Wednesday, October 31, 2012

WOYWW #178: Halloween & Pirates

Happy Halloween! And happy Wednesday!

This is my desk as of about 9:00 AM this morning, when I realized that in fact it was never going to get properly light today so I shouldn't bother waiting. We've got a fairly tidy pile of scraps and a couple of works in progress. The Fiskars cuttermajig was out to cut those two ovals you see beside it... neither of which I ended up using. Oh well, I'm sure they'll be useful for something eventually.

I could use a little bit of feedback on this bookmark with the pirate girl on it -- I'm pretty sure there's something missing in the design, but I don't know what.

I'm not any sort of a colorist, but it's the composition I'm having that nagging feeling about, not the coloring.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Bookmarks XLVIII: Foil in the Fall

I picked up one of Repeat Impression's vertical stamps at the Southfield, MI Stamp & Scrap Art Tour show this weekend, and almost immediately inked it up and stamped it to show it in Sunday's (late) State of the Stash.

(As I link to it, I realize that maybe I should have bought it online... it's one of the vertical stamps on sale this month! Oh well, I'm sure shipping would have eaten up the savings.)

In fact, it didn't take much more than that to work up this bookmark. I took the stamped-and-emobossed leaves, a neutral strip of cardstock with a bunch of gold and bronze and copper smudged on, and some of the acorn-y paper I used on the squirrel bookmark, and bam! Simple but effective, and undeniably seasonal.

I'm entering this leafy bookmark in the following challenges:

Supplies: (foiled acorn paper is from DCWV's Autumn Melody matstack)

Monday, October 29, 2012

Corrected HTML for All That Scraps November Banner

Hello, All That Scrappers. Here's the corrected code to get the November banner to link back to All That Scraps Blog and not just the banner picture:

<a style="display: inline;" href="http://atsblog.typepad.com"><img title="All That Scraps Blog" src="http://atsblog.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54faf4fdc8834017c32b994ff970b-800wi" border="0" alt="All That Scraps Blog"></a>

As a bonus, the title and alt text read "All That Scraps Blog" rather than gibberish.

(All That Scraps folks, if you'd like me to delete this post once you've grabbed the correct code, just let me know in the comments.)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Bookmarks XLVII: The Cat Who Came For Christmas

Kitty cats and ornaments and Christmas coziness: that's this bookmark.

I've photographed it on a page from Cleveland Amory's The Cat Who Came For Christmas. I've shamelessly stolen his title, as you may have noticed, but I feel obligated to say that the cat in the book is white, whereas the cat on the bookmark is brown-striped. And red, too, which isn't exactly natural but is Christmas.

I'm entering this festive feline bookmark into the following challenges:

Supplies:

Saturday Sunday State of the Stash #4: Stars, Cats, and Jill Sparrow

Whoops! I'm late -- but for a self-imposed deadline which doesn't matter much to anyone else, so I think the world will keep turning. At least, the sun did set last night, and it rose this morning, and that's a good sign that it's kept turning so far.

I was poking around for another one or two affordable Fiskars cutting templates earlier this week, and more or less found what I wanted on Amazon -- a three-pack with squares, stars, and a selection of shapes. This pack is apparently discontinued -- at least it's not listed on Fiskars' website -- but it was quite cheap at $7 + free shipping, and the templates look just like the presumably newer ones I've got, so I'm quite pleased with the purchase.

While I was at it I got yet another set of cat stamps. Someone should really stop me -- but not until I've also bought this one, and this one, and this one if I ever find a set, and, basically, ALL THE CATS.

I may have a problem.

I don't care much about the general-selection-of-shapes template, but still, 2 for $7 is not a bad deal. If you can get two shapes, in five or six sizes, of dies or punches for that price, please tell me where you're shopping.

Amazon mini-haul:

On Saturday I went to a little retail show in Southfield, MI run by Stamp & Scrap Art Tour. Now, I've worked shows occasionally with my mother, who's a fiber artist, and that experience leads me to this conclusion: the Southfield Pavillion is a really nice show space. There's ceilings and carpet and everything! The hall itself is lit! I don't know how available outlets and electricity are, but the booths seemed well-lit too. I bet it's even air-conditioned in the summer!

None of the giant expo spaces or pretty-much-a-barn spaces I've set up or torn down in has been anywhere near as nice, I can say that for sure. I should have taken pictures. But maybe this is de rigeur for papercrafty shows? Or maybe it's the norm for small shows, of whatever type?

