Project 2011Scrap Our Stash - The First Month

     On the first of January my friend Denise from Lala's World encouraged many of her scrapping friends to sign up for Project 2011 Scrap Our Stash.  So basically you would sign up one month at a time and you would try to only use your scrapping stash. Then on the first of each month we would visit each of the participants blogs to see how they did and give encouragement to all. You can then decide whether you want to sign up for February.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it but thought I would give the first month a try anyway.
     When I signed up I never thought about all the great after Christmas sales that would be going on. So my first shopping trip of 2011 brought me two doors down from my local scrapbook store.  There was a sign in the store letting everyone know that everything in the store was 25% off.  I've got to tell you it was so hard not to pop in to see what great deals I could get. But I was good and turned and walked the other way.
     The next store I went to was the dollar store and there right inside their door was all their Christmas paper, stickers etc. on sale at 50% off.  I even picked up a couple of items but decided to put them back.
     My next stop was Walmart, and again just inside the store along with all their Christmas decorations they had their Christmas stickers, album kits, ribbons etc all at 75% off. It was like the scrapping gods were daring me to break the New Years resolution of only scrapping our stash.  I thought real hard about the fact that I wasn't going to get a better deal then 75% off but I also knew if I gave in at that store I would end up going back to the others. So I turned tail and RAN.  I didn't even stick around long enough to buy what I went into he store for LOL
     For the rest of the month I worked really hard on scrapping my stash and I even broke out some of the tools and things I have bought in the past and had never even used. So I'm pretty proud of myself for making it through the month without buying any scrapping goodies.  When I ran out of my favorite adhesive I even pulled out some old stuff I had and used it up. It wasn't until a couple of days ago while corresponding with Denise that I found out that things like adhesive, blades, cardstock etc. weren't counted so I could have bought some of those items.  It's probably a good thing that I didn't know because I'm afraid if I had gone into the store to buy any of them I might have been tempted to buy other things too. The only thing that I spent money on was having pictures developed. I even was careful to only develop what I knew I would use rather then all the pictures I took. I find with digital camera's I tend to take many more shots then I will need just to be sure I get just the right picture.
     So I have decided that I will sign back up for February. It may be difficult because I'm hosting a Close To My Heart party at my home next weekend.  I'm hoping to have enough sales to get a few free items but I will also have a chance to get some 50% off items also.  So I'll just have to see how it goes.
     If you would like to join in on the fun then head on over to Denise's blog, Lala's World and sign up.  I would love to have some of my friends join in.