This Week.....FRUSTRATION!

feels like it will never end. This has been our worst summer ever! Dear Husband is stressing with work, I'm stressing over the business... and again, no summer vacation! I hate summer!

Tuesday morning, my dear husband awoke in the middle of the night with a stomach bug... it was ugly! My dear mother-in-law took care of the kids and my dear husband all day while I was working at the store. She even did all the laundry for me :). THANKS MOM!

So, more bad news and the inevitable may be coming sooner than I think. Tuesday, the store was quiet again... no visitors. I do not believe we will be changing our operating hours back from our summer hours. In fact, I think I may have to return to the "real working world" and keep the store open only on weekends if it can manage to sustain itself. Unfortunately, I am not intending on ordering any of the new releases this month. We simply cannot afford it. We are liquidating lots of paper kits on ebay as I speak. Most of our store and online store is already marked down 20-35%. My husband has asked me to keep it going until our 1 year anniversary in October. Honestly, I'm ready to bring it back home. The last 3 months have been very bad for the store... I honestly don't know how we have managed to stay open this long. Thank goodness dear hubby has been working lots of overtime because that is what has been sustaining the store's operating expenses.

And to top the week off... I found out today that our huge order of mulberry paper has been randomly selected by Customs to undergo an intensive exam. That meant holding our shipment in storage 2 extra day, and of course being charged for the additional storage time... plus the pallets. Apparently the warehouse in Philly that it was being held in is not a "Customs Approved Intensive Exam Facility", therefore they required the load be transported to another storage facility... WHAM!!! There is another charge! Come to find out that there are also additional fees for the "intensive exam"! Can you sense my frustration!

Normally our paper is shipped by air, but given the size of this order it was way to expensive to0 fly it here without having to increase the end costs. Taking the more "economical approach" seemed like the better option for us and our customers. Almost 3 months later, this has been nothing but a nightmare! I can't wait to wake up from it.

For those of you waiting for the color selection to return, we should be taking delivery late next week... so I've been told. Because of this delivery, we have not planned any store classes or crops this month. The size of the order is going to take up the entire back room until it can be inventoried and put away.

Some Good News... I'm just about finished with our "Beginner's Guide to creating with Mulberry Paper". A comprehensive tutorial on cd full of tips, tricks, and step by step instructions for creating Tear Bears. This kit will include my original pattern. You will be shocked at how this pattern is presented. I'm really excited about this and can't wait to get it all finished. I don't want to release our patterns without having the beginer's guide available.

The written text is in pdf and is already 20 pages long (in chapters) It will most likely be longer once I start adding all the photo illustrations. That will begin tomorrow along with a tutorial on eyes and eye lashes. I've had some set backs this week (obviously), so I am a little behind schedule. Several Beary Patterns are ready... we will have the original bear pattern available seperately and with the beginner's guide, plus some other patterns available. I will also be making examples for illustration this week. I need to make some bears that don't have clothes attached to them - LOL.

We are also going to be branching out into cutting files by the end of the year. I have created so many of them that I am crazy not to share them with everyone. The only problem... with all the cutting systems out there, learming this file conversion stuff has been a chore. I only work in wpc files. I think I have svg figured out. I hate hate messy cutting lines, so I have to clean them all up once I convert them. Although, I love technical stuff and playing with graphics, etc... so this is right up my alley.

Sorry for all the bad news, but there was some good news attached.

We are on Facebook!

Guess What? We are now on Facebook! Come join us for the fun. Maybe I'll be better keeping up with facebook than I am with our blog :)

A beautiful Layout by Killiam Creative!

My friend Susan at Killiam Creative made her first Tear Bear Layout! I am so proud of her. Her work is simply beautiful and definately worth taking a peek at. She's currently has it listed on Ebay. Here are a few sneak peeks, but be sure to go check out the full image gallery.
Just click on the title to link you right to her listing.

Of course, she used our mulberry to create her adorable little bears :)

Thank you Susan for allowing me to showcase this beautiful layout and these fluffly little bears! Whoever wins this layout will certainly have a treasured piece of work.

New BO BUNNY... you gotta see these :)

I had all intensions of doing this last week... better late than never. Bo Bunny's new product line up is simply YUMMY! And they've added to their double dot line. I just love that cardstsock!


Here is a peak of what's coming. Since we need to make room for all these new goodies, all remaining Bo Bunny will be on SALE! Stop by the store, or shop us online and help clean us out to make room for these amazing collections.



NEW DOUBLE DOT:

TIS THE SEASON:
ST. NICK

BOO CREW:

KITCHEN & SPICE:

GYPSY:

FLUTTER BUTTER:

DELILAH: (MY FAVORITE) Until Next Time,

New Beary Sweet Printables...

Now available for download are Beary Sweet Printables!

