A Challenge At The Crafty Scrapper!

Sometimes challenges are no fun! Sometimes challenges are super scary! But after we face them, we sometimes find they weren't so bad after all. No matter how big or small, a challenge is a challenge, right?!? Okay, so getting a couple of dozen of items in a baggie and told to create something using every single thing in it, isn't a life challenge, but it was scary a little bit!!! That is exactly what the the Design Team at The Crafty Scrapper was given to do! Here is mine...I know...a little different for me right? But, it was FUN!!!

As a quick mushy side note, I appreciate all your comments, even the ones when I post another blog! You guys are so special to me! I LOVE blog planet!!!!

 I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

An Awesome New England Visit! Part 2 + Giveaways!!!

Hello again this week! In my last post, I showed the sites and goings on of my time down the #PaperTrail in New England, but this post is all about the two stores I visited with Eileen and Amy while in Westbrook, Connecticut. (By the way, check out their blogs for great recaps of the trip as well.) The stores we visited were Paper Craft Clubhouse and Beautiful Impressions, and here is the interesting thing...THERE IS ONLY ONE BUILDING BETWEEN THEM!!! That is right...they are on the same block (Right on the main square.), the same street, and in the same town! How cool is that?!? They play very nice with each other in case you are wondering, because I sure was and of course I asked! You can literally get all your crafty shopping done in one outing between these two stores! They are very well stocked! The folks in Connecticut are so lucky!

Sorry for the glare, but this is the cute cute scrapbook store Paper Craft Clubhouse, where we visited first!

This store, whose owner is Tracie Larson, was large and spacious and so well stocked up! It was a scrapbooker's delight, and definitely housed tons of mixed media goodness too! I love the way it is set up.

Lots of Tim goodies!

Wendy, Dyan, Dina, Stamper's Anonymous, and Ranger goodies were all along this wall.

Sizzix dies were scattered throughout the store as well.

There were lots and lots of rows of loot. You could pick up Maya Road, Graphic 45, Prima, and the list goes on and on!

The large classroom could hold over 30 students...WOW!!!! There was even a die punch area! Very impressive!

Doesn't the trailer look grand outside of the window?!!

Then it was time to move the trailer up a bit and visit the unique and beautiful dollhouse style Beautiful Impressions stamp store. 

Can you believe that this is a stamp store? WOW!!! I could live here! The architectural delights were enough to invite me in! I was in vintage house heaven here!

The owner Terri Wyzykowski, was delightful and such a great hostess.

Each room in the store may be small, but it packed a big punch! There were so many stamps, and from companies I've never heard of. There was definitely a mixed media vibe throughout the store, which of course I loved! There was a little bit of everything, and what she doesn't have, she will order!

I loved all the B Line Stamps!

There were nooks everywhere where you could find great books and magazines! Of course, I bought a few!

 

 

 

 

The samples throughout the store were fabulous! Many were made by Terrie Lightfoot, a fellow All Things Tim Yahoo  member, whom I met at the store!

The paper room.

The paper room also housed an Art Bar where Amy and Eileen demoed. Don't you just love the fireplace behind the samples? LOVE!!!

WOW!!! The chandeliers throughout were gorgeous, but this one in the paper room with it's ceiling medallion was gorgeous!

The crown molding was amazing!!!!

There was a classroom space for eight downstairs as well, filled with items to use and play with.

The gorgeous banister of the stairway led upstairs to more teaching space that Terry also rents out as office space to those that need it. I got to eat fabulous pizza upstairs as well! DELISH I tell ya!

What a day!!! We were exhausted, but the sites, buys, and especially the demo visitors were wonderful! Thank you ladies for visiting us! Thank you store owners for hostessing us! AND...Thank you Eileen Hull and Amy Bowerman for inviting me on the New England  #PaperTrai!!!

You all know how I love to give things away to you! So, comment on this post, and I'll pick several winners who will score some loot that I managed to pick up along the trail and at The Collins Show! Check back on April 15...lol...to see if you've won!!!

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!