Oh Boy! New Paper!!!

I had great luck when I listened to the little voice in my head that urged me to go buy some new paper (see photo,lol). I realized after a crafting slump (that was on and off for the last couple of months) that I was having mental blocks because my craft room had become overcrowded with too much paper (yes, it's true). So, I put myself on paper shopping restriction until I could manage to clear some of it out - I guess you could say I am a paper hoarder, that is, I have a hard time letting go of some of it. I always want to keep a little of everything for my own projects (that I rarely have time to work on, thus the paper build up). So, on this restriction I skipped the craft stores and was able to withhold buying paper for a couple of months (I was amazed I lasted that long). I think it was rather nice, and quite surprising to my hubby and girls that when we were out to dinner there were no requests from me to "stop by the craft stores for just a quick minute". There were even a few times that my oldest would ask after dinner (in her round about and hinting sort of way) if we were going anywhere after we ate, or straight to the question of if I needed to go to Joanns. She usually goes in with me while my younger daughter hangs out in the car with daddy (that is until I find that she and my husband have come inside because she had to go potty, it almost never fails). Though I normally love having an entourage with me, and the hubby is great for handling bags full of paper, I am usually glad he doesn't come in for my more serious shopping trips (so as not to hear how much my total is,lol). There are even times when I have my entourage at the register and I try to get my husband distracted and busy with the kids... then I whisper to the cashier not to say my total out loud (pretty bad, huh?).

So, I had been thinking about doing some new paper shopping and was looking online at a couple of my favorite scrapbook stores but I just got really irritated with it and couldn't continue to stare at the screen any longer. I had a dream that I was signed up for a scrap booking contest (strange because I love to scrapbook but really don't do very much of it). It was an amazing dream and I was really motivated and the ideas were flowing freely in the dream. I woke up the next morning with the urge to go paper shopping. After loading the family into the car (no one wanted to go) we were off. Boy oh boy! I couldn't believe the luck I had. Apparently, each of my girls had decided in advance who would go inside shopping with me. When we got to the first store, my oldest accompanied me (not a surprise) and at the second shop, my little one came with me (big surprise). My little one couldn't hack it though - it was in the buggy, out of the buggy, can I hold these, now I want in the buggy and whining when I told her she couldn't get back in because it was too full of paper pads for her to fit. There was a finishing wind up of her trying to organize my loose sheets of paper (and I had to ask her to please not touch them, I have those there for a reason and I don't want them getting bent), and a promise that we were aalllmooost done (as I continued to make sure I hadn't missed anything,lol). I was and am really excited to start listing these new packs, I came home with twenty new collections and I know everyone will love them! My hubby jokingly (I think it was jokingly?) asked me how many trips it would take me to get all my paper from the car into the house. I promised him it wasn't as bad as it looked, maybe I should have had my fingers crossed behind my back. Well, with hard work and paper dedication, I have spent the last two days cutting and photographing paper. Now I will begin to list them so be sure to come check out my paper section. I am still working on destashing some of my older (but still wonderful) paper collections so don't forget to take a look in my sale section while you're shopping. Happy shopping to all!!!

My paper section