Treasures, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

I bought these 3 papers from Aaron Brothers today at 50% off. I initially went in there to purchase some picture hanging wire, but as I was browsing the aisles, I saw they had their paper racks severely discounted so I picked up a few sheets of 25 x 25″ paper.

The top sheet is called Gold & Turquoise Paisley. It’s basically a sheet of turquoise paper that has a layer of gold on top which lets some of the paper come through.

The next sheet is called Green Mica and has this magical cobblestone texture to it. It’s absolutely gorgeous. This one wasn’t on sale but I absolutely love it. The sales associate said it reminded her mermaid scales.

The third sheet is called Copper Beaded Silk, which is exactly what it reminded me of when I first saw it.

When I was in college, I took an upper level drawng class. This is where I discovered my affinity for paper collage. As one of my final projects in that class, I constructed a book of paper collages made using bits of handmade paper as well as handwritten letters (these are actual letters I had intended to send to someone, but decided not to at the last minute). It was my absolute favorite piece I created that semester. I’ll have to try and find it next time I’m at my parents house because I think it’s still there somewhere among all of my other art class pieces.

For the first time in 3 years, I stayed home on Black Friday.

The decision came on due to, well, indecision. I browsed the Black Friday papers and I just couldn’t find any great deals I had to have. And well last night was a particularly cold night, which means Izzie slept next to my torso rather than my feet and kept inching closer and closer toward me until I was falling off the bed. I swear, that dog sleeps like a toddler sometimes.

So what am I doing this year? Shopping from the comfort of my own bed. It’s nice, but it’s not exciting.

There’s a strangely exhilarating rush of adrenaline when your alarm clock wakes you up only after 4 hours of sleep on Black Friday. You don’t even have to hit the snooze, that item you’ve been wanting, which now has the huge markdown on it, is enough motivation to get you out of bed. You’re lucky to even get a cup of coffee or a bowl of cereal in you before you’re dressed, keys in hand. And when you step out into the night (because the sun isn’t even up) the cold air is enough of a jolt to get you going.

But that’s just from my point of view

So anyway, this year I’m not partaking in the raising of the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Jabari is in Houston and since he wanted to help me decorate the tree, I’ve decided to wait until December 1st. I’m so used to doing the decorations around this time that instead, I’m listening to holiday music and watching Elf on DVD to make up for the lack of Christmas decorations

By the way, notify the local news station: KRISTINE BOUGHT A  SEWING MACHINE. Yep, that’s right. I’m going to start sewing! Actually, I wanted to start incorporating some stitching into my scrapbook pages, but i figured what the heck? I’ll just kill 2 birds with one stone.

I’d been cruising Hancock Fabrics online, keeping an eye on machines that were going on sale. Initially I planned on getting the basic Janome Sew Mini. It was getting a lot of rave reviews from the ladies at SplitCoastStampers.com and it sounded like it would be perfect for the projects I wanted to do.

But then I saw the Janome 3128, regularly $129.99, on sale for $79.99. Now THAT one was really appealing. It sounded like I could do some of the layout stitching I intended to do with the Sew Mini, but I could probably also do more heavy duty projects.

What did I end up getting? The Janome 3128. I figured I would have a little more flexibility with it. Plus it wasn’t that much more expensive than the Sew Mini. I debated whether or not I wanted to go to the store to get it, but my bed was just too comfortable and outweighed the possibility of taking the machine home today, so I ordered it online I’m so excited though. I’ve been looking at some of the projects on Sew4home.com and it makes me want to start sewing my own linens and drapery.

So far this is my only Black Friday purchase. I don’t plan on buying anything else except for maybe a couple used sewing books from Amazon (or Half Price Books if I happen to pass one while I’m out this afternoon). I’m supposed to have a late lunch with my friends at Bubba’s on Hillcrest so hopefully the surrounding University Park traffic will die down by that time.

Other than that, today will be a no stress Black Friday

Somewhere It’s Illegal to Own This Much Pink, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

Jabari had to go out shopping this evening for some desk accessories for his new desk at work so I decided to tag along. I ended up buying this little charging stand from Office Max for like $6 (not bad considering Jabari bought a brown leather one on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond for $14.99–granted his was larger, but still–who needs all that??)

If you know me in real life, you probably have heard me rave about how much I love my iPhone. The only thing that rivals it is my love for my dog. Oh and for Jabari

Today, it saved me from a particularly catastrophic kitchen investment. I was at Target this evening pondering the purchase of an electric skillet for this luncheon I’m hosting at work this week. There were 2 skillets I was trying to choose between: a 16″ Rival Electric Skillet with Removable Pan and a 16″ Presto Electric Skillet. Both skillets were equal in size except one had a completely removable, oven-safe pan. The other one? Well it was just $2 cheaper and came in 2 pieces (the pan and the heating element). It really didn’t appear all that great to me actually so I was really leaning more toward the completely removable pan.

Rather than trying to make the decision by myself, I pulled out my phone and asked Amazon which one would be better. The Amazon app is very convenient, letting me search their store online for reviews and pricing (or even purchasing).

The Rival Electric Skillet with removable pan turned out to be a huge dud. Reviewers complained of uneven heating, uneven pans, and food sticking to the supposedly non-stick surface. And believe me, I don’t let a few 1-star reviews scare me away, but for this pan, there was an OVERWHELMING amount of 1-star reviews (47 1-star reviews vs. 3 5-star reviews). Either Rival was the victim of a particularly successful smear campaign or their design team was off their game that day.

