Special Announcement or What to Expect

First off, this week’s Five a Week craft didn’t get posted or even completed because I got a little too caught up with another project I’m taking up.  As soon as that’s all finish I’ll post it, trust me it will be worth the wait.

Work is getting busier than ever, plus I want to spend a little more time focusing on that special project as well as all the projects on my craft list.  This will mean that it will be a bit quiet around here for a while.  I will still be doing the Saturday Shuffle blog party each week though.  It’s just too much fun not to do.  And I will probably do a few things about Halloween, it will be here before you know it, can’t wait!

Just know I’m still around and I will be back shortly to share with you all.  Look forward to it.

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My Favorite Things: Hefty Slider Bags

The latest favorite things to showcase is probably one of the strangest ones, but trust me, it’s fantastic.

Baggies.  Hefty Slider bags to be exact.

I usually get them on sale with coupons, and I stock up.  I find little baggies to be fantastic around the house, especially these ones.  It’s because that little slider thing makes them open and close quickly making them easy to use, plus they are very sturdy for plastic baggies which makes them easy to reuse.  And I do just that a lot.

My main use for them is storing craft materials.  I can sort beads, ribbons, findings, etc. and I can even use them temporarily to corral materials needed for projects in progress depending on the size of the baggie I use.  I also use them for non-crafty organizing and on sometimes, occasionally I actually use these bags for food.

Overall I find them brilliant to use, but not to say that I’m totally loyal to this brand.  I found a similar store brand version at CVS sometime ago.  Since it was on sale, I decided to try them out.  They have the same little slider thing and seem to be just as sturdy.  Let’s just see how they work in the long run.

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Wordless Wednesday: Game Day Train

Taken on a light rail train, traveling away from the football stadium.

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5 a Week: Crystal Pearl Bracelets

 

It’s Sunday, so it’s time for week 11 of…

 

…The Five a Week Pledge.

 

If you haven’t been around here, it’s where you pledge to do five things each week of your choice (see the first week for more info).  I pledged to make five small crafts each week.  Feel free to grab a button and join me.  If you already have, post a comment or a link to share what you accomplished.

 

This week’s craft:

Bracelets!

I got plenty of jewelry making supplies and tools this week (see The Biggest Haul Ever) and was itching to use them.  I used some of the pink and white faux pearls from the last batch of bracelets I made (see Five a Week: Bracelets), but this time I added clear crystal-y beads for all but the last bracelet. 

The last one was just a way to use up some extra beads.  I just took the last few beads I had in those sizes, arranged them in a way I thought looked good, then added some more faux pearls until it was long enough for a bracelet.

Now for a small request, I’m having a hard time deciding what sort of project to do for this coming week.  Any ideas? Please leave a comment with any suggestions, links to tutorials are more than welcome too.  And look forward to next week.

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The Biggest Craft Haul Ever

This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

Over the last couple of days, I managed to pay a visit to almost all of the stores I typically shop for craft supplies.  Everywhere except Goodwill and other thrift stores and Bookman’s.  My bank account took a hit, but I’m happy with the goodies I found.  So happy that I wanted to share them all.

At Michael’s I got various jewelry findings including jumps rings, crimp beads, and ribbon clamps.  There was deal where if you bought three of them you would get 22% off, couldn’t pass that up.  I also got a chain I’ve really needed and a bottle of possibly the best glue known to mankind, Aleene’s Jewel-It. 

It’s an embellishing glue intended for gluing things like beads to fabric, but I use it for so much more.  It’s really useful for making hair accessories.  So many times I’ve glued flowers and bows to metal clips and combs using the glue gun only to have them pop off with use.  Never happens with the Jewel-It.  I’ve also used it to glue magnets to things, it lasts for years.

At Joann Fabrics and Crafts I got this jewelry making tool kit.  I was in need of a pair of pliers as well as other items for jewelry and this kit had everything I needed and more for only about $10.  Works out well.  I also got a spool of stretch cord and found a string of glass pearls that are the perfect size for making doll sized jewelry.  The best part is that I found it in their “Treasure Box”.  It’s a special area for beads and stuff where everything is only $1.99.

Speaking of bargain priced glass pearls, I found these beauties at Wal-Mart for 97 cents each.  I got two each of both white and off-white.  I’m hoping they will work with some pearls I already have.

The bulk of the my craft shopping was at SAS.

Here’s what I got from them:

• 1 yard purple floral print vinyl
• 3 yards lavender poly poplin fabric
• 2 white zippers
• 10 yards white grosgrain ribbon
• 10 yards white ultra thin satin ribbon
• elastic
• green thread
• Pretty green flowers with pearls
• toggle clasps
• 4 hair clips
• 4 yards white cotton lace
• 16 yards of thin white lace
• lace gloves
• faux pearl necklace and bracelet set (it was only $1)
• 0.19lbs of black lace from the $4/lb. remnant box

It all came to under $30, and around $60 combined.  Not too bad. Best of all, most of it is actually stuff I planned to buy.  The fabric, vinyl, zippers, elastic, ribbon and thin lace are all intended for projects on my current craft list.  And the thread, flowers, jewelry stuff, glue, hair clips, pearls,and other laces are for future projects I’m planning. 

The rest sadly are impulse buys.  It’s something I’ve come to expect when shopping for craft supplies.  It fuels creativity, mainly because some impulse items are so strange that I need to get really creative to figure out what to do with it.

Anyway, I am now very well stocked and ready to get going on my projects.  Look forward to that.

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Wordless Wednesday: Flowers at the Bus Station

Taken at the Tempe Transportation Center in Tempe, Arizona.

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