Easily Amused

Friday, September 29, 2006

Project Runway

Move into Junior League territory and match your shoes with your purse and your cards with your...with your...uh, this is so not my area of expertise. Paper Crafts Card Fashion could be an accessory on its own, so just come on in and pick up a copy. Where else can you get this much fashion advice for $5.99?

Be-decked and Be-ribboned

It is a fact that there is no such thing as too much ribbon. In our efforts to contribute to this phenomenon, we have expanded our ribbon assortment. Not possible, you are thinking. Special attention should be paid to the bat and pumpkin ribbon on the sesaonal front display, as well as to the watercolor painted ribbon in the rack. We're tactile, though. We want you to touch it. But no monkeys yet.

All You Pardners Listen Up

Cosno Cricket sent us their Wanted line and we're fixing to saddle up and get giddy. Giddy-up, that is. Yee haw, it's a beautiful thang.

Doodley Doodley Doo. Beep Beep.

Simplest thing, there isn't much too it, all you gotta do is Doodley-Doo it...Now that I have that running in your head endlessly, come on down and gather up the SEI that just arrived. But we want to see the dance that goes with it. We'll even sing along.

Hotcha! CK Hall of Fame and Hey! We're Famous!

Spanking new CK Hall of Fame issue arrived this week and it's pretty cool to read all the inside scoop about how certain layouts were selected for the mag. Also, CK released the submission guidelines for 2007's HOF contest, so you can analyze it all and spew it back on your entry. Nicely, this time. We had a thought (it does happen) that we should have some crops around some of the assignments from the entry. Not that we have any plans to enter. Hey, we know our place in the scrapbook world. Some respect here.

And what is that place, I am certain you are pondering at this very moment. Our blog is tops on the list of places to go in the latest issue of a trade mag. Check out Scrapbook Premier and page 119 and see us listed under Fresh Perspectives. Yeah, we're strutting. Kinda.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Mmmmelissa Frances

We've restocked her paper mache 5x5 and 8x8 book in a box sets, which is exciting on any Tuesday. Add to that the fact that her fabulous holiday paper and stickers came in the same box, and you can imagine how dizzy we all were. So we had sandwiches.

Chatterbox also sent us some fun chipboard alphas, and now we can spell almost anything. A-L-M-O-S...OK you get the idea.

Our collection of the Creative Escape idea book is gone, so unless we can find more somewhere, zero is zero. But we tried to warn ya!

Saturday, September 23, 2006

See Below. They're Here. Limited Quantities.

Get them before they Escape.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Creative Escape: The Book

We are taking preorders for the Creative Escape Book of Directions. OK, so I don't know the official title, but it's hot, it's on its way to the store, and there are only a limited number of these puppies available. We'd like to make sure you get yours. Or something like that.

Tuesday Comes Every Week, but Technique Tuesday Class is in October

Be looking for our October calendar, when we will offer a special event with a Technique Tuesday class. Not only will you receive the Loves Me, Loves Me Not Technique Tuesday stamp set in your class, you will have the opportunity to make an additional purchase and receive a FREE LIMITED EDITION mini Loves Me, Loves Me Not stamp set. These stamp sets can only be offered with a promotion, so we want to makes ours a doozy. Project is still being designed, but when you think of flowers, dontcha need a place to plant yourself? It will be a thing of beauty that is a joy forever, but other than that, it will be a class that I actually teach. And we know how rare that is (for good reason, yeah, I heard that.)

In the interim, we have received an enormous TT order, including the new super awesome chipboard sets and some nifty fonts and word sets. Come play.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Friday September 22nd - Birthday Crop

Kaitlyn ( Natalie's baby ) is turming 5 so she has decided to celebrate with the croppers.
She will be bringing in cake and ordering pizza. Bring in those numerous birthday photos and she will lead you to ideas that don't look anything like last year's layouts. She'll also help you complete a mini-project during the crop, if you can tear yourself away from your pages for a moment.

We'll throw in a raffle or two, and everyone will receive a birthday goodie bag (think chocolate) so you can celebrate in style.

Call for your reservation. We'll charge you $15 for your spot, and credit it back if you spend $30 or more during the crop.

How old did you say you were this year?

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Designing With 2007 Calendars Preorder

Last year, we sold out of these calendars about 23 times. We were still reordering and selling them through almost April.

This year, we thought we would help you get a head start by taking pre-orders. We've got a customer request list started. Let us know you want your 2007 Autumn Leaves Designing With Calendar and you'll have top priority when they arrive. Which they will. Any second now.

Yabba Dabba Dabber Do: Adirondack Dabbers

Yes, I know that makes no sense, but I am very busy here, dabbing my new dabbers all over the place. Dot. Dot dot. Neato.

