Stash!

Last week at card club one of my ladies, Jan, taught a class on how to make lovely Easter bunny boxes. I hid mine away once I got home, intending to give to my husband as a little gift, hidden so well in fact that now I can't quite remember where...

So the blog post I intended to make isn't possible, I thought I'd share my latest stash bargains instead. It's a bit long, feel free to skip it if you've just come to look at cards.

Okay so this first pic isn't quite stash as such, it was my Valentine's Day present. When I was younger I adored colouring in and can remember having these 'Altair' pads, my two older cousins were amazing at finding different patterns and I so envied them. By the time I was old enough to figure it out properly myself I had gone off it, as you do.

Anyway my husband, knowing I like messing about with paper and colours, found the Altair books on Amazon and presented me with this plus a tub of felt-tips. Apparently colouring-in is quite popular at the moment, I haven't made a start yet as it seems a shame to spoil the white-ness.

Now on to the proper stash. I am buying quite a bit at the moment but I do have a great excuse in that a lot of it is for the card club. The previous venue we rented meant that most of our subs money had to be spent on rent and now we have the luxury of a rent-free room. It just means that I have to stash-buy in two ways: one for my own personal use and one for the club, not always as easy as it sounds (we can't use anything that takes too long to dry for example so no texture pastes or similar).

I love WaltzingMouse stamps and really wanted this background set - Way Out West - as a companion to a set I already own. Definitely one we can use at the club and I bought at just the right time, receiving the smaller set as a freebie.

I was searching for a particular paper pad and found a company I haven't used before, Crafty Charlie, the Hero Arts calendar set was reduced and I thought it would be useful for my latest fad (shown a bit further down). The Prima stamp set was also reduced and I like the water-colour effect cards that I've seen lately on Pinterest so that fell in to the basket too.

This is the paper pad I was searching for, by Webster's Pages, and I just love it. Like the Altair colouring book above it reminds me of my youth, very 1980's style but brought up-to-date. There's two sheets of each design and the back of each is ombre shaded. I adore the little month panels on the right-hand corners, they'll be getting chopped for my new planner for sure.

Okay so this is my latest fad and the reason why I wanted the paper pad, too.
It's a Webster's Pages planner (very similar to a Filofax basically). Several weeks back we went out for the day and I visited a craft shop, anyway whilst paying for my stuff I noticed one of these planners at the till.
I had a good flick through and fell in love with it, but balked a bit at the £43 price tag. I thought I'd wait till we got home and then have an internet browse to find one cheaper (also didn't like the only colour they had left in the shop, orange-brown).

So, back home did a Google search and found that actually these planners are HUGE at the minute, the more I looked the more blog posts I found with them on. Of course I am such a sheep I knew I really needed one! They are so pretty but also I have found the last few months, because of various things going on, I am just not as organised as I used to be and it's been bugging me (like not being able to find the Easter bunny box I made).

Pretty and practical? oh yes, sign me up right now.

The only problem I had was that most places have sold out of the things. Literally the only place that had them in stock was Create & Craft, at £40.

I looked at US sites too, but still couldn't find one in stock, I was debating whether to just splurge the £40 and get one but I was debating it because I wasn't sure if a non-leather planner was worth that much, I mean we were just about in April so a good chunk of the diary inserts would be out of date already.

But then again, pretty is pretty...

I left it a few days to mull over and then, last Thursday, noticed that Create and Craft were having some sale shows on that day. It didn't mention Webster's Pages on the TV schedule but I thought I'd have a look at their website anyway. The planner kits, were £40, now reduced to £20 (even cheaper if you're one of their members, I'm not).

You can imagine how quick my fingers were buying one!
Anyway it arrived -- I love it -- then obviously decided I needed some more paper for it, oh and some cute paperclips, and some washi tape and of course the matching folio case...
I have actually just discovered that there is a whole planner world out there: lots of stuff on YouTube, Etsy etc, who knew?

After all that, I mentioned these gorgeous planners to a crafty friend, she had a look on Create and Craft the other day and they'd gone back up to £40. I had a sneaking suspicion that they might just reduce them again, for the Easter weekend (or maybe for their birthday shows in a few days) and they have, back down to £20 again.

The teal colour I bought has gone but, still a really good reduction, especially given that the planners are sold out completely just about everywhere else. The cheapest place I have seen (but sold out) is charging £34, so the C&C price is excellent, if you're a stationery-loving crafter you so need one. Actually if you're a Project Life fan I think one of these would be really useful as you can keep a selection of PL journalling cards in your planner ready to complete. There, I've enabled you, buy one.

That's the rest of my day spoken for, I have some planning to do. I can't wait to get stuck in and start personalising this, chopping up that matching paper and attaching my washi and paperclips.


Happy Easter!