Thursday, February 23, 2017

Catching up

This past weekend was gorgeous, I believe we were in the high 60's both Saturday and Sunday. I had a basketball game I worked on Saturday and walked home by way of Hobby Lobby and JoAnns. My dad had given me a $100 gift card, one of those ones you can spend anywhere (except Walmart, apparently, he had tried and it wouldn't go through at Walmart, I haven't had issues anywhere else). I stopped at a gas station for lunch (it was about 3pm by then) of cheeseballs and a Mello Yello, after enjoying those in a sunny spot. I headed into Hobby Lobby. I really wasn't going to buy much, but I found some cool stuff on clearance:
Paper, stickers, journaling cards, buttons, card kit, metal signs. The three papers at the top are single sheets, Paper Studio stuff was 50% off, so I picked up these three florals. I'm not usually into florals, so I don't know why I picked these up, on one of the channels I watch on YouTube, she mentioned she was ready for spring and was picking up florals, so maybe that's why. The Valentine's things were 66% off, so I picked up a sheet of stickers, foam glittery hearts and a card kit. I had wanted all of these earlier, but I didn't want to buy them at 30% off. I'd been eyeing these stickers, but I believe they were originally $3.99 (I don't have my receipt anymore, so I'm really not sure), and I thought that was a bit much for stickers. Especially since I don't need anything. I also picked up these glittery foam heart stickers. I love how they have blue and green in the pack. The glitter fallout is also not that bad. I also loved this card kit, it has tiny cards with jewels, hearts and some tiny die cuts. There were two different sets, but I really liked this set because it has tiny die cuts of mason jars. I always check out the clearance section when I go in, I noticed it was a bit bare, so I went down some of the aisles and noticed they had a bit of things in the aisles with clearance stickers. Last time that happened at my Hobby Lobby, they were making room for new things, so I wonder if something new and exciting is coming. The buttons were the only thing that weren't marked down, but I used a 40% off on them. I love buttons. The two packs of MAMBI journaling cards were originally $4.99 marked down to $2.99, probably still a bit high, but I love them. The other package of cards was the same. The two metal signs were 40% off, I thought they'd be great for spring swaps.
I don't know if you guys like it when I open the kits and spread them out for you, but I did with this shopping haul again. This is the My Mind's Eye, my story journal cards:
 I really like journaling cards, more so if they don't really have a spot for journaling. I like to use them in pocket letters, flip books, whatever. Once again, this was originally $4.99, marked down to $2.99.
These are the MAMBI Journaling cards packs:
 Again with the floral


 Like I said I don't normally gravitate towards floral, so I don't know why I really liked these, but I hope I will use them.
 There were two packs, as far as I can tell there are no titles or themes written on the packs. They are all one sided. I don't have the packaging in front of me, but there were a lot of 3x4 cards and a few 4x6 cards. Also originally $4.99 marked down to $2.99.
This is the Valentine kit:
 I didn't show you any of the multiples, but it came with 6 cards, 6 envelopes, 3 of each design, 22 die cuts, 8 glitter stickers and 1 gemstone sticker sheet. It doesn't have a suggestion on how to make your cards.
And these are my favorite buttons from the pack:

 Like I said, I love buttons. I'm trying to shop less at stores and more at garage sales this year, where I can find more of the vintage stuff. I'll elaborate more at the end of the post.
Next up, JoAnns:
paper pad, tags, foam dots, washi, mini paper pad, sticker book.
I haven't been shopping at JoAnn's much lately, it seemed like they didn't have much in papercrafting stuff since they remodeled. I had heard that their Valentine's stuff was 80% off and that they had a cool $1.99 section, so since my Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's are in the same strip, I thought I'd check it out.
They had a 'President's Sale' where their paper pads were 50% off, normally there's no paper I want, but I did find this paper pack, Happy Day Stack by DCWV and got it for about $10. I had found another stack at Hobby Lobby called She said Yes, or something like that, that was gorgeous, but I didn't pick it up, I really don't need more paper. I was also hoping to find it in the 4x6 size, but I didn't. Most of their Valentine's stuff was marked as on sale, but they didn't have their new $1.50 and $3 section marked, and I didn't feel like paying full price for a couple things. I did find this cute sticker book called Ride my bicycle, or something like that. It's basically a whole bunch of different animals riding bicycles, and only $1. I also found the $1.99 section. The tiny paper pack, washi, tags, and foam squares were from there. I'm not sure they're really worth $1.99, but I was excited to find the mason jar tags, the foam squares, and the fox washi. I liked the small paper pack, it looks to be the perfect size to layer in pocket letters.
Sunday, I worked a wrestling meet and then walked home, but didn't go shopping, I had to meet with my parents to plan our Chicago trip, more on that below.
Monday was a staff training day at the library, lots of sitting.
Tuesday, I headed out to the post office and then walked up to the mall. I had to return something to TJ Maxx before the end of February and since it was still nice, I figured, why not. I tried to find something to spend my return money on, the only thing I found was this:
It's bars of chocolate, but it was also $5.99, I didn't think it was worth that. So, I just got my refund. I also tried to spend a giftcard I had for returning Christmas presents at Younkers, but I never really find anything there. The whole store was pretty much on sale and I still couldn't find anything.
Next I headed to our Walmart. It's across the street from the mall, they are converting it to a Super Walmart, and they are getting close. It was very empty, if I didn't know they were converting it, I might have thought they were going out of business. I wanted to see if they had any good clearance deals on Valentine's stuff. I barely found any Valentine's stuff, I did find a couple packs of underwear, I needed those, so I grabbed them. Especially since the two of them were less than a regular priced pack. I also picked up a sheet of Easter stickers and an Easter activity book.
I took my refund from TJ Maxx and spent it on lunch at Jimmy Johns and rode the bus home. Later when I mapped out my route, I learned I walked about 3 miles, no wonder I was tired.
I've been wanting to check out Target to see if they have any Valentine's stuff left, but I don't need anything, and even though it would technically be free because I still have giftcards from Christmas, I'm not doing it. Today, the temperature dropped down to a high barely below 50. Tomorrow, we're supposed to get snow. It will get warmer again, but looks like we'll have snow for a few days. It is February in Iowa after all.
I'm going to Chicago about the middle of March. I'm ready for a vacation. My parents want to plan everything out, but other than the aquarium I really have nothing I want to see. I just want to relax, not think about work and not be here. I'm hoping to just kinda explore, walk around. My brother lives in Chicago, so we're staying with him.

No comments: