Online Store Up & Running!

Hey Folks!  Finally a bit of cool weather to enjoy. 

I know that most people are missing the hot, but I am not one of those people. 

It's wonderful to be able to sleep again at night.

 

I had said that I would have the August kits ready early, and I suppose I'm a few days early.

Just not nearly as early as I wanted. 

Problems with my internet and my not reading an e-mail properly concerning a wholesale order set me back about a week. 

I've now loaded some of the basics into the online store. 

It's a new set-up and I'm hoping it will run smoothly.

 

A few things to consider when using the website to shop ...

 

Shipping ...

• If you are ordering locally and want to avoid the shipping costs by picking your order up or having me drop it off, you need to choose the "Local Pick Up/Delivery" option when prompted. 
• This will add no extra shipping to your order and should save this preference for future orders.

Regarding your payment options ...

• I am considering setting up to accept credit cards online.  Until then, I still have my machine here at home and can manually run through any credit card payments. 
• You can also use PayPal through the website and have your credit card attached to your PayPal account.
• If you are wishing to pay by cheque or cash, please use the Money Order option and make a note in the comments as to whether you will be paying by cash or cheque at delivery.
• I will be in contact via e-mail to make arrangements for delivery.

 

Now on to the August Kits!

 

Are you ready for a bright summer kit?  I think "Summer Camp" will fit the bill quite nicely.

Lots of vibrant coloured papers from Simple Stories "I Heart Summer"

and Echo Park "Happy Camper" ...

There is a tonne of paper in this kit ...

A nice feature of the new website format is that I can link related products. 

When you open the "Summer Camp" kit on the website, you will see a list of items at the bottom.  I've tried to include the patterned papers and cardstock from the kit so that you can order extras if you can't decide which side you would use.  I've also linked some coordinating embellishments.

While this kit looks pretty paper heavy, you receive a 12x12 sheet of stickers and three of the patterned papers can be cut apart to use as journaling or accent cards. 

One of the items I'm pretty excited about this month is the Friendship Bracelets kit.  

It contains six colours of embroidery floss as well as written instructions to make six different styles of bracelets.  I thought this would be a really useful product to include ... make the bracelets to wear, use a finished bracelet as a trim on a layout or card, use the floss as you would normally use twine or get out an embroidery needle and stitch away on your paper. 

There are just so many ways to use the floss and the colours work wonderfully with this kit.

If you purchased "Heating Up" last month, I would recommend just dumping both of the kits in one big box and going to town.  I hadn't realized until I had them laying out together how well they coordinated.  If you didn't purchase one when they first came out, there are a few left in the store.

The "Tripping" kit is the one that had me in a bit of a holding pattern this month.

I couldn't quite decide how I wanted to deal with it.  I had thought it would be nice to do another mini album kit like I had last summer so I built this kit around the idea that you would use it to complete a few layouts and a mini album ... all with a travel theme. 

But the album really bumped up the price of the kit and not everyone is into doing mini albums.  So ... what you receive in the kit is what is pictured below. 

Not as much in the way of 12x12 paper, but a lot of other product to be used in a variety of ways.

The sticker packages look deceiving because each package actually contain 6 sheets of stickers.

One package contains six different colours of alphabets and the other has six sheets of various labels.



The album will be sold separately and is the Basic Grey Basics Kraft Bound Album. 

It is quite nicely made with bound pages.  I don't know when I've been as impressed with a mini album's construction.  There are a limited amount of these albums, so snatch one up while you can :)

In lieu of the amount of 12x12 paper you would normally see in one of my kits, you will receive 12 sheets of 6.5x9.5 paper from the Basic Grey Captured collection. 

 They are perfect to work with if you choose to complete a mini album, but they also are a nice size to use for layering on 12x12 layouts and for cards.

The 12x12 patterned papers are from Teresa Collins "Far and Away" and Basic Grey "Carte Postale".  Also included is some new Tattered Angels mistable burlap.  Not quite sure whether I'll bother misting mine.  It's a gorgeous cream colour that would be wonderful on it's own or die cut.

Extras are available in the store if you can see yourself using this over and over again. 

One more thing regarding "Tripping" ... you will have a choice of Thickers with this kit. 

Please indicate in the comments when you check out whether you would prefer the Memo Cork or the Kensie Cream.  Photos are available in the gallery.

 

This month's project gallery is running a bit behind.  Sarah has too much on her plate this summer and is taking a break from the kits and I've been working at getting the website presentable.  Hopefully soon :)

Goof

Good morning all you hot mamas out there.  How is everyone handling the heat?  I actually flopped into the pool yesterday and it has already happened again today.

My mom was invited to her friend's 80th Birthday Brunch at Langdon Hall in Cambridge on Sunday.  As she wasn't comfortable driving on her own, I played chauffeur.  I have a terrible sense of direction and would fail miserably if I tried to drive professionally.  We eventually reached our destination ... in one piece without any major emotional breakdowns.  And what a beautiful spot.  Just lovely.  Of course I forgot my camera, but managed to snap a few photos with my phone.  None do the place justice. 

 

I was to have a few friends come out for a visit, but between headaches and summer colds, I guess I'll be on my own.  I won't complain though.  I think today would be a very good day to sit under the ceiling fan and enter product into the store.  I always seem to find other things to do and have been neglecting this task.  However, I managed to squash my fingers the other day and am finding it difficult to do physical type work.  Even typing hurts so I'm reverting to a hunt and peck style that is not my thing.

 

On to a layout ....

This one has been done with "Heating Up".  Love sunburst paper.  It draws the eye so well when you place your photo at blast point.  (Yeah ... I know that sounds stupid but I'm stupid this morning.  Still working on coffee number one.)

To further accent the rays, I added faux stitching to alternating rays with a gold Uniball pen (received in the December 2012 kit).

My first go at the American Crafts Zazz! glitter glue.  It has a texture somewhere between regular Stickles and Distress Stickles.

I loved the sketchy feel of the Thickers and wanted to incorporate it elsewhere in the layout.  Using a thin black marker, I lightly and loosely outlined the elements on the "me oh my" card and the smaller letter stickers (Simple Stories Sn@p! Cardstock Stickers, Typeset - now sold out).

The August kits are coming along.  I'm just waiting for a few more items before I can reveal them.  Just be ready for bright, summer fun and some travel themed goodness :)

 

Have a great day!

Some puppers ...

Hello, hello.  The crazy heat has finally broke a bit and makes for easier sleeping around here.  We're planning a massive bonfire for tonight (the remnants of an old barn that's been torn down), so hoping for some nice weather.

The August kits will be another few weeks before they're ready.  I've had to made some substitutions, but I'm pleased with how they're coming together.

The online store will soon be ready to go.  I'm hoping by the end of next week.  Until now, I've only had just the kits and a few extras on the website.  I had no idea how time consuming it is to load each item.  One can only stare at a computer screen so long before going a bit squirrely.  But it will come.

 

Today I'm sharing a layout made with "A New Beginning" (still a few left).  Very, very simple.  One piece of patterned paper, a bit of cardstock and a few embellishments.

I didn't want to take away from the photos by adding any more paper, but I did want to add a bit of dimension behind the photos.  I used Liquitex Blended Fibers (applied with a palette knife through a Prima stencil).  It started out white, but as it dried, it seemed to absorb some of the colour from the paper.  I wish I'd taken a photo of it while it was drying.  This was my first time using the Blended Fibers so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I then just rubbed a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the tops to help bring out the texture.  Very subtle, but just what this page needed.

The "wandering afar" sticker is a bit of an inside joke.  The dogs belong to our friends Jen & Kirk and are forever wandering off and coming back (after a time) dirty, tired and thoroughly pleased with themselves.

The little gem pin is from a kit from last summer.  Keep your bits!  You never know when you'll be able to use them :)

Completely unrelated to scrapbooking, check out this website.  The director is the son of a friend (who I met through the store so I guess it's not completely unrelated to scrapbooking).  I would be wonderful to see a film made in our very own London.  Please donate!

Settling in ...

So I'm home now.  The store is cleared out and is beginning it's transformation into Once Upon A Time Weddings' new home.  I stopped by yesterday to pick up some mail that they were holding for me and had a look around at the work they've already done.  It will be different, but lovely.
It has been an adjustment ... not going in almost every day to my little store.  But with everything that needs to be done around here, I haven't had a lot of time to really miss the most recent chapter in my life.  I have many projects started and none finished :)  Typical.  Flowers purchased and waiting to be planting (we've had oodles of rain lately, so I'll blame the weather), a table partially transformed, boxes and boxes and boxes yet to be gone through and uploaded to the new online store.  We've fit in a sleepover and some cherry picking.  Planning some day trips, some time with my mom, an upcoming sushi dinner date, more cherry picking and some visits with friends.  This summer will fly by.
What I am really missing are the wonderful people I saw so frequently at the store.  Those customers who quickly became friends.  A group of them came by the night before my last day open to say goodbye to the store.  Definitely a bittersweet evening.  Great food and conversation.  But knowing that it would be the last time we would be gathered in a location that had become home to many of us was hard.  I'm hoping that after we all get over the incredible busy-ness of the summer, we can start getting together on a regular basis again.
One of the shocking events that has occurred is that I've actually been scrapbooking again.  Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking, but photos on paper and in the album. 
Nothing but "Heating Up" on this one.  No ... I lie.  A couple of staples too.  Pretty basic, but I love the background paper and didn't want to add so much that it would take away from the photo.

This is Paul's friend Wyatt on our trip to African Lion Safari this year.  The pizza was bigger than the kid's head. I couldn't stop laughing.

Still a few of these kits left on the website.  Local delivery/pickup available.

Stay cool folks!  Stock up on popsicles ;)