Here are the things that were new to my Big Lots store last week:
Believe it or not, these are the only items that left the store with me :) … Soft Spoken stickers by MAMBI. I think these are SO pretty and I love the color combination. Only $1.50 each, too.
This one’s my favorite because of that gorgeous red butterfly.
It was really hard to pass up all those amazing acrylic stamps but, as I’ve confessed before, I have a bit of an addiction to stamps … so I had to pass on those. I can’t stop thinking about those damask ones, though. (Yeah, it’s a sickness).
What scrapbooking stuff have you found at Big Lots lately?
*NORMALLY, I would link to this album on the Basic Grey website (give them some free pub, dontcha know …). But their frickin’ frackin’ site wouldn’t let me copy the image of the album for my post. As I’ve griped about before. But actually, for all my general bitchin’, it HAS been a while since I carped about this particular issue … so it’s time again.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know … I’m welcome to use the “media approved” photos provided by these scrapbook companies, but that’s just a big pain in the ass. So I’ll just give the free publicity and link to the wonderful, awesome, and sharing 2 PEAS IN A BUCKET. Which is one of my favorite sites anyway, so I’m glad to share their link. I hope if you ever want to order Basic Grey, you’ll buy it from them ;)
Anyhow, the main point I had INTENDED to make with this post, before you got me all twitterpated, was this: I only paid 8 bucks for an album that retails for $24. For those of you who ~ like me ~ suck at math, that would be a 66% savings. Or roughly.
That’s all I found at my Big Lots. I wish you Happy Hunting. Please report back on your finds.
I mean, you can hog all the good items from your particular Big Lots. If you can sleep at night, you just go ahead. But at least have the decency to tell the rest of us what we need to look for in OUR store. You owe us that much. Besides, it will put your conscience right and you’ll be able to sleep even better.
I am NOT even kidding you! I know, you wanna’ Elaine-from-Seinfeld me, right? You wanna’ push me really hard and say, “GET. OUT!” But I am SO serial.
I of course first heard about this from The Peas. I think they were a wee bit excited, since they talked about it HERE, HERE, and HERE. Yeah, no less than THREE threads in a week about “Basic Grey at Big Lots!!!!!!” We Peas have lost our ever lovin’ minds over this.
Okay, do you remember how MY Big Lots pretty much *sux*? The whole Thickers thing really soured me. We got, like, 5 packs total that were alphas (as opposed to the shapes which I have less than zero use for). I tried and tried and tried. Scrappers from all over the US of A were finding them at their Big Lots, I think for $1 or $2 per pack. But noooooo … not me. Not the Biggest Thickuh Luvah Evah. I couldn’t find any for months and when I finally did, they were, well, meh. I mean, I bought them of course because we’re talkin’ THICKERS here, people! But it was anticlimactic at best.
So when I heard the online screams of “Basic Grey at Big Lots!!!” … I was, like, “Yeah, whatevs.” I figured I’d check if I were ever in that area of town for something else but I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself and stalk BL like I did for the Thickers. Okay, well, and the cheap Cricut cartridges. What’s that saying? “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” I’m nobody’s sucker.
So I did burn rubber over to Big Lots in search of BG. It was more like a leisurely stroll. I restrained myself for, oh, a whole day before I manufactured a reason … erm … remembered something I really really really needed in the same mall as Big Lots, and then I finally went.
You’re never going to guess: I hit the jackpot! Not only did my BL have the BG, I got some other cute things, too. I know you’re only here for the eye candy and not my wicked frickin’ wit, so here ya go … PICTURES! I didn’t want to make you wait another day so you have to deal with the bad lighting because I took these pics Tuesday night. For YOU.
My entire Big Lots haul for 42 dollahs, baby!
Basic Grey “Eerie” doilies and “Sugar Rush” alphas
White gift bags which I love for wrapping gifts cuz I get creative with the ribbons and tags; only 30 cents a bag.
Basic Grey rub-ons, painted brads, glazed brads, pops, epoxy, writer’s block, take note, ribbon, and bling it on – various lines.
Happy Pear jelly stickers in “Birthday Words” and “Friends Words.”
Creative Imaginations “Signature Collection” metal brads
That’s a lot of scrap crap for only $42, huh? I was quite happy with my purchase. It’s been a while since I’ve scored like this. I was due. Am I right?
I also have some Michaels photos for next time … the cute new Spring stuff they have on the shelves, and the 2 Cricut cartridges I got for $9.99 each from last week’s big sale.
I don’t have photos yet but when I do, I’ll post. I got 2 of the $9.99 Cricut cartridges from Michaels and some goodies from Big Lots. Yes, I’m going to keep you in suspense. Ain’t I cruel?
In the meantime, what scrap-shopping have you done lately?
