Sorry, its been awhile!!

Well, its been several months, and no updates! As most of you know the building is now done, and hopefully you've all been in to check out the new and improved decor. We are really enjoying the change, and have had a lot of positive feedback. Probably one of the most exciting changes is the addition of the crop room/conference room, as well as the purchase of some tools. Our biggest addition is an Accu-Cut Machine, which is available for use at the store. It can be used on a pay as you go basis, or we have a tool club, for $30 per month, that gives unlimited access to all of our tools anytime the store is open. Contact Tayleene for details. We have held one crop in the new room, and everyone had a great time. The lighting is wonderful, and the food and drink are excellent as well!

Keep your eyes peeled for our new web site! We've been talking about this for months, but its about to become reality. I'll try to get a preview page up soon that you can link to to see the basic design.

Thank you all for your patience with our blog, as our transitions have made it difficult to do timely updates. Talk to you soon!

Mark and Tayleene

Hey everyone,

Its our last day at market, and we're excited to be coming home.  Call me strange, but I really do enjoy seeing all the new product, and, truth be known, I think I'd probably enjoy scrapbooking if I had time to try.  As I said yesterday, we're really pumped about the product we're bringing in.  In reality, its like we're doing an entire store turn-around, as there are only 4-5 of our present manufacturers that we will continue to carry.  The rest of our product will come from new companies, at least 10.  The new companies include Bam Pop (a funky company with funky paper!), Reminisce, Crate Paper, Sweetwater, Moxxie, Glitz, Tattered Angels (maker of Glimmer Mist) SRM (maker of stickers), Inque Boutique, Tonic (maker of great, original tools), and I think a couple more.  We are also happy to announce the purchase of an Accu-Cut machine, which will allow a lot of flexibility and new opportunities for class projects, etc.  Be watching the newsletter for information about an Accu-Cut club, which will allow you to come to the store and use our machine for your own projects!  The pictures below are mostly layouts made with the new products.  As needed I've included comment to explain what product was used.  We should be getting the first shipments in the next 2 weeks or so.  See you soon!

Mark and Tayleene

This layout was made with some new "2008" paper that we ordered.











St. Patrick's Day Paper!!











The next 3 layouts were all done using tools from Tonic, that give a lot of flexibility in making different shapes, very precisely. We can't wait to get these tools in, which should be in about 2 weeks. Stay tuned!
























































Finally, here's a picture of Tayleene after all the works done, and all the orders are placed. Quite the difference from yesterday's pic, huh?







This is Sharon Ann and Lori, two designers from Little Yellow Bicycle that are responsible for a lot of the product we have in our store, and some of the new product we'll be bringing in. Everyone at LYB is so nice.






The next three pictures are again examples of what can be done with the new Tonic tools.

Winter CHA Day 2 Pics

Well, Day 2 is over, and we've made all our decisions on what to buy. We've actually placed about 4 orders, and I'll include some pictures for you to look at The picture quality isn't very good, because I only have a small memory card, and was running out of space so I had to make the picture size small. The color isn't the best, but hopefully the picture will give you an idea, anyway. There's also a picture of the gals from Scrapbook Paradise in Albion, NE. We went to Albion for a scrapbook convention in November, and took a lot of product with us to sell. It was a good time, and we made friends with Kami, Starr and Janet. The yellow bike in the picture is the symbol of a new scrapbook line. Actually, the old De Ja Views product is being moved under the new name "Little Yellow Bike", and the brand name De Ja Views is being used for product being sent to Michaels, etc. The new Little Yellow Bike product is really cute. We'll have the first line in soon, and then a new line every 2 months afterwards. As promised, there's a semi-embarrassing picture of me in a pink shirt. One company was having a drawing for a free printer, and you got tickets by being spotted wearing this shirt. I was going to wear it all week, but found out that the drawing was wednesday, and we'll be gone, so I took it off. Oh well! I was willing to take one for the team, so to speak, but didn't have to! Enjoy the pics, and we'll send more tomorrow.

Well, folks, Tayleene and I are in sunny Anaheim, and just finished our first day at market. We flew in to John Wayne International Airport (there are 5 international airports in the greater Los Angeles area, apparently), and got started at about 9:00 this morning. We actually made good time in seeing the product we wanted to see. We may actually finish early. As I type this Tayleene is hard at work going over the product we saw, to decide what we're actually going to bring back for your enjoyment. Tomorrow's post will include a few samples of product we decide to buy. Below are some pictures of today's events.

The convention center is HUGE. This is a picture of part of the front of the building. Quite an impressive structure. I love all the palm trees here.





This is a picture of Tayleene and I at some booth. I forget which one! We probably visited 30-40 booths today!











Tayleene with Anna Griffin. She's a very nice person, seems very down to earth. She showed us around like we were the VIP's of the show (which we were not, but it was nice anyway!). Her new product is great, and we're excited about bring it home with us. We think you'll like her newest additions.







Tayleene with Vicki Chrisman. Vicki is a designer that works with various companies, and she visited scraps this last Fall and taught some classes for us. She's super-nice, and always fun to talk to. We hope to have her back to Scraps some day.





While waiting for Tayleene to get out of a seminar I took these pictures from a second floor balcony. Again, I just love the palm trees, and just couldn't help thinking "I wonder how cold it is in Kansas?"

This is Tayleene after a long day at the show. The upside down nature of the picture is due to the camera being upside down when I took the picture, and i'm too lazy right now to fix it. I thought the upside-down aspect kind of added to the sense of her being exhausted anyway, so I left it. She's put a lot of time and effort in the last few months trying to find the best, most original product to bring back. I think its going to pay off. Check tomorrow's post for a semi-embarrassing picture of me, looking silly trying to get free stuff.

Tayleene and I at Bubba Gump Shrimp. We work hard all day, then treat ourselves to a good meal at night. I had the "Accidental Fish and Shrimp", and Tayleene had the Stuffed Shrimp. Yummy!

That's all for tonight. Check back tomorrow night for our next installment of Winter CHA news!

Mark and Tayleene

Current Construction Pics

Well, this post will finally get you updated on the latest pics of the new store. These pics were taken tonight. You can see two pictures of exam rooms for the clinic, two pictures from inside the conference room, as well as a picture of the inside of the clinic area, outside the exam rooms. There are a few more pics as well. All the carpet and tile is in, and we are waiting on cabinets, which will come in about 2 weeks. Painting and sheetrocking are in full swing! Enjoy.