Lilypad - BYOC graph

First off, I wanted to point out that my blog looks a little different now, if you hadn't noticed.  I've changed the header, and I've added some pages in the menu.  The pages display several of my "large" scrapbook projects that have been completed or are in progress.  I still have to add more layouts to the Project: Love Me page, but the other three are all current.

I have been shopping at The Lilypad lately, and at the beginning of each month they have their Build Your Own Collab event. The December one is happening right now. The pricing of the BYOC products is on a Buy More, Save More sliding system. I've always wanted to know ... if I had a budget of X dollars, could I actually load my card with "extra" items, bringing my total higher but also getting me into the next higher discount bracket so that in the end I still stuck to my budget of X dollars, just with more items to show for it? Does that make sense?

Well, I finally did the math. All of the BYOC is at a baseline price of 20% off for the weekend, and the spending levels are based on this baseline percentage off. The language of "Spend $25, get ..." means "spend $25 at the 20% off discounted price," and the rest are the same.

Spend This	Total Discount
$25 ($31.25 full price)	35%
$35 ($43.75 full price)	40%
$45 ($56.25 full price)	45%
$55 ($68.75 full price)	50%

Here is a graphical representation.

Along the bottom of the graph is the total value of products as you add them to your cart (the full non-discounted price). The vertical axis represents the price you actually pay. The dashed red line shows a target budget of $35.  If I had a budget of $35 ... I could load $63.64 (full value price) into my cart and spend $35 (%45 off).  Or, I could load $70 and spend only $35 (50% off). The exciting parts of the graph are the downward steps (at the discount thresholds), where if you add an additional item to your cart, your total price goes down.

I know you're all probably familiar with the concept of buy more, spend more, but I thought it might be fun to actually work it out with real numbers.  If you have a budget in mind, you can refer to the chart to see how the Buy More, Save More feature is maximizing your budget.

Here are some layouts I've finished recently. Miller has a favorite friend at our daily picnic outing with preschool friends.  And she favors him too.  It's so sweet.

Double Temps - Mini Set 2 by Scrapping with Liz; Dreaming of Spring by Captivated Visions and Flergs
Just the Way You Are by Secret Stash; Cardstock Stash by SuzyQ; Vintage Vogue Elements by Sahlin Studio

Here are two more Nero Wolfe Quotes. I think they speak for themselves.

Spring Sprocket Cardstock by Gina Miller; Color Swatch Templates by Sahlin Studio (modified);
Nostalgia by Paislee Press and creashens

Simple & Sweet Albums Temps by Scrapping with Liz; Country Road by Secret Stash; Delight by DeCrow Designs
Life365 Collection by Gina Marie Huff; CU flowers by Wendy Page; Nostalgia by Paislee Press and creashens

And here are two Project: Love, Me pages on the November theme of Giving. I really hope to finish up both the November and December prompts by the end of the year. I'm a little behind, but not terribly. I'm really excited to get this project printed as soon as I can.

Simple and Sweet Album Templates by Scrapping with Liz The Family you Choose and Well Documented by 
Captivated Visions Thankful Mini by Digital Design Essentials; Life365 Hodge Podge 7 by Gina Marie Huff
HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Simple and Sweet Album Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Bohemian Spirit, My Project V3, My Project Year in
Review, I Should Have Told You and Well Documented by Captivated Visions
Art and Soul Freebie by Sahlin Studio; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Yay! New Nero Wolfe pages

Happy Thanksgiving! I love this time of year, as I think so many of us do. I love spending time with family, I love the weather, I love the hot cocoa. It's all good; it's the tops! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend.

I'm so happy to say that I've completed some more Nero Wolfe quote pages, and now that I have a few done and can begin to see how this project will come together, I'm even more excited about it. I've made three new pages, re-worked the first page in 8x8 format, and I have several more great quotes in the queue. Although I'd love to focus more energy on this project short term, I think I will probably turn back to my Project: Love, Me book so that will be ready to print as soon as possible.

Here are my four Nero Wolfe quote pages so far:

The Sunday Edition and Wishing Jar by Paislee Press; Nostalgia by Paislee Press and
Creashens; Quote by Rex Stout

Scraplift of Harvest by mom2da3ks; Pumpernickel Papers & Dear Mom by Valorie Wibbens
One Fine Day by Valorie Wibbens and Amy Wolff; Trademark by One Little Bird and
Lauren Reid; Nostalgia by Paislee Press and creashens; quote by Rex Stout

Recyclables 5 by Scrapping with Liz; Everyday Essentials Papers and Sweet & Simple
Life #4 by Gina Marie Huff Thankful Mini by Digital Design Essentials;
CU flowers by Wendy Page; Nostalgia by Paislee Press and creashens; quote by Rex Stout

Sweater Weather by One Little Bird; Epic by One Little Bird, Paislee Press and Biograffiti
Midwinter's Flight Templates by Amy Martin; quote by Rex Stout

I like that button I put on the last one because the sewing of buttons seems to be something very important to Archie. 

I've actually taken a little bit of liberty with some of the quotes. For instance if Wolfe said, "Mr. Goodwin, it is our good fortune that ... " I left off the "Mr. Goodwin" part.  I don't think it takes away from the quote, and makes it more presentable for my project.  I can see that I'm going to have so much fun with this book.  I've been thinking about this idea of scrapping Nero Wolfe quotes for quite a while, and I'm so glad I've finally started.

Progress on Nero Wolfe project

In one respect, I haven't made any progress on my Nero Wolfe project: I haven't made any new layouts. But in another regard, I've made huge progress: I got the books out of the outside storage closet. This was a major undertaking because the closet is just about packed to the top with bins of stuff. The books, of course, were at the very bottom of the left-hand stack. Which meant that I had to completely remove the center stack to even get to the one on the left. I had been procrastinating because I've had some trouble with my back.  Some of those bins are really heavy.

But now the task is done, and I'm nearing the end of the first book, Fer-de-lance. I've even recorded a quote for the project. In this first book, Wolfe seems a bit more ... arrogant ... than he does in later books, so I'm optimistic that I might get quite a few good quotes early on. I took a picture of all my books. They're in no special order here. After getting them all out of the closet I just spread them out. There is actually one missing in this picture; it was one of two that had not been in the outside storage and was still sitting on the desk. (I was able to read those two books while waiting on the rest, but unfortunately I found no quotes that stood out to me.)

According to my list, there are only seven of the books that I do not own.  And four of those I've read by checking out of the library.  To think there are three books that I've never read yet!  What a treat it will be when I find them.

I've decided to compose this project in 8x8 format, since I will mostly be scrapping just a simple quote on each page.  If I decide to print these in their own book, that will probably keep the cost down significantly.

Now I'll leave you with my most recent layouts.  This first one was for a challenge at One Story Down (which was to use the journaling prompt "I'm thankful for ..." ).  No big story behind this one, just a cute photo of a fake smile.  The grand prize of this challenge is a one year subscription to The Digi Files.  I could not pass that up, and I'm feeling lucky after winning two random draws on DSD.

Ful Papers and Moon & Back by creashens
Sweet & Simple Life Kits #2, #4, #11, Life365 Hodge Podge 15 and Cute Lil' Patterns by Gina Marie Huff

Lately when Miller doesn't want to do something that I tell him to do, he'll cross his arms across his chest and scream, "I won't!"  I didn't happen to have a picture of the arms across the chest, so I tried to find a decent substitute.  I have to admit I'm a little proud that he says, "I won't," instead of just, "No!"  It seems much more certain and confident.

Bliss by Creashens; Handmade Paper Flowers: Autumn Sunset and Vintage Vogue Elements by Sahlin Studio
Bold Brushwork by Misty Cato; Cute Lil Patterns and Everyday Life #4 by Gina Marie Huff
Chatterbox no. 1 by Taylor Made

So, can you tell I'm kinda into paint smears and splatters right now?  Thanks for stopping by!

A Nero Wolfe Scrapbook Project

I'm a big fan of the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout.  I first learned of them several years ago through the A&E television series that ran from 2001 - 2003.  It was an amazing show and such a disappointment when they cancelled it.  Nero Wolfe, and Archie too for that matter, deliver some pretty amazing quotes at times, and I've thought about scrapbooking some of my favorites for a long time.

Just the other day, the scientist read me a Nero Wolfe quote he saw on Slashdot: "Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the misfortunes of their wealth."  That's a pretty good one.  One of my favorites is in the layout below and comes from the story Door to Death: "Women don't require motives that are comprehensible by intellectual processes."

So, there I was reminded of all the amazing Nero Wolfe quotes that I've read.  I'm not reading anything else right now so I might as well get out my Nero Wolfe books and re-read them again.  And then I saw a post on Audacious Designs about a scrapbooking project inspired by reading.  Here is my project:  I'll read the books, write down all my favorite quotes, and do a layout for each one.  That's all of the plan I have right now.  I may print them in their own album or maybe include them as a "chapter" in my 2012 album.  I'll have to see how many I do.  I'm sure it will take many months before I get through all the books.  Most of the quotes will be from Nero, but I'll include great ones from any of the characters.  Maybe I'll try to aim for 52 quotes.

Here's my first one.  I chose yellow, of course, because it is Nero Wolfe's favorite color.  And he grows orchids, so the flowers are representative of that.  And the overall elegant feel just reminds me of Wolfe, based on impressions from the A&E series. I like the idea of using the "and i quote" word-art on every page, as a way of tying them all together.

The Sunday Edition and Wishing Jar by Paislee Press; Nostalgia by Paislee
Press and Creashens; Quote by Nero Wolfe/Rex Stout from Door to Death

I'm hoping to get those books out of the storage closet soon.  I know I'll enjoy reading them, and what can be better than scrapping about something you enjoy?  I'm looking forward to this project!