A little "Peace" of Me!

January 9. Twenty. Twelve.

2012-01-08T15:31:00.004-05:00

A lot of people loathe Mondays. I adore Mondays. It's like a tiny little new year every seven days. A day to start over. To set goals. To make lists. To get things accomplished. So today, I am making a list of all the things to do tomorrow and this coming week. A select few of these items on my list are:

1. Head back to the gym. Holiday's over. Literally. And my butt is screaming with excitement at the thought of not having to spend all day cooped up in such tight pants. :0)

2. Keep purging my paperwork at work and at home! This excites me very, very, very much!

3. Eat a whole week of homemade, not store bought, lunches and dinners. And super healthy ones too!

4. Start my new library book - Creep. Highly recommended by a bestie of mine. Can't wait for that to happen.

5. Get intimately acquainted with my new camera lens.

6. Put the finishing touches on some Christmas gifts for my family's "may never happen" Christmas get-together. Looks like it might happen this Saturday. Or not. Who knows. Time will tell!

7. Send back a Christmas present that I bought and then changed my mind.

That's it! I hope everyone has a super duper great week!

Twenty. Twelve.

2012-01-03T13:54:00.003-05:00

I love the fact that it is now 2012. I love the way that sounds. Twenty-twelve. It just rolls right off the tongue, no? I was never a fan of the linguistic characteristics of twenty-eleven. 5 syllables. Too many if you ask me! AND.....Twenty twelve is an even number. TOTALLY plays to the neurotic side of me. And to top it all off, it's a leap year. Yeah! So surely, all-in-all, this MUST be a good year then don't you think. Out with old and in with the new!

A little spark of creativity...........

2010-09-12T16:46:00.002-04:00

Long time no blog. Whatever. Life's too short for regrets, and I could come up with a million excuses as to why I let my blog go, but it is what it is, right? So I will zoom right in on some fun stuff!

I had a little bout of creativity yesterday. I went to a crop at the new Nook and hung with some of my favourite girls like Elia, Janice, Karen T., Karen M. and Jen B. I actually got something accomplished. I can't say how fun it is to go to a crop and be on the other side of the counter! Fun, fun fun!!!!!!!!!! I worked on three layouts. One of my favourite niece (who is growing up faster that I can hardly believe!) and two of my adorable, sweet and ever so handsome great-nephew Austin. He too is growing leaps and bounds. Except he's still too little to leap or bound.

I went away with this same group of girls about 8 weeks after my Dad died and we had a great time.....just what I needed to help see me through some really bad times. It's amazing isn't it, what the love of friends can get you through. So thanks girls..........for everything you do!!!!

These are a few of my favourite things...........

2010-04-07T15:50:00.011-04:00

Happy belated Easter to everyone!

Easter has always been one of my most favourite times of the year. It is so steeped in tradition in my family. Sunrise church service, a HUGE brunch that mom used to make for everyone that came out to church, watching the Ten Commandments (MOSES....MOSES...MOSES) with my Dad...and on and on and on. I really felt overwhelmed with how I/our family was going to cope without having my Mom with us this year. Truth told, I don't think we did too well. But we muddled through, and if you exclude the fact that I was so distraught at once point that I almost hyperventilated, you could say that we did okay. And Mamma, if you are looking down at me from the Heavens, I apologize for using paper plates for Easter dinner. But in my defense, they were DESIGNER square paper plates that cost a small fortune and looked adorable!!!!

Anyway, on with the show. Literally. I have some stuff to show y'all that I absolutely fell in love with over the weekend. We are faced with the challenge of "going through my Mom's things". Everybody and their brother warned me that this would be the hardest part of dealing with my Mom's passing; I however, found it to be the exact opposite. I could shut myself in my Mom and Dad's room forever and pour through her stuff. Rummage around in her cedar chest. Fan through her papers and notes and list that she's made. Leaf through her dog-eared magazines. It makes me feel so close to her. I can recall so many things about her that I have forgotten through the years or am starting to forget because they happened so long ago. I am flooded with memories of things we did with her as children. Of places that she's visited -- with or without me. Of things that she cherished and valued. Of the love that she had for each and every one of us. I am also reminded how much she hated to purge her clothes, those lists and magazines that I mentioned and so much more. MAN SHE HAD A LOT, LOT, LOT of stuff!!!!

There were so many things that Mom had tucked away that I had totally forgotten even existed. So I brought a few things home and wanted to share them here. And I am, for the time being, going to forget the fact that my sister muttered under her breath that she thought I would be a likely candidate for the tv show Hoarders!!!

First up in my bevy of beautiful items are these two small leather-bound photo albums. They are the size of small novels. The pictures in them all date back to the late 1800s. Most being from around 1881 - 1895. They were from my Grandpa Shain's side of the family (my mom's dad's side).

Then there is my Mom's SCRAPBOOK!!!!!!! See Mom.......I knew you had it in you all along!!! Isn't it just the most fabbie thing you have EVER seen!!!!! Most of the pages are still empty, but that doesn't bother me in the least. I am going to paste all of her school photos etc. in there. Maybe I will use contact cement too, just to keep in authentic. Just kidding!!! I really do love it though!

I managed to unearth my Grandma Thompson's Recipe tin too. She had oodles of recipe boxes, and this one is mainly filled with newspaper recipes, cooking tips from the paper etc. Mostly I love the tin!!! I am tin freak and just about peed my pants with excitement when Sheri and I happened upon this old beauty.

And then I found this old box filled to the rim with pictures, wedding invites, and memorabilia that belonged to my Auntie Bea. Oh how I LOVED my Auntie Bea. She was my Grandma Alice's sister. My Mom's auntie. And she was so kind and loving and sweet to my sister and I. She had no children of her own, and doted on us and my Mom as a result. She bought Sheri and I Canada Savings Bonds when we were little for our education, which she valued dearly. She was a grade school teacher in Beeton, Ontario. She died when we were very little, but I remember her so fondly!!! I never met my Uncle Harold but heard nothing but wonderful things about him too. I was so happy to find this box of family history.

And my MOST CHERISHED item that we found was my Grandma Alice's Diary. It's a 5 year diary too, which is just wonderful!!! My mom was adopted by her blood aunt (Alice--my mom's birthmom's sister) and Alice's husband Gerald. Mom was SO LUCKY to have been adopted by two of the world's most caring and compassionate people ever. They doted on her and the sun rose and set on her. When I read my Grandma Alice's diary it just totally reinforces how much those three loved each other and cherished their little family and each other. Some of the notes in there totally crack me up and some make my heart swell with love and pride. And it also reinforces that all the time (and money) I spend pursuing my wonderful hobby is SO WORTHWHILE. To look back and be able to get right inside their day-to-day lives is just incredible!!

That's it for now!! If you made it this far, thanks SO MUCH for reading! I know I yak a lot. My Grade 3/4 teacher, Mrs. Whalen, pointed that out several times in EACH AND EVERY report card she ever gave me. Patti talks too much. Patti is disruptive to the rest of the class. WHATEVER MRS. WHALEN!!!!! My mamma gave me my gift of gab, and I am happy to have it!!!

Cheers all!

Not much is new........

2010-03-18T10:58:00.004-04:00

other than I have desperately been trying to bring some order to my scrappy place so that I can feel inspired to cut into some of the mammoth piles of paper etc. that I have. I am happy to say that I have a brand new scrappy space (well one that I share with a TV/spare bedroom) and that my things are finally organized! And it only took 8 years!!!! And I even had enough energy afterward to do two quick layouts. Thought I might share them here.

LIFE IS SUCH..........

2010-01-11T14:33:00.002-05:00

that I am back here! I have oodles to say, but no desire to type it all out today. Suffice it to say that the later part of 2009 brought BIG changes to my life and I hope that 2010 will be the start of a much better year for me. I hope to pick up my blog a bit over the next few weeks, as, like I said, I have lots to say. Lots to type. Lots to get out. But my head isn't in the right space quite yet.

I hope all of my friends that come across my blog have a wonderful, peaceful and prosperous new year. HAPPY twenty ten!!!

There is no way in the World........

2009-08-17T10:54:00.001-04:00

that I can keep up two blogs......so we've moved!

Check it out at www.thescrappingnook.blogspot.com

Lots of fun, contests, etc. And I will try my very best to keep it more up to date! :0)

April Calendar..........and I SUCK!!!!!!!

2009-04-02T15:05:00.002-04:00

So I am all excited, because I finally (after trying for 63,987 years) learned how to turn a WORD file into a pdf. Then, being the incredibly smart and intelligent girl that I like to think I am, I learned how to turn that PDF into a jpeg. See that way, I don't have to scan the calendar and such. I can just "convert" it, and post it everywhere I want. Easy Peasy. NOT!!!!! Once I convert my files, the colours are WAY OFF!!! They look fine in Photoshop etc. But once I post them on Blogger here, my colours are all distorted. My little Lollipop Gang lollipop looks like it has Gangrene, my Happy Easter symbol looks gross, and all the lines and such are the colours of Peeps on Steroids. UGH!!!!!!!!! Why can't I figure this out? What's wrong with me? I give up..............look away if you find the colours hideous! But if you can bear it for a minute or two, here's what's on the calendar for April!!!

It's THAT time of the year again..................

2009-03-23T15:15:00.006-04:00

People always say the Christmas season is so busy, but for us, Spring is definately where it's at!!

All the new stuff from CHA winter starts to slowly trickle in, day after day, week after week, and then it picks up speed, and you start getting box after box after box....it's oodles of fun though to see the excitement over the new stuff!

This week we got a whole load of new Thickers (I am SUCH a puffy thicker fan, it's not even funny!!!!), the new Advantus/Tim Holtz stuff arrived..........I love Tim's new Masks.......and who DOESN'T love the price point!!! $4.00 pretty much buys you a great technique!

And there is more Prima paper (including the "OH* MY* GOSH* THAT*IS*SO*GORGEOUS*THAT*I*JUST*MIGHT*FAINT*" hand stitched paper that they released). Their Rosebud paper is one of my favouritiest (:0) papers ever!!!

And the wee Prima stamps..........OMG again, TOO CUTE!!!

Jenni Bowlin's Farmer's Wife line arrived too........and although I am not a farmer, nor a farmer's wife, I DID have the best Granddad ever who was a farmer and he DID HAVE A WIFE, so I have plans to put this paper to great use!!!

In addition to all the new lovliness hitting the shelves, we are going at a manic pace to try to get ready for Scrapfest and the retreat!! Within two weeks of one another............I can see the grey hair growing as I type this!

Have a great week everyone!!!

You gotta work it!!

2009-02-12T18:04:00.003-05:00

In the world of retail, one thing holds true. SOME THINGS JUST SELL THEMSELVES! It's as simple as that. You order something, price it, put it out on display, and people buy it. 1-2-3. Easy Peasy. Done Deal. Cha-ching. That's that!! Kaiser pearls, Prima bling, Jenni Bowlin bingo cards........all case in point. By the way....there is a whole lot of each of those things headed our way!

Then there are other things that you need to WORK at selling! This week, my mind is geared towards "selling" the Graphic 45 papers that are arriving on our doorstep next week! This is not a line for everyone. There........I said it out loud. It's super duper neat. It's uber coolio. More vintagey than the bag of clothing my mom got delivered to her after my Aunt Bea passed on (God rest her soul--she was sweet!). This line of paper is black and red and white and cream and ecru. I love that word. ECRU. Anyway, this paper won't sell itself. Deanna politely said "not really my style". Tara didn't say anything, which probably means she's thinking that it looks like her "Grandmother's couch" :0). I have also heard "not my cup of tea", "interesting" and a few other funny and polite comments!!

So, right off the bat, I know we will have to work this line!! It's kind of fun though, as it gives me a reason to get off my rump and dig thru all my old vintage photos, my box of my Grandma's hat pins and old brooches, my Grandpa's newspaper articles and all those other fun things that smell like the basement!! It gives me a reason to scrap! Cause I know that if I can't sell these puppies......I will have to find a home in my scrappy supply cabinet for all 400 sheets of paper!

Wish me luck!!! I will keep you posted with how I am doing!

Oh and by the way.......I could have also written this entry about the Jenni Bowlin "cow" paper that is on its way! *wInK*

2009-02-03T15:50:00.001-05:00

Who is the cutest little niece....

2009-01-24T15:18:00.004-05:00

in the whole world? This little girl...THAT'S WHO!! Thought I'd share my little creation below. We're having an all out kind of Online Crop this weekend, and here's one of my contributions (despite the fact that I broke the challenge rules!)

I have wanted to scrap this since summer!!! During lunch one time on a trip home from Ohio, Dakota noticed that I took my tomato off my sandwich (she loves tomato) and she asked me if I liked tomato. Without thinking, I said "It depends on the day"? She was quiet for a few minutes, and then asked "Patti, do you like tomato on Sunday?" I just about died laughing.........everything is so literal with little kids. I told her no, not on Sundays, and asked if she wanted my tomato, to which she happily said yes!

Do I know how to update this thing?

2009-01-14T18:33:00.005-05:00

Apparently not!!!! Life, Christmas, New Years, road trips, revamping the store, oodles of work at the office, blah..blah...blah!!!! Eveyone is busy, so I can hardly bitch about being busy!! But yeah, life is hectic!

SO....Happy New Year to all my friends!!! I am not big on New Years Celebrations...another year, same old stuff! But I do enjoy the feeling of "newness" that the digits 09 bring, so I will celebrate that!

We have made oodles of changes to the store.............I am so grateful for all the help I got from Elia, Janice, Karen, Deanna, Tara, Judi, Barb, Carol and Pat and David and Dakota and the list goes on and on and on.... We bought a bunch of new display pieces and acrylic shelves and got rid of so many of our paper racks. It's like a breath of fresh air in there! It no longer looks like a forest of paper racks. Here's a few peeks:

We have oodles of stuff coming in from CHA soon---We've been putting in our preorders already, and the show hasn't even started yet!!!

Have a great week everyone!

Have you lost your mittens?

2008-11-27T16:28:00.010-05:00

Three little kittens,

They lost their mittens,

And they began to cry,

Oh, mother dear,

We sadly fear

Our mittens we have lost.

What! Lost your mittens,

You naughty kittens!

Then you shall have no pie.

Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.

You shall have no pie.

Now if I was the mama to these poor little kittens who had lost their mittens (and let's face it....WHO HASN'T LOST THEIR MITTENS BEFORE?), I would rush right out to my local scrapbook store and buy them new MITTENS. MITTENS paper from Fancy Pants. Part of the Arctic Chill line. And ever so cute. Ever so functional. And it doesn't stink when it gets wet like wool does!! Anyway, here's a peek at the Arctic Chill line from Fancy Pants. It's fun. It's arctic. and it's very "chill". And it's in the store now! Just in time for winter!

Merry Christmas!

2008-11-26T17:33:00.007-05:00

I know, I know.....it's not Christmas YET!!! But it sure felt like it wasn't far around the corner this past Saturday! It was the Christmas Open House at the store, and for the first time ever, we planned a crop to coincide with the event! I had such a great day.....it's not very often that I get a chance to have a nice visit with my customers and friends, but Saturday gave me a nice little "friend fix"! Elia and I had a great time visiting with Karen T, Janice, Heather, Karen M, Rita, Deanna, Vanessa, Holly, Heather V, Debi, Tara, Judy and everyone else!! And Santa and his helper Elf dropped by for a visit with the kids and the girls at the crop! A great time was had by all! Here's a few pics from the day:

Happy Thanksgiving/Columbus Day!!!!

2008-10-12T15:41:00.005-04:00

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian Friends, and Columbus Day to my American friends! A bit of a holiday for those north and south of the Border. I had a wonderful (albeit short) visit my family yesterday.......a WONDERFUL turkey dinner my Mom cooked with all the standard trimmings and fixings. A chance to get caught up with my Dad, Sheri & Pat, and Dakota and David too! Dakota and I went on our annual Nature Hunt (I don't use the word hike, because if you know me, you know I don't hike anywhere...;0) ) for things to decorate the table with and it was beautiful!! We gathered gourds, auburn, crimson and orange leaves, wild flowers, wheat and even a spider(he was an uninvited tag along from the forest, who was promptly smashed into Grandma's carpet by a certain 8 year old who was freaking out!). Sadly, I didn't take any pictures (that line is getting old!). I really have to get better at that! I did however, remember that I still haven't scrapped this picture from two years ago (that little sweater is one that my Grandma made her just before Grandma passed away):

Happy Weekend everyone! Enjoy yourself!!!!!

Have you seen my Thumbelina??

2008-09-30T18:37:00.005-04:00

She looked JUST LIKE THIS:

I cannot explain to you how much I LOVED this doll!!!! She was nothing overly special at the time.....lots of kids had fancy dolls that ate, and slept, and burbed and even pooped. All my dolly did was move her head when you pulled the cord on her back. She moved her head in little circles. Other kids had HUGE dolls that you could dance with. Little Thumbelina was only 10" or so high. Other kids had dolls with long, curly hair, all tied up with ribbons, that you could brush and braid. Thumbelina had funky little spiky hair that suffered from awful bed head!! My sister's favourite doll, Mrs. Beasley, could talk and "teach" us how to do things. Thumbelina wasn't as gifted in that department. Despite her "littleness" and her bad hair, and her lack of impressive bodily functions, I loved Thumbelina more than anything! I love the way her little terrycloth pants felt between my 4 year old little fingers. I adored the way her little knit sweater looked so delicate and dainty. I loved the way she smelled of a combination of vinyl and the baby powder I doused her with. I loved the dopey/sleepy look she had on her face. Her little cloth torso was just perfect for hugging at night time, while her durable vinyl arms let me tote her around during the day. And now this little tiny baby is for sale on Ebay. I am soooo tempted to buy her. I haven't seen my little Thumbelina in 35 years. Oh how I miss her and I would love to get this as a great reminder of my youth. How can I justify buying a doll-I don't even have kids! Where would I keep her? Would she just collect dust? Hmmmmmm.............I have some thinking to do!

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN................again!!!!!!!

2008-09-15T19:15:00.003-04:00

We're back! Ron and I had a week away at a resort just west of Ottawa and had a great time. The week went by all too quickly! We took a day trip into Ottawa and went to the Byward Market (their produce there is SO GREAT.....and it's SO clean and neat looking too)!

We went on a few picnics, and did some shopping, but otherwise, it was just a week of "catch up on our reading, thinking, and sleeping" type of week! It's nice to be home though.

Off to make dinner now! Have a great week everyone!

Cheers!

Home again, Home again!!!!!

2008-08-30T12:58:00.010-04:00

Mom and I had a little four day weekend last week, and headed towards Amish country in Ohio for a few days of R&R! We had a great time. Did some shopping, some site seeing, some restauranting and more! I snapped some fun pics and thought I'd share a few!

Happy Anniversary...........

2008-08-14T15:58:00.002-04:00

to my wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, MOM & DAD!

43 years ago, in a tiny little church in Oakville, Ontario they tied the knot.

Have a great day guys! We love you bunches!!!!

This weekend..............

2008-08-10T16:23:00.003-04:00

We went here:

to get some of this:

I totally love going to the Brickwork's Farmers Market in the summer! It's so close (like 5 minutes away) and they have the most gorgeous selection of fresh fruits and vegs (lots of which are organic). Sometimes I forget just how good tomatoes really can be! It's funny because when I go to visit Mom & Dad, I can get fruit & veggies SO CHEAP compared to what we pay at the market here! Anyway, I don't really care what they cost........they are fresh and good for you, so it's totally worth it! By the way, I didn't take these pictures, they were on the market's site, because it's hard to juggle a camera and radishes!

Happy Sunday everyone!

A picture REALLY IS worth a 1,000 words............

2008-08-05T15:28:00.003-04:00

Here's hoping things get resolved REALLY soon! Thanks everyone for your emails etc.

We. Are. Still. Waiting........

2008-08-03T18:23:00.004-04:00

Oh I bet my third grade teacher would have a stroke over the "period" use in that title. She was by the way, the same evil teacher who hit me on the knuckles because I held (and still do) my pencil incorrectly! Anyway, I digress..........the point is that we are still waiting for our website to come back up. Apparently broken websites and long-weekends aren't a fab mix!

So anyway........here I sit, with lots of fun new things to load up into the online store, and no where to put them. Sucks to be me. But I will share a picture of just one of the cutest things ever:

It's Imaginesce's little calendar stamp. How totally cute is it? And it's only $1.29! Wowsers.........that's cheap!

I hear the lovely Tara was busy rearranging the paper yesterday too, so our local gals will have to re-acquaint themselves with our setup!

Have a wonderful Sunday evening everyone!!!

Our website is down...........

2008-08-01T15:02:00.002-04:00

We are doing everything within our power (well, really Chris is, because frankly I don't know how to do anything other than hit the enter and delete key) to get things back up and running as quickly as we can. I don't expect it should take too long, but in the meantime feel free to check in here for updates (or you can post a comment and we can have a mini forum right here :0) ) .

Rest assured that we will sufficiently extend the contest deadlines etc. for our Summer of '69 Challenge....so no worries there!

So long Tillman...........

2008-07-31T18:01:00.005-04:00

Over the past couple of weeks, I have tuned into the cutest little show ever on television! It's the Greatest American Dog (I think that's what it's called), and it's a little reality tellie for pups and their owners. Anyway, there was THE most adorable dog on the show named Tillman, but last night he got the boot and was sent home packing. POOR TILLMAN!!!!! I just had to share this little picture I found of him skateboarding. Who could possibly send this cutie home. It's a huge injustice I tell you! H-U-G-E!

Confessions of a lonely girl who had lunch by herself today.....

2008-07-28T16:18:00.010-04:00

Sad story my friends.....I am ALL ALONE at the office today. Elia is away on 'olidays (I'd like to move to England just so I could pronounce holidays like that and so I could use the word "chuffed" a bit more) and Ron is busy with appointments, so it was just me, myself and I.

That's when it happened. I popped down to the store to grab something quick for lunch, and suddenly and without warning I found myself holding a jar of cheez whiz. SERIOUSLY folks.....when was the last time I ate this? When I was four, five, eight maybe?? I don't think 30-something year old people are supposed to eat plastic-comes-in-a-bottle cheese products. And I was feeling very badly about that. Even though I bought the "light" cheese whiz AND whole wheat bread.

Now I see this pic of Senator Obama (soon to be pres??) eating a sandwich of some sort (a cheesesteak perhaps?) and in the lower right hand corner of the booth it says "ask for Cheez Whiz"....so I am SURE that's what's on his sarnie (see....I really could live in England!), and I figured, well if it's good enough for a Senator, it's good enough for this chicka! BTW....I am not sure why it looks like he's wearing braces or those Crest Whitestrips.........bad photo I guess!

Cheers and happy lunch everyone! :0)

Okay seriously now...............

2008-07-27T15:57:00.023-04:00

It's time to post to my blog or get off the proverbial pot!!! So post I will!

It's been three months since I updated this crazy thing, so chances are no one will stop by to even check if it's been updated...but in case you do, hello there!!!!

So much has happened in the past three months, that I am not sure where to begin!

First off, Destination Create was a BIG success!!!!!

Seriously.....we had so much fun...I am really looking forward to doing it all over again next May. Plans are already well under way!

I will post some more pictures over the next couple of days.

The 2009 is filling up reallllllllly fast! I was surprised how fast word of mouth gets around.

I am working on a DC Blog too, so that people can keep up to date on the retreat details.

Speaking of fun, we have a fabbie contest going on right now where you can win a BRAND NEW Slice Machine from Making Memories (I wonder why I typed BRAND NEW....it's not like we'd give away a freakin' used one! ;0) ). You can check out all the details here!

What else.....oh CHA!! We (after a very, very, tough decision) decided not to go to CHA in Chicago. This is the first time we've missed it (except for the year when we opted to go to Memory Trends in Vegas instead), and to be honest with you, I am kind of wishing we had gone. CHA is moving to Orlando next year (Disney World here we come), and I would have liked to have a chance to really see Chicago before the show moved on. It was just too much to fathom after everything that the past year has held. Between the man's surgery, then his Mom passing away, and the retreat, and a few other personal issues, I just felt like I needed a break! A break from on-the-spot decision making, planning, and the whole nine yards!!!! Rest assured though, Elia and I did our "online" homework and have oodles of new stuff coming into the store!

A wonderful friend and customer of the store, by the name of Karen T. was added to our design team and she has been a wonderful addition! If you have a chance you should take a peak at her gallery..........her work rocks!

Sweet Miss Dakota had her ballett recital in June and did a fabulous job!!! And the poolboy has been working oodles of hours in construction, coming home every night very hot and apparently somewhat cranky! He asked me the other night if I could call him back after he had a nap. Okay, sure thing....Mr. Crankypants!!!! Seriously though....that kid is sweet! I wonder how old he'll get before I stop calling him "kid"? 75....80?????? AND I got them both to stand still long enough for me to get a picture of them (her hair doesn't usually look quite so "Little House on the Prairie-ish, but it was recital day when I snapped this pic of them!).

Well....enough said for one day! I am going to try to find some pics to liven this post up with! A picture's worth a thousand words right?

Cheers my friends! Have a great weekend!

A little known fact..........

2008-04-24T15:09:00.003-04:00

I am a CHRISTMAS BARFER!!!!!!!!!!

From the time I was able to comprehend the concept of "activity" and "excitement" until I was well into my LATE teens.....I was a Christmas Barfer (my lovely Mother coined that term!). Every Christmas morning, sometime in between waking up, opening presents, and leaving for our Grandparents, I would barf!!! Sometimes in the front hall, sometimes in my bedroom, once in the LINEN CLOSET (the parents loved that one!). I just couldn't help it. I didn't (and still don't) cope too well with anxiety and/or nerves. Well, I am happy to report that I haven't tossed my cookies yet, despite the impending arrival of our retreat! I credit that with the support of my super sweet family, friends and the AMAZING girls that our coming to the retreat........they are so excited that their support and enthusiasm helps keep me calm. Having said that, I can't get a manicure.....cause I have no nails left!!!!!!!!!!!

One week and counting!!!!!!

Cheers friends!

1 Crazy month!!!!!!

2008-04-18T17:31:00.002-04:00

1 heck of a lot of ordering!
1 Scrapfest
1 Retreat
1 Disco crop
1 Wine & Cheese
1 man who never sleeps thru the night
1 birthday
1 heck of a lot older
1 huge pile of work to do
1 big swollen eye
1 beautiful new purse
1 pair of evil socks that ruin my day
1 sweet pair of parents
1 beautiful vase of orchids
1 tiny little bag with easter creme eggs in it
1 pooped chicka!

Life is good! Most of the time. :0)

Are we all creatures of habit???

2008-03-11T18:42:00.003-04:00

If you see this woman (except technically I think this is an image of a man) leaving a variety store, or grocery store, or any kind of store......chances are it's me. Seriously, I have one of the dumbest habits ever!!!! I buy something. I pay for said "thing". The clerk always asks me the same thing..."would you like a bag for that?" And I always say EXACTLY the same thing...."If you have a bag that would be great"! What kind of idiotic response is that? If you have a bag that would be great????????? Why wouldn't they have a bag....it's a store Patti! They have bags!!!!! And if by some chance they didn't have bags, why would they ask me if I wanted one? It's not like I don't mentally prepare myself to give a reasonable answer.....I want to say yes (or no --depending on what I am buying). But it always happens the same way...... CLERK: Would you like a bag for that?" PATTI: "If you have a bag that would be great".

pppppppfffffffttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am miserable buried under all this snow and I need spring to come yesterday!

Out of Control!!!!!!!

2008-02-27T15:01:00.002-05:00

My life is sooooooooo out of control right now, that I don't know whether or not I am coming or going! Thank goodness for the calming effect of family and friends, or I would have had a nervous breakdown by now. Frankly I might welcome that.......do you get to go somewhere quiet and peaceful? I imagine it would be some type of nice hospital with calming colours, a tv to watch, jigsaw puzzles, fuzzy slippers and a bathrobe, three square meals a day...definately something to look into! Maybe I know someone who could sign some admittance papers for me!

Anyway......I digress. Life is barreling along at full speed. Were off to Scrapfest in 6 weeks and Destination Create is just two months away (I typed that in small letters so it doesn't seem so daunting). The retreat is practically sold out, as are many of the classes we're holding. I've sent out a bazillion sponsorship requests and the responses to them have been great! They gals "retreating" are going to be spoiled to infinity and beyond!

On a more personal note, thank you SO MUCH to everyone for thier support, well wishes, prayers, and sympathy cards in regards to the passing of Ron's mom. The last 4 months have been the most challenging life has had to offer...that's for sure! Having such amazing friends sure does make tough times more manageable!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Ohhhh....the online garage sale is this weekend so if you want to sell/buy or just poke around, just leave a comment here and we'll try to get you set up in time. You have to register on the Scrapping Nook forum first!

Cheers to all!

I am setting the alarm for April 1st!

2008-01-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

I made a decision to go to bed early tonight..you know, early to bed, early to rise kind of thing. Then on a whim, I decided that I will go to bed earlier tonight, but instead of setting the alarm for 6:30 a.m., I will set it for April 1st. A full three months worth of sleep ought to be just about right. I will feel refreshed, renewed, relaxed and the snow will have melted and spring will be just around the corner!

Seriously......I don't know where the days are going! We are literally working 18 hours a day trying to get the office back up and running at full capacity after Ron's absense (btw.......great check up today at the Doc's office!!), Destination Create is only 4.5 months away, our new newsletter rolled out this past week (to great reviews!!) and so much more! I have a feeling this is going a very full, very busy 4 months!

But tonight......I turn in early! I will be ASLEEP by 12:00! And I will set the alarm for April! See you then!!!!! Happy winter everyone!

PS...if you didn't get our new newsletter, and want to take a peek.....just email me at patti@thescrappingnook.ca and include your email address, and I will add you to our mailing list!

I hate this crazy white stuff!!!!!!!

2007-12-19T11:27:00.000-05:00

Yes I do realize that it could be worse. This could be MY car. Thankfully it's not. But seriously......I *HATE* snow. There is no part of it that is fun. It does not look pretty. Or fun. Or fluffy. It looks cold, wet and gross. Now it is all slushy and slippery and brown. Christmas I love...but the white stuff you can keep!

On a more positive note, MAN OH MAN can our girls shop!!!!! Holy Canolie.....we will be packing orders for two weeks straight........but man oh man was it fun. And take about great deals..........we had some paper that people scooped up for .07 cents a sheet! Marvellous!!!!!

I started my shopping on the weekend, and actually wrapped a few gifties last night. Fun times. I like to wrap. At least I like it better than I like the snow.

Happy Wednesday!!!!!

The Blue Light District and a HUGE thank you!!!!!!!

2007-12-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the blue light district (NOT to be confused with the Red Light District that we walked through when I was in Holland---DEFINATELY not that!!). I am referring to our store sale when I talk about this blue light district! You see, it's our one year Webiversary celebrations! Our new website is one year old this month and we are celebrating like true K-Mart Shoppers. Big sales. Huge Sales. Great Sales. Some last only ten minutes..............some last 11 hours. It's willy nilly and all over the place. But it's great fun! You can check it out by clicking here And it's not just about the sales either! There are oodles of challenges, games, prizes etc. coming your way. Thanks everyone who is a part of the Nook for making the past year such a great one. We have you to thank!!!

Speaking of thanks...............THANK YOU!!! To all my dear, sweet, kind, caring friends who have sent me cards, emails, messages, hugs, letters, and who phoned me to wish the man luck with his operation. Things went well. He was a little slow on the uptake but now it's all I can do to keep him inside....or such was the case before last Thursday when his Sciatic (sp??) nerve on his left leg decided to torture him tremendously. Now he is walking like the hunchback of Notre Dame (without the big hump of course), but at least he's walking. :0)

Happy Wednesday my friends!

How do you mend a broken heart..........

2007-11-11T22:51:00.000-05:00

carefully. VERY carefully. I wanted to take a quick minute to just post a THANK YOU to everyone that sent us well wishes, thoughts, prayers, cards etc. You guys are THE GREATEST friends ever!! Tuesday is operation day, but I will take the man to the hospital for his 11:00 check in time tomorrow. I am told that a quadruple bypass takes approximately 4-6 hours to complete, and if they have to do a quintuple bypass (the possibility of which I choose to ignore at this time), that it will be longer. But however long it takes is okay. I will happily wait for eternity if that is what it takes. I just want him back. With a happy heart. And a smile on his face.

Peace everyone!

HOKEY DINAH!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-13T16:43:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I posted here hasn't it? Sorry if I messed up the spelling of Hokey. Not too sure about that one.

I have spent the better part of today tying up some loose ends for Destination Create. Did I mention that the response to this has been HUGELY BIGGER (writer's license put to use there) than I ever could have imagined! Seriously........it floors me at the response that we have gotten. We had 100 spots available......every night my mom and I would chat on the phone about how if we just got 40 our first year out that would be good. Then we hit 40, and KEPT ON GOING STRONG!!!! We still have a number of spaces left, but not many. Hopefully after the show in Whitby we will be all filled up!

We will be able to announce our class line up within the next month or so I hope. It's taking a little longer than I anticipated, but registration for the classes doesn't start until Jan/Feb anyway, and I want to make sure we do things right. I don't want to give away any details until all of our commitments are firmed up, and there are alot of little things to coordinate. SO................patience my grasshoppers. Patience.

I will give you one tidbit of info though (as long as you promise not to tell anyone...)One of our fabulous sponsors is giving us the MOST AMAZING things for door prizes. They are giving us "X" number of items to draw for at the end of the event and each item is worth almost $150.00!!!! We are still waiting to hear from their higher ups about how many "X" will be!

Anyway........to all our fabulous customers, friends, and to those attendees whom we have never met...THANK YOU!!!! Thank you for putting your trust in us. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for signing up. I can promise you one thing......it won't be a weekend soon forgotten!!! We have so many things (scrap and non-scrap related)planned, that I just know everyone is going to have a great time!!!!

6 months,2 weeks, 5 days and counting!!!

Ohhhhhh, before I go, I have a pic to share with you. I took the kidlets to Decew Falls the other day and took some pics to scrap. I caught this one too! Happy fall everyone!!!!

What's in a name?

2007-09-21T22:59:00.000-04:00

People don't call me Pat. I have always, since the day I was born, been called Patti. The only exception to this rule is that my parents sometimes call me Pat. They can get away with it. When I am sad or upset, they call me Patti. When they reference me to someone else they call me Patti. But when they speak right to me they call me Pat. David calls me Aunt Pat. That too is acceptable---but only because when he was little he couldn't say Patti. The divine Miss Dakota simply calls me Patti (which secretly makes me laugh, although my sister doesn't like it!) . My sister calls me Pabbi. Cute.

Ron calls me Patsy. When he was 5 years old he had a crush on his little neighbour whose name was Patsy. She like him too, until he took her out with a snowball to the face. Poor little Patsy!

Whenever I think of "Pat," I think of a 62 year old, red polished fingernail, secretary who is cranky and brings a tomato sandwich in a brown paper bag (which she faithfully folds into thirds and puts into her black, leather, 37 year old purse so that she can reuse it the next day) every day for lunch. She drinks her coffee black, out of a styrofoam cup, and she steals extra sugar packages from McDonalds! She washes her nylons out and hangs them over the shower rod, and fixes the runs in them with the same nail polish she uses on her nails. Nice image eh?

Seriously..........I don't want to be a Pat. So if you read this post, please.............call me Patti!

Thanks muchly!

Yum Yum..........gotta get me some!!!!!!!!

2007-09-13T14:33:00.000-04:00

Each year at CHA there is one or two lines that TOTALLY knocks my socks off! This year it was the Autumn Leaves "A Rhonna Christmas" line that did it. It's hard to see here, but some of the paper is glittered!!! Some of it is die cut. And the rest is just drop dead gorgeous!! Of all the lines we previewed at the CHA round table, our customers seemed to like this one the best. So we ordered it. All of it. And all the "go-with" goodies. And then we put it in a kit. And then we put it online. And you can see it here

Home again, home again!

2007-09-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

I would have titled my post "There's no Place Like Home", but frankly I think I could have stayed away alot longer than we did. I really wasn't ready to come home (except that I missed my pals & family) and would have been quite happy to stay. It was so nice staying in such a HUGE cottage with no stuff except our luggage! Empty drawers and closets, Cupboards with just what you need, etc. etc.

We did absolutely nothing except hang out! We took a day trip into Ottawa, spent time in Gatineau, went on picnics, listened to CCR cds, watched the sun set and all things in between. Good times.

Thanks to Elia for holding down the fort at the store and the office--what a gal!!!!

Oh I'm sorry.........did you say you wanted to WIN something?

2007-08-30T16:34:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love free things? Seriously....free things kick ass! Think of it....Free love (that's groovy); Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd; Free Falling by Tom Petty; Freeware; Free Holidays (like the ones those PITA telemarketers keep phoning me about) etc., ec. Free things are fun! So........because we love to see you having fun, we're running a couple of contests. Check it out....

First on the catwalk is the lovely ScrapAbility! Dressed in shades of summery yellow and blue, ScrapAbility is offering a chance to win two free classes to anyone who registers in our Forum this week! You can check out the details right here!

Next is our ongoing Nook contest! It's a great opportunity to win the 2008 Designing with Calendar by Autumn Leaves AND the Designing with Details Autumn Leaves Book! You can check out all the details here at the Nook

So you see my friends..........FREE things really do rock!

We are leaving tomorrow for a full week of holidays, so I won't be around! Have a wonderful weekend and week everybody! Cheers!!!!!!

Packing my bags..................

2007-08-26T17:41:00.000-04:00

Isn't this little retro suitcase adorable? When my sister and I were little, we had ones almost identical to this! We would haul them out and pack them up whenever we went to my grandparents for the weekend. Sadly, I don't have my little suitcase anymore, but I do have a bigger, better (and less loud) one, that I have dusted off and am packing up! Yes, you heard me right. We are going on a vacation! Not a huge deal, except that it has been 2+ years since the man and I have been away. We are not going too far (northeast of Ottawa), but at least it's something. We rented a place for a week. I know it seems bizarre to rent a cottage when you own one of your own, but it has it's advantages. No work. No opening. No closing. No chores. No decisions. Just a little R&R and that is exactly what the dr. has ordered for my fella! So away we will go. I refused to get too excited at first, because we don't have the best track record in actually following through on our holiday plans ( you know you officially suck at relaxation when you have a cottage that you haven't used in two years)--but this time it's different. So I have officially started to get excited! Six more sleeps! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!!!!

Tagged!

2007-08-03T13:00:00.000-04:00

I was tagged by the marvelous Margo, so here goes!

My Name is Patti:

1. Famous singer/band: Pink Floyd (showing my age aren't I?--Loved The Wall!)
2. four letter word: Punk (as in keep off my grass you young punks!)
3. Street: Price Avenue (huge crush on a boy who lived on Price Ave when I was a kid)
4. Colour: Petunia (pink was just way tooooooooooo easy!)
5. Gifts/presents: Pony (never got a pony as a gift)
6. Vehicle: Plymouth
7. Things in a souvenir shop: Postcards (possibly from the edge)
8. Boy Name: Peter or Paul
9. Girl Name: Petula (as in Clark)
10. Movie Title: Postcards from the Edge (like the ones I bought in a souvenir shop)
11. Drink: Pepto Bismal (possibly after a night of partying????)
12. Occupation: Piano player in a piano bar.......as described by Billy Joel in Pianoman
13. Celebrity: Perry Como (tee hee hee)
14. Magazine: People
15. U.S. City: Portland
16. Pro Sports Teams: Penguins
17. Fruit: Peaches (mmmmmmmmmmmmmm peaches)
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: puking (that's gross)
19. Something You Throw Away: Paper towel rolls
20. Things You Shout: Puuuuuuuuuuuullllllease
21. Cartoon Character: Peppermint Patty

That was fun! I am tagging anyone who sees this and wants to play along! Cheers and have a great long weekend to my Canadian friends!!!

IT'S A BASIC GREY THREE FOR ALL!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

hahahahah------I love that title. Truth be told, sometimes I make myself laugh and this was just one of those times!!! On to the good stuf....We are having a CHA SUMMER BASIC GREY THREE FOR FOUR PROMO!! This promo kicks serious ass! It's simple...you order ANY four of the new lines that you want/like, and you only pay for three! You can check it out here .

It has been forever and a day since I updated this here! I am feeling so totally overwhelmed right now with everything going on, and I am not in my happy place. I have come to the conclusion that growing your business does not come without growing pains, and it is hard for me to get used to that. Such is life though, and we will get through -- as Corrine reminded us the other day, this too shall pass!

CHA is around the corner and we are gearing up for our road trip! Chicago here we come!

I had a great weekend with Dakota on the weekend! That girl just cracks me up and I love spending time with her! I have a few favourite pictures:

The lost art of Boulevard play!

2007-06-24T11:32:00.000-04:00

I have lived in Toronto for close to 20 (gafaw!!!)years now, and truth be told, I am not really a big city fan. I could take it, but would definately prefer to leave it. I would move from Toronto at the drop of a hat if my life permitted it. But for the time being, I am here to stay. My day to day life never seems big cityish! I live on a quiet tree-lined residential street and live about five minutes from my office, so I am not faced with subways, crowded streets etc. Still though, there is something sweet that always tugs at my heart when I visit a smaller city. The Boulevards. You know, those wide patches of grass that run between the street and the sidewalk.......oh how I love a nice boulevard. We grew up on a street with nice, wide boulevards, and I think we spent almost as much time there as we did in our backyards.

The boulevard was a fab spot when you were a kid. When you were too little to cross the street, you could stand on the boulevard and "kind of play" with the kids across the street (they too weren't allowed to cross the road!). The boulevard was the perfect place to play Barbies. You could sit on the edge of the grass and drive the Barbie camper along the smooth concrete of the road. The puddles along the edge of the curb made wonderful camping sites for Barbie and crew. My sister and I spent countless hours on the curb, waiting for the apprearance of the big brown car that carried my Grandpa Shain from Oakville to Welland. I can still remember the perfectly folded car blanket that graced his back seat and the sweet smell of his pipe tabacco the permeated the upholstery.

The boulevard was a perfect spot to collect near perfect amber and dark red maple leaves that we would carefully carry inside and press in books. We played helicopter with the fallen maple keys and searched endlessy for the elusive four leaf clover. The boulevard was, without fail, the place you stood while you conducted the "one potato, two potato, three potato, four..." ritual as you determined who was "it", and of course, the boulevard was always "home" to any hide and seek game we played. Oh how I loved our Boulevard.

It just recently struck me that there aren't alot of "Boulevard" streets here in the city. Nor are alot of the new subdivisions being built with big boulevards (some of them have narrow little ones, but clearly they are meant more as somewhere to house your garbage cans on trash day, then a place to play for kids). I am not even sure that kids would be allowed to play on boulevards anymore. Times have changed so much and it makes me sad to think about all those fun things we did as kids, that today's kids can't do. Today's kids probably wouldn't want to hang out on the boulevard anyway. There is no way the cables and cords from their Wii would reach all the way out there!

Happy Sunday everyone!!!!!!!!

My ode to Paris Hilton..........................

2007-06-13T16:34:00.001-04:00

THAT'S HOT!!!!

Check out our "Don't Hate me because I'm Beautiful" kit, featuring the brand new BG Infused line! These kits have an estimated ship date of mid-July.

We are taking UNPAID pre-orders for them now. In other words, you can reserve a kit, and you will be billed for it at a later date. We are doing it this way to get an estimate on the amount of paper to bring in (I know these are going to FLY out of here!) I have also inlcluded a close up of some of the extras, as they are hard to see in the kit picture. All that being said, here's what you get:

18 Sheets Basic Grey Infused BRAND NEW paper;
1 Sheet Infused Die cuts;
1 Sheet Infused Alpha Stickers
10 Sheets of Bazzill Cardstock
1 Pinecone Press tin and mini accordian album insert
1 7Gypsies Booklet Label Stickers
1 Sheet 7Gypsies Girlfriend 97% Complete Stickers

Retail Value $47.99. Kit price is $38.99

One lucky girl!

2007-06-05T22:40:00.000-04:00

There are SO many things to talk about.....I am not sure where I should start. I will get the business out of the way first. HOLY RETREAT!!!!!!! We have had a great response to our retreat! I am super excited (and a little surprised) at how quickly interest in this spread! If you have requested a brochure, it's on its way. We have mailed out hundreds of them in the past week, so hang in there--it's coming!

Secondly, I have exciting news about our new design team. We were spoiled for talent with our last design team, and when that finished in February, Elia and I were just so overwhelmed with the launch of the new site and the online store that we decided to hold off on making any decisions. Truth be told, I HATE the concept of "picking" a design team through an open call. Last time, telling people that they didn't make the cut was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I hated it!!!! So this time, we did it differently. We have a rotating guest design team member each month, and then in addition to that, Jen Backler, Michelle Engel and Deanna Williams will be joining Tara Etling and Tamara Soper to make up our design team! It is the best of both worlds I think! I think these gals will bring continual inspiration and encouragement to our community! Look for their bios to posted on our website soon. In the meantime, thanks to all of our DT for agreeing to be a part of our team. It means the world to us to have you onboard!

My heart belongs to Rusty!

2007-05-31T22:54:00.000-04:00

Just before we first opened our first store in 2003, Ron & I traipsed off to Chicago to our very first CHA show! We were overwhelmed with products and choices. As in TOTALLY OVERWHELMED!!!!!!! There were so many products and such tough decisions to make. We wandered around for two days not knowing what to order. Two booths that really made an impact on me were 7 Gypsies and Rusty Pickle. I ordered from 7 Gypsies, and kept going back to Rusty Pickle and trying to decide what to order. After picking out really "unique" paper (especially back then), I worried if it would sell. I worried everday until it came in if I had made a good decision. Was it too vintage or too distressed. The very first day we opened up someone came in and picked up one sheet of each style of RP paper that we had and said how nice it was that we carried "different paper". I felt so relieved! Anyway, I digress......here is our new Rusty Pickle Mayflower kit. It's totally hot. It's totally Rusty Pickle. It's totally different!

Kit includes:

12 Sheets (2 of each of 6 styles) double sided cardstock weight RP Mayflower paper;
8 Sheets (2 of each) of Bazzill textured cardstock;
1 pack of 12 x 12 RP chipboard Mayflower flourish chipboard
1 sheet RP Cardstock stickers
1 RP tag set
1 package Making Memories red glitter alphas
1 package Making Memories Cityscape brads
Retail price=46.99
Kit price=39.99

Kits will ship at end of June. Limited to 15 kits on a first come, first serve basis.

Destination CREATE.

2007-05-29T09:53:00.000-04:00

That is the name we have chosen for our retreat. Out of all the work we have put into this, coming up with a name that we all liked was the most challenging I think. We wanted to highlight the AMAZING destination, but more importantly we wanted to convey the creativity aspect of it. Three whole days to explore your creative side. Take classes if you want. Or not. The choice is yours. Scrap 24 hours straight if you want. Or sit and chat with your tablemates. Again, the choice is yours. We pack up all the heavy things and bring them for you. Our sewing machines, our accu-cut machines, our Cricut, etc., etc., etc. All you need to bring is your tool kit and your photos! We will have a fully stocked store on site too. Putting this together has been alot of hard over the past several months, but also alot of fun. We have been toying with this idea for three years now, but those ducks really need to be in a row first!

Here is a sample of our brochure......if anyone is interested in reserving a spot, or wants more info, please email me at patti@thescrappingnook.ca , include your home address, and I will put together a package for you! By the way.......the brochure is a tri-fold brochure and looks funny because of that, so you need to envision it all folded up! Cheers folks, and thanks for all the positive feedback we have received so far!

Happy Auntie's Day to me!!!!!!!!!!

2007-05-14T10:44:00.000-04:00

I am not a Mom, and truth be told, it's probably a good thing. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE KIDS, but I don't think I could cope. I would be a bad mom......I would dress my kids like nerds on purpose just so they wouldn't make friends, get let astray, and do drugs or go to parties. I know that sounds awful, but deep down I think it might be true. But the upside to not having kids, is that I get to be the world's best Aunt (self proclaimed of course!). Seriously.......I totally LOVE my niece and nephew to death. So on Mother's Day, I celebrate being an Aunt. My cuties got me a little giftie and I got lots of I love you's and hugs. I am thankful that my sister lets me share them! hahahaha!!!!!1 I took lots of pics, but David "refused" to participate much. He never sits still for long. He has friends you know. And apparently spending time with them hiking is more fun that spending time with his dowdy aunt. Who would have thought! Dakota on the other hand is still young enough to be oblivious to the fact that I am not really cool, and is always willing to strike a pose for me and hang out with me! David.....not so much! Here are some pics from the weekend:

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's.......waiting for a horse to come by (or a firetruck!)

Looking cool beside Grandpa's new car:

This was as much as the boy would give me!!!!

Happy Mom's Day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-05-12T11:40:00.001-04:00

It's hard for me to write about what my Mom means to me. Not because I am at a loss words, but rather because I have TOO MANY words to describe how fab my Mom is! She really is SUPERMOM! She is so supportive, and loving, patient (most of the time) and kind, giving, caring, selfless, encouraging, doting, funny (at least MOST of her jokes are funny), and more! I wish there was a way that we could truly repay for all that you have done for us Mom. I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day and THANKS FOR BEING SUCH A KICKASS MOM!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU BUNCHES & BUNCHES & BUNCHES!

The picture above was taken at the cottage two years ago. It was Barb's 60th (insert big schocked face here) birthday. Sheri, Miss Dakota & I baked Mom a cake. Of course, cake decorating supplies are in short demand in the middle of nowhere, so we patiently sat and spelled out "Barb's 50!!!!!!!" with tiny chocolate chips! The picture isn't the greatest, but it was super fun times!

Man I love the details!

2007-05-04T00:43:00.000-04:00

I love it when people post really close up pictures of portions of their layouts. I don't know why, I just do. I think it adds to my whole "tactile" fetish. I love the feel of a layout. The weight of it, as it flops around in my hand while I search for a page protector or a page frame. Anyway, seeing other people's dets up close always makes me feel like I can just reach out and touch their fun stuff! On a related note, I am happy that I got two layouts done this week. It's been about 8 months since I scrapped for ME, so I am uber happy.

My uber cutie patootie niece (who IS NOT wearing lipstick, but her lips look so red here):

A little bit of detail love:

A favourite picture of my favourite nephew:

BRING IT ON..................................

2007-04-29T16:40:00.000-04:00

If I had a dime for each time someone asked me if I was upset that a Michael's opened up in St. Catharines I would be a rich woman. I would be rich as in Oprah Winfrey rich. Or Martha Stewart rich. Maybe not Queen of England rich, but still, I would be rich. I was never really bothered about Michael's opening up. I liked the fact that chain stores introduce alot of people to what we specialize in. But then I was chatting with my scrapbook store owning gal pal from the States about a week ago, and she was sounding low about a Michaels opening up in her neck of the woods. Ever since then I had doubts in my head. Should I be concerned? Should I be worried? Should I lose sleep over the fact that a store 1/2 an hour away from us sells plants, baskets, polymer clay, baking goods and scrapbook supplies? I didn't think so, but this conversation left me seriously doubting myself. So I worried. For two days I worried about this. Then the most wonderful thing happened. I was driving my little car along Mt. Pleasant Rd., right past the brand new, huge Shopper's Drug Mart. Shoppers had closed their smaller store across the street, and moved to this brand new larger location. The old Shoppers has sat empty for 5 months now, but now someone new was moving in. And guess WHO is moving in? PHARMA PLUS! I was so excited! I love Pharma Plus. I love Shopper's Drug Mart too. At first I thought why would PPlus do that? Why would they move in right across from Shoppers? Why would they want that type of competition. But then I thought, really, why not? Why not "capture" the gal who buys her perfume from Shoppers and sell her vitamins from your more extensive vitamin aisle? Why not try to "capture" the business of the woman who doesn't want to be forced to walk thru 2,000 square feet of cosmetics to get to the bandaids. Pharma Plus WANTS the competition. They want to be right there to offer the customers what they can't get elsewhere. All of my worries were immediately quelled by the opening of this new PharmaPlus. I continued on my drive smiling to myself. Competition really is a good thing.

The news you need, when you need it...........

2007-04-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

WOOLALA!!!!

2007-04-23T10:36:00.000-04:00

Here it is! My new orange felted purse! Colour me excited to the power of 10! I just ordered it last night, and have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive, but I can't quite harness in my excitement! I have big plans for this bag! The pompoms are NOT attached by the way--they just hang them there to show that come included with the kit. I am going to adorn it with some huge felt flowers and leaves and little felt heart or two! I will stich them all on by hand and I will be ready to go! Isn't totally adorable!

Have you seen this sign????

2007-04-19T22:38:00.000-04:00

This is not the actual sign, but one that I re-created one with the same wording as that of a particular variety store in Welland. I should backtrack a bit.

Hope House is a MUCH NEEDED homeless shelter that opened up in Welland, Ontario. The aforementioned variety store is located close to Hope House. My Mom was driving by the variety store yesterday, saw the sign, and actually went in to the store and gave them piece of her mind. WAY TO GO BARB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is TOTALLY unfathomable to me that people think this type of sign is socially (or morally)acceptable. How can anyone think that it is okay to ban an entire group of people from their establishment. This entire thing just makes me so sad!

I didn't realize that a person down on their luck makes them a bad person. I didn't realize that if you are homeless, you are a bad customer or a thief. What I do realize is that people who posts signs like this need to recognize one thing.....

There but for the grace of God go I my friend, or rather, there but for the grace of God go you!!!!!

A LIGHTBULB MOMENT!!!!!

2007-04-13T17:36:00.000-04:00

So as we were eating lunch today, I had this idea! I was sipping my drink and thinking about how cool it is that everyone on our message board is so different. We are from different parts of the country, and even the states and the UK etc. Then part of me gets a little sad because we are "so far apart".

So I was trying to think of a way that we could all kind of "hang out together". And then it hit me........................... You know the big 8" MM letters??? How about if we GIVE everyone who wants one, an 8" initial (your first initial) for you to alter and then mail back to the store (these letters are only 1.10 to mail back), and then we can make a HUGE display at the store. You alter your letter to reflect who you are. What you are. What you do. What you don't do. Where you live. Where you want to live....whatever YOU want.

It DOES NOT matter if you are an experienced scrapper or a basic scrapper. A graphic chick or an embellie happy chick. The idea is that the letter that comes back to us represents a little piece of you. I would really love a little pic of you on the letter, along with the city in which you live, and a few other "not too personal" details.

We will mail the letters out as the requests come in, and I would ask that you return them by the end of May. If you want to play along, please PM the FairyGodMother on our message board, and put Alpha in the re-heading (I thought of typing in here please put "8 inches" in the re-heading, but that sounded too ). My only real hope is that people who ask for the letters actually return them. In other words, please don't do it just for a free letter. Everyone who returns their letter by the end of May will be entered into a draw for a $20.00 gift certificate. Just our way of saying thanks for your support and for playing along!!! So.............who wants to play??? If you are interested, and you are a member of our message board (or you would like to join and participate in the fun), you can check out all the details here.

Tagged by the Divine Miss Lori, and some other exciting schtuff!

2007-04-12T22:49:00.000-04:00

Lori tagged me -- 7 weird things about me. Only 7????

1)--I cannot/will not walk barefoot. Anywhere. Anyhow. I will go insane if there is one eensie weensie particle of dust or sand or whatever on my feet! Drives me insane.

2)--I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE to brush my teeth and tongue so hard that I gag. Sometimes I almost throw up. Sometimes I see stars when it happens.

3)--I count the words in the sentences you speak as you speak them. Or the syllable in the words you say as you say them. Or sometimes I count to ten while clicking my teeth. Hard to envision and ever so bizarre. Please don't hate me because I am freak.

4)--My enjoyment of life will be substantially reduced if there is ANY white on my toe nails. You know when your nails grow and the "tips" are white--I can't stand it. I have to cut mine at least every two days.

5)--I really hate the word toe nails. Seriously hate it!!!!!

6)--My friend Lori is married to her cousin (bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha)

7)--I eat my coffee crisp in layers. Top first, then bottom, middle last!

Dang, when I read this back I sound like a huge freak! But I am not (I don't think), just a bit quirky!

An a totally unrelated note, we announced VANESSA I and KAREN T as the winners of our first Guest Design Team draw AND.........Roni H won our Rak'Em up prize too! Congrats girls! Our next draw for GDT member will be at the beginning of May, so if you didn't get picked today, don't despair!!!!!

And with that I am off to brush my teeth! (insert cheesy grin here)

58 Registered Users, A fabbie prize and a thank you!

2007-04-11T10:11:00.000-04:00

WOWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone that came out to SCRAPABILITY last night and registered! We have 58 registered users already! If you don't know what it's all about, let me fill you in! ScrapAbility is a site dedicated to online classes in scrapbooking, papercrafts, and photography. We knew it would be big--we didn't know we get such an AMAZING initial response. I am totally blown away! Jen has a free course on there too, which you can download and do at your leisure. It has been a huge hit! It prints out in the most amazing format too! Easy to read and follow instructions! I am thoroughly impressed! We have SO MANY great things in store for SA too! I am not going to give away too many details, but man this is going to ROCK!!! Also, if you register in the forum by April 15th, 2007, you get entered into a draw for a prize pack of product! How cool is that?

On a TOTALLY unrelated note, I wanted to say thank you! We had a bit of a business decision to make last week (this is totally unrelated to the Nook per se, or to SA), and I was not sure what the ramifications of that decision would be. Anyway, we did what we felt we wanted to do, and we have received lots of emails and messages (and even a phone call!) from people who support our decision. To each and every one of you I want to say thank you. Sometimes you just have to follow your instincts and do what you feel is the right thing to do.

It's been a GREAT week!

2007-04-05T23:29:00.000-04:00

Wow............these 4 day weeks sure do fly by! I got a tonne of stuff done, but of course, didn't get it all done! Frankly, I don't really dig the four day week thing! I know I am supposed to love a long weekend, but I always feel that extra day is a day lost--somewhat unproductive so to speak. Funny isn't it? I think my priorities need readjusting. I am supposed to love that extra day off--oh well, I will try to "embrace" my day off tomorrow! I am coming into the office to get some last minute things tidied up, work on ScrapAbility (which, barring any unforseen circumstances, will launch THIS WEEK) a bit, organize my work for next week and then head to Fonthill for the weekend!

We announced our Guest Design Team Member contest this week, so the entries for that have been literally pouring in, and we also put up our Autumn Leaves French Twist Kit. It almost sold out after only two days--that makes me happy, except that I don't get one for myself (insert sad face here).

I hope those who celebrate have a wonderful Easter--and that you get to spend some time with your family and loved ones! I have an Easter Egg Hunt Extraordinaire to help plan and a huge brunch to help Mom with, so rest assured we will be busy!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!!!!

I LOVE THIS LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-02T19:34:00.000-04:00

We just brought in the whole line of Autumn Leaves French Twist (minus the ribbon), and packaged it up into an uber coolio kit for you! I posted them up in the store earlier today and an AMAZED at how quickly they are selling! My fav is the white with the lines on it--it's hard to see here, but it is a ledger paper come freestyle type of thing, which I absolutely adore! And then there are the buttons..............oh how I love my buttons!!!!

2007-03-27T11:43:00.000-04:00

Parties are SOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!!!

2007-03-25T17:31:00.000-04:00

I am just putting the finishing (and a few starting hahaha) touches on our big Anniversary bash next weekend! And when I say BIG, I mean BIG!!!!!!! I can't give away TOO many details TOO early, but I can tell you that we have never had such a big event before. We are having a HUGE sale (as in worthy enough to come out to--even in you live in Alaska!!!); a draw for our free Cricut machine package (seriously....who actually gives away a Cricut???); free gifts to our customers (sorry to the man who comes in everytime we have party just for his free gift and cake--this time you will HAVE to buy something first!); make and takes (cool ones too--not just a tag!); prizes and draws, and cake--you have to have cake right! Anyway...here is the reminder notice that we are sending out--kind of like a "hold the date" notice! Cute isn't it?

Speaking of cute..........check this out. I would totally still wear those frilly underwear if I still had them!

An Ode to Michelle....................

2007-03-21T00:50:00.000-04:00

Good Evening! This my friends, is Michelle. Michelle is my friend. Michelle is a scrapbooker. Michelle is a kickass scrapbooker. Michelle entered the CK Hall of Fame 2007 contest. Fred phoned Michelle. Fred told Michelle she won an Honorable Mention. WOO HOO MICHELLE. Michelle had an entire cheering squad rooting for her and we could not be happier that her magnificient talent was recognized. Now...I could go on and on about Michelle, or I could pay tribute to her in a way that I know she will truly appreciate. So, without further delay, here is my tribute to Michelle! This one is for you!

The Proper Way to Eat an Easter Creme Egg

1. Purchase egg(s). Most economical in a three pack.

2. Note that it is "Creme" egg and not "Cream" Egg.

3. Prior to paying for eggs, make sure that the seals of the wrappers are not broken. This could lead to dried out inards. GAG!!!!

4. Take egg home (or at least to car).

5. Unleash egg from the confines of its foil wrapper. The foil wrapper can be squished so small that no one will even recognize it. Handy when you are not supposed to be eating ECEs.

