Stamping in scrapbooking (and the dangers lurking in online classes)

The design team challenge from Let's Scrap was to use another hobby on your page.  That was easy, having loved the last time I used stamping as a major theme on a page, I was keen to do it again.  Here is the page I created - cute child + face painting + dog wearing fairy wings means a cute page before you've even started, don't you think?
Anyway I loved, as always, the white-embossed title, and was reasonably happy with the paint-stamped flourishes (after I touched them up a bit) but the stamped flowers just didn't work at all so I added paper flowers and mini brads as a second layer over the top.  That looks better!  The paper strips are all . . . (do I even have to say it) from the stash. 

I somehow found myself on the Two Peas in a Bucket website earlier this week, and decided to watch a couple of free on-line classes, something I have never done before. They have a class a month on stamping on your scrapbook pages, which, you may have noticed, I am into at the moment, so decided to give that a go.  Now I know you are dying to find out what dangerous predators I discovered.  Well, put it this way, in the course of demonstrating some rather cool effects, she also demonstrated:

• some fabulously versatile Alli Edwards stamp sets
• the currently trendy spray mists (already on my wish list, they always look so fabulous)
• some totally gorgeous butterfly dies in a sizzix machine
• her title cut using one of those super-fabulous but ultra-expensive machines like a Cricut or Silhouette

Are you getting the point yet?  it would be so easy to be inspired to go out and buy all those things (well maybe not the Silhouette, that would probably be my entire budget for the next 2 years!).  It's certainly what I've done in the past, but sometimes, by the time you've bought everything, you can't even remember why you wanted it!
What was that motto again? 

Focus on what inspires you to create!  

(not on what inspires you to spend).

I can do resist stamping with the trillion stamps that I already own. 
I do not need mists to do this, sponging from my thousand and one ink pads will also work just fine! (But if anyone's stuck for a birthday present, those spray mists are kinda nice) .
I can post the results here to prove to you that it's possible! (Hmmm . . . sounds kind of like a challenge!)