Eggshell is the new white. (and "Product Challenge to Self wrap-up)

Last month one of my pages won me a $25 gift voucher to an online scrapbooking store.  Having not spent much money on craft in a while, I was pretty keen to spend it!  My first thought was to spend the voucher plus about another $10 of my own money, plus postage . . . and that's when things started to get complicated . . . my old arch-nemesis . . .postage!  The dilemma of  getting value of out my postage dollar has been the cause of much over-spending and stash-creating in the past, and is one reason why I limit my on-line spending these days.
After much to-ing and fro-ing, I decided to spend the $75 required to get free postage, rather than pay $7.50 postage.  Was it a good decision?  It's too soon to say for sure, but here's why it's at least not a terrible decision: 

• First and foremost, I've been keeping track of my spending and know for 100% sure that it fits into my budget
• I've tried to include some "staple" items in the purchase.  This time around that included some square envelopes, and some cardstock in basic, neutral colours.  (That was the plan at any rate - but at some point in the decision making process, I forgot to check if "eggshell" was actually white or not.  Turns out it's a pale grey, hence the title of this post!)  Other "staples" in any future purchases might be adhesives, replacement trimmer blades or page protectors.
• When choosing my patterned papers, I made sure and got some colours I was short of, like yellow and blue.  I stuck to only a few collections, so that each paper would be sure to have at least one other in my stash that it's guaranteed to match. 

L to R: Echo Park This and that, Hello summer and A Boy's Life.

Basic Grey Konnichiwa, Out of Print, and Sweet Threads

 On the other hand, I steered clear of whole collection sets, as I couldn't see them in person to make sure I loved every single piece, and I didn't want to commit too much money to any one collection.

• I've been so pleased with how well I've been using my fibres, that I felt justified in buying the more current version, baker's twine:

• Buying lots of new stamps at once is almost guaranteed to mean some won't ever see ink, so I've chosen just one new set:

Particularly loving the doily stamp!

•   I tend to use my Silhouette a lot these days for titles, but thought it might be fun to buy a few lettering options that I can't replicate at home (besides, I did win a $25 voucher, remember!)  I went for white, and sheets that matched two of the collections of papers I bought.

 

Thickers addicts will be shocked to know that this is my first ever pack! On special of course!

•  Finally, I'll be monitoring my use of these products, to make sure I use them, before they get lost in the stash!

As this parcel arrived last Friday, the day before the long weekend, (and just before the end of my Product Challenge to Self month), I had a bit of dilemma about what to play with first.  In the end I came up with what I've called a "transition page".  So called I managed to score 4 points for my Product Challenge to Self, while at the same time using paper, stickers and cardstock (eggshell, of course) from my parcel.

Here's the sketch I used, from Pagemaps:

and my page, featuring Maddy and a reptilian friend:

My four points come from using my mini misters, fibres, stamps, and chipboard.
I was determined to give the chipboard another go through the Sizzix this month, and this time tried with the book labels and the photo turns.  I still didn't get a clean cut right through, but they were a lot easier to finish off than letters!  Then I had the idea to make the banner with chipboard - I ran each cut through my trimmer first, and finished off with a craft knife.  Too easy!  I think I'll be trying that one again!

So, to tally up my Product Challenge to Self:
Metal buckles, ribbon threading punch, felt, My Mind's Eye stickers/papers and embossing folders each scored 1 point.
Chipboard mat stack scored 2 points.
Thin strips of patterned paper and stamping Up stamp sets each scored 4 points.
Mini-misters scored 5 points.
And the winner of the day was fibres, with 11 points.
Conclusion:  Pretty good effort, if I do say so myself.  This process really helped me think about using products earlier on in my design process, and got me into (or back into the habit) of using some tools and products that are plentiful in my stash, as well as giving me some degree of confidence in introducing new ones (in this case twine).  I think there'll definitely be another Challenge to Self in the coming months . . .

Let's Scrap Blog Hop around the World: Dawn's card

I'm probably doing myself  real disservice here, but if you haven't been there yet, Dawn's stop at her blog Scrap My World, is definitely worth a look!  Heaps of lovely examples for the sketch she is showcasing, and such fabulous blog candy!

Now, as you know, I'm all about using the stash, so it's not too often that you'll hear me waxing lyrical over new products.  These days, I'm trying to spend my money thoughtfully, on items I'll definitely use. 

And last week I discovered the new Echo Park line, "A Boy's Life" and I just love it.  I went to the shop looking mainly for papers I could use on boy pages.  Boy, does this line fit the bill!  I bought 2 12" papers and the 6x6 pad and there is not one paper I can't see myself using at some point.  Not only are they great for men and boys of all ages, but they could easily be mixed with other colours for more feminine subject matter.  The few pages with cars and planes don't excite me so much, but who cares when the B sides are equally nice!

(The more product-savvy of you out there might have actually recognised these papers in my previous post, on the page "Sk8 Belco")

Anyhoo, here is my card based on Dawn's sketch, featuring Echo Park papers, brads and embroidery floss:

Since I first wrapped embroidery floss around a card a week or so ago, I can't seem to stop!  I don't know that it would be that cost effective to buy the stuff purely to use on your cards compared to other options (or maybe it would, I haven't bought the stuff in years!) but in terms of using what you've got, it rates an A+ with me, and the colours . . . so many choices . . .

The robot stamp is from an acrylic set from, I think, Stampendous.  We've used it heaps, and the kids have loved "building" their own robots for their friend's cards.  There is even a little robot dog and cat!  The sentiment is a combination of a "happy birthday" stamp, and the word "human" spelled out using letter stamps which came from the same set (and no, don't ask me for the manufacturer of that one!) 

I love letter stamps for their potential to say whatever you want without waste (like stickers) or unnecessary expense (like stamps with phrases that are way too specific)

A busy week for Colorful Creations (and gift voucher #1)

It's been tight deadlines for Colorful Creations this week. First up was my turn at the round robin, with a 3 day turnaround.  It's a secret whispers type of thing, so I can't reveal  Paige's layout that I had to scraplift, or the page I made myself.  You'll have to wait until the end of the month for that!

Secondly was the third week of So you think you can scrap.  This week, we were given a one-photo sketch, and the brief to create a page with a specific time as the heading.  My idea was to use the heading "9am to 3pm" and the journalling "there's never enough hours in the school day to get done all the things you have to get done".
I chose one of my recently purchased PP as the background, as I thought it went well with the sketch, turned 180 degrees.  Not being someone who has a quality photo printer at home (or time to get to the shops to have anything printed out) I decided I would take a photo and just print out a temporary one on printer paper, which I can always reprint properly later.
But I've got to be honest with you, I'm not that happy with this page.  Take away the photo, title and journalling, I love the layout . . . I just think it needs a different story, maybe with a more flowing title.
I think I would like to take the journalling and title, combine it with a series of photos showing all the daily chores I try to do on a school day (washing, cleaning, shopping etc) and do a whole different page.
Sigh.  I thought I already learnt this lesson, story and photos first!
And now to my gift voucher.  A couple of months ago I received a phone call from my insurance company, informing me I hadn't paid my building insurance bill and would I like to pay it over the phone.  I hadn't decided to change companies or anything, turns out it had fallen behind the computer!  the good thing was, though, if I paid then and there over the phone, I would get a gift voucher as a thank you present! Awesome! And it got better, because when I got the voucher in the mail, one of the few vouchers I could redeem for that amount of money was to Eckersleys art supplies!
When I went to spend it the other day, top of my list was either a glue pen or refill for my Xyron sticker machine, to keep up with all my Silhouette creations.  As it turns out I bought both, plus 2 Inktense pencils, spending the difference of $4.

 I didn't mention it, but last weekend I spent the most I have in one shop all year, at a touch over $50.  It was pretty basic supplies - 3 packs of page protectors (most of which I loaded pages into as soon as I got home), some sheets of cardstock (first time all year - shows how much cardstock I have, but there are starting to be a few holes) and 10 sheets of patterned paper.  And that's what I'm feeling a bit bad about, that maybe 10 sheets at once was a few too many . . . I'd hate to think I might still be looking at them a year from now, wondering if it's time to cull them. 

I have used one already, on this page inspired by  the August stretch your sketch from Two Peas in a Bucket.  We recently remembered a phrase that Angus coined when Hamish was just a puppy: "Some people think puppies are old fashioned, but WE don't".  Just a little bit of nonsense that expressed his love, one of those little things we might forget if we didn't record them.
In the sketch, the idea is to use a grid of round embellishments in that space to the left of the photo, and I had probably 20 buttons ready to go.  But by the time I had shifted around my title, that idea didn't work anymore, so I just used 3, in a triangle around the page.

Best birthday present . . . ever!

