Day 4 of Fun Shopping...starting to slow down.

I was so looking forward to going to Mall of America today to get my crepes!!
I love the banana caramel crepe!!
Wayne and I walked around the mall and even checked out the mall's map...only to find out that the crepe place "Magic Pan" closed last December 😭
I was seriously so sad...nothing I ate today measured up.

But these came to a very close second, teehee.
We always get these twists with the icing, YUM.
But today they had something I had never had before...Churro Frosting Sandwiches.... its 2 churros with icing in the middle of them.
Wayne liked it, I haven't had mine yet.

To help me get over my loss of crepe, I went to Hobby Lobby and picked me up some Tim Holtz goodies as well as 3 quilt wall hanging panels....haven't sewed in awhile, but looking forward to putting these cuties together.
We did sneak off to Cabalas in Woodbury (nope, we didn't see the governor there).

I ran into Micheals to pick up some more distress ink round foams, then I noticed that they had their paper pads on sale....a real good sale.

Lastly I went to Dollar Tree to look for a large tote bag to cart my new goodies home.
Sadly they didn't have any totes, but I did find 2 cute infinity scarves for the cooler weather.

I always bring a plastic case with me on a trip, to bring any loose papers home without ruining them. I also usually bring 2 bigger totes for my purchases.
One tote I used for my knitting (as I am knitting a queen size afghan for my daughter) and the other one is full.
I will be doing plenty of knitting on our long drive home tomorrow.

I hope you all have a very creative day.

Tracy 💗💗💗day 3 of

Day 3 of Fun Shopping...not shopped out yet.

Yes, more shopping and I am NOT shopped out yet.
Wayne and I went to Crafts Direct in St Cloud.
I usually go with my friend Sharon to this store when we come for our girls getaway. This is the first time Wayne was here with me.

ok, this is a no judging zone.
I have beautiful paper, I love beautiful paper, I don't need more beautiful paper, but they keep designing beautiful paper.
So I keep purchasing beautiful paper.
This paper is just so so pretty...I usually have an idea on what I plan to create when I purchase papers, but this time, nope....but I still bought it ;)

I also had to pick up these Tim Holtz alphabet foam stamps...they were so inexpensive, how could I not.
As well as these Kelly Creates month and weekly stamps....couldn't pass them up for the price as they were on clearance.

Then onto Crafts Direct outlet store.
They have such great deals...which they did again this time.
I was so happy to see these ephemera packages.
We never see them in our city, we usually have to wait for the Scrapbook Cottage to come with Crop & Create to get ephemera.

When we got into Minneapolis we headed to a Joanns.
I don't understand coupons rules.
Wayne was in line ahead of me (as I like to use coupons for every purchase) and theJoanns coupon needed to be used on an app...so I told him to use a competitors coupon that he had on his phone.
I was then called next, I had the same coupons, and the young man let me use 2 competitor coupons.
Where the teller Wayne had said he could only use a competitors coupon if he had the paper version, not his phone version.
I told him he should have not bought the ink....as I only purchase from big box stores when using a coupon.
So one of these inks was actually full price..every thing else I purchase is with a coupon, on sale or clearance.
I may buy a lot at one time...but I use coupons, teehee.

How awesome is Tuesday Morning!!
I love this store and look forward to seeing the goodies they have when we come here.
I was excited to see these Tim Holts stamps here..and of course a great price!!!

A quick run into Michaels for some more blending foam circles and another Distress Oxide ink (thank you Tim and Jennifer for your videos).

I also noticed that there was a new Hobby Lobby close to where we were, so guess what...I went in to check it out, teehee.
I picked up 2 more of these mini distress ink holders as I seem to be collecting them, lol
I also picked up these rose gold letters and these cute word stickers.

We enjoyed a lunch at Denny's and then supper at Red Lobster.
We will be enjoying leftover shrimp tonight in the hotel as we weren't as hungry as we thought.

