Bargain City!

I'm sure that all you classy people out there have subscribed to MICHAELS 'Daily Deals' emails- but I can't help but spread good news.  Or bad news.  I'm talkative that way.

BUT TODAY, MONDAY APRIL 16:  ALL 12X12 PAPER PADS ARE 50% OFF.  (Also, the Recollections brands of 180-sheet and 240-sheet paper pads are 50% off all week..)

FITTY OFF, PEOPLE, FITTY!

You know where I'm going to go to at lunch?  That's right.  MICHAELS.   Because I need more paper that's 'too nice to use.' 

ALSO on sale- ALL WEEK, not just today only- the RECOLLECTIONS brand of WASHI TAPE is FIFTY PERCENT OFF!   So, 2.50 for three rolls.  That's a bargain.  That's about 84 cents A ROLL. 

See y'all, I've got a mere ninety minutes until my lunch hour and my TRIP TO BARGAIN CITY!

-kory

Dollar Tree Treasure Box!

Earlier today, while suffering through an especially horrendous day at work, I spent some time cruising around one of my favorite online hangouts- the forum at SCRAPBOOK.COM.   On my favorite forum, one of my favorite online scrapbook personalities, Miss Henri, was writing about her family's Easter plans.  In a matter of minutes, I decided that *I* needed an old-fashioned childhood Easter, too!  I quickly e-mailed my Mom with my demands.  On my lunch hour, I ran out to buy some EASTER SUNDAY supplies!

I decided that I would be in charge of table decor and Easter baskets for all of my Easter Sunday participants.  Willing or not, my Mom will hide my (soon to be) beautifully colored eggs and willing or not, my friends will hunt for these eggs!

I headed straight to DOLLAR TREE.  That's right- The Dee Tee!

I bought six baskets, a vase, six chocolate bunnies, and many rolls of ribbon- in different colors- I couldn't decide if all baskets should have the same colored ribbon or if each should be a little different...

While staggering through the aisles, I spotted something- YES!!  One of my favorite things is back in stock at the Dee Tee!

What is it?!

PLAIN.  WOODEN.  BOXES.

I LOVE these things!  Around Christmas, I found lots of them - and once I'd fixed them up a bit, used them to 'wrap' Christmas presents.  I put the present inside, then tied a classy black string around the box.  Very simple, but looked great.  Then, the person got their present AND a nice box they could use to store jewelry, money, or pills or other medicinal/birth control needs.

So how did I fix them up?  With some acrylic paint, scrapbook paper, and some Mod-Podge!

Here's one box that I made for myself.  No, I don't use it to store contraceptives.  Silly.  I use it to hold my spare Cricut blades!

Ain't that purty?  I love that paper from My Mind's Eye.  I need to find more!

Here's another view:

Yeahp.  Cute.  And so cheap.  Dollar for the box, then just a piece of paper from your stash!

I have so much fun making these, that I'm gonna go make another right now!

-kory

PayDay Friday: Part Two!

Yeah- that's right.  Part TWO.  The PayDay celebration so big that it had to be two posts!

This second part will be much, much shorter.  Promise.

After all the Jo-Ann Grand Opening excitement, I really just wanted to go home.  And crash.  But we had to check out Super Target.  It's next door.  I debated buying a box of silver binder clips.  Holly debated over a plant.  We changed our minds and decided, no, let's go to Goodwill.

And that took some convincing.  I don't like to go to Goodwill.  Well, I do- but I'm always so discouraged because I rarely find anything.  I was all, "NO! LET'S GO TO BASKET MARKET!!!!"

Holly is a Goodwill Guerilla.  She can find the coolest stuff at the thrift shops.  I'll often be at work, slaving away at my desk, and she's texting pics to me from thrift stores across Oklahoma.  The coolest things.  I'm still kicking myself for missing the text about the ventriloquist dummy that she found- I would kill to have that scary little thing sitting on a chair in my room!

So, Holly talked me into Goodwill.  And I actually found things!  A vintage Better Homes 'Entertaining' Guidebook.  So cool.  I love the photos in vintage entertaining books.  And the recipes.  Hilarious.  I have an old cookbook, that I think I stole from my Mom, just because it has a recipe for something it swears would be 'perfect after a night of energetic folk dancing!'

I also found a nice tripod, still in the box.  Surely, I'm going to need something to steady my camera, right?  And it was only 4.99.  I also picked up a couple of records.  You know, for my record player.  Have you seen my amazing record player?  I'll haft show it to you.

So, Holly found a giant old globe.  I was jealous she found it, but didn't try to wrestle it out of her arms because it was HUGE and I didn't have any place for it...

Holly drove me back to Jo-Ann, and dropped me off at my truck.  She said she was going home to take a nap.  But I know better.  She was hitting more thrift stores and didn't want my competition.  Or my whining for BASKET MARKET.

And BASKET MARKET is exactly where I headed!   I jumped in my big manly truck and headed to the least manly place in town.  The HOBBY LOBBY OUTLET!   I know I'm always going on how it's called BASKET MARKET but it like an undercover Hobby Lobby outlet.  Yes, the majority of the stuff is wholesale floral and wedding supplies.  But you go in, you turn to the right, and cross under this sign:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, through this passage is the promised land.

At first, I kinda felt out of luck.  It had only been about a week or week and a half since I've last checked out the Basket Market.  When I made my first descent into the scrapbooking aisle, I really felt out of luck as I saw the three hundred packages of Hobby Lobby brand brads that have sat there looking lonely and unloved.  I think those poor brads have been there for ten years.  They're dusty and sad.  Not even their 1.00 price tag can find them a new home.  BUT WAIT- what's all this?!  There are so many new packages of stamps that they're almost jumping off of the wall hooks!  WhooooHAW, restock!!!

I found lots of stamps.  Too many.  I had to restrain myself.  I grabbed so many on the first pass that I had to sit down on the cold concrete floor and decide what I really NEEDED.  Yeah- believe it or not, I don't just buy EVERYTHING I get my hands on- I DO try to really put some thought into it!

I realize that I'm not 19, anymore, when I try to spring up from the floor.  I realize that I'm not even 29, anymore, when I think- I might be trapped.  My injured knee isn't going to let me get up off the floor!  (I hurt my knee last week, at the theatre, trying to climb down a dangerous metal spiral staircase.)

As I'm thrashing about the floor- something catches my eye.  What is it?

Well, if you keep up with my goings on, you will remember that last week, I saw and fell in love with the Studio Calico Mister Huey Color Mists.  Yes- that's what was on the shelf.  A nice selection of MISTER HUEYS!!!  And the EVEN BETTER part?  They were TWO DOLLARS EACH.

You would've thought I saw priceless jewels.  Well, they kinda are!  None of the local stores carry them.  I was about to order them from scrapbook.com- but they were out of a couple of the colors I wanted, so I wanted to wait until they had all the colors I wanted IN STOCK so I could order them all at once.  But I LOVE being able to just buy something IN a store.  I hate paying and waiting for the mail.

I grabbed every color of MISTER HUEY that caught my eye.  And then some.   

They didn't have 'Clay,' and a few others I'd wanted- but I can order those later.  At least, now, some of the compulsion is quelled.  But they did have CALICO WHITE- which is the one that has been most recommended to me- so here, allow me to model it for you:

Now, here's where I learn an important lesson.  

Things might only be one or two dollars each.  That doesn't mean you can fill a basket with the things and  only spend ten dollars.  This is a lesson I have to relearn.  Every time I go to Basket Market.  These things do NOT add up in my mind.  I will fill a basket with two dollar items and be dazed and confused when the cashier says, "That'll be 54.19."  WHAT?!  I only bought 27 two dollar items!!!

No, I'm not complaining.  Look at these great stamps I found!  

There it is- the Part Two of the Pay Day Celebration haul- Basket Market style.  I even found a few colors of Distress Stain (also 2.00!) and the Goosebumps texture spray that I saw mentioned in the scrapbook.com forum earlier in the week.  I said I would buy some and sure enough, I did!

See you all later- the Craft Donkey inspired me to make a card.  

-kory