Craft Haul | Michaels, Ali Edwards, & A Little Scrapbook Shop

Good morning! It's definitely been a while since I shared a craft haul on here. It's also been a while since I picked up as many supplies at one time, as I did when I started these posts. I feel like I have enough stuff in my stash at this point, that there isn't a lot of things that I NEED or have the space for. I have subscriptions to the Studio Calico card and Project Life kits, as well as a subscription to the Ali Edwards Story Kits & Stamps. With all of that, and my lack of crafty time lately, I have a huge stash of things I need to use, so I've been trying to buy less.

Despite all of that above, I can't go into Michael's and NOT buy something that I probably don't really need. I picked up some little metal corners from Tim Holtz, some jump rings, and some black tags.

At some point, I'm making a scrapbook for my sister to document her trip to Ireland over her Easter break this year, so I bought some stickers to hopefully use in that (though probably won't). She had a blast, and I'm so excited to help her document her trip.

I found these beautiful frames (and some other larger and more expensive ones!) and they were buy one get one free, so of course I picked up 2 sets. I wasn't sure what I was going to use them for at the time, but I knew I'd figure it out after I got home. These frames aren't very big, the picture slots are 1" - 3", so they're not very big.

I decided that I'd put photos of our nieces and nephews in them. Jon's sisters each have 2 kids (his one sister has 2 boys and the other has 2 girls), and my brother has 2 kids as well (a boy and a girl), so they were perfect for that.

I also picked up these super cute recollections frames. They will look so cute on the front of a mini album, or on a little gift box. I might pick up some more next time I'm in Michaels. They're just so cute!

Of course I also had to pick up some Project Life cards as well. On the left is the Trinkets value kit. The gold foil made it jump straight into my basket. I've been looking for the Gold Foil kit (center) for a while now. I'm so glad I finally found it! I'm like obsessed with gold foil, just like pretty much everyone else! And I also picked up the Chalkboard kit. I love that it's more than just black and white, it also has some other colours on the black paper.

I picked up a variety of other things from Michaels that I didn't include here. I picked up some metal letters to put in the livingroom, some cork sheets for Jon, and some large gold and silver foil letters from MAMBI. 

A couple weeks ago, Ali Edwards had a sale on her sight. I bought a TON of digital files, but I also bought these three stamp sets, and some white embossing powder. 

While I was in Manitoba, visiting my Aunt & cousins, we visited her local scrapbook store. I found these Tim Holtz lightbulbs I've been looking for online, and I also picked up some little clips. I could have spent an entire day in that shop looking at everything, but we had to pick my cousin up from school, so I reluctantly left the shop with just these items.

I can't wait to share projects using some of these items! I'm so excited to get crafty, I wish I had more time to do crafty things. So many ideas rolling around in my head now. Gonna go write some of them down.
Hope you have a wonderful day!
-Alexandria

Simple Stamped Greeting Cards

Today I'm sharing some simple cards I made using some stamps I have from Studio Calico. I keep buying stamps, putting them in a pile and then never using them. I made it a point to try and use some of them in different ways, and make a few simple cards with just stamps. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

This card was made using this stamp set from Studio Calico. Unfortunately it's sold out, but It's so cute! I wanted it to just be simple, so I stuck to two sentiments and the tomato stamp. I love that it comes with the little face stamp, and a die so you could cut it out after you stamp it.

Pears don't really have one color, but it was nearly impossible for me to get the yellow-y/green color of the pear without it looking like a pile of poop. I added a simple "perfect pair" sentiment, but the addition of a "congratulations" would also have been a nice addition.

This card was made using the stamp set from this add-on, also from Studio Calico. I stamped the hello circle, and then took the "one thousand good night kisses" stamp and a scrap of cardstock that I cut to fit over the sentiment, and stamped the circles around the hello. I added some Heidi Swapp mist to finish off the card.

I used the triangle stamp from the stamp set above, and a thank you stamp from my stash to create this card. I love that the thank you stands out against the simple background.

Thanks for coming by to see these cards. I hope you liked them.
I'd love to see what you do with just stamps. Feel free to leave links to your projects in the comments!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

More Crafty Goodness

So before I go on a no new craft supplies summer (worst idea ever I'm sure), I filled a shopping cart on Two Peas in a Bucket, Freckled Fawn, and both of them arrived on Monday, and I was so excited to share my haul with all of you, that I moved around some posts I had planned for later this week so I could share my excitement with you.

