Wednesday, July 20, 2016

As you probably know, I'm moving soon, so if you're going to be sending me anything, please email me so I can get you a correct address.

2017 calendar haul

I was so excited I hadn't spent money on crafting stuff for a week, so what did I do to celebrate? I went shopping. I'm pretty sure that's not how it's supposed to go. And I shouldn't have done it today, we're in an excessive heat warning until Saturday at 7pm. It's 92 degrees outside right now, the heat index is 109 degrees.  I only walked home, so it wasn't that bad, at least until I got about a block from home and the sweat ran into my eye and I couldn't see. *grumpy face*
Anywho, here's my haul, first up Target. I really just went because Halie Hostler had picked up these really cute erasers. I found them and some other things:
 pencils, binder clips, minion keychain, printer ink, erasers, pens, stamps.
I love these binder clips, they have monster faces and googly eye stickers, there was a deal to buy one yoobi item at full price and get the other at 50% off, the erasers are also yoobi, so I got them both. The erasers have an elephant, unicorn, penguin, pineapple, panda and cupcake. I not a huge fan of the pineapple and elephant.
The pencils are from the dollar spot, they have really cute sayings on them: notes, thoughts, don't forget, scribbles, to do later, and curiosities. I couldn't pass them up, I did put back the binder clips and a note pad. I couldn't pass up the minion key chain. The metallic gel pens were also on clearance. I don't usually use colored gel pens, but I have noticed my colored fine line felt tip pens are going dry or just running out of ink. What I use them for, I can't use ballpoint pens, so I guess these will work.
Next up was Dollar Tree, I went there to get an owl box for K is for Karen, like the one in this post, but of course they didn't have any. I found a couple other things for her though.
 pens, pencil pouch, hello notebook, shopkins playing cards, owl notebook.
I'm loving the gel pens from Dollar Tree. I love using gel pens, I feel every time I go in there, I get a pack of gel pens, can't have too many of those. I picked up the pencil pouch set and the journal for future swaps. I've been wanting to get in the Shopkins craze, but I didn't want to spend the money for them. I opened this pack of jumbo playing cards and loved that you got a Shopkins for each of the cards, $1 for 13 different Shopkins, 4 of each, yes please.
 coloring books, wall stickers.
I picked up the coloring books for future swaps. I saw some a few weeks ago, but I don't do the whole coloring things. I joined a group on FB where you send fun packages to a secret person every month, I thought these would work great for that. I bought the wall stickers for my new apartment, I may or may not use them.
The Dollar Tree has 2017 planners and calendars people. And they are in cute patterns, you should go get some before they are all gone. They also have the tiny 2017-2018 planners. Sadly, those are too small for what I need. I picked up others though:
 three wall calendars, two list pad calendars and a little pocket one.
Close-ups on designs of the wall calendars below. I picked up the two list ones for swaps, I may keep them, I don't know. The pocket one is for my bag.
 This the Follow your Dreams one. I loved all the quotes and pictures. I usually wait until people donate calendars to the library and get them for free, but sometimes they are not the coolest designs, plus these were only $1 (the problem I have every time I go to Dollar Tree)
This is the Lisa Frank one. I love that her stuff is coming back. Remember that FB group I mentioned above? I received my July package the other day, it was mostly Lisa Frankish stuff. Here's the pic:
Obviously there are some minions in there as well. But, there is a Lisa Frank sticker book, there's the rainbow dot stickers, rainbow heart stickers, rainbow stickers, the flower stickers and a rainbow roll of deco tape. Very centered around Lisa Frank, also the other day I picked up a Lisa Frank notebook (I didn't realize it was Lisa Frank til I got home and looked at it a little closer), and I found a Lisa Frank coloring book I was going to donate to Goodwill. Now I feel I should do a Lisa Frank inspired flip book.
I might not go garage saleing this weekend. I have Friday off because I'm working Saturday. Friday's high is only 92, I don't know. I really need to finish up packing. I have to move a week from Friday. It's kinda depressing when I say it out loud.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Hodgepodge Vol 274

I'll admit, I don't have a lot of great answers for this week's hodgepodge, but I wanted to join. Head on over to Joyce's blog to see what other people have answered


1. Pokemon Go...your thoughts? Are you playing? Do you even know what it is? Thanks to the power going out last week, I do know what it is. There was a news story on the TV when it came back on about the game, it doesn't catch my interest. Apparently the library is a Poke Stop, I haven't actually seen anyone that sucked into their phones. I like that people are getting out into the world, but how do you have hours to do that?

2. What was something you collected as a child? Do you still have that collection? If you're a parent what's something your own children collected? Have you ever camped out, stood in a crazy long queue, or paid a ridiculous sum for a 'collectible'? I used to collect key chains, pencils and postcards, mostly because they were cheaper than other souvenirs. I still try to pick up postcards when I go on vacation, they are way better pictures than I could ever take. 

I have never done that, usually if it's that big, I don't want it. I'm not a fan of getting into the craze of things.  

3. "Collect moments, not things"...tell us about a moment you've added to your collection this summer. I don't have one. I haven't done anything particularly fun this summer.

4.  What's something collecting dust in your home right now? Any plans to do something about it? Not much right now, but I have been finding a lot of dust on some of my decor. I move in a couple weeks and have been packing things up.

5. A favorite song relating to time? You're Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins


6. What's been your most frightening or your most interesting encounter with wildlife? One day when I was coming home, I ran into a raccoon wandering around on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. Needless to say I crossed the street.

7.  On July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong set his foot down on the moon. If you could travel to the moon would you go? Why or why not? I don't know. I don't think I'd like all the things I'd have to go through to get there, plus you couldn't be out there in your own skin. I'd rather travel to somewhere that I could touch things, experience them with my senses.

8. Insert your own random thought here. It's getting closer to moving time. Next Friday to be exact. I'm not quite freaking out, but I need to. I still don't have everything packed, and I haven't even thought about my kitchen. Where is that magic button that will do it all for me?

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Walmart, TJ Maxx, Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby haul

