Feeding the Addiction
aka the Big Stamping & Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace, where DH and I spent the day last Saturday.
This show takes place twice a year, in April and September, and I try to go once a year. It’s an opportunity to see products in the flesh rather than just in online stores, and an excuse to indulge myself a little. Or a lot, as was the case this year. I did set myself a fairly generous budget, but managed to outspend even that, with a little encouragement from DH!
He wondered before we arrived if perhaps it would be quieter this year, given the financial climate, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. It was absolutely heaving with crowds! There are certain stands that get completely mobbed, and of course they’re the ones I was most eager to look at too. Navigating through was tricky, requiring lots of patience, but after those few it got a little easier. I had a rough shopping list of items I was looking out for, and bagged a few of them quickly. Some things were nowhere to be found (certain paper ranges) and other things I hadn’t even considered made their way into my shopping bag.
Martha Stewart punches were on my list, and they were *everywhere*. Last year Nestabilities were the big thing, this year it was definitely Martha, closely followed by Promarkers and Tim Holtz products. In fact I seem to have come home with some of all three, oops!
All in all, my haul was kind of embarrassing in its excess. Hence the post title. Truth is, I’m addicted to looking at pretty papers and embellishments. I’m addicted to looking at other people’s layouts. I’m addicted to thinking about scrapbooking all.the.time. And yes, I’m absolutely definitely addicted to buying scrapbook products. If I’m honest though, I’m not so sure I’m addicted to actually scrapbooking. To the process, that is. I love the results. I love the friends I have made through the hobby. But the doing? Do I really love that as much as the buying, and the having, and the coveting? My craft room would say no - the proportion of completed pages to unused stash is a long long way out of balance.
And yet, I can’t seem to stop buying. Even while I am doing it, I am feeling guilty about spending, but compelled to pick up “just one more” sheet of paper, punch, stamp set, etc. On this trip alone, I bought enough papers to last until next April’s show, at the very least, the way I scrap. And that’s just the paper!
I comfort myself with the thought that a lot of what I bought is tools - punches, stamps, die-cutters. These should last for years to come, so they are an investment. But then I think, well these are non-consumable. Which means I’ll have them for years. If I keep purchasing them at this sort of rate, my craft room will be bursting at the seams pretty soon. At least with consumables like paper, they are consumed!
Oh, and no photos, but just for the record, my final haul included:
Papers from Studio Calico, Prima, Bella Blvd, Fancy Pants, Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey
A couple of background stamps and of small stamp sets
Assorted letter stickers (small and large, cardstock, chipboard and vinyl)
Several Martha Stewart punches
Two Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies
Selection of Kaisercraft pearls
3 packs of Promarkers
Distress Inks
Embellishments including Prima flowers and pebbles
An album and lots of DST (the essentials!)
This show takes place twice a year, in April and September, and I try to go once a year. It’s an opportunity to see products in the flesh rather than just in online stores, and an excuse to indulge myself a little. Or a lot, as was the case this year. I did set myself a fairly generous budget, but managed to outspend even that, with a little encouragement from DH!
He wondered before we arrived if perhaps it would be quieter this year, given the financial climate, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. It was absolutely heaving with crowds! There are certain stands that get completely mobbed, and of course they’re the ones I was most eager to look at too. Navigating through was tricky, requiring lots of patience, but after those few it got a little easier. I had a rough shopping list of items I was looking out for, and bagged a few of them quickly. Some things were nowhere to be found (certain paper ranges) and other things I hadn’t even considered made their way into my shopping bag.
Martha Stewart punches were on my list, and they were *everywhere*. Last year Nestabilities were the big thing, this year it was definitely Martha, closely followed by Promarkers and Tim Holtz products. In fact I seem to have come home with some of all three, oops!
All in all, my haul was kind of embarrassing in its excess. Hence the post title. Truth is, I’m addicted to looking at pretty papers and embellishments. I’m addicted to looking at other people’s layouts. I’m addicted to thinking about scrapbooking all.the.time. And yes, I’m absolutely definitely addicted to buying scrapbook products. If I’m honest though, I’m not so sure I’m addicted to actually scrapbooking. To the process, that is. I love the results. I love the friends I have made through the hobby. But the doing? Do I really love that as much as the buying, and the having, and the coveting? My craft room would say no - the proportion of completed pages to unused stash is a long long way out of balance.
And yet, I can’t seem to stop buying. Even while I am doing it, I am feeling guilty about spending, but compelled to pick up “just one more” sheet of paper, punch, stamp set, etc. On this trip alone, I bought enough papers to last until next April’s show, at the very least, the way I scrap. And that’s just the paper!
I comfort myself with the thought that a lot of what I bought is tools - punches, stamps, die-cutters. These should last for years to come, so they are an investment. But then I think, well these are non-consumable. Which means I’ll have them for years. If I keep purchasing them at this sort of rate, my craft room will be bursting at the seams pretty soon. At least with consumables like paper, they are consumed!
Oh, and no photos, but just for the record, my final haul included:
Papers from Studio Calico, Prima, Bella Blvd, Fancy Pants, Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey
A couple of background stamps and of small stamp sets
Assorted letter stickers (small and large, cardstock, chipboard and vinyl)
Several Martha Stewart punches
Two Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies
Selection of Kaisercraft pearls
3 packs of Promarkers
Distress Inks
Embellishments including Prima flowers and pebbles
An album and lots of DST (the essentials!)
posted by jennyap at
23:40
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