Rusty Pickle in the House



All new papers, stickers, and all kinds of assorted accoutrements have been placed around the store for your viewing pleasure. Oh, and you can buy them too.
Pictures are from the pet collection, but there's literally a line of paper for everyone in your house. Even the ghosts.

The Cutting Edge

We'll be in the crop room Friday and Natalie will be hosting her usual shebang. Come join the never-ending excitement from 6-11:30pm. I've selected some fun new items for our goodies and giveaways since it is convention week, meaning you're bound to leave with a little something-something. $15 gets you in; $30 in purchases gets you in free. It does take a credit card to hold your spot and first come, first served. If the outcry is loud enough, we'll rinse and repeat for Saturday night as well.

Designing with Color by Autumn Leaves

Update your color palette with the newest idea book from Autumn Leaves. I'm pretty sure my pages were not all in black and white prior to this idea book, but just as sure they can all be improved just based on the existence of this book.

Monday, September 11, 2006

"While I Was Out" Makeover

Have you ever started something small, just to be there for someone who needed it, and then have it just (in a really good way) get so fun, and feel so right, that it just fills up your entire self?

My mom and I just returned from Vermont. My sister had a relapse and was checked back into the hospital for some surgery. Mom and I wanted her home to be ready for her, and with her youngest just off to college, my sister decided that when she got her release, she would take over her daughter's room. More light, she claims, but we think she just likes the closet organizer she installed for her daughter.

So we cleaned, and packed, and organized, and shopped, and shopped, and my mom really shopped. So my sister has a really comfy mattress in her new bedroom. With new bedding. And a new bureau. And new rug. And curtains. And a lamp. And pillows.

My brother came over with his crew and bought her a very plush rocker-recliner for the living room. He'll be back to move the washer/dryer to the main floor (so she doesn't have to make the trip to the basement) and he will also remodel her main bath. (He is a plumber so don't be scared for her.) More cleaning commenced, including inside and outside windows.

I organized all her scrapbook supplies so she has an awesome crop space, and we moved her office area to the scrap area so that we had room to set up her sewing nook right in the sunny (former) office space. All her teaching supplies are ready for her in the spare room. (Oops, that was her old room, now her daughter's room from when she's visiting from college, so please don't call it the spare room in front of her!) Are you all with me now? See how everything got a fresh, clean new home? Just because we started to get things ready in case she needed to spend a lot of time at home.

Then we dropped in on her daughter (my niece, Mom's granddaughter, again, just in case you're keeping score) on her first day of school and took her and her dormmate shopping for whatevers. (Whatever you want, fill up the cart, we don't know when we'll be back to do this again shopping.) We figured it's something my sister would have done if her doctors weren't keeping her chained to her bed via an IV. (What do you mean, she has to be able to eat and keep it down before you release her? What kind of a rule is that?)

And why do you want to know all this? Well, a really tremendous thing happened while I was out. Four people decided that it was time for a store makeover. The way I hear it, it all began with moving a rack here and adding a new display there. By the time it ended ( and I was not here to witness it, so I can only rely on the information that I have scrounged up), nearly everything had a new home and had been moved, straightened, or otherwise adjusted. Now, the store looks fresh, updated, clean, and inspiring to everyone who steps inside. It is without doubt, simply incredible.

How do you thank people for taking the time to do something so special? How do you let people know how much they are appreciated just for being? How can you possibly respond in the right way to something that is so deeply meaningful that words just do not seem to be enough? Every time I try to write something down, it comes out goofy, or sappy, or saccharine, or just not good enough. So I finally realized, well, that's because that's how I sound, so just deal.

Overall, it's all just enchanting: the work on the outside and the way the passion feels on the inside. I feel like I have lived through my own "pay it forward" and I can only hope that the loveliness that was built in a little house in Vermont and crossed the country to a little store in Ahwatukee is reflected around the world on a day that otherwise carries a burden of sadness.

Thank you Tammy.
Thank you Natalie.
Thank you Gail.
Thank you Elsa.

It's really something.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Are You an Escapee?

We are honoring all Creative Escape attendees with a 10% discount throught this Sunday, Sept 10. Bring in your evidence of attendance at the Creative Escape and we will apply a 10% discount to your entire purchase!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Treasures of the Heart Rusty Pickle Class











































Lance Anderson, Pickle Man from Rusty Pickle, will grace us with his presence on Tuesday Sept 12 from 11am-1pm. Lance will be teaching a class perfect for the love in your life. $35 holds a spot for this gorgeous, rustic, picture-perfect album. We expect this class to fill quickly, so please register now if you are interested. If we sell out, half of all proceeds from this class ($210.00) goes to Gilda's Club.

Oh, THAT Basic Grey

It's finally here. Now, if I could just track down that Cricut, life would be complete.