Sunday, September 25, 2011

Help! I Can't Throw Anything Away!

I think anyone who creates mixed media art can relate to my lament.  I'm thinking of starting a new 12-step group for craft collectors anonymous.  It is already challenging to keep any order in my craft room - it is such a shopping hobby, this paper crafting, mixed media stuff!

I found a bar of soap I had bought at a craft show - Pumpkin-Ginger Creme (yum!).  So I took it out of the box and put it in the bathroom.  I was going to throw away the box (or at least recycle it), but I noticed the cute little orange and black pumpkin label and thought, "hmmm, I could use that in something, right?"  So I took it to my studio to take off the label and put it somewhere I would hopefully find it before Halloween was over.  Well, then I noticed the box... one side had a cute little oval cut out, perfect for a frame, and the other side I could trim and use to back an ATC.  I threw the sides and tops to the box away before I could come up with any more ideas... Or did I, what's that on my craft table...  hmmm... inchies?

I'm doomed...

Great Poem!

I found this on Leanne's blog which is marvelous!  I was so inspired, I got chills.  Check it out.
What teachers make...

Some new stuff...

In my last post, I was moaning about not having a good white pen that would write well on acrylic paint.  Well, I found a great white pen - you guys probably have been using it for years - The Signo Uniball - yea!

Here's some new stuff and some stuff I just hadn't published yet.  Hope you enjoy it.




Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Cage and The Frog


Spent most of the day working on some art journal pages.  Does anyone have a white pen they love that writes well on acrylics.  I had a heck of a time... the Glaze pen quit working and even my trick of heating it with the heat gun didn't fix it; the Inkssentials pen wouldn't cut it and I struggled with the paint pens.

The yellow showed up way brighter in the picture, not sure why.  Thanks for looking!




Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Online Shopping Heros and Villians

Greetings crafters and artists,

I wanted to comment about a few online stores I have shopped at least a couple of times and let you know my experiences  One is favorable and one is a warning.

The good news:  www.Alphastamps.com is amazing.  Their website is very friendly, they have a huge selection of product, they communicate every step of the way if you place an order with friendly and timely emails.  AND! if a product is not available at the time of your order or they can ship for less than they charged you, they process an almost immediate refund to your method of payment.  The product is as represented or better on their site.  It is such a pleasure to buy from them!

Www.Lindystampgang.com is another hero.  Tracey is a doll to do business with and their products are amazing.  Their sprays are similar to Glimmer Mists but the cool thing is she ships the product without the water, so it is less of an impact to the environment, lighter, therefore less expensive to ship.  You just add warm water when you receive it.  I'll post some pics of some of the stuff I've done with these soon, but there are tons of videos on youtube.com.  I highly recommend their stuff!

Now for the warning (the bad and the ugly):  Stay far away from Stuff4Scrapbooking.com!  I have ordered from this place twice and had bad experiences both times.  Had I recalled my original experience I wouldn't be going through the hassle I am with a recent order I placed.

I ordered via Amazon.com because they had the best price on Time Holtz' Distress Stains.  I ordered the whole set as well as some Color Wash and Tissue Tape.  My bad, I didn't pay attention to the shipping cost when accepting the order - I will never miss that again!  The order was about $60 and shipping was $66.48!  When I saw the charge in my bank account, I emailed the seller asking if there was some mistake.  She blamed it on the Amazon process and said she could refund $42.  I declined as that would still make shipping over $20 for a 5 lb or less order.  She told me she would cancel my order. 

She seemed nice enough and I believed her, so I placed the order on her individual website, prices were a bit higher, but still very reasonable.  She didn't cancel my first order and I received both orders on the same day.

I have asked her to send me a return label and credit my order the $122, but she has refused.  Her answer is for me to return the 2nd order (at my expense, making shipping on that order alone over $20) and I should just be happy paying $22 to ship the first order (she credited me $40 of the $66.48).  That makes my net shipping cost for a $60 order around $42!  That'll teach me not to shop at my local stamp store!

I have filed a claim with Amazon and my bank and will keep you posted.

Let me know about some of your good and bad online shopping experiences!