Just some random scrappy things to end your week with …
~*~ You know that “First” magazine you see in the supermarket checkout aisle? Well, buy THIS one … there is a scrapbooking article in it!
~*~ Word on the street is that Big Lots has older Cricut cartridges for 30 snaps. Okay, “the street” = “The PEAS,” you caught me! I’ll be checking my BL this weekend, but this is the store that got one lame shipment of Thickers when everyone else had tons of them, so I’m not holding out much hope. I guess for all the bad that comes from this seriously sucky economy, we will be seeing cooler items trickling down to the discount stores because of it. Mixed blessing, I guess…
~*~ Do you like scrapbooking novels? Well, did you know that JOANNA CAMPBELL SLAN has two scrapbooking mysteries out, and another one on the way for May 2010? I’ve read “Paper, Scissors, Death” and really enjoyed it. Now I need to get “Cut, Crop & Die” which has been out since summer. (Yeah, I’m totally lagging, cuz I DO want to read it!). Well, to tide us over until the next book comes out {details are HERE}, she shares a free scrapbooking short story HERE. She must’ve JUST finished writing it because there are some mentions in there about Twilight and the Tiger Woods situation. Timely, Miss Joanna, very timely… Anyway, it’s a fun story to devour with your next cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy!
~*~ What do you think of the January issue of CREATING KEEPSAKES? The Peas are talking about it HERE and, let me tell ya’, reviews are really mixed. I just got my copy and hope to pour through it this weekend, but have had a quick browse through and like what I see so far. It is definitely weird with all the usual suspects like Ali and Becky gone.
I’m putting off reading Lisa Bearnson’s last column ‘cuz I know I’m gonna cry. I had the pleasure of going on a week-long Mediterranean cruise with Lisa/CK in 2006, and she is THE nicest most caring lady you’d ever want to meet. It always kills me to hear her ripped apart by Mean Girls because I don’t think you can spend a week with someone and not see some mysterious evil side come out at some point, if it really does exist (which it obviously doesn’t). Yep, big Lisa fan here. Remind me to tell you about her on that cruise some time, k?
Oh gee, I seem to have gone off on a tangent. That NEVER happens, LOL! But back to the CK January issue … Your thoughts?
~*~ I am SO frick-frackin’ excited about a new product that MEMORY WORKS has coming out in January!! They have always sold all the latest and greatest products by other manufacturers {like Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, etc.}, but MW is coming out with their OWN line. I’ve seen some sneak peeks and it’s rockin’. Stay tuned…
~*~ Isn’t this an adorable layout from KELLY GOREE with Basic Grey “Sugar Rush”?
I love love LOVE the letters used in “reward” so I’m going to ask her how she did them. The SSS girls are thinking Silhouette and a sweet Sista named Lisa has offered to cut me something if I can find out which font it is.
ETA: Color me bummed. Kelly said “reward” is from the handwriting of a Basic Grey staff designer, and Kelly hand cut it. Alas, there is no way to replicate it. Even IF I could pretend to approach that gorgeous writing, there’s no way I’d have the skill or patience to hand cut it, LOL!
~*~ I shall leave you with the news that SCRAP SISTERS STUDIO (my home-away-from-home message board) is having an online crop this weekend. If you’re not already a member, join up and join in! Lots of fun chatting and doing challenges, sharing our work and ideas.
I was “oot and uh-boot” Friday evening and did some fun shopping in between the grocery shopping and getting gas drudgery. Here is a report on my adventures, as far as scrappy stuff I found….
Target: Nothing. Same old stuff they’ve had for a while. Nothing on sale. Nothing to report. Oh, except I got the new CK there.
Been chillaxin’ around the house this weekend with it, and am LOVING IT! Such a great issue, chock full of layouts and techniques, as a SCRAPBOOKING magazine should be (unlike….cough, cough….SCRAPBOOKS ETC…..traitor….cough, cough)…
Walmart: Still have a lot of stuff on Clearance. The Cricut carts for $30 each were pretty tempting but I resisted. Not that flush right now. But this is what I bought there on clearance a couple weeks ago and they still have pretty much the same stuff as when I shopped then….
Michaels: So I had two coupons in hand: a 40% off that expired that day, and a 50% off that expires Monday (which is odd, but who am I to complain?). I cruised the aisles quite a bit trying to find something coupon worthy.
There was some new (to me, at least) bling kits, the I-Top brad maker by Imaginesce, and some metal embellishments by Making Memories.
I had the metal snowflakes with bling in my hand, but put them back. Maybe another time, another coupon…
As much as I loved all these new acrylic stamps,….
