Scrapping Buddies: Have you ever arrived at a crop.....

Have you ever arrived at a crop, set up your stuff and realized that you are missing "_________" (fill-in the blank) the one thing that you absolutely needed for the project you are working on??

Well, I did that last night - had all the papers that I needed for my cards. They were all cut and folded. All I needed to do was stamp and emboss three different things and then assemble them.

Pulled out all the bits out of my kit - but where was the black embossing powder?? One of the items I specifically purchased for this project. I had the paper, the stamps, the ink - but where was the powder. I tore through my entire kit - but it was no where to be found!

As there was nothing else that I had brought with me (figuring that between this project and chatting there would be no time to do any other projects) my choice was to either just sit and chat (all the while beating myself up for forgetting the key piece to the project) or see if the store had some embossing powder.

Now, something to keep in mind, I am not really a 'stamper' - I resisted purchasing almost any stamps for many years. I hated the thought of carrying around 'half a tree' with all the wooden block stamps. I believe that I actually only purchased one or two wooden block stamps in the first 40 years of my life. Once I found acrylic stamps (no trees involved), I have actually purchased quite a few stamps - but I still resist purchasing a lot of supplies to go with stamps. I almost always purchase the tiny little ink pads - that way I figure that if I don't use them more than once of twice and they dry up, that it is not so much of a waste. (Don't even talk to me about the cost of purchasing the little ones over the big ones - I have it in my mind that if a little one dries up, it is less of a waste that a whole big pad.)

So back to my point - with a brand new jar of black embossing powder missing in my kit, the thought of purchasing a new jar was something that I had to think about. I know, it is only a few dollars in the big scheme of scrapbook supply purchases - but it just seems such a waste. But it was either purchase a new jar or 'waste' my time, sitting there just visiting (not that there is anything wrong with that too - it was just that I had planned to finish the cards - there is a time frame involved with them).

I checked the store and they did not have the fine embossing powder that I had originally purchased, but they did have black UT (ultra thick) - it makes for a different effect, but I guess I can justify the purchase by rationalizing that I actually did not purchase the exact same thing as I was missing, but a slightly different product...

Lessons Learned

Before going to a crop - if you have a specific project in mind - double check to make sure that you have everything with you - or at least you can find it in your kit!
Always bring more than one project with you - you might finish that one project sooner than expected and can carry on with another project

As I am off to a big weekend-long retreat next weekend - I am going to double and triple check my kit to make sure that I have everything with me!

In the end, I purchased the black UT, and with Catherine's assistance, finished up the project that I was working on. My one consolation was, out of the five people at my table last night, three of us had done the very same thing - forgotten a key item or tool for the crop!

Here are some pictures of the finished cards: