Shop Hop Just Around the Corner

Things have been unbelievably crazy at the store lately. All the new CHA products ordered have been arriving and will continue to arrive over the next couple weeks. We have been busy preparing for the Shop Hop beginning October 7th - getting the make/take ready as well as trying to fill the walls. You have all been giving us some great feedback, ideas for classes and telling us what you like and don't like. Your opinions are making a difference, and we are hoping that we continue to be pleased with our various classes being offered, skill levels and also product availability. As we continue to expand and bring in new product, we hope that you'll join us soon for a crop or class as we all continue to get ready for the holidays which are coming way too quickly for me.

I hope you are enjoying the fall weather and beginning to think of pumpkins and other fun fall things. We continue to add new class ideas, so be sure to watch our calendar for upcoming classes and project ideas. We'll soon be loading our photos of the paper quilting there too.

Conventions are Almost Here

Where does the time go. It's so hard to believe that the Creating Keepsakes Convention is just around the corner and so is the summer Craft and Hobby Association Convention (CHA). Both of these mean a great time to be ordering new products and continuing to change over the inventory. We have been busy making samples of new product lines, creating stuff for our classes and also just having fun. We're beginning to review the new paper lines being released and are so excited about some of the things we are seeing. This month is full of sales at the store to help us clean out the old and bring in the new and we're excited to see you getting excited about this too. If you need some inspiration, or just a kick start with your scrapbooking, come in and see some of the samples we've been making. We hope to see you soon, but most importantly, hope that you are making memories with your families and friends this summer. Keep scrappin'!
Stacey

Summer Fun Time is Here

I couldn't wait for summer to come this year. I don't know why - maybe it's looking forward to the time with the grandkids, maybe it's more about not liking to be cold muhc, but I couldn't wait.

Spring gave me the "bug" to get out and enjoy the warmer weather but being able to go to Hershey Gardens and other places in the heat has been a joy. I've been to Lake Tobias, Tennessee, Maine, Ocena City. the pictures have been great and I've been so excited I've even scrapped some of them already. We're continuing to do the Mosaic classes every month which are a blast. So far, so good - I'm sticking to my plan of at least one/month for 2010.

I've been doing lots of samples and classes and the store is a buzz! We hope you'll stop in and see us soon.

Don't forget our upcoming Yard sale August 13-14th. See our calendar for more details.

Be a blessing to someone today!

National Scrapbook Day is coming...

We are so excited here at the store as we get ready for National Scrapbook Day. We are putting the finishing touches on all the activities planned and we have 24 people joining us for a fun-filled weekend of cropping, eating and spending time together. This is when friendships are built and enriched. I wish everyone could be here with us, but we would for sure need a larger place.

This is from an email I received this morning and it was such a poignant reminder of why scrapbooking is important. I pray that this will touch you as it did me and hope that you can take some time this weekend, or everyone once in a while to do what you love.

"Moments. There are moments in life that define us. Some of them are really big moments...falling in love...the birth of a child...graduating from school. These moments we know are big moments when they occur.

But there are also moments that seem little at the time...but turn out to be a big defining moment...we just didn't know it yet.

But all the moments of our lives...and the memories of those moments...are like boats floating in the water. Some are rowboats, some cruise ships, but most of them will float away off course unless they are anchored.

So how do we "anchor" those memories so they don't float away into the recesses of our mind? Scrapbooking, of course!

This Saturday is National Scrapbook Day. Every year at this time I take it as my duty to remind people to "anchor" their memories through scrapbooking. And every year at this time I also take it as my duty to remind everyone that there are lots of ways to scrapbook. Not everyone scrapbooks in the same way and however you choose to preserve your memories is what is right for you. What's important is that you do it! :-)

Oh, and take pictures. LOTS of pictures. Because you never know which of those little moments ends up being a big moment and you want to make sure you recorded it!

I hope you spend part of your Saturday making some new memories (and anchoring them) or reliving some old ones by scrapbooking them. And whatever your scrapbooking supplies needs are for those memories, we've got you covered!"

(Thanks Julie for these touching and meaningful words.)

Here it comes!

Well, we are only a week away from our anniversary. This year has just flown by and I am amazed as I sit and look at all the projects we have done in the last year, as well as all the people I've had the privilege of meeting. This place has been my lifeline and I have never been happy with the work I'm doing and the people sharing in my life.

Activities have been busy getting things ready at the store for the sale next week - getting in new items still coming in from CHA show in January and preparing for all the details needed to have a successful weekend. We have several surprises in store for you, so you'll want to stop in the store next Thursday - Saturday to enjoy the make and take card and snacks - and most importantly the SALE!

Hope to see you soon. I'm attaching a photo from one of the faith layouts we did to give you some inspiration for some of those zoo pictures since we are getting to that time of year. The classes are filling up quickly and we are having a ball creating, creating creating and sharing those ideas with you.

Thanks for all you do for me and the store and the support you give us. We wouldn't be here without each of you guys.
Stacey

It's Been Too Long...

I'm sorry everyone that it's been so long since I did a post. I get caught up in the samples for the store and classes and the newsletter and this is on my calendar for once/week but it just get moves in the priority listing. But I have been reading the magazine called Artful Blogging and it has been a wonderful inspiration to me to get back to it. I can't make any promises other than I will be making a concerted effort to continue to load new samples as products as often as I can. I've also been getting some information from a woman out of Australia that I love her ideas and samples and blog - so I'm hoping to expand mine and add things I haven't done before. I could end up knowing too much one day.

Today's new layout sample was created using the fun flower embellishments from Creative Charms. The flower petals are made from those rubber band elastic things you would use in a ponytail, but by adding a bright and fancy brad to the center - it just makes you want to use them. This layout was done the very day I got the embellishments from them I was so excited. They sent a sample for how to use the product and I varied it a little - but it so easily captures the everyday photos we all have and don't know how to use. Visit the store to see more of the great embellishments and ideas from this small company out of western PA.

Blessings - and thanks for sticking with me.
Stacey

Winter Wonderland

It's been a crazy month at the store since my last post - everyone getting ready for the holidays, shopping, making last minute gifts and sharing time with each other. Classes for the last month have been sold out as have crops with people making time to finish up their gifts.

As the winter storm came in this past weekend, it reminded us, me especially, to take time for the quiet moments, the time with family. It's all so much more important than the errands, the gifts, the shopping we need to do. Saturday I decided to close the store with the weather being bad. My husband has been home sick, we have family coming to our house Thursday, including our daughter and her husband from Las Vegas, and we hadn't had time to prepare our home for the guests. It wasn't about having to put up a tree, its was, for me, about setting the environment. I like putting up a tree and always did with my parents when they were still around - this is special to me. So hubby and I hunkered in for the blizzard, slowly putting up our tree, doing some baking, and laying around watching movies, just catching up on our lives and 2009. Sunday we went out for a long drive in the snow and took pictures and leisured through the day, stopping for lunch, then home for more baking. It was something we could do together and share our weekend together. We haven't been able to do that in a very long time.

So I thanked God for the snowstorm! Even though I may have missed some business, and missed seeing some of you all; I was where I needed to be with my sick husband, making our home cozy and inviting for our family coming this week. I will be closed Christmas Eve since that is the day our family celebrates together before everyone has to go their own way. It will be a day of eating, playing games, napping, talking, looking at scrapbooks and sharing our year together.

I pray you all have a blessed and peaceful Merry Christmas. For those of you having lost someone this year, it will be especially hard for you. But you will be in my thoughts and prayers. I will be empathizing with you as I still grieve the time not being able to spend with my own parents, gone for several years now; or with our kids who can't be with us this year - our son in Las Vegas working and our other daughter/husband and 2 grandbabies in Tennessee; also my sister and her family in Oregon and Scott's other brother and nephew in Montana.

May Christ pour out his love and blessing to each of you,
Stacey