May 5, 2007

Because Martha Told Me To!

No... not THAT Martha! This Martha... I have tried to resist the new Martha Stewart Crafts collection that debut at Micheal's this week... but Martha Stewart has proved to be the Borg of papercraft...and she assimilated my scrap pal Martha Bonneau... and then Martha assimilated me.

Yes; I know there are a bunch of A Muse Stamps in here too...
I will get to THOSE in a minute... Just keep reading.

I have a confession. I love to hate Martha Stewart. I watch her show exclusively for the train wreck... I adore watching her awkward pauses... and I picture the "off with their heads" moments that likely occur during each commercial break. I cringe when the blender doesn't work; because I know someone just got fired.

Proving my point is Julie Balzer; who receintly attended a taping and agrees that Martha doesn't really know how to craft "hands on". I saw her fumble with a Xyron Machine on air not long ago... it appeared as though it was her first time TOUCHING a Xyron. She had no idea if she was laminating or applying adhesive... it was awesome!

All this being said; I am a loyal subscriber. Her "Food" monthly is the BEST cooking magazine ever. And "Blueprint" is uber cool. I have to hate Martha... otherwise the feelings of guilt and self loathing she dishes out would overtake me completely.

Martha at Michael's
Rumor has it the merchandise was placed on the racks by staff wearing white gloves... per Martha's demand. Overheard at the Marketing meeting... Martha: "They are to wear white cotton gloves if they dare touch my precious paper!". Flunkie: "As you wish my'lady!"



Close up pic of amazing paper; 24 sheets of 12 designs $10.99, Rick-Rac Rub-on's $ 3.99 and cool journaling stickers $1.99.



Yes, that is an adorable 1" scalloped circle... teeny tiny! Value price ribbon... 12 yards for $2.99, 1.5oz. bottles of ultra fine glitter for $4.99, and self adhesive ribbons... some plasticly/glossy, some silky like fabric... all adhesive backed and cute... $3.99.


My sister in law Angie and I agreed... the prices were not that bad... AND as the 40% off Micheal's Coupons state they exclude Martha stuffs... we were thrilled when our clerk took our 40% Joanne's AND Hobby Lobby coupons no questions asked! Zoink! Take that Micheal's!

Bird Stamps by Martha, 2 for $9.99. And lookee at ALL my NEW A Muse stamps! There are some New Summer Sets in there too! Thanks to my Husband... this was my Mom's Day present! :) The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles had their Anniversary sale today... so Angie and I got 25% off all our A Muse Stamps! Whoo Hoo! I also bought some Copic Markers, and A Muse Creative Candy mini stars.


Enough about Martha... More on A Muse!
We loved shopping at the Cottage Stamper! If you live close enough to St. Charles it is completely worth the visit. Karen and Louise were so helpful, so nice and so excited! They had all sorts of products to try out and sample, and they spent TIME with us... even though they were swamped!

The Cottage Stamper had everything we needed... and nothing we didn't! :) They are planning classes during A*muse*a*palooza that will feature the new Holiday Stamps! Wowza! Christmas in July??? Count me in!

Look how cute the shop is!

Did I mention how much we liked Karen and Louise?

We left with some free goodies from Cottage Stamper; eyelets and a cool template for me. They even had snacks; because shopping is hard work! Oh, and those Copics I bought... they will refill them for me when they run dry ($1 each), and they even wrote down the colors I bought... they keep track for you so you will remember what you need next time! Talk about service! Plus they have a nifty point system, and when I hit a certain amount in purchases I will get 10% off for life! We will be back! You can visit the Cottage Stamper online HERE.

Don't forget to Register for Amuseapalooza! Weekly drawings and stuff...

And if you feel like swappin' A Muse cards... you can join us HERE... still spots available!

11 comments:

Martha Bonneau said...

*chuckle* I love your take on Martha...I'm surprised they didn't have white gloves available for those of us man-handling her product on the racks at M :)

Anonymous said...

Hooray! Yesterday was such a fun shopping day! Thanks, Sarah! And I have to say, I really *love* my new Martha punches.

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

I was sad to hear that MS was taking over the paper aisles at Michaels, but bought a TON of the clearance stuff moved out to make way. And yes, the staff there did tell me about the white gloves!!!

And thanks for the Hobby Lobby tip, didn't realize that Michaels honored those coupons. Yay

Wackie said...

I believe I was in the Cottage Stamper at the same time that you were on Saturday. I remember hearing someone ask about taking Karen and Louise's pictures. I go there all the time, take classes and belong to a stamp club there. Isn't that the greatest little shop and yesterday was awesome. Spent way too much, but my sweet daughter had phoned them at 10 am and bought me a gift card which they gave me when I came in the door. How sweet is that? Wish I'd known it was you in there. Jackie

Anonymous said...

LOL! I saw them setting up the racks for the Martha Stuff at my Michael's and they DID have white gloves on! LOL! Hey, Martha's stuff is really nice. I might have to take a ride this week!
Hugs!

dawnmercedes said...

what a great entry...thanks for your insights!

Unknown said...

Went on an A muse hunt this weekend as well, but came up so short it is not even funny!
You northern girls are so lucky with your well stocked Stamp stores. Why oh why do they have to be so far??
Looks like I need about $30 in gas money and probably $10 in toll change...

Anonymous said...

I finally got to Michael's on Saturday....oh, I wanted it all. Not only does she have really cute stuff, but it is packaged so nicely!

Paula said...

Most of the time, Martha looks like she stumbles around with everything on her show except for food. You made me laugh about the white gloves, "yes, my lady". LOL

Anonymous said...

i spied several things in your pictures that i bought, too. and then there are a few things i keep thinking about that i didn't get--yet!

congrats on being gina k. guest designer! i love your cards, especially the dirty piggy!

:) lexi

Nancy B said...

Hey that's my stamp store!!

Karen, Louise are Super!!

I have taken a few classes through them.

At one time I use to work at the Napa auto parts nextdoor. and for over 20 years I live on the North east corner from them.


I had a good friend who use to live in this little brick house that now is the Cottage Stamper.
So going there brings back good memories for me.


Thanks again for sharing!!