Art and Soul

Whirlwind of wonderful!

So much fun happenings at the store as of late. We are all settled into our new-slash-old crop room which I am just SO delighted about (which is being broken in as I type with tonight's crop), and practically the whole store is being rearranged to fit the TONS of new product that's come through the doors from CHA. and when I say tons, its literally according to our shipping rates...you'd never think paper could be so heavy. We also had our pow-wow to discuss and plan out the Holiday workshop this week. I can even describe all of the excitement surrounding this event. We are almost sold out entirely!

Now, Ill make haste with this blog post and not ramble on with all of the excitement that's bubbling inside of me to spare you the ridiculousness. Bullet points are always easy on the eyes:

• Hoards of Cosmo Cricket, including Earth Love, The Boyfriend, Jolly by Golly, and reorders of the popular Snorkel and Mr. Campy. I have the biggest crush on the boyfriend line. Its almost pathetic.
• If we havent already mentioned, Kaiser Craft came in a few weeks ago.
• Pink Paislee Twilight and Autumn bliss
• 3 lines from Nikki Sivils
• Little Yellow Bicycle Halloween and Autumn
• Anna Griffin Christmas
• Tons of fun ribbon from Creative Impressions which I am loving right now. The twill Music notes and ruler ribbon are a must have.
• And theres a bunch of new Karen Foster floating around the store in the particular theme section that applies. Really cute license plate words and 3-D titles that are really cool. 

Sorry that I couldnt tempt you with colorful images of all of this product. We have been hard at work purging and organizing and rearranging along with pricing and putting out all of this new product that I just couldnt find a minute to take pictures. I did have good intentions though, I promise. I brought my camera two days in a row to do so because I know how much you love seeing it all on the blog and I just feel like blog posts are much too blah without a photo. well mine are anyway!

A few other important notes...We will be closed on Monday, September 07 which is Labor day. However, we will be open for the weekend.

And those of you interested in Rhonda's wonderful 5 for $7 card class, she has chosen the September date and it will be September 12th which is next Saturday. If you'd like to join in just give us a call or drop by to register, its $7 and will be from 11-1pm.

I hope everyone has a fun Labor Day weekend, enjoy your Monday off of work and eat a scoop of potato salad for me! : )

-tmj

For sale...

It is so weird seeing the crop room back in the store again.  As Michele and I were setting up the tables and chairs yesterday, we agreed that we preferred it this way.  We have it arranged to that it is spacious enough but still able to accommodate plenty of croppers as well as the much-needed bags of supplies.  Anyway, it's not as large as the other place, so we had to consolidate the tables and we knew we weren't able to fit them all in the new/old room.  So...we have a few to sell.  Several of you expressed interest over the last few weeks in acquiring a table or two.  I agree it is always nice to have an extra table in the garage for something...a yard sale, extra company for dinner, sorting projects, etc.  I actually have one in the garage and it makes a nice children's table for the holiday dinners.  Cover it with a fancy tablecloth and you'd never guess that the table was ever pounded by a hammer or painted on, or used to make cherished scrapbook pages.  As well, we have a few fixtures available in the store too.  There's a stamp shelf, the waist-high project table, paper trays and holders, paint and ribbon racks to name a few.  Those are priced reasonably well and are in the front of the store for you to see.  Also, for those of you who claim you can open your own store with your scrapbook supplies...now's your chance to have your very own spinner.  Just hang all your embellishments where you can see them in one place.  Or use it in the garage for a tool rack.  Other, the possibilities are endless.  As for the tables, they are at a fabulous price.  You can check out staples.com to see what we originally paid for them, but we're letting them go at a steal right now...$50 for the 6-foot tables and $75 for the 8-footers.  They are the heavy-duty folding tables.  Well, you know what they look like, right?  And who wants an extra ergonomic office chair for their home?  How about $10 a chair?  So give us a call or stop by if you'd like anything...

Fa La La La La...la la la la...

