Heigh-ho . . . I. O.

Heigh-ho . . .    I. O.  . . .    It's off to shop we go . . .

My PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I shop various stamp/scrapbook shows throughout the year and we always shop the booth of IOstamps -- AKA Impression Obsession. We like their dies and stamps and at these stamp shows they offer show specials so shopping their booth is always a must . .
On their website, IOstamps.com, they have their shows and events listed for the year ahead so we can plan our road trips in advance. . .

Earlier this year I saw on their "Event" page that they were having their yearly Warehouse Sale. I did not know they had this yearly sale but knew it would be a sale I would want to attend - right away I emailed my PIC and told her about this sale and we made our plans to attend it. It is a two day sale and we decided we would go on the first day which was Friday.  We both took a vacation day from work and I asked DH (who I now call the "Cuber Driver" since he is the 'uber' driver for us two crafters) and he said he would take us. . .  Plans in place and we were ready to go . . . we both started saving our monies to set aside for this sale ... As the sale date got closer all was well until...

Hurricane Florence arrived --- who invited her???? So with bad weather in the area IO canceled their September warehouse sale and rescheduled it for November 2nd and 3rd.  My PIC and I changed our vacation days and we were all set . . .   She and I had tried to find detailed information about this sale on the web so we would know what to expect but all we could find were postings by people that said they would be attending.  So before the sale my PIC called IO and asked some questions so we had an idea what to expect at this sale. We were not sure of the set up or if the sale included all past product only or over runs or what?

My PIC had told her mother, another card maker who lives a few hours away from us, about this sale and she said they would meet us at the warehouse for the sale. Plans in place we were set for our road trip. Left the house very early yesterday morning, picking up my PIC on our way, and we headed out for our day long adventure. . .

The IO warehouse is in Oilville, Virginia and that is about a 25 mile ride outside of Richmond. With their sale starting at 9AM I knew we would probably get caught in the rush hour traffic in Richmond so I allowed for extra travel time for the trip.  DH always says he does not understand if we are doing a road trip why I have a set departure schedule in place ? ?   I told him with this being a warehouse sale and a set starting time that we wanted to be at the warehouse early so we could get in line. . . Happily the traffic in Richmond moves right along so we did not have any delays. . .

We pulled up to the warehouse parking lot ---

Happy we made the trip and we had about an hour to wait until the sale to start -- only one other vehicle was there -- my PIC's parents! Here was the parking lot -

So of course my DH turns to me -- not a soul in sight in the parking lot or by the front doors -- and says "You had better hurry" -- hahaha... NOT -- ;0(     So my PIC, her Mom, and I were the first to arrive for this sale and in line. Her Mom had said they drove there the day before and stayed at a hotel for the night. She said they had driven to IO the day before the sale to see where it was and the gals at IO took her on a tour of the sale space so she would know how things would be set up - she could not shop but at least one of us knew how things would run. She told us all the dies would be in numerical order, not by theme or holiday, so it was helpful we each had made our shopping lists using their product numbers. They set up this 'store' in their warehouse for this one time yearly sale.  Here is a photo through the front doors that I took while we were waiting for them to open:

While we waited for them to open we saw them hanging all the signs for the sale -- all clear stamp sets $5.00 each, all dies - older, current, and new releases 50% off, etc.. More and more shoppers arrived and we enjoyed meeting two nurses that are also paper crafters behind us in line. We had a fun conversation waiting for 9AM to arrive. Fun ladies and a fun time in line for sure.... The parking lot filled up and the line extended . . .  Doors opened a little early and we were happy to shop - all the ladies were so nice -- no shoving or pushing or anything -- they would hand you dies or products if you asked, etc. A nice bunch of gals for sure....

First I shopped the dies on three walls of this 'store' then I shopped the loose cling rubber stamps in boxes on table tops. They also had tables with boxes and boxes of clear stamp sets as well as a table with boxes and boxes of unmounted stamps. Around the corner to a back room where they had shelves of ink pads and matching re-inkers, spinning racks of cling stamps, a table of kits, and a shelf unit that had unmounted background stamps - these stamps could have a small flaw on them or they may not be 1st quality and each were $5.00.  Once you picked out the background stamps you wanted you gave them to an employee and they mounted them for free for you -- here are my two background stamps I picked up:

I also picked up one ink pad and re-inker on sale for Christmas holiday projects - their Cherry ink:

A photo of loose cling stamps I picked up for 50 cents each or a $1.00 each - they are so cheap since they do not have packaging:

I also bought three of their clear stamp sets at $5.00 each:

Two of the stamp sets have sayings from the Wizard of Oz movie which is a favorite of mine and my PIC found those for me --- but the main reason I shopped this sale was for the dies:

 and more:

and more:

and to show new releases were also included in their warehouse sale:

Not only did I save on the dies being 50% off but did not have to pay shipping from a website.  My PIC bought lots of stamp sets and dies as did her mother. Three happy stampers for sure. The good thing about this sale is IO had hung up their sample boards on all the walls with dies for card inspiration and project ideas. We were allowed to take photos of the sample boards and so I did:

Here is a peek into a back room they have - They were offering a free Make N Take but we did not stay for that:

Two employees ran the registers so it did not take long to check out and you could take a bag full of past IO catalogs. I like looking at those for inspiration ideas or cards that they use a few different dies on to make a background or a 'scene' on your card front. Happy to get those catalogs free for sure!

We shopped for about an hour and a half or so and I was happy I found all the dies on my list except for one die that is a new release and it was sold out but they will be getting more in stock so I will order it from their online store. Both my PIC and I spent less than we expected so we had monies left for lunch at a restaurant that did not have a drive-thru window - haha.  We said our good byes to her parents in the parking lot and they headed out.

DH was waiting patiently for us and was happy to drive us wherever we wanted - we stopped at Tuesday Morning and checked that out... followed that with a run to Bed Bath and Beyond for one of the double Inter Design fridge bins my PIC wanted but we found out that she will have to order that online.... Then off to lunch -- went to Long Horn and had a nice lunch. Across the street from there is a Hobby Lobby. My PIC and I stopped in there and she was able to buy quite a few of the Disney character dies from the Clearance Section for her scrapbook for her grand daughters. I picked up a die set from Spellbinders on sale:

We also stopped at Harbor Freight as my PIC had coupons so she and I could get a Pittsburgh Magnetic Parts Holder dish free - we are going to use them for holding die pieces on our craft tables while we are making our cards. Thanks to my PIC for sharing her coupons!  After errands were run we ended our shopping trip with a stop at a nearby favorite:

Then we headed home and we were home earlier than most of our day trips so this worked for us. A fun road trip for us stampers and happy to have been able to shop the IO Warehouse sale... We both said we will go again next year as well... Will be spending today putting the dies in their bins and getting things put away in the craft room....   Certainly a road trip to "die" for -- haha!!! Thanks to DH for being our "Cuber driver" one more time..... ;0)