Sunday, July 1, 2012

Expo Score

Hi, friends.

Hope you are having a nice weekend so far.  I'm having a very nice one.  Yesterday I went to the Scrapbook Expo in NJ.  We left the house at 6:35 a.m. and did not get home until 6:45 p.m., nearly a full 12 hrs later and barely in time to greet our friends as they arrived for our monthly gamenight.  In fact, one friend was already here waiting for us in our living room when we got home.  Logan was home which was good so our friend didn't have to bake outside in the heat.  We should have been home much earlier and had planned on that but we hit major traffic on the way home which added 2 1/2 hrs to our day.

But traffic delays aside, I had a super duper day.  Expos are always fun for me.  I just love them.  For weeks leading up to the day of the expo, I anticipate what I might find there with great excitement.  Yesterday couldn't come soon enough for me so when my friend, Maria, and I finally got there, we were ready to shop!

Here is a picture of my newly acquired goodies.

I didn't go hogwild, though.  I printed out and took major advantage of the vendor provided coupons the expo sent me in an email.  I made a nice score on bling packages, vellum butterflies and a variety of lace trims for less than or for just a $1.  There were a few vendors selling washi tapes for $2.99 but we found another booth selling 2 for $4 and if you spent $20, you got a free glue dot dispenser.  So, I picked up a few rolls of pretty washi tape and even got 1 roll of lace washi tape.  I hadn't seen lace washi tape before and I can't wait to try that out on a new wedding album I'm making for a customer.

I picked up some white buttons that I very much needed since I recently noticed I had surprisingly little of in my stash.  I also got some twine in a variety of colors on a deal of 3 pks for $5.  Another great steal was found at a Fiskars selling booth where they had a deal of buy 3 punches, get a 4th free and at only $8 a piece you know with my LOVE of punches, I jumped on that in a heartbeat.  Now I have 4 new border punches in my drawer.  Whoo hoo!

But the deal I'm most happy about are the 4 sewn leatherette, D-ring binders I snagged at a price of just $12 each.  It was nearing the end of the day when we passed by the Pioneer album booth for the 2nd time.  Earlier in the day I'd specifically taken notice of the sign offering 1 binder for $20 or 2 binders for $30.  Normally, I wouldn't have given this booth a second glance as I have no need for D-ring binders or post bound scrapbook albums since I don't use either, but since Maria and I are planning on starting Project Life, (yes, I'm joining the Project Life band wagon.  Finally, right!?) I need binders in order to have a place to store my page protected chronicled weekly life.  When the vendor saw me examining the binder, he offered it to me for $15 instead of the advertised $20.  When I asked how much for 2, he said $12.50 each which he further cut down to $12 each when I asked for 4.  He also threw in a free glue stick and some kind of other adhesive which I gave to Maria.  These same binders go for $27.49 at AC Moore so I saved more than $60 right there.  Double Whoo hoo!!

My decision to start Project Life was simple, really.  I don't scrap layouts much anymore as I mainly make mini albums and I've noticed a decline in my picture taking because of it.  Hence, me not having a camera on me last week when Logan won MVP.  This fact creates a hole in documenting Logan's life which I vowed to do since there are so few pictures of my own childhood.  It also creates a need for me to get my pictures into albums but without journaling, they really won't mean much in years to come other than some random pics of random people doing random things.  Project Life offers the solution for me.  So with all that said, I brought the 4 binders and 2 pkgs of 6x12 page protectors.  I also picked up some packages of nifty expanding page protectors that adhere right to a regular page protector allowing me to add even more pictures to each week I create.  Now I just wish Becky Higgins' core kits would finally become available again.  When they are available, I'll order them and her 12x12 page protectors.

Ok, so I have to show you what happened as I was trying to take a picture of my new goodies.  First, Callie came to claim the stash as hers. 

Then, Dusty decided to take a nap. He's laying across my tulled, blingy butterflies and flowers.

My boys went to the beach today so I have the house to myself.  That's a triple Whoo hoo!!!  I'm hibernating in the a/c as it is 95 degrees right now outside but that's ok.  I've got plenty of new stuff to keep me busy.  Now I'm off to find places for all that new stuff.


Hope you are having a scrap happy day and keeping cool wherever you are.

Thanks for coming by!

8 comments:

Susan said...

Looks like you had a blast! I just bought one of those albums, they are awesome and hold tons! Great score!

Paula Calvanico said...

I luuuuuv expo : ) I couldn't go to the last one cuz it was the fifth, same day as Des' wedding : p this year it's in October so me n Miss Sophia will go!

Momentsinpics said...

Wow! You sure hit all the good deals! Good for you!
And welcome to Project Life!!! I am always excited when someone new joins the journey! It'll be totally worth it I promise!!

Lora Oliver said...

Good for you, that is a great haul! I love the lace washi tape, though haven't added any to the stash yet. And four new border punches?!?! Look out world, she is armed and ready to scrap!

Lisa Adair said...

What a score you made! Sounds like you had tons of fun, even with the traffic! Love the lace washi tape! Hope you enjoy Project Life. It's lots of fun!

Sondra said...

That is amazing! That is quite a load of goodies to play with. Have fun with them!

Melissa said...

Wow, you found a lot of really good stuff! It's always fun to score some nice goodies at expos!

courtney said...

Great score! Aren't scrappy expos fun? And leave it to the cats to get into your new stuff...it's as if they're saying, 'yeah, that stuff's alright, but look at me, I'm fabulous!'