It's HERE!!

 For some time I have thought about buying the Brother Scan n Cut machine ... but kept putting it off. I watched and watched other crafters using their Scan n Cut machines in their craft rooms for many different types of projects .... but being a "newbie" to this machine I mainly wanted one so I could use it to cut out stamped images I have that do not have matching die sets  --- ALL of the Whipper Snapper Design stamps I have -- LOTS of bunnies/Easter images.....   also a couple of years back I had picked up the Some Bunny stamp set from Simon Says Stamp:

This stamp set was $2.00 at a crafters used stamping sale. I brought it home and checked and Simon Says Stamps did not have a matching die set for this stamp set. Finally broke down and bought my Scan n Cut machine:

When my machine arrived I thought to try it out I would stamp and then scan and cut out the bunny from the Some Bunny stamp set. The photo below shows the bunny stamped and cut out on the left side - the bunny on the right has a white border around it - as dies would cut it out:

Absolutely love the Scan n Cut and it will certainly gets lots of use in this craft room for sure. Plus you can stamp your image once or fill a whole page and the Scan n Cut will cut them all out so quickly!! Happy I finally bought it! Lots of stamped images I can use it for - perfect for stamp sets with no matching dies or punches..... LOVE it already!

Road Trip

Yesterday was a road trip to Charlotte for this crafter. As in years past the Paper Crafters Muse store in Matthews, NC held their annual Customer Yard Sale where store customers clean out their craft rooms of new or gently used items and sell them at this sale. The store owner, Daphne P. would organize this sale for her customers. The day of this sale Daphne would also have some great sales going on at her store so you could shop her sales and then check out the Yard Sale goodies. . .  My PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I have been to every sale. . . 

This year was different - in late April Daphne P. passed away so Francis, (who worked with Daphne at the store), has taken over running the store at this time. Francis organized this sale and yesterday was the sale:

The sellers had their canopies set up in the back parking lot and lots of goodies to be had:

I took these photos when I arrived and since they were still setting up I shopped inside the store first ...  Once I finished in there I went outside - 

Canopies on both sides of the parking lot and lots of products -- one seller had a working Minc System with some accessories she was selling for $15.00 -- a few sellers were selling the Stampin Up Big Shot machines, lots of Stampin Up stamp sets, punches, ribbons/trims, dies, ink pads, trimmers, score tools, and card stocks, markers, stickers, vinyl, etc.. . One lady had all Close To My Heart products, a few Cricut machines and programs, storage items, etc.  Basically any cardmaking/scrapbooking items you would need were somewhere to find.... Lots to shop for but I only bought a few things....

I did not have any list of any items to look for but was happy when I found this set:

Stampin Up sold this Little Treat Box bundle for $53.00:

SU has basically priced itself right out of my craft room but buying items gently used or even new at these used stamping sales works for me! Here is a photo of the die set:

Not sure if the die set was ever used but only one of the stamps in the set was used - happy me that I paid well lower than half of the original cost of this SU bundle AND with no shipping it is a win/win for me! Another seller had dies/hot foil plates for sale for $1.00 each -- yes, one dollar each. I picked up these items at her booth:

Some other items -- the Lantern die set was $5.00 and the two other die sets were $1.00 each:

Inside the store Francis had different items on sale each hour of the sale. Also in the store was a huge basket of items that were from Daphne's craft room -- each item, no matter what it was, was $5.00 and that money is going towards new items for the store now that restrictions are being relaxed due to the pandemic with more people vaccinated each day. I had seen a sample in the store of a cute box that Daphne had made and decorated but the Lawn Fawn die for the box had been sold out - so I was happy to find this die set in the basket as well as hearts for Valentine's Day:

It was nice of Francis to continue this fun sale and looking forward to seeing all the new items she brings into the store in the future. Frances also made a speech at the beginning of the sale reflecting on her time with Daphne and how the shop received so many cards after Daphne's passing. I had taken a few card making classes of Daphne's and she was so kind and patient and very talented.  It was sad to shop her store without her being there but hoping for future success for the store that she worked so hard to make for us. 

Francis said she has all the card/3D items Daphne had made for the store and she is planning on putting them all together in one section of the store in honor of Daphne and the making of the Paper Crafters Muse. That will be nice to see as I have shopped her store when I could make the trip there since she moved to Matthews and opened it.  Thanks to Frances for continuing this sale and for continuing to help keep Paper Crafters Muse open! 

Autumn Cigarette Cards

Working on this and that in the craft room and I finished the cigarette cards I made for upcoming Autumn projects I will be working on.... For my cards I used card stocks for my prints -- this first printed card stock is from Hobby Lobby:

this next printed card stock I used is from Echo Park:

I tried to stay to the size the cigarette cards were so my printed pieces are 1 1/2" x 2 3/4". The second print is the frame around my printed fronts. To simplify cutting these all out I used two smaller dies from the Waffle Flower A2 die set - this is a die set I keep on the work table in an acetate envelope I made for it for storage:

I used the die that matched the size I needed for the prints and then the next larger die for the frame piece behind the print. After I cut that frame piece out I also die cut out a piece of scrap white card stock to put behind the prints. Here are the two back frame pieces and the printed front pieces of some of the cigarette cards:

Once all my pieces were die cut I sponged the edges of all the print fronts. Using a glue stick I covered the white frame piece and then put the printed frame piece on that. Used the glue stick behind the printed front piece and put them on the frame pieces. Set these aside to dry.

Once dried I used a clear Wink of Stella pen and added a little sparkle to the card fronts:

Here is a photo of the finished Autumn Cigarette Cards:

I will be making more of these as they will get used on tag fronts, bag fronts, treat holder fronts, tucked into a journal or whatever autumn project should come along - they would also work for paperclips as well. 

When I was getting out the inks to sponge the edges of the prints for the fronts of these I pulled out my Stampin Up Pumpkin Pie ink pad..... big surprise for me when I opened it up:

These little bubbles have happened on other Stampin Up ink pads I have - usually red - and as they were this is now in the trash.... this is one of the many reasons my Stampin Up ink pads are being replaced by other companies one by one -- Close To My Heart and other companies that have better quality of products.  Too much money wasted to end up in the trash.... but I will shop around and find another colour close to this by another company where this will not happen as Pumpkin Pie is a favorite colour for fall projects that I make every year.