You Quack Me Up at CK Manchester

"You Quack Me Up" is the theme of our 2008 make and take. Pictured here is Natalie Lavallee from Agawam, MA (left) and Christine Mihalek from Westfield, MA (right). They sat down with us to chat and complete our new make and take.
I'll tell ya, I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to compete with our frog from last year but thanks to this goofy looking duck and a silly saying, it's been a hit. Our make and take table is full all day. Keep an eye out for us when we come to your area. This is one mini project you don't want to pass up.
When I sent out my last e mail to everyone I made mention that i would let you know if I cam across any products that i had been impressed by and just had to have..... well I did! We travel all over the US with many of the same vendors at each show so I see alot of the same stuff all the time. When we're on the east coast I always stop by a certain booth to watch a demonstration. Each time I stop I say to myself " I would love to have that" but never purchase it. This time I caved and bought one for myself. It's the Write N' Rub Creative Foiling Pen from Bo Nash. I thought, what a great way this would be to embellish some of our kits. And, wouldn't you know, it works just like the demonstrator says it does. I love it. - At Time Flies we encourage you to use the scraps from each of your layouts to make a card. We practice this ourselves and feel that it's a great way to show someone you care while also reusing what we already have to cut down on paper waste. This pen is now going to be my card making magic. I'll let you know how it goes!
Well I'm off to work on more projects and get ready for our next show. Jessica will be traveling to Buffalo with her husband so stop by the booth to say hi to Chris. I'm sure she'll be working him to the bone. I'll be at home with my family until Jess and I jet off to Arlington, TX for the Great American Show the first weekend in June. Hope to see you there.

Check out our latest something something. I was bored and thought I could come up with another paper craft if I really set my mind to it. I had a bunch of these small notepads laying around (not actually laying around, kinda tucked away in the closet-but you know what I mean) -anyway I used our Oh So Hip Line and jazzed this little bad boy right up. I think I'll make a few to give away.
Tell you what: The first person to post to this little ditty will get one from me personally. All you have to do is let us know what you think and we'll contact you by e mail (you have to send that too) to let you know if you're the winner. Friends and Family are not eligible. That would be way too unfair.
On a more personal note I feel the need to tell you that I was bit by a tic. I found that little bugger on my thigh and it had burried its blood sucking head right into my leg. I flipped out and had to have hubby come and extract it with my oh so expensive tweezers. Now I have to boil them. Why you ask? Well for those of you that don't know me well enough, to say that I hate bugs is an understatement. I hate the great outdoors unless it (or I) is covered by a giant screen (bug proof to be exact) I camp once a year in a pre-approved location and drive my husband crazy. It's a good thing he loves me so much. I was just exchanging an e mail with Tracie from Scrap It Simple and I am pleased to say that she feels the same way. Now I would never kill a bug just because I despise their mere existence. It's a big world, there's room enough for all of God's creatures- however, should that bug cross over my doorway and enter my home, it's a gonner. (that was my disclaimer for all you bug lovers)
So on that note, Please have a wonderful, Safe and Bug (especially Tic) Free Weekend.

My Sunshine

This is the latest page I created with our Whirls and Swirls collection. For those of you who haven't seen it, It's a great distressed design in browns, tans, and black that lends itself to an antiqued or western themed layout. I had these adorable pictures of my son, Owen. We traveled to Nashville last Spring for one of our retail shows. My husband and him came along to help me. He even helped me work the make and take.
My husband left the building for 20 minutes and came back with this hat. Owen was so good about wearing it. But that was almost a year ago. You know, before he was old enough to really develop an opinion about things. I don't know if we could get him to humor us like this again. Good thing I have these photos!