I went to the mall on Monday because I needed some black dress pants for work. While I was up there, I visited a different Walmart just to see if they had anything fun on clearance. I also visited TJ Maxx because I had seen someone haul some cute journals from there.
Here's what I found at Walmart:
 a pencil pouch, metal embellishments, buttons.
I picked up the pencil pouch to fill for a swap, I decided if I found one for less than $1 I'd get one. Why spend more when there were some cute pencil boxes at the Dollar Tree. I found these metal "Smile" embellishments, I also found these cute flower buttons. I talked myself out of a lot. I didn't realize that Walmart had a separate scrapbooking/crafty section than their office supplies. I also found duct tape washi with owls. I found some cute feather, bowtie and donut washi. I also bought a pair of shorts, but no one wants to see those.
Next up, I went to JCPenney's for dress pants, but I just didn't like how they fit. I guess a trip to Goodwill is in the future.
I also went to Claire's I've been wanting to buy cute stuff there. They do have cute stuff, but not at prices I wanted to spend. They had this sign out front saying all their clearance was $2, I didn't find any clearance that was $2. They were also having a Buy 3 get 3 free, but everything I wanted was more than I wanted to spend.
Last up was TJ Maxx, I was pleased with what I found there:
Strawberry macaroons, pistachio macaroons, a notepad, adhesive runners, smiley face guy.
I found that smiley faced guy first, I was turning and found him in the dog toys aisle, he's got squeakers in him. I don't have a dog, but he should hold up pretty well if he's made for a dog. I've been craving macaroons lately, but I can't find them anywhere. There used to be a person who'd make different flavors for the local farmer's market, they were soo good. Sadly, that was a couple years ago, and I haven't seen her lately. These were not that good, see below. I picked up the notepad with an idea, but I don't know if that idea will come through. I also found these adhesive runners. I'm always in need of tape, I guess I'll see how well they work.
I actually stopped at Jimmie Johns for lunch, cause it was there. When I got home, I went to the grocery store for milk, I've been craving gummies lately, so I picked these up as well.
 Here's one of the macaroons:
 all the fresh macaroons I've had the top and bottom are meringues, they basically melt in your mouth. These are more like cookies, I think that's to make them shelf stable. I wasn't pleased with these.
Tuesday, I went back to Dollar Tree (cause I felt bad that I didn't visit the sticker aisle on Friday).
 I spent too much on food. crackers, lifesavers gummies, pepperoni sticks, lifesavers gummies, moose tracks, the good stuff gummies, dippers.
Like I said, I've been craving gummies. Dollar Tree usually has some good gummies, I haven't been finding them lately. I picked up the crackers because they looked good (I was hungry). The pepperoni sticks were a bit spicy, I wasn't pleased with those, but I ate them because I was hungry. I loved the Moose Tracks, I wish the bag was bigger. I love these little dipper things, they are usually too expensive at the grocery store.
 I found some really cute gift boxes. I had seen some Paris themed ones on someone's channel, I found those, but this butterfly box was bigger. The owl's head bends back to open. I love these pencils, I keep seeing them (and their still there when I go back), they are TY beanie baby pencils, each pencil has a different beanie baby. I didn't realize I picked up some sea animal squirters when I was in Mason City a few weeks ago, I picked this one up because of the pink jellyfish? I don't know what it is, it has a weird sucker nose. I found the foil tape, I hope I like it more than the glitter tape. I didn't like how you basically breathed and got glitter everywhere. I also picked up a couple sheets of googly eyed creatures. When I got home, I realized I was only charged for one, and then I forgot to put them in the picture.
I also went back to Hobby Lobby, I found out last week they had clearance in with their regular stuff, not just in the clearance aisle. I also wanted a flower punch, and they had those 40% off.
bookworm cross stitch, buttons, flower punch, birdhouse charm, skull and crossbones charm, wooden crowns, owl buttons, gemstone glasses, smart girl charm.
The bookworm cross stitch was there on Friday, he's actually a bookmark when you're done. The buttons were 50% off, these were in the sewing department, I usually don't go over there, but I saw the 50% off sign and was curious what it was for. I got the flower punch, but it's the wrong size. I have a 1" circle punch I bought for handmade embellishments and I've been having so much fun making them. I thought I'd cut out some flowers, apparently I'm not very good at freehanding flowers. So, I thought I'd get a punch, they didn't have measurements on them, I had thought this one was 1", I believe it's actually 1/2" or smaller. I figure I'll just have to layer, I'll make it work. When I got home, I saw the cashier gave me 50% off instead of 40%. I wandered over to the charms and found a lot of clearance over there, plus a separate little clearance section, the round pink charm says smart girls rock, the square one says evil genius. I didn't realize there were wood pieces in the jewelry section, I wish I knew before. The gemstones by Paper Studio were 50% off, I picked up these cute glasses.
I talked myself out of a lot here, I put back a bunch of cute clearance things, and some charms. I talked myself out of some paper packs. I'm failing at being good, but I do great filling up my basket and then putting half of it back.

Saturday, July 09, 2016

Birthday food

I know these are backwards, but I wanted to share my haul first.
I promised to make treats for my birthday, I'm sure no one would have card if I didn't but after saying that, I felt obligated. I had bought blueberries and strawberries because they were on sale. I looked on Pinterest for something easy, these were on the home page as a July 4th treat.
 I think people really liked them. I had cut up the strawberries, so I felt they went bad faster than they would have if I had left them whole, oh well, live and learn.
I had picked up some cupcakes for myself at the farmer's market:
 There's birthday cake, red velvet, raspberry and blueberry lemon.
These were not that good. They all had regular white frosting which was really sugary. I did take awhile to eat the, but I feel they got hard really fast. The red velvet had regular white frosting, which to me (and about everyone I've talked to) is not real red velvet, it should have cream cheese frosting.
When I got to work, I found these:
 a six pack of white cupcakes from HyVee and chocolate covered brownies.
After a week of sitting on my desk, these cupcakes were still really moist. So I guess the moral is to buy HyVee, not the expensive ones.
Last week one of my co-workers had a kohlrabi at work. So, I bought some at the farmer's market
I ate it raw with some salt. I wasn't that impressed. Someone else told me to eat it with ranch salad dressing, I'll try that next. Any suggestions on what I should do with the third one?
Saturday night, my friend and I went to Texas Roadhouse for supper. I ordered an alcoholic drink:
 I found it very strong, but I don't drink alcohol that much (I don't like the alcohol taste), so maybe it was me.
Thursday, my friend gave me a box of cupcakes from a local bakery. I've only eaten one so far, but really good. It had mint chocolate, almond, chocolate peanut butter and black forest.

Dollar Tree, Target, Hobby Lobby and tiny JoAnn's haul

My internet has been intermittent all week, it started last Saturday, and finally came up for a longer while for Wednesday, and then when I got home from work on Thursday, yesterday it was off and on, we'll see what it does today.
Anyways, that has been bothering me. I have found I can do almost everything I want online on my iPhone except post on my blog, read my blogs and check my work email. 
Because of all that, I went shopping today. I am failing at not spending money, but I am not feeling guilty for spending money, and I got a raise on the 1st.
Let's start with a few things I saw. This sign was on a display of decorative boxes at JoAnn's.
 It says 4.99/yd-24.99 ea. I didn't know you measured boxes per yard. Also the dates are for April.
In Target, I found a couple cute cards:
 It says Happy Anniversary of Being Alive. Inside:
 Let's celebrate everything amazing about you! (This will take awhile). These cards were really cute, but they were $7 each.
Next card:
 Let us celebrate your existence with cake and possibly ice cream.
 and then possibly additional cake and ice cream. Happy birthday!
Found this cute bag
 And then, this set of erasers made me laugh
 That one on the bottom left reminds me of grumpy cat. They were $1.99, so I did not pick it up. It's already Christmas in Hobby Lobby (though I'm happy to see not all the Christmas was out yet), it's back to school at Target, Dollar Tree and Walmart. I don't know if stuff is on sale, but I picked up things at Target that were pretty cheap.
Hobby Lobby was having a Paper Studio/Stampendous 50% off sale, here's what I got:
 12x12 paper pack, chipboard stickers, Art pack, bird pillow, bow stickers, cat stickers, and stickers.
I bought the 12x12 paper pack and the chipboard stickers because they went together great. I think the stickers were pool party, and the paper pack is Soak up the sun. They both had scooters, swim suits, ice cream trucks, ice cream treats, cameras. They just coordinated so well, I think I'll be making a summer themed flip book soon.
I'm not entirely sure what that art pack says. I loved the stuff it had in it, it's got stickers and paper and wood pieces and buttons and it was on clearance. I've been eyeing this bird pillow for awhile. I've been wanting to try to use some bow stickers, these were really cute and on clearance. I love these cat stickers, they are realistic looking cats with butterfly wings. The circle stickers, I thought there were more in the package, it felt heavy, and the clearance sticker is over the amount of pieces listing. It's really only 2 sheets, I love the stickers, I just thought there were more.
gemstones, la petite stickers, frog, locker hook, donut pieces, banners, cupcake washi, and succulent washi.
I only picked up four items that were included in the sale. The spring frog was 66% off, I love him. The camera stickers are actually gems with white gems as the lens, one of them is missing it's lens, but I'm sure I can fix it. I want to use cameras in my art. I loved the mason jar stickers, there are only 4 of them, so I don't know where I'll use them. I bought the locker hook for work. We have cubbies, but they're not metal, so nothing magnetic sticks on them. I'm hoping this hook won't leave sticky residue behind. I love donuts, and they're everywhere, I did talk myself out of a lot of donut stickers, and donut washi. I love these banners, I think they'd be really cute to use in a flip book. Since the washi was on sale, I picked up the cupcake one and the succulent one, I wanted it last time they were on sale.
I went to JoAnn's after that, even though I said I wouldn't go back. They're paper crafting section is like half an aisle, the other half is adhesives and punches. Plus, they remodeled a few years ago, I feel the aisles are really small (I'm pretty sure you could not get a wheelchair through them). I was there on Sunday with my mother looking for my birthday present, I picked up a couple things for a swap package that were on clearance. I thought I'd see if they had anything left in their clearance, it kinda felt like they were clearancing the clearance.
Here are the two items I picked up:
 washi, and ribbon.
