New at Michaels: Laptop Stickers, Cellphone Bling, and Wall Stickers by MAMBI

I found these at MICHAELS the other day and snatched up a few things. But first, here’s the scoop: Me and My Big Ideas now has removable stickers that you can put on your laptop, cellphone, even your walls.

Laptop Stickers, Cell Phone Bling, and Wall Stickers

I bought the cute black letters with my 40% off coupon for my kids’ bedroom walls; also these laptop stickers. I’m gonna’ have to work the designs around the pretty apple on my laptop lid … but that’s fine :)

Here are pics of the endcap at Michaels that had the MAMBI stickers …

I’m not putting them on my computer yet … because I saw some on their website that I actually like better. I’m going to check my other Michaels and see if I can find them. If not, no big whoop … I’ll just use the ones I have.

Have these made it to your Michaels yet? Do you like them? Get some?

Copic Markers Now at Michaels

Pssst! Word on the street (and by that I mean “scrapbook message boards”) is that MICHAELS now carries the ever-so-popular COPIC markers!

While you can apparently get them for a cheaper price at some online stores, at Michaels you can (at least at this point) use a 40% coupon not to mention the instant gratification. Plus you don’t have that pesky shipping charge. {I notice they have some Copic tips on their website HERE}.

I don’t know nuthin’ about Copics myself. I’m not a cardmaker (oh, the cards I’ve attempted are just dreadful … you should see them … a crime against humanity, I tell ya’).

I’m just a scrapper. Who tries to avoid getting hooked on new things like Copics which anyone can plainly see are a slippery slope of wanting more and more in every color then needing a place to store them and a book to record all your colors and … PHEW! Before you know it, they’ve taken over your life and Copics are all you can think about. Mmmmm … pretty colors …

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

It’s just something I’ve purposely tried to avoid. See, the thing is, okay, well, erm … confession time:

My name is Erika and I’ve been addicted to Stickles.
My name is Erika and I’ve been addicted to acrylic stamps.
My name is Erika and I’ve been addicted to paper stacks.

My name is Erika and I *AM* addicted to Basic Grey …
… and October Afternoon
… and Simple Stories
… and THICKERS {Lordy, lordy, Thickers, why can’t I QUIT ya’???}

So. I am trying to be older and wiser here with the Copics. I’m trying to be all Maya Angelou and say, “When you know better, you do better.” Well, I know I have Scrap-Addictive Personality Disorder so the last thing I need to do is latch on to another new thang like these here Copics.

But for the rest of ya’alls?? Pssst … word on the street is that Michaels now sells Copics … ;)

Making Memories Grab Bag at Michaels

I was at Mike’s today with my 40% off coupon in hand, roaming the aisles for something I really “needed” to spend it on. I finally settled on a 12×12 pre-done scrapbook page and frame. It had the perfect colors for my scrap room, soft blues and greens, a touch of pink. I could slip a family photo in the blank spot, add a bit of journaling, and have a nice little addition to my wall. The frames are by Recollections and go for $19.99.

I also grabbed some of the 8.5×11 white cardstock because I’m almost out; it’s on sale at Mike’s this week 4 for $10 (it’s normally $4 per pack). They had other colors and also combinations of colors, but I just need white :)

Anyhow, right in front of the registers was a bin with MAKING MEMORIES “grab bags” … HOLLAH! Well, wait, here was my actual reaction to seeing these:

Hollah!

I love Making Memories!

Wow, great deal.

Oh. Wait. I need more MM like I need more patterned paper. {Which is to say … I don’t}.

Crap on a stick.

But but but … how does one pass up a dealio like this?

Srsly?

Set. The Making Memories pack. Down. Okay, good. Now walk away.

But but but!!

(Sigh).

Alright, go ahead and get the stupid MM then. You know it’s an amazing deal. You really have no choice. Enjoy.

So I did. What exactly was in the packs did vary so I took a few minutes to see which one had the most items I would use. And items that I didn’t already have, hee :) I found a good one, put the Recollections frame back where it came from, and bought the MM pack with the 40% off coupon.

Not only did I get $50 worth of product for $19.99 (as the front of the package says), I got $50 worth of stuff for about $12. I’ll add some photos as soon as my computer cooperates, but in the meantime here are the items I got for 12 buckaroons:

{All images are from the Making Memories website ~ THANKS MM!}

These letters but in light blue …

Both of these are chipboard 12″ border strips, super cute …

Similar to these mini letters but in red glitter ….

There were also 13 chipboard clocks but I can’t find them online anywhere so no photo … :(

I found the GLITTER BLING STICKERS on their site, but not the three shapes I got: black fleur de lis, smiley face, and lightening bolt. I also got a pack of old-school Wire Words that are not on their site at all.

14 items for 12 bucks … swoon!

And as if I didn’t already feel pretty damn good about myself, now I’m doing the right thing and telling YOU about it.

I mean, c’mon, people, it just doesn’t get much better than that … am I right? You KNOW I’m right.

My advice to you is this: If you want to feel really good about yourself right now, you’ll march down to MICHAELS with your coupon and get one of these Making Memories grab bags … and then tell a friend. You will SO be doing the right thing ;-)

WDYT? 1 Million Views of “Scrapbook Obsession” by 12-31-11?

Can you believe it? My little ol’ Scrapbook Obsession blog has been around for almost 4 1/2 years and, as of 4/30/11, has received over 874,000 hits. I *know*, right? Pretty cool.

Hold up for a second. Do you ever watch the Miley Cyrus skit they do on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE? “Pretty cool.”

Okay, now you see why saying “pretty cool” made me think of Miley, right? But back to the actual topic of this post …

Let’s cut to the chase: I want to hit the 1 Million Views landmark by December 31, 2011. That will be just prior to my five-year blogiversary in January 2012. Do you think we can do it?

I thought I’d look at my stats from the past and see if this is even a do-able goal:

2007: 56,218
2008: 240,095
2009: 250,702
2010: 241,045
2011: 86,364 (as of 4/30/11)

I’ll need to get 126,000 more hits in the next 8 months. I’m thinking it can be done! Here are some topics I predict would help generate enough clicks to put me over the top:

Donna Downey Contro #3
Photos of new items at Michaels, Tuesday Morning, Big Lots, etc.
Anything Martha Stewart

Hee! That’s all tongue-in-cheek. But my blog definitely gets more looks when I post about scrapbook industry controversies, fo’ sho’. Other popular posts are the shopping ones. Yeah, there are a bunch of you scrappers after my own heart. The shopping is a VERY crucial part of scrapbooking, no doubt about it :)

There have been 4,307 comments left and I have 145 active subscribers (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!). I hope to reach 5,000 comments and 200 subscribers by my deadline of 12/31/11. These goals might be harder to reach but I’m going for it.

