Used stamp sale -

Saturday my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I went to a used stamp/paper crafting sale and I picked up a few things:

Three packs of solid card stock - Perfect Plum - it is opened but missing 2 sheets. The Only Orange and Certainly celery packs are still sealed. Those were like $5 and $6 each. I also picked up another of the Ranger/Tim Holtz Rosette die for $1.00 - I already have it but now I can easily cut out multiple strips for my Rosettes since this is a favorite Rosette die I have in my stash. Also the background stamp:

"Drybrush". It was $5 but it is new and when I saw it I thought it would make a good spooky sky background for Halloween so I will have to try that out. 

My PIC and I are having our third stamping sale this Saturday so we have been busy with that. Then we will pack up whatever is left and we will be selling at the Customer Yard Sale at the Enchanted Cottage store in Lewisville, NC on Saturday October 3rd. We shop that sale every fall and last year was the first time we sold there. We have 4 craft rooms of combined products - I weeded out, my PIC weeded out, her mother was a paper crafter and when she passed away her room of supplies went to my PIC and also my step daughter no longer paper crafts as she has a busy job so her items have been added. Lots to see at our sale for sure between supplies, card stocks, machines, etc.. Looking forward to our sale on Saturday as for once it will not be 95 degrees with a heat index of over 100 so yay for that! Plus the sale at Enchanted Cottage is to follow and over 30 paper crafting sellers have signed up to sell so I am sure we will enjoy another shopping spree!! That is the sale that last fall my PIC bought a NEW in sealed box Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine for $35.00 so great deals to be found there for sure....

Michaels - Maybe not . . .

Had seen videos on YouTube showing new Halloween paper craft items at Michaels stores. New stickers, ephemera, paper pads, washi tapes, etc.  Have lots of Halloween products in the craft stash but I wanted to see some of these items in person. Went to a local store and they did not have any of the washi tapes but they did have a few paper pads. I picked up a Halloween paper pad but that was all..... came home and looked at Michaels.com online store to look at the washi tapes they carry for Halloween. They were selling these washi sets for $15.50 but they had it on sale for $12.40.  Their description also tells you who this product is shipped from. The washi tapes I looked at are from Planner Envy. Wanting to know if Planner Envy offered any other designs off I went to their website before I ordered from Mikes....

Planner Envy had the same washi tape set as Mikes, and others, and their price was $8.75 for the same set of Halloween washi tape I wanted and I looked at their Fall washi tape sets and those were also $8.75. I picked out a Halloween set and a Fall set and ordered those:

They are packaged in a clear box and lay flat so they ship well. Here is a side view of the patterns:

Happy to have found Planner Envy. They have lots of washi tape sets - 2 pages worth - on their site and they have new Christmas and Winter sets as well as Halloween, Fall, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc.. Good quality product too.... and they are also having a sale at   plannerenvy.com.  Lots of stickers as well if you need those for your planners/junk journals or other projects you are working on. 

Scrapbook.com also featured new products and I picked up a pack of a set of 2 plates for my new Sizzix  machine. These plates are sparkly red and happy to have them:

It was time for new plates in this craft room and happy to find them in red - 

A little jazzing up for my die cutting machine.... Hoping they last as long as my older plates that are years old.....

Another Road Trip for Scrapbook Expo

Each year my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I plan what stamp/scrapbooking shows we would want to attend during that year. In the past each year would start with our first show being in Columbia, SC and that is the Stamp and Scrap Art Tour show (SSAT). Two years ago we shopped that show and there were no sales, vendor coupons, or booth deals so this year we skipped that show. With traveling 3+ hours one way to a show having coupons or deals helps off set time and gas getting there.... In the past we have attended the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo show in both Chantilly, VA and Duluth, GA which were great shows but for us we would have to reserve hotel rooms for the night since the drive to these cities is a 6+ hour ride..... but last year we did go to the Duluth show and it was really good -- lots of vendors, lots of coupons/deals/sales and a fun show all around.... usually at these shows when you are waiting in the line to enter vendors walk the line and have "hand outs" which are coupons or a small flyer with their booth sales and deals.... PIC and I were all set to attend the Duluth show again this July until....

Stamp and Scrapbook Expo sent out an email that this year they would not be holding their show in Chantilly, VA but rather in Fredericksburg, VA in June. I spoke to my PIC and we were fine to cancel our hotel reservations for the Duluth show in July and instead drive the 3 1/2 hours to Fredericksburg to attend this show..... DH said he would drive us there and back so we were set.... I went to the website for the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo and signed up for show coupons/specials so before we went to the show we would know what deals were offered. First to start with on our way....

and a photo of the Convention Center:

DH dropped us at the door at 8:30AM with the show starting at 9:00AM. We got in line to wait for the show to open and there already were shoppers ahead of us in line. 

Admission to this show was $12.00 EACH... I think the highest we have paid to attend one of these shows in the past was maybe $8.00 for our admission. In the past when we attend SSAT shows we usually receive a post card a couple of weeks before the show with a dollar off coupon for our admission.  Also at the Duluth show we were all given a large black Stamplistic/Spellbinders tote bag to use for shopping with our admission ticket. At this show $12.00 got us in and that was it....  no tote bag.... Last week I did receive an email from the Scrapbook Expo with a link to print out coupons/deals at the show in Fredericksburg. I printed them out and had them ready with my shopping list. Here is the show guide you get with your paid admission and it has a list of vendors inside as well as a floor map of the vendors so you know where everyone is set up:

Tall Mouse, Eyelet Outlet, and Scrappy Boy Stamps all walked the line and gave us hand outs and told us about specials at their booth, etc.. Before I left for the show I had made a list of 5 products I wanted to shop for at this show. First being the American Flag die set from Scrappy Boy Stamps that was sold out in their online store when I looked for it and I was hoping they would have it at the show. When Sean (ScrappyBoy) walked the waiting line I asked if he had the flag die with him at this show and he said he did so happy me to go to his booth first and pick that die set up. I also picked up his plastic storage envelopes in a size I wanted and his Box Making die set as well. He had a coupon for 15% off all his stamp and dies so that was nice to have a savings offered:

Also on my list was a stop at the Bee Creative booth for their special on Stickles all their Sizzix products were 30% off. I bought the Diamond Stickles and a 3D embossing folder:

This next booth/products were at a vendor I have never heard of or shopped before. She is the "Crafty Stamp Co" and her website is: "www.craftystampco.com" and her booth was really nice. I bought two packs of her 6x6 card stocks - there are 48 sheets in each pack AND she has a plastic envelope/sleeve in the package to store your card stock in. Here is a photo of the card stocks and stencils I picked up from her:

Nautical card stock, sunflower card stock, one stencil is here "Yikes and Frights" Halloween background stencil and her "Forest Tree Line" stencil. She also gave us a code for a discount on an order from her website. Here is a photo of the card stocks in the plastic envelope/sleeve she includes in the package:

Off to the Elizabeth Craft Design booth. They had show specials where you buy a certain amount of dies and get one free. She also had flower dies for $5.00 and a sentiment stamp set for $2.00. They gave you a free "handmade" stamp with your purchase:

Now to Tall Mouse. Their die sets were $10.00 each and if you bought a certain amount you again got one for free:

I picked up a cover plate die and two die sets for piecing card fronts together. If you spent $30.00 at their booth they gave you a free tote bag and a free button. I also bought mini magnets from them:

Off to the Stamplistic booth where they were selling Spellbinder dies and hot foil plates:

At the show last year in Duluth Stamplistic had specials on Spellbinders dies and products but not this year. I picked up two die sets and one Simon Hurley hot foil set for $10.00. At KeepItSimplePaper.com I picked up their show special of Sprinkles and a large pumpkin die set:

Now for the items I bought at Brass & Bliss. Last year at the Duluth show I shopped their booth and they had lots of show specials but this year NONE. No coupons, no buy this many to get one free, zip...

These three items I had on my list so I bought them anyways knowing at least I would not have to pay for shipping if I bought them at the show and not from their online store... But I was disappointed that they offered no show specials or coupons or anything for us shoppers...... 

Will say these stamp shows need to realize all us crafters do not live across the street and many of us will travel an hour or a few to attend these shows so any coupons/show specials help us justify driving to support them. This was the first year we had to print out our own coupons/show special ads and hand outs for the waiting line were few. At then entrance of the show there was a display rack with all these buttons for sale and I bought one:

I usually buy a different button each year for the shows and this button cost $4.00..... When we left the show we stopped at a booth in the lobby where if you showed your combined receipts that totaled $150.00 or more you received a really nice lanyard with a Scrap Book Expo show button and another "shopped the Expo" button for free:

DH picked us up and we went over to Wegmans which we could walk to it is so close to the Convention Center:

We all ordered a sub for our late lunch and ate it there and did some shopping and headed home for the day. DH said when he dropped us off to the show he left and went to IHOP for breakfast. When he came back the parking lot at the Convention Center was full so he pulled in the Wegmans parking lot to park and wait for us. He said he saw a lot of  people pull into the parking lot at the Convention Center and then drive over to Wegmans to park and they walked over to the Convention Center to shop. At every booth we shopped there were a lot of shoppers -- lines to check out at all the booths so happy to see so many paper crafters and scrapbookers at this show. A lady that works for Scrapbook Expo said they plan to return to Fredericksburg next year and that show will be held in April so happy about that as we will attend again.

Long day but happy we did not have to reserve a hotel and spread the trip out over two days. Always happy to see products in person at the shows and all the displays and samples at the vendor booths. Just wish that Scrapbook Expo offered a coupon for admission as I think $12.00 for admission is high.....

Holographic Halloween Die Cuts

franticstamper.com   is closing the doors to their store on July 31, 2026.  She carries many brands from Altenew, Tim Holtz, Memory Box, Lawn Fawn, and many more... She also sells her own brand of dies and I have many of those. This die set is what I was working with this week:

I did some die cutting using scraps and also using the holographic sticker sheets that I used on the butterflies for this card and it was inspired by Heidi the Yorkshire Crafter on YouTube:

I used two ghost dies from my stash along with the Frantic Stamper "Fun Happy Halloween" set of 2 dies for the words on my samples:

and the ghost with the words:

These holographic sticker sheets give your project the sparkle and shine without having to use glitter or glittered card stock for your projects.  As usual hard to capture the holographic sparkle on the die cuts with the camera:

Franticstamper is having different specials as she gets closer to her closing date the end of July so many good deals to be had and she has a large store so many things to look at. As with using the holographic sticker sheets I was not sure with the "Happy Halloween" word dies having so many cut outs if the dies would cut the sticker sheets well or not, but as all her brand dies do, these easily cut the sticker sheet and the card stock it was on with one pass in the machine. Sad to see yet another online store close it's doors but she has many specials going on her sight so a good time to shop .....

Oval Crop-A-Dile

American Crafts "We R Makers" just came out with an oval Crop-A-Dile and it just arrived this week. This new tool only punches an oval at 1/2" inch unlike the original Crop-A-Dile which lets you punch your hole at different measurements. This new tool comes with gold oval eyelets and washers in a set of 25. If you should order different colours of your oval eyelets those are sold in sets of 50. They have gold, silver, and the brown oval eyelets and washers on their website but they say they are hoping to stock different colours soon. Here is the new Oval Crop-A-Dile:

Wanted to make a Halloween tag so I went through my stash of dies but my dies all have a circle at the top for a round eyelet and many of these circles are further into the tag than 1/2" inch. So to make my tag I used a Spellbinders tag set from the stash:

I put the tag die on a piece of black card stock and I traced around the outside of the tag die for my tag shape. Used the trimmer to cut this tag out. Wanted to have a piece of printed card stock on the front of my tag so I used this same Spellbinders tag die and traced the INSIDE of the tag die onto the printed card stock and again used the trimmer to cut this out. Here is a photo of this tag:

With both the black card stock tag cut out and the printed tag card stock cut out I used a corner rounder punch on the bottom of both to curve the bottom. Used liquid glue and put these tags together. Once those were together I used the Oval Crop-A-Dile to make my oval punch at the top of the tag:

Put the oval eyelet on the front of the tag and the oval washer on the back of the tag and attached them using the new Crop-A-Dile:

This oval shape allows for use for a thicker/wider ribbon or trim than the standard circle eyelet allows. The washer also finishes off the back of the tag so the eyelet is smooth like the front is. Here is a photo to show the thicker trim I put through my oval eyelet on the tag:

I used black mesh tied with crinkled seam binding for the top of my tag. For the ghost I used an old Sizzix die from the stash and cut him out of white glittered card stock:

The "BOO" on my tag is a die from a stash die set and I cut that out of orange glittered card stock and used liquid glue to put that on the tag. Added orange gems from the stash for some sparkle on the tag:

Happy they made this new shaped Crop-A-Dile tool. It is easy to squeeze to set the eyelet/washer on the tags. Lots of ideas for using it on projects besides tags....

Crafting away.... and then the phone call.....

