Monday, November 25, 2019

Grinch

Friday: I got lost in the world of YouTube.
I received a Thirsty Thursday: 2 teas:
 these sound pretty good.
Christmas card:
 very cute.
And a surprise from my penpal:
 It's been awhile since we wrote. She said she had seen something that reminded her of me and sent it along. I started a letter back to her that day.
I made a Christmas ATC:
 Put together a destash tag:
 That night I went to supper with my parents. I think they've finally learned to not talk about things I don't want to talk about, our meals out are much more bearable. I wasn't impressed with the place we went to. Nothing that good, I got a burger, which was ok. My dad asked where I would go for a good burger, I said Burger King, Texas Roadhouse and B-Bops are good, too.
Saturday: I had to work. We have a weird middle shift 11-4, that I hate, I was scheduled for it this time, I wasn't pleased, but I'll work it. We weren't that busy.
Found a "Christmas" happy mail:
 Obviously not Christmas themed, she's required to resend.
I had to go to Hobby Lobby on my way home for a new glue gun. Mine was second hand when I got it, long time ago, I don't know when, but I feel like it was a long time ago. A few weeks ago it was taking forever to warm up and then last week it warmed up very quickly, smelled very warm (like it was sitting on plastic and melting it, it sits on a metal lid) and then very warm, I could see the glue steaming, when I was using it.
I picked up another mini one, I picked up a high temp, not sure why, I just didn't know what to get, and some glue sticks. And that's all I bought, it's totally possible to go to Hobby Lobby and only buy what you need. They were wicked busy, it seemed like every register was busy. I headed over to HyVee afterwards. I picked up a bag of chips, some zit cream and a chicken dinner meal. I wanted fried chicken, but what they had in the case didn't look that good. I got some seasoned chicken, green bean casserole and some cheesy potatoes, none of it was very good.
Sunday: I planned to read my book that's due next Saturday and is requested and is almost 800 pages. I got a bit through it, but it's not a book I can just sit down and read all day. It's good, just not page turning.
I put together a few things when I got tired of reading.
A Winner Takes All: happy mail;
 A stocking stuffer tag:
 I couldn't figure out what to do for this. I didn't know if it was supposed to be wrapped or Christmas, but I went with this notebook, unwrapped, in theory it's one stamp.
ATC:
 I always just clean off my desk with ATCs.
Christmas pocket letter.
this might end up being one stamp as well.
 Monday: I was only scheduled for 3 hours at work. My work week's messed up because of Thanksgiving. It went by pretty quickly. I mailed my 12 Days of Christmas swap on my way home. I had it all packaged up and was tired of tripping over the box, so I figured why not.
I had a Christmas ornament swap waiting for me:
 I was going to wait to open them, I'm going to *try* waiting on anything that's wrapped. But it wasn't supposed to be a wrapped swap, so I didn't.
 I like the porcelain ones, the jar, and the wreath. I actually wanted this jar one when I saw someone pick it up at Target. I'm surprised the porcelain ones and the jar arrived in tact.
Homemade;
 not impressed.
Christmas Snowflake Ornament swap:
 I love what she sent, but again, there was no note. again I ask why is it so hard to include a note? I know everyone has scraps of paper, you could just write on the back of one of those.
I signed up for a Wrapped Christmas Gifts swag, which is a combination of a swap and a tag, we tag people, but then it's a bit more than a tag and less than a swap. I ended up sending the star ornament from above, the lip balm I got in one of my International Blessings boxes and a pair of socks. I just reused the paper that the ornaments were wrapped in.
Favorites tag;
She likes Christmas stuff, so I put the Christmas towel from a Christmas happy mail from another group and an oven mitt I picked up this summer.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Christmas swaps

Friday: I found a Christmas Happy mail:
 Not sure what I'll end up doing with the towel and oven mitt. I like the rest.
And an ATC:
 Very cute.
We had an after-hours work party. It was ok. It was good food and good company.
Saturday: I went to a sale.
 I picked up the Precious Moments ornament for a swap and then realized it had the writing on the back. I picked up the Santa for my mother.
Saw a tumbleweed on my way to my next stop:
 I wasn't aware we had tumbleweeds.
I stopped at our British foods store:
 I was disappointed, it was mostly tea/teapots and incense. There were some holiday crackers (the ones you pull open) for $42, I wanted some, but not for that price.
Last stop, HyVee Drug:
 I needed the Chai, I picked up the lady for a swap, though I'm not sure if I'm using her for it. And of course the Russell Stover chocolate.
And then I realized I forgot the Mtn Dew
 so I picked it up and a couple cute postcards.
I found this I Spy book from a Little Free Library on my way home.
Sunday: I put together a Dollar Store tag:
 I tried to go flat with some sticky notes, that didn't quite work, see a photo further down.
A Kawaii tag:
 I got this for a past Kawaii tag, thought I'd send it along. It turned out to be flat enough for one stamp.
Favorite color: Purple.
 I had the hardest time with this tag. Apparently I don't have a lot of purple things. I felt bad just sending the gems. I kinda cheated, as this is one of those color change sequin pillows, one way is purple, one is blue. I switched it to the purple side, put in the gems and a postcard.
My Crafty Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar all packaged up and ready to go:
 I didn't like that every package had to be embellished. I basically used a bunch of envelopes I had gotten from previous swaps with a number I had gotten on a previous swap. We were informed the reason they were supposed to be embellished was so we didn't just slap a kid's number sticker on them. Since the envelopes were already embellished and I added the punched numbers, I kinda felt like adding more to them made them look worse, but I try to follow instructions. I ended up wrapping 3 because they didn't fit in the envelopes, I didn't really embellish those, as the wrapping paper was very busy.
Monday: I went up to the mall after work. My 12 Days of Christmas swap partner and I don't really have much in common, so shopping my stash wasn't working. Figured I could find some things to purchase for her.
First stop: Walmart
 Hot chocolate bomb, bottle brush tree ornaments, Hershey's chocolate and warming oil for the swap. The Dove peppermint bark is for me. Total spent $12.
I wandered through JCPenny's but didn't find anything, so I headed to the Hallmark store, figured they'd have candles and essential oils, they did:
 All of this is for the swap. Total spent $13.
I avoided Claire's even though I wanted to shop there, headed into TJ Maxx. I wasn't that impressed with their selection of stuff, but I found some things:
 decorative napkins, holiday travel spa pack, kindness cards, jewelry dish, wrapping paper. All of this was for the swap, total spent $13. I also returned the sports trivia cards, so it was $6 cheaper.
I walked over to Kohl's found a few things, but I'm not spending $10 on sticky notes or bag clips, no matter how cute they are. I found a monster on clearance.
He ended up being a buck, just for me.
I walked around the outside of the mall to Walgreens, I don't go there very often. They didn't have a ton of Christmas stuff out.
 All for me. Actually the hedgehog is for a friend, I picked up the Russell Stover chocolate for the swap and then decided not to use it, I'll either end up eating it or giving it to my dad. I picked up the Ooey Gooey cakes to try, I didn't get to try any in St. Louis, they were great, I'd totally buy more.
Total spent: $26
The blind bags:
 I picked up one of these cat guys at Target a few weeks ago, I love them, I'd totally buy more, they're pricey, but I'd still do it. The dog, you press a button on his back and he gets all mean.
I went to the mall to kill time until 4pm when a local store was doing a fundraiser for the library. By this time it was about 10 of 4, so I hopped on the bus and headed back towards the library.
As I was heading to the store, I got distracted looking in another store window and had to pick up a few things.
 This is our local arts center store, they sell stuff made by local artists. Everything but the pin is a magnet, it's basically all for me. I'd love to send out the Ames, IA magnet, but I'm afraid it would break. I added the Pride pin to my bag. Total spent: $14.
And I finally made it to my last destination. It's a fair trade store:
 A cute bag, a star ornament, Matryoshka keychain and a couple Tagua seeds with cute sayings. It's all for me, but I might pass them on in the future. Total spent: $26.
I ended up spending way too much and am kinda done shopping for awhile.
