Stamp Show Columbia, SC

Well.... yesterday was the Stamp Scrap Art Tour (SSAT) stamp show in Columbia, SC.  My PIC (stamping partner in crime) and I have gone to this stamp show for a few years now and it is always in February and it would be the first show of the year we would attend.... so thinking after yesterday it may well be the last time we go to the show in Columbia.... 

As usual DH is our Cuber Driver - "Crafting Uber Driver" for us and he drops us off at the show and then he will go to a flea market or swap meet in the area while we are at the show. Before we attend the show we always check to see what vendors will be there and then plan our shopping..... this year there were maybe 6 vendors after you take out the local Stampin Up booth and the local Close To My Heart booth selling off the rest of their stock since CTMH has closed.... but we still wanted to go to the show so plans were in place. 

Since DH was driving us he wanted to take his truck as usual so the night before I put things in the truck for the trip - my tote bag for shopping, my printed out list of things I was looking for as well as my print out of ink colours I had just bought. So the next morning I loaded up the cooler with our drinks, water, snacks, and ice for our trip and headed out to the truck in the rain with that only to find the truck was leaning to the right in the front - it was dark out so I got out my phone and turned on the flash light..... right away I knew why the truck was leaning..... flat front tire but luckily only the bottom was flat.... haha

DH was not laughing when I told him so I suggested we take the car instead so everything had to be transferred to the car for the trip. I did not want to try to deal with the flat since it was dark out with us leaving so early for our trip.... and raining.....  so everything was put into the car, my PIC pulled in and we headed out for our 3+ hour trip to Columbia in the rain..... Along the way we stopped at Buc-ee's and picked up a breakfast and headed to the show. With road construction all around Columbia we did not arrive to the show until shortly after the opening at 10AM but we were happy we made it... 

We filled out the door prize ticket they give you and looked at the program they hand out and we were not too happy.... usually at these shows vendors will have coupons or sales. Maybe buy 2 get one free for the first hour or two of the show or they will have different specials throughout the day. This is the first show we have attended where there were NO specials/coupons/sales or freebies. We looked at the vendors set up and there were not too many of those.... We shopped the CTMH booth but that seller's prices were too high for us as many of these items sell for less on Ebay. We walked around and we stopped at The Ton booth - they were the only vendor that had a show special - spend $300.00 and get a free tote bag but only one per day..... Certainly no tote bag for me....  I did buy a few things from them but I will say their prices are high. They have their version of the popular postage stamp sets with matching stencils and dies but their prices are $5.00-$7.00 higher than Waffleflower who also sell the postage stamp products. This is what I bought from The Ton:

I also shopped the Northwoods/Verses stamp booth and picked these up:

We also stopped at the Eyelet Outlet booth and then we were finished. Called DH and he said he was in the parking lot so we headed to the car. Our plan for this day was to shop the stamp show in Columbia and then drive another hour and a half to shop at a recycle/reuse crafts store in Greenville that we have shopped at in the past when we went to the show in Columbia. Last year we shopped that store and I bought a few things there -- a stamp set, metallic thread, wooden stamps, steel ruled dies but that was it.... 

We arrived at the ReCraft Creative Reuse Center store in Greenville around 2:30PM after DH had stopped at a classic car place also in that area. Since we arrived so late in the day I certainly was not expecting what we found!! I saw a heat press and I sent a photo to my DSS to see if she wanted that but she said it was the same size as the one she already had... I walked over to the paper crafting section and they had a sign to fill up a small bag of wooden stamps and pay a flat price. I was looking through the stamps when my PIC asked if I wanted any ink pads?? I do not buy ink pads from these places unless they are in mint condition or sealed - she said these ink pads were sealed and brand new.... so I looked and there were a lot of the Distress Oxide ink pads that were new and sealed so I checked those against my list I had of my colours and I picked up those for $4.00 a pad. For these inks alone I saved well over $100.00 buying them yesterday there than if I had bought them online and plus then I would have to pay shipping.... I also got two of the Iris bins for $2.00 each, a few wooden stamps, some Simon Says Stamps stamps/die set bundles, and a few dies. Here are the Oxide ink pads:

Also picked up a sealed ink pad from Catherine Pooler, Sage. Here are some of the stamps/die bundles:

Bunny stamps/die set is from the SimonSaysStamps "Just for You" release and these are brand new and the set was $8.00. Another SSS bunny die - $1.00:

Next to the bunny in that photo is a holly/berry die set from My Favorite Things (MFT Stamps) and that was $4.00 but inside is two sets of that die set so I am giving the extra die set to my PIC. Picked up a Halloween stamps/die set from SSS:

WaffleFlower holiday lights die set:

I picked up a package of the Stik-It sheet from Ken Oliver as well as a stamps/die set from PaperTreyInk. This set has flower stamps, a second sheet of leaves and stems stamps, and then the matching die set as well:

My PIC also found the clear bottle holder by Scrapbook.com for me - it was new in the box:

I also picked up a few of the wooden stamps and a couple of them are garden related as I am working on a project for Spring and these stamps are perfect:

As I was looking through the stamps and die sets I also looked for items I pulled out that my PIC maybe would be interested in -- she wants to make a postage project using a stencil and I told her that Waffle Flower sells small stamp sets that have the stamp price stamps, or a holiday postmark, etc.. When I was going through all these sets I did find two of the WaffleFlower postage stamp sets for her - $1.00 each! Plus not only did she get them for a great price but she did not have to pay shipping from an online order! So I must say I was certainly happy with all I found but that was NOTHING compared to my PIC and her finds!

She found 76 BRAND NEW, still sealed, Simon Says Stamp ink pads for $4.00 each! With what she paid for those at this store she said she saved over $265.00 just by buying the ink pads for $4.00 each and not having to pay for shipping. (Those ink pads sell for over $7 each online)  She also picked up other things she was happy to find and off to the register we went with all this stuffs... The cashier told us they had just put all the ink pads and stamps/die sets out and that we really scored with this stuff --- my PIC and I were thrilled that that late in the day we would be able to find such great items to bring home to our craft rooms!

I took all the wrappers off my Oxide ink pads and swatched the inks using scrap white card stock from the stash. I use card stock rather than a label so I have a true shade of the inks:

Put all the ink samples on the ink pad cases:

Put all my new ink pads on my new Scrapbook.com acrylic ink pad holders:

Once I started buying the Oxides I bought a set of the blending brushes on sale with the coloured handles and I keep those in a cup near the inks. My other blending brushes have black handles and I bought the coloured snap on plastic clips for those so I know which brush is for which colour. Keeping the Oxides blending brush separate so they will not get mixed up with the regular Distress Inks I have and the blending brushes I use for those as well other inks. 

Will have to say we both agreed we did so much better at the ReCraft store than the stamp show!! After we left there we headed to Olive Garden and then the drive home.... left in the dark for the show and got home in the dark from our trip....... Happy to get to spend the day for our craft rooms but I am thinking this is the only show I may go to this year as they are getting smaller and smaller... also -- 

Franticstamper.com  is closing her store and having some closing sales and she said she will be adding more items to the closing sale as she gets closer to her closing date. My recent Happy St. Patrick's Day card I used her Shamrock cover plate die and I have a lot of her brand die sets. Great designs and great quality! Sorry to see her close but more and more this is happening......