October Afternoon Warehouse Sale 2013!

If you have been following my blog, you know how much I LOVE October Afternoon and their products.  I was very fortunate to Guest Design for them last April - you can see what I made with their AWESOME products HERE.

I went to the October Afternoon Warehouse Sale for the first time last year and because I know how awesome it is, I made sure to mark my calendar for this year's sale so I wouldn't miss it!

Last year, I went to the sale on it's opening night and it was fun (you can read my blog from last year HERE)!  This year, I didn't get to the sale until the second day - the earliest I could get there!  I am sure I missed out on some great items as they do say to shop early and often.  I will surely be stopping by again on Sunday to pick up those items I should have got (and can't get out of my head), to see if there are any new items I have to have, and fingers crossed - maybe some slashed prices! (UPDATE 9/22/13: I bought more goodies on Sunday and OA didn't disappoint!  Some prices had dropped and I found some items I had to have!)

The warehouse sale is in Apple Valley, MN - not too far from where I live - about a 30 minute drive.  The sale features great bargains on old and new October Afternoon collections.  The newest collection at the sale was Travel Girl which I was very excited about as I didn't have any in my collection yet!  This year there was a bargain room; however, I thought everything was fairly priced throughout the entire warehouse. Below, I share what I picked up at the sale along with the bargain prices I paid!

First up, I grabbed as much Travel Girl as I could find!  I got the 8x8 paper pad for $5, brads for $2.50, buttons for $1, washi tape for $1.50, and the miscellany pack for $2.  For spending over $50 at the sale, I got the 12x12 patterned paper pack for FREE!!!!  This was a nice surprise and very generous of Mr. and Mrs. October Afternoon!  Can't wait to play with these goodies!

Next up, I picked up 30 sheets of Sticky Keys/Mini Market Alpha Stickers!  They were $3 for 5 sheets!  I usually pay $2.50 per sheet for these yummies.  The sale had most of the varieties that have been released so I surely stocked up!!!!

Next up, I got these sample sized papers from older collections - I am guessing these were used at CHA as sales samples?  These were a steal at 25 sheets for $1!

I also stocked up on goodies from a variety of collections.  From Witch Hazel, I grabbed the Sprinklers for 2 for $5, the miscellany pack for $2, washi tape for $1.50, chipboard shapes for $2, and tin pins for 2 for $3.  From Sasparilla, I got the 8x8 paper pad for $2 and the trims pack for $1.  I got a couple other miscellaneous items too - buttons from Farm Girl and Midway at $1 each, brads from Make it Merry for $2.50 and a 12x12 paper pack for $1!

There were loads of goodies to chose from so making the final selections to purchase was difficult!  If you are in the area, I hope you are able to make the sale.  The selections and bargains were terrific and the employees were all very pleasant and helpful.  You are sure to be smiling ear-to-ear when you walk into the warehouse!

Melanie

My Stache!

Sunday was a great day!  I spent the day with my family celebrating my nephew's birthday - he is now 10 years old!!!!  Boy, he has grown up fast!  I made him a fun mustache card and mini box for his birthday.  The 'stache' box holds all the money he got for his birthday - get it "my stache!"  :)

To create the card, I used Lori Whitlock's Mustache SVG Set.  I left the mustaches in the same order they were in the SVG file making it so easy to create the card!  I resized the SVG file to fit a 4.5x5.5 card, cut it out on white card stock, and then pasted strips of patterned paper behind some of the mustaches.  You may be asking, what collection is the adorable paper from?  Well, it is the Swagger Collection by Fancy Pants.  Absolutely love this collection and all of the 'staches' in it - I definitely pulled inspiration from it!

To create the mini box, I used Lori's Mustache SVG set again as well as Lori's Ghost Window Box.  In SCAL, I removed the ghost from the top of the box and added 3 mustaches to create a fun die-cut pattern on the top of the box!  Once I assembled the box, I added some white card stock to the back of the top of the box to make the mustaches pop.  To finish off the box, I added a button from the Swagger Collection with the perfect sentiment on it and added two strips of paper underneath the button to make it look like a ribbon.

My nephew definitely loved these (my sister may have loved even more)!!! 

I hope you'll have a great week!

Melanie

Children are Born, Traditions are Passed, Love Continues On - Friends with Flair Friday!

Greetings and Happy Friends with Flair Friday over at the Unity Stamp Co. blog!

I am so happy to be back on my blog sharing the start of my family heritage scrapbook (the title page that is!).  My mom, sister, and I have been getting together a lot lately to research our family heritage - which by the way has been very interesting!  I have been using Ancestry.com to lay out my family's tree, and there have been lots of interesting facts I have found along the way.  For instance, one of my ancestors and his wife were one of the first families to come to America.  They were Amish and started what is now called Pennsylvania Dutch country.  Three of their children fought in the Revolutionary War and, there is a book that is published about him and his family!  Pretty cool stuff!

Given the theme of this scrapbook is family heritage, I am going all out to make sure it looks vintage.  My Tim Holtz products, Unity Stamps, and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist are coming in really handy. 

For the title page, I used papers from two different collections - Echo Park's Reflections by Lori Whitlock and Heidi Swapp's No Limits.  Together, these two collections create a nice mixed media feel.  I added some old dictionary paper in the background as well.  Also, I created a checkered pattern on the base layer (turquoise) using glimmer mist and burlap.

To ensure a vintage look, I wrinkled up the papers and used my Tim Holtz Paper Distress Tool and lots of Distress Ink in Tea Dye.

For the title, I used the Reflections collection to create the word 'Family.'  I cut it out of one of the 12x12 papers, then cut it into three horizontal pieces to give it some texture.  I love the effect this gave it. 

The word 'Heritage' was created using a Papertrey Ink alpha die along with lots of Glimmer Mist.

 

I couldn't imagine this page without keys and a clock so I added these elements as well.  The key stamped image is from Unity Stamp's Aug 2012 Kit of the Month.  I created the clock hands using SVG's from Lettering Delights (I would share a link to the SVG collection, but it was clearanced out a couple months ago).

Lastly, I had to add a quote that speaks to what ancestry is all about.  I used Microsoft word to create the quote, then printed it out and cut it into strips.

I hope this page has you grabbing for your vintage tools and supplies!  I will share more pages from my family heritage scrapbook in the coming weeks.

Happy Friday ya'll!

Melanie