Collector's Edition

OK. I know we all say it when something "New" comes in at our local scrap/stamp/craft store. We look at it. Maybe drool and then say "I have so much stuff at home I haven't even used yet" and then we buy it anyway. Well this story is the same . . . but different.

I work part time at Archiver's. We recently had an employee contest at the store. The rules were simple. Design a Christmas card. Use our own tools and supplies. Make the cards on our own time. Only use items that were currently sold at the store.

Now I'm a big Tim Holtz fan and love to use his products so of course I decided to make a card using Tim Holtz products and techniques. I already had a huge collection of products to choose from at home. I didn't really need to buy anything to make a card. But I did want to have some new "Must Haves" to make my card. I already had the "Tag and Bookplates" die. I had bought it when it first came out. I figured if I had the "Mini Reindeer & 25" Movers and Shapers die I could make a really fun card. My purchase made, I set off for home. I ended up going back the next day and buying a few more items: a pack of gold metals from Mark Richards, a sheet of velum and a pack of Red A7 pre-scored cards for the base. I really didn't spend that much. OK, I had recently bought the Tim Holtz Christmas Kraft Stash. But we can't count that. It was already part of my collection.

I checked carefully and made sure everything I else I already owned and planned to use was something we still carried and started to work. I loved working on my card, looking at it a while and then saying "Oh yeah, what if I add a velum bookplate here. It's on the same die that I'm already using to cut out the tag!" and "Oh! Since I'm already using the tissue tape for ribbon I can cover the vellum bookplate with the tissue tape like Tim Holtz did on his blog". Then step back, take another look and I was off adding another piece to the card."Yes, I can use that gold leafing pen on the tissue ribbon to pick up the gold." Then I would ask my daughter what she thought. I had so much fun adding little touches. One thing lead to another but finally I declared my card was finished. I took it into the store, wrote up my supply list and dropped it off to be mailed in. I saw the other ladies cards and loved them too. I began my patient wait to hear who won.

I wasn't scheduled to work today but went into the store to scrap with some of my friends. When I got there, I found out I didn't win. No one from my store did. Of course I was disappointed but I was ok. I had so much fun working on my card and felt the ladies that did win must have loved making their cards too. I am making multiples to mail out and had an extra one so I asked my manager if she wanted one of my cards for the store to display and she said yes. Then she asked me if I had made a copy of my supply list. We list the products inside the cards in case the customers want to know how we made them. I hadn't thought to make a copy but she said she could make one up. I told her the colors of inks I used and went over the card supplies quickly. I went off to the workroom to scrap with my friends.

A little later, she showed me the hold ticket where she had scanned the items for the product code. Of course when she scanned them it also gave her the price of each item along with the total. She asked me if I knew how much my card would cost to make. When I said no, she and the other ladies had a grand time teasing me about my $179.89 card. Then they said that of course, it did not include the price of a die cut machine.