How Obnoxious is This?

Mr. W. deserves a medal for putting up with my eccentricities. My daughters' spouses will probably deserve one as well, since they will have to put up with me and all I teach my girls.

I've just spent half my lunch hour pondering paper prices. I've become addicted to Stampin' Up rubber stamping in the past couple of years and am now getting more into using their cardstock. Now Stampin' Up's cardstock comes in a fabulous array of colors and in a choice of two sizes. I've got the color side down since I mostly stay in their 'Bold Brights' color scheme, but I've been puzzling over whether it is more cost efficient (this hobby ain't cheap) to purchase 8.5 x 11 or 12 x 12 cardstock.

When individual colors are purchased, the 8.5 x 11 comes out to 18 cents/sheet and the 12 x 12 comes out to 32 cents/sheet. I estimated with the 8.5 x 11 cardstock, I can make three 5.5 x 4.25 inch cards out of two sheets of 8.5 x 11 cardstock with plenty of scrap cardstock to use as mounted pieces. This comes out to 2/3 sheet per card which is 12 cents per card. On the other hand, I can make two cards of the same dimensions out of 1 piece of the 12 x 12 cardstock. Which comes out to 1/2 sheet per card which makes it 16 cents per card. The plus with the 12 x 12 is that it fits in my scrapbooks better, and I would wind up with slightly more scrap paper (25.125 square inches vs 23.375 square inches per card). However, I already have more little bits of scrap paper than I can use, and my scrapbooking isn't what you would call very regular. Using these numbers, it is obvious that I should stick with the 8.5 x 11 cardstock (plus, that size fits better in my little stamping bag).

I also calculated cost per square inch: 8.5 x 11 = 93.5 square inches and .18/93.5 = .19 cents/square inch; 12 x 12 = 144 square inches and .32/144 = .2 cents/square inch.

You should see what I go through when I have to grocery shop. Fortunately, Mr. W. likes grocery shopping and does the bulk of it. Otherwise, I would spend an eternity with my calculator estimating the price per kernel of corn.

I tried to upload some pictures of cards I made from home this weekend, but my little dialup connection fizzled out. Maybe I will dedicate a post to my little creations. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the Splitcoaststampers website. If you're in to scrapbooking and card making, it's definitely worth a look.

M.W. - who used up the last half of her lunch hour obsessing over how she spent the first half of her lunch hour obsessing