What kinds of posts are your favorites or what kinds of things would you like to see here?

Other than this kind of thing, I mean …

Because I don’t post gratuitous beefcake photos. This is a scrapbooking blog, people! Stay focused!

{Wait. Maybe we could get Patrick Dempsey to pose shirtless with a scrapbook. That would work, right? Okay, I’ma have my people call his people and see what we can work out}.

Okay, now let’s get started on this million hits project, shall we? Sheesh.

Did You Do Any Scrappy Shopping This Weekend?

I did!

I don’t have photos yet but when I do, I’ll post. I got 2 of the $9.99 Cricut cartridges from Michaels and some goodies from Big Lots. Yes, I’m going to keep you in suspense. Ain’t I cruel?

In the meantime, what scrap-shopping have you done lately?

Happy Monday!

Scrapbook Haul: Tuesday Morning, Michaels, Beverly’s

Well, I haven’t written a good “scrapbook haul” post in a while so here you go :) These are treasures I’ve collected over the last month or so.

These are from TUESDAY MORNING:

2-packs of Thickers for $3.99 each

These were the last 3 sets and I actually liked them all. Yes, the teal ones have come unstuck and are falling off the sheet but that’s okay. I run most of my Thickers through my Xyron “X” anyway. The chipboard and vinyl ones are notoriously un-sticky in the long-term.

On the left are “Paper Crush” by COLORBOK journaling stickers. You get 6 stax with 12 sheets per stack. I thought these would be really cute on school pages.

On the right are 2 sets of Sticky Alphas by Colorbok. These 3 things sold together for $3.99 … great price!

Here’s a Scrapbook Paper Kit by HEIDI SWAPP. The line is called “Street Smarts” and has some really cool-looking papers … think skater dude, sports dude, cool dude … that kind of thing :) The papers are cardstock-thick, double-sided, and you get 20 of them. The retail price was $19.99; got it for $3.99.

The 2 sets of chipboard letters were only $2.99. I was so glad to find these again. I’ve used the black and white set a couple of times and need more! They look really striking on a page. The stack of notepads are going to great use on my desk. The 3-pack of American Crafts Flair was a great deal at $3.99. The Dear Lizzy one is my favorite.

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Specifically, the price tag? Yes, there is just one epoxy embellishment there, and while the price of $1.99 could seem reasonable, I still thought it was mis-priced. The retail price shows as $8.99. Um, yeah. I showed it to the cashier when I checked out. It took me a few times explaining it before she would believe me, but 1 pack of epoxy stickers, no matter how stinkin’ cute, would not sell for $8.99 retail. Unless they were made of crushed diamonds or something. I think they were meant to be bundled in packs of 2 or 3. I don’t know if they really fixed them but, hey, I did my civic duty, right?

In case anyone is in the market for a Cub Scouts 12×12 album, Tuesday Morning has ’em!

They also had a lot of paper packs by the likes of AMERICAN CRAFTS. However, they were the 25 sheets of the same paper kind so I didn’t get any. But for those of you who do classes, kits, etc., this is a great deal.

Tuesday Morning also had the Making Memories “Hulabulu” packs, and lots of 12×12 postbound albums … I just didn’t get photos.

I got some books at BARNES and NOBLE. The one you might be interested in is on the top … “Tragic Magic” by LAURA CHILDS. She writes a series of scrapbooking murder mysteries set in the Big Easy that I really enjoy. Been waiting to see this one in paperback since I don’t usually “do” hardcovers.

I got these three older issues (April, May, and June 2010) of Scrapbook Trends magazines online recently. They were having a clearance sale for $5 an issue. I think these sell new for $15 each so I was happy to find the sale. It’s true what they say … these are more like idea books that magazines so well worth the dough.

These were from a message board “for sale” section. I love it when people clean out their scrap rooms and sell stuff I want for dirt cheap, LOL! I got collection packs of Basic Grey “Black Tie” for $5, Scenic Route “Background” for $6, and she only charged me $4 shipping. AND threw in some Anna Griffin border stickers for free. Awesome blossom!

These are the bling stickers from Michaels I mentioned in a PAST POST. Purdy, huh? You get 2 layers worth.

The rest of these things are from BEVERLY’S CRAFTS …

I had a 40% off coupon and was going to use it on the Making Memories storage jars (I’m re-doing my ribbon organization), but when I got the check-out, she told me they were on sale for 40% off. So the coupon went to one of the Basic Grey “Jovial” items. Then some Tiny Type alpha stickers that I can’t seem to get enough of. I guess you know what I’m using to scrap Christmas in this year, eh? Love these colors …

Come to find out, I should’ve gotten another set of the jars. After getting my ribbon sorted, I realized I need 3 more and I can’t find them at Michaels anymore. Shukes.

Have you heard of Studio 112? It’s a new line of scrappy stuff I’ve been seeing around. Here are the pretty lasercut papers they had.

Yep, every single thing was only 99 cents.

Bling, flowers, all kinds of embellishments …

Even some borders …

I dunno’, it wasn’t really my style. Some of the lasercut papers were pretty but nothing really blew my dress up. To each their own … maybe you’ll love it. At that price, you should at least check it out! M’kay?

Have you had any great shopping finds lately?

Michaels Halloween Scrapbook Stuff * Now on Clearance

I was in Mike’s last weekend and noticed that a lot ~ if not all ~ of their Halloweenie stuff was on Clearance. Cuz, people, they are makin’ room for Christmas already! There were lots of empty shelves and the Mike’s employees were busy moving and shaking thing up.

I took these photos back in late August 2010 and never did get around to posting them. I assume your shelves, like mine, will be less full of Halloween stuff at this point, but it gives you an idea of some items they might still have …

Last weekend, I got these 2 Martha Stewart “Cracks” Around the Page punches. I went in there with another of my “50% off all Martha” coupons, found these punches on the clearance rack, and proudly marched up to the cashier knowing that I could use my coupon on the more expensive edge punch … because Mike’s coupons don’t work on sale items from the ad, but are okay on Clearance items (at least they used to be; I haven’t tried it in a while).