When I was making a flip book for a friend, I decided I needed more solid colored washi, especially black. I wanted to get this ribbon a few times ago when I was in, it's owls why not.
Next up was the Dollar Tree:
 Two notebooks, some black gel ink pens, gold/silver gel pen, duct tape, Squirt from Finding Nemo.
I love these notebooks, they are by the jot brand, they remind me of the new layered stickers everyone's been hauling. I feel I'll include them in friend mail (at least one). I'm always on the hunt for black gel pens, I usually guy the Pilot G-2 ones from Target/Walmart and just pick up the two pack refills for $1.87, but if Dollar Tree has good quality gel pens, why not. I actually have not tried the other ones I picked up. I picked up the gold/silver pens because on someone's haul video, they said they are the best quality they've tried. Everytime I find the cool duct tape, it's randomly on some shelf, that's how I found the bicycles, typewriters print one. This one was on some random shelf as well, it kinda looks like a back to school print. I also saw someone haul this Finding Nemo toy, and was very excited to see it at my DT.
 sandwich crackers, gummy watermelon slices, a card, floss, paper clips, and a flashlight.
I love these crackers, they are so yummy, I was actually looking for the gummy peach slices, but they didn't have them. One of my co-workers had a death in the family, so I picked up a sympathy card. I needed floss. I want to try to make altered paper clips, these are the large ones I think they'd work better than the tiny ones. I saw K is for Karen haul these flashlights, I love how bright they are.
Someone hauled some cute socks. I wear flats with my dress pants and they give me blisters if I don't have socks on, so I've been trying to pick up some fun socks, I'm pretty sure no one notices my socks. I picked up the flip flops because I don't have any, I think it would be nice to have a pair to use.
Target was next, I usually only visit the dollar spot and the clearance sections, but when I was in the clearance toy section, I found there were a lot of clearance in the aisles too, that's where I went wrong.
 Dr. Seuss journal, binder clips, bookmarks, chalkboard stickers, girl pen, washi, masking tape, tags.
These were mostly from the dollar spot, again they are on a back to school kick. I really wanted the ruler looking washi, but couldn't find it. I love that the Dr. Seuss book is actually a journal. I don't know why I keep collecting journals, I don't use them. I think it's because they work great for friend mail and swaps, and if they're cheap, why not. The binder clips actually have smiley faces cut out of them. The bookmarks say I Love to read books, on the back it says My favorite books and a list. I work at a library, I love these. I love these stickers, they look like an alphabet a teacher would write on a chalkboard when kids are learning to write. I could always cut them in half and have more, there are five sheets in this package. The girl was to add to my pen cup at work. I did find the cursive washi, so I picked up one of those. I found the masking tape ruler in the back to school supplies, they had it in a spot that said $0.88, it rang up as $2.99, which makes sense but they had it in the $0.88 spot, so they gave it to me for the $0.88. I LOVE these tags, they are like an old library card that libraries used to stamp the due dates on and put in the books, I bought two.
Smurf toy, Hello Panda, Lion Guard toy, Ghostbusters toys.
I loved the Smurf toy. I thought the strawberry Hello Panda would be better, it's not. One of these Lion Guard (apparently it's new movie) blind bags was open and I thought the other one was going to be Pumbaa. Sadly they were both the elephant, which is ok, I'll just give one to my boss. The Ghostbusters toys are soo cute, I read the tag wrong and thought it was cheaper than it actually was, so these were not as great a deal as I thought they were. But, they're still cute, and when you squeeze them, they make noises. Slimer growls, and The Staypuft Marshmallow Man plays part of the Ghostbusters theme.
I also went to Walmart and was going to buy some Duct tape washi of owls and some really cute monster stickers, but I just didn't feel like it when I was getting to the checkout.