For my birthday this year, I had originally asked for a mix-master.  Not exactly exciting but practical and, well, big.  Not the sort of thing you just go out and buy for no reason. (Not on our income, anyway).
But as the time drew nearer, I got less and less excited, and started thinking more and more about a Silhouette machine.  Now when I first heard of these babies they cost $600 - I don't think any amount of titles and shapes could justify that price!  But I started to wonder if perhaps the price had come down.  So I did a little Google search and found the local supplier had them on special for $450, somewhat of an improvement, but still didn't feel like I could ask for one at that price.  But then on Ebay . . we could get one for $250 including postage shipped direct from the US!  We just needed to spend another $9 on a power adapter. Happy birthday to me!
So anyway, no prizes for guessing what I used to scrap this week's "So you think you can scrap" . . .
After week 1 was so easy, I was lulled into a bit of a false sense of security, but week 2 of SYTYCS proved a bit more complicated.  The rules are:

• double layout, created by mirroring one of a given choice of sketches
• background must be black

As someone who sends all her photos away to be printed once or twice a year, I have to work with the photos I have. I do plenty of double layouts, but many will never make it online as they are of school events, birthday parties etc, none of which I post unless I have permission from all the parents.
I had one page ready to scrap that I wanted to use a black background for, but the number and orientation of the photos didn't fit any of the sketches.
Another group of photos I have ready to go would have fit a sketch, but I didn't want a black background.  Same goes for pretty much any family holiday-type page.
I ended up going  way back to 2006 when I made Star Wars costumes for Angus's 5th birthday party.

I'm pretty proud of my first attempt at using the software.  I managed to use text, resize, rotate, group, separate, weld, offset, duplicate, mirror . . . the only thing I forgot to do was check that the cardstock was cut all the way through before I unloaded, and as a result ended up cutting the green stars by hand!
I've scrapped two Star Wars birthdays and a Star Wars exhibition, so I'm no stranger to using the imitation star wars font, but let me tell you, it's never looked as good as this!

Visit to the craft show, and some butterfly cards

It was a pretty busy week for me last week.  A yucky topic for TAFE that I wanted to finish as quickly as possible, plus family coming at the end of the week meant no time for craft!  My mum rang a few weeks earlier to say she was coming down for the local Craft show.  So I thought I might as well invite the rest of my family for a slightly early birthday party.  But the craft show part of the visit was a major dilemma for me, as I had spent bucket loads of money at the craft show last year, and couldn't see how I would be able to manage it on this year's tight budget.  In the end, though, Rob convinced me I should go, as I don't see my mum that much, let alone do stuff with her, so I wrote the entry fee off as "quality mother/daughter time" and away I went!

Here's what I spent a total of $25.80 on, well within the budget I set myself of $40.  5 rolls of double sided tape, a gorgeous set of unmounted butterfly stamps, a set of 10 super cute metal birds, and 3 laser-cut butterflies.  I bought those thinking they wold be fun to try as masks, and I could still use them on a layout once I was done.
Then mum went back with my sister the next day, who added a couple of little goodies into my birthday present, including these tiny alpha stickers and cute little UM stamp sets (with yet more butterflies!)

So it will come as no surprise that when I finally sat down at my craft desk on Sunday afternoon, what I felt like making was . . . butterfly-themed cards!  The first thing I wanted to try was using my laser cut butterflies as a mask.  The problem being, of course, that I don't own any of those mists that are so popular right now.  So first thing I tried was to flick watered down paint over it.







As you can see, the result was less than spectacular.  The paint was just too wet and the mask too fine.

The next thing that I tried was good old sponging from a pigment ink pad.  I have heaps of these sponges I made by gluing ordinary kitchen sponges onto blocks of wood sitting in a drawer, so it was great for one to see some use.  The result was a little better, but I was never going to get all the super-fine detail.  I finished the card off with a "banner" made of out a scrap of card and some machine stitching.

Finally, I made this card with some of my gorgeous new stamps.  I used the colours from what was the current challenge at ColourQ, but didn't post it soon enough to actually enter the challenge.  I also based it on a sketch from Pagemaps.  I had printed the sketch out and written next to it in pencil, "really cool prize", which it is, 5 Basic Grey 6" pads plus 5 flourishes stamp sets.  The problem is, I realized tonight, that of course you need a US postal address to be eligible to win the prize!  I decided not to let that stop me entering, in the unlikely event of winning, I'm sure I can find at least one US reader who would enjoy using this prize on my behalf. 

Thoughtful spending as a reward in itself

I popped into my local scrapbooking store yesterday to spend money for the first time in 14 weeks!  I'm pretty sure that's a record for me.  I went for page protectors and miraculously left buying only page protectors!  I had a bit of a browse first . . . Basic Grey papers for example always catch my eye . . . but I remembered "only buy what you need".  Walking out achieving that goal was actually a bit of a buzz! It really was!
I then went grocery shopping and practiced there too.  Having just dealt with a moth invasion in the pantry, culling and using up items is on the agenda in the kitchen as well.  I did not buy items just because they were on special, and I did not buy other items just because I had seen them advertised and wanted to try them.  I stuck to the shopping list, and was pretty pleased with the total at the checkout!
Maybe this thoughtful spending thing can be a reward all of itself!