16 Rubber Stamps for $5!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post today. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Epilepsy Awareness Blog Hop! I'll announce the winner of my blog candy on Monday. :)

Today I wanted to share with you a recent crafty purchase. I love doing reviews and wish I got to do more, but unfortunately my budget just doesn't allow for it. :( I was at Michael's the other night and couldn't pass this deal up - 16 rubber stamps along with red and green glitter glue AND ink for only $5!! It was originally $10 but on sale for 50% off. It's a Christmas-themed set made by Recollections.

This is the same set - notice the 8 different stamps on each side! The glitter glue and ink are on top.

Because they're usually so expensive, I don't have very many rubber stamps or ink. So when I saw this I definitely couldn't pass it up, especially since they can be used on Christmas cards I'm making for my coworkers. I also plan on making some fun, Christmas-themed tags with them. :)

Has anyone else seen or purchased this set at their local Michael's?

Have a great weekend!

Ashley

Blog Awards & Recent Purchases

It's almost Friday! :) And I'm super excited because I just found out I don't have to work tomorrow! I thought I was scheduled to work an eight hour shift tomorrow, but fortunately, I was wrong! Now that I have extra free time that I wasn't planning on, I thought I'd share with you a couple of blog awards I received and also some recent purchases. 


Both of these awards came from Karen at her blog, Crafted With Love By Karen. If you have the time, make sure to stop by. Her projects are so cute and creative! :) Thanks again Karen for your generosity, it is greatly appreciated!

Although I haven't been crafting much lately, I definitely have been doing a little shopping. There's nothing I love more than browsing the aisles at Michael's and Hobby Lobby to see what's on sale and on on clearance. I found some great buys this week:

40% off at Michael's

255 adhesive frames and photo corners on clearance at Michael's for only $1.99! They're super cute and came in a lot of fun colors. The left picture shows the front of the package and the right picture shows the back, I had no idea there were more on the other side when I first picked up the package, such a nice surprise! :)

I couldn't believe it what I was seeing when I first saw this Chipboard Chunk package on the clearance rack at Michael's. It was originally priced at $19.99... and I got it for $4.99! It has over 1000 chipboard pieces that range from alphabets to tags to fun seasonal shapes. Such a great find!

I also had Borders bookstore gift card that I had to use (it only had about $10 on it) and since the Borders in my town went out of business, I had to spend it online. While browsing their site, I found a pleasant surprise: they sell scrapbooking supplies! They had everything from stickers to embellishments to Cricut cartridges to Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders. With the gift card, I got both of these for a total of $7, and tested them out to share with you guys: 

If you click on any of the images, they'll open up so you can see them in a larger view. I couldn't have them extra large within the post because they would've been too big and "overflowed" onto the sides of my blog.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, have a great weekend!

Ashley

Pre-Cuttlebug Card & Recent Purchases

I apologize for my absence lately, things have been absolutely crazy lately with homework, papers, tests, chores, work, and trying to maintain a social life. I feel terrible that I'm neglecting all of your blogs as well as my own. :( On a brighter note I finally had time today to really put my Cuttlebug to use instead of just testing cuts and folders on scrap paper. However, there's still a few finishing touches that need to be put on the card, so today I'm going to share with you a card I made last week before purchasing my Cuttlebug along with some recent craft purchases I've made. 

I made this thank you card for my boyfriend's sister who gave me an unexpected, sweet graduation gift. I absolutely love the colors. :)

Here's what I used to make this card:

- Patterned paper (I forgot to write down the name of the paper, and then accidentally used the side with the label on the actual card itself, oops)

- Black cardstock

- Purple chipboard letters

- Gecko, Tahiti Blue and Pansy colored acrylic paint made by Ceramcoat

- Wood circle pieces

- Purple confetti for the corners of the card (they were supposed to be brads, but I didn't think the layout of the card through enough and there wasn't enough room on the black border for the entire brad to fit)

- Decorative scissors for the black border

- Lace corner punch made by Fiskars

- Elmer's glue pen

- Paper trimmer

This is the inside of the card before I wrote a message inside of it:

Last week I also took a portion of my graduation money and went on a mini shopping spree at Hobby Lobby and Michael's, I couldn't resist. :) Here's what I purchased, all on sale or clearance, of course. :)

This is an "aerial view" of what I purchased, I describe the products further and have closer pictures below:

I love buying things that can be used for any types of cards and will last me a while, and for 50% off I couldn't pass up this 180 paper pack. (I got it for $10 when it was originally $20). I love the bold colors and the patterns and know I will put it to good use on many of my cards. :)

This Petal Point Color Box was on clearance and was also the perfect size for my new word stamps. The stamps were also 50% off and have all the basic words I would ever need to use on the front of a card, and since my cards are usually small this was a great deal. 

