CKC Stock Up

I spent yesterday at the Creating Keepsakes Convention.  It was a lot of fun as usual and I discovered a new favorite booth at the vendor faire, too!

 

 I always check out the dollarscrapbooking.net booth - and rarely leave without buying something.  This year it was 3 large sets of Fancy Pants stamps for $8.00 each and a couple smaller sets for $4.00 each.  Seeing as the large sets used to retail up to $39.99, I think I did pretty well.  I also picked up 3 sets of Fancy Pants rub-ons - gorgeous at $1 a piece - as well as a bunch of cardstock stickers and journalling spots.

The Scrapbooking Closeouts booth has more great deals.  I got 7 clear stamps sets there for $22 - and they are gorgeous!  This is the same booth where I got a bunch of butterfly embellishments last year.  This year they had a smaller version at 12 for $1.  Yup...got them in every color.  I couldn't resist getting more cardstock stickers at this booth either.

This was my last purchase location.  I have used a bunch of pink flower rhinestones in recent projects and came to CKC specifically to restock.  I had hoped to find them at dollarscrapbooking.net or the Scrapbooking Closeouts booth - no luck.  Then, I came across this great new booth.  It is Tallmouse Crafts (http://www.tallmouse.com/).  21 mm flower-shaped rhinestones at 30 for $1?  I'll take it!  I'm totally hoping that they will be at every convention so I can re-stock without shipping charges!

Skrimp N Skrap!  Now to figure out where to store everything.  :-(

Snail Mail Inspiration

The last couple days have been full of happy inspiration.  Just got my newest issue of Creating Keepsakes and also their newest Special Issue:  Simple Scrapbooks.  Such a nice treat during a very stressful week.  Loving both of them and can't wait to try out a few new techniques!

I know there is a lot of inspiration to be found for free on the internet, but there is something so tactically and visually satisfying about thumbing through a magazine.  :-)  So, this is one of my splurges.  Of course, I always wait for the best renewal deals (often to be had at the convention) and I paid for membership on Club CK which at the time came with the 4 annual special issues (over 50% off cover price).  Not sure if that deal is still going on.  I sure hope it is...I'm really not willing to pay $14.99 retail no matter how great a magazine is.  Skrimp and...skrimp some more!

Crazy Busy!

What a week.  I am in the middle of a master's degree and just started classes again.  Between working full time, being married, raising two kids, renovating our house, getting my degree and getting taxes done, well, I've been a little out of sorts (not to mention a massive allergy attack that's gone on for days).  Looks like I won't be able to do as much craft blogging as I'd hoped.  If I can post and check in on my favorite blogs once a week, I'll have to be happy with that.  This has me totally bummed.  Still, I only have 7 classes to get that piece of paper!  My company is paying for it so I cannot give up the opportunity!  I'll be done in a year...I can do this!

I will not put all of my crafting fun on hold, though.  This weekend, the Creating Keepsakes Convention comes to Mesa, Arizona, and I'm volunteering.  I have been volunteering in CKC classrooms for several years now.  It is a ton of fun, I learn a lot and I get a free pass to the Vendor Fair, plus a couple other goodies in payment.  It's so worth it.  I'm sure I'll be picking up a few new items for my stash, too.  Can't wait to blog about them...have to make the time for that!  Thanks for stopping by!

Fancy Pants!

If you haven't found them yet, you totally need to check out http://dollarscrapbooking.net/.  They sell a great selection of papercrafting supplies at deeply discounted prices and their shipping costs are also very reasonable.

They recently got a fantastic order of Fancy Pants rub-ons, stickers, brads and even this great 12 x 12 sheet of clear stamps.  The stamps usually run $40 retail and are just $10 on DollarScrapbooking.  Most of the other embellishments run about $1.  They are a screaming deal.  You can bet, I'll be putting an order in soon!

Two for Tuesday

I like to pop into Tuesday Morning frequently - you never know what you are going to find there.  Fortunately for me, I have one about a mile from my house.  Often, I walk out without buying anything but sometimes I make out like a bandit.  Recently found these two packages at 99 cents each.

Each package had 10 sheets of paper/cardstock, most double-sided along with some trims and a small stamp set.

20 sheets, 3 packages of trims and a stamp set for $2?  What a bargain!

Yard Sale!

So, I scoped out another Craigslist scrapbooking yard sale intending to buy a We R Memory Makers Sew Easy kit - it was advertised at 50% off retail.  Well, their "retail" was not the same as my "retail."  I found that I could pick up a brand new kit with a 40% off coupon for about the price they were asking so I passed.  It wasn't a wasted trip, though, cause they had a number of items that were great deals.

Baggies of paper flowers at $1 each.  I grabbed all seven.

Pearls and rhinestones at 50 cents a package.

Sticker and rub-ons at 50 cents a piece.

Found any great deals yourself lately?

I Like Big Lots and I Cannot Lie

Okay...yes, I've been dying for Big Lots to purchase rights to use the Sir Mix A Lot hit in a commercial.  Every time I go to Big Lots, I sing that little ditty but with Big Lots substituted.  I've even gotten my kids singing it.

