10 Things on the 10th...

So, as I was thinking on a topic for today’s 10 Things on the 10th, I was suddenly hit in the face with a very appropriate list! As many of you know, the scrapbook store where I’ve worked at for too many years is closing very soon. My scrapbook and stamping “abilities” during my tenure there have grown, developed, regressed and mutated. I have loved (nearly) every minute there and have had the pleasure of working with some of the most creative, talented and artistic women I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and, in a few cases, become life-long friends with.


There is a slight “down side” to all of this. For one, everything you see that comes into the store is excitedly grabbed up and suddenly makes a home in your home scrapbook station. Two, the talents of the women you meet around you suddenly become things you just must learn and adopt for yourself. And three, in my case anyway, working two or more jobs allows very little time to actually use the items you’ve collected or do the techniques you’ve longed to adopt.

Hence, my topic for today…

Ten Scrapbook Related Items I Own But Have Never Used!



1. Daisy D's File Folder Mini Books
 In hot, new Christmas colors!  OMG does anyone else even remember these? When these came out... oh... five or six YEARS ago, I had to have them so bad... I bought seven packs.   Ahem... yes... SEVEN.   Yep, I haven't used a single one.  *sigh*



2. Chipboard Letters
I have a friend who got me to collecting these.  I'm pretty certain she uses hers waaaay more than I ever have, which is, oh, pretty much never.  Thickers came into my world and these were pushed aside.  But I kept buying them!  The collection has grown over the past six years...

3. Flower Soft
I saw this used on a beautiful card in a magazine and HAD to have it.  I hunted it down over two years ago and happily restricted myself to buying "just one" to try it out and see if I liked it, and if I did, then I would allow myself to buy more.  This is the "one".  Since I haven't yet used it to see if I like it, well... I have yet to buy more.

4. Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments
I saw these on a several beautiful cards on an online website.  Again, I HAD to have 'em.   Once I bought them (oh... 3 years ago?), I was immediately intimidated.  Then I heard about Tim Holtz and his "Perfect Pearls" and felt like I picked the wrong  product. But since I had them, I couldn't allow myself to spend money on the Perfect Pearls and so... they sit.  I did recently buy some gum arabic as a binder for them, so... I've made at least one step forward now!

6. Tim Holtz Vintage Paper Packs
Okay, you'll see a theme starting from about here.  I had to have these, but resisted buying them.  A sweet friend bought me two for Christmas this past year and soon after I found myself grabbing another up.  Haven't used a single sheet.  Yet.

6.  7 Gypsies Printers Trays
I saw these in projects online at various sites (including Tim Holtz's) and all over the magazines last year about this time of year.  I had to have 'em!  Bought four.  They're still in the shipping box that arrived in the mail.

7. Inkssentials Cut-n-Dry Stamp Pad Felt
Okay, in case you don't know me very well, I have an itty bitty weakness for Tim Holtz and his amazing creations.  I am impatient for him to post his 12 Tags of Christmas every year and every day after he does, I find myself drooling over the end product AND his tutorial on how he makes them.  That man and the companies he works with must make a MINT over the holidays.  Anyway, this was used in one of his 12 Tags last year (2010) and I just had to have it.  Package. Not. Even. Opened.

8. Idea-Ology Film Strip Ribbon
Another Tim Holtz gotta-have.  He used this on one of his 12 Tags as well, if I recall, and I was an a hunt for it soon after.  To be fair to myself, I did resist for a very long time until the store next door to my LSS (a bead store of all things) got it in stock.  I thought it was a message... to buy.  And I did.  And it sits.

9. Tim Holtz Distress Stain
Let's just say if it says "Tim Holtz" plus "Distress"... well, I gotta have it!  The stain was the new twist this year, and I did resist all the way up until last month before I bought any.  A girl's gotta show some self control, no?

10. Gypsy (for the Cricut)
Let's move away from good ol' Tim's influences on me for this last one.  The Hubs got me this as part of his sneaky Christmas gift this year.  I have turned it on exactly twice.  Once to update the software, and once to download the free cartridges I could get for it.  I haven't synched any of my own cartridges yet, nor have I played with it or learned how to use it in any way shape and form.  I really hope that I'll have time soon.  It looks like it would be so convenient and FUN!

While I have been sad about the state of the store, and I know I’ve even shown some bitterness, I’m beginning to feel that remote, kind of squirmy feeling you get when you feel like something big is coming and you’re excited but since you can’t do or see it yet, you stuff that excitement back down inside. Do you know that feeling? I believe it’s the feeling of… huh… I’m not quite sure what word to put to it. It’s the feeling of no more extra hours and late nights or weekend responsibilities. It’s the feeling of “I ONLY have a day job now”. (I do actually still have a 2nd job over at Inside Out, but I can do that on my own time, from my bed on my laptop if I so desire.) But the rest of that time… the time I used to spend at the store… is suddenly “free”.

I think that squirmy, shivery, repressed excited feeling is … me getting ready to PLAY!

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