Flower Making Kit

Here it is.... Finally! These flowers are the latest addition to our class schedule and soon to be product line. We have plans to start carrying them at all the shows and events we'll be attending. Our first classes will begin May 9-10 in New Jersey. We'll then teach them again June 5-7 in Arlington, TX and June 20-21 in Chantilly, VA. We're still awaiting word on the remainder of the CK shows and if space is available we will be offering the class with them as well, starting with Valley Forge in August.
I have to tell you, I've already made dozens of them to give as gifts and thank yous. They have worked out beautifully every time. Make sure you come to see us if we're in your area. Or better yet, sign up for the class. I promise, It'll be so worth it.

New Accordion Album and Flower Making Classes

Hey everyone, it's official. We can now tell you all that we will be offering our two new classes at select shows throughout the year. We held a test class this weekend and with the help of a few close friends,we worked it out. The AllStar accordion Album is made with our new AllStar Paper Collection, made from our F.S.C. certified Paper Series. The Flower making class was lengthy but so worth it. We ended up with a three flower bouquet that any one would be flattered to receive. I'll post those pictures as soon as I get them. Believe it or not, I did not have a camera with me and Jessica's camera battery was dead. I had planned on having my camera. I even emptied all my photos onto my mac... but I forgot it on my desk. Smart huh? Well It seems I've been having a lot of those days lately. Lets hope it gets better.
Check back for those photos, It'll be worth it.

Portland CKC

Here I am, home from Portland. What a beautiful city and what wonderful people. Everyone is so kind and welcoming. We had a terrific first time show. This CKC was the first time we taught our classes that we have scheduled for this year and I am happy to say that they were fabulous. We were able to finish the kit class in under an hour. So that gave everyone some extra time to add their own personal touches to their project. The double layout class went well too. On the first day we were unable to finish but came oh so close. I rearranged the timing of them for the second day and everything worked out much better. So... Thank you ladies. I appreciate the warm welcome and patience. I am so happy that it was with you that I was able to practice for the rest of our year. Most everyone was delighted to hear that we include extra paper for each of those layouts for them to take home and create a second page if they choose. Hope we get a few pics e mailed to us. We always love to see what you're doing.

While in Portland I was able to checkout EZlasers new pages. They're hot people. Teresa's been working her tail off and it is so worth it. You can check them out at ezlaserdesigns.com
I was also able to visit with my cousin Melissa and her son Kaden who live about an hour away.
Melissa and her parents moved out to Oregon from NY about 30 years ago (gosh, I feel so old)
We don't get to see each other often so I was so excited to have the chance and time to see them.
Kaden (4 years old) took my kit class and Melissa who scraps a different way (if you know what I mean) was able to pick up the class easy and created the kit along with all of our more seasoned croppers. She did an awesome (and yes, I just said -awesome) job.

Now it's back to the old grind stone. We're hoping to add to our class list and expand on many new projects. For all of you who have seen the flowers we have created with our recycled paper, keep looking...... those classes and kits may be just around the corner.

CHA and Cosa Mesa

Hey everyone. Welcome to our new blog. We were told that everyone has one so we'd thought we'd jump on board and start one of our own. We just returned from CHA in Anaheim, CA. It was a hot show and our best ever. We're happy to announce that many more of you will soon be able to find our product in your local market. Now, as always, we do not sell to large chain stores so we can only be found in your local independent scrapbook store. So please support them and us and shop, shop, shop. We'd hate to see them all disappear. We have some gorgeous new paper this season and will have it with us while we travel through out the US. It's F.S.C. certified and has the most amazing feel and texture. We're very proud of it. Checkout our Shows and Events Listing to see when we'll be in your area.

I returned home last week after CHA to get ready for our Portland, OR show for CKC. Jess stayed in California for the Scrapbook Expo Show in Costa Mesa. What a Show. She was busy busy busy... but managed to squeeze in a video interview with Scrapbook Dimensions. To see her and some of our great new paper and stamps, log on to www.scrapbookdimensions.com (the link to their site can be found on our home page or at the top right of this blog)

Okay, so that was my first try at a blog. How'd I do? I hope to have some more great news to post throughout the year along with new projects and design team ideas and inspirations. Please check back often. Oh, and we'd love to hear from all of you if you've got the time. Your input is what helps to makes us who we are.