Once every year or two--and this time it's been closer to two years, we think--Leah and I go wild! What a day!! Look at this haul!!
We went all over the place--the battery store, Lowes, Menards, Sam's Club, Bed Bath and Beyond, JoAnn's, and K&Krafts! Well, Leah actually went in to Menards, Sam's, and BB&B without me so I could rest up for the craft stores. So funny--we were still almost like we were shopping together because we talked on the phone while she was in the store half the time--hehe!I got a battery for my old Polder timer, new foam rollers (the ones I was using for the birthday cards were coming apart), another board for shelves (and we had them cut it up for us again), hooks to hold our craft sheets (oven liners), and bulbs for my silver lamps (tada! I have light over my art table again!!).
Then we hit JoAnn's!! Talk about sales! 25-50% off on soooo many things! We got paper, ribbons, yarn, lace, all kinds of embellishments, a set of acrylic blocks for clear stamps, two sets of clear stamps...a ton of goodies!! I spent all of my birthday money, we spent all of our craft account money (Leah puts in $20 a month), and part of it was for my birthday, too, Leah said. [And--don't worry--I still have money saved out for the dentist. :):) ]
Leah worked on cards before we left. She loved the idea I had for using up the leftover paper from the bookcards. She made eight cards--had them almost done before we left in the afternoon and finished them up after we finally made it home around 8:30pm. (Dagan was gone out of town for work overnight--so it was girl's day yesterday--hehe!)
I love the cards she made!
Last night Leah put up the 3M hooks and hung our craft mats (which are really oven liners--work great because nothing sticks to them).
I don't remember the last time I saw the top of this cabinet! hehe!
She also sat and sanded the board pieces while we watched The Tale of Despereaux.Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) is different from other mice: He reads books, has ears too big for his too-small body and loves the human Princess Pea (Emma Watson). With his friend, a rat named Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), Despereaux sets out to escape the castle dungeon and win the girl of his dreams. Sigourney Weaver, William H. Macy and Kevin Kline also lend their voices to this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo's Newberry Medal-winning books.
We actually hated it! Very dark, filled with negative stereotypes, disjointed plot, ugly characters, and we felt it was not teaching good lessons (like the fat, stupid girl who lived her life being envious, dreaming of crowns and fancy clothing, who stole from the princess and was a generally unlikeable person--was suddenly rewarded in the end--even by the princess--no real explanations??) If there was a chance to actually show a moral--they leapt past it every time. Now, neither Leah nor I have ever read the books, so I don't know if the story was just ruined by this movie production or what? But the movie--neither of us would recommend it at all.
Anyways, this is why we got a board for an extra shelf. Now we have a narrow spot perfect for papers!
And we have an extra shelf for inside the cherry cabinet, too. Couldn't put it in yet--didn't have any more of the little shelf holders and it will need to be cut back in width or we won't be able to close the door--hehe! Have to wait until Leah can unearth her saws, etc, this summer. :)
I haven't even put everything away yet. We had to stick all the little things in this wild complementary bag I got from some company--can't remember now--One Spirit maybe? Karma was way too interested in all the ribbons and yarn, of course. This way she couldn't destroy any of our precious goodies.
What a day! We had such a great time, are so excited to play with all of this, and thrilled that we now know exactly where to put away each and every little thing--hehe! I still can't get over the sale prices on a lot of the things we bought! Awesome!! Ahhhhhhhh! I'm sure we'll do it again in another year or two.
Today--exhausted and sore--but quite a late happy, happy, happy birthday to me, eh? Big old smile plastered on my face today. :):)
7 comments:
A perfect albeit exhausting day!! :) Do you hang the craft mats (oven liners) back up after each use or are they disposable?
Oh--you hang them up when you're not using them. Not disposable. They're made of this special material that practically nothing sticks to--so you can wipe or peel away glue, wax, etc. They're great! They're made for the bottom of your oven (non-stick oven liners). They actually sell smaller ones spcifically for crafts and call them craft mats--but the ovenliners are basically the same thing only larger and a little cheaper. :) They are floppy and large--so we wanted a nice neat way to store them inbetween uses. Leave it to Leah to think of punching a couple of small holes in each one and hanging them. Perfect--and out of the way. Yes!! What a wonderful, wonderful time we had! :):)
What a wonderful day! It makes me happy just thinking of your wonderful day :) What a great idea...oven liners...hmmm. I usually just work on my cutting mat but this probably works a lot better for that gooey and stick stuff lol!
I think I will feel the same way you felt about shopping when I really get to cleaning tha art studio...I will find stuff I either never knew I had or forgot I had lol!
Oh yes--you still need your cutting mat for the slicing, pounding, and dicing--hehe! But for all the messy, sticky stuff--these work great. And we got them at BB&B with a 20% off coupon, too, of course--hehe!
When we cleaned we also found out things we had less of, too--besides what we had forgotten about for a while. You get a complete inventory--ha! :):)
They sound wonderful....must look out for them here. Currently, on my craft table, I have my cutting mat for when I need it and, on top of that, a pile of butcher paper cut to about the same size as your oven liners.....then I just dispose of the top sheet when it gets all grotty. I then replace the pile of paper as I need to. Oven liners would certainly be more environmentally friendly as I wouldn't be throwing away so much paper.
Please forgive the stupid question if the answer should be obvious to me but, in the pic with the cabinet where you have a white runner placed on top....what is that white thing hanging on the wall?
Serena--that white thing is an old hair dryer--hehe! I use it when I am painting (watercolors). :):) We really don't need to have it out, actually. Should go down in the cabinet, actually.
As for environmentally friendly--hummm? That could be a toss up. Who knows what the oven liners are made of? They might not be destroyed in 1000 years in the dump--hehe! But--I know I will be using mine for the rest of my life and probably never have to replace it--hehe! :)
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