I stuck all my purchases (minus the everyday stuff, food and 12x12 paper stuff) into a box to enjoy after I move. Maybe it will feel like a housewarming present. It was quite a bit of money that I spent, but like I said, I'm practicing not feeling bad for my purchases.
I was going to go garage saleing today, but after being on my feet basically all day yesterday (I worked at 8:15, standing at work, went shopping right after work, got home about 7:30) and spending so much money, I just decided to catch up on a few things while my computer's up.

Saturday, July 02, 2016

Birthday Haul

Hello all, so lots of mail today (and one from yesterday). In one of my FB groups I won a giveaway. After a little snafu, I got it yesterday in the mail.
Here's what was inside the envelope:
 a notebook, stickers, owl highlighters, sticky notes, a really cute paper clip, some pink washi and a thank you card. I'm pretty sure this is all from the Target Bulls eye's playground.
Today is my birthday. I had asked on Crafty Lori's wishing video for people to send me happy mail for my birthday, here's what I received:
 Three pretty big packages. I just asked for happy mail, the people who sent to me chose what to put in the packages. I sent them an email about what I liked, they chose what to send. I'd have been happy with a couple rolls of washi. I greatly appreciate what they sent me.
This is looking inside that huge one at the top:
 It's from ACraftyPoodleMom, and here's what was inside:
 Paper, notecards, pencils and letters.
 cupcake pics with cupcakes, cupcake picks with cakes, a paper cake card (it actually came all folded up), 'happy birthday' stamp, paper clips, an owl card
 puffy owl stickers, dimensional owl stickers, dimensional zoo stickers, cute puffy animal stickers, layered coffee stickers, puffy sparkly stickers with sayings, and cupcake brads
 Project life kit, butterfly wood veneers, paper flower stickers, green diecuts.
 Here's a close-up of the cake card:
 This next package was from mscraftygirl42
Her card is so cute!
 Some die cuts
die cut journaling cards, owl stickers, birthday stickers, wood veneers, mini clothespins
 More die cuts
 And owl journal
 This last one is from Gracie21
 I had granted her wish in the past, so this is a thank you card with a few stickers
 Here's her birthday card. I LOVE it!!
 rainbow circle stickers, layered owl stickers, dimensional stickers (the same ones Siv sent me), more owl stickers, a few layered Dollar Tree flower stickers, a roll of owl washi, some We R Memory Keepers pocket pages
 3 books of Darice stickers
 This is the big bag of stuff I got for myself. I had started collecting craft stuff May, maybe. Every time I bought something crafty or really fun, I put them in this bag and didn't think about them.
 shiny bug stickers, puffy bug stickers, page flags, layered alien stickers, frame stickers, puffy ice cream stickers. All the stickers except the page flags and puffy ice cream are from the Dollar Tree. The puffy ice cream stickers and page flags are from Target. The page flags came in the planner pack with the notepad and planner stickers. I just wanted the page flags.
 'W' stickers, owl and fox pillow boxes, layered stickers, die cut frame stickers, die cut word stickers, Olaf keychain, thought bubble sticky notes. The 'W' stickers were on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The Olaf keychain was from the Dollar Store. The rest are from the clearance section in JoAnn's. I love the sticky notes, they say 'Shout about it, another amazing idea'
 chewy candy from The Dollar tree, Valentine's figurine from Hobby Lobby, travel stamps from Hobby Lobby. Stickers and crocheted guy from the Art walk in Ames.
 green and owl Tape Works washi from JoAnn's, washi three pack from Target, gold and white striped washi from Target, camera ribbon from JoAnn's, owl ribbon from JoAnn's
 Felt owl kit from JoAnn's
 Here's what was in the kit:
I got totally distracted in making these today. I also have a ton of edibles to devour. I'll post those tomorrow, or next week. Some I left at work because I didn't want them sitting in the car while I was eating supper.

By the way, it was my 33rd birthday.