I shared this photo on Instagram Monday morning after my packages arrived. I couldn't wait to tear them open and see all my pretty goodies!

I opened the box first (of course), and this was what greeted me. There was paper placed on top to keep things from shifting around too much. The box weight 19lbs, so I think I got a lot of stuff.

Instead of tackling the giant box of goodies, I started with my slightly smaller package from Freckled Fawn. Inside was a bunch of wood veneers, and these three stamp sets. I will definitely be ordering their stamps again in the future. Aren't they just the cutest?!

I ordered two of each package of wood veneers because I have a very strong feeling that I'll be using these A LOT in the future. They're just the kind of simple embellishments that I needed for my PL pages.

Then I pulled everything out of the box and laid it out on my desk. There's such a variety here, and I'm sure I won't need to buy anything else for a while.

Of course I bought a variety of Studio Calico wood veneers. I bought one of each of these.

I'm a sucker for stamps. The two sets on the left are from Technique Tuesday by Allie Edwards. The set on the right is by Allison Kreft.

I bought two Elle's Studio sets, the far left is 100% Sweet Stamps, the second is from the Serendipity line, next is Happy Place "Home" by ChicTags, and a set by Evalicious (which I only recently discovered), you can find her shop (here).

Doodlebug sequins were a must have for me, and are what started this whole thing. I wanted to make some sequin pockets (which are really popular) for my PL pages, so I bought a bunch of sequins, and I'm waiting on some vellum from Studio Calico.

I've recently developed a love of thickers, so I bought some Dear Lizzy Thickers. They're gorgeous.

Here's a close up so you can see the difference between the three sets. The set on the left has navy dots, the middle set has white dots and the set on the right is covered in aqua glitter.

The bottom set of stickers is from Studio Calico, and the top set is Close Knit.

Baby stickers by Studio Calico. The far right set are vellum stickers.

The far right is Pebbles: Love You More journaling and filler cards. I saw them in a  Youtube video on Two Peas' channel, and thought they were just the cutest! In the middle is Dear Lizzy title cards, just 6 3x4 cards for Project Life. On the right is embroidery thread by Amy Tangerine.

On the left are Crystal Clear Sequins by Jenni Bowlin. In the middle is some Cut & Paste enamel stickers by My Minds Eye. One of my favourite lines by them! On the right is some chalkboard die cuts from Studio Calico.

I'm so in love with the Cut & Paste line from My Minds Eye that I bought both 6x6 paper pads, and the chipboard stickers.

These stickers are Sundrifter by Studio Calico.

Here's a variety of 12x12 sheets I ordered including, Dapper Dan by Glitz Design (mustaches), a couple pages from Cut and Paste by My Mind's Eye, some Maggie Holmes and Dear Lizzy paper as well as some rainbow chevron vellum.

I got the MME (My Mind's Eye) 6x6 Chalk paper pad and the Story Time paper pad by Studio Calico. I loved the colors and I make a lot of baby themed things for family and friends.

I picked up a few 12x12 paper pads as well. The left is DIY Shop by Crate Paper and the right is Color Wash by Pink Paislee (my favourite!).

I bought the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan 12x12 paper stack as well, and the Atlantic paperstack by Studio Calico.

Maggie Holmes and Wanderlust by Studio Calico 12x12 paper stacks.

Dear Lizzy: 5th & Frolic Collection Pack. There wasn't a 12x12 paper stack available, so I got this instead. It has a variety of papers that match the Project Life core kit, and some black glitter thickers.

Because I ordered more then $1 in physical product they sent these free gifts. I don't think I'll ever use the punch, so I'll probably put it into my pile of supplies to sell. As for the canvas, I have no idea how I would even use it, but I might hold onto it until I figure it out.

Now I just need to wait for my photos from Persnickety Prints to come in so I can put some of these beautiful supplies to use and work on the last two years, then I think I'll offer to do some albums for family (heritage, a travel album for my grandma, and various albums of photos from my childhood and my siblings).

Have a great Wednesday!

-Alexandria

Acrylic Stamp Storage Idea

Alright, so as many of you know, I have a lot of stamps. Some of you saw my posts on Instagram when we were moving that I didn't realize how many stamps I had until I had to pack them up (it was like that for the majority of my supplies). Shortly before we decided we were moving, I had been looking into different storage solutions for my acrylic stamps because my collection was growing quickly and the way I'd been storing them at the time (a couple of boxes), started to not be enough space to hold them. I needed something that I could easily expand if my collection grew any more (it's still growing).

