So I am pretty big on e-bay, I have bought some fairly monumental fails from there but I have managed to snag some pretty awesome goodies here and there over the years. Recently I found a seller who sold mainly paper and I have been stalking her sales for a few months. I decided to finally cave and purchase a mix lot of paper that they had, what happened next was a case of the good, the bad and the meh.
The Good.
I really am happy with this lot of paper, like really happy. What I love about them most of all is that besides that scenic route paper with the pretty polka dots I would never have bought these papers and I actually really love them, winning.
Brands included in this lot are Teresa Collins, Pink Paislee, Scenic Route and Paper Chic
The Bad.
I am not a paper snob by any means and I am very comfortable using a ten year old paper, something from a stack or a big box store brand but I am also 100% aware that this hobby is something of a personal nature and that the paper that I like is not necessarily something that the person next to me will like and that is where buying a "lucky dip" of paper can be a problem.
Plain and simple I just did not like these papers. Wrong patterns, colours, designs and most of these were old like really old, Past the use by date for me.
Brands included CherryArte, Pink Paislee, Adorne it, Heidi Grace, Paper Chic
The Meh.
These are neither good nor bad, they are just meh for me, I have plans for all of them including cards, possible invitations and cutting up, like I said its all about personal preference but these are neither here nor there for me.
Brands included Adorne it, Paper Chic, CherryArte and Teresa Collins for Coredinations.
Would I buy paper like this again?
No.
The seller was top notch, the idea great, the shipping time and condition perfect and the price was really reasonable at about 60c a sheet but....
I am likely only going to use about 8-9 sheets out of 20 and some of these papers are seriously old, that Heidi Grace yellow and orange number is dated from 2004.
It was a good and bad experience a 50% success rate but I think in the future I will not buy paper sight unseen and just hand pick my pretties.
It has been a really loooong time since I last posted, way to go on the keeping up with this blogging thing huh. This year has been crazy, seriously crazy busy with lots of big changes and a huge amount of emotional stress. Anyways onto the very long overdue catch up.
The first huge and obvious thing was my beautiful Teela going off for her first day of Prep. It really was not a sad day but a happy one, she was so ready for it and all the ups and downs that being at school bring. She is doing amazing and her teacher is not only great but has nothing but praise for my little one, it has really been a huge positive in her life.
The terror also started with his first day of Kindy. Zach just like his sister was so ready for this and it has really brought him out of his shell. He is in the same room and with the same teachers that Teela had last year and I think that has really helped my socially awkward little dude.
New Car......A new car. So not on the plans but after the third incident with the commodore in less then three months it was time to say goodbye to old faith full and hello to something a little more fuel friendly and reliable.
Say what.....another different car. After months and months and months of Jasons baby being for sale we had actually come to realise that it was not going anywhere, but after a week of emails and phone calls from someone the car was gone and we decided to buy a much more family friendly car that we could at least all fit into.
A few trips here and there to the beach before it get too cold, I do miss living so close to the beach but we are only a 45 minute drive away so we do try and go up as much as we can.
A little spot of Easter camping in what is possibly the most beautiful and intriguing places I have ever been.
And then there is all the trips to the supermarket, all the work, social occasions, cleaning, washing, driving, errands, playing, tidying mowing, household shenanigans and the general busy that surrounds this crazy family of four.
One of the topics that seems to regularly comes up on two peas is that of old stash, using it, purging it, what you consider old, how to incorporate old and new....the list goes on.
I have been scrapbooking for ten years now and I guess that you could say that I have slowly been accumulating a small stash. I do not care if a product is old, or discontinued, the manufacturer is no longer around or heaven forbid not trendy anymore, if I like it and still have a use for it I will use it.
Some things however just do not have a place in my scrappy life anymore like eyelets, paper piecings, fibers and stencil letters from those orange fiskars templates, urgh just not for me so if it has gone past its use by date I will donate I am not one of these people holding onto the dinkiest of supplies.
So all of this leads me to these two layouts, proudly made using new and OLD product.
How I love this photo. My son has always been the most difficult in terms of tantrums out of my two children and "the Zachy meltdown" as my daughter refers to his outbursts is a really common sight in our household.
Okay so onto the old stuff, I finally used the very last piece (no I should say scrap) of this blue and white damask print from Jenni Bowlin, I want to say that it is from her first release but I can't remember but what I do know is that I bought it in 2007 or 2008, boy I loved that paper and I am sad that its now officially all gone.
See lovely, isn't it.
Most of the paper under/behind the photo is old, like 2003 old maybe even older. It is all from a KI memories stack and as much as I do love some of these simple graphic patterns the paper is horrible, its is cheap and thin but I can't for the life of me throw it out because I love the retro prints, like I really love these prints and there is just nothing like them out there anymore.
I love the way that this layout turned out.
All of the paper on this layout is old which only makes me love it even more. The S.E.I pattern paper is fairly ancient and the coloured paper is just that, paper not cardstock. These are relics from the early days of scrapbooking when big box stores used to sell 100 packs of thin and crappy paper with terrible colour quality and fastness but it matched perfectly and I refuse to throw out paper that is a nice colour.
Again I love this layout. The colours are me, I was able to use old products from my stash that I love as much today as the day that I bought them and I got to record a really special memory to me.
I can't believe that we are already halfway through the month, where does all the time go?
New Years, spent at my best friends place enjoying drinking games, Connect Four, BBQ's, swims in the pool and just a lot of sitting around doing nothing with a drink in hand.
A day trip back to my beautiful Coolum Beach with a swim at Stumers, seriously could not have picked a more perfect day, bliss.
Followed by a quick trip to the Ginger Factory for a ride on the train and an ice cream. We used to live in Yandina and although I had been to the Ginger Factory grounds a few times I had never been on that train, was nice to cross that off my things to do list.
Guzman Y Gomez with our friend, only our favourite place to eat in the Valley with a frozen Margarita no less and followed with a peanut butter ice cream.......woah there awesome.
A trip into the Brisbane Museum to see the dinosaurs.
And then a trip to Sushi Train for lunch, only my kids ultimate place to eat with the ultimate food you could ask for even more so than McDonalds....something is wrong with those awesome kidlets of mine
A trip to Spotlight. It has been a while since I have treated myself to some crafty supplies, actually I was at Trade Secret looking for clothes but somehow I ended up in Spotlight with no clothes but a bag of craft goodies. I am feeling 100% guilt free with this lot as the Franchville washi tapes and glitter dots were 50% off, the Christmas ribbon was 30c a roll and although full price for the Thickers I used the $10 off voucher from the Spotlight magazine so I actually got them for FREE, man I love that deal.
Wow, well it has been a while, a loooong while in actual fact.
My last post here was in September.....September! That is a mental long time to not have posted here.
We have had a pretty hectic schedule the last couple of months, quite a few trips back home, a visitor from New Zealand and quite a bit of tiki touring around this beautiful part of Queensland, Kindy and the whole breakup at the end of the year, friends opening up cafes yes multiple friends opening up different cafes, parties, countless trips to the supermarket, a camping trip, my sisters 18th birthday, and then we have Christmas the holiday break and the upcoming New Years.
We have also endured some interesting and trying moments in the last few months of the year. TWO pairs of broken eye glasses yep even my spare pair broke thank goodness for superglue and electrical tape SIGH, a broken car TWICE, a HUGE bill that was most unexpected, a dying computer, a broken washing machine which meant lots of hand washing and trips to the laundromat and then there was my miss T's feet....weeks of leg casting, an operation to both feet, a wheelchair and then the whole experience of learning to walk all over again, it was sobering and sad and frustrating and hard but at the end of the day she is back on her two feet and I am so proud of my strong little trooper.
My creativity has taken a huge backseat over the last few months. I have made a few cards which I forgot to photograph, I made some customised towels for two little twin princesses a whole tonnage of birthday cakes and an almost no sew Christmas outfit for my kiddos but apart from that anything crafty has just been a no go, I even put my foot down and refused point blank to do any Christmas cooking which is something that I ALWAYS do. Speaking of cooking I have been baking again for work which has been fun but I am getting the itch for and would rather be back in my cave and getting my craft on.
Here is hoping that the New Year brings some better luck our way and waaaay more creativity.
What a week, apart from the two straight days in the kitchen, a house inspection, kindy runs and a very over budget grocery shop we also had a wedding, ohhh I love weddings.
Something that is a fairly normal morning sight around here, while they still are little and want to cuddle with mum in the mornings I am not going to make any complaints, the time will come all too soon when they both want nothing to do with me :(
Hungry Hippos, I am not sure if it is the lure of the "marble" or the sheer deafening noise but Hungry Hippos is his favourite.
A wedding. this is a very special wedding for me, that is my High school best friend, old flat mate, party partner in crime and Brother from another Mother getting married there, yep when I was a youngin my best friend was a boy.....This is something that he has always wanted and I am so happy for him and that I could be a part of his special day.
The groom and groomsman. I have also known the groomsman for a ridiculous amount of time and his ex partner is my best friend, it was very special to be with some of the people that I shared some the best and craziest times of my life with, it does not happen enough these days.
Ohhh not every day that you get your hair did and get to wear stupidly high pretty pink shoes, that light does not do the colour justice.
As the Wedding was on a Sunday we had Monday to ourselves and we decided to indulge the kids in a bit of Underwater World for the afternoon before we headed home.
Yeah, I did say kids right.....
Re purposed Jewellery. This was a bracelet in a previous life and a pretty heinously ugly one at that, a few changes and I have myself a very cool necklace that I do LOVE.
Zach's attempt at helping me scrapbook, this is not the first time that he has "helped" me with a almost finished layout in fact this is the third one in less than a year. Lucky I was able to disguise the damage here but it is still not what I wanted :(
Just because it is the greatest thing I have seen in forever, that dog totally looks like a Wookie, hahahaha.
I have been on a HUGE Sublime kick recently, I was not the biggest fan in High school but I certainly had my fair share of listening to them in my friends bedroom while we painted our nails, talked boys and how awesome it would be if our parents would let us go to the Vans Warped Tour.......Memories.
Anywho, for some reason the self titled album from Sublime has been really kicking me in the nostalgia pants and I have found a whole new level of respect and love for these crude Cali Punk Rockers. Warning this song does have adult themes.
And just for the sheer awesomeness and justice that Megan Washington gives this song here is a cover of Santeria, she makes this song so beautiful.
Speaking of Covers this is one of my new favourites. Katie Noonan was in one of my favourite bands from my High School days called George. It was so different from anything that was out at the time and she had the most amazing voice in all honestly she was someone that I looked up to in those horrible hormone filled teen days.
Whoa, where have Kingswood been hiding? The last five years have been a bit of a music wasteland for me hence the HUGE nostalgia vibe I have had for 90's rock and indie alternative and late 90's to mid 2000's house music. This song is EPIC, epic I tell you. I just want to rock out as soon as this song starts, please tell me that the days of generic manufactured pop and boring flavourless hipster music is over.....