ANYWAY!  It is very common to find embellishment packs at Big Lots for $1 - $2 each but here's a great deal at 50 cents each!

Cardstock Stickers

Chipboard

All that for $4.50!  Skrimp N Skrap!

Storage Splurge

Ordinarily, I am just as frugal about my storage as I am about my crafting supplies.  Here is one exception.

Fell in love with this 3 tier jewelry holder at TJ Maxx and couldn't resist.  It was only about $15 as I recall...the expense came in the little salt and pepper shakers that I stacked on it and am starting to use to hold very fine glitter.  These were $6 for 8 at Big Lots.

I think the little spurgle was worth it, though.  Makes me smile evertime I see it.

Bazzil Bargain!!!

In a previous post I mentioned my new Bazzil addiction - I've been worried that I would run out of my stash before I found another inexpensive source.  Well, I didn't find a reliable inexpensive source but lucked out on a stock up opportunity.  I was trolling my local Goodwill store and came across 20 packs of 8.5x11 Bazzil cardstock (25 pages per pack) for $1 a piece.  Yes...really, $1 per package.  I don't think the employee who priced them knew what they had.

My Bazzil withdrawal has been averted...at least for awhile.  Skrimp N Skrap!

Frugal Flowers

I love Prima and Recollections flowers - really I do, but when they run 50 cents or so a piece (with a coupon), well little flower clusters on a layout can get expensive!  I often turn to dollar store silk flower bunches or Michaels/Joann dollar area paper flowers so that I can afford to cluster more on each page in a more economical fashion.

Another great source for silk flowers is Goodwill and here is my latest haul.  I went to the 50% off sale at my local Goodwill and found these - cost me $4 for all of these flowers (not including the containers).  They look so pretty just in the bunches and I've already got tons of projects in mind for them - shadow boxes, scrapbook layouts, altered home decor.  Can't wait to get started!

In the meantime, though, they are adding a happy little pop of color in my craft room.  The flash photography doesn't do them justice, but aren't they cheerful?

Skrimp N Skrap!

Dollar Tree Inspiration

Some crafters are very skilled at deciding exactly what product to use on a project and then heading off to the craft store to get exactly what they need and no more.  I am in awe of that discipline.  I am not that person.

I like to "shop" in my craft room. Once inspired, I like to pull out almost every possible product that might go on that project.  I hold up this paper, that flower and then another embellishment, slowly narrowing down to the product and design I will use.  If I tried to do this "shopping" at the store, well, eventually Joann's would kick me out for either making a mess or being there for hours.  Not to mention that when I am finally ready to buy product for a project, the stores either do not have it or it's atrociously expensive.

So, in order to be able to shop in my craft room, I stock up when I see items I like.  The only way I can afford that is to be very frugal.  Thus, I call myself Skrimp N Skrap.   Fortunately, this isn't hard.  Here are just a few of my stock up items from a recent Dollar Tree excursion.

Already, I am seeing how some of these will coordinate with some 6x6 albums I bought from the Dollar Tree awhile ago.  I'm thinking some cute little toddler boy albums are destined for a future post!  Skrimp N Skrap!

Dollar Doilies Double

Yesterday, I posted a layout of my daughter using dollar store supplies including paper doilies.  Well, I have twins.  So that means I have to make two of every layout but just a little different each time to make it special for each girl.  If I don't make them similar, they get upset, but if I make them identical, they get upset.  The joys of motherhood!  Anyway!  Here is the "similar" layout that I made for my other daughter.  Hope you enjoy.

I used a different set of stickers from the Dollar Tree.  I love these so much I went back and got more!!!  :-)

The other supplies used were purchased in the same manner as my other daughter's layout - mostly from the Dollar Tree.  I swear, I'm as addicted to that store as I am to Craigslist.  So sad.

Skrimp N Skrap!



Dollar Store Doilies

This new blog world is just awesome.  Recently, I came across the Scrappin' Sisters blog in my wanderings through blog-land and was enamored with their style.  The beauty of their layouts is stunning and the product they use is gorgeous.

I love the way they create clusters of embellishments and decided to do a little more of this in my most recent layout.  It's the more is more technique and as I noted in a previous blog, I struggle making more detailed, complex layouts and cards.  I always end up taking things away until I have a much simpler design.  I fought this instinct on this layout.  Here is the result.  I'm pretty pleased with it.

I love the recent trend of using fabric and paper doiles on layouts and cards.  This one came from the Dollar Tree (18 doilies per package).  You might recognize the flower and bird stickers from a previous blog, too.  They also came from the Dollar Tree.

I added some paper flowers I bought from the Michael's dollar area, fabric flowers from the Dollar Tree, bling from a bulk buy at the Creating Keepsakes Convention, trim from the Dollar Tree and a couple title stickers from another Dollar Tree sticker pack.  The entire layout cost less than $3.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you got a few ideas from this project.