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

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's hard to believe we are only two weeks away from Thanksgiving. The weather was nice the last couple weeks but boy has sure turned colder since yesterday. We have been busy getting in new paper lines and working on projects for upcoming classes. The planning has begun for Black Friday sales and also Christmas sales. We have begun the Wish Lists for you to have record for your family and friends and gift certifcates are beginning to sell rapidly for the holidays. I'm amazed at how many people have already finished their Christmas shopping or have started.

I keep the gifts light, making handmade ones or gift cards for the kids seems best since they are all now grown. We have just completed the Winter Acrylic album. Its made from a clear camera album (of course I'd choose a camera) and it was made using out newest lines of paper from Bo Bunny that arrived late last week. No time was wasted when the paper came in since I loved it so much. I will have a photo up and available soon, but it is int he shop if you'd like to stop and see it.

Stop by and see the other new paper lines and items that we have been receiving in preparation for the holidays. We still have a few spots left for our Black Friday crop too - so call to reserve your spot if you arr interested. Thanks for following us on the Blog!

Buggies and Bon Bons Shop Hop Review

We had a great time during the first annual Shop Hop held last month. There were alot of new friendships made, and fun had by all. People shopped, did make and takes, ate chocolate and shared many stories. We have added a page to our website with all the photos we took and have been receiving from everyone's day out at the shop.

Because the Shop Hop was such a huge success, we've ordered a number of new paper lines, embellishments and all sorts of mini albums and items in preparation for the holidays. The inventory has been coming in since last Monday and will continue through at least this week. We have some new storage items for stamps and embellishments and are beginning our wish lists for the holiday season.

Stop in to see what's new and how things have been going at the store. Hope to see you soon.

Stacey

So Many Samples, So Little Time

We are actively preparing for the Shop Hop which begins in two weeks. It's hard to believe it's finally here after so many months of planning. Fiskars is supporting the event and will be traveling to several of the stores doing make-n-take samples as well as giveaways and lots of tool demos. We are anticipating many new customers through the event, as well as seeing some of you that we don't get to see on a regular basis. We only have a few key chains and passports left to sell, so if you are interested, don't delay in stopping in to get yours today.

I have been playing with the new product that has been arriving. The above layout was made with the new Eskimo Kisses paper from Basic Grey. I'm glad I didn't follow my first instinct when I saw the paper and not get it in. At first I thought it was too kid oriented and cute for the customer base we have here, but I have found that the papers compliment each other wonderfully and there are several really pretty prints outside the couple of whimsical papers. I have also made several cards with the line and have fallen in love with the way Basic Grey has done it again with one of their releases.

Be sure to stop in and see all the new product arriving. This week we also got in some great paper with turtles and frogs from Boxer. We are anticipating receiving another Basic Grey line in the next couple weeks which was also a release at the national trade show. We are also still waiting on new product from Little Yellow Bicycle and Bazzill.

Enjoy your weekend and be sure to stop in and see us soon, and all the samples we've been making.

Stacey

Upcoming Buggies & Bon-Bons Shop Hop

Activities have been moving along rapidly for the planning stages of the Shop Hop we will be having in October with other stores in the area. The passports were finally going to the printer on Friday as well as the key chains. They told us they should have them ready this coming week. The keychains won't be here for a probably another week because they are being shipped. We have created our make and takes for the event and we are so excited about them. Those people participating the in the Shop Hop will be able to choose one of the layouts shown with a fall or winter theme. Some days you will be able to do the Make n Take at the store, other times because of classes, they may need to be taken with you and completed at home. Either way, I'm sure you will love the layouts and hopefully it will get your creative juices flowing.

We have sold over half of our available passports and key chains, so if you are still thinking about the event and trying to work out schedules - don't wait too much longer. they are going fast. between all the stores we have sold about 80 tickets so far to the event from as far south as North Carolina and as far west as Ohio. There will be all kinds of give-aways at the local stores as well as a list of national prizes to enter and try to win. Be sure to stop in the store to find out more about choosing us as your "home store" and how to get started.

As a special bonus, we will have Rebecca from Fiskars in our store on Friday, October 16th. She will be doing her own Make-n-Takes besides the one we are offering. There are also dorr prizes and give aways for this event. Why not take the day off work with your girlfriends and make this place the start of your tour day!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Stacey

Yard Sale Update

We had a huge and overwhelming response to our first yard sale, both from participants and also from you, the shoppers. There was a lot of really great product that was sold over the weekend, quality merchandise, not just old stuff people want to get rid of. The variety of products in the sale met alot of needs from those who came to look for the bargains - both beginners and experienced folks. Also, because there was so much product donated, there was plenty to sell Saturday as well, so those who couldn't make it for the first day still had plenty to choose from.

Thank you so much for everyone who participated in the yard sale - it was successful because of you, and I know everyone was very happy with the amount of money they made. A special thanks to each of you who came to shop, especially all the new people to the store. Hopefully, we will see you again soon. I appreciate everyone getting the word out as well, that helped bring in the crowd.

Many of you have asked and yes, we will be doing another yard sale. It will not be until spring just because of the craziness with the holiday season, but begin thinking about stuff you'd like to bring in and contribute to sell. There will a limited number of spaces available again because of size, but the more product we can get in, the better for all of us at the sale.

In addition to the great sales everyone had, we were able to contribute $40.00 to the local chapter of "Survivors of Suicide - Lancaster Chapter" which I am a part of. In addition, after the sales, many of the participants donated their unsold items to two worthwhile charities: Make A Wish Foundation and also COAR (Comunidad Oscar Arnulfo Romero) orphanage in Zaragosa, El Salvador in memory of Katelyn John, the daughter of one of our customers. The craft items for both locations will be used to work with the children in expressing themselves creatively and in many cases, getting them acclimated to crafting and stamping.

Thanks again for making last weekend a HUGE success!

Convention Highlights

Just getting back from the Creating Keepsakes convention today in Valley Forge. I had so much fun shopping and taking classes and cropping in the evenings. I found many samples and ideas for classes, several new vendors, new product and new paper lines from our old time favorites like Basic Grey, SEI and some others. It's interesting to see the trends changing in the industry and what people are buying and making. I'm anxious to start ordering and getting in the new products and begin making layouts, mini albums and gifts from many of the things that I saw. My thanks goes out to Kelly for helping with some of the decision making this weekend, carrying the inventory from the show room to the hotel and just keeping me on track while I was going in every direction. There were ALOT of people at the convention. Hope you made it out for at least a day.

Chipboard Albums - All the rage

Every day there are more and more people seeing the value of mini albums, making gifts for others and also seeing their own gratification from getting a project done. We love doing them and the ideas just keep coming. There are several in the works as we begin already to think about the holidays and some great gift ideas for those we love or who are friends, coaches, teachers, etc.

We continue to have crops and classes getting filled which a great blessing to us. Today we have a private crop that was organized by one of our customers and 8 friends got together to spend the day together at the store, cropping and catching up.

We hope you'll join us for a class or crop if you haven't already. Keep your eyes out for more mini albums, come chipboard, some other types, but ALL are alot of fun. have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Stacey

Summer is here

Well, we've made it to the longest day of the year and we are now on the down trend with the days already becoming shorter. Where does the time go? I hope that everyone had a nice weekend and Father's Day. It's hard, I know, for those of us without our own dad's, but there are always "spiritual dads" in our lives and in-laws, uncles, and friends that can mean as much to us and fill the gap. Scott & I spent the afternoon with my in-laws just resting on their porch and drinking iced tea - very relaxing on such a bright and sunny afternoon.

It made me anxious for us to get our new Basic Grey line in. Lemonade has shipped and will be here later this week. We are also in the process of ordering the summer travel paper and some additional chipboard books and other items. We have received some of the new Quickutz release dies as well.

We have loaded the photos of our squash book to our calendar and also the beach tin. A photo is also shown here. It's crazy at the shop this week with classes filling quickly and next week's sign-ups continuing to come in as well. There is still space in the upcoming classes shown below. If you are interested, just give us a call or stop into register.

Hope to see you soon!

Stacey

Wed., July 1 - Love Your Home Chipboard Word Album - 6:30pm-8:30pm

Tues., July 7 - Beachin' It Tin - 6:30pm-8:30pm

Wed., July 15 - Children's Prayer Book - 6:30pm-8:30pm

Check our website for more detailed information on classes coming up!

New Products Have Arrived

Well, the new stuff continues to pour in and we are having a ball making samples and finding new things to do with it. Last week we were set up as a vendor for the Central Penn Crop and it was a huge success for us. Thanks to everyone who supported us at the event either during the crop, or who just stopped in to shop.

This past week we received our Maya Road products, Basic Grey Wisteria and Lime Rickey lines. We've made a prayer book using one of the Maya Road books and the Archaic Basic Grey line of paper, our All Occasion Card class has a card made from Lime Rickey and the Faith Scrapbooking class has a sample of the Wisteria line (shown above). The layout was a perfect fit for the Beatitudes we've been studying. One of the layouts for this month's class was for Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. I used these photos of my mom when she joined her church on Easter Sunday out near Fort Indiantown Gap several years ago.

Keep stopping in to see all the new samples and products. We'd love to see you this week! Have a blessed and restful week.

Stacey

Mosaic Play Time & Update on New Products

Today has been a steady day, but not too busy that I haven't been able to have some play time. We received new product in from Maya Rd. and also a replenishing of some paper and tools. We have Quickutz on the way for those who took advantage of their sale last week and yesterday we also placed an order for some more Basic Grey - Lime Rickey and Wisteria Lines. We have ordered Flowers from Petaloo and are also waiting on a replenish of our Cooking/Baking Line. This will include new embellishments and paper as well.Today's layout I was working on was a gift for a dear friend who retired recently. Her previous employees threw her a surprise retirement party at Olive Garden a few weeks and I offered to do a Mosaic for her of the photos. If you don't know by know - I am addicted to Mosaics. Thank you Tami Potter for your wonderful product! It's all the rage at our shop. If you are interested in taking a future class, just give us a call to get your name on a waiting list.Hope everyone has a great weekend!

We're Open

Just a note to our new subscriber's and old friends - we have officially opened the store - Joys of Life Scrapbooking in Mechanicsburg, PA. The store has been busy and active with sales and classes and continues to be a place of great ministry to many. The Lord is leading me down a path I wasn't sure I was ready for, be He is guiding me each day and each step, so I know, whatever it ends up being, no matter how successful, or for how long he allows me to live this part of my dream life, I will continue to offer it all to Him. It has been an enormous blessing since we opened April 1, 2009. He inspires me, He directs me and provides for me, even when it doesn't look like it will make sense. My hope for this blog is to inspire others, share my life, share my ministry, and leave the legacy behind for my family. Anyone can do anything! Just let the Lord direct your step and He will give you the desires of your heart (desires you don't even know you have).