Supposed to be . . .

Supposed to be cleaning up the craft room and putting away the rest of the BOO Day crafting items and dies and inks . . .   and also supposed to be putting away the Thanksgiving crafting items and dies and inks . . .   but  ..... 

Had recently seen a video on YouTube where a crafter was showing all the ways she uses stencils for different effects on her cards and projects.... she was demonstrating all of this on a mat I had not seen before used for stencils.  Below her video was a list of links of all the products she had demonstrated in this video for online stores.  I clicked on the link for this mat and the online store was having an ongoing sale on their site.  Before I ordered the mat I checked around the internet to see what else this mat could be used for besides stencils.

I read all about it with reviews of how it works and decided I would order one. I went back to the online store listed for the video and put the mat and the craft mat shown in the video in my cart. Went through the ordering process until.... shipping was $21.00~~FAR too much for this crafter to pay to have something sent to me. . .  I emptied my cart and shopped around the internet to see if I could find another online store that sold these items for less shipping. . .

Happy me that I found these items on SimonSaysStamp and their shipping was $6.99. They had no sale pricing but I certainly saved on shipping! 

They mailed it out this past Monday and I was surprised that it was delivered today!!  Really want to work with the mat but it will have to wait until this weekend when I have more time. Here is a photo of the box:

This is a photo of the back of the box:

And the mat out of the box:

The mat is a nice weight and not too heavy. Sturdy enough not to bend. It has a flexible magnetic ruler to help keep your project centered on the mat or it can be lifted off and put the side. By using this magnetic mat I will no longer have to use Post It Notes/tape, or purple tape, or painter's tape to keep my card stock in place when using a stencil. The mat will also prevent any tears/rips on the card stock surface from removing the tapes when the stenciling is done. Looking forward to using my new stencils - on sale - from Pretty Pink Posh - for Christmas projects this weekend. I will post more photos of what I make and how the mat works.  Certainly happy it arrived so quickly and for a third of the cost of the original shipping quote!  Shipping costs are not always the same so this just proves it pays to shop around!