the approaching HOLIDAY season that's hitting my bloodstream in the way a ten dollar crack rock ignites the GO GET 'EM attitude in a streetwalker.  You know what I mean.  YOU know.

I spent a crazed lunch hour at OKC's hidden treasure- BASKET MARKET.  Awww.  You don't live in OKC and can't experience the pile of cheap scrappy goodness that can be found at this unofficial Hobby Lobby outlet?  Well!  You should move to OKC so's you can experience the fun of fighting over a brand new sheet of Studio Calico with your right hand while your left hand tries to grab and drop a package of SPELLBINDERS down to your foot so you can deftly kick it across the aisle into your (already full) basket.

Wanna see today's haul?  Ya do?!  You nasty perverts.  Always up for some ScrapPorn, aren't ya?!Here it is:

I don't know if you're going to believe me or not- but ALL of that scraptacular goodness was purchased for 39.16.  That's right.  Not even forty bucks.  As we say on the corner of 1st and Main, "What you driving away so fast for, Mister?!  That's a BARGAIN!"

Besides shopping- what else have I been up to?  Well, believe it or NOT, I got the Cricut out!  My poor, neglected Cricut Expression 2.  Purchased in a fit last Black Friday, amongst cries of, "I MUST HAVE IT NOWWWW, I SWEAR I WILL USE IT ALL THE TIME," then left to sit on my shelf.  Sitting on my shelf, staring at me like a kid with a runny nose. 

There it is- all lit up and cutting like a pro.  See that lattice-y looking thing to the right?  I love that- can't wait to find a reason to use it...  Also had great fun cutting out lots of stuff from the 'Happy Hauntings' cartridge.  Has anyone cut out the entire 3-D Haunted Mansion, from that cartridge, and lived to tell the tale?  Call me.  I'd love to hear about it. 

I've also been throwing together some layouts like it's no tomorrow.  Because, as far as we know, there won't be a tomorrow.  Mayans, you know.

That's the 'background' of one of my STATE FAIR layouts, using the very inspirational "MIDWAY" collection from those geniuses over at OCTOBER AFTERNOON.  Can they get any cooler?  I love how they manage to be cool, vintage, modern AND colorful all at the same time? 

As you can see, I cut a few pieces of papers from the MIDWAY collection into strips and kinda threw them down and attached them (thank you, Glossy Accents!) to the base paper.  The 'detail,' on this layout of mine, that I'm obsessing over is this:

No, I didn't get my sewing machine off it's lonely shelf when I was breaking Lil' Cricut out of jail- those ain't real stitches!  I know, it fooled you.  They're just RUB-ONS!  Yeah, I'm sure all y'all have seen rub-on stitches before- but for those of you who haven't and especially for those of you that didn't know such a wonder existed:  YES.  You don't have to sell your blondest child so you can get a sewing machine so's you can make them classy layouts with nifty zig-zagging stitching.  You don't even hafta fall for an infomercial's claims that their little piece of plastic and crap can sew a hem on a skirt while you're wearing it so therefore it should stitch a photo to a piece of cardstock.  No.  All you gotta do is go to Jo-Ann and pick up packs of RUB-ON STITCHES from their DOLLAR SECTION.  Yeahp.  Gets even better, don't it?  Not only can you quickly and painlessly add stitching to a layout, but it will only cost you ONE DOLLAR.  Amazing days we live in, huh?

Alright, people.  I got paperwork to do, calls to make and coffee to drink... so's I can get back home and rub stitches on cardstock. 

See you soon.

-k

SHOPPING HIGHLIGHTS and living in a burning hell

Wow.  Time flies.  One minute it's beautifully cold and you're wearing a classy sweater to work - the next thing you know, it's a hundred degrees and you're miserably wondering what you did to end up in hell.  Was it the liquor?  The sleeping around?  The haircut you had in the 6th grade?  Why have I been forsaken?!  Oh, I'm still alive.  This isn't hell.  It's Oklahoma City.  Or is it?

So what's up?  Besides burning in hell?  Well, I've done a bit of shopping and I'm here to share a few SHOPPING HIGHLIGHTS with you!

Here's some highlights of recent shopping trips:



Found these nifty stamps (from The Paper Company) at Jo-Ann.  All stamps were on sale, 40% off.  As these were rather inexpensive anyways- really- such a low price I wouldn't have cared paying full price- the discount made them an even better deal!  I think they rang up at 4.19 each package.  And aren't they cool?!  I love the vintage label look of these stamps!  I could do without the 'Friends Forever' stamp, as I stopped acting like a 13 year old girl when I turned 30, but who knows- it might come in handy one day. 

Went to MICHAELS yesterday, for a lunch-hour shopping break.  Holly B. not only drove me, but shared a diet pill.  So we shopped in terrific manic style AND didn't eat.  As I was maniacally tearing through the dollar stamp bins, Holly turned a corner and spotted the above display, hidden behind a tall shelf of horrific budget patterned scrapbooking paper.  Seriously- hidden.  If it were a snake it would NOT have bit me.  Luckily, Holly has the eyes of an eagle on methamphetamines.  Budget stamps from 7Gypsies / Graphic45 / Cosmo Cricket / Hampton Art!!!  Most of the display was empty, however- which lead me to imagine that they either hadn't fully stocked this display yet OR other people had already discovered it and bought all of the best stamps.  As this was at the Michaels that's notorious for not stocking things that the other locations stocked a month ago, I'm leaning towards a stocking issue.

Speaking of this Michaels location's stocking issues- they have finally restocked (most of) the Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies (and embossing folders)!  They've been missing for nearly a year.  Well, except for a single, lonely Tim Holtz 'Baroque' die which seemed to migrate randomly around the store of its own volition.  Yes.  After all of Mr. Holtz's fan-freakin-tabulous dies but this 'Baroque' die had sold, I would spot it in different places all over the store.  One day it was in the SMASH Book display, then it was suddenly hanging from a Distress Ink hook.  Another time, I saw it on top of a pile of fabric bolts in the clearance aisle.  Yesterday, there it was again- in the mixed media jewelry display.  While I considered giving the Baroque die a home of its very own, I saw (and gratefully snatched) the On The Edge 'File Tabs' die.  I'd been wanting this one for FOREVER!  Sorry, Baroque.  I'll get you one day.  I promise.  I'll make an honest die of you.

Now, for something not related to craft, but still something that caught my eye:

A 'bunny rabbit mask.'  Spotted at the new and terrific antique shop near downtown, VERDIGRIS.  This thing is horrifying.  And I want it. 

And now, for something even more horrifying than an antique bunny mask:

This ad, spotted in the back of the newest issue of one of the scrap-mags, which excitedly advertises a new line of LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE albums.  Really?  I was pretty sure the LIVE LAUGH LOVE thing was, if not dead already, definitely near death.  Is it being resurrected?  I was pretty sure this fad was completely extinct when I spotted LIVE LAUGH LOVE signs in heaping piles in the home decor sections at Gordman's and Ross Dress For Less and other classy shopping destinations.  But no.  Just when I think I won't be assaulted by this CRAP any longer-  surprise! 

Trust me, people.  It's not inspiring.  It's insipid.  And worse than that, it's overdone. 

Okay

Sickness and Shopping

I am surrounded by sickness! 

I am sure that's a line from a play or movie or something.  Doesn't it sound dramatic?  "I AM SURROUNDED BY SICKNESS!" 

I could just be imagining that it's from something-  I do that, often.  I'll say something that sounds horribly dramatic and think it's from some Academy Award winning performance- but it turns out it's just a bad line from my tv-movie-of-the-week-style life. 

So, yeah-  I got sick.  It was dramatic.  I know how to sell a cough to the balcony. 

I ended up needing to go to visit the DOCTOR.  I had a sinus infection.  And I had to have a shot.  Which, when they asked me if I was going to be okay getting the shot- I was like, 'Yeah, sure.'  Shots don't bother me. 

What I learned is:  SHOTS don't bother me, as long as I can see where the needle is going.

So, after a shot....some pills....and a (too small) bottle of fantastic liquid medicine- and lots of rest, I was ready to reenter society. 

Saturday, I went to DEMO DAY at My Heart's Fancy-  made a fun card in the shape of a birdhouse, using some new dies, Mr. Holtz's new SPRING Distress Ink colors, and that fun 'kissing' stamps technique.  Which, I read a tutorial about in a magazine, recently and really wanted to try- but forgot about it until Saturday morning.

Headed up to Jo-Ann yesterday-  in the rain.  It was great- there was hardly any traffic, so the drive was fast and relaxing.  It's amazing how relaxing a drive to Jo-Ann can be, when you don't have to spend the entire drive honking, screaming and waving your hands at other drivers.

What did I see when I entered the Papercrafting Aisle at Jo-Ann?

50% off!  Half off nearly everything in these holy aisles. 

I bought:

Two new sets of Spellbinders! FITTY OFF!
The Tim Holtz 'Old Jalopy' Die- 10 bucks! (No clue what I'll do with it?!)
I GOT A NEW, big-ass Fiskars paper trimmer! Huge! With a wire to show exactly where it'll cut- FITTY OFF!!!

and I picked up lots of little things (ALL *HALF* OFF!!!) that I'd kinda wanted/needed- such as:

A WATERBRUSH!
ANOTHER PACK OF MINI-MISTERS!
A PAIR OF CUTTER BEES!