6. Carefully place teeth 2/7 of the way down egg (pointy part pointing inside your mouth) and gently bite the tip of the egg off, being careful not to spill the gooey insides!

7. Disolve chocolate tip in your mouth whilst envisioning how dang good this little egg is going to taste.

8. Cover open tip of egg with mouth and suck out as much of the inards as you can (this is where it gets graphic--sorry).

9. Insert tongue into hole and commence scoop/suck motion.

10. Repeat step nine until all that is left is the shell of the egg.

11. Eat shell slowly, savouring the delicious Cadbury Chocolate.

12. IM Michelle (insert your own friend here) and confess that you ate another egg today!

13. Postpone weigh in until after Easter!

14. Lather, rinse and repeat!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh by the way.........one important thing to note........They're in the stores now, but they won't be long. Just until Easter, then they'll be gone! Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs. Woo hoo woo hooo hooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Sunday Night. 12:07. All is quiet.

2007-03-19T00:07:00.000-04:00

What a weekend it has been! We had a HUGE number of orders this weekend because of our Anniversary sale. Yowsers!!!! Our gals sure do know how to shop! It's so funny because as the orders come rolling in, my favourite part is to read the comments at the bottom of the orders. It always makes my day to see the little notes down there. And "L" if you read my blog and see this, please know that your "hello" got thru! I miss you bundles!!!!

Things are going really well in my little corner of the world, and I am really trying to stay focused on that. Growing a business is a funny thing. There a few things that have really ticked me off of late, but I absolutely refuse to let that get the better of me. I consider it to be a much better use of time to focus on the positive things in life. So on that note, I will share some

things that I love:

1. My family. Dakota did a science experiment the other day and they made homemade crayons. She set one aside just for me, after asking me what my favourite colours were (they melted old crayons to make new multicoloured crayons!).

2. My gal pals. Seriously--I think I bring the phrase "stitch and bitch" to a whole new level sometimes, but they never tell me to shut up. We just laugh and tease and have a great time. I would be at a loss without them--and the telephone!

3. Boggle. Just cause it's my favourite game in the whole world.

4. Orange boats--Or rather the fact that the man cuts my oranges into boats for me everynight (we have an orange for dessert everynight).

5. The fact that the man closes his eyes when he eats his orange boats. I don't know why I love that, but I do. I feel a layout coming on!!!!

6. The fact that the first day of Spring is only three days away!

7. My Gary Larson calendar--cause a day just wouldn't be a day without it.

8. Creativity and originality.

9. Bobby Hill.

10. Our cottage and quiet time there--I really miss that!!!!

So............what do you love?

4th Anniversary Sale-A-Bration............

2007-03-17T00:50:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the week again girls! There is a great sale at The Scrapping Nook

This time, it's embellishments galore that are on sale for a whopping 25% off.

Here is what the sale DOES NOT include (it's easier to do it this way):

Paper
Albums & Refills
Books & Mags
Cardstock
Classes/Crops
Coasters
Inks
Organizational products
Punches
Stamps & Accessories
Pre-Order items
Soup

Pretty much, everything else is on sale for 25% off. PLUS.....if you spend $100.00 (pre-tax) you will be eligible for FREE SHIPPING (within Canada)! Sale applies to online items only (not in store).

We are marking the prices down in the store as I type. This way, you do not have to wait for an adjusted paypal invoice from us.

Orders will accepted with the sale items until Sunday 12:00 midnight EST. You can start filling your carts whenever, but I would (very nicely) ask that you wait until after midnight to submit them, just so we can finish reducing the prices. Orders are filled on an arrived basis.

For our US customers, we can ship your order FROM THE states, to you, on Easter weekend, thereby saving you lots of $$$ on shipping!

Have Fun..........and thanks for helping us celebrate our 4th Anniversary!

How many years??????????

2007-03-15T03:03:00.000-04:00

Did you just say 14 years? Yes, yes indeed! Happy Anniversary to the very special dude in my life!

Ohhhhhhh, and you know, I had the most amazing idea about an hour ago (and yes, it is currently 3:16 A.M--the time change messes with my head). It's a very cool "retailers" concept (you will note the "s" after retailer!. I am definately going to give this much more thought tomorrow morning in the shower (I guess that is only 3 hours from now). And I will share my ideas with my gal pals (yeah you know who you are) and they will either tell me that it's uber cool, or they will tell me to get more sleep, as I am dillusional!

G'night everybody!

2007-03-12T00:09:00.000-04:00

So by now most of you have seen the homepage of ScrapAbility ( http://www.scrapability.ca/ ). I have had lots of questions asked, so I will try to answer them here!

When will we launch--We do not have a specific date, but will let you know when we do. What I can tell you is that we are very close, and are working on it at a feverish pace, so it should not be too long. Obviously we will keep you up to date.

Who are we--I have to credit the concept of SA to Jen Backler. Elia, Jen and myself have worked hard to round out the concept and bring something truly unique to everyone. We are a separate company from The Scrapping Nook.

What are we--The classes that we will be bringing the consumer are top notch classes, taught by industry leaders, design team members and top manufacturing companies. We will launch with a small array of classes to test the waters and continue to grow from there. We have a long list of teachers who have agreed to teach for us and who understand our concept and our goal.

What is our goal-- Our goal is to reach everyone. We have a distinct Canadian feel, but have included international teachers to really round out the experience. We felt a real need in the industry to reach scrapbookers, paper crafters and photographer "wannabes" all over the world. We will be offering lots of classes on digital scrapbooking as well. It does not matter if you live in Fonthill, France, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between. Everyone will now have the opportunity to learn, grow and flourish as an artist regardless of where they live.

We are incredibly excited and honoured to offer this to you!

We would love to have feedback on what classes you would like to see offered, and any other comments you might have. You can reach us at info@scrapability.ca Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Times!

2007-03-11T14:31:00.000-04:00

I am feeling a little stressed today, even though I know certain things will turn out well. I am surrounded by amazing friends, great family and a super sweet dude! But sometimes it is easy to forget that and just succumb to the worry. I was trying to figure out a way to relax (besides deep breathing) and I got to thinking about the Art Gallery. When I first moved to Toronto, I would go the AGO alot on Sunday afternoons. I would walk from room to room until I found a painting or piece that I really connected with. And then I would just make myself comfortable on a bench and sit and look. and look. and look some more. Sometimes I would spend an entire afternoon looking at one huge painting. But it instilled such a sense of peace in me. If I didn't feel like the AGO, I would go to a tiny, little second hand book store in Unionville, where it smelled like old books. It was so musty in there that sometimes I had trouble breathing. None-the-less, I would drag pile after pile of old, delicate, well-worn books out of the shelves and leaf through them until I found ones I had to have. My favourite find was a hardcover Gone With the Wind, just like the one my Grandma Shane used to have. The pages of it are so well worn that I hate to turn them, for fear that they will work their way free of the binding. It just sits on the bookshelf gathering dust. And instilling a sense of peace in me.

I miss those days sometimes. I wish there were more hours in the day to accomplish all the things I would like to get done. Time to relax and unwind. Time to ponder and think. Don't get me wrong. Being busy is a good thing. But being anxous is not. Rest assured, I am sure I will feel better by night's end. And if I don't....I just might head to the AGO one day this week!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! Spring has definately sprung around here (at least for a few days), and I plan to take full advantage of this great weather!

Change is good..................

2007-03-10T17:22:00.000-05:00

so here is a new sneak peak at Scrapability!

Yes, yes I know I showed you a sneakie before, but we changed it up a bit, and now we are even more excited about it! I cannot thank the "gang" for indulging us with these changes! I am so excited about this I think I might actually just bust!!!!

Oh, and as an aside, I would just like say one thing.....*thud*. I am shocked. And to quote Forrest Gump, "that is all I have to say about that".

A GOOD (WO)MAN

2007-03-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

A smart man (in all actuality I am SURE it was a smart woman who said it before the smart man) once said "Find a niche that needs to be filled, and fill it". So.........my friends, that is what we are doing. We found a niche and it is about to be filled!

Alot of people have taken a stab at what Scrapability is about. We are proud to tell you that *most* (insert wicked grin here) have not guessed correctly. We have chosen a path less travelled, one that will allow us to offer you something different and unique.

Hang in there gang! It won't be much longer now!!!!

JUST IN!

2007-02-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

Just in! Just Us! The "Just Us" patterned paper line from Prima!!!! I love this paper with all my heart! Seriously, don't you think it's prettier than Miss Universe????

Simply Divine!!!!!!!!

2007-02-25T17:08:00.000-05:00

Things are good in my neck of the woods let me tell you! It is so fun to see something like our Divine Design event FINALLY come to fruition. After 5 months of planning, we held our event yesterday to rave reviews. 20 great women came for a full day of classes, learning, experimenting, laughing, sharing and good food too! We had a wonderful time and thank everyone who came! I also want to thanks our fabulous teachers (from left to right)...Vicki Boutin from Daisy D's, Jen Backler from Cosmo Cricket, and Judi VanValkinburgh from Maya Road. They were amazing!!!!! And on a personal note, thanks so much to the staff at the Nook (Barb, Tara, Carol, Sue, Sheri, David, Bernice, Megan, and of course Elia!!!). This is a huge event for our little store to handle and it went off really well! Thanks to all for their contributions, effort and encouragement! Our team rocks! Here are a few pics from our great event:

CoasterRAMA!!!!!!!!!

2007-02-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

Holy coasters Batman.................never in our four years have we had ANYTHING fly off our shelves so fast! Two weeks and 2,500 coasters later, here we sit. Actually, here we stand looking at 8,000 MORE COASTERS that have just arrived at the store. Yes, you heard me correctly! EIGHT THOUSAND!!!!!!!!!! 2,500 4 x 4 square coasters, 2,500 4 inch round coasters, and (GET THIS...) 3,000 4 x 6 coasters. The 4 x 6 are a one time deal. When they are gone, they are gone. I was hesitant to order the first batch, but we sold 2,500 of them in a week and a half! They make the most amazing mini albums, calendars, ornaments etc. I have heard a rumour that before scrapbookers got ahold of them, people actually used them to "put a drink" on. Something about protecting your furniture or something silly like that. You can take a peak at them if you like!

2007-02-16T21:18:00.000-05:00

Vent: to give free play or expression to (an emotion, passion, etc.): to vent expression. In other words, venting is not necessarily "bad", it is just an expression of thought. I am about to express my thoughts folks!

First off, before you read any further, allow me to preface this with a warning. This is going to be a long post. 4 years worth of unspoken emotion to be exact. I apologize in advance and urge you to consider checking out someone else's blog instead if you are in a hurry.

Still here? Okay then.............but don't say I didn't warn you!

Our company, our little store, is about to have it's 4th birthday. It's actually The Scrapping Nook's 3rd birthday at our Fonthill location, but it's 4th birthday if you count the year that we operated in Toronto. Hellllllo to all our old Toronto customers (many of whom we still keep in contact with!).

I am and always will be a scrapbooker at heart. But that is not why we opened a retail store. We opened a retail location in Toronto 4 years ago because we saw a need and I like to think of myself as a good business woman. We saw an opportunity and took a chance. We opened our little "Nook" in Toronto in 2003 and stayed there for close to a year, until we re-focused our long terms goals and moved the location to Fonthill. It was the best decision for us and one that we have never regretted. It was the correct decision business wise and has allowed the opportunity to grow and flourish more than we ever could in a city the size of Toronto.

Fonthill welcomed us with open arms and a customer base of which we can truly be proud! Niagara folks like their hobbies! It is hard to believe that it has been 3 years since we cut that "paper chain ribbon" and welcomed everyone into the Nook. We have been blessed to have some of the best customers that this business has to offer. It is these customers that keep us going.

My heart is a little heavy tonight (hence the reason for this post) and I felt it necessary to share some thoughts with anyone who comes across my blog. I recevied an email about three weeks back from a woman who had purchased an album from a large box store (*coughcostcocough*) several years back. She was trying to find extension posts for her album. She nicely explained that she had come to our store looking for an album two years ago but didn't want to spend $30.00 on one so she went to said big box store. She mentioned that she had emailed me because the lady at our store was friendly when she came in and thought we might be able to help. And me, being a nice person, tried to help her. In response to her request I have spent approximately 2 hours trying to find this woman extension posts for her album. I have made a few phone calls, sent a few emails and have done some legwork. I thought I had finally found some posts that would work for her album, and emailed her to let her know. They are sold in sets of 6. She only wants two posts. Six posts will cost her 4.00 and change. She thanked me for my time but told me she would keep looking. Frankly, I was crushed.

I wasn't crushed because she didn't want the stupid posts. I was crushed because between Elia and I we had put in so much time trying to please her and gain a potential new customer, only to be told that $4.00 was too much money to spend. It is times like this that it is hard to remember the benefits of being a retailer. You really feel rejected when things like that happen. It is times like that when I want to sit down and explain myself/ourselves to customers.

I wanted to ask if she knew how much trouble we had gone to. I wanted to explain to her how she could have gotten posts easily (and TWO PER PACK) if she had purchased a better quality album to begin with. I wanted to explain to her that even though our albums might be more than the box stores or an online store, that we offer more than just a product. We offer a service.

I wanted to invite her into our classroom and show her how our tables were really high quality tables, that don't shake when you set eyelets on them. And show her our comfy chairs that we paid extra for so that her bum wouldn't hurt when she came for a crop.

I wanted to show her the accucut machine that we paid $5,000.00 for when we first opened up and explain to her how she can come in anytime and use it FOR FREE!!! I could have shown her our 200+ punches there for her free use or our two sizzix machines she could use.

I wanted to tell her that we will put her posts in her album for her and even reload all of her pages if she wants.

I wanted to show her our rent receipts and our stock rooms in the back and explain to her that we have to pay to rent our space. We do not have the liberty of storing our goods in our basement at home.

I wanted to show her the cheque stubs for our employees, utilities, insurance, snow plowing, advertising, phone, internet, wsib, etd's etc., etc. I wanted her to understand how huge overhead can be.

I wanted to tell her how hard Tara and Gloria and David worked at getting the vomit stains out of our carpet and SLATWALL (blech) after it was left behind by one of customer's wee ones.

I wanted to tell her that we would spend countless hours teaching her to scrapbook because she didn't want to take a beginner's course.

I wanted to tell her that we would spend as much time as she wanted us to in helping her pick out her paper and matching cardstock.

I wanted to tell her that we would hold her "soggy", crying, children for her while she browsed through our aisles.

I wanted to tell her our staff might give her an embellishment or two from their own "stash" for free if we didn't have it in stock and it matched her page just right.

I wanted to tell her that we when we found her credit card in our parking lot we would drive it to her house and make sure that she received it safely.

I wanted to tell her that we would teach her how to use the tools she had purchased from another store because they did not have the time to teach her.

I wanted to tell her that we are growing our business and are now providing our customers with a fabulous forum, a licensed (not free) gallery and that we hired a fabulous web design team so that she would have a place to meet and mingle with other like minded inviduals.

I wanted to tell her about all the time, effort and money we are investing in Scrapability and how it would benefit her so that she would understand our vision and our mission.

I wanted to tell her that we offered more than just great products. I wanted to tell her that we offered a service. I wanted to explain this to her so that she would know why we charge 5 cents more for our cardstock than some online stores do. But I also would have mentioned that it is 5 cents less than other stores. There were so many things that I wanted to tell her so that she could understand that ins and outs of running a store.

But alas, I did not tell her any of this. I just thanked her for the opportunity to be of assistance to her and urged her to let me know if there was anything else that we could help her with. Such is the life of a retailer.

And so.............to all of you who frequent our store (both storefront and online store) we thank you. Thank you to those that partake in our forum and online gallery. It is because of YOU that we are in this business. I don't think we could do this day in and day out if there weren't a whole whack of fun-loving gals who appreciate what we do. We TRULY appreciate your support, loyalty and dedication more than you can ever imagine! And thanks so much for reading this whole thing! I owe you a vent whenever you need it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANYONE WANT TO WIN A CRICKET.......

2007-02-07T21:12:00.000-05:00

Well if you don't want that kind of cricket, how about this kind:

Yes, that's right! We are having a fabulous contest where you can win a free cricket, including two cartridges and a cutting mat. Want some dets? Go ahead.....click right here!

A few more tidbits of info.....

2007-02-04T02:11:00.000-05:00

as tagged by Ki the other day. Here goes:

A=Available on short notice for trips to Dairy Queen for soft ice cream only! :0)
B=Bananas - Love them, but refuse to eat the ends or the bruised parts
C=Condiments - Love fancy mustard, but you can keep the relish!
D=Too big if you ask me...would much rather be a nice "C" cup:
E=Essentials - a quiet sunday morning breakkie with my man;
F=Favourite gum-chicklets--been know to suck off the candy and throw away the inards.
G=Good Grammar-I try to use correct grammar but mess up often!
H=Hometown - Toronto--used to be Welland
I=Inkadinkadoo-just love to say that word!
J=Jello, made from Gelatin, which contains some kind of gross beef bone by product. I'll take a pass on that one please and thank you.
K=KoolAid--love me some lime koolaid
L=Libya--I was just looking at Libya on my Atlas a few days ago
M=my mom -- who helps me with everything and I don't thank her enough (and my dad and my sis too--hello guys *waving*)
N=Niece and Nephew--that I love just like they were my own kids! *waving at them too*
O=Oranges or apples - Apples if they are not mealy and oranges if they don't have a lot of white cling on crap on them.
Phobias or Fears - Phobias about all things connected to meat with bones
Q=Favourite Quote - pppppffffffftttttttt
R=reason to get up in the morning--still working on that one!
S=Soft drink of choice--Diet Coke
T=Tang - the drink of astronauts (do you think they REALLY drank Tang up there--did they pack pitchers and wooden spoons with them--how would they wash the pitcher when the tang was gone--would they have a fridge to keep it cold--who's going to drink warm tang????)
U=underwear-something my naked neighbour might be interested in purchasing (btw...between you and me dude, I got an email about male *enhancement* that you might be interested in--seriously buddy, I will forward it to you!)
V=Veggan--the concept appeals to me--no meat=no bones=a happy me
W=Wooden spoon--the kind the astronauts APPARENTLY took up in space with them
X=X-RATED-see naked neighbour comment above
Y=Yentle (sp?) A movie I never saw, nor do I plan to. Not much of a Streisand fan.
Z=ZEEEEEEE End!

A SHOUT OUT TO MY BIRTHDAY GAL !!!!!!

2007-01-31T23:23:00.000-05:00

A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MY AMAZING FRIEND CAROL who is celebrating her birthday today! First off, let me say that I will most likely get my ass kicked for posting this picture (BE KIND PEOPLE....IT WAS 1989!!!), but I can't stand NOT to post it. I love this picture of us. It totally represents our youth. Plus it reminds me SO much of times when things weren't so hectic, and we had more time to chat, laugh and hang out together. Carol is the best. She has an amazing sense of humour, she is sensitive and caring, she is thoughtful AND she is kick ass smart. As in seriously smart. She is an official smartie pants. We travelled through Europe together, to the Caribbean, Florida mucho times, and we do the annual cottage thing without fail (except for last year!). Anyway, I hope you come across this post Carol and realize how much your friendship means to me. I have known you now for 38 years and it has been a tremendous ride. Thanks for sharing your life with me my friend!

A WHOLE LOTTA MAN CANDY!!!!!!!!

2007-01-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

If you have a few minutes to spare (and even more to daydream thereafter), you HAVE to check out the hottie thread that our fiesty girls have started! Phew! I think I need a cold shower now..............

KIMBERLEY F. (PIERIDES) COME ON DOWN.....

2007-01-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

You are the next winner on YOU WON OUR RAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Congrats! You won our guess our S.O.U.P. contest. A prize will be going out to you shortly! Thanks for playing!!!!

This is me....................

2007-01-29T00:09:00.000-05:00

Tired. Really tired. But in that happy tired, happy exhausted, sleepy dopey kind of way. Kind of the way you feel after you stay up chatting with a old friend. Tired..but happy. Our sale this weekend blew me away. In fact, this last week has been nothing but a whirlwind of activity. All I can say is that the customers of the Scrapping Nook rock! Truthfully, we are having a bit of trouble staying sane through all of this, as it is all new to us, but so far so good! It seems to be a continuous cycle of getting new products in, shipping stuff out, phoning customs brokers, couriers, going to the post office ect. But I guess that is the life of an online store. So yeah for us! On top of it all, all the new CHA stuff is debuting and I am spending countless hours keeping track of it all, and trying to sort out the orders for that too! And....to top it all off, we are the proud new owners of 2,500,000,000,000 coasters. Perhaps a slight exageration, but you get the point. A lot of raw coasters. A little store. But s'all good my friends, because tonight when I drift off to sleep I will have a contented little smile on my face. And I owe it all to you.

Oh.......psssssssst...between you and me....I REALLY want to vent about something. Really bad. But I won't. Not here. Not now. I am not the venting type, so I will keep my thoughts to myself. I will channel my negative energy into something positive. Maybe I will bake a pie, or 12 dozen with that energy! Or I will knit a scarf........or 40 (but first I will learn to knit).

And Ki.......I have not overlooked your tag! I am saving it for tomorrow my friend!

H-U-G-E GO CART SALE!!!!

2007-01-26T22:42:00.000-05:00

GO CART.......AS IN GO....WITH YOUR CART AND CHECK THAT BABY OUT!

We really wanted to have a "grand opening" sale for the online store, but were slightly wary of doing it until we made sure that the system was running smoothly.

WELL THE SYSTEM IS DEFINATELY RUNNING SMOOTHLY, so we are ready to Celebrate! ( Flipper is already drunk! )

So here is your chance gals! Fill your carts till your heart is content.

Then SIX DIFFERENT TIMES BETWEEN SATURDAY MORNING AT 11:00 AM AND SUNDAY NIGHT AT 9:00 P.M., WE WILL GIVE YOU TEN MINUTES (BASED ON OUR TIME HERE) TO CHECK OUT. Everyone who checks out in those ten minute times frames will receive 20% OFF THEIR ENTIRE ORDER (excluding SOUP items). Even sale items count! I will post the notice of the sale here in the News and Events Section ONLY and you will have ten minutes from then to check out. It is wise to sign into your cart ahead of time (as opposed to being there as a guest). If you haven't registered in the online store, you might want to do it now. You can register for the online store right here

Please select EMAIL TRANSFER for your method of payment and we will manually calculate your total, notify you of your total, and make payment arrangements. DO NOT pay with paypal as your discount will not be calculated.

Lastly, depending on response, it may take us a couple of days to process your discount, and process your order. Please be patient!

Oh....and if we currently have an order for you, we can combine the sale order with your current orders to save you on shipping!

Let the fun begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bazzill Bulk Buy Information............

2007-01-25T09:25:00.000-05:00

My in box has been inundated with requests for this info, so here goes. We are going to do a "bulk buy" with Bazzill. What is a bulk buy some of you may ask...well, basically, we buy packages of EVERY COLOUR in a particular texture family from Bazzill, break it up into multipacks and then deliver it to you. In other words, you get a couple sheets of every colour in that texture family! How cool is that? Uber cool I may suggest. Here's the techies on how it will work:

We would start out with the Bazzill Texture family. This is the standard Bazzill Texture and has the most number of colours. There would be 150 colours (approximately-there may be 148 or so, as they were unsure as to whether any of the colours have been discontinued). Each "bulk buy" would mean that you receive 2 sheets of each of the 150 colours. If there are only 148 or so, you will receive 2 sheets of the 148 colours etc. You can purchase more than 1 "bulk buy" if you choose. If you buy more than one "bulk buy" you will receive 5% off the total of your purchase (to be deductd off the final payment owing) We require a minimum number of 12 people for this to work and will cap it at 20. You are required to pay a deposit of 50% at the time you hold your spot(s) and the deposit can be paid by cash at the store, visa, mc, paypal or email transfer. The cost is $150.00 (based on the full 150 colours being available). You get 300 sheets of Bazzill for .50 cents each. Let me know who wants in!

We can arrange for shipping through Canpar, and it will ship as a parcel vs. “mail”. Canpar has uber reasonable rates (and some HOT delivery guys too). This should keep the shipping costs manageable for those of you outside of the Fonthill area. We love our "out-of-towners" and love to include them in our plans!

We totally get that this is a costly investment, but just think...you are scoring Bazzill at .50 cents a sheet, and you won't have a reason to stop scrapbooking at 10:00 at night, just because you don't have the right colour of cardstock. You will have all the colours, all the time! Cheers folk!

ANYONE FOR CROPADILE S.O.U.P??

2007-01-22T09:22:00.000-05:00

So...........our S.O.U.P du Jour (savings of unbelievable proportions) is the Crop-A-Dile today! Woohoo! Love the Crop-A-Dile. So fast, so quiet, so easy to use! Anyway, I digress! Today, it is only $21.44!

I can see it.........at least I think I can see it........

2007-01-20T23:51:00.000-05:00

This my friends, is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and if I am not mistaken, I think I can see it! After hours and hours (and hours and hours and hours) of neck-aching, eye-straining work, our new online store launched today. And to be perfectly honest with you, I was almost a little teary eyed when it went live. I am SO proud of our accomplishments. We are by no means done, but we have made a really good "dent" in the product we have to load up. And what warms my heart the most is the encouragement and support that we have received from our customers. We are so blessed. Thank you everyone SOOOOOOOO MUCH!

Oh...before I forget....S.O.U.P. Du Jour stands for Savings of Unbelievable Proportions and each day (hence the Du Jour), one item in our online store is 40-50% off. Today's Soup can be seen here . I will draw for my SOUP rak later this week!

NIGHT ALL..................oh, and btw.....a HUGE shout out to my pal Elia for all her hard work and effort! We could never do it without the FLIP!!!!!

Bazzill anyone ????

2007-01-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

I posted this on our website, but will throw it in here too!

I am considering putting together a "Bazzill Bulk Buy" together for our customers if there is enough interest.

Essentially, and depending on how many people took part, you would end up with "x" number of sheets of every colour and texture that Bazzill makes.

If ten people took part, then you would get roughly 5 sheets per colour, per texture. If 15 people took part, then it would be roughly 3 sheets per colour, per texture. Make sense?

I am not sure on the pricing per sheet yet, as that will be determined once I have a better idea as to the numbers. My guess would be roughly .55-.60 cents per sheet.

We could always just go with one texture family too--for instance, just the raw silk etc.

The initial outlay might be significant, but you would have cardstock to last you to infinity and beyond!

OH HOW I HEART THE NEW CHERRY ARTE!

2007-01-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

Shipping the week of CHA I understand from my *sources*...so I put in my pre-order and I just finished loading it up in the online store. MMMMM love me some CA! Blogger won't let me post pics of all that I ordered, so stayed tuned and I will show the rest later!!!!!

can you even call this an entry?

2007-01-09T22:26:00.000-05:00

*thud*

I think I love you, what am I supposed to do now....

2007-01-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

I think I love you
So what am I so afraid of?
I'm afraid that I'm not sure of
A love there is no cure for
I think I love you
Isn't that what life is made of?
Though it worries me to say
I've never felt this way

Please tell me that I am not the only one who remembers (and LOVES) this song by the Partridge Family. OK, OK, I know that Danny Bonaduce (sp???) is a freak now, but I never dug him anyway! Who I really dug was David Cassidy! Man I loved him (and his brother Shaun even more!) Anyway, I shall wipe the drool off my keyboard and move forward. Long story short.....ever time I look at our Valentine's kit I start singing this sing. Love the song. Love David. Love the kit. Check it out:

Oh...........and on one final note, I always wanted to be Tracy! Playing the tamborine would have been just my style!

I don't get it..............

2007-01-04T21:59:00.000-05:00

My keyboard is broken! Or rather certain keys on my keyboard are broken. My delete key (which I use ALOT) and my tab key (which I also use alot) are not functioning. Why does it have to be the important keys? Why can't it be the ~ key or the | key--who uses those? At first I thought I may have spilled diet coke in it--or even perhaps got a potato chip stuck in there (that has happened before and it's not easy to get out). But the last time I ate a chip was sunday (mmmmmmmmm Spicy Curry Lays)and it just broke today. So, I guess it's time for a new keyboard! Speaking of new, my "blue team" over at the nook is doing great! Go girls Go! We have a forum set up on the Nook board for everyone who wanted to aim towards a healthier lifestyle in 2007! So far, soooooooooo good! I am also routing for the red team cause they are coolio gals too! :0)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Even naughty girls get presents!

2007-01-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

Well, not really *naughty*, just a bit mis-directed! The man and I opened our Christmas presents last night, and I can think it is safe to say that I was wee bit spoiled! Ron bought me a beautiful Nikon D70S and a fab lens to go with! I felt really, really blessed to have such a special guy in my life! He also got me a 20L bottle of cold-water tide, but I will happily spare you the story behind that! We had a wonderful New Years Eve with a fabulous fire and lots of quiet time! My kind of night! Here is my first pic with my camera...sorry it's shaky, but I didn't use the flash and was just too lazy to pull the tripod out!

Happy 2007 Everyone!!!

THANKS DUDE ON THE RADIO..................

2006-12-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

A little secret about me.............I love talk radio. Don't get me wrong, I love my tunes too, but I find myself in my car so often, for such looooonnnng periods of time (read 60,000 kms in a year and a half), that talk radio really helps to pass the time. Anyway, I was listening to the radio on boxing day, and they had this Indian gentlman on, who apparently *reads* you. I am not a believer in these things, but what the heck. Anyway...he went on to say that 2007 was going to be a great year for those whose year of birth is divisable by 3s, and has 6s and 9s in it. Yahoo for me......I was born in 1969! So I can only imagine that 2007 will be a great year.....I will force myself to believe that.

Oh I have a picture to share...................wee niecey and I went to Build-A-Bear and this is what she came away with. Sadly, I realized that she does not value my input, otherwise we would have left with either a Dorothy (as in Wizard of Oz) or Hello Kitty stuffie. Instead, we left with a candy floss pink Britney Spears look a like cat (who...by the way, does not wear undies just like Britney) with more pink accessories than I could ever imagine. None-the-Less, the sweetie pie grinned ear to ear for the entire time and loved the experience more than I could ever imagine! We will definately be returning!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL....................

2006-12-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

and to all a good night!

A couple of things before I hit the open highway and travel to the parents for Christmas!

First, let me, from the bottom of my heart, wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Wherever you are, whomever you are with, however you celebrate....may you find joy and peace during this special time of year. I find myself thinking alot about my Gran who passed away exactly one year ago on Christmas Eve. We were shell shocked last year as her passing was very sudden, but this year, the reality of it all seems to be hitting home a little. It makes you realize how important it is to treasure the moments you have with your family and to focus on the big picture. On a lighter note, I am taking the wee niecey girl to Build-A-Bear tomorrow to build a kickbutt bear with her as part of her Christmas present. Secretly, I think it is I who wants to build a bear--I hope she will at least let me help her pick out the outfit--or.......better yet, maybe I can be in charge of the shoes! LOL!

And if you are local to the Niagara region..... don't forget about our big, week-long (or almost a week long) Boxing Week Sale! It's a great opportunity to pick up some amazing stuff at great prices!

Have a safe and happy holiday everybody!!!!!!

1,000 POSTS LATER.......................

2006-12-20T00:26:00.000-05:00

Seriously dudes, our gals can CHAT! 48 hours into our new website, and our gallery is at 1,000 posts! It might have something to do with the $100.00 gift certificate we are giving away.....but I am not sure! What I am sure of is that the girls on the forum over there totally blow me away! Talent abounds in the gallery (there are already close to 250+ layouts posted there) and the forum is soooooooooooo much fun! And you know me, I am alllllll about the fun!

On a totally separate note, we are uploading images to our shopping cart with a vengence. Sadly enough tonight though, I fell asleep, at my computer, with fingers on keygboard, while uploading images. The Big Man's way of telling me to get to bed earlier tonight I think. So, in a totally unprecedented move, I will be turning in before 2:30 a.m.

Oh..if you have a minute, check out my girl Elia's blog. Elia is a laugh and a half and finally started her own blog!

G'night everyone!!!!!!!!!!

IT'S BEAUTIFUL...........

2006-12-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

Simply stunning, if I do say so myelf! After lots of hard work by Blue Kangaroo Studios (tribute post to follow),...I am happy to announce that the NEW WEBSITE for The Scrapping Nook Inc. is up and running. Man does this site RAWK! The colours, the layout, the set-up, the members, the gallery, the forum, it all RAWKS!

And...............we are having a contest in our Forum for a drawing for a $100.00 gift certificate! Seriously, go check it out!

A shout out to my friend Patti....................

2006-12-14T12:50:00.000-05:00

I just had to post a picture of my friend Patti Miller's new business cards! Aren't they gorgeous? They are actually two-sided postcards, but you get the idea. I absolutely looooove Patti's photography. Sometimes I visit her site and just spend time looking through her fab shots. I am not sure what aspect of her photography appeals to me most, but I *think* it's because she does what so many other photographers don't always do. She captures more than just a picture. She captures a feeling. Her pictures never looked posed to me. They look natural and beautiful. When I look at her pictures I often think I can *feel* the moment. I can feel the love, the happiness, the excitement--the *moment*.

See you all on the other side........................

2006-12-11T11:34:00.000-05:00

Patti M. told me not to say anything yet, so I won't. There I will just leave this tiny little entry this way. Nuff said.

Oh, except I do want to say that I checked my email this morning (after a wonderful 2 day hiatus), and low and behold, I had 16 notifications from blogstats.....the co. that notifies me about comments on my blog. It's kind of nice because I get to read all the comments left on my blog, without having to actually log onto my blog...anyway, I had "16". I had no idea RAK competition was so fierce. Cheers to all.

HOW DO YOU SPELL AMAZING ? (R.A.K. involved)

2006-12-08T17:13:00.000-05:00

Ummm, how about S.O.U.P. de jour"? So, some of you who follow our blog know that we are building a new website. And contained in that website will be a hugely kickbutt Message Board, Gallery, Online Shopping Cart, and much, much more (many details of which are still slightly secretive). Part of our reveal will be our S.O.U.P. de jour. So.....just to get your interest piqued, I will give away a RAK to one lucky first person who tries to guess the ENTIRE meaning of S.O.U.P de jour (in other words, you just have to try to guess....you don't have to get it right). And I promise that it will be a juicy rak (not a squish in your purse kind of juicy, but a "ooooohhhhhhh cool" kind of juicy). And if by chance, you are one of the few people that know what it means because I have told you, well sorry then, but you can't play! Let the games begin!!!

BETA, BETA PHOBETA, BANANAFANAFOEMATA!

2006-12-07T11:15:00.000-05:00

Remember that song? I have had it in my head for the last three days. Ever since, our techie guy, told me we would have a BETA LAUNCH of the new site. I didn't even know what that meant, but he nicely explained that it was a "trial" launch of our new site--so we could work out any bugs or kinks that there were! So we "Beta'd last night with the design team gals and a few other friends..........and it appears that it is a huge hit! I have never had so many emails, pm's or phone calls in such a short time! It felt great to realize that all the work Blue Kangaroo Studios (to whom I shall devote an entire post later) has put in has paid off! I think we will be ready to go live very shortly and just can't wait. In the words of my friend Vicki Boutin....it looks gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooodddd!!!!!!

Rolling along........................

2006-12-03T22:20:00.000-05:00

Man.....things over at the new website are moving along really well! Hats off to our team over there who are doing such a fabbie job. Wait till you see it........it's all purty with nice colours, and graphics and pictures and all kinds of neat stuff. Know what else is neat (besides my sock and undies drawers, which I pride myself on.....everything all lined up in neat little rows...but I digress)...actually two things are neat.

My first neat thing is a business meeting I had the other night. No details to disclose yet, but holy cow.....this is COOL! Totally cool! Totally, amazingly, cool. Even Ron thought it was cool, and he doesn't think anything is cool! I will keep you posted my friends and dets will surely be posted on our new webbie.

My second neat thing is a CONTEST! We are having a great contest when our new site is launched. Contests are so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you don't have to sing or wear a wet-shirt for this one! (well you COULD do either one, but neither will help you win!)

Cheerio everyone! I am off to do some more work!

Please light a candle for Nigel............................

2006-11-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

I have a friend. Her name is Patti (yeah, I know...great name). Patti lives in Burlington, ON. Patti has a husband. His name is Chris. Chris has a wombat. The wombat's name is Nigel. Nigel is stuffed. Nigel left for an extended tour, hoping to get his photo snapped with superheroes. Nigel has a "thang" for superheroes. Now Nigel is missing and has not been heard from for a very long time. So........please, light a little candle and place it in your front window...........HELP BRING NIGEL HOME!

And Patti........if you happen to come across this....thanks for everything! Hugs to you my friend!