Thank you so much for your well wishes on my birthday today. I had a terrific day with my DH . . .we cruised out of town for the day to a nearby town. A treat because we’re normally not able to do this.
I don’t have a card to post today because I was away, but I wanted to give you a little peek at three of the things he got for me while we were out. Now if you are susceptible to enabling, I would encourage you to look away now. My real birthday present will come later this month but in the meantime, this was a little bonus and I’m not complaining.
Now you all know I am all about the border punch!! Wow, wow, wow…I love these!! They are called Lattice Arch, Scallop Dot, and Double Scallop. I have quite a few of these Martha Stewart border punches – they are manufactured by EK Success and seem to be no less, no better than the Fiskars borders I use also. I cannot wait to create with them!!
What happened was – on our way back home we ducked into a Michaels. My word, this Michaels was not like one I had seen before…it had been totally renovated and was not recognizable. I was literally walking through with my mouth open. Apparently renovations are coming to many Michaels (probably not the one in my town tho’). When you walk into the store, immediately on the right is a bead area. It had a bar with all manner of beads sorted into containers so that you could buy them individually. There were no parallel shelves it was all set up to be a contained area – when you stood in the bead area you felt like you were standing in a bead store! The entire center of the store was devoted to scrapbooking – what? It reminded me of Archivers. All the scrapbooking stuff was separated into themes. I was amazed how much real estate this was all taking. Oh, and the new paper products – Basic Grey, Prima, Heidi Swapp, We R Us, Creative Imaginations there were just too many to remember. The stamp area grew immensely with tons of clear stamps. I was tickled that they’ve added Adirondack Ink Pads, Versamark Dazzle, Colorbox Chalk Inks. In the Martha area there were quite a few new stamps, I counted 6 new border punches and there were probably 20 new single punches. I’ve not heard anybody mention this change – lucky for the scrapbookers though this particular store seemed to change into a large scrapbook store with some other crafts. I asked several employees about the changes and they said scrapbooking and beading were the mainstays of this store which was why those areas were beefed up.
Anybody else seen one of the new Michaels? (yeah, I wondered what that new logo was about).
Hopefully after I get my chores done tomorrow I’ll be able to work on posting a card.
Happy Birthday!!! Hope you have a blast!!!
Happy Birthday- I love seeing all the new cards you make
Happy Birthday Becca – What a lucky girl you are to have a hubby to actually go into a Michaels with you!! lol. I hope they’ve changed our Michaels when I return to the states – it sounds fabulous. I love the new punches – especially the lattice. I know you will blow us away with new ways to use them!!
hugs, Jami
Happy Birthday!!! The punches look great ~ I had a question about the intricate one.. is it easy to punch? leave any paper hairs? Can’t wait to see what you create using them.
thanks ~ Pam
Hi Becca! I have seen all the new MS punches in our Michaels although the store has not been remodeled. I wish! The store you were in sounds wonderful. I did purchase a few of the new individual MS punches….the crown, the cupcake, and want to get more! Imagine to get so excited over a simple thing like something that punches paper!!! I need a life……… Have a good day!
Mary
http://www.primitiveseasons.blogspot.com
Oh Happy Birthday (late) Becca…. hope you had fun.
Those new punches look like Martha… enjoy! I can’t wait to see what you create with those!
Happy Birthday Becca, love those new punches.
Happy B-Day to you! I am in love with MS punches — you have made a scallop edge puncher out of me here lately! I’ve been using them for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g and they add so much class! Can’t wait to see what you do this these babys!
Happy Birthday, Becca! I love those punches. You’re a lucky gal! My Michael’s hasn’t been updated yet. I live between 2 and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the bigger one will become the dream store you described. I did hear at CKC Hartford that Nestabilities are going to be sold at about 300 Michael’s. I was wondering how they would fit into the current set-up but this is all starting to make sense.
