Something in the Mail That Wasn't Beads!

I'd imagine those of you who are fellow crafters and artists can probably identify with me here. Pretty much every single non-grocery item I buy for myself is related to creating jewelry: fantastic new beads, fantastic old beads, sterling silver chain, a new set of pliers -- everything. Last week, though, I decided I'd have enough of that and wanted to purchase something totally unrelated. I'd been eyeing PipingHotPapers' notebooks for a while and finally decided to treat myself to one! OK, two. And maybe in some ways these purchases were jewelry-related. (I use one of them for sketching designs and the other for making shopping lists.) But still, it felt totally decadent to buy items this gorgeous, and I spent less than $20 for both! And wow, was I in for a lovely surprise. Alice's creations look like something you'd pay quardruple for -- they're stunningly gorgeous, absolutely top quality. Here's one of the notebooks I bought. Alice filled it extra full of paper for me, too:

As long as I'm on the subject of recent non-jewelry-related purchases, I ordered one of LadyFranCreations' Etsy Fanatical t-shirts a couple of months ago, and it's absolutely perfect! I'm sure many of you can relate to being surgically attached to your computer when a treasury is about to open . . . . My shirt is actually white, a custom order that I placed with Gail (LadyFran). Here's the original green version in Gail's shop:

And finally, I already had two Xenotees that I love more than a woman should love inanimate objects, but a few months ago I wanted a third. This time I decided to add Noëlle's Collective Names of Animals in slate to my collection. It's super comfy, totally unique and actually just beautiful. Here's the design, in case you haven't seen it: