New Finds...

I knew I had some fun stuff to share that I hadn't gotten around to yet. I love my Labs and whenever I get updates from Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue I fall in love with at least one pooch. Then I think of the cost of food, vet bills and the time another dog requires and I have to fall out of love.I came across this cutie at the shop at the Desert Botanical Garden a few weeks ago. A "Chocolate" Lab! No feeding or walking required! Besides looking cute, it has a job. It's a planter. I want one!I love to pick up calendars for the images. I came across these weekly planners for $1 each at Half Price Books. Yummy!It was a bit of a bibliophiles' weekend for me. After years of hearing about it, I finally went to my first VNSA Book Sale. Every February there's a massive charity fundraiser in one of the fairground buildings. I went on the second day when all the books were 50% off. It was still mayhem!

I had a shopping list-dictionary, books in foreign languages, maps/atlas', books in braille and typewriting/shorthand manuals. I found everything but the last two categories. I even found books in Hebrew. I always worry that books in Hebrew are religious in nature but I picked up some geological survey so I'm OK, tearing it up and not worrying that I'm being blasphemous or anything... Above is the only art book I ventured to get. I couldn't take the crowds and the jostling. Only after I picked up this dated Phoenix street atlas did I realize that a man had a gleam in his eye and was coming around to my side of the table to get it. I think...but I got this treasure first. Mine, mine, mine....

I paid $11 for two bags of books and $10 for parking. Maybe the parking stub could be used in a collage. Oh wait, they didn't give me one!Half priced books, used books and I still go to the book store. I found this. Baby, oh baby, I found me some new, super cool stencils by Lotta Jonsdatter. I haven't had a chance to try them out because everything I'm working on right now is small but I am drooling in anticipation. Spring Break can't come soon enough.Then, of course we have the freebie stencils. (Which help make up for the cost of the full price ones). I found the square and rectangular ones in the teacher workroom. (Yes, I have no qualms about pulling my supplies out of the trash). They're the leftovers from sets of bulletin board images. The little circles stencils never made it into the trash. It's leftover from a Bingo card game and all those little circles cover your Bingo numbers.

We always used beans when we played Loteria as a kid. Later we'd have frijoles for dinner. I like these better. You can't stencil with frijoles.
Marissa