I wished you Happy Birthday yesterday, but sending my wishes again :D. Our Michael’s is one of the stores that has been re-vamping and everyday there has been something new added. Ours is exactly as the one you descibed. I haven’t been there since last week and the Martha Stewart punches had all disappeared for a week so I am going to check in there today to see if they have those three awesome punches out yet. I love what is taking place at our store as it has been hard to find a lot of variety locally. This scrapper/cardmaker is one happy camper :D!
Sorry that I missed your birthday. You & my sister share the same birthdate. Happy Belated Birthday!
My store hasn’t gone that far in renovating. But I have noticed they have added some new stamps from Hero. I sure hope they renovate my store! Or better yet build a new one closer to me in the new format.
Happy belated b’day, Becca! I’ve my fingers crossed that our local Mike’s is one of the soon-to-be-renovated, as it’s just down the street from a soon-to-open new build Hobby Lobby and an existing super Jo-Ann’s! For now, I’ll just send your post’s link to my buddy scrappers.
I LOVE the new border punches, and it’s strange – my fav one is one that I’d have least been likely to purchase based on the design imprint on the punch itself — but it looks AWESOME on the sample you provided — the lattice arch!
Thanx for sharing!
Well Becca….I want to wish you a belated happy birthday! Yours will be easy to remember as it is the same date as one of my best friend, plus it’s the day after my youngest son’s!!!
Ok, you’ve done it again….gone and enabled me, as you know I too am a sucker for border punches!!!!
BTW, you and I are both Libras!
Becca, I had resisted buying ANY of MS items but . . . . . met another “paper addict” at a Michaels and she was singing the praises of the MS border punches. Well, I relented and used a coupon to buy one. It is so much easier to punch than the Fiskars since I have arthritic hands! So, I returned with another coupon and found another MS border that I couldn’t live without! The Hobby Lobby in our town is selling a limited selection of Nestabilities. Aren’t they the best??? This HL has a few Hero Arts stamps and I’m hoping Michaels will jump on the bandwagon soon. Joanns in a neighboring area has some of Hero Arts clear stamps. Archivers has the best selction but their coupon isn’t as much and as often! Thanks for all of your wonderful ideas and tutorials. I love the Q&A!
Happy belated birthday Becca!
Wow, I love those punches. I just returned from our Michaels and they were in the process of redoing the Martha Sewart aisle. I sure hope they will be carring the punches you purchased! I will have to make a trip back there later this week to check it out! I wonder if Wal-mart will be carrying any of these soon.
Becca can you send me your snail mail address please!!!
Becca
Happy Birthday. Great ‘interim’ gifts.
I haven’t been in a Michael’s in years. I’m lucky to have a real live honest to goodness LSS with an owner who is very knowlegable and willing to get what we request. I never buy anything else where if I can get it from her. True, she has to charge more than Michael’s but I want her to stay and have all those classes and so on.
I’m happy for anyone not so blessed who has an updated Michael’s nearby.
Linda
Happy Birthday, Becca! Sounds like such a fun day! What awesome punches!! I would love to have a Michael’s in my town – let alone a renovated one! Sounds amazing!
100 lat !!! 100 lat !!! 100 lat !!!
God bless YOU Becca !!!
Becca,
I haven’t seen those in our local Michael’s yet. I am right in the middle of 3 of them. ( 4 miles any which way ) How lucky am I??? LOL Actually I haven’t been in our Michael’s in about 3 weeks. All of our Michael’s have been renovated. I need to get myself to one of those Michael’s soon.
I LOVE those punches and CAN’T wait to see how you will use them.
~~Diane~~
p.s. I’m off to Michael’s
Happy Birthday! I’m new to blogging and was just wondering what DH stands for? Dear Heart? Dear Husband? I’m confused. :)
Happy Birthday Becca. I love those punches, I will have to check my Michaels for them.
Did he pick those out all by himself? :) I have to tell you that I have been looking at blogs for only about 6 months, and yours has quickly become a favorite. God has blessed you with such a “peaceful” talent. When I look at your inspirations, I feel the Lord come bounding through in a beautiful and tender way. Thanks for sharing your gifts and talents. You’re a blessing!
Happy Birthday Becca. Did you know that you share the same birthday as Anna Leigh Wight. Isn’t that a coinsidence, both being wonderful stampers. Thanks so much dor your inspiration every day anew. Hope you have a wonderful day.
Becca,
Hey, happy birthday! Mine is in November, but I have decided that I am going to get a year younger this year, instead of older. haha. I am so jealous of your punches, they are awesome. I hope a Michael’s near me rearranges too. My hubby goes to Michael’s with me too, what lucky girls we are. I can’t wait to see what you make with them.
Lisa A.
Happy belated birthday, Becca! Glad to hear it was a fun one! :)
It is sad that the punches cost more simply because they have Martha’s name on them. They are also at Wal-Mart and the few indy scrap stores that still stock her stuff. Micheals used to be my fav place until they went private..the local store is so bad now. Hobby Lobby is opening right next door and JOann’s is right down the street. Guess its gonna be interesing now-especially with Micheals restricting thier coupons to only certain products.
Have a great BD-mine ir right before Christmas and I don’t even bother with it. Hubby’s is this monday-and he is already on my nerves about it.
I missed your birthday? I am so sorry. Sounds like you had a grand day!! Happy Belated Bday My Friend.
Those punches are to die for. I have one Martha border punch but uh oh…..looks like I need 3 more!!
Happy Birthday Becca,
What a better way to spend it than at Michaels? I love your new punches too.
I had the same experience when I walked into our Michaels. I hadn’t been there in a long time, and my mouth almost dropped open because of all the changes they had made. It is a very, very nice store now and a joy to visit. Glad you had the same experience and a great day with your DH.
Joan
Oh my gosh, I shouldn’t have looked! I love those border punches. I was just at Michael’s yesterday and picked up some Marvy small punches and some of the MS Halloween punches. I saw that Wal-Mart carries MS so I made a trip there and picked up the dove punch. Too funny how the stores have different colors, MS products are a soft green at Wal-Mart. I have four Michael’s in my area, none have renovated. Hopefully they will soon, I’d love to see the scrapbooking section that you saw! We have a new JoAnn’s and they carry a wonderful line of The Paper Company designer papers, some are quite pricey, not gorgeous and unique! Thanks for sharing Becca!
We have a brand new Michael’s here in Viera,FL, it just opened 9/21 and no such store. The store is nice, but nothing like you discribed. They do have the scrapbook sectionin the middle, but it is hard to shop it jumps all arround. It was an AC MOORE store that closed in July and reopened as Michael’s big, but not great.
happy belated birthday — and thank you for further enabling me to buy more punches!! LOL!! i picked up the scallop dot and have been trying to resist the other two but i think it is a futile gesture on my part. my micheals is undergoing a big renovation – the gal that works there said it was going to be one of only 23 in the country with this configuration of a dedicated bead and scrapbooking area – they started the renovation about a week ago and are suppose to have it completed by mid- October — oh, i live in the greater cincinnati area and the store is located on Cox Rd in the Voice of America center — people should go check it out- great new papers, stamps and punches – what’s not to like??
carolfun
Happy Birthday, Becca.
I can hardly wait to see what you’ll be doing with these.
I have a couple of Martha Stewart border punches and they are
beautiful.
You’re a blessing and inspiration to me. God bless.
Eldora
Happy Birthday! Love the new punches! Can’t wait to see what creative uses you will be coming up with! I have not been to our local Mikes in ages….hope they jump onto the reonnovation wagon! Take good care, Becca!
Glad to hear you had such a wonderful time on your Birthday :)
Wow that Michaels store sounds AWESOME!! Sure hope it finds it way too my area! Love the punches…gotta have them!
I haven’t seen a Michaels of any kind in a while, but I hope I get to see one of these ones! LOVE that Lattice border! And what is your birthday present to come?
Hi, love those punches, am going to Michaels Friday. Can’t wait. Thanks for the update. You are the greatest and Happy Belated Birthday!