I found a collectors tag of a squishy when I got home:
 I wish they had picked a more exciting squishy, it was from wish or alli, I'm sure they could have.
Tuesday: I switched shifts with a co-worker so she could attend a basketball game, it felt like Wednesday all day, which in turn made me forget to do things.
I remembered to get a couple things put together right before I went to bed.
Grant a Wish: Cute Christmas ornament:
 I ended up sending to the same person as my Dollar Store tag above, it was no longer a one stamp envelope.
Christmas happy mail:
 this one however ended up being one stamp. I sent some die cuts, stickers, washi, tags, card and some project life cards.
Wednesday: I spent a lot on postage, mostly because of my crafty Christmas advent calendar, I sent it in a medium flat rate priority box.
I received my mega destash swap:
 I really like this paper collection.
 not sure I'll use any of these.
 Lots of flowers and die cuts and trim. Good selection.
 And a bunch of die cuts, I won't use the stamps.
 Mostly cards and sticky notes and paper scraps.
I'm annoyed that she sent it on Monday when it was due to be sent out on Saturday. I hate following rules when other people don't.
Thursday: I got my 12 Days of Christmas swap packaged up and ready to go:
 I really like the wrapping paper I bought at TJ Maxx. I used some tiny wreath ornaments I picked up at Hobby Lobby with paper scraps and stamped numbers to number them, I love how they turned out.
I put together my Wednesday tags.
Wacky Wednesday: Edible:
 and I ended up sending to the same person for another Christmas ornament;
 I mostly read a book all day. I did receive some cute Christmas tags.
 I wish people would include notes.
And a sticker sheets tag:
Not happy with the kid's stickers.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Green ribbon

Monday: There was a lot of reading, that was mostly all I did. It was wicked cold, temps in the 20s, but windchill at 1 degree. Also had snow on the ground. I'm not sure what the weather did on Sunday, because I didn't go out, but all the people that shoveled before Monday morning, there was ice on those sidewalks. It was much easier to walk on the sidewalks that weren't shoveled. I went to lunch with my mother, it was ok, we went to Panera, not sure what they did to their food, but it wasn't great. I caught a mouse. I'm tired of mice.
Tuesday: I put together some stuff to mail out.
Christmas happy mail:
 I was going to go flat, but decided on a parcel just to get rid of a that banner kit, and the candy cane pen I got in a swap last year.
Sticker sheets:
 Wrapped Christmas gifts:
 These ended up being so heavy I threw them in a priority flat rate, it was probably because of the bath bombs.
I had 7 things waiting for me in the mailbox.
Collectors: monsters
 I was thinking cutesy monsters when I said this. These will probably be passed on to someone else, I find them too creepy. I decided I should just say minions for certain tags.
wish of sticker flakes:
 some of these are a little out there.
Wish of PDT labels:
 I will always use these.
Favorites: minions:
 You can never go wrong with minions.
Sticker sheets:
 I really like the Toy Story 4 ones. In my other group, when they have a sticker sheets tag, they say no kids stickers, I wish this one did, too.
Wish for happy mail:
 Still a hit or miss. I'll use the PDT label, the stamp, and the stickers. I'm not so sure how I feel about the tea.
Kawaii:
 I like the sticky notes and the one sheet of stickers, but not the Hello Kitty ones.
Wednesday: I found a bunch of sharks and had to check them out:
 Apparently a group is called a frenzy of sharks:
 I received a favorite color: green tag:
 Seriously? Out of all the stuff you could have sent, you send ribbon. At least I try to send things I'd like in return.
I came home and read that day as well. If I was just reading my books, it would be great, but I get sucked in to things on line. I did get through a bunch of movies (mostly because I'd put them in and realize I saw them not that long ago.)
Thursday: I got a Dollar Store tag:
 Love these.
Put together a Thirsty Thursday: 2 tea bags:
 A Christmas card:
 An ATC:
 A handmade tag:
I was going to go with one of the ornaments I've been making lately, but decided to go flat instead.
I finished my advent calendar:
And got it packaged up and ready to go.