More bargains than we bargained for

I knew that Dana was planning to pick me up sometime shortly after noon yesterday, so instead of sorting, purging, or making art before she got here, I read the Michael Crichton novel that was found after his death in 2008.

Like all of Crichton's books, it was an easy read. High seas pirating which took place around Jamaica, St. Kitts, and other islands was the gist of the story, set in 1665. As with all Crichton's books, fact and fiction were woven in so deeply, you couldn't tell where fact left off and fiction began. The gist of the story was that Captain Hunter, a British sailer, was sent to steal a ship from one of the islands claimed by Spain. I'm not going to spoil it for you, if you haven't already read it.


When Dana arrived Bleubeard climbed onto her lap and was sitting very contentedly until I pulled out the camera. Then his ears went back in disgust


and he turned his back on me, no matter where I went to take his photo.


Although this is a terrible photo, I thought it was very stylish. He looks like grey swirls.


After dropping a few things at the PO, we headed for the natural food place, which was going out of business. Everything in the place was discounted and I picked up some really great bargains, like two types of Burt's Bees


some vitamins,


some Corn Chipotle Bisque, and several tasty dips.

Although I took no photos, the next place we went was JoAnns. I was disappointed when I couldn't find the muslin I was looking for, so bought one yard of brown (or natural), along with some pink ticking. Both were on sale, so I still had my 50% coupon for one cut of fabric. I talked to Dana about some really stiff Pellon and she helped me pick out the weight I needed. When we had it picked out, she suggested we buy one yard. I asked the gal at the cutting table and she said it was $1.49/yard, which would make it $0.75/yard. I decided to get five yards. Yep, I went overboard, but liked the feel and weight Dana chose.

Dana scored even better than I. All their magazines were 40% off, so she got a Somerset, a Quilting Arts, and the new Going Green magazine. She loaned me the Quilting Arts one (for Feb/Mar) and I read it cover to cover last night. It had some OK articles, but nothing I would want to try. She got it because it had many dyeing articles in it, but they all used chemicals I've never heard of. I'm sure Dana will know, though.

Marlynn blogged about and Diane commented on Marlynn's blog that, even though they live in different parts of the country, Michaels was the place to go for bargains. So off Dana and I went. I really wanted some of the Tokens brand jewelry findings. Of course, I was really looking for any clearance item I could use in my art.


Little did I expect when we walked into the store, that we would find this.


Although I saw the sign stating everything was 70% off "this store only," my brain didn't register the impact this would have on me.


All that was left in the store were these few aisles.


In fact, there were only four and they were the length of one third the length of the store. You can see where the old aisles had been removed in the other photos.


Obviously, it didn't take very long to navigate the aisles. And what was up with that woman in the pink coat and scarf? It was 55 degrees F outside and even warmer inside.


To our surprise, the items were NOT on sale at 70% off, which we found out as we got to the checkout, but 90% off the lowest price on the package! Can you see how happy Dana is?


She couldn't believe it when we checked out. Her bill was around $15.00, but she bought several books that were originally around $25.00, and she paid about $2.50 for. We both bought paint.


After I got home, I spread the items I bought on my craft table. Needless to say, the gesso was not part of the buy. I've never been able to afford Golden products before, except four bottles of fluid acrylics, which I bought over time using a coupon. I got different types of gel medium, including some that had pumice in it, paint, and modeling paste. I was like a kid in a candy store. The large jars cost a dollar each, the smaller ones fifty cents. I also bought charms, encaustic wax, a polymer clay push mold, and one roll of ribbon which was a dime. The pink ticking material on the side of the picture was a tad more expensive, since it came from JoAnns.



Click on my receipt to see why I'm so very, very happy. I've read about others finding incredible bargains, but I never imagined I would luck out this well. Michaels is moving to a new location, so they are trying to get rid of (obvious) slow movers. I'm sure it's because Michaels put their Golden products against a side wall, on bottom shelves, and workers at the store had no idea what it was or how wonderful it was. All they knew was there were cheaper products on aisle 6 (joke).

A trip to the library, then the grocery store rounded out the day. I'm still doing a happy dance, but now I must find places for all that paint. That means something else must go! That also means more purging, sorting, and organizing to fill up my Saturday. Which also means no art today. However, I have set the goal that by Monday, both my main floor craft space and my basement studio will be clean and ready to create in. Then finally, I can start making art again. WOO HOO!!

Today's blog will have all you polymer clay artists salivating. Gera Scott Chandler at aMused Artisan makes some really stunning polymer clay. Her tumbled beach stones made into pendants and multimedia art will have you guessing where she picked them up. If you didn't know they were polymer clay, you would swear they came from some lonely beach near her home in Western Canada. Check out, too, how she managed to clean up her polymer clay work space in practically no time at all. Were I so lucky!