collecting instead of crafting

Since the flurry of activity for Valentine's Day gifts and cards, I haven't been very crafty. I only made 2 cards, one for A's birthday and one for B's. I've done too much buying and not enough making.

I had my Stampin' Up! workshop 2 Sundays ago. It was a fabulous success, I think, as everyone placed an order and I got some good free stuff (benefits of being the hostess). (But I also spent a lot of money on food for my guests, so I guess it evens out in the end.) I've mounted a few of the stamps and I did use one of my new sets for A's birthday card. However, most of my new SU! stuff is still in the shipping box.

I also completed the Scrapbook Treasure Hunt last week. I chose to take my last 4 days of vacation (the vacation days expire at the end of Feb with no carryover) during the week of the hunt so I could participate if I wanted to. (Basic details, 14 local scrapbook and rubber stamp stores sponsored a treasure hunt where you had to visit each store and spend at least $5. You got a 10% discount on all purchases from the stores during the hunt. When you bought from each store, you got a "passport" stamped, and if you got all 14 stamps, you're entered to win prizes. Most of the stores did little make-and-take projects and gave out goodie bags with candy and coupons for return visits.) After my SU! workshop, I almost didn't do the hunt because I'd spent a lot of money, but I thought it would be fun and I'd be sorry if I didn't do it. Well, it was fun the first day, during which I visited 6 of the 14 stores. By the end of the day, however, I knew I was getting sick so I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish it. I was also hitting product burnout, seeing a lot of the same stuff over and over. B was great, though, and used his birthday day off to drive me around to some of the farther away stores on my 2nd day of vacation. (I love my man.) I managed to finish up the hunt on my third day, and turned in my completed passport. Maybe I'll win one of the prizes. I have at least a 1 in 500 chance of the grand prize, a $50 gift certificate to all 14 of the stores. I doubt that all 500 possible participants were able to finish the hunt, so odds should be a bit better.

Ultimately I'm glad I did the hunt. Yes, I spent money on some stuff I may never use because several of the stores really didn't have anything I wanted, but I had to buy something anyway. But I visited some stores I would never have known about without the hunt. I found 2 really interesting rubber stamp stores, which I think have more to offer me than some of the scrapbook stores, and I'll probably go back to them.

Getting sick during my vacation sucked. It also caused me to cancel my stamping play date with my SU! demo. I was most disappointed about that. I really wanted to play. We'll have to reschedule.

So now that the hunt is over and I've received my latest SU! order, it's time for more creating and less shopping.