HOWEVAH … the Mike’s clerk got me in a smackdown! She pointed out that the Martha coupon specifically says that it’s not to be used on Clearance items. Touche’, Mike’s Girl, touche’.

But I still got a great deal … the corner edger for $5 and the border edge punch for $7; even as a combo pack, these retail for $25 … so I saved over 50% anyway.

FINAL SCORE: Michaels chick 1, Scrapbook Obsession 1

HERE is a cool video showing how to use this punch. Check it, homegurl!

Have you picked up any of these great Halloween deals?

What Did You Get with Your 50% Off Coupon?

I didn’t see it, but I guess MARTHA STEWART was on the OPRAH show last week. There was a related coupon at MICHAELS for 50% off her products. {Um, Martha’s products, not Oprah’s, silly! But, hey, who knows? Everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of having a scrapbook line lately. Oh, wait, Oprah hates scrapbooking and scrapbookers. So that wouldn’t work, would it? But I digress …}

My friend ABBY was nice enough to clue me in to this cool coupon, and sent me a copy when I was remiss in printing it before it *poof* disappeared. Man, scrappy-shopper friends have your back like no other friends, don’t they?

I used mine to finally get the MS LARGE CIRCLE CUTTER that I’ve been eyeing for a while, but didn’t want to pay 25 snaps for.

I don’t know what the frick is up with those 3 little dangly earrings. What? They want you to dress up to use the thing? Sheesh, Martha! We’ve always known you to be a demanding little priss, but this is a bit much! SRSLY

I was going to use my Labor Day 50% off coupon on one of these, but then horror of horrors, I never got to Mike’s that week. I can’t BELIEVE I let a 50% off coupon go to waste, LOL! Yep, put me in scrap shopper jail because I committed a big crime.

Michaels also had Buy One, Get One Half Off their stickers so I got 2 packs of Recollections bling flourishes ~ purple and clear ~ so pretty. I’m going to add the purple flourishes to my Wicked layout to pump up the volume (DANCE! DANCE!) (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

HERE is what the Peas got with their coupons. Looks like popular items were the fringe scissors, scoring board, large circle cutter, and around the page punches.

What did you spend your recent “50% off all that is Martha” coupon on?

Scrapbook Shopping: Michaels and Tuesday Morning

Here are some pics from recent trips to Michaels …

This is the new “Traveler” line by Me and My Big Ideas (MAMBI). I love the color combo of ocean-y blues and greens, peaches/yellows/oranges, and black/white. It has a vintage feel but modern at the same time, which made me think of my friend ABBY and the Seattle album she’s working on … Wonder if she’ll like this line?

I think I’ve shown you the Recollections and Prima on the left side of this photo, but the gorgeous butterflies and pretty flower packs on the right are new ….

All kinda’ bling bling … Please ignore any SALE signs, as these sales are no longer going.

This was a whole endcap of new Making Memories embellishments called “Design Shop” which reminded me so much of Jolee’s, I had to wonder if they’re owned and/or made by the same company.

Some cute things here … these were 2 of my favorites. It’s hard to tell, but many of them are 3-D

Here are some recent purchases of mine from Michaels. Aren’t the Recollections trims cute? The red hearts are felt, then the 2 ribbons, and the turquoise dingle balls … so fun! The Super Mom stuff from MAMBI is chipboard and really pretty shades of pink and green. That color combo always makes me happy :) The school stickers by MAMBI on the right are epoxy, and I love the circle shape where you can cluster 3 together, or use 1 on a card for your favorite teacher. I bought them to use on yearbook pages and teacher “thank you” cards.

The Making Memories “Passport” metal clips on the bottom are from Target. I just thought they were purdy.

That’s it for Mike’s.

Now you’re asking, “What in the heck do throw pillows have to do with scrapbooking?” Well, I found these at Costco for a great price and they’re for the couch in my scrapbook room. It doesn’t show up great in the photo, but the color is really pretty … it’s like a lighter or muted robin’s egg blue. It’ll go nicely with all the other blues and greens, pale yellow, and white in my space. Another great thing is that they are durable – made from a thick, linen-textured fabric that will hold up well to my kids piling on them and many years of me lying back on them to read my scrapbook magazines and idea books. So glad I found these …

Lastly, here are some recent finds from TUESDAY MORNING …

These are all from Making Memories, the little flower jars and a metal tin of flowers. The jars are plastic and I’ll reuse them when I’m done for storage on my stamp shelf. I love that you get a length of green and white ribbon, too. The tin is deceiving so be careful if you buy them. I haven’t opened the tin yet, but I noticed in the store when I was deciding whether to buy them that – no – the tin is not FILLED with flowers. There is one layer of them pressed against the little window, then it’s all padding underneath. So be aware that you’re not getting very many flowers in this package. To me, it was worth it because I’m going to re-use the tin and because of the discounted price.

As you can see here, the jars and the tin cost $1.99 each.

My best find was this set of paper ribbons by K&Co.!! You get 4 packages in a variety of colors and styles for only $3.99. I believe these retail for $3.99 PER PACK, so to get 4 packs for that price is amazing. They are so pretty in person, especially the one on the far right with the distressed colors. But they’re all very nice.

So those are my latest shopping adventures! Did you see anything you like?

More Photos of the New Stuff and Set-Up at Michaels

I hope you had a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day! I know a lot of you made a weekend of it, which is awesome. If you haven’t already, please go HERE and play my NSD games. There are 3 games with 3 nice prizes. You can enter all 3, and you have until this Friday at midnight PST! Go play now, then come back and read about Michaels. This post ain’t going anywhere :)

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In THIS POST from last week, I showed some photos that my friend had taken at HER Michaels. Well, I have since been to MY Michaels and have more photos to share. I was surprised to find that some of the changes to products and the way they’re displayed have actually reached my Mike’s.

Here are the spinny racks that I was so sure I would never see at my store. But there they were!

Personally, I don’t care for the Recollections paper line on this side ….

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… but both of these lines are very pretty. I especially love that 2nd paper on the left with the Eiffel Tower.

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So now to the whole “sorting by theme” thing. My Michaels has had two of these sections for a while now: Baby and Travel. Here is the Baby section; it’s in the same place as before but it looked like they had added some new things.

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Obviously, here is the Travel section. More on this later …

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These were new: “Fresh Glitter” and “Fresh Flocking” by STUDIO G. That’s the same company who makes the MIKE’s $1 STAMPS. These monochromatic packs are only $1 each, too. I’m not a huge glitter fan but I would like to try flock one of these days. I wonder if this stuff is good quality.

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These plastic storage items were new, at least to my store.

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As you can see, we’re still in transition, LOL! This will be the rack of new Jolee’s that I posted a pic of in that last entry I linked to.

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Now that I’ve seen them closer, I can’t say as I like them a huge lot. For instance, these are super glittery which is not my fave.

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There were also some new alphas including these puffy and glittery alphas by ATD. I really like the size, font, and colors of these letters. At $4.99, they qualify for future coupon usage, lol.

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More on themes … Sorry the photos are blurry but I noticed that all the military, police, and fire embellies had been gathered here, regardless of manufacturer.

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Same thing with Family stuff. Yes, we already had a few sections of family-related items before, but now ANYTHING that has to do with family is in one spot.

They had also divided everything else up into themes, like Christmas, Halloween, Fall, Sports, etc. I still don’t think I like it. For one thing, with all the different size and style of packages in one place, it looks messy. Also, it’s going to be hard to find when they’ve added something new and it’ll be impossible to search by manufacturer. Two of my favorite sections before were where they put all of the SOFT SPOKEN and the K&Co. embellishments. Now those will be all parceled out and displayed by theme instead. Again, how are we to tell if something new is added? That’s going to be a big ol’ PITA.
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All of these 12×12 open stock papers were new to me.

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Isn’t that white lace doily paper pretty?

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Finally, just wanted to share these new Recollections for Kids stickers. I’m sure kids will love them. They are bright, colorful, and fun!

Love the pear, the lollipop, and the gum ball machine.

Don’t forget … go play my NSD games! Now, before you forget, LOL :)

I’ve Got Photos of the New Scrapbooking Stuff at Michaels!

I have one of the best scrappy friends in the world. She lives in another part of the country and we’ve never met in person, but she always has my back. To that end, when she was at her Michaels today and saw all the new stuff and the new store layout … she KNEW I’d want to see pictures, and she knew I’d want to share them with you.

So, here are photos provided by “mah gurrrll” Abby …

This is new Jolee’s. Can you believe it?!?! Totally different packaging from their usual. I’ve never really been a Jolee’s girl, but there are some really cute things here. I might just become a convert …

Some pretty and unique Jolee’s border strips …

Finally! Some new THICKERS!! Suh-WEET! And those look like some pretty textured papers in nice colors.

Here’s one of the new “themed” sections: Christmas.

A wider view … This looks SO different from how my Michaels is set up. Mine has the really tall racks with shelves on top where they store extra stock. This store has lower racks and pretty little signs.

Here’s a new kit called “The Merry Days of Christmas” by MY MINDS EYE …

… and a new 8.5″ x 8.5″ paper pad called “Sleepy Tree” (I think) by K&COMPANY. I can’t read it perfectly in the photo, and there’s nothing called “Sleepy Tree” K&Co’s website … but that isn’t saying much. Sometimes the stores have things that aren’t on the manufacturer’s website.

Looks like some new kits and stacks, and down in the bottom left corner, did you see? BASIC GREY “Ambrosia” and “Eva” paper stacks! My Michaels has had these as open stock papers but not as a stack.

New Recollections single papers. I see some really pretty colors and designs there. Does your Mike’s have tall racks sitting out in the middle of the floor like this? Mine doesn’t. Gasp! That almost resembles and LSS!

Here’s the new MARTHA STEWART Scoring Board. Apparently, this is the hot new item to have. I’m plugging my ears and singing “la la la” because I don’t NEED another expensive tool in my life. I don’t, I don’t, I DON’T! {But it does look cool!}

Remember when I posted HERE and HERE about the themed sections that were “coming soon.” Well, they’re finally here, LOL! In THIS discussion at 2peas, there seems to be a general dissatisfaction with the whole “sorted by theme” idea. Some scrappers feel it’s being done to cater only to the beginning scrapbooker who wanders in to solely do a baby, wedding, Christmas, or travel scrapbook. The feeling is that more seasoned scrapbookers (get it? seasoned? Christmas? huh? huh?) like us shop not by theme but by brand name and/or by item type.

Now I know this is a selfish perspective but, wth, this is my blog and my opinion: I want Michaels sorted the way my scrapbook room is organized, which is to say, by brand name for the most popular brands, then by item type and color beyond that. But, no, Michaels Corporate did not ask ME, did they? Boy, they’d better not ever ask me stuff … ‘cuz I will tell them! Huh. They would rue the day, baby.

Okay, say Michaels corporate ever did ask me. Here are the top 5 things I would tell them:

1. Less Jolee’s, more Thickers.

2. Bring back coupons on books and magazines. At least on books, come ON!

3. Do NOT. Under any circumstances. Organize by theme. And keep all the alphas in one place.

4. Make “knowledge of scrapbooking” a condition of hire.

4a. Better yet, hire me. Make me Director of Scrapbook Buying, Merchandising, Publicity, and Employee Training.
I will make you millions and jillions of dollahs.

5. Anything that has been on your racks for more than 6 months … CLEARANCE. Then get new stuff.

I swear to G, they still have things in Michaels that were there when I first discovered it back in two-thousand-ought-two. Hello? Take the loss already and move on, Mike’s.

Okay, this was not meant to turn into a MIke’s Rant Post, so very sorry. This is actually a Happy Mike’s post. Yay! We are so happy they got some new stuff! We are happy we have new things to bust out our coupons on! We are so happy they are getting OCTOBER AFTERNOON! Rah rah, Mike’s!

Okay, now tell me about your Mike’s. Got all this new stuff yet? What have you bought recently? What new items are you most looking forward to if, like me, you still have the same old stuff?

Oh, and tell me your feelings on the whole “sort by theme” debate. Don’t be shy … yea or nay?

Michaels News, Chip Art by Melody Ross, and Other Scrappy Stuff

Okay, time for some scrappy randomness!

~ You know how for the last many months on my blog, I’ve been torturing you with lame photos I’ve taken with my iPhone because my camera bit the big one? Well, I’m happy to report that I FINALLY got a new camera! It’s nothing super fancy, but it takes WAY better photos than my phone, LOL.

