Happy Crafty Mail!

Today is my birthday. So Happy Birthday to me! It seems only fitting that I'm sharing happy mail on my birthday, because whenever I get happy mail, it feels like my birthday!

I actually got these packages around Halloween, but didn't get to open most of them until early this week. I was happy and sad about it. Happy because I got a bunch of things for super cheap from the Scrapbooker's Inner Circle closing sale, and sad because I'm losing the one place I could always go for my Project Life supplies! I'm also sad because one of the albums is broken (definitely not their fault). I've contacted American Crafts, and they've offered to replace it (and the other broken album from a while back) and to send some free supplies to make up for me paying to ship the broken albums.

First up, I have my order from Freckled Fawn. I love their products so much! I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need a subscription to their monthly embellishment kit, but it's a losing battle, and I may just cave and get it anyways. I do however, love buying just the stamps when they put them up a couple months after the kit was released (and is usually sold out). This is definitely something I wish Studio Calico would do, but I suppose by not doing it, it makes their products seem a lot more "exclusive".

I imagine that now that I own the wood veneer alphabet, and the words, I won't use them. Which is a shame because they're pretty, but that's exactly why I wouldn't use them. I hoard anything I think is pretty, because I'm afraid of running out of it and never getting it again. But of course something new always comes out and I either forget I had these, or wonder what I was thinking when I realize I haven't used them. I need to stop impulse shopping.

Stamps will always be my one weakness. I prefer them to stickers because I can use them again and again, with any colors I want, and in so many different ways! The one on the right will be the least used, I think, but I love the little car. It's so cute!

Once upon a time, I hated enamel dots. I had no idea why everyone was obsessed with them, or why everyone was trying to make their own, or why they complained about how hard they were to find. I gave away the only sets of enamel dots I had because I thought I'd never use them. But since I've began to embellish my pages more and more, I'm realizing they're probably something I should have in my stash! So naturally, I bought 2 of all the colors I could get my hands on from Freckled Fawn. In the near future I want to start collecting some from the Studio Calico Color Theory collection. I feel like they'd match the cards they release better than some of the other embellishments I have.

Arrow paper clips. I considered buying the sampler pack, but decided that I'd just buy the colors I tend to use the most, plus black and white because they go with everything. The gold and silver ones are possibly my favorite!

Then my order from Scrapbooker's Inner Circle arrived (in two boxes of course)! I stocked up on pocket pages. The top box is a Big Variety Pack 1 (includes designs A - F). The next two just contain 60 12x12 pages because I want to do some more traditional scrapbooking, so I stocked up on those. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but they were on sale, so I can't complain. The bottom box contains 60 Design A pages. I'll hopefully be able to save the bottom box until I start my album for next year, though I'm hoping to find another place in Canada to buy my PL supplies. If you have any recommendations, feel free to leave a comment with a link and I'll check it out!

I have some items that don't fit into the pocket pages, but also don't warrant an envelope (not for one or two pages) so I bought some page protectors for them. I wish I'd bought more than one package of these, but we'll see how I use what I've got first.

Of course I impulse bought this album. Gold foil is another weakness of mine, especially when it's paired with black, and my obsession with woodgrain meant this album needed to be mine. Maybe I'll move my Graduation pages into this album, and throw in a few other pages about myself.

This is the Rain Edition: Woodgrain Album. Becky Higgins, just announced that it's soon to be retired, so I'm glad I snatched this up while it was still available. I'd hate to have missed out on it. Though it will likely be in storage for a while. The purpose of this album is to hold all those Hunting pages I made. I hate the post bound albums, and this will fit plenty of pages into it, so I thought it was perfect! Now to find somewhere to store it so it doesn't get destroyed before I need it.

On the left is the Teresa Collins Studio Gold Instagram Album. It's so pretty. I just had to have it. I love that the album itself is translucent. Almost like vellum, but a little less cloudy, but not completely transparent. Plus I loved the gold heart on the front. The album on the right is where I want to put my 100 Happy Days pages.

For some reason, I also got these cinnamon dividers. I imagine this package either came from Becky Higgins' warehouse, or SIC was trying to get rid of them, and included one set for every 12x12 album purchased. I have yet to determine a use for these, but there are plenty of great ideas out there.

After photographing everything, I opened this album and discovered the rings were broken. I suppose if I really wanted to, I could hotglue the top end down, but I'd rather not, so I'm going to find a box for this album and the 12x12 album into and mail it to American Crafts.

Thanks for coming by! I'd love to see what you use the designer dividers for! Do you love or hate the SIC is closing for good? Personally I hate it. It's so sad that so many shops are closing down, making it harder and to get supplies.

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Washitape Wednesday

That's right, I'm bringing Washitape Wednesday's back. Tiffany has stopped hosting the link up,  but I'm going to keep posting my washitape projects here, and you can feel free to share links to yours in the comments, or email them to me at creationsbycoal@gmail.com

I can't guarantee that this will happen on a weekly basis, but I'm going to try and do it at least once a month. I need to get my days better organized and plan ahead for the blog. Hopefully when work closes for renovations I can get myself ahead enough that I won't be so stressed about this. As it is, I can hardly do 3 days a week, I couldn't imagine if I'd tried to continue with 5 days a week.

Anyways, I was going to do a giveaway on my Instagram when I hit 600 followers. Clearly that didn't happen, I got busy, I didn't really have anything I wanted to give away that people would have wanted, but I thought that whatever I did, I could toss in some washitape envelopes. My goal was to make a dozen and have multiple winners (2 or 3). I ended up with 7 envelopes, but I plan to just keep working at it. I have so much washitape that using some of it up couldn't hurt.

I used a variety of tapes, either in the same colour, or in complimenting colours. I had a lot of fun doing it.

I added plain white address labels to the fronts of the envelopes. None of the tapes overlapped. I trimmed them so they hit each other, but nothing overlapped.

I tried to put the tapes on in a variety of angles and use a bunch of different patterns, but sometimes it's hard without making it all one colour. 

You can never have too much washitape!

-Alex

Michael's Haul #6

Happy Friday! I'm working this weekend, but last weekend when I was off, we went to Calgary. Jon had a tournament and instead of lusting after the things everyone's been buying at Michael's, I agreed to suffer through the tournament to do some crafty shopping.

I went to two different Michael's, a small scrapbook shop called Scrapbooker's Paradise, and Ikea. At the first Michael's, I spent $70. They didn't have much of what I wanted, and I bought a couple of things for Jon (not pictured), and I was okay with that.

First up, I bought some MAMBI (Me & My Big Ideas) cards for my Project Life.

Of course I had to get more washitape. The tape on the far right is from the Recollections Pastel collection. The teal tape is a fabric tape.

My biggest weakness has got to be for stamps! I was looking for more of the Heidi Swapp stamps, but only found those three. The stamp set on the left is by DCWV.

I also have a weakness for paper. Especially pastel coloured paper. It goes so nicely with my Project Life album, and as much as I say I hate pink, I'm starting to love it again. I also picked up some plastic bobbins. They're traditionally used for embroidery thread, but I have some scrap pieces of ribbon and twine that I wanted to contain, so I plan to wrap them around the bobbins and put them into a bead organizer (still need the bead organizer).

After we got to Calgary, we drove by Scrapbooker's Paradise and Jon insisted that we stop in. He found the Coral kit and insisted that I get it. I swear he's trying to make me broke.

I was on the fence about the coral kit for a while. I'm still a little unsure about it, but after going through the cards, I feel like I'm going to use most of them in various layouts. 

I have so much paper already, but I couldn't pass up this paper pad. I also love these stamps! I'm a sucker for arrow stamps. 

I also had to add more washitape to my collection. The left is white with little blue birds on it, then mustaches, comic book tape, and two sets of purple washitape. I really didn't need more tape, but I couldn't help myself, and again, Jon was influencing my decision. I might have to start Washitape Wednesday again.

After Scrapbooker's Paradise, we headed over to Ikea. I recently joined a Project Life group on Facebook and a bunch of the girls suggested storing PL cards in a Raskog cart using Antonius inserts. I'll share more about this next week.

It has space on the left and right for 3x4 cards and space in the centre for 4x6 cards.

I bought the aqua Raskog cart. It compliments the purple of my craft space perfectly! 