Okay, so I think that's how it goes.  Anyway, over the past few weeks, we've been asked and asked and asked if we're going to have the Holiday Workshop again this year, and I said, no, I don't think so maybe next year.  So in my class last Saturday that was so much fun, such a great group, not one problem the whole day, they asked again, and I said perhaps not.  Then they said please.  And I said, we'll see.  So that evening, I shot off an email to the entire design team and they said, ABSOLUTELY LET'S GET IT ON!  They were so excited that they got me excited and now I can hardly wait for Christmas.  Since Saturday night, we've thrown so many ideas back and forth, scouring the catalogs, and checking websites, that it is now official...Yes, we are having the Holiday Workshop.  In just that short amount of time, we've got a plan going.  I've been on the phone all day with manufacturers, checking shipping dates, availabilities and ordering BRAND NEW CHRISTMAS GOODIES...It looks like it's all coming together fabulously.  Our design team should have their entire kits by the next of next week and they are all set and ready to make things, those freaky little DT elves... they can't wait to play with the new stuff and embellish and create and paint and glue and spread the new Rock Candy stickles all over everything. 

I have been sworn to secrecy on what the kits will have in them, but just to make it clear...everything going in the box is brand-new release.  And so many of our manufacturers have said, I'll throw in _____ too.  So it's gonna be a fabulous event.  And because I'm just not that good at secrets, here's some of the fun things going into the kits...Fancy Pants, BasicGrey, Pink Paislee, Kaiser Craft projects, Hero Art stamps, Crate Paper, Webster's Pages, and my favorite so far...Cosmo Cricket.  And there's so much more.  We're doing frames and mini albums, cards, tags, layouts and projects galore.  You'll be happy.  With what we've picked out, this will be the best one yet.

Because we plan to be in our new/old crop room by the time of the event, we're holding the Holiday Workshop twice.  Both days will be exactly the same, you come to one day or the other not both.  It will start at 10 a.m. and last until 8 p.m.  A festive holiday meal will be included.  The cost is $125.  We might be selling kits, but we're not sure yet.  Oh the dates:  Saturday, November 7th and/or November 14th.  If you want to come to both, you'll have to pay for both.  The store will also be open on the following Sunday from noon until 4 if you want to continue crafting.  Theresa sent us an email yesterday saying she was calling a few customers who had requested to be called, should we decide to do the event and it is 25% full already.  That's just crazy...Crazy I tell ya...

One thing is for sure...the DT will be making so many things that will be perfect to give as gifts.  You could possibly get a lot of your gift-giving done here.  We are seriously giddy about this.  Give us a call if you've got the spirit...

A Saturday afternoon class, anyone?

Almost every single person who has checked out at the register in the last few weeks has thumbed through this adorable little album. Its colorful, funky and so much fun for your eyes! This Eclectic summer album class is coming up this Saturday, August 22nd from 11-1:30 and its a great deal at only $25!

I just signed up a few more people today so if you are interested, and you should be, hurry up and call us because there are only a few spots left. : )

Dont Forget

Just a quick note for our Quickutz members, don't forget to come to this month's meeting. Its this Sunday and it will be starting at 12pm. Lisa said that if you didn't attend the last meeting, she will have your kit at this one.

Have a funfilled weekend and Ill see you on Sunday! : )

-tmj

Yes, yes, and yes...

Thanks so much to all of you who stopped by Friday and Saturday, once, twice and yes, even a few of you THREE times.  I appreciate your helping us to get that room ready.  We had quite a few phone calls and inquiries, so maybe this well help you out. 

First of all, we've added more stuff to the sale room.  More paper, lots more paper.  I saw quite a few "stacks" of the same paper that you had ideas for...invitations, cards, birthday party favors, and even one young bride-to-be getting paper to make table settings for her wedding.  There are quite a few coordinating lines in there, so stop by and see.  Yesterday afternoon we did add a lot of American Crafts paper and Thicker embellishments, Mini-Marks and alphas, so if that's your thing, better get a move on and see what we've got.  

When will the sale be over?  I don't quite know, but I will let you know.  When I see a substantial amount disappear, then that will possibly clue me in, but I'm thinking until the sale will continue until the end of next weekend.  And yes, we might continually move extra stuff in there because we're re-doing our displays and if a certain something doesn't fit, it goes to the sale room. 

And the final answer to the question...what charities?  I think we had about 20 or more phone calls on Friday from charities asking if we'd donate our leftovers to them.  So here's my decision and I think one everyone will agree on...Schools.  Many of our customers are teachers and because I have two young children, we talk school talk.  What I'm hearing is very disappointing.  Our teachers have not had a raise in 3 years, and may possibly get a pay cut in the very near future.  Sad.  And we all know  what teachers do for our kids.   And this year, the most stupid of all things, changing the school times...come in early on Wednesday and get out early...EVERY Wednesday.  Just so stupid.  A daycare nightmare. 

So teachers...if you're looking for some paper, paint, stickers, and other miscellaneous stuff, call and give us your name and number.  We've already taken a few down and we will call you once the sale is finally over and you can come in and take whatever you need.  Just bring us a paper with the name of your school, doesn't have to be letterhead, so I can write it off as a donation. 

And totally off subject here, but...Friday we did get a big shipment in of Tim Holtz Idea-ology (not the new stuff, just to replace what we ran out of when he was here), and if you didn't get it then, we've got it for you now.  Also, more of Teresa Collins new CHA release, books, page protectors, etc.  And for those of you taking Teresa's free online sports class, we ordered all that too and it's here. 

Rhonda will be posting soon about her fabulous class.  She'll provide visuals but it's something you will definitely like.  She passed out card kits to everyone at last Friday's crop, and they were just adorable.  It's called "It's in the Cards," and get this...it's only $7...

What the heck is going on?

That's what we've been hearing all week.  You've seen us moving things around the store, stuffing things in baskets and pretty much just making a big mess.  And here's why...

We're going to move the design studio/crop room back to its original location within the store.  I know this will make most of you very happy as you don't have to make the trek from one place to the next on Friday crop nights.  We've already set up the AccuCut station and I like it there. 

And we have an abundance of product still hanging on the shelf that we need to find a new home for (perhaps yours?).  We've got new stuff coming in and no where to put it, especially since we'll have the crop room in the store.  And when that will happen?  Hopefully within the next couple of weeks.  This Friday night (tomorrow), the crop will be in the same location but by the next crop, hopefully we'll be all settled in.

So to make room...we're moving a whole lot of stuff into the future new crop room and putting it on sale.  I would like it to go quickly so we can dismantle the old crop room and get it settled in the new place.  So everything you see in that room will be 75% off.  And boy let me tell you, there's some good stuff in there.  If we see one of something hanging on the wall, we're moving it in there.  And paper...OMG...the paper that's in there.  Can you handle 10 cents a sheet?  Stock up, pile up. 

I want the store to look better than ever.  I want brand new product.  I got some sort of crazy infusion while I was at CHA and we have big plans.  More make & takes.  More mini classes, and yes, we'll be bringing back the Happy Hour on Wednesday in the fall.  But seriously, I want to see all new stuff, and I know you do to.

So we're putting the older releases on sale.  The usual stuff, tools, adhesives, Bazzill, albums will be in the front and not included in the sale.  But ya know, there's still some tools and albums going for 75% off.  And maybe since I've gotten your attention as to when?  Starting tomorrow, Friday August 7th at 10 a.m. carrying on until it's gone, which I'm hoping will be by Sunday.  Anything that's left in there will be donated to charity, because we want the NEW STUFF, right?

Back to the business at hand...

Again, I must say I don't know what I was thinking trying to squash Tim Holtz, CHA and Teresa Collins into an 8-day event.  Certainly they each deserve their own separate month.  However, I was delighted that CHA decided to be in our own backyard, rather than me traipsing across the USA to see the latest and greatest of all-things-scrapbooking.  More on that in a bit.

Let me just say for the record.  I love Tim Holtz.  And I can't pinpoint one certain thing, he's just the total package.  My type of renaissance man.  So after spending the weekend with this man of our dreams, I'll fill you in on a few things you just might not know about him.  Or maybe you do, but anyway, it bears repeating.  And dare I say it, but if you took away his creativity and his ability to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse (thanks Grandmom), I would still love him.  First of all, he is so nice.  And he's genuinely nice.  Not the kind of person who is nice to you, then turns around and rolls their eyes like they really don't have the time for you.  Tim is real.  And he really enjoys being around us wannabes.  He sincerely enjoys seeing what everyone has created, how they interpret what he teaches, and most of all, he enjoys demonstrating his stuff.  Not because he's obligated to...he just likes doing it. 

Tim is organized...to the point that everything has to be just...so...Now I like that.  If you took his class, you might remember that everyone's spot had everything you needed for class.  And each spot was arranged exactly the same.  And nothing askew.  Nobody was missing anything and that's because it ws triple-checked before anyone could come in and sit down.  And to get things this way, when he unpacked, everything had been cleaned off, packed a certain way, the caps on everything were double-checked so that the lid for Fired Brick didn't perchance cover the Shabby Shutters pad.  And when we packed it up after class was over, Tim came over to make sure that everything was in order and that WE hadn't made a mistake.

Tim also likes to relax and have fun.  I so enjoy hearing him laugh (especially at Schmid).  A good mojito helps him laugh too.  And we had a few good mojitos on Friday night.  He's easygoing...I heard him say "no worries" so many times.  He goes with the flow and takes things in stride.  All in all, just a pleasure to be around, and I'm looking forward to the next time. 

After teaching three back-to-back classes at Ruban Rouge on Saturday, we drove to Orlando, where he had to teach more classes on Sunday and Monday, and then demo everything for CHA, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  And I know he's teaching at CKU this week, so this guy needs a break.  But for all he went through, a normal human would be exhausted.  He was always "ON" at the show.  I walked past his Ranger booth where he was demo'ing all his cool stuff and showing off the new Rock Candy Distress Stickles (and he gave everyone there a bottle).  And he his new stuff was everywhere, and pretty much the talk of the show...my personal favorite?  The new tiny filmstrip ribbon.  Well I do kinda like the Rock Candy stickles...I ordered a bunch of all his new stuff, so we're good there. 

Overall, it was a total thumbs-up weekend with Tim.  For those of you who were lucky enough to snag  spot in his overfull class (and put up with the a/c meltdown), you know what I mean...

I'll be back in a bit to post my favorite CHA finds.  

Public Service Announcement...

I have so much to tell you, spanning from the wonderful classes last weekend, courtesy of Tim Holtz, followed by the delightful abundance of new CHA goodies.  However, right now I'm getting everything set up for the sure to be fabulous Teresa Collins classes tomorrow, which is the subject of this post.  Here are the times for her classes:

9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Friends album class.

Then we'll have lunch.

2:00 p.m. until 5 p.m. will be the Recipe book class.

And on Sunday I will post everything I know about Tim, the classes and the new releases from the craft and hobby show, and supply visuals.  Sound good?  See ya this weekend...

Tim Holtz PSA

Hey ladies and gentlemen, its Theresa to give you a quick note about tomorrow's classes. Our phone has been ringing off the hook with questions about what you should bring tomorrow because we never posted a supply list for Tim's classes. Well, we didn't have a supply list until now.

Tim has told us that he doesn't want you to bring anything but a smile. I know you have plenty of that in stock. : )

So that's that. If you have any other questions just give us a call and we'll try our best to give you an answer. Lisa is out feeding and entertaining Tim and Mario right now at my favorite restaurant, wonder if she'll feel inclined to bring me back some of the best calamari Ive ever eaten. mmmmm Anyway, what I was getting at is all we gotta do is call her and we'll have your answer in a jiffy.

So while you are counting down the hours till your journey into the land of distress; relax, find your favorite apron and get ready to dirty your hands with ink. The only thing you really need to plan is where you're going to have lunch or dinner in between classes. and there's plenty to eat around here!

See you tomorrow!