...and a few other odds 'n ends- but that's the highlight. 

So what's the purpose of this story? 

When you get sick, you sometimes NEED to go to the doctor.  Then, you go to Jo-Ann and buy anything you want....

Sunday Card Day

After an uneventful weekend and a long Sunday afternoon nap- which left me extremely disoriented, I crawled to my worktable and made a card!

I was really just wanting to play with my new Spellbinders!

Yesterday, I made the drive to 'the new' Jo-Ann.  Yes, the official name of the place is 'Jo-Ann.'  Not Joann.  Not Joanne.  Not Joann'S.  Just Jo-Ann.

Am I cranky?  No.

Yes, I am cranky.  That nap was either too short or too long.  Why yes, I have been called Goldilocks before...

When I complain, everything is either too hot or too cold.  Like the weather.  Right now, it's too hot.  And I'll be complaining of that until about late November.  Possibly December.

What am I talking about?!

Jo-Ann!  'The NEW Jo-Ann!'  I love this place-  maybe because it's not as crowded as Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  I think Jo-Ann (or: "J's," as it's known in the land of scrapbook.com) is a great store.  It's always clean, the shelves are stocked, and the employees don't follow me around and bother me.  Even if I'm sitting on the floor, reading your magazines that while I will buy, I want to make sure I get the one I want THIS trip...

I'd lost my cell phone at some point between waking up and getting downstairs to the shower.  How?  I don't know.  I couldn't find it and I ended up at J's without a coupon and without my cell phone and the trusty Jo-Ann APP with a e-coupon.   I was close to frantic tears.  Especially when I spotted the set of Spellbinders that Paul at The Artsiders used to make this beautiful card.  I've never paid full price for a set of Spellbinders!  I'm also too lazy to drive home and find a coupon or my phone and drive back to Jo-Ann.  Imagine my surprise when I dragged myself up off the floor, where I was digging through a bin of dollar stamps (found a cute birdcage stamp) and made it to the cashier.  The Spellbinders 'Lacey Circles' rang up at 14.99!

I yelped like any self-respecting man in Jo-Ann and demanded they throw in a set of 'Lacey Squares,' too!

So- enough rambling.  Back to the card I made:

It's nothing groundbreaking.  I thought (hoped?) that by sitting down to make a simple card, I would suddenly be seized by a creative force and do something more substantial.  It didn't happen.

Here it is!

I used a piece of red paper from BasicGrey's Konnichiwa line, which I embossed in a Cuttlebug folder (Stylized Flowers) which I also found at Jo-Ann for two bucks.  From my sets of Spellbinders, I used one of the 'Lacey Squares' and one of the dies from Labels 5.  I think it's Labels 5, don't hold me to it...  That's one of Tim Holtz's Crown stamps, and some Frayed Burlap and Tea Dye Distress Inks all over the place.

Enjoy your Sunday evenings, everyone!  It's back to work in the morning, for me.  I think I can...I think I can...

-kory

Sale Alert!

Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads and reinkers are 2.99 each at Jo-Ann! 

...and that's all I have for exciting news.  A coworker just microwaved something that smells like a dead cat.

-kory

PayDay FriDay! Special JO-ANN edition!

People lining up at the new Jo-Ann, ready for their giftcards!

Warning- this post is full to the brim with photos.  And I'll probably ramble on and on.  So either get yourself a cup of coffee and sit back- or just run for your life.  Your choice.  But don't say I didn't warn you.

Let's hear it for one of the most exciting holidays- PAYDAY!  It happens every other Friday AND it's fun to say! Seriously.  Say it out loud.  No, with more excitement.  That's close, but you're still not selling it- nowwww ya got it-  PAYDAY FRIDAY!

A funny side note: Back when I was young and poor, it wasn't PAYDAY FRIDAY that I celebrated.  Well- it isn't as if I'm just old and rich, now- but you know what I'm talkin' about, right?  When I was 'young and poor,'    I celebrated HOT CHECK THURSDAY.  Think of that as Christmas Eve to payday Friday.  I would go out to buy things (usually only necessities) and write a paper check.  Because it wouldn't hit the bank before my paycheck did- so it wasn't technically a HOT check, but maybe a bit toasty.