Oh, and I bought a couple of things. I thought there was going to more temptation than there was, but really I didn't see anything that NEEDED to come home with me.

At the Sweet Stamps booth I picked up this little pirate girl by Nellie Snellen. I believe she's officially known as "Pirate Girl with Cat", but I'ma call her Jill Sparrow. I mean, really. Look at that hair.

At the Repeat Impressions booth I bought one of their vertical designs (unmounted), because they're pretty perfect for the bookmark format.

In fact, so perfect that while taking pictures, I went ahead and inked it up, stamped, and embossed with copper embossing powder.

Then I pulled a couple of other papers, and voila! That bookmark is practically made already; it'll fit well in the various fall/autumn/leaves sorts of challenges around right now.

Stamp & Scrap mini haul:

What about you, how's your stash been growing or shrinking lately? Find any deals? Make any splurge purchases? Have a haul post or video? I'd love to see it! Did you ink up a previously uninked stamp, or finally crack the seal on something you've had for years, or use up a bunch of scraps? Bravo! (Actually, probably, brava!) I'd love to see those projects too! Are you perhaps destashing? I'd love to be tempted by your wares.

Oh, and if anyone could lend me some more question marks, that would be great. I think I may have used up my allotment in that last paragraph...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

The Crafty Pad likes Paisley Tea!

My Paisley Tea bookmark was chosen as one of the Top 5 in The Crafty Pad's "Distress It!" challenge!

I'm awfully pleased they liked it; it's nice to have the effort I put into that one rewarded!

Bookmarks XLVI: Grey, Red, and Black

I used to think there were two kinds of squirrels: grey squirrels, and red squirrels. Then I moved to Michigan, where there are also black squirrels. I'm still not totally used to it, and I've been here for more than five years. Black squirrels!

(There is also a quasi-fourth type of squirrel here, which I call "who dipped half that black squirrel in a bucket of bleach?" squirrels.)

The internet tells me that black squirrels are just melanistic (i.e. very dark) grey squirrels, and can have all sorts of weird mottling patterns, but still. Black squirrels! They're not less cool-looking for the knowledge.

So when I wanted to make a fallish bookmark with some scraps of acorny paper and my new Lawn Fawn Critters in the 'Burbs stamps, the squirrel (and the acorn) were the obvious choice, and doing squirrels in three colors was only a very small step from that. They're all stamped and embossed in gold, and then I colored them in with silver (for grey), copper (for red), and black (for black... you probably figured that out) and stamped and embossed some acorns in the same set of colors.

The background brown paper is a scrap I used to soak up spray from the craft mat a while ago and then set aside to dry. I love to do this, especially with bookmark-y sized scraps of plain paper; they go back into the paper box to become neat backgrounds for future projects (like this one). I'm pretty sure there's both gold and copper spray on here, although I can only swear to the copper. In the picture it looks like there's silver as well, but that's just the lighting.

I have some lovely novels starring squirrels that I should have used to photograph this bookmark on, but they're in a box -- oh, shoot, the Redwall books aren't boxed, I could have used one of them! Anyway, I ended up putting it on a page of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I'm entering this squirrely bookmark into the following challenges:

Supplies: (the acorn paper is from DCWV's Autumn Melody matstack)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bookmarks XLV: Luxury With Buttons

This is one of those projects inspired by "I like this set of stamps, why haven't I used it yet?" rather than a set of challenges. I'm in the midst of putting together some organization for my stamps, you see, and it feels weird to stuff unopened packages in it. And wrong to open a package without using something inside of it!

It's a very simple bookmark - stamp onto some scrap cardstock, emboss, cut to fit, round the corners... I did make the cardstock not-quite-as-rectangular by using my circle punch to let it echo the waist of the dress dummy. Then I inked the edges, dipped them into the embossing powder, and embossed them too.

That didn't seem like quite enough, so I tried stamping and embossing a button, in red, below the main element. As you will notice, that is no longer in evidence: it didn't really show up, so instead I punched out a circle of the same red cardstock and did the button in gold on that. I like it!

I don't think I have any books about dresses or sewing or dress dummies around, so the background page isn't anything particularly appropriate -- it's from Louisa May Alcott's The Old-Fashioned Girl. It's a sweet book, about sticking to one's "old-fashioned" values in fashionable city life, and I recommend it.

I'm entering this bookmark into just one challenge -- it isn't Halloween-y or autumnal, so there isn't much out there to put it in -- The House That Stamps Built Designer's Choice Challenge: Anything But a Card. As it happens, I live in Michigan near a stamping etc. show that they'll be at this weekend, so if I'm not too busy to go I can probably meet them in person! Sorry this isn't a Repeat Impressions stamp, guys, hopefully I'll pick one up this weekend...

Supplies:

WOYWW #177: All The Things

Oh lordy, it's definitely one of those "What isn't on your work surface?" days.

This week I've taken my picture from the other side of the table -- I have the cutting mat on one side and the craft sheet on the other, because the cutting mat isn't terribly happy with heat (and ink's annoying to clean off) and the craft sheet is by no means self-healing.

This essentially means that when I "push back" to clear space, it unclears the other space. Woe is me when I switch back and forth a lot!

Things that are on my table include:

  • tripod
  • tub o' stamp organization, which needs a different tub
  • stack o' bigger stamp sets, which don't fit in the tub above, hence the need for a different tub
  • a couple of stamp sets out to do some stamping with (I'm thinking cat/Christmas bookmark, hence the red & green scrap paper nearby)
  • clear contact paper for covering paperback books
  • paperback books, both covered and to-be-covered
  • little embossing lever-thing, for the putting of my name in said books (fancy!)
  • Sugru
  • boyfriend's old-fashioned pen and Sculpey-fashioned pen case (He tried writing with some red Smooch spritz as ink, which worked okay except that he insists it is actually pink. Which it is not.)
  • punches, Fiskars cuttermajig, stamp cleaner, extra envelopes for stamp-organization-in-progress, ink, paint pens, paper scraps, scissors, embossing powder, etc., etc., etc.

Oh, and on the floor on the right you can see the box o' paper.

It's not a matter of keeping my storage shelves tidy, you see -- it's a matter of putting things back onto them!

Miss Grumpypuss (note: not actually named Miss Grumpypuss) here is not on my table. But as I am stamping a stripey kitty, I thought I'd take a picture of the stripey-est real kitty I've got. She's not terribly stripey. (Or maybe she is, and just has so much fur that the stripes blur?)

I imagine most visitors to this post will be coming via this week's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday -- but if you're not one of them, and you'd like to take a gander at other workspaces, head on over to the Stamping Ground and gaze your heart out. There are so many other desks and tables and all that I can almost guarantee you'll find several messier (or at least with less free space) than mine!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Bookmarks XLIV: Time Vines

No long meanderings from me today; my own clock is ticking towards deadlines rather faster than I would like.

I made this bookmark mainly for this week's challenge / 3rd anniversary celebration at The Play Date Cafe. The bit where their color scheme fit some of my paper scraps didn't really hurt either!

Of course, it also seemed appropriate to enter it in Creative Craft Challenges' 3rd Blogoversary "Three" challenge. I guess this is a good time of the year for 3rd anniversaries!

You'll notice I set the clock to 3:00; that's why I thought it was appropriate for both.

Someday I will remember to stamp intricate designs on not-intricate-designs paper. Oh well, it works well enough; at least the embossing powder is a different color than the backing paper.

I've photographed this bookmark against a page of The 13 Clocks, by James Thurber, which seemed fairly appropriate.

I'm entering this timey-viney bookmark into the following challenges:

Supplies:

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Bookmarks XLIII: The Hat Signal

Police Chief O'Brien stood on the roof of the downtown station, huddled in the scant shelter offered by the rooftop doorway. It was cold, windy, dark; but not yet dark enough.

"Those old crones," she said under her breath. "I swear they think this is funny." She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets.

The last trace of sun disappeared over the horizon, leaving the city lit only by its own light pollution. O'Brien stalked out of the shelter of the doorway and over to the searchlight, modified specially for nights like this one. Nights when the police knew things were moving, things they didn't want to understand and couldn't deal with. It had been years.

She drew in a breath, and flipped the switch. The searchlight flickered once, then threw a steady beam into the clouds. Visible in the center was the shadow of the image on the searchlight's lens.

There. She'd done it. She'd lit the Hat Signal, and there was nothing to do now but wait and hope it was answered.

Look, it's not that I mean to make horrible Batman-referencing puns. It just happened. One moment I was stamping a witch's hat above the haunted house as some kind of an accent, and the next all I could think was Yes. The Hat Signal! I am a hilarious genius!

I'm entering this bookmark into the following challenges:

Supplies: (the hat is also from a Studio G dollar stamp set)

Bookmarks XLII: Halloween Candy

Candy! Using scrap paper! Using new stamps! What isn't delightful about this bookmark?

Well, to be fair, I don't actually like candy corn very much. But the stamped version is pretty cute, which is all that matters here.

I've photographed the bookmark on one of the candy-making pages of my copy of the Joy of Cooking; it only seemed appropriate.

I'm entering this bookmark into these challenges:

Supplies: (stamps are from a dollar set by Studio G)

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Saturday State of the Stash #3: Blades & Paper

I'm weak. Joann had papercrafting stuff at 40% off. (Stamps were 50% off and somehow I didn't buy any -- I guess I'm just tired of their selection.)

Now, one part of my purchase was completely justified: I have no spare blades for my cuttermajig (i.e., more formally, the Fiskars Ultra ShapeXPress), and I do use it. I had intended to look for a good price on the 'net, but as a 40% off price was staring in my face, it seemed intelligent to jump on it.

I also bought a paper trimmer -- I haven't had one, I've just been cutting with my craft knife and ruler, which does work quite well as I've had a lot of practice at it. I used it a couple of times this week, but it's not really right for me -- ideally it would go out to seven inches (my bookmarks are usually six-ish inches long), whereas it actually only goes out to five.

Being able to square up the paper on the trimmer does give me more confidence in my right angles, but what's the point of right angles when I can't measure as long as I want? Not much. So I returned it. I'm going to try to find a nice square or triangle or T-square to go with my ruler, instead.

Also I bought some matstacks. Because, hey, matstacks!

Don't laugh at me, I'm sure you have a similar paper addiction. It's just that I like mine in cardstock weights and smaller sizes.

Joann mini-haul:

Joann was absolutely teeming with people when I went to return the trimmer -- there is a sale ending today and of course any fabric store is more and more crowded as October advances. So I sure as heck wasn't going to try shopping there. But I did walk across the parking lot to Michaels, because, hey, I was there anyway, I might as well stick my head in.

Stamps were buy one get one free. So I did.

Michaels mini-haul:

I've also got some promising storage and organization going on with my clear and cling stamps, but I'm not quite done putting it together yet. I guess I'll show it next Saturday, or maybe for WOYWWednesday.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Bookmarks XLI: Put on Your Party Hat

I loved the color scheme in the card that Katie made for Loves Rubberstamps' Sensational Sunday Inspirations post.

Plus I realized that it gave me a reason to cut into a fresh sheet of paper, which is always fun.

Going through my stamps, none of them really seemed to fit the color combination until I came to a party/Happy Birthday set. So, although it isn't really a common subject for bookmarks, I made a party bookmark.

I have a lot more use for bookmarks than I think I would for cards, see.

Originally it was just going to be the balloons and the sentiment, but I kinda messed up punching the stars in the lower right corner. So I stamped and embossed the party hat (using it as an excuse to cut into yet another new piece of paper), cut it out, colored it in to help the pattern appear, and whacked it jauntily over my mistake. To help the colors fit, I used the same pen to color a bit of one of the balloons.

Then I put some of the punched-out stars onto the hat. Originally they were both centered on circles, but the upper one seems to have shifted off a bit... oops.

It only took me 40 sets of bookmarks to figure out that hey, do you know what would make a good backing paper for photographing bookmarks? BOOKS. This one is Pippi Longstocking, at the beginning of the last chapter... where she throws herself a birthday party.

I'm entering this bookmark in the following challenges:

Supplies:

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

WOYWW #176: Somebody Else!

It's really still Wednesday, I promise. I must be quick, it's off to dinner with me.

Here's the table this evening; I've just finished making a bookmark. A... birthday celebration bookmark? I dunno, I wanted to use those colors and the birthday stamps seemed to go with them.

I mentioned my storage on Saturday. My accumulation of papercrafting stuff is new and recent, and my stash is small. I keep it in these lovely stacking bins, obsessively labeled with blue painter's tape. Love that stuff.

What's that on my worktable? SOMEONE ELSE! My boyfriend fixed our friend's sewing machine (actually it just needed the right size bobbin; he used his internet research skills rather than his mechanical repair skills), and printed off a copy of the manual since she didn't have one. "I have several sets of sewing-y stamps!" said I, and stoutly refused to do anything with them myself. He gave in to the inevitable and stamped a bit on the back cover, hurrah! COME TO THE INKY SIDE.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Guest Bookmark: Jack-o-Lantern

A book-blogger friend of mine, Anya, sometimes comes over and makes bookmarks with me. She made this one at my crafty birthday party! It started out looking horribly mistaken (she shared this evaluation), but the more she added, the better it looked! It's always a relief, and something of a delight, when that happens.

I really like that copper border with gold embossing powder on it... but then again, I'm a sucker for copper.

Her crowning touch was definitely drawing the jack-o-lantern face onto the pumpkin.

Anya's asked me to enter her stuff into challenges when it's not too much trouble, and there seem to be a lot of pumpkin-themed challenges about at the moment. To be quite clear, she did make this several weeks ago and did post a small picture on her book blog. I think it's still legit to enter in current challenges -- it hasn't been posted anywhere papercrafty or entered in challenges before. But please delete this entry without guilt if your challenge is not okay with that!

I'm entering Anya's bookmark (on her behalf) into these challenges:

(She does read my blog, so she'll see your comments!)

Supplies:

Bookmarks XL (40): Asteriskflakes

I was so frustrated trying to make that dang vintagey bookmark work that somewhere during the process I stopped and made this: a nice simple stamped and embossed happy winter snowflakey thing with my brand new set of TPC Studio "Winter Activities" stamps. It was inky and blue and demanded no lace whatsoever. It made me happy.

The set comes with plenty of little snowflakes. They aren't intricate -- they're your basic six-pointed asterisk shape -- but I appreciate the quantity. I smooshed them as randomly as I could onto an acrylic block and inked and stamped them as a whole several times over the bookmark, using the block at different angles and often stamping over the edge. I think I achieved a much more random-but-good-coverage look this way than if I had been stamping with just one snowflake over and over again.

Skis and snowflakes and a dotty shimmery border. There's even an asterisk on her hat! What more could you ask for? (Okay, you could ask for a non-smudged snowflake on the upper right, but as this was made to get away from a fussy project, I was not going to fuss about it.)

I'm entering this bookmark into the following challenges:

Supplies:

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Bookmarks XXXIX: Paisley Tea

This bookmark fought me and fought me and I'm not entirely certain I've won. Still, it's hard to lose completely with a bookmark: regardless of its aesthetic appeal, it will certainly be successful at marking my place in a book.

I do not think I ended up making this bookmark out of any of the things I started with. I had visions of cherries and milkshakes and pink, like a pretty vintage ice cream advertisement poster.

Well, I have a cherry background I'm happy with. And I have a cute little milkshake all cut out and pink as you could wish. But the milkshake doesn't work on the background! If I don't back it with something, it blends in. If I do, the backing is awkward and pushes the cherry background into a red muddle. Argh!

So I put that aside, picked up some pretty purple paisley paper and a scrap I've been using to wipe up sprays from my craft mat, and made tea. Pretty pink & purple paisley tea. I whacked at some white lace ribbon with purples and pinks and added that too, to up the vintage quota.

I like the teapot, but I must admit that the teacup is a bit of a muddle: i.e., until I tell you that it is a teacup, it's just this muddled shape. D'you think it would be easier to see if I colored all the teacup parts in with the purple pen? Maybe I'll do that.

(I suppose it's fitting that this distressed piece of paper ends up being part of a tea bookmark -- its first round of distressing, way under all the pinky-purple, was Tea Dye Distress Ink.)

I'm entering this bookmark into the following challenges:

Supplies: (purple paisley cardstock is from Recollections/Michaels, and lace is Celebrate It Occasions/Michaels white 7/8")

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Saturday State of the Stash #2: Good Enough To Eat

I went to Wal-Mart.

See, here's the problem: Wal-Mart is evil. But Wal-Mart also appears to have an exclusive on some Sterilite containers that I love -- they come in lots of sizes, all the sizes stack on each other, the handles latch over the lids to keep them on -- everything I want in plastic boxes! They sure as heck have Sterilite labels on them, but they don't show up anywhere but Wal-Mart, not even on the Sterilite website! So to Wal-Mart I go.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of the boxes for the next WOYWW or something.

And since I was there already, of course I had to go check out the crafting section. There was a whole display of Halloween-y Studio G stuff -- mini stamp sets, mini punches, a bunch of other stuff I didn't pay attention to -- all at $.97 apiece.