In the top right-hand corner are the acrylic paints that I used to paint the wood circles on the thank you card. I also purchased pearl-like embellishments, blank tags that I have some creative plans for, and also lots of brads. They're hard to see in this picture, but I got a case of white, a case of pastels, a case of bold colors and a case of brighter colors. These were 50% off also. ;)

I finally bought an iRock! I've tested it out and it works great. On clearance on Hobby Lobby were white rhinestones, so I bought those to go with it. I plan on getting other colors very soon! Also in this picture is a container of decorative scissors that I got for $6 at Michael's and has some great patterns that I plan to use for borders. I also bought a lace corner punch made by Fiskars, which is what was used on the thank you card. 

And last but most definitely not least, I purchased some random 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11 paper that I thought was cute and would provide some inspiration if I was ever stuck on creating a card. 

Thanks for bearing with me! My first Cuttlebug card will be posted tomorrow, and after that there's a lot in store for Made Especially For You. Thank you so much for all of your support, I'm off to view all of your amazing creations! :)

Ashley

Meet My New Cuttlebug! :)

I am so excited to say that I officially own a Cuttlebug! :) Although it was a spur of the moment decision, I definitely do not regret it! As excited as I am, I haven't actually had much time to use it, which is why this post is so late. I worked from 8:30 to 5:00 both yesterday and today, and then spent time with my boyfriend until 10 both nights, so I have had absolutely no time to craft. My amazingly sweet boyfriend was actually the one who went and got the Cuttlebug for me since I wouldn't have been able to get to Michael's until 5:30 and was paranoid they would be gone (my boyfriend said it was actually the last one; I am so appreciative he did that for me). 

It came with an A plate, two B plates and a floral embossing folder. I was a little upset it didn't come with the four embossing folders and die cut like the ones at Hobby Lobby do, but for the price it was definitely worth it. After work today I went out and purchased more folders and die cuts:

These were both on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $3.59 each, so I couldn't pass them up. The folder on the left is "Argyle" and the folder on the right is titled "Perfectly Paisley."

The folder on the left is called "D'vine Swirl" and the folder on the right is called "Spots & Dots."

As for die cuts, I purchased "Asterisks," "Birthday" and "Leaves," which is pictured below. 

My final purchase was these mini floral embossing folders that were also on clearance for $2.49. I spent about $40 total, which was the "budget" I gave myself. 

I've played around with scrap paper and tried out a few of the die cuts and folders, but haven't created any cards yet. It took me a while to get the hang of getting the plates to slide through, but I'm getting there. :) The folders are a lot harder to roll through because the stack is so much thicker, I'm always scared I'm going to break the machine. And for the die cuts, I knew that they scratched the B plates, but I had no idea they left entire impressions on them, too! I was so scared when it first happened and thought I did something wrong, but then I looked it up online and found out it happens all the time and is nothing to worry about as long as you rotate the plates. I can't even describe how relieved I was. 

I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend, I promise to get my first Cuttlebug card posted soon! It's going to be a busy next few days for me, so I'll try my best. Thanks for stopping by and for all of your sweet comments and support! :)

Ashley

Chipboard Bundle Purchase

I made a Hobby Lobby run after work today in search for materials to make a Father's Day card (I admit, I did procrastinate) and ended up purchasing this awesome chipboard bundle along with some patterned paper to use for the card (I'll post pictures later once it's finished).

I don't have much experience with chipboards, but they're something I've wanted to work with for a while, and when I saw this HUGE bundle for only $9.99, I couldn't pass it up and figured I could somehow incorporate them into my Father's Day card (or at least that's how I justified the purchase :)

Here's a picture of the bundle (made by The Paper Studio) before I opened it:

The details are extremely hard to read because I don't have a good camera and the lighting in my room isn't all that great either (I'm working on it!) but basically what's included are 10 sheets of uppercase alphas, 10 sheets of lowercase alphas, (both uppercase and lowercase came in red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown and black) 1 sheet of numbers in black, 1 sheet of symbols in black, 2 sheets of icons and 2 sheets of words. The symbols and icons are pictured below.

In both pictures the sheet on the right is identical to the sheet on the left, just in a paler shade. It came that way, it's not my crappy lighting :) Anyways, I felt this was a great deal and I'm excited to add it to my collection. I love purchases that I know will last me a while and have aspects (such as many colors) that can be used for cards of any occasion.

Do you like using chipboards? Feel free to post links to any of your creations that include them, I would love to be inspired!

Ashley