Anybody who's been within earshot of me that past week or so has heard me go on and on about the new JO-ANN location, here in beautiful Oklahoma City.  Before, back in the dark ages that were, just a few months ago, we had an 'old' Jo-Ann.  Small.  Mostly fabric.  Usually one employee to cut the fabric then run up front to play cashier.  And a very small, badly stocked, sad and pathetic craft section.  Depressing.  The nearest 'big' Jo-Ann was in Norman, which is a boring forty minute drive away.  So when I heard that we were getting a big, shiny, brand new Jo-Ann, I was pumped.  One more place to use a forty percent off coupon! Whooo!

But why was I so excited about the Grand Opening party?  Yeah, they really opened two weeks ago, and yes- I'd already been twice.  BUT, for their grand opening celebration, they were not only featuring a FIFTY percent off coupon, but they were also giving away a FREE TEN DOLLAR GIFT CARD to the first one hundred people!  I was determined to the one of those first one hundred people.

I talked up my favorite partner in crime, the infamous Holly Busch, into joining me.  She's crafty and hilarious.  And a major Pinterest addict.  For real- she was even re-pinning stuff while we were waiting to get into the store.  And wait, we did...

Discussing out game plan the night before, we decided we should definitely arrive early.  At the same time, we decided it's only a ten dollar gift card, so we wouldn't be TOO early.  Time is money, too.  And, time is sleep.  Since I had decided to use a vacation day, to have the time off of work, I didn't care too much for waking up BEFORE I usually do!  We decided to arrive an hour before their 9:00am opening time.  That proved to be just right- because we were FIRST in line.  Here I am, starting the line:

As soon as we started our line- a couple of ladies got out of their mini-van to join us.  They told us about some backwoods home remedy, some kind of tree sap, that one of the ladies was using to treat a cut on her hand.  The other lady told Holly how her husband was waiting in the mini-van, sick, and unable to eat for three days.  They were going to take him to the hospital as soon as they got their craft shopping finished.  Priorities, people. 

Here we are, waiting for all the fun to begin:

It wasn't too long at all, before a really mean lookin' lady stomped up, and seeing that the electric doors were opening- that she would just get in front of us- and start her own line inside, and wait for the main doors to be unlocked.  We  thought it was kinda rude- but whatever, we were still going to be amongst the first 100!

But then, more people began arriving.  And they ALL wanted to squeeze inside the lobby area, instead of waiting in a nice, calm line.  We began to see that these ten dollar giftcards were one hundred dollar giftcards, at least in the minds of these pushy people.  By now, the line was stretched beyond the doors of the small lobby area, so were now 'in line' again! A lady behind us showed up the jewelry she makes.  A couple told us how they'd come yesterday and were back again this morning.  Yes, the grand opening party goes on three days, and YES-the free giftcards are given away to the first 100, every day, too!  But no- I will not be doing it all over again, tomorrow.

Oh!  The doors are open!  I am handed my giftcard!  Here it is- right in my hot little inky hand:

They are also having drawings for high-dollar giftcards.  I better win.  I'll even turn up the volume on my cell phone ringer, just to make sure I don't miss the call to tell me I've one a 500.00 giftcard.  And when I do, I'll return all the stuff I bought today, and then buy it all right back up again.  See, people, always have a plan.

Look at all these serious shoppers!  Is this Black Friday?  And look at that, Jo-Ann went all out with the grand opening party decor.  Four balloons.

I was hopped up on Diet Dr. Pepper and adrenaline.  Everything seemed to be discounted, and every item on the shelves seemed to be calling my name and promising sexual favors.

The Tim Holtz dies and embossing folders were all on sale.  11.99 for the Bigz dies, 9.59 for the Movers 'n Shapers, and 6.59 for the 'Texture Fades' embossing folders.  I couldn't pass that up- so I got all of the ones I didn't have...  Suffering a tiny shred of buyer's remorse, now.  How many times will I use that damn Umbrella Man embossing folder?!  No! I need it!  

I also think that I like to own one of EVERYTHING, because- when inspiration strikes, I love being able to HAVE the stuff.  Right there.  I also love having friends over, and having a huge supply of stock, just ready for happy fun creative time.  That brings me joy.  Wait, am I rationalizing all this to you or me?!

We eventually wore ourselves out and went up to pay- oh!  Another free gift!  These cool shopping bags!  I like the retro design, reminds me of Mid-Century barkcloth.

Here I am, in the parking lot, posing in front of my junky, giant 4-wheel drive truck, with my receipt:

And here, I notice the grand total on that receipt:

I got home and laid out my new stuff.  Ladies and Gentlemen:  The Haul, Part 1, JO-ANN:

Whoa, Kory, what do you mean, the HAUL: PART ONE?   Because, ladies and gentlemen- I didn't stop at Jo-Ann.....

to be continued...