I scoured Pinterest and there were some wonderful ideas, but one that stood out was to put them into pocket pages and put them in a binder. At first I thought that was kind of stupid. How would you remember which stamps were grouped together? What would you do with all those acetate sheets from them?

Then I realized I was being an idiot. I started out by buying a whole bunch of 8 1/2 x 11" pocket pages. Terrible idea. Pocket pages come in a variety of sizes, you just have to know where to look. So I went to staples again and looked at all the pocket pages they had. They had 8 1/2 x 11, baseball card (9 - 3"x2" slots), and business card holders (way too small for any stamp sets I own). Then I wandered to the Martha Stewart section and they had a set with two pockets on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet, and one with four pockets. Those are the ones I used the most of. The majority of my stamp sets fit into one or the other. I also have a large collection of little $1 stamps from Michaels (the little set of one or two stamps) and those fit nicely into baseball card pages.

Here's the four binders that hold the majority of my Acrylic Stamps. I still have some that I need to unpack from the grab box which is still sitting on the floor in the craft room full of things I need to put away. (The brown binder is actually a photo album, but it works just as well).

I labelled them with sticky notes because I've been rearranging different groups of stamps to make the binders mostly equal. For example, I have a lot of Christmas stamps, but not many Birthday stamps, so I've moved them into the same binder because they don't overflow it.

I placed dividers into my binders to put more distinction on the sections. They don't stick out past the pocket pages, but they still allow me to keep things a little more organized.

Here's a photo of the Martha Stewart pocket pages with 2 pockets. Most stamp sets will fit into this size of pocket page, as you can see they're pretty wide and my Recollections font sets aren't very big.

Here's an example of the Martha Stewart 4 pocket pages. They fit most of my slightly smaller stamps in them. The ones that didn't fit these pockets went into the two pocket pages. 

Here's one of my baseball card pages full of $1 stamps from Michaels. They fit almost perfectly, some of them I had to trim down to squeeze them in, but they still fit nicely and I can see them better this way.

I'd love to see how you organize your stamps! E-mail me your Stamp Storage photos creationsbycoal@gmail.com

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
-Alex

Christmas Card Supply Haul

Alright, so my birthday was on November 5th (V for Vendetta). We were going to go to the city for a Michael's / Ikea trip, but the roads were terrible and we couldn't go. To make up for it, Jon and I did some shopping in town instead. We bought a bunch of things for the house (which I'll share later), and I bought some much needed scrapbooking supplies.

I went to a local scrapbook/photography shop and bought practically everything Christmas they had.

I bought this Bazzil Basics Paper stack. I loved the variety of patterns and colours. 

I bought two of these Bo Bunny Christmas paper collections. They're beautiful!

This is silver metalic paper. It's super reflective so I placed a piece on top to only show a sliver of its metallic surface. I have a few sheets of gold as well that I bought last year. 

I bought one sheet (might go pick up more) of this beautiful red green and cream striped paper. 

This photo doesn't do this paper justice, the vines are metallic gold and they're beautiful. I bought four sheets of this to do my in-laws Christmas cards.

I also added some more little inks to my collection. I almost need to make a list of what I have so I don't buy duplicates! I'll share my little ink collection later.

I also bought a bunch of Christmas Stamps. As if I don't already have a crazy amount of stamps, I bought almost every Christmas stamp set they had. 

I love the Happy Holidays stamp, and the ornaments. So pretty on a corner of a card or gift tag.

I love the deer and the wreath on this one. I also love the little tree, so cute.

I bought these so that when I finally got around to starting my Project Life, I had stamps to use when Jon and I were doing things outside, or if I had photos of the weather. I also simply loved the skates and the sleigh.

The wreath on this one! It's absolutely perfect for my in-law's Christmas cards. It adds exactly the right touch. I also loved the vines in this set.

I love the variety of stars and the two trees. The one thing I love about Christmas is trees! Unfortunately we can't afford a tree this year, so we're using the tree I had in college (I'll share when we make space and put it up).

I bought this one mostly for the sentiments, but the holly stamp is growing on me.

This one has cute to and from stamps. I also loved the cupcake. 

This was one of the first ones I picked up. I love the snowflake and the tree which has the snowflake pattern on it. So pretty! I was mostly looking for different sentiment stamps for the front of my own cards.

My favourite holiday is probably Christmas. I love buying things for my family, though this year will be on a tight budget since we just moved and everything. Maybe next year we can buy a bunch of decorations and host Christmas here with the family!

Have a wonderful day!

-Alex