Mixed Media Mania - Spotlight on Stencil Girl

Last weekend, we packed up a lot of the store and headed out to Sherwood Park to join Canadian Scrapbooker's Carnival... and let me tell you, deciding what to take to fit into a 10x10 booth is a tough job!!  

We really wanted to focus on items that we carry in the store that people may not have seen before but we love - we knew that Stencil Girl was coming with us for sure!

I was very grateful we made this decision because those stencils FLEW out of our booth!!  We actually came back and placed an order on Sunday so that we have some to take with us to Calgary in two weeks :)

As a mixed media gal, I love my stencils...I love the different ways you can use them and how they add that unique touch to your art journal, your cards, or even your layouts.

When we decided to open a store, we made a very conscious decision to find unique items..and Stencil Girl was one of our first finds.  They are a great company to deal with and their stencils are top quality with unique designs.  

Have a poke around their blog and check out some of their fantastic tutorials and their awesome Creative Team.  And if you see a stencil you must have, let us know and we would be happy to bring it in for you!

What's Up - Sept 15-21, 2014

WHEW!!!!!!! 

We just finished a very busy and fun-filled week!!

We packed up and headed to Canadian Scrapbooker's Carnival and let me tell you.......what a fun couple of days!!!  We met so many new friends, visited with some old friends, and had a ton of fun doing it!  Those ladies at Canadian Scrapbooker know how to have fun :)  We are already looking forward to next year's show...where it will be an 80s theme!!  We get to do it all over again in two weeks as we are joining Calgary for their show as well - look out Calgary!

We wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to our staff for keeping our (empty) store running.  Also a big thank you to Bree and Andrea for helping design kits and another big thank you to Bree for doing a make and take on Friday and helping out in our booth.

Thank you also to Meaghan for your help on Saturday and to the awesome guys who helped us take down, haul back, and put away on Saturday!

This week in the store, we have our Art Journal class on Tuesday - we will be playing with the awesome new Izinks (which were a big hit at the show this weekend).  And Saturday, Jenn will be re-running the very popular Harry Potter inspired canvas for our teens and tweens.
Bree's Project Life make and take was a big hit at the Carnival...come check out her class this Sunday from 10am-1 pm.  Class includes pretty much everything but your adhesive!!

We are expecting two big shipments this week - one today and one on Thursday!

Hope to see you soon!

Art Journal Class

Tues. Sept. 16th 630-930 pm

or

Sunday Sept 21st 2-5 pm

$23.50*

Harry Potter Inspired Canvas

Sat. Sept 20th 1-4pm

$40

Project Life
Sunday Sept 21
10am-1 pm
$35

Mixed Media Mania - Mumkaa Style

It's Mixed Media Tuesday!

Today, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite Mixed Media Artists - most people know her as Mumkaa but her real name is Magda Bolinska.  She uses many different medias on her layouts, in her art journal, and her fabulous Project Life pages.  Check out some of my favourite projects of hers!

And if you are looking for inspiration, be sure to check out her Flickr page or do a quick search for her on Pinterest!

What's Up - September 8, 2014

Have you recovered from the shock of our blog post yet?!

Well, here's What's Up for the week!

We had a fantastic weekend - lots of customers coming in for the brand new Prima (Epiphany, Forever Green, Cigar Box Secrets, and Coffee Break); Kaisercraft (Teddy Bear's Picnic, Christmas Basecoat and Yuletide); and the gorgeous Dina Wakley stamps!

Friday Night Crop had a ton of creative ladies and lots of late night giggles and Bree's first Project Life Crop and Swap was a big hit too!  Bree has already picked the date for the next one and has some pretty awesome classes coming up too.

Classes this week - Jenn has a fantastic Advanced Lettering class on Thursday the 11th and Andrea's super popular Scrap A Pack is on Saturday from 10-10.  I love seeing everyone's layouts with the different papers!  Hopefully the ladies will let Andrea take some photos so we can post them!  I also have my Art Journal class on Sunday from 1-4...can't wait to play with the new Izinks!

And some sad news.... Michelle's last class with us will be this Wednesday the 10th (Stamp of the Month) :(  Michelle is such a fantastic instructor and we will miss her terribly but she is onto new opportunities so we wish her all the best!

Ivy and I went out shopping as we are heading to Canadian Scrapbooker's Carnival this weekend.  We wanted to find some awesome things for our booth and ....... we found the most incredible thing!!!  Hopefully you get a chance to pop into our booth and see it...if not, you never know when it may pop up again! 

Speaking of the Carnival, we are busy beavers around here making up a ton of kits to take with us!  We have layout kits, card kits, Project Life kits and product kits!  This will be our very first Carnival and we are so excited to join in the fun!  We are packing up a ton of goodies to bring with us - can't wait to see you!  

Let's Get on Track....

Our poor, sad and neglected blog...

Summer seemed to get us way off track so we sat down and thought about how to get back on track...

and short of hiring minions, we thought a schedule would be a great idea!!

We came up with some ideas...but if there's something you want us to blog about, we would love to hear it!

Our new blogging schedule:

Monday - What's Up - posts about what classes are happening this week, exciting things we are up to  and what product we are expecting.

Tuesday - Mixed Media Mania - we will highlight Mixed Media artists, products, companies...anything we can thing of that has joined and inspired the mixed media world!

Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday - it has been around forever in the blogging world.... No words in this post but photos that caught our attention!

Thursday - Happy Stampers - we will highlight all things stampy!  It may be the products to go along with your stamps, techniques, and stampers that make us smile!

Friday - Spark Your Inspiration - what better way to inspire you than to show your our top 5 Pinterest pins of the week?!

Tell us what you think!  And check back later for our first What's Up post!

Sometimes this industry........

Sometimes this industry can drive you crazy - trying to keep up with what's new, who's left which company, who's designing for who, what company is closing, yadda yadda yadda....

And then, sometimes this industry can remind you of all that's good in the world. 

You can spend two days in a room full of crafty people and be overwhelmed not only by talent but also by kindness, generosity and encouragement.

And so, we would like to thank Christy Tomlinson for two days filled with inspiration, laughter and creativity.

We would also like to thank the 40 women that came to our store and helped make the last two days such a success.  We were thrilled that the event sold out so fast,  but also so grateful to have met all of you and formed many new friendships!

Christy, we just can't say enough about you... you were so easy-going and honestly, a joy to host.  Your teaching style was so encouraging and you are one of the most genuine, kind, and caring souls we have ever had the privilege to meet in this industry.  We aren't kidding when we say our calendar will be cleared for you and Margie!  

Whether you traveled clear across the country to take the class, or if you were only a hop, skip and a jump away, thank you!  Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing more of you!

Here are some pictures from the fun!!

Inspiration Tuesday - Simple Stories Style

Happy Sunny Tuesday!

I am loving the nice warm weather and am counting down the days until school is done... I have been busy trying to get some last minute teacher gifts done and couldn't resist the fantastic new line from Simple Stories "Good Day Sunshine"!!  It is so fun, bright, colourful and just........happy!

Simple Stories has a fantastic way to share some inspiration using their "Good Day Sunshine" line with you - a FREE ebook with 20 pages of layouts, cards and much much more!!

Check out Vicki Boutin's super cute layout

And Lisa Swift's Super Cute Card

And speaking of Lisa Swift...if you need some AWESOME teacher gift ideas, you can check out her full list of some here 

My kids are working on these neat Teacher Notes

...I will post a picture when they are done!