Facial characteristics make a huge difference in the overall appearance of your tear bear or paper pieced critter, and it is probably the most difficult to master. Since the eyes and the nose can be a bit tricky, we've created these downloads of eyes and noses for you to use.

Click on the image above to take you to our webiste. From there, you can download one, two or all three of our files using Adobe Reader. Print them out on heavy white cardstock whenever you need them. You can cut them out by hand or use a paper punch. It's that simple!

As we get closer to releasing my tear bear pattern to the public, I'll be adding helpful tips, trick, and other cool stuff for you to use.

Coming Up Next... How to create lucious lashes!


Until Next Time.

Just Checking In - New Prima Mini Packs

I haven't had the opportunity to check in since our 1st All Day Crop on Saturday. I can hardly believe that it was 10 hours of cropping! It flew by so fast. I guess time DOES fly when you are having fun.

There were so many beautiful pages created during the crop. The talent that graced our store was unbelievable! Sandra and I were honored to have so many talented women all in one place. Keep up the good work girls. Every month you always seem to amaze us!

So about the title on this post. We've been busy with flowers. We all love to use flowers in our projects, but having 90-100 flowers in a bottle or package, it seems like those flowers are more than one person will ever use up. We've decided to start breaking down these lucious flowers into smaller more managable packs. Separating each container by color and size then recounting them so that there are anywhere from 30-35 flowers in a smaller "Mini Pack". We've done our very best to ensure that you get a the same ratio of flowers that already come in a full container. So far, these smaller packs have been a HUGE hit this weekend. We also took all the extras and put them in a basket so that if you only need a few flowers you can pick the colors and sizes that you want! We currently have Daisies and several Hydrangeas counted out. We'll be doing ALL the flowers in the store that come in large quantities. I even get my kids sorting and counting. My dining room table turns into a bed of Primas! Believe it or not, it is my son that doesn't complain about helping. Just another way to make scrapping more fun and less intimidating!

I've also been working on our first paper piecing CD. This is way overdue and a project that I have been working on forever. Unfortunately, it always seems that when I get the time to work on it, something comes up. It's not a matter of creating patterns... I've made hundreds of them over the years. The problem is making sure the CD and instructions are easy to follow and clearly written... complete with images to walk you through every step of the way. I'm currently in the process of putting the finishing touches on it. I hope to have it available in the next few weeks.

Besides that, I really wish I was in Orlando (and not because of the heat).

Until later... Happy Scrappin'

Christmas In JULY SALE!!!

We're celebrating an early Xmas, and what better way to do so than treat yourself this Christmas in July. No big crowds, no Christmas rush, no Christmas shopping for everyone on your list... just shop for yourself.

We still have 2 spots remaining for All Day or Half Day Crop. If you are interested, please call the store. Cropping starts at Noon with lunch served, followed by scrapping, fun and games. Then we'll have dinner, play some more games and scrap some more until 10pm. What a great day!

Oh, and of course there is shopping.

This weekend only (Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26 we have the following on sale:

Bazzill Cardstock: 2 for $1.00
All Holiday Papers & Embellishments 30% off (from Valentine's Day to Xmas)
All other Patterened Papers not already marked down (some as low as 35%) - 15% off
All other store items - 15% off

Customer Appreciation Cards will receive credit for purchases, however as stated by our store policies, you will not be able to redeem them during this sales event.

As an additonal treat...

We will be giving DOUBLE PUNCHES ON CUSTOMER APPRICIATION CARDS ON SUNDAY ONLY!!!

For Our Web Shoppers:

Hope to you at the store!

Summer Sale!

Now thru Sunday, JULY 19, 2009! Use these codes in our online store for your qualifying purchase and save a bundle!
In store shoppers, you're included too. Bring in these coupons to use with your qualifying purchase. Coupons are NOT valid with any other offer or discount.

Good News!

I actaully have a few good things to report.

First, I want to thank everyone for your prayers and emails. Abby is home. All I can say is what a dramatic experience it was for her. She's doing a little better. Still has some tummy pain. I'm hoping it clears up soon.

I just activated International Shipping on our website! Yippie, we are now shipping worldwide!

Also, we have added "local pick-up" for our local shoppers who what to "shop from work or home" and pick up on the way home or out. Don't worry, I won't tell your boss or husbands for that matter - LOL.

Instructions are listed on our Policy Page for local pick up customers. If you have any questions, just call or email me.

Have a great night. I'm off to bed.

Prayers Please

Good Evening everyone.

I'm am going to be unavailable for at least the next 24 hours. We had to take our oldest daughter (Abby) to the hospital this morning. She has been admitted for abdominal pain. The dr's have not ruled out appendicitis just yet, but they are holding her for observation and to run futher tests in the morning.

I will not be able to respond to emails until tomorrow night.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.