The Coffee Warm-up (and Small Business Saturday)

 I'm once again joining Chris from PearShapedCrafting, this month's host at Art Journal Journey with her theme of 101 Ways to Stay Warm.

What better way to warm our insides than with a cup of steaming hot coffee!

Not only does coffee warm me inside, it also gives me the energy I need to face the day.

Of course, I might prefer a cappuccino (left) or latte (right).  Either way, they will give me both warmth and energy.

For this page, I created a simple background using watercolor crayons.  When dry, I added the two cups I cut from a McDonald's ad I received in the mail.  I added a strip of washi tape and hand wrote the sentiment using a brown metallic Gelly Roll pen.  The sentiment reads:

Warm me inside
and give me energy.

This is Day 29 of AEDM and I created a spread in my Challenges altered book.   I'm also linking to Art Journal Journey.  Hope to see you both places.   I am grateful beyond belief that you visited today.   Just one more day and this month of art every day will be over.  I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.


And for those of you who would like to see what I did on Small Business Saturday, here are a few photos of the day.  This was my friend Sally's idea, so I went along for the ride.

We first stopped at this shopping center built around a bunch of houses.

I admit it was a cute concept, but there was nothing there, except a few specialty shops and restaurants.  Sally decided there was nothing she wanted to see, so we were off to the next location.

This place may have sold items on consignment, but they were far too high end for either Sally or me.  We enjoyed the walk-through, but it felt wrong trying to take a photo in there.

The proprietor of this place was informative, telling us about Lester Raymer, who, although now dead, has a studio and museum in Lindsborg, KS.  I didn't take any photos here, because I got caught up in the Raymer story.

There was no place to park here, or anywhere near here, so we decided to skip this place.

Sally wanted to stop at Heart's Desire, a cross stitch and framing shop.  At least there was parking in the rear.

Sally was getting prices for frames, but decided this was not the place to buy them.

I decided I wanted to go here

after I saw it was the Docking Drug, the store that held peaceful sit-ins back in the late 1950s.

The soda counter was gone, and apparently had been for years, but the remains of the building were still there.

Directly next door was a garden shop, but it wasn't open.

Next it was off to Monica's Bundt Cake.

Sally went in, and I spent time taking photos of the sign outside.

It's too bad any store was closed on Small Business Saturday, but I was on a mission, and I think you can see where it is.  Yes, I was headed to the Spice Merchant.

Of course, I had to stop off for a visit to the Tea Shop that used to be part of The Spice Merchant.  You'll have to wait till Tuesday to see photos, though.

Now it was time to put Small Business Saturday behind, and head for Joann's.  I had a HUGE book of savings, and I took this photo of the beautiful cardinals while waiting in line to pay for my purchases.

Remember my budget of $60.00 (USD) a year for craft supplies?  I'm just glad it was nearly the end of the year.   I had already spent $15.21 (USD, before taxes) back in early January and $26.92 (USD), including tax in mid-February for a total of over $43.00, which also included a gift for my friend Kathy. 

Here you see embossing folders for the die cutter.  They were 3/$5.00 (USD) and I am now ready for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and everyday art.

I also bought two packs of heavy card stock (65 lb).  One was all black, the other pastels.  I'm already thinking spring with these.  Some two sided Basics called my name, as did three washi tapes.  I thought I bought three spools of variegated thread, but when I got home, I only found two.

Two fat quarters were a steal at $0.79 (USD) each.  I purchased the red fabric for a specific project and added some very, very expensive glitter tulle.  I only got four inches of it, since it was so expensive, even on sale.

I also purchased four yards of Pellon, a product that "glues" two pieces of fabric together with the use of your iron.

Speaking of tulle, this was NOT expensive.  I got a yard of each of these colors and can't wait to use some in my current projects.

So how much did I spend?  You can see the results of my shopping spree at JoAnn's.  I'm fairly certain they paid me to shop there on Saturday.  And since I had only spent about $43.00 (USD) the rest of the year, I was exactly on budget with $60.00 if you include taxes and several items I purchased for my friend Kathy in February.  So, it IS possible to stick to a rigid craft budget and not go over it.  Now if my budget was unlimited, I could . . . . . . .

If you made it this far, I appreciate your sticking with me.  Thanks again, because you are the BEST.