Hi–those punches do look like Martha Stewart. She has some good looking stuff, but I personally think they’re overpriced You pay for the name!) Our local (Henderson, Texas) Wal-Mart stocks Martha Stewart scrapbooking items, too. I hope to get to Michael’s tomorrow or Friday, but since it is quite a distance away, maybe not. So far it hasn’t been re-vamped!
BTW, Happy Belated Birthday.
Becca:
Happy Birthday on the 6th! I have only recently discovered your Blog, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Your cards are exquisite! The Lord has certainly blessed you with many talents and I am so exicted to see how you glorify Him through your work! Today, when I checked your Blog, I saw that you share my birthday in addition to my love of the Lord and my love of crafting. That is so nice! Your new punches look like so much fun! I can’t wait to see your creations! Our closest Michaels is 65 miles away from here, so I haven’t been there for awhile. I hope the stores in our area will make the changes you described. Thanks for sharing!
OMG…I have the urge to run to Michaels now! Even if they don’t renovate the thought of them carrying Basic Grey makes me excited. i guess I should have looked away, but it’s impossible to do when I visit your site!
Happy Birthday, yes Mikes has lovely things.
Great choices in punches!
Happy, happy birthday, Becca!
And thank you for this post. I fell in love with these punches when I saw them. My daughter and I took a jaunt over to the closest Michael’s and they didn’t have a one — until I asked and a really sweet sales associate climbed a ladder and looked in boxes of stock. They were redoing the MS aisle. In the fourth box she pulled out maybe 8 new edge punch designs. And they were on sale! I bought five of them. I can’t wait to see what you do with them.
Makaren
Becca!~
Is your birthday on the 6th???? That is MY birthday!!!!!! I think that is fab! My birthday wasnt very fun….I fell down our basement stairs the nigt before and broke my tail bone and im waiting for more tests to come back on what else I did to my back!!!!!
Sounds like YOUR birthday was better!
I want those punches….just dont have have a store around here close enough to find those!!! Will keep my eyes open for them on ebay or somewhere!
We have a new Michael’s opening up in our area next weekend. I was already excited, but now I’m hoping it has that new configuration. Plus, it’s not too far from work, so I can do my shopping at lunchtime! :)
Happy Birthday Becca (Belated!). What a nice gift from your husband! Wish my DH would take notice and do the same for me (at least get me a gift card to Michael’s! LOL!). Well, I ran right out to our local Michael’s and they don’t have the new MS punches yet. As a matter of fact, they had very little of MS’s punches! I’m madly looking for the Drippy Goo (I had it in my hands to purchase when they first came out but put it down and bought the scary fence instead – now am regretting not having bought that too!). So I guess I’ll just have to make daily visits to Michael’s until the new stuff comes in (they stock ladies won’t even give me a clue as to when they’ll come in!). Hope the bday was joyful! – gigi
WOW!what a beutiful punches.its difficult 2 wait 4 them.
Hi we went to Miceals and got all three punches. They were Martha Stewart punches.Love them Thanks
Becca,
Yes, I finally saw one of the newly remodeled Michael’s stores. It is not the closest one to my house (of course), but it is not out of reach either. Even my husband reacted with an “Oh my gosh” when he walked in with me. My 9 year old daughter let out a big “Wow” when she saw the reorganized kids craft section. Where the heck is that money tree when we need it? haha. I now have a wish list for the Martha Stewart Paper punches that I want. I will say, avoid the ones that are supposed to emboss too. Many people are returning them, including me. Pitiful!
Lisa A.
You’re so lucky to have stores like that in the US – next time you’re in could you ask them to suggest to someone that they start opening up some over here in the UK please!!!
Kathleen xxx
I just discovered your blog (via the Spellbinders contests) and I LOVE your style. You make such gorgeous cards, Becca!! One of my local Michael’s just remodeled to the new configuration you blogged about! I love, love, LOVE it! We just lost another scrapbook store in the area, so I’m glad this Michael’s has such a wonderful new scrapping/paper-crafting selection. My friend and I were just there yesterday and discussed whether these punches were any good. I didn’t know they’re made by EK Success. Thanks for posting about them, I’ll try one now! : )