...living up to this skill set of mine:
Such as finishing the book I started earlier this week:
I had to stop yesterday at a crucial point after reading The Letter when I had to go out, but it was a good point to stop and give my mind a moment to digest what I had just read.... this morning I finished the book and have to say it has been the best read so far this year. Yes, I know it's only February but it was a very good read and the tissues were out a lot.... I am not ashamed to admit it!
After that I needed a bit of a lift, so I got out some crafting items - including some of the items in my recent order from Sarah's Cards:
I bought a handful of sheets of paper from the recent Crate Love Notes and Oh Darling releases and 1 sheet from Styleboard. I wanted to finally get on the enamel dot bandwagon and bought all the new Studio Calico sets as they were the cheapest per dot, they are a fair bit flatter than other brands - the colours are a good mix... I also threw in a Freckled Fawn selection (alas no blue to choose from there) and also one pack of MME enamel dots, but I just don't understand why MME enamel dots need to cost almost £5 a pack these days. The ones I had were from an older release and the cheapest I could find. Also there were two sheets of alpha stickers by Studio Calico, but seriously I think they are expensive for what they are. So difficult to find nice mini alphas on a par with the October Afternoon mini market stickers.... :( But pricing is all relevant to what you consider good value and worth the expense... with paper almost costing a pound per sheet in some cases these days you have to be a lot pickier about what you buy. I'm glad I didn't invest any more in the latest Crate Paper release save the above sheets of paper, reading online the quality really has gone down hill sadly for non-paper products.... even more so than with previous releases. I was sad to hear yet another booboo for Crate Paper quality control while reading TwoPeas the other day - I am getting really sick of online photos not being representative of the final product and really wish manufacturers would provide videos showing their products or even properly photographed images of the product so you can see it in some form rather than the mocked up design views they provide at present.
After also reading about the problems with the Styleboard dies not cutting properly, I was apprehensive about how my embossing folder would turn out:
Well, you can tell the quality is inferior to Sizzix and other brands, my main gripe is that the hinge on the folder isn't very sturdy, it feels like if you opened it too far you would ultimately break it into two pieces, I would be a bit worried to use PTI/Cardshoppe weight cardstock in it on a regular basis, but vellum and paper would be ok.
I may sound like a right moaning Minnie, but more than anything I am just disappointed that my go-to company for the last few years has now become one that you are taking your chances with when purchasing anything other than paper, as there is no consistency in quality and even with online images you can't be sure that what you think you're buying is in fact what you'll be getting. I really hope it's not going to be going the same way for Pink Paislee now they are part of the American Crafts group, but I suspect the same issues will crop up there too.
But hey, I at least have some of that new Basic Grey product to look forward to - at least the quality of embellishments is usually top notch there. ;)
But moving on....
While playing with my stash in the afternoon I finally watched one of the DVDs I currently have out from Lovefilm:
...which provided a great transition into the closing ceremony of the Olympics this afternoon.
Now I need to get a couple of things sorted and then it's back to my big translation project tomorrow - it's going to be a long week!
love your blog - sorry I don't leave a comment more often.
Posted by: j | Monday, 03 March 2014 at 09:33 AM