I hope you all have a very creative day
I will share my shopping goodies with you tomorrow as phone coupons never run out, teehee.

Tracy 💗💗💗

Day 2 of Shopping Fun

Second day of our trip and I am having so much fun shopping (maybe to much fun).
I uploaded the coupons on my phone and got Wayne to do the same thing, and we sure are making the most of them, teehee.

I was so excited to see so many Art Basics by Finnabair on sale at Micheals today.
I have wanted more brushes to use with my distress and art crayons and these were such a great price!
I am hoping to have a brush for each colour family.
I also love love love these silicone brushes (again by Art Basics) for adding gesso to my pages for a nice smooth finish. I have the thin 1" brush, so was excited to find these..again at a nice price!

I decided on the soft pretty planner (remember my dilemma in yesterdays post).
I think the weekly layout will work better for me.
When looking at the cover I noticed that they can not be taken off anymore.
Good call Micheals!!!
Last year I heard and noticed that many customers were changing the covers and the planners were just a big mess.
My planner cover from last year can be removed, so if I get tired of the soft colour and need a bold one, I will just add my last years on here.

Another one of my favourite stores here in the good ol' US is Barnes and Noble.
They have the cutest journals...believe me, I have most of them in my bookshelves at home, teehee.
I took a quick peek into this "The Story of my Life" journal and thought the prompts in there looked interesting...I wish the cover was cuter, but I can fix that ;)
The "Ten Little Pumpkins" book is for my grandsons. The cover caught my eye as the pumpkin is made with those fun sequins, when I rub my hand across it, it changes to the word "Boo"
The story is a take on 10 monkeys jumping on the bed.
And of course I needed some writing or note journals and these are so so pretty.

Next is to Hobby Lobby again.
I know I keep going back to these stores....but they won't let me use multiple coupons in one trip, lol  and I hate to pay full price for anything.
I have the regular sized distress inks and have had them since day 1...but these mini ones are perfect for bringing and leaving at our camp/cottage for the summer as I create up there more in the summer than I do at home.
I have one Oxide ink back at home and haven't really given it a good work out.
But last night as I sat in the hotel room, I got a chance to watch a few videos, I haven't been able to watch craft videos for a few months!!!
Well thank you Tim Holtz and Jennifer McGuire for enabling me in purchasing all of these Oxide distress inks, lol.
Me being a collector.....well I think I may need them all, lol.

Another visit to Hobby Lobby as I really like this stamp set.
It is so versatile.

That is all for today......tomorrow we head to Minneapolis and Crafts Direct!!!

Hope you all have a very creative day.

Tracy 💗💗💗

When the cats away, we will..... shop.

Ohhh I have so much to share with you....its been a month since my last blog post!!
I used to post every day and now that hubby and I are both retired it seems I should have more time...but it goes by more quickly, lol.

I will do an update post or posts later on, but lets start with today.
My honey and I are on a little getaway!!!
Every once in a while we like to head to the border for a little R&R and some shopping 😏

Here we are!!!!

At first he wouldn't let me get a photo of us together, so I was trying to make it look like I was picking his nose....I never once claimed to be mature, lol.

We went to 5 Guys for lunch and then Red Lobster for supper.
Just a little phone etiquette.....please turn off your ringers during dinner.
It is a bit infuriating to hear someone's cell phone go off every 3 seconds (I'm not even kidding..a party of 3 and I don't think any of them looked up from their phone the whole meal) during dinner.
I love themed rings, my friend has one and I will call her when she is over just to hear my theme (which by the way is the music from Walking Dead), but hearing a themed ring isn't any less irritating  than a ring during a meal out.
Off my soap box for now, lol.

First stop was to Hobby Lobby 💗
We don't have a Hobby Lobby at home, so it is always a treat when I get to shop at one.
We also picked up some Christmas wrapping paper.

I ran into JoAnns while Wayne went to Best Buy.
The Joanns here is a smaller store, but I always seem to find something.

I then went into a Dollar Tree.
What I love about these stores is everything really is ONE dollar.

Ashley asked me to pick up the alphabet puzzle from the Walmart here....I found it!!!
As well as something extra for Sawyer and Dawson.

Micheals was next!
I found these really cool keys, they are really heavy.

Wayne picked up a container for Kristy as she has taken up that Diamond Art and has baggies of those diamonds, so thought this would be easier for her to organize them in.

Target always has such cute clothes for little ones.

We also ran into Office Depot as I wanted some of these Job ticket clear pockets..I like them for storing my 8.5x11 cardstock.
Wayne and I love these Pilot G2 gel pens so purchased 3 boxes, teehee.
And I was happy to see these sticker books by Vicki Boutin and Heidi Swapp at the front entrance.

I was very excited to see the new Recollections planners at Michaels today!!!
I am torn on which one to get.

I love both of these covers!!
I am a more drawn to the bold colours so my eye went straight to the Every Moment Matters cover.
But the Enjoy the Simple Life is so soft and pretty.
Ohhh such a dilemma.

So I opened each planner to the weeks (as the month pages are the same).
So to make it even harder, each of these planners has a different weekly layout.
My planner I use now, has the same layout as the bold planner....but then looking at the soft planner I think I could merge my creative planner and my life planner into this one, so I would only need one (but do I only want one, teehee).
Sooooo I was thinking if I got tired of the soft planner cover I could change it up with my planner cover I have now, as it doesn't have the date on the front.
Why do I make things so difficult, lol.

So that is our trip so far and I will share with you again what we do tomorrow :)

Hope you all are having a creative day

Tracy 💗💗💗

Day 2 of Crafty Shopping

I thought I would let you marvel over day 1's crafty shopping for a day or so before posting day 2, lol.
Actually I was tired when we got home and The Walking Dead was on, so was watching TV, teehee.

Ok onto Day 2.
Now that I found the Brother Scan N Cut mat, I could really concentrate on my shopping, lol.
1st stop was to Target.
I needed another set of banners (which there was only 1 left) and found a few other items in their dollar spot.
Some of these may or may not be gifts for a few friends ;)

Not crafty shopping, but found this cute set of PJ's for my grandson Sawyer.
Sawyer's daddy likes spider man....would have been fun if I could have found a set for him as well, they could have matched, teehee.

Wayne picked up this shirt for Sawyer as he liked the saying...he also liked the colour.

Back to the crafty shopping.
I thought I was going to leave Michaels empty handed.
That was until Wayne found some lonely Halloween supplies for 80% off.
First thing he noticed was the Tim Holtz stamps....he loves the TH's stuff, plus I think he is proud that he knows a popular craft designer who he met in person, lol.
Nothing here was more then $3.00!!
Sorry Lesli, I bought more washi tape, but they were so cheap!

Then we went to the Dollar Tree.
I love the Dollar Tree as everything there is actually a Dollar!!
Our Dollarama, very little is actually a dollar.
I picked up a few books and for a dollar, I don't feel as bad if they are not a great read and donate them later.
I forgot my earbuds at home and wanted to edit a video or 2 (which I didn't get to) and if they only lasted a night, I was good with that.....actually I was impressed with the sound the produced.

What we thought was going to be our last stop for the evening was to Walmart to get one of these letter boards as we don't have these in our Walmart.
It was Ashley that told me about these, so I texted her to see if she wanted another one...she said yes as she could have fun with it in her office (as today was her first day back to work after having Sawyer).

Before leaving the store, I thought I had better look at them to make sure everything was in them and that nothing was broken.
Turned out, out of all 5 boards in stock, only one wasn't broken.
I figured I could add some trim to the least damaged one...if Walmart would give me a discount.
They would give me .10c off.
.10c !!!! That is it.
She then told me that they will need to take them off of the shelves and discard them.
So I said to her...so you would rather throw them out, then give me a better discount?!?
She said she didn't have the authority to mark it down anymore than that...and walked away.
I just shook my head and bought the only one that wasn't damaged.