So I picked up a couple of little stamp sets. While making the All Hallow's Eve bookmark I had rather wished for a smaller bat, so I picked up a set with a teeny haunted house and teeny bats (and a teeny crescent moon). I'd been seeing challenges involving candy and treats popping up, so I grabbed a little candy-themed set -- not so much for the "CANDY" sentiment or the candy corn as the wrapped candy, which is nicely non-seasonal. Also, I am a sucker for corvids, so I picked up the set with a raven, a witch hat, and some witch legs. I have no intention of making squished-Wicked-Witch-of-the-East bookmarks, but I suppose if I did this would be an awesome find.

I also grabbed a teeny skull punch. I don't expect much of it, but it might come in handy for challenges of a gothic or pirate-y sort.

Then I gravitated over to the clearance section, because unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess, for my conscience and my storage space) there was nothing else of stampy interest.

But over in the clearance section, there were colorful leather things!

I saw the browns and reds first and wasn't really convinced. Suede cord is nice, and suede cord in a bunch of colors is nicer, but... I wandered away and came back to think about it again. Then I spotted the blues and greens! (I'm not blind -- the clearance section was just unorganized and they weren't together.) I'm rather more of a sucker for blues and greens than reds and oranges, you see. So I got the blues and greens, and at that point, why not get the reds and browns as well?

We're not quite sure whether it's real suede or not. It looks real, but it doesn't smell like leather. It doesn't really smell like anything. (I expect it will smell like leather after it's been stored with the rest of the leather for a while, though. So there's that taken care of.)

Wal-Mart mini haul:

While I was putting together last week's State of the Stash, I got distracted browsing the internet. This trying-to-find-links-to-list-products stuff is dangerous. If you find the right link immediately, that's fine. But if you have to sort through related links... it's not good, folks.

The TPC Studio trend from last week therefore continues this week. I found some cute cat stamps ('cause I definitely don't have enough cat stamps) and a fun-looking alphabet set on Etsy at YEChopShop:

I didn't order the card; it's a lovely thank-you from YEChopShop. That's one of the fun things about ordering from little Etsy or even ebay stores -- the personal touches. I don't think I could run one properly; I'm not sure I would really want to thank someone who'd spent about $10 including shipping... (i.e. myself). Clearly the proprietor of YEChopShop is a much better and more gracious person than I am.

Don't worry; I knew the alphabet stamps would come loose in a bag. What I didn't know, though, was that they would look so much like delicious gummy candies! Observe, I've put some gummies in a bag, and they look just as delicious as the alphabet stamps:

I managed to convince myself they (er, the stamps, not the gummies) were really truly stamps and not candy for long enough to separate them and put them onto a leftover backing sheet (obviously the alphabet stamps are not actually TPC Studios Sewing Rubber Cling Stamps). Of course, the plastic isn't indexed, but when the stamps are stained so colorfully, they're pretty easy to see. (I know some people don't like stained stamps, but I'm just fine with 'em.) Now they look less like candy.

YEChopShop didn't have this set listed as being from any particular company, but I've tracked it down: it's the Pattern Alphabet from Hero Arts.

YEChopShop mini haul:

And here's some more TPC Studios. If it helps, I'm pretty sure I won't be acquiring any this coming week.

The adorable winter set comes from cupcakesandchaos on ebay, although you will note it includes neither cupcakes nor chaos. Again we see the delight of buying things from an actual person: a handwritten note and a freebie sticker set came in my little package! It's a very flattering sticker set, too, because I can choose to apply all those lovely adjectives to myself.

Er, not literally, I haven't been wearing these stickers as nametags or anything. Although I suppose I could...

cupcakesandchaos mini haul:

In using-stash-up news, I made a bookmark 100% from scraps (Join the Dance), which makes me feel happy although it really doesn't make much of a dent. I've got two more bookmarks that aren't quite posted yet, one of which uses new stamps from last week and one of which features the skater from the TPC Winter Activities set I've just shown you. So although I may be acquiring at a greater rate than I'm using, I am at least using what I'm acquiring!

What about you? Did you pick up any exciting (or just excitingly cheap) new stash this week? If you have a haul post or video I'd love to see it. Even better, did you use up a scrap heap of stash you already owned, or ink up a lonely and neglected stamp? Leave me a link!