One of My Favorite Times of the Year

You are probably going to think I'm crazy, but I'm going to persevere and make this post anyway! Hahaha! One of my favorite times of the year? Heck, yeah! School supplies now at your local WalMart (and a bunch of other places, but these photos happen to be from WalMart.)

OK, little know facts about Alice: after retiring from my real job I homeschooled my daughter from grade one through grade twelve. School supplies got to be a way of life. Now that I'm retired (again) and am on this wonderful journey through the art world, school supplies take on a whole new life and purpose. I went into WalMart yesterday to pick up some cat food for the outside herd of kitties and shortly I was singing "Hallelujah!" in the school aisle section, much to the consternation of the 18 year old working those aisles.

After watching me walk up and down the aisles several times, she happened to ask if she could help me find anything. I told her no, that I was enjoying all the new school supplies. She looked at me like I was crazy. (Point taken. I probably was a bit crazed looking.) Then after a few more passes up and down one of the rows, she said, "You know, you should come back tomorrow. We are going to get new items in every day."

I laughed to myself. Kali and I have a friend named Katrina who stocked and maintained this section a couple years ago. After awhile the section looks like a train or a tornado went through it, and that was when it looked its best. Yesterday it looked great. Even today when I did go back (and yes, they did have new items, thank you!) it was still looking pretty good. But - I know that in a few days it is going to look like a bomb went off in one of the aisles and it will look that way till the end of the first week of school. 

So. What do I do with all these supplies now that I don't homeschool any longer? Other than drool on them. Well, in those first few photos you see a wide variety of spiral notebooks. You actually see some as low as 50¢, today I saw a whole section of spiral bound, one subject notebooks for 25¢ each. I use these to keep track of notes I take during online classes, as well as notes from tutorials, and how-to articles I read on blogs and on pinterest. I keep track of youtube videos (I use pinterest a lot for this also.) I sketch out art journal ideas, tangle pattern ideas, and practice drawing ideas.

This journal is a little pricier than most - but in my opinion (that and $3.75 will get you a tall strawberries and cream frappuccino at Starbucks) it is worth every penny. This is a full size, 8 1/2" x 11" thick journal. Nice sturdy cover, sturdy pages. I like to use this one to keep track of art journal and painting ideas. I love paints, inks, crayons, watercolors, and I think I own stock in joggles.com . This is where I keep track of all the cool little tips and tricks for making awesomeness happen in the wild color department!

Obviously these would be - far and away - some of my favorite notebooks. You just can't get any better than minions and Hello Kitty. I mean . . . really! (And did you notice, they are the exact same notebook? The only exception being you have to pay 97¢ more to get a cover with minions on it.)

I did come home with a new 3-ring binder. Two inch thick variety in teal :D happy dance!!! I love teal!!! As you can see they have a load of variety here, too. Organization central. For you CZTs, a notebook will keep your Zenthology nice and safe. They even have page protectors conveniently located. Or tangle artists in general - just sayin' a binder may be the way to go.

I took a picture of this just because it is sooooo cute! And isn't that saying awesome? And only 97¢ for a two-pocket folder. Pretty cool! I keep all my receipts for tax time stashed in folders. I use an accordian file because of my etsy store, it's just easier, but if you didn't need a separate file for each month - this might be the way to go.

Need an economical way to keep track of all those tangle patterns? Or a place to layout art journal page ideas? This might be your thing. (No idea why this box is so mangled up, they had literally just placed it on the shelf.) Graph paper works well for design, it works well for keeping track of patterns, and I even use it on occasion for blocking out art journal pages.

Inside. Ta-da!

WARNING. Serious cuteness to follow. Pencil boxes. All sizes, all shapes. Traveling zentangle kits. Portable watercolor kits. Convenient art journaling stash organizers. 

These were a little pricier, but oh my goodness! Isn't that butterfly gorgeous? And you can almost see the hanging pencil/pen/marker/paintbrush pouches just behind these cases.

These I am going to keep an eye on. Right now they are $3.97. That's a little steep. Once school starts, these will drop to at least half price, if not more. They will make great kit boxes for zentangle supplies to sell in my etsy store :).

So here is what I came home with yesterday. A new pencil box to travel with. It will have microns, markers, pencils, a ruler, an eraser (shhh! don't tell), a waterbrush, and some zentangle tiles and ATCs. Last year I had a Tinkerbell pencil box, but I think that trip to Ontario did it in. Hahaha! Baggage handlers got a little rough on that return trip. Got some new notebooks and a composition book. I didn't get into those - but they make great lettering books. And some spiffy colored pens! Today I picked up some fine Sharpies. I use those a lot! I could get two for $4.00, or I could get four plus a sharpie marker for $5.00. Tell me that makes sense. 

So. School supplies? It's totally where it's happening right now! I need to go look again - before they get all picked over, and before that tornado hits!