Whew! Catch up Friday!

Wow, March was such a busy month! Time sure flew! If you follow me on facebook you will see that I participated in the Northwest Paper chase, it was so much fun!! Each store had a photo opp with a different theme. The goal is to go to all of the stores but trying to coordinate that is hard with our busy schedules. E had a broken foot but she made the best of it! I LOVE that the stores in the area do this each year! It was so fun and great quality time! We did not make it to all 21 stores but we made it to many of them.

From Left to right we made it to: Sharin Memories - Lacey, WA; Scrap Happy Longview, WA; Kim's Crafts and Scrapbooking - Scappoose, OR;  Ben Franklin Crafts - Bonney Lake, WA; Scrapbook Nook - Kent, Wa; The Mad Scrapper - Issaquah, WA; Ben Franklin Crafts - Monroe, WA; Lila's Scrapbooking and More - Everett, WA

Mimi's Crop Circle - Burien, WA; Toadilly Scrappin' - Gig Harbor, WA; Scrap That! - Fircrest, WA; Cindy's Simple Stuff - Centralia, WA; and You can see, we actually closed the Ben Franklin store in Bonney Lake! Last but not least, my "home" store: The Scrappy Stamper - Centralia, WA. Last photo is a fun shot of Nana at Toadilly Scrappin.

The following weekend after the Paper Chase we headed back to Oregon for another fun girl day at the Creating Keepsakes Convention. We had so much fun in all of the booths and I saw so many friends! We took a Melissa Frances class!! Here is a photo of E and Nana sewing their fabric flowers in class. I love the glitter we were able to use, I ended up picking up almost all of the colors they had in the booth!

I was so excited that I finally got to meet Kim Garner, who teaches & designs for Melissa Frances and designs for Fiskars!! I am also a fan of hers, her blog is: It's all good. I was also a big winner in class of the large chipboard bingo mini album! So so fun!!

I have had a HUGE secret, I shared it last weekend! I was published in the April 2013 Cricut Idea Book: Mini Albums!! I still can't believe it, it's so very exciting!!
Here is the cover: (I love the cover!!)

If you are looking to purchase this book here is the link: Buy it! You'll like it  :)

Busy, busy!! Oh and did you see Teresa's latest release: Summer Stories! I am so excited, I will be making a class kit with this for sure!

Classes: Don't forget, if your looking to take a class with me, I have two coming up for the REMEMBER THIS CLASS

Saturday April 6th, 2013 10:00am - That's tomorrow! Still seats available!

Cost: $33.00 plus tax.

Location: The Scrappy Stamper http://www.scrappystamper.com/
1724 South Gold Street  Centralia, WA  98531
Call to reserve your spot now: (360) 623-1075

Saturday April 27th, 2013 10:00am

Cost: $35.00 plus tax.

Location: Scrap Happy
http://www.scraphappylongview.blogspot.com/
1323 Hemlock St. Longview, Washington 98632 
Call to reserve your spot now: (360) 423-9625

The North West Paper Chase 2011 - Part two

Continued from Part One

Stop #5 - Lila's Scrapbooking & More in Everett, WA Theme: Wizard of OZ (complete with "Toto" the dog.)

This is my good friend Carolyn's home store. She's the one that got me into scrapbooking way back when.   Her and her grandaughter Brittney met up with us at stop #4 and helped us find our way to this stop. This store has a lot of unique products for just about every occasion. They have a little of something for everyone. The class room is nice and open and even is equipped with beverage and microwave for the crop parties and classes! I picked up some fun little pieces for my new art journal. 

Stop #6 - Scrap That! in Fircrest, WA Theme: Twilight

Scrap That! is a store that has the cutest classroom space! Check out the chandelier, so adorable! A lot of fun products! One of the girls with us has helped them at a local convention, small world! Super cute store!

Stop #7 - Craft Savvy in Gig Harbor Theme: Princess and the Frog. It was raining so hard I wasn't able to get a photo (well, I had one but all you can see is the rain - darn phone camera.) This store was quite unique in that it also is a consignment store. In addition to scrapbooking supplies there were hand sewn aprons, bags, jewelry, candles, aquariums with frogs. I picked up a couple of journaling pens. My daughter picked up a great hand bag, her favorite purchase of the day!

Stop #8 - Toadilly Scrappin in Gig Harbor Theme: Harry Potter.

If you look closely from left to right, this is how BIG their store is! It was chalked full of products for every need. Everyone there was so friendly. They had a huge crop party going on. Their classroom is really large and they have awesome classes! It was our last stop for the day and they even helped us with directions to the closest coffee stand and how we'd be able to get in and out and back on the freeway. Seriously a great store! Love how everything was displayed and they carry the latest and greatest.

These were my favorite purchases for the day, The brag book by Fancy pants and the Creative Imaginations IOD horse papers. I just fell head over heals for this paper and the colors were amazing in this line.

Hoping to get to more this coming weekend!  Such a great time! 

✿ Cheri

The North West Paper Chase 2011 - Part one

Lights! Camera! Action! NorthWest Paper Chase 2011. This is the first time I have participated in the annual event. I had heard about it last year at the tail end. I think it's such a fun idea. Basically a bunch of stores in the Greater Pacific NorthWest have come together to create a SHOP HOP. There are 18 Stores participating. That's a pretty big road trip!

View NW Paper Chase in a larger map

You sign up with your home store for a fee and are given a "Passport", a charm bracelet and the beginings of your make and take 6x6 album. Your passport has all of the store names you will be visiting and a section where they will stamp your passport when you are at their store. From there you can purchase or earn your 6x6 take and make page and your charm - by purchasing product. $10 spent and you receive your page for free, $20 spent and you receive your charm for free. All of the stores have a MOVIE theme where you can have your photo taken on their "SET" so to speak, the take and make pages and charms match their store's movie theme.

This event runs from March 11th through March 27th. Once you have all your passport stamps you bring your passport back to your home store and they send in your entry form to win one of the drawings.

Let me just tell you about the prizes - there are 5 GRAND PRIZES - #1: a combined set of $25.00 gift certificates from participating stores. #2: Teresa Collins Stampmaker from Shop Hop Central #3: 6 mo project a week subscription from Scrap Yard Chicks #4: 6 mo 2 pages a week subscription from Scrap yard Chicks and #5: Winter 2011 Release Papers from Bo Bunny. 

Now....in addition to that there are more for those that can't quite make it to all 18 stores but do make it to 9 of them, there are chances to win. I love that, as I know I may not make it to all 18.

For more info: Click here!

I have to tell you what a great way to get some of your friends together and have a road trip! Which is exactly what I did! Wear your charm bracelet for 20% discounts (some products excluded at various stores). Thank you Elisha, Charlie and Linda for such a great time! We were so sorry that Shavanna could not join us as she was really sick, but it sounds like she will be able to make the next trip!

*Disclaimer: all photo's via phone and it was POURING down rain! ;)

First stop on our route: Ben Franklin in Bonney Lake, WA Theme: Cinderella

What a great store! I never realized that the Ben Franklin stores were individually owned, learn something new every day. My most treasured purchase of the day - The Wedding Day Yankee Candles - I have searched high and low for these. They are my MOST favorite scent ever - and they are discontinued! All they had were the tea lights but beggers can not be choosers, I got 'em! I loved seeing all the Teresa Collins collections and they had many! I can't wait to do a little something with this little hanger!

Stop #2 - The Scrapbook Nook in Kent, WA Theme: Willy Wonka

This is a very popular store, it is very nicely laid out. I love how they keep all the collections together by manufacturer/