Busy in the craft room yesterday and die cutting and gluing away when my PIC (stamping partner in crime) sent a text asking if she can call me -- told her yes and the phone rings..... She was listing an appliance for sale on Facebook Market Place and she came across a sale listed for paper crafting items but this sale was yesterday morning and it was now afternoon. My PIC contacted the seller and the seller said we could come over now so she called me to ask if I wanted to go along with her to shop?? Ahhh... SURE!!

So I met her at the house and we shopped for an hour or so. This seller used to be a demonstrator for Fun Stampers Journey so she had a lot of their products along with so much more.... I was happy to bring home new in the package Fun Stampers Journey card stocks:

These are packs of 25 sheets and I paid $6.00 each pack - Stampin Up has their 8 1/2 x 11 card stocks in packs of 24 for $14.00 so I was happy to find these!! I also bought a bag of glue dots/foam squares/foam tape for $2.00 for the bag:

Inside is:

Bought two stamp sets with matching dies:

These die sets were $5.00 each and look brand new:

and

Also this Diamond Press shaker set:

The second sheet of dies in this set has two shaker bits dies included:

I also picked up a baggie of a die set and I put them on a magnet strip for storage. I think I paid $2.00 on these:

Happy to be able to shop this sale! She had the white cubbies and Sterlite drawers for sale,Totally Tiffany, tools, machines, card stocks, punches, steel ruled dies, storage items, trims, ribbons, twines, etc. Certainly nice of her to let us both shop after her posted hours for her sale as well.... Always happy to find more items for the craft room at great prices!

Another road trip on last week of vacation . . .

Left in the dark yesterday morning for our trip to Greenville, SC to shop the Recraft Creative Reuse Center store. DH drove myself and my PIC (Stamping Partner in Crime) to this store we have shopped before. As with any recycling store craft product donations change so you never know what you will find. This time I did find a few items to bring home to my craft room - or the Warehouse as DH refers to it...... 

First:

In the above photo on the back left is the "Never Ending Fringe" die set from Essentials by Ellen which is Ellen Hutson. I have many of her stamp and die sets and love her storage envelopes and although she closed her online store you can buy her products from her store on Amazon - in the search bar type in Ellen Hutson and her items will be shown. I paid $4.00 for the fringe die set and I already have two or three projects in mind for that die set.... the die set on the right is from Hefty Doodle and that was also $4.00 for the set and this is their "Big Shadow Box Die" set. All pieces are there so I was happy about that and this die set should make making shadow box cards very easy. The foil hot plate in the lower left from LawnFawn was $1.00 and that is their "Let It Snow" sentiment and after you hot foil it it can be die cut out using a circle die for your card or project. 

Also found two more stamping/card making items:

Stamp from Taylored Expressions for $2.00 is their Building Blocks-Cool Additions and that is shown with the Whimsy Stamps "Slimline Connected Rectangles" die set and that was $4.00. There were steel ruled dies, stamp sets, ink pads, bling, stickers, card stocks, Cricut machines galore, Xyron machines, washi tape, etc. and other items for sale but I wanted to shop the fabric/fibers sections.... Found bags of fabric pieces packed by colours for $2.00 per bag:

This photo shows the bags turned over to show more of what is in each bag:

Happy lots of fabric pieces in each bag and all bags were $2.00 each:

After fabrics I went over to the yarn section. They had large bags filled with different yarns but all of the same colour family in each bag. I did not need all that yarn as I was mainly looking for eyelash yarns and happy me I found them... Sign said $1.00 each skein or fill their bag and the bag would be $3.00 so I filled the bag:

Took a photo of all the yarn out of this bag:

Will be working on new projects using these new fabric pieces and yarns and was happy I was able to find them for a good price..... We left there and I wanted to stop at a quilting store nearby in Simponsville, SC so off to there we went. It is the Marietta's Quilt and Sew Shop and it is fantastic. They have beautiful fabrics, notions, patterns, books and the like. WELL worth the trip to that store for sure! My PIC was able to find some fabrics for her fabric ornaments she makes so another great stop for shopping for us!

Always happy to shop these recycle stores - nearest one to us is Reconsidered Goods in Greensboro and I am happy it is easy to get to but on vacation??? Always fun to make the drive to SC to shop the Recraft store in Greenville to see what items I can bring home that I did not know I needed.... hahaha  Thanks to DH for driving us there and then to Simpsonville for the quilt shop and then home... Another fun day trip....