Here is the lovely I got:

It’s a Kodak Easyshare Z915 and the feature I love the most if the 10x zoom! It’s basically the updated version of the camera I used to have, the Kodak Easyshare DX6490, which I luh-huh-huved. My new camera retails for $200 but I found it at WALMART.COM for $121 and a few dollars shipping.

Happy happy joy joy!

~ NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY is coming up: Saturday, May 1st! I’m going to have something going on here at the Scrapbook Obsession blog that day, including a contest and a game, with PRIZES! I hope you’ll put that on your calendar and stop by on May 1st, or soon after :)

~ I was contacted recently by someone with a cool scrapbook-related product. They’re supposed to send me several free items to give away to you, my lovely readers. I don’t want to say too much until the package arrives, but consider yourself teased!

~ Word on the street is that MICHAELS will soon be resetting their scrapbook aisles and the reset will include OCTOBER AFTERNOON and SASSAFRASS! A rumor could be just a rumor, but it would make sense given all the things they had on clearance lately, the empty racks, and the fact that products from CHA-Winter 2010 are hitting the market as we speak. I hope Mike’s really does get the October Afternoon. Without an LSS, I don’t have anywhere locally to get any and I love their new lines (samples below), THE THRIFT SHOP and FLY A KITE, respectively:

~ Speaking of new products hitting the market, I haven’t given you an update of what MEMORY WORKS has new in stock … but I will soon. However, I do want to point out right now – since so many people are looking for these – is that we do have a bunch of the CHIP ART TOOLS AND METAL STAMPS by GCD and MELODY ROSS!!! Here’s a peek at just one of the many items we carry:

I saw these demo’d recently and think this will be the new “frenzy” item, aka the hot thing that everyone wants. Check out the GCD BLOG to see some projects the Chip Art products have been used on. I would love to help you get these GCD items! My website is HERE. Directions on how to place an order and how to contact me with questions are HERE.

Scrapbook Magazines vs. Papercraft and Cardmaking Magazines

Of course, we scrapbookers all know about the demise and downturn of scrapbooking magazines in the past few years. We’ve lost Simple Scrapbooks, DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING, and MEMORY MAKERS. We’ve seen changes to the number of issues with SCRAPBOOKS ETC. and Creating Keepsakes.

For some down and dirty facts, check out this report about the 2009 scrapbook magazine industry … PART ONE, PART TWO, and PART THREE.

When I was at Michaels recently, I noticed that the papercrafting and cardmaking magazines don’t seem to be suffering the same fate. And what the hell is up with that?!?! As “our” magazines dwindle, theirs seem to be multiplying.

Keep in mind that even more magazines are hidden behind the ones that are showing. The magazine rack at Barnes and Noble looks similar.

Admittedly, I haven’t read through the 3 long “state of the industry” articles I linked to above. Maybe the answer is in there, but skimming them, I didn’t find it.

What do you think is going on? Do papercrafting and cardmaking have that many more participants than scrapbooking? Have they not yet hit the bubble and then downslide that the scrapbooking magazines did, but their time is coming? What do you make of this? I honestly can’t scrounge up a good explanation. Please ‘splain it to me, Lucy …

New Albums, K&Co., and Making Memories at Michaels

I was at Michaels last Saturday and thought I’d show you some new things I saw … ‘cuz I know you HATE IT when I enable, LOL :)

Some cute new K&Co. albums …

This is my favorite. I love the fun colors, the photo frame, and the flower accent. I’ll probably never buy it, though. I’m a train wreck with embellished albums. I tend to shove my scrapbooks back on the shelf without care, and would probably shave that pretty flower off in 2 seconds flat. But it’s a pretty album to admire on the Michael’s shelf …

Some more cute scrapbooks but I think I had seen all of these before except for the blue/yellow one on the left. I really like that one, too …

At first, I thought these “Spellbound” letters by MAKING MEMORIES were stickers. When I saw the price of $4.99, I was like WTH? But I picked them up and realized they’re actually chipboard … so the 5 bucks is actually a pretty good deal.

A Halloween page kit by K&Company. I was going to use my 40% off coupon to get this kit, then decided against it. It’s a 2-page layout but had blanks for only 4 photos. Sorry, Charlie, I can’t remember the last time I scrapped only 4 photos on a 2-pager. Especially Halloween, with all those cute costumes, jack o’lanterns, and candy bucket photos. Puh-lease.

Here are some small, medium, and large canvases by K and Company. I propped up the project flyer that shows a way to use the 12×12 canvas. Great project idea and I love the different sizes and colors. The price seems kind of steep to me but what do I know? I’ve never bought a canvas before. Can you buy these over in the Michaels art section or at an art shop for less? Scrapbooking companies are notorious for packaging some common thing as a “scrapbooking product” and then jacking the price up to high Heaven. And I gotta’ admit, I fall for it most of the time. But I’m onto this canvas fraud. Yessiree Bob …

Look at these cute black epoxy punctuation stickers by SANDYLION. Yep, half price, from $2.99 down to $1.49. I got some of these.

K&Co. embellishments. Some of these I’ve seen before but there are also some new ones. Aren’t those butterflies gorgeous?

Sorry for the shadowy, bottom shelf look but, hey, what can I say? They were on a shadowy bottom shelf! An album kit and shadow box kit by K&Co. More butterflies. They remind me of that gorgeous line by Melody Ross for GCD STUDIOS called “ARTSY URBAN“. Here is the entire BLOSSOMWOOD collection by Tim Coffey if you’re interested …

Speaking of butterflies and tricks by scrapbooking companies … why, yes, we WERE speaking of that … keep up, lady, keep up! Here are some butterflies that were not in the scrapbooking aisle; instead, they were over by the home decor. I’m not sure what their intended use is, but I thought they would look grand on scrapbooking layouts. Only $4.99 for up to 12 flutter-bys. You know that if they were packaged and displayed as a scrapbooking item, they would be at least 7 or 8 bucks. Sheesh.

Now on to some Clearance items:

This little boy album kit was originally $24.99, marked down to $9.99 ~ what a deal. There was a similar girl album kit, too, for the same price.

Ooh, blurry, sorry! I must have hiccupped when I took the photo or something. Mr. iPhone has no image stabilization whatsoever. Anyhow, “skins” for the GYPSY were on the Clearance already. I don’t remember seeing them prior to this. Is that the equivalent to “straight to video” when a movie isn’t that great? Gypsy skins, “straight to clearance!”

A whole endcap over by the party supplies was full of this black, lavender, and blue line by COLORBOK. It was all on sale at 2 for $1.

Lastly, all these cute packs of chipboard shapes were also over by the giftwrap. The chipboard is already white, which is nice, although it’s kind of thin. I was thinking some of these could make great mini-albums. Just punch a hole in 1 or 2 corners with your CROP-A-DILE and use some binder rings. Or you could make some fun kids projects with these.

See the large circle on the bottom right? Those are HATS! Idn’t that key-yoot!?!?

This star shape would make a darling mini album. I think with cardstock or patterned paper and photos adhered to each side, it would be sturdy enough.

Hope you enjoyed the Michaels tour. I’m usually in such a rush, I only have time to browse the scrapbooking section. But Saturday I had some time to kill while waiting for a movie to start. It was fun to cruise the entire store at my leisure.

Later this week, I’ll post pics of what I bought. Have you done any Michaels shopping lately?

Coming Soon to Michaels

When I was at Michaels last week, I noticed this sign on one of the almost empty paper racks advertising “Themed Scrapbook Collections.”

I’m not sure what to make of it. About 6-8 months ago, I guess, both of the Mike’s I shop at introduced some new “theme” areas, including Travel, Baby Boy, and Baby Girl. Instead of grouping items by type (letters, papers, stickers, etc.) like they do throughout the rest of the scrapbook area, they pulled everything having to do with, say, travel, and displayed it all in one area. They even added some new travel items to the mix and did the same for baby boy and baby girl.

So, it this going to be more of that? I’m not sure. But inquiring minds want to know already! Bring it on, Mike’s.

I learned about another new thing upon checkout: Michaels is reinstating their Friday night crop nights. The flyer says …
——–
“Michaels crop nights, last Friday of the month*, 5pm-8:45pm. Do you and your friends need a place to get together and craft?
*Crop Nights will not be held in November & December and Michaels reserves the right to discontinue Crop Nights at any time.

Join us the last Friday of every month for Michaels crop night. Michaels provides the space and an assortment of tools.** The best part is that Michaels takes care of the cleanup.
**Available tools will vary. Please ask store associate at time of reservation about store-specific tools.

Reserve your spot today! Space is limited and must be reserved in advance. Reservations can be made by paying $5 or showing proof of $10 scrapbooking purchase in the last 30 days. Reservations are first come, first serve. Please see a Store Associate to reserve your spot to crop!”
——–

First, can I say … ? The dang flyer had several typos or just plain mistakes (I fixed them when I typed the wording above). They must’ve fired their flyer editor. Wow. Embarrassing.

Second, I’m glad to see the crop nights are back. I’m kind of confused … Are they having a crop night set up there every last Friday with a random group of people, or do you have to set it up yourself and bring your friends? Say you call them on Wednesday and you’d like to reserve your spot to crop Friday night … Is the crop happening and they’re taking other sign-ups, or is it more like your reserving the room for you and your friends?

Thirdly, why only 3.75 hours? That’s what most of the Peas said HERE and I have to agree. Hardly seems worth the time to pack up your stuff and drive there. Why not have it for longer? If they’re taking sign-ups (which I’m still confused about), they could do them in 4-hour slots like 1-5pm and 5-9pm. If you wanted to come for 8 hours, you take 2 slots so they don’t overbook the space. If you can only come after work in the evening, you sign up just for the 5-9pm slot. Better yet, why not do it on Saturdays? It’s almost like they want the idea to fail, don’t you think?

You know the scrapbooking T-shirts at Michaels that I mentioned HERE? Well, sounds like the stores are starting to get them in stock. Some of the Peas already HAVE THEM. One Pea said she used her 40% coupon and got her tee for $6. That’s a great price for any kind of tee, much less a scrapbooking one. I hope I get the chance to go by Mike’s tomorrow …

Scrapbooking T-Shirts at Michaels!

What a cool idea!

Just got an e-mail from Michaels (yes, we have a SPECIAL relationship and he e-mails me directly …). They are now carrying scrapbook tees for $9.99. It said: “New! Dress for your next crop event in style and make it a weekend to remember. Our Recollections™ scrap T-shirts are 100% cotton and come in pink, turquoise and black. Sizes M–XXL. *$12.49 in Alaska.”

That just made my day! I love to wear scrappy tees and have picked up a few over the years at Scrapbook EXPOS. Alas, the ones I have are well-worn and should be replaced. Sweet! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find these tees on the Michaels’ website to see if there are other designs.

I wonder if they’ll take coupons on them? Have you seen these at your Michaels? What styles were there ~ just the three shown, or were there others?

PS: This week’s ad also shows Cricut Solutions cartridges for $14.99 … another YIPPEE!

Hope I can get me one before they sell out …

Scrapbookers, Studios, and Stashes: We Are NOT Alone

I was in Michaels last weekend, looking for something coupon-worthy, and also looking for the April issue of SCRAPBOOK ETC. magazine, which the Peas had told me HERE is now available (bummer … most of the reviews are not favorable).

Darn if I couldn’t find SBE, but I did come across the gorgeous publication WHERE WOMEN CREATE. It’s a nice, thick, beautifully done magazine … well, more like a scrapbook idea book except that you get studio ideas instead of layout ideas.

At $14.95, it’s a bit rich for my blood considering it would be total eye candy for me, unlike a $15 idea book that I would actually use over and over. Anyhow, it comes out quarterly and I like to flip through it when I see it at Mike’s or BARNES AND NOBLE (they have the hardcover book of WWC, too!).

I’m always hoping to see a scrapbooker or at least a cardmaker and their studio featured, but so far I’ve come up empty. Hmmm … I wonder if they really haven’t chosen to profile a paper crafter, or if I’ve just missed it somehow. It’s entirely possible that I’ve missed it, which would be my fault since I’m too cheap to buy the magazine/book and “cheat” by flipping through it at the store. This issue did feature THE PAPER SOURCE, which is at least on the right track :)

Another thing I wish they would do is designate what type of artist each woman is, both in the Table of Contents and on the intro or title page to each artist. Again, if they DO do that and I’ve missed it, I apologize. But if I’m missing it every time, it can’t be that obvious, LOL! The cover gives the names of the artists inside and sometimes even the company they’re associated with, but just by a listing of names, I don’t know if any of them are scrapbookers/papercrafters. I mean, I’m pretty up on all the popular scrappers but I don’t know EVERYONE, sheesh.

One studio I flipped past was that of a knitter. I was stopped cold by a photo of her “Wall of Yarn.” It was all stacked by color in a large wall shelf, an Ikea EXPEDIT or similar. My first thought was, “But this magazine is about personal studios. Why do they have a photo of a store in here?” Then a second later, I realized, “Ah, that probably IS a personal studio!” But that lady had a shite-load of yarn!

Then I laughed so hard at myself (Bwahahaha! The other Mike’s customers were probably fittin’ to dial Mental Health for me … ), because I realized that that’s what people ~ non-scrappers, especially ~ must automatically think when they see MY scrap space. “Why does she have a scrapbook store in her house?” LOL Who could blame them? Instead of a Wall O’ Yarn, I have a Half Wall O’ Paper, a Bookcase O’ Idea Books, and Jars O’ Flowers, Ribbon, and Letters.

First, I was embarrassed. Oh. My Gosh. How embarrassing to realize that people who visit my home and peek into my office wonder why I have a scrapbook store. But then after I stopped internally blushing, I felt better. You know why? Because after flipping through Where Women Create all these times, I’ve seen some crazy, huge, awesome, expensive, fully-stocked, storelike studios of women who do all kinds of crafty and creative things … photography, art dolls, sewing, graphic arts, quilting, etc. And I realized something very comforting and very important.

We are not alone.

Scrapbookers aren’t the only ones so obsessed with supplies that it takes entire rooms to hold and organize them. We aren’t the only who live for Ikea and it’s plethora of crafty-friendly storage items. We aren’t the only women who find solace and comfort in our craft, who consider our creative spaces to be a haven, a place where we can go and truly be ourselves.

We are not alone. And that’s pretty great, isn’t it?

Aren’t we all so very blessed?

Scrapbook Shopping Report: Michaels, Costco, and Barnes and Noble

Ah, “clearance” … One of the most beautiful words in the English language. When I walked into Michaels last weekend, and was on the way to the scrapbook aisle, I ran right into a display of scrapbook CLEARANCE.

There were paper packs by K&Co. and Making Memories, …

… paper pads by GCD, and SEI.

There was this huge pack of 12×12 specialty papers by Prima … super pretty and romantic. If you have a wedding to scrap, I would check this one out!

Then over to the “Designer Showcase” or whatever the hell they call that “new scrapbooking stuff” section these days. Here are pics of all 4 sides of it:

Look at that lovely bling!

Bling titles this time, and lots of new Soft Spoken.

Some new My Minds Eye chipboard and vinyl. Wait, did I say vinyl? Yep, I did. How cool. You can use it on your walls OR your scrapbook pages.

Here’s a close-up of the MME “Home” journaling chipboard. The colors are really pretty in person.

Here’s a lotta new K & Company goodness.

Here are some items I’ll be back for with coupons in the future. It pained me to leave “my” things at the store, but I already had a few items and had to call it quits. For now. Are those cupcakes and sweets on the bottom right to DIE for??? Oh. My. Gah! And the branches that look real, and the cute little flowers with bling in the center??? Can you see the red car and cute blue trailer it’s towing in the travel set?

After Michaels, I went to Costco. I tell myself not to even bother looking for SBR stuff there anymore because they never have anything … or anything good. But I can never resist checking anyway, and this time I at least found a Purple Cow 2 in 1 paper trimmer. Is that a good price? I don’t know. I’ve been happy ~ infatuated really ~ with my Cutterpede trimmer for so long now, I’ve never even so much as glanced at another trimmer. When I’m happy, I’m loyal :)

Here are two reads I picked up at Barnes and Noble:

The latest from CK, Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks. Lots of organizational items in here. It’s thin, but I still think worth the $6 cover price.

Blogging for Bliss book ($15) by TARA FREY, a mucho successful craft blogger. HERE is Tara’s blog entry about her book. I skimmed through it once so far and I LOVE this book! Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make the most of their craft-related blog.

I found it interesting that the large majority of craft bloggers featured use Typepad. Hmmm… I’ve been considering switching over there from WordPress, and this just adds another reason.

You may recognize this from the ‘Clearance table at Michaels’ photos. Yep, I couldn’t resist a pack of 12 speciality papers marked down from $10 to $2. Some of them are adhesive backed and will be fun to use in my Cricut. The glittery ones are gorgeous, too.

Got all 3 pieces Mike’s had of My Minds Eye “Home” in the pink set. Really, really pretty and only cost $2-$4 each for nice, thick chipboard. You can’t tell from the photo, but the frames one has 3 frames in it.

Here’s the MME chipboard journaling only, “Home” in blue. And some stinkin’ cute epoxy donut stickers by Recollections. They were only $1 and yet they INCLUDED sprinkles! Can you believe that? (“Bad cop. No donut.” Bwahahaha, my favorite bumper sticker EVER!).

And lastly, 2 packs of Prima flowers in Honeydew and Mango. They were $4 each but I used a 40% off coupon on one of the packs. They coordinate really well with Simple Stories “Life Documented,” as I’d hoped, and are the perfect size for my Project 365.

I’m still feeling guilty for buying something at Michaels for full price. I mean, what’s the point of that? Oh well.

One last thing: Here is a photo a friend posted of 2 of the new K&Co. ephemera chipboard packs she purchased, so you can have a closer look-see. Really cute and what a great value, especially if you use coupons like she did :)

Tune in again tomorrow for more shopping news: Tuesday Morning and Ross.

What are your latest shopping finds? Have I enabled you with any of mine?

Scrapbook Mail, Scrapbook Shopping, and a Scrapbook Space

Yep, time is money, people, and there’s a lot to cover!

Scrapbook Mail:

I love, love, LOVE getting scrapbook mail, don’t you? There is no better mail than that. Well, maybe if someone wanted to send me a bunch of money, that would be my favorite mail, but somehow, I don’t see that happening.

Over at the SCRAPBOOK SISTERS STUDIO message board, I joined a Secret Santa Swap. Well actually two. For one, you were to send an envelope of handmade or inexpensive scrapbook goodies to 5 other Sisters, and in return you would receive 5 different envelopes back. Here are the first two packages I received ~ aren’t they great? ~ and the only ones I’ve taken photos of so far. I’ve received others too and it’s always to fun to get the mail these days!

For the other one, you were to send $20 worth of scrapbook goodies to a Sister you were secretly matched up with. We each posted Wish Lists including scrapbook stuff and non-SBR stuff, too. I sent off my package on Monday and received the one from my Secret Santa yesterday. I was so lucky to have SCRAPPY GIRL for my SS. LOOKIE LOOKIE at all the bad-ass shizzle she sent me!

Love all the Inque stuff, the LYB stuff, just LURVE IT ALL! She even got me my favorite Dr. Pepper lip smackers lip gloss :) Thank you, Scrappy Girl! You rock big time, Sista!

Scrapbook Shopping:

I’m hella’ overdue posting these shopping pics. I can see by the date on the photos that they are 2+ weeks old. Time has flown…seems like a few days ago, LOL. Anyway, here are some things I found at TUESDAY MORNING:

Remember the HEIDI SWAPP TOTE? Well, here is a new version of that. For 20 bucks, you get the Tote-ally Cool Tote filled with HEIDI SWAPP goodies.

Here is a close-up of the list so you can see exactly what the items are…

Some cute kits…

This was a kit that reminded me of the KI MEMORIES TINS that were at Target a while back. (Just to clarify, these ones are NOT KI Memories brand). Looks like a decent deal.

These “Thank You” stamps by EK SUCCESS have been around for quite awhile. I used to see them at an LSS that closed many moons ago. For only $5, they were hard to resist.

This was a huge pack of chipboard alphas for $8 by Memories Direct, that brand that’s often on HSN and they also have their own infomercials…at least they used to. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen one in a while. Maybe Cricut bought up all the allowable scrapbook infomercial time, LOL! Have you seen the CONSTANT Cricut informercials? Yikes.

And lastly, teeny tiny little totes by All My Memories, which I believe is now defunct. They’re sitting on a 12×12 paper pack so you can see how small they are.

Assuming these ADIRONDACK ink pads aren’t all dried out, I would call this the Find of the Day. Yum, look at all that ink!

Here are the items I purchased from Tuesday Morning that fine day:

Cheapie dot glue runners for stocking stuffers…

3 Vintage Pop Top Ink Pads ($1.49 each) and 1 Adirondack ink pad ($1.99). So 4 ink pads, a mere $6.50 (a $16-20 value). Yes, they really do smell as advertised …

Next was Michaels:

It looked like there were a few new scrapbook idea books …

Then Barnes and Noble with the Starbucks inside, where I got another one of those PEPPERMINT CRUNCH BARS I’ve been craving since the last time I was there a month prior. This is the ONLY Starbucks I’ve been to that has them … what up? Hollah! Oh my, they are melt-in-your-mouth heaven…

And lastly a couple of scrapbooking magazines. I’ve been reading through these for the past couple of weeks, and can honestly say I prefer the British “Scrapbook Inspirations” to CK. I think our American magazines (what, all 2 of them?) could take some tips from the Brits. Oh Frick on a Stick! I just went to Scrapbook Inspirations’ website so I could link to it, and found THIS. Crap, crap, crap. That was their last monthly issue. They will be doing something in new format quarterly starting February 2010. Sigh…..

Scrapbook Space:

My Scrap Sister ANGIE just added an amazing scrapbook space to her bedroom. She has such great style … I think you’ll really enjoy looking at it. Here is a sneak peek:

She’s having a scrapbook RAK and there are ways to get your name in the hat up to 5 times, so go play!

That’s all I got … Peace out.

Quick, Easy Christmas Cards from a Michaels Kit

I decided to go the easy route for Christmas cards this year, and buy a kit to make them come together more easily and cheaply. I found this kit at Michaels recently and, with my coupon, it only cost $8.50. You get 18 cards and envies, so only 47 cents per card is pretty dang good, I think.

The kit comes packaged very nicely, in this cute little box. It’s empty here….sorry, I forgot to take photos BEFORE I started..oops.

You get 6 sets/styles of cards, with 3 in each set. There are samples on the back of the box showing how you can assemble the cards, and everything is packaged to make that very easy to do….NO guesswork whatsover. Then again, you are free to mix and match or put the cards together your own way if you like.

I think the artwork is cute and unique. The messages are light-hearted and sweet. There are six different sentiments to go inside….here they are laid out on my desk. I added a quick dot of a coordinating color of Stickles glitter glue on the four corners of each one to give it a little pizzazz.

Okay, is it just me or whenever you say the word “pizzazz,” do you just want to break out some jazz hands right when you say it? Like, “Pizzazz” … jazz hands! I can’t help it. Both of my hands instantly starburst themselves into the air. “Pizzazz!” Wha? Oh, what is that you’re saying? … Oh, crap. You wouldn’t be caught dead doing something so “Glee”-ish, even in the privacy of your own home? And it IS just me? Wow. Major wake-up call, dude. Thanks.

Ah, okay, back to the Christmas cards….

One thing that’s really cool about these is almost every embellishment is pop-dotted already. So the cards have that 3-D look to them, and you didn’t even have to waste your own pop dots to get it. Sweeeeee-tuh!

I also inked the edges of a few of the elements…for instance…

and on the back of every card, it’s pre-printed with the “Handmade for you by…” thingee, so I stamped my name in a color-coordinated ink. I have 2 fairly new sets of Cats Eye CHALK INK queues from Michaels (love me some coupons!) so it was fun to use them on this…metallic blues, greens, reds from one set, and gold and copper from another set.

I got these cards about 90% done on Friday night…it took under 2 hours. I was running on fumes after a long week, so I was glad it was so easy-peasy. No brain cells required.

Here is the finished product, front and back, one of each of the 6 designs.

Just the fronts…

Pretty cute, huh? {Why, yes, I CAN say that! I’m not bragging, since I didn’t design them…I merely “assembled” them, much like one of Santa’s elves assembles toys….sheesh, don’t be a hater! I’m like an elf here, just trying to spread some goddamn Christmas joy!}

Since this kit only made 18 cards and I send out 40-50, I’m going to be on the lookout for another kit like this. I also got some “free” clear envelopes to re-use :)

What are you doing for Christmas cards this year? None, store bought, from a kit, digital/photo cards, or totally handmade? Would love to hear about what you’re doing and feel free to post a link if you’ve started them already :)