In almost the same parking lot, was a Michaels. I couldn't resist going to see if they had a couple mini kits I wanted. They didn't, but they had a couple core kits I wanted to get my hands on. This is the Maggie Holmes core kit.

I love the pastel colours of this. I feel like it would be great for more vintage photos, but I plan to mix it into my Project Life album!

I also got the Season's mini kit.

I love the variety of cards in this one! Perfect for weather or scenery photos to celebrate the season.

Dear Lizzy core kit. I wanted her mini kits, but I'll take this core kit! It goes PERFECTLY with the 5th & Frolic and Blush editions.

This kit is very floral, pink and pastel. I love it.

I also went overboard on stamps. They had more of the Heidi Swapp stamps (I ended up with a couple duplicates). The two on the top right are from the Recollections pastel collection.

These stamps are also by Heidi Swapp. They're definitely being used for Project Life. They're perfect for it. Plus if I ever get back to making cards, I can use them there!

On the left: Project Life Theme Cards - Inspirational.
Centre: Project Life Theme Cards - Home.
Right: Heidi Swapp Ephemera.

I found the sticky tabs in the dollar bin. Plan to toss them into one of my RAK's this year. The buttons are from the Recollections Pastel collection.

More washitape. I bought these because they match a paperstack I have.

More washitape racks. They were the last two sets they had, they were open, but I made sure all the pieces were still there before I bought them.

I also found a bin of these metal pieces. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but I couldn't pass them up.

I also bought a new pair of shoes, and ended up nearly broke. The tournament was boring, but I learned a bit more about the fundamentals of the game.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Get Well Soon

Happy Friday! Can't believe January is almost over already!

This card was inspired by one of my Papercrafts issues. But of course I did my own take on the card.

I traced the green piece with a yellow pen. The yellow strip on the right is washitape. I stamped the flower above the get well soon.

I tied the twine in a bow and used it to hide the seam between the patterned paper on the left and the off white base piece.

Here's the side view of the card. The get well soon is adhered with foam squares, and the twine wraps around behind the off-white piece.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll try and make some more non-boring cards and things. I'm also considering bringing back Washitape Wednesday's. Possibly once a month or so. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I'd also like to use up some more washitape!

-Alex

Washitape Wednesday

It's Washitape Wednesday again loves! Of course I saved the best for last! This is my absolute favourite of the cards I made for my giveaway winners. It's so bright and fun. I'm absolutely pleased with how it turned out, to the point that I almost didn't want to give it away. But I'm sure someone will love it as much as I do.

I pulled colours from the floral tape for this one, and I'm so pleased with how well they all go together.

I kind of went with a split chevron / herringbone look for this card. It was so much fun to do. I made sure the tapes lined up on both panels, but I couldn't get the patterns to match up perfectly.

I used the same Congratulations stamp as I did for the first card, and adhered it with foam squares. I adhered the tape panels to the card using my tape gun. 

I added gems in corresponding colours down the side to add a touch of sparkle to the card, and make it even prettier. I placed them in the same order as they were on the card.

Hope you all have a wonderful Washitape Wednesday! I'd love to see all of your projects! Leave links in the comments below and I'll be sure to check out your blogs!

-Alex

Washitape Wednesday

It's that time again! I really wish I had some Christmas washitape, but I haven't been to Michaels since August! It feels like a lot longer, but it really hasn't been that long. Perhaps in November I'll be able to get to Michaels and pick up some Christmas goodies to finish up some penpal packages, cards and blog posts.

Anyways, onto the third of my giveaway congratulations cards.

With this card, I wanted to try something different with my tape. I've always put it into white paper, so with this card, I put it straight onto the black paper. 

In this close up, you can see that the black of the paper doesn't show through very well, but it still makes the colours a lot brighter. I stuck to mint and pink tapes for this one.

I used the same congratulations stamp, and a leftover piece of paper from a Christmas card I'm working on. I inked the edges with blue to make it pop a little.

Here's a side view of the card. I inserted a white piece inside the card to make it easier to write in. 

Hope you all have a wonderful Washitape Wednesday! I'd love to see your projects, leave a link in the comments, or email me! creationsbycoal@gmail.com

-Alex