So now i start the summer, with road trips to hotels nearly every week.  I got through the 9 day stretch with a large bag for crafting packed - and we had a marvelous vacation!  And I had a great time yesterday shopping at my local A.C.Moore craft store.  I'm usually an online shopper via a few different webstores - for brick and mortar I generally prefer to give my money to HobbyLobby, but they don't have everything - so yes - do keep up with stock shifts and changes at and periodically purchase from the other national chain craft stores in the area.  I'd heard rumor of a storewide 40% off sale at ACMoore...and couldn't resist.  Turns out the local store is converting(ed?) to an outlet store, and everything in the store is at least 40% off.  And will always be!!  So I managed to keep the total bill under $100 - but i got a bunch of new stamps - some cardstock scrap packages for die cutting accents, yet another storage container for papers, spare cutter blade dealies for any of my cutters they had blades for...and some other stuff i just don't remember right now.  I just generally had fun!!! There's a few of the stamps that just jumped up and talked to me - told me how they had to be used on the next batch of cards for my next shipment! 

I am horribly distressed over the recent uptick of activity in Iraq this past week, as well as the most recent hostage swap - as both mean our soldiers over there are in even greater danger.  Hopefully the efforts of the crafters around the United States through groups like Operation Write Home provide some smiles to our military and their families. 

These are the last 2 sets of cards to go in the box shipping tomorrow - these are Happy Birthday and Thinking of You, and bring the total in the box to 95 cards. They are rather simple cards and again, they are all on StampinUp Card Stock, stamped with Memento inks.  The Birthday cards are stamped on the Recollections GoldWhite Shimmer Paper.  The background and accent papers are StampinUp, mostly retired, or papers from one of those sale packages at those National chain craft stores mentioned above.  Die Cuts are done on papers and card stock from the 'pound of paper, again from one of those National chain Craft stores. And I have this great little corner rounder that i use a lot!  I got the Spellbinders die set for cutting the shapes with 2 square and 2 round corners for use with my Cuttlebug - but i still find myself at the table grabbing my little yellow one and using it more often than not! 

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