Thank goodness for digital art files!

Seriously, sometimes it’s just so hard to find a specific paper or design or Lil critter in the shops. Or you have to drive around and hunt through stacks of boxes and shelves for that perfect chevron in just that shape of taupe. Also doesn’t help that I live in a tiny rural town and retail is WYSIWYG. And if you DO find a paper you like…that’s just it: you buy 1, you get 1. You use up that one paper – so you tend to use it sparingly to make it last. The whole idea of crafty if to share the pretty! This makes digital art files soooo awesome. Buy it once, print as many as you like. For good karma sake stick to the creator’s terms of use,but for the casual crafter this means you can use that Asian inspired creamy blossom paper for ALL your Christmas cards this year.

I’ve been a fan of digital printables for years now. I’ve bought calendars, and vintage mermaids, and stamps, and papers. Etsy is a fabulous ecommerce source for digital art. One of my new favorite shops is MaishopDigitalArt. You want pastel colored linen textured paper? How about some cutesy folded ribbon banners is a plethora of colours? And mini itty bitty hearts on kraft?  MaishopDigitalArt has you covered.

Best of all, these images are instant download. As soon as your payment goes through, click click, you have the files. No need to wait for shipment. You can get your craft on the moment inspiration hits. Perfect for international crafters! Perfect for me 😉

End of May haul – stamps and stencil and paper, oh my!

Gaaah! What a crazy week. I just need a few minutes of normality. Where I am fully in charge of something and not dependent on anyone that will inevitably either screw up, or let me down.

At least the keyboard follows my commands. Well this one does…for now. I press a key – presto – a letter forms.

So let me share a haul with you. I am in love with our local craft shop. I’ve said it before, but it truly stocks ANYTHING crafty you can think of. You just have to be willing to dig a little deeper. Veronica shares her crafty passion with her patrons; and I still don’t know how she manages to have better prices than some leading online distributors or even big craft suppliers in the city. I wouldn’t blame small businesses in rural areas jacking up their profits for sake of convenience – but Le Mar does not. Or not in a way that I notice.

Back to the haul!

Don’t you just love this stencil! That’s a full size distress inkpad next to it for scale. (Not the new little pads, the old big ones). I haven’t used it yet though, but I SOO want to. I just have to make time..but ja; like I said, it’s been a crazy week.

In January I put my name down for #PostCircle. (Who’s taking bets when hashtags will be enabled in blog posts) And honestly, I kinda forgot about it when I didn’t get a reply. Then suddenly – SURPRISE! I’m in a group and we’re mailing shtuff and it’s so exciting and all my team peeps are in UK. {More of #PostCircle in another post} But I saw the cutest pen pal paper at the craft shop! It’s from PinkPaislee’s pen pals collection Had had HAD to get it.

This stamp set from KaiserCraft’s Captured Moments collection is very ProjectLife. I fell in love with it, had to have IT, and asked the shop to keep it aside for me. Now…I’m not so sure that I want it anymore. It’s cute, yes, but will I use it? I took it anyway – I felt too bad for asking them to keep it for me, only to put it back on the shelf.

The sheep was a complete impulse buy. I saw them, thought how cure they will look on an envelope, and I can colour them with my spectrum noir markers. See, my in-laws have a sheep farm.

Ah, the cardmaker’s staple punch: 1” scalloped circle. Or so I’ve heard. I love scalloped edges – and my free hand cutting looks more like blindfolded cutting.

Retail therapy at it’s best. Now someone just lend me a time-turner so I can get my craft on more often.