… and they weren’t on sale so I could’ve gotten a set for 1/2 off, I resisted their magnetic pull with some motivating self-talk…”Just snap some quick photos for the blog. Remain objective. You do NOT like acrylic stamps. You do not NEED acrylic stamps. They hold no meaning for you. No, Erika, not even that adorable set with the butterfly. And, no, you don’t need any more alpha stamps….the 170 sets you have at home are quite enough. Okay, you took the photos, now keep walking. No, don’t pet them. ERIKA!! Hand off the pretty stamps. Good. Now walk away. Dit! Don’t look back over your shoulder. Look! Pretty bling! Let’s go over there!” See, my friends, THAT … is how it’s done.
I found this endcap full of cute, 12×12 postbound albums by Recollections (the Michaels brand).
There were some really cute styles to choose from. They were jam-packed on the shelves like 20 circus clowns in a Mini Cooper. It was hard to get a good look at them all without a struggle, pulling out the first 2 or 3 in each row to see what was behind them. {I tried to peek in the sides but there were other racks blocking my access…hmph}. Many albums that I pulled out had bent corners on either the album itself or the pages (I assume, the result of beingsotightlyshelved….poor babies couldn’t breathe…). I made sure to pick out two unbent ones :) {I get doubles to use as yearly family albums because I scrap too much to get everything into one}. As you can see, the shelf stickers said $9.99 and a sign up top said 40% off. I asked myself, “Self, does that mean they are 40% off of $10, making them a mere $6 each?” And then I answered myself with, “Oh, Self, no! That would be too good to be true. Even Michaels wouldn’t run a deal THAT good!” But I, myself, was …. WRONG! Cuz they rang up at the register as 6 bucks, baby! Did my everlovin’, deal seakin’, penny pinchin’ heart good, it did.
Right inside the front door, they had the rack that usually says “Designer Scrapbooking” but it was full of Clearance items.
From there, I got these Making Memories “Black Tie” white pearlized letter stickers for $2 marked down from $4. For full coupon maximization, I grabbed these Martha Stewart chalk inks from Clearance (for the 50% off) and some Herma tab refills (for the 40% off). However, the register wouldn’t allow the coupon to be used on the inks because they were already on sale. I said, “I thought you just couldn’t use coupons on weekly sale items, but it’s okay if they’re Clearance or Reduced or whatever?” and she thought so too, so she read the coupon. Yep, there in the teensy weensy fine print it said something like, “Not for use on previously marked down items.” Crud. Oh well, I took the inks anyway…they were still 30% off. And the 40% off coupon worked on the Herma tabs.
So, I got two 12×12 albums, Herma tab refills, a stack of chalk inks, and two sets of letter stickers for $30, which I could’ve paid for just one album. Happy me.
Big Lots: Happy? Not so much. When I first turned into the scrapbooking aisle, my eyes lit up because I immediately noticed that the inventory of Thickers had gotten much larger. Yippie skip! (HERE is where I talked about my bad luck with Thickers @ BL). But I was to be disappointed again. There were tons of the shapes ones, one pack of red felt and tons of the naked chipboard ones (which I already got last time), and that was it. They had the K&Co embellishment stickers that the Peas were talking about HERE, but none I had to have.
I thought some of you might be interested in these, so I took a pic for ya….
Great deal and very cute! I love the prints on the inside, don’t you?
Well, those were my latest shopping/window shopping adventures. What kinda scrappy stuff have you found lately at Target, Walmart, Michaels, and Big Lots? Would love to hear in Comments, and feel free to link to your blog if you’ve posted about ’em.
You will find videos like THIS, THIS, and THIS. I love it. This is a girl totally after my own heart, LOL! There are other videos on scrapper’s “hauls,” too. After you search “scrapbook haul” and get your list of results, then use the drop down menu in the top middle to Sort by Newest. Just so you get the more recent ones….don’t want to get all excited about rushing down to Tuesday Morning for a great deal you saw….only to find out it was posted in August 2007, LOL.
Happy watching! And thanks ABBY for the first two linkees…you know me too well :)
Finally! Some THICKERS showed up at my Big Lots. Not that I was stalking it….because I wasn’t….I mean, not that you can prove….
Here are the ones I bought. I wasn’t thrilled with the selection, especially compared to what I’ve seen others post from their BL. But, hey, 2 bucks for something that normally goes for $4-5? I’ll take it, mama!
Did you know that Big Lots also has a bunch of MARTHA STEWART wedding stuff right now? There are packages of tiny bling and pearls, cake topper frames, garlands, etc. As one would imagine, Martha’s items are very tasteful and of good quality. I was tempted by some MS 12×12 postbound albums that were marketed as a Wedding Guest Book. I don’t need one of those, but I figured for 2 bucks a piece, I could pull out the guest book pages and insert a bunch of page protectors. Alas, I decided against buying any. Here is what I DID get. These MS heart tins I got the last time I was there. Only $2 for 24 pretty little tins. I’m going to put candies in them and give them away at my crop in July.
