Bookmarks LXVII: Jeweltone Blends

 

Yep, I need to learn to focus the camera. Ah well.

This bookmark is a product only of supplies from the slightly-overboard whirlwind tour of all the Michaels stores in town, because I didn't really have anything else on hand. It's pretty much inspired by that wide streaky washi tape, with a side order of "let's smoosh some colors around and add silver". I mean, you can't buy that many kinds of metallic acrylics and use none of them.

This bookmark definitely has a friend -- I know I made one out of the other 6-inch half of the border strip that forms the base. But either I've lost it or -- shock! -- it's hiding inside a book rather than in the Bookmark Box. Maybe someday.

This post was written in February 2019 and backposted.

State of the Stash #21: I Think I Have Probably Overdone It A Wee Bit

I found this draft when I came back to the blog in February 2019 -- just the title and a saved folder of photos. I looked at the title and I thought... oh self, you have so many Black Fridays in front of you.

Then I went to edit the photos and actually, I think the title is accurate. That's... a lot of stuff.

From what I remember, I gave myself a tour of all the Michaels stores in a new city, and found one in particular that had a remarkably un-picked-over Clearance section. Jackpot!

Especially since I don't think the rest of my craft supplies had actually arrived.

So we've got the basics: paper, trimmer, ink.

Always a pleasure to find a new Cat's Eye Queue.

And of course a selection of stamps -- and a nice stamp press to make up for the temporary separation from my stamp blocks:

Love those airships, hate those scare quotes that don't make any sense. Quotes are not for emphasis.

Looks like I picked up some paper stacks, too:

 

Gosh, I wish those first two had come in 4x6 matstack format. At least things still existed in matstack format in 2013 -- I practically never see them these days, and they're perfect for bookmark-making.

Then again, glancing at my shelves here in 2019, it looks like I have at least 20 matstacks, to say nothing of the 6x6 pads, so... maybe it's good that the industry won't sell me any more.

It was a good trip for spritzes and sprays, too:

And no journey is complete without a whole lot of washi tape to hoard away for the next few centuries. I barely ever use it. Why do I keep buying it? Pretty colors, I guess, although I think I could have done without most of these.

Then we've got an assortment of dies and other tools:

I do still really like that adhesive runner.

Plus some nice border stickers:

Then we've got the less papercrafty stuff. There's certainly an argument to be made for acrylics and brushes, though I don't really use them myself in papercrafting:

And origami is certainly papercrafting, although not the kind I do on this blog.

But there's really no call for Sculpey.

Now, if pressed, I imagine I could make up something about creating tassels and tassel charms for the bookmarks. Fortunately I don't really need an excuse for crafty shopping. It was a good deal and looks fun -- it doesn't necessarily have to be papercrafty.

This post was written in February 2019 and backposted.

State of the Stash #20: In Search of an Aux Cable

My intentions were good, I swear. I went to bed on Friday night thinking I needed to go out and buy an aux cable in the morning, so that I could connect my computer to my monitor's built-in speakers.

I don't remember exactly how I came to be on Craigslist this morning, but once I was there it was fairly inevitable that I would check out the arts & crafts offerings. These are generally safe, actually, as it's pretty slim pickings for papercrafty supplies.

However, I happened upon a listing for a place called "DaFinds Antique Shop" or something of that nature, which said they had got some craft supplies and were selling them cheaply. It was a bit of a drive, but I was in the mood for a bit of a drive, so I decided to go check it out.

It was more of a consignment shop than an antique shop, which I guess explains the craft supplies. They were mostly stickers, so I was mostly able to resist, but I did end up with some neat cutouts, wizard hats, border strip stickers, and an alligator in a purple hat:

He just seemed like such a jolly alligator, you see.

DaFinds haul (well, the ones I could find to link to):

I returned to my good intentions and told the car's navigation system to find me an audio/visual sort of store. I was going to find a local shop and support the local economy! With my, um, roughly $10 aux cable purchase.

Where I ended up looked pretty residential. "Oh well," I thought, "try again." I had the car find another place more-or-less on my way home. Again, I ended up in a residential neighborhood. I don't know where the navigation system is getting its shop data from, but at least in this category it doesn't seem to be very good.

Feeling rather defeated, I drove roughly homewards... and took a sharp right into the parking lot of a Joann. I confess my intentions were no longer pure. There was very little chance that a Joann was going to sell me an aux cable, and quite a large chance that it would sell me some craft supplies.

I am in the process of moving, and without my supplies at the moment. But I'd just bought stickers and paper, so I figured I could get a stamp set and some ink and maybe something to cut with and scratch the create-things itch. It was an excellent excuse to pick up these Brilliance inks, which I've been thinking about trying out for a while.

I wandered a large portion of the store, but this Joann was definitely tilted towards fabric crafts rather than general crafts. I've got no problem with that, as that's really just how it ought to be.

There were a couple of minutes where my basket was quickly accumulating cheapo acrylic dollar stamps, but I was very stern and put most of them back, keeping only this fun woodcut-y pair of cats:

All in all, I was doing pretty well -- until I found clearanced stuff near the registers: a great big 12x12 stack of DCWV's "All Chalked Up" paper and a bunch of loose paper from The Paper Company.

I know I have no use for 12x12 stacks, but I bought the darn thing anyway. Now that I'm actually at home and looking at it, well... yeah, it's definitely too big for me. So instead of putting a picture of it in this post, I've put it up for sale on eBay.

And then I bought several clearanced glue sticks, too, because there are definitely times when I run through glue sticks pretty quickly.

Joann haul (though I couldn't find most of the papers to link to):

State of the Stash #19: Hurrah for Rainbows!

I had a very promising interview on Monday. By very promising, I mean it ended with "Tomorrow we're going to make you an offer."

After I disconnected from Skype, and jumped around in excitement, and hugged my boyfriend really hard, I said: "Let's go buy crafty things!" He acquiesced.

In ordinary circumstances I would not have bought this trimmer. I don't particularly need it, and I'm well aware that what actually attracts me is the pretty rainbow all the cutting heads make. But! This was not a practical trip. This was a "Yay, I'm getting a job offer!" trip. So I bought it.

I also finally picked up the Green DCWV mat stack; it's been "maybe next time" for a while now.

Continuing in the rainbow theme, I got this stack of neat "fiber" papers. I do wish the sixth color had been violet or purple rather than pink, I must admit.

I'd like to say I got this kraft-y boxboard-y black-patterned stack as an antidote to all the bright colors, or (heaven forbid!) that I had a project in mind for it. But I gotta admit, mostly I got it for that swirly pattern. The other patterns should come in handy too, but I'm a sucker for doodly bits.

I'm a sucker for craft supplies, really, but allow me to maintain the pretense of some discrimination between them.

And that was my celebratory craft store trip.

(My boyfriend bought a Cricut. I don't like the closed cartridge-based ecosystem, so I haven't wanted one; he found one deeply clearanced and bought it to mess about with it. It's pink, but he doesn't mind: to him it's just another CNC ("computer numerical control") system. He's already plugged his computer in and tried to make it do tricks for him.)

Joann haul: