Bazzill Warehouse Sale Goodies & ScrapTifffany Monday

This week's ScrapTiffany challenge was to use your scraps. This was a perfect way to clear some stuff off my desk. I keep a little bucket of bits of leftovers on my desk, so I dug through there to see what might work with this leftover double sided paper that was sitting on my desk:

And by adding a little more this and that, I came up with this birthday card, which is now on it's way to my brother. (Happy Birthday Michael!)

Head on over to ScrapTiffany and see what the other girls did with there scraps!

Saturday morning you could have found me here...

at the Bazzill Warehouse sale. I hadn't gone in since at least 2007. When we were running our kit club Color Me Daisy, the last thing I needed was more scrapbooking supplies. I had plenty. Even after closing it down and selling off all of our inventory there was one very important thing I held back.  Every sheet of Bazzill Kraft cardstock I had. As well as a couple other basic colors. Everything else was sold...gone.

Now I am back in the consumer shopping mode when it comes to scrapbook supplies, and of course like most people I can't resist the opportunity for a deal. So there I was at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday morning, getting my Starbucks nonfat, no whip pumpkin spice latte and heading over to the Bazzill to wait in line with the other eager beavers.

It wasn't as crowded as the last time I went. So it was pretty relaxing to shop. I met 2 online friends in person at the sale, which was fun to finally get to do.

My goal was to get out of there for under a $100. How do you think I did?  You'll see at the end of my post, as well as get an idea of how much I saved...

First here is a peak of my very full bag. They had bags from Creative Escape for $2.00. Easier to carry then a box, so I picked one up and started filling.

First I filled a pizza box with cardstock for $20. I didn't count the actual number of sheets but I think in years past it averaged about 110 sheets fit in a box. 

The mistake I have always made in the past is buying colors I don't use, like pinks and purples. So this time I stuck with my most used colors that they had available (no Kraft, but I don't really need it I still have about 150 sheets).

I picked up a few of the embossed, edged, and blinged cardstock papers they have some colors and styles available to put in the pizza box so I thought I would try it out. The white embossed paper doesn't show up in the picture, but I want to see if you can resist it with ink or mist. 

The also had a 12 paper pack of edged paper for $3.00. They could be put to use to mist some background designs. 

These cardstock with an edge mini packs were $1.50 each. It looks like there are 25 in a pack. Another item that could be good for misting on backgrounds.

Just the edges $1.00 each. 

Ribbon and tulle were plentiful. And I know I don't need any, but whatever. I was sensible and picked very usable and versatile colors. Tulle $1.50/spool for 25 yards; Ric Rac, Gingham and Sheer ribbon $1.50/spool for 15 yards/

1 - In Stitch'z template $2.00 , 3- 100 yard spools, $1.50 and 2 - In Stitche'z floss kits $2.00

My Creative Escape shopping bag was $2, the Creative Escape book was $2 ($15 at Scrapbook.com right now) and one of the Maggie Holmes class kits for $3.00. They had 2 other class kits for $5 each that I wish I would have picked. up. I found out they were selling the leftover kits at Scrapbooks Etc for $30+. Holy smokes!

I told myself I didn't need any brads, and I didn't buy and little ones. However I did find these in my bag when I got home, wonder how that happened, ;).  All brads were $1/pack.

Accordion keepers, sized 6x4, $.25/each. I may not have picked these up, but my friend got some on Friday to use as a way to give a card set as a gift. Love it, and there is an accordion fold book inside.

2 chipboard 6x6 mini books, $2/each; 8 - 6x6 sheets of heavy plain chipboard, $0.10/each; and some chipboard tags $1/pack which could be good for misting masks or gift tags. 

Some miscellaneous supplies: paint dauber, $0.50; Tombow Metal Glue, $0.75; and Paint Pen, $1.

And a couple of freebies thrown in the bag at check out, Quilting Arts magazine and 50 free prints at Snapfish. 

 

So what did I learn? 

• I definitely can't resist a bargain. 
• Getting up early on a Saturday morning for scrappy shopping is much easier than getting up early to exercise or go to work.
• Getting up early goes much easier with a pumpkin latte from Starbucks
• I don't miss spending time on the weekends photographing kits (from my Color Me Daisy days)
• and...

...I actually can stay within budget when it comes to scrappy spending.

Before tax I spent $85.30. I had a Bazzill wholesale order form with the regular prices for almost everything and I Google'd the other items. I saved 75%  or $250 at the sale.  And the freebies take that savings to $260.

Not bad for getting up early on a Saturday. I think I will be headed back next year.

Adventures in Cooking Update

It's been awhile since I shared some of our cooking adventures. Here are some of the things we tried over the past month or so. I have included links to the recipes where available, many of these are easy and most are healthy.

I have been wanting to try cooking scallops for some time now. The September 2010 Cooking Light Magazine had this recipe for Seared Scallops with Farmer Market Salad and it was delicious and easy to make. Although large scallops are a bit pricey and we could only find them at Whole Foods, so we won't probably have them too often. Mike thinks they are a bit fishy, but I loved this. Very simple and great with fresh corn, tomatoes and basil.

I didn't care for our last rib recipe much, and discovered this recipe for Honey Chipotle Glazed Ribs on MarthaStewart.com. The sauce was the perfect mix of sweet with just a slight hint of spice.  

To go with the ribs we made Red Potato Bliss Potato Salad with Blue Cheese, Bacon and Chives also from MarthaStewart.com. The tang from the blue cheese was perfect.

Mike found this recipe for Chive Parmesean Potato Chips on MyRecipes.com we have made it a few times recently with mini burger sliders and hot dogs. It is pretty easy to make if you have a slicer to slice the potatoes.

Even thought it isn't quite fall weather here in Arizona, we have been pretending. We made this Chicken Chili in the crock pot the recipe was modified slightly from a crock pot cookbook we bought at Costco. This was so good we are having it again this weekend.

To go with our Chicken Chili Mike found a recipe for Jalapeno Corn Bread on foodnetwork.com. I think it is this one we made. It was very very good and I can't wait to have it again.

We had a lot of leftover tomatoes and basil one week, so I cooked some pasta, and diced and sauteed tomatoes with chopped garlic, fresh ground pepper, shrimp, torn basil in olive oil and added mozzarella cheese chunks toward the end. It was a quick easy dinner thrown together from leftovers.

Golden Corn Salad with Fresh Basil from the September 2010 Cooking Light Magazine. We made this as a side salad with something else and ate smaller portions and saved the rest for leftovers, but this is really hardy enough for a meal sized salad.

Motherlode Layered Cookie Bars from Picky-Palate. These took a little time to make since you are making 3 of the 4 needed cookie doughs from scratch. But they were oh so worth it. I cut them up smaller than she suggested and we also kept the edges which were still yummy. I took in a bunch to the office and they were devoured. 

Happy Friday!

Photography Class Assignments

I have had my DSLR camera for almost 5 years. I never learned how to use it, and with a kit lens. auto mode, and a lack of knowledge, a DSLR will not take better pictures than a good point and shoot. I have plenty of proof of that. 

So when I heard about Maggie Holmes photography class for beginners I decided it was finally time to learn how to use this thing.

The 1st assignment taught us about ISO.  I realized I had never adjusted the ISO since opening the box. No wonder the poor light pictures were so awful.

The second assignment taught us about shutter speed and aperture. I am still trying to work through the correlations of F Stops and Shutter Speeds, but it is really starting to make sense. 

Shutter Speed Assignments

Aperture assignments

My kids weren't cooperative models, so I had to resort to things I could control better. Maybe they will be my guinea pigs on the next assignment. Time to get into Manual.  I am excited

Making Me Happy

Pretty happy with my shopping trip to Kohl's last night. I needed some things for our upcoming vacation and had a 20% off coupon. All but 2 things I bought were on clearance and the other 2 were on sale. So I got 7 pairs of shorts/capris, 6 shirts, a pair of shoes, a purse, sunglasses, a scarf and a watch for just over $150. I call that a score. Since I hate clothes shopping, that makes me happy. And it was done in just about an hour.

Love it!

I was home on Monday sick with an yucky bug and Mike had taken the boys out so it was quiet. I was sitting in the chair feeling awful, but then I looked out the window and saw this dragonfly just resting on a leaf. Well what is a girl that is taking a photography class to do? Grab the camera of course....

He was pretty cooperative, even with me trying to change my settings and figure out how to do that best with the zoom lens. He even scratched his nose at one point, too bad I didn't get that.  I also played with some flower photography here...

I'm pretty happy with these straight from the camera shots. I am excited to go to full manual this week in my class. I'll share some photos to date tomorrow from the class, it is amazing what you can do with a camera when you begin to learn how to use it.

Don't you love days where it all just clicks creatively? I have had a couple recently. I really wanted to update a the banner that was hanging on our patio door for awhile. We decorated for fall over the weekend and I was inspired to finally get to it, but at first I was stumped with exactly what to do, then it started flowing.

Then again tonight, I planned to just watch Glee (which was recorded on the DVR in my scrap room). I didn't plan to do anything crafty. Then I picked up the Jenni Bowlin Limited Edition Vitange Halloween Kit that I am pretty sure I ordered the last one of....

and before I knew it I was singing along with Glee to Empire State of Mind (New York) and creating something I love.

I can only share peeks right now, because these are may be future DT projects. But I love when creativity hits and you can just jump on it. Don't you?

Something else that is making me happy this coming weekend, Bazzill.  If you live in the Phoenix area this Friday and Saturday is the Bazzill warehouse sale. I haven't gone in a few years, but I plan to head over and see what I can pick up. I'm sure I'll at least get a pizza box of cardstock (not like I need it). Click on the link for the info.

Happy hump day!

Collage Tutorial at ScrapTiffany and a Freebie

Today I am hosting the Tuesday Tutorial over at ScrapTiffany. Join me and learn how to make a collage like this one that I now have framed and displayed in my entry way with all my fall decorations, and read below for a freebie download of 2 photo collages you can use today.

In addition to making a picture collage that you can use in lots of ways, I am also talking a bit about using actions, and adding some digital elements to enhance your photos. 

And just for fun I am also sharing some digital templates to make the both sides of the 8x8 collages that I used in this layout:

Each side gives you 11 photos. That's a lot of photos to pack on a page. The templates are PSD files and can be used in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop. 

Photo sizes for each side in inches (width x height):

1 - 4x3

6 - 2x2

2 - 2x3

2 - 4x2

Here are the links for the download:

8x8 Photo Collage Side 1

8x8 Photo Collage Side 2

Each layer is named by the picture size. To use the templates:

1. Select your photos
2. Crop to the size noted in the layer title in the layers palette
3. Drag the photo to the template
4. Move over the photo layer for placement
5. Click both the photo layer box and your added picture to have both selected
6. Right click and merge the two layers. This will allow you to move any photo's around if you want. 
7. When all pictures have been added, select all layers and right click to flatten the image
8. Save as a JPEG for printing
9. Have fun.

If you use the template I would love to see what you did. Leave a comment with your link and I will check it out and share it here.

Thanks for stopping by today.

A Peak at Fall Decorating, Weekend Stuff and ScrapTiffany Monday

It always makes me smile when we open up Nicholas's back pack and find his weekly report with all this happiness and lots of good praise. He loves school and I love to see him doing well. And I guess Mike is picking up on photos I like to have, because he took this one Friday afternoon on his phone and sent it to me.

Mike and I both stayed up late Friday night playing. So we weren't really thrilled when our dog Mandi had an accident and threw up in the bed at 5 a.m. She's been sick and we think the medicine is bothering her tummy. Our poor sweet girl.

The upside is we got out early to do some planting.  The heat this summer has been awful, and our plants suffered. It was still in the 110 range over the weekend. After spending a fortune over the years to keep all kinds of flowering plants in our courtyard, we gave up. We planted Lantana in the pots and at the base of the fountain. I swear those things are like weeds and will grow in any kind of situation, at least they have color. So here's hoping to saving a few bucks at the nursery.

Our little herb garden bit the dust by July too. I planted a new one with some basil, rosemary and cilantro. I'll see how it goes. We also decorated for fall. I love my little scarecrows.

I'll share a few more fall decoration pictures later this week, but here is a glimpse of one arrangement I have around the house. 

This week's assignment at ScrapTiffany was to use 4 photos on a page. I tend to use 1 to 2 photos on a page, but I have been trying to use more recently. So this was a good assignment

I cropped down 4 standard 4x6 prints to 4x3.  I put new Recollection's border punch to work. I picked it up at Michael's for $5.50 after the 50% off sale and Friday's 5 hour coupon for 15% off entire purchase. This was my only scrappy purchase that day, since my shopping mission was to find fall decorations. 

I also used Studio Calico's Mr. Huey's Mist on the chipboard. I love that navy, and that white I'm pretty smitten with that one too. All 10 colors are a must have whether you like to mist or not (because you will want to after you get your hands on these)!

Check out the rest of the design team's work over at ScrapTiffany today and Friday. Lot's of good stuff.

Check back tomorrow for ScrapTiffany's Tuesday Tutorial. I have a freebie to go along with it.