The daisy coasters are stinkin’ adorable. Think I will keep a couple for me, then give the rest out at the crop, too. Don’t you think they make a great embellishment for a Spring layout? The scalloped ones are so much cuter (and less orange) in real life. I flipped one over so you can see that you could just use the white side for a journaling box. In really faint print, it has a tiny logo in the middle but you can easily write over it.
I’ve been having a really rough week so that was a nice little surprise. I got a screamin’ deal on my favorite shampoo at Big Lots, too. Me likey that store….
Well, THIS post has been going for a week at 2PEAS, about all the lucky ladies finding THICKERS letter stickers at Big Lots for only $2 a pack (they are usually $4-5). I finally made it to my new Big Lots (I wrote about when it first came to town HERE) and….remember the Soup Naz! on Seinfeld?….”No Thickers for you!” Nope, my Big Lots had none.
Rats. Double triple rats.
As one who likes to take lemons and make scrapbook lemonade, I found a few other things and did not leave Big Lots empty-handed. Here is what I found:
Some AC foam shapes, an 8.5×11 cardstock pack in pretty, muted colors, All Dressed Up adhesive ribbons by DCWV, and 2 packs of tropical colored mini brads. Also, 2 black/1 purple DCWV alphas. I got a pack of the black alphas on my last trip and have since used them on 2 projects so I got me so mo’….
Here’s what comes in the American Crafts foam shapes:
Not bad for a grand total of $14, eh? That includes a binder (not shown) that I needed for work.
But I’m still bummed about the Thickers….Hey, have you been a lucky Big Lots shopper? Tell us which Thicker packs (or anything else) you got!
I’m sure this isn’t a very big deal for most of you. But for someone who’s main scrap shopping opportunities are Michaels, Target, and Walmart, you have to understand my excitement. WE JUST GOT A BIG LOTS!!!!!
I have always been so jealous reading those lovely, enabling message board posts about ‘the finds’ everyone has at places like Archivers (never been there), Joann’s (don’t have any), Hobby Lobby (nopey, nopey), and Big Lots. So now, I’m at least 1/4 of the way into that exciting world. And luckily for me – She of the Empty Wallet – it’s the most bargain-minded store that came to my ‘hood. So forgive my overdoing it with the photos but just thought I would share all the scrappy stuff I found at MY – yes, MY – Big Lots the other day.
LOTS OF STICKERS, MAT STACKS, and AMERICAN CRAFTS EMBELLIE JARS
QUOTE STACKS….for Cinco de Mayo…Hey, you never know!
8.5×11 CARDSTOCK PACKS
PHOTO STORAGE BOXES
A BIG HONKIN’ SCRAPBOOK KIT – I heard a lady in the aisle say that she saw this kit at Costco for $40, but it was only $25 at Big Lots. And there was only one.
TEEN KITS, CHRISTMAS KITS….
COLORBOK GOODIE BAGS – Tons of misc. stuff for only $12….”$100 value!”
SCRAPBOOK STORAGE OPTIONS AT A GREAT PRICE – I was eyeing those 3-drawer things but I have to see if the dimensions work for my space.
A PRE-DONE SCRAPBOOK – Hey, I’m not opposed to them as long as they are cute….great timesaver! And you can add embellies to make it your own.
CUTE 8X8 ALBUM FOR 5 BUCKS….
YOU 3-RING SCRAPBOOK LOVERS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THESE – I didn’t recognize the brand but the quality seemed good and you can’t beat that price!
LOADS OF 8X8 AND 12X12 ALBUMS!!!
CLOSER LOOK AT AMERICAN CRAFTS RUB-ON BOOKS….
… and AMERICAN CRAFTS ‘ELEMENTS’ RIBBON, AND PRESSED PETALS ‘CHIP CHATTER SHAPES’….
AS SEEN ON TV! THE CRAFT LITE CUTTER – I assume that’s a great price if you’re in the market for one…
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE DIE CUTS WITH A VIEW 12X12 ALBUMS – A stunning $8 each! Even the turquoise velvet one…
AND HERE IS WHAT I ENDED UP BUYING: DCWV ‘Old World’ album ($8), AC red ribbon (it was unmarked so she gave it to me for $2), AC ‘Happy Birthday’ rubons, great for card making ($2), Pressed Petals ‘Chip Chatter’ letters in metallic green and red; I’m thinking Christmas layouts ($2 each), DCWV ‘Pocket Full of Posies’ mat stack ($3), so pretty, and metallic words ($1 each). All that shizzle for under $25. Made out like a bandit, I’d say.
Personally, I don’t care if something is NEW or HOT or JUST INTRODUCED AT CHA! If it’s “old” and I like it – and I get a great deal on it – I’m a happy girl. If you’re the same way, don’t forget to check out your Big Lots once in a while. You never know what you’ll find….
