No More Shopping Sins!

Hi there and Happy New Year to you all, dear crafting friends!
It's Claudia here and it is my very special honour to bring to you the very first challenge of the new year:

No More Shopping Sins!

Use (and show us) one of your former "shopping sins"!  

I know - you all got fantastic new crafting stuff for Christmas (and of course you may use some of it too),  but we want to see one of those never before used and thoroughly hoarded "bargains" or former "must haves" at the center of your makes! And we need to know what "shopping sin" it was you used, so, please, name it in your post.

   When you visit our teamies' blogs you will learn more about their shopping sins they used...well, it's confession time, isn't it? So let us know about yours too ;)


So with this challenge it's all about New Years resolutions (did I hear someone moan?): we all know them, we all make them and we all know how likely it is that we stick to them...sometimes I think they are just made to increase our guilty conscience!

A popular pledge amongst crafters is ‘I will use up my stash’. Don’t we all have cupboards and shelves groaning under the weight of things we’ve bought and decided to save for a project that never happens? And then you feel guilty so you hide it under a new pile of (new) stuff! This January I decided that it's the perfect time to finally get rid of that guilt. I challenge you to find one of your former ‘shopping sins’, open the packet, stroke it one last time, and then USE IT!

So bring out all of those treasured hoarded items that you feel guilty for buying and put them on show - and make your secretly gnawing scrapaholic's guilt go away. As simple as that ;)  Isn't that fantastic? No more bad feelings about doubtable bargains and hoarding crafting stash! ;)

Having said this, the team from Our Creative Corner and me wish you a wonderful creative and happy 2014!

Talking about my teamies: they have once again created a bundle of inspiration for you and I am so happy that I am able to present the makes from the whole team this time...

...oh, and don't forget: this month

 our generous prize sponsor is 

 who donate a prize 

for one randomly drawn winner! 

Tadaah! 

All you have to do is enter a project to our challenge that follows the rules and the challenge theme! But for now on to the makes of the DT:

Claudia

I have been hoarding some awesome vintage dictionary pages for more than a year honestly (alongside some other treasures of course which I decided to use on this project too ;). So the January challenge was a real challenge for me too - but once I had opened (and die cut) the first page it got a lot easier. And I really enjoyed finally bringing these stored away treasures to life by using them!

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Jenny

I'm sure it would come as no surprise that I have a 'thing' about buttons - seriously, those pearly kings and queens have nothing on me!! Some have found their way onto projects in the past, but these Idea-ology ones have been kept in the 'DO NOT TOUCH' pot for way too long. Not any more...

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Linda

I guess I must rip open my new crafty goodies and use them at least once before they go into the hoarded stash because I had a tough time finding something that had never been used.  I finally came up with the black Prima felt embellishment.  I've had it for years and have been saving it for a special project.  I guess this must be what I saved it for. 

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Alison

I'm a compulsive buyer of crafty materials - always knowing that I will definitely use that (whatever it happens to be) eventually...  

I got some beeswax ages ago knowing I loved the sheen, and seeing so many possibilities, and I put off using it again and again so I'm glad Claudia's challenge nudged me into it.  Just one way I used it on this project was to dip my tissue paper butterflies in... Come and visit if you'd like to see what else I got up to with my long-hoarded beeswax!

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Anne

Confession time - my name is Anne - and I am a hoarder!   This was a fantastic challenge for me, I got my very large box of as yet unopened Wendy Vecchi Art Parts packets (I opened and used 3 of them!), added my new colours of Archival ink and made this little wall hanging.

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Julia

I loved Claudia's challenge as soon as I saw it but found it far from easy. I have had some sweet little white fabric flowers lurking in a drawer for nearly two years and I knew now was the time to do something with them. I had decided the flowers were just not 'me' so had to put my thinking cap on for this wonderful challenge. I changed the appearance of the flowers to fit my preferred style! The sun is shadowing them in this image but there are clearer shots on my blog here.

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Astrid

I loved the theme of no more shopping sins, and had a great time rummaging through my un-used stash. I used not just one, but three neglected items, the little hanging board, the clock die and the rose stamp. And seeing this is January, well what better thing to make than a calendar.

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Laura

As this was Claudia's challenge I decided I really had to make something Steampunk inspired. I even used her favourite Decoart paints - a new thing for me and now I love them too! I admit I was reluctant to give up my perfectly stored Idea-ology treasures - but they look so wonderful here I am so glad that I finally broke open those packets!

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Well, that should have been a heavy load of inspiration for you I assume ;) - so I look forward to seeing your shopping sins turned into treasures soon!

Make sure that you have a quick read of the rules if you haven't been here before.  Otherwise we would have to skip your entry, which we definitely do not like, but we have to be fair to those who follow the rules.

    
 We had some terrific entries for Laura's Christmas challenge last month! Thank you all so much for playing with us and sharing your lovely projects ! Watch out for the winners coming soon.

Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia xx