Hello Crafters
Well here we are hopefully seeing the end of isolation soon and some sunny days on their way. Last weekend was a Bank Holiday and as I live in the West Country it is not great for getting out and about, so naturally I did some crafting and checked out the Craft Channels, along with EBay. This is always fatal for an avid crafter like myself as you cannot resist a bargain whether you need it or not. I ended up purchasing 3 great deals on Ebay and finally joining the Create and Craft Club. I don't know why I have put this off for so long, I think the £20 was not the issue it was the fact I thought that the deals were not always right for me. I am not a lover of buying £150 sets with multiple dies and accessories even though the deals offer better value than buying individually. I know i have suitable items in my stash and am really looking for the lovely papers and items to finish my products.
So let me take you through the purchases, how I will use them, and the benefit they give to my crafting
Purchase 1 . First I bought a magazine with an extra DVD. This was a Crafters companion magazine and NEW and the gifts were included . It had a set of stamps (very useful words), a stencil, an embossing folder and a single flower die. So this alone covered the cost. But the best item was the DVD set, and so I happily bid on the item, and won it for less than half the original cost of the magazine.
Purchase 2:
Parchment papers and extras. This was an amazing buy as I just hit lucky with no other bidders. I had 4 packs of 12 x 12 Parchment papers, some very pretty sheets of 12 x 12 oriental papers, 3 mini book sets and a couple of other items .
Purchase 3: My last purchase over the holiday weekend from Ebay was a DCWV 12 x 12 Cardstock stack, this I paid £13.65 but as these pads are normally £20 I was pleased with the purchase
As the items have been delivered I have tried to take a good look at them and put away the "must Haves" and reconsider the other items, with a view to using, donating or re-selling them.
Purchase 1: I checked the pack out and have glanced through the magazine, noted a couple of projects that are new and I may wish to try, but most of the cards were nice but not what I really do so it has gone in the magazine rack to be given away soon, along with the stencil. The stamps & embossing folder are being kept and dvd is a great find. It is a double disc set. The dvd has many projects using the Crafters Companion A3 Score Board, as I have one of these and use it a lot, some new projects would enhance the use of the board. The second disc has over 500 printable pages items and I am looking forward to going through them and selecting some that may inspire new ideas and projects.
Purchase 2: The packs of parchment papers were in great condition in the unopened packs and 2 of the packs more than covered the cost I paid. All four have been packed away as they are lovely prints and I am sure I can use them. The oriental papers are also very pretty and I have kept them as well. The mini books were very interesting they are by Brenda Pinnock and so I undid one pack to make it up. I will have the fun of putting it together and then give it to a friend who sells items for charity. The other 2 I will add to my freebie box to give away when I sell anything. I like to add ‘happy mail’ and these will make great gifts for crafters.
There was also a pack of 4cm square pieces of card, half plain and half printed. I could not think what to do with them to start with and then realised they were for teabag folding. So I had to check out teabag folding ideas on YouTube and make a Pinwheel design. It was a trip down memory lane, and these squares will now go into the bag to donate to crafters who make cards for the local hospital as I am sure someone will make good use of them, while I have tried a old technique again.
Purchase 3 The DCWV Mariposa 12 x 12 pack has yet to be delivered, but I have used the 6 x 4” pad and loved the designs. If I don’t think I can use the whole pad I will break it up and sell one sheet of each design for someone else to try this lovely card-stock.
So all in all i had some bargains and have tried new techniques as well as some craft items put aside for a rainy day. I also enjoy the rush of winning an Ebay lot that I know will add to my stash. The only problem is I can get hooked on winning great lots, and am back in the habit of checking out Ebay for bargains when really I have very few gaps in my craft stash for more items and little need for more, but isn’t that part of what a hobby is all about.
Now I would like to talk about Create and Craft Club membership a little more. Having bought the membership I wondered if I would get the benefit from it, but summer time is often a time for craft companies to clear out old stock and with members special discounts I thought I would check it out for a year and see if the value was there.
I am not great at reading small print so it was a little bit of a surprise to find the £10 credit you get on your account can only be spent on purchases of £50 or more. So far I have not received my welcoming pack and I was not aware of anything other than the 10% discount . Then looking through the pages of the website, considering a purchase to use my £10 discount I discovered a paper pad that said free to members, so I popped it in the basket, along with a couple of other items making it approx £20 worth of goods. This is when I found I had to spend £50 before I could use my voucher plus the capped p&p does not include members free items. Now when I think about that it makes perfect sense in respect of the freebie and so i took out the other 2 items and enjoyed an 8 x 8 paper pad for the postage cost of £2.99. The pad arrived and is very pretty with tags and toppers included so I am very happy with it.
Feeling better about the membership I then realised there must be somewhere on the website with information about all the deals and have found it and know where to keep up with deals for members.
Then last night I was watching Create & Craft (do I find myself checking out the channel more now I am a member, I think I do), and just caught a demonstration on a deal for Tim Holtz Haberdashery bundle. I love Tim Holtz and so I went back through the programme to catch the whole of the item. Whilst I am not in the market for scissors (I have about 12 pairs as I do the occasional workshop) they were showing a class mat approx 25” x 14” , that had a section for a plastic mat for ink work. This was a bit if a revelation for me as I usually have to get a separate ink mat out and then find space on the desk for it so that I can mix my inks for distressing or painting. The bundle included a spare mat for this space 2 scissors presented in lovely tins and have a special members discount making a 35% reduction. I did think about it for a while but caved and decided I would try it. There was also a die I had seen that was in a bundle that I thought was more than I could possibly use, but I decided to buy the die singularly as although it was a hefty £22, I could use my £10 voucher on the total purchase. I will review these 2 purchases after I receive and try them out.
I think over the year I will get value for money, but I am aware I will need to be strong and not buy just because it looks like a great reduction. I will do more reviews on my membership throughout the year. If any of you are already members I would love to hear about your favourite buys and what you think of being part of the club.
Back soon with more crafting ideas.
Dee
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