So that was a big disappointment. I figured I would check out the reviews for the Presto 16″ Electric Skillet, which were much favorable. Not perfect, but better. I mean, how can you deny 108 5-star reviews to 4 1-star reviews? Of course I ended up going with the Presto cooker. The great thing? It came in a smaller box, was more solidly-packaged than the Rival electric cooker (I picked up that box and I could feel the parts moving around inside), and was $2 cheaper. Yipee! Of course the real test will be when I actually put it to use so stay tuned

Man, where were we before we had easy access to online reviews? Crazy.

Scrapp’n Booty! (And no, not the one I’m sitting on), originally uploaded by krisalis903.

OHHHH MYYYYYYY! So yesterday, I went out on a scrapbook shopping excursion with the gals. It’s the third one I’ve been on so far and as always, I had a blast. We went out to several different shops all the way out west–like way past Ft. Worth.

We first started out at Scrappers Boutique out in North Richland Hills. They were having their grand opening that day so we thought it would be great to kick off our trip by joining in the celebrations. Here I picked up quite a bit of paper (mostly new Making Memories, Basic Grey, Pink Paislee and Fancy Pants) and some embellishments from Making Memories and Pink Paislee.

Next we headed out to Cat’s Creations in Mineral Wells. Now that store was pretty impressive. They were having a 20% off everything memorial day weekend sale which made our timing perfect. I went a little crazy, picking up several sheets of paper from Crate Paper, SEI Mimosa, Basic Grey, and Little Yellow Bicycle Zinnia. I Also bought embellishments and die cuts from SEI, Kaisercrafts, Basic Grey, and Lucky You.

We made an impromptu stop at Nana’s Scrapbook in Weatherford. I was already approaching my budget cap for the day so I only got a few sheets of paper from Bella Blvd., BoBunny, and chipboard letters from Basic Grey.

After Nana’s, we made our last stop at Scrapbook Getaway in Springtown. They carried the Poppy line from SEI which I absolutely had to have (I love the shimmer accents on their papers) and some stamp sets she had on sale. Afterward, I discovered that one of the other girls picked up a BoBunny stamp set that she got for $8. Had I known it was on sale I would’ve totally picked up that set! I was so sad

Nonetheless, I had such a great time with my friends that I was glad I decided to go at the last minute. Love you, SASSY gals!

I did a little bit of shopping this last month. A teeny tiny bit. So little that my coworkers didn’t even notice the packages that arrived at our office. Ok well, that’s a flat out lie. I had packages coming to the office every other day these last couple weeks. Every day was like Christmas! IT WAS AWESOME.

So what did I get? Here’s the list:

EZ Mount Regular and Thin Mounting Foam

These have become a staple in my stamping arsenal. FYI don’t put your EZ Mounted stamps directly on CD cases because the foam will end up losing their “tackiness.” Instead buy the next item…

EZ Mount Stamp Storage Panels for CDs

I got a bunch of these for my stamp sets which are all now in CD cases. They fit perfectly too.

Acrylic Blocks in Assorted Sizes

Sunday International has the best selection of acrylic blocks in my opinion. And they’re cut perfectly with just the right amount of ridge so your hands can get a good grip on them.

Papers from Daisy Bucket Designs and Bazzill Basics Swiss Dots

I purchased a few sheets from Daisy Bucket’s Garden Gate line. These papers have such a beautiful linen texture, I knew I had to get them when I first saw them at Personal Scrapbook a few weekends ago. And I love siwss dots so of course I bought some of the Bazzill swiss dots paper.

Life and Mother Clear Stamp Sets from PaperTreyInk.com

Ok, I’ve been looking forward to these stamps for a long time. I’ve been a longtime lurker over at Nichole Heady’s blog and have been envying the stamp sets she’s release over the last couple years. This is my first purchase from her store, but it definitely won’t be my last.

American Crafts Clear Accents Stickers in Black and Color

Yet another Peachy Cheap purchase, but this one was involuntary. I’d originally sent this over to my friend Steph because I knew she would love them, but then she inadvertently purchased 2. So of course, being the good friend that I am, I happily purchased the 2nd set from her

American Crafts 6×6″ D-Ring Recipe Scrapbook Kit

This is probably the one purchase I made this month that I’m SO excited about. It’s a recipe scrapbook kit that I purchased from PeachyCheap.com (LOVE Peachy Cheap!). This kit came with the 6×6″ album, recipe dividers, page protectors, paper, rub-on transfers with food icons, a black Precision Pen, metal photo corners, and 2 sets of black and white Remarks stickers “Charlie Jr.”

Hand-Blown Glass Birds, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

I think I discovered my new love: antique malls.

I was dismissed from jury duty around lunchtime today so I figured I’d do some shopping while I had the extra time. I was on my way to Sprouts when I saw this antique mall at Forest Lane and the Tollway. I figured, well, I’ve got the rest of the afternoon. And I’ve never been to an antique mall before, so I thought maybe this was worth browsing.

Forestwood Antiques is has 40,000 square feet of space that houses over 200 dealers and vendors. It can be a little boring and tedious sometimes. And if you walk in knowing the specifics of what you want, it can be a little disappointing because there’s so much stuff to look through. It’s probably better if you go in not really knowing what you want, but knowing you want something special.

I ended up spending about $50 on these beautiful hand-blown glass birds, a set of pewter candlesticks, and this pretty ginger jar. I was very pleased with my tiny treasures