We're Back

We got back from our holiday on Friday afternoon. We unloaded the car and then went to get Rafe.

While away the weather we had was cold for the first couple of days but then turned quite mild and we hardly had any rain. We didn't manage much cycling but we did see the Dick Whittington Panto, visited Santa, went to a carol concert plus many other things. After Christmas dinner we walked back to the villa and passed by the beach where we stopped to play for a little while.

Watching the singing reindeer.
We have a double buggy that we used at Center Parcs. It also attaches onto the back of a bicycle as a trailer, we find this invaluable at CP as we do quite a bit of walking and the children get tired. Whenever we use it we get stopped by people wanting to know where we got it from - it came from Germany via that well known auction website.

This is Bailey admiring Jo's Christmas Tree. He managed not to pull anything off the tree, in fact this year he has been remarkably well behaved around Christmas Trees.
We had a great time away and the good thing about being away is that I can't work. If we had stayed at home I would have been working on the website or popped into the shop.

At Stamp Addicts the sale started yesterday and will continue on Wednesday through to next Saturday. More products will be added to the half price room as the week progresses so it might worth coming back next week.

Goodies

We received our delivery from LA today. As you can see we always get excited when we get deliveries and dive right into the boxes. One of the boxes from Printworks had goodies in - yum yum!
This shipment included deliveries from JudiKins, A Stamp In The Hand, DeNami Design, Inspired Crafts (EZ Tool Cleaner)and the new issue of Scrapbooks etc. Tomorrow's delivery includes Grungeboard - yeah!

Tim Holtz Blog

Have you seen Tim's blog?
He has just finished the 12 Tags of Christmas. Each tag uses different techniques and products so make sure you check it out. The girls in the shop have been making them and we have a few on display in the shop.

Fingers crossed the Grungeboard will be back in stock tomorrow, we've had all kinds of delays on flights from the US this week, apparently mail is more important than our products! Also arriving is the new issue of Scrapbooks etc.

Currently I am still at work as this is our last staff crop of the year. I haven't attempted any scrapbooking this evening. Instead I decided to use this time to go through all the scrapbooking and crafting magazines that I collected at the trade show in July, as I will be collecting more when we travel back to Anaheim in February. They are a little out of date but still have good ideas for events and classes that we can host in store.

Julie is still working on her 'Book of Boris' scrapbook and I think Vicky is still working on the VAT return. There is currently only 3 of us at the staff crop and only 1 actually scrapbooking - next year I will try not to get distracted with other things.

Martin and the kids are going to Center Parcs on Friday but Jo and I have to follow on Saturday as we are dropping Rafe off at Sue's for Christmas. Martin has packed for him and the kids and the presents are wrapped and boxed ready, now I need to pack, I suppose I could always do that Friday night after they've left.
We had already booked this holiday before we got Rafe and when I called them they had no dog villas available so he can't come with us. Martin probably won't be able to stay in a dog friendly villa anyway, due to his allergy to other dogs. So I guess we might have to stay at home for Christmas in future. As long as I don't have to cook we'll be alright.

JudiKins

Sorry I've not blogged for a while. We had Rob & Judi from JudiKins staying with us, they arrived last Thursday and left yesterday morning.

We spent Friday in the office going over new designs and ideas and working on new TV shows for next year, we managed to accomplish quite a lot so there will be lots of new stamps for you in the coming months.

On Saturday we took them to Regent Street to see the Christmas lights, they were a little disappointing this year. We wondered around the shops and then we made the mistake of going into Hamleys. It was heaving with bodies. We finally managed to get the lift to the top floor and we worked our way down via the stairs (which are decorated like Narnia - really cool!) I managed to buy a couple of presents I needed for Bailey before we high-tailed it out of there but getting out was almost as hard as getting in. Whenever I have visited Hamleys in the past it has always been busy but I've never seen it this busy.

We had a lovely relaxing Sunday morning and then after lunch we visited Vicky in her new house. Later that evening we also visited a friend who has the most amazing Christmas tree. I was really really bad and didn't take a single photo during their whole trip. I am waiting for Rob to send me a copy of his photos and then I will post some up for you.

Judi and I stayed up every night until at least midnight gossipping and catching up, I'm not used to such late nights so hopefully I can catch up on some sleep this week before we go away for Christmas.

We are due a delivery from the US either today or tomorrow so I will be back on and let you know what arrives.

Design Team Layouts Dec 07

This is the first lot of layouts from our new Scrapbooking Design Team.

Christmas Shopping Evening

We have decided to hold a Christmas Shopping Evening, great for those of you who work full time and don't often get the chance to pop in and see us or if you want to send along your significant other with your wish list we will be more than happy to help them shop and find you just what you want for Christmas. We even offer Gift Vouchers.

We want to make it a festive evening so we will have mince pies and mulled wine as well as Christmas music playing. This week we are sending out postcards to all members telling you about the evening and if you bring your postcard you will be able to claim your free gift.

We will also have a demonstrator in store to show you the delights of the Quickutz Squeeze and Revolution - all Quickutz products will be on a special offer for the evening.

Our Christmas Shopping Evening is on Wednesday 12th December from 4pm until 8pm.

We hope you can come and join us.

Back in stock

We finally have the Scraparatus and the Picture It Pageframes back in stock. Our freight company lost the box with the Scraparatus in and it took them nearly a month to find it, but now we have it.

Also just in are the new Scor-It mini boards which are just fabulous, I will get these posted up on Stamp Addicts very soon..

Do you like my slideshow of the fashion show, it took me a while to figure it out but I got there in the end. I have also just read I can now post videos on my blog so maybe I could video someone using the Scor-it board and post it up here for you to see!

I'm taking the day off work Friday to go shopping in Milton Keynes, I've been buying the odd present or 2 over the last couple of weeks but I am hoping to get all my Christmas shopping finished this Friday so I don't have to venture back into the crowds again this year.
But I do seem to be coming down with a stinking cold so probably won't enjoy Friday as much as normal, fingers crossed for a sneeze-free day.

When I get back I will fill you in on our Christmas Shopping Evening at Stamp Addicts.

Don't forget to watch Judi's new webisode this week on CraftTvWeekly.

Fashion Show 2007

Hobbycrafts Fashion Show

If you missed us at the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC a couple of weeks ago here are a couple of photos of our outfit that was in the fashion show.

Jo and Vicky toiled for hours over the dress and I helped where possible but my many skills don't extend to needlework. And of course the tags made by the customers during our Craft In Pink weekend - this all went towards helping us raise £1295 for Breast Cancer Care.

The bodice and the hat are covered with petals which are glued on. The skirt is covered with all the handmade tags. This used to be my wedding dress before we cut off the sleeves and took up the skirt at the front. As I couldn't find my original underskirt we made a new one with pink netting.

We probably won't know if the dress won in its category until February, fingers crossed!

Bind It Project

Lesley created this book using envelopes. The book has been covered with Basic Grey papers and the front of the book has been stamped with a Tim Holtz stamp, the envelopes have also been stamped and inked around the edges for that aged look.

Have you had a look at our Design Team Gallery for cardmaking yet? The majority of the first batch are up there now and the scrapbooking layouts will follow hopefully later this week.