We then went back to the hotel to chill for the night.
That was until I got a craving for Taco John's Potato Oles!!
I had some the day we got into town and I asked for less or no spice on them and got the cheese dip.
You know you are obsessed with a food when you have a dream of eating it, lol.
I decided to get a planner, so off to Michael's we went again.
I had 3 that I liked, but picked this one as I like the sentiment on the front, as I seem to always make a fresh start..over and over again, teehee.
As I was walking down the aisle I noticed these stamps with the matching dies, they were under $3.00 each...nice deal.

Onto My Day:
Today was Ashley's 1st day back to work since having Sawyer.
Here in Canada you get a year off with maternity pay....Ashley took an extra week off.
She didn't want to go back and I don't blame her, who would.
But I helped by telling her that on the days her husband has to work, I will look after Sawyer.
So today was one of those days.
We enjoyed breakfast together, then headed to the clinic as Heather had an ear infection and I told her yesterday that I would go with her.
Sawyer and I snuggled, played and had a great day together.
I have to say, I needed a bit of a nap when he went home...how can a one year old out last me...oh right he got in an afternoon nap, lol.

I hope you all have a very creative day.
Tomorrow is going to be a home day for me (I will have a lot more of those now that Ashley is back at work as I would visit her at least 3 days a week or she and Sawyer would visit me)
I still haven't put away all of my Halloween decor from my crop!!!

Tracy :)

Girls Creative Shopping Getaway

Every year my friend Sharon and I go on a little getaway and do some damage in the craft stores.
We head to Hinckley Grand Casino.
Sharon loves to gamble and I love the free room that her gambling provides for us ;)
We look so forward to this little trip every year.

I am not sure if you are aware, but I was in a no spend challenge with a few friends.
Well I am out of that challenge as of Monday, lol
But I am proud to say I was one of the last ones that were still in this challenge.

We started off in Michaels in Duluth.
I was so excited that I found this planner punch!!
I thought for sure I would need to order it on-line if I wanted it.
Not only did I find it, I got to use my coupon, and Sharon used hers on this extra punches.
So excited to try it.

Picked up a couple of packages of these HeidI Swapp stickers and ephemera pieces to use in my planner.
And some wooden pieces to use on some pages and for my fairy garden.

Next stop was to Hobby Lobby.
I found this pretty paper pack and a few pretty sheets of paper.
I know, I know..I don't need anymore paper...but look how pretty they are ;)

My daughter loves letter boards and picked up the Heidi Swapp one when she was here a couple of weeks ago.
But once she got home, she had wished she had picked up these bigger letters, so I grabbed them for her.

They have a JoAnns here and I couldn't go there without picking up something, so I grabbed these pretty papers...I am thinking a layout about my dad (minus the pink paper..I just liked the colour).

Back to Hobby Lobby for another look around.
And look, I found some more goodies ;)
Love the colours of this and it was 50% off...how could I not?!

I needed a camera to put the finishing touch on a layout I did last week when Debbie and I were away at Mink Mountain.
The other packages just jumped in my cart...I couldn't just leave them there.

I saw these Monthly letter board words, and thought Ashley would like them as well...and well, they were on sale.

I ran into TJ Max as Ashley had picked up a pretty cover/folder for letter sized note pads.

Hers if different than this one, but I love the saying on this one.

I always have such big plans, lol.

Ran into the mall to pick up chocolate covered pretzels for Heather as this is the only item she asks for, so decided to check out Barns and Noble.
I can always find a note book or 2 in there.
Isn't this just so pretty :)

As well as this one ;)

We had so much fun!!!

But just you wait until my next post, as we went to Crafts Direct in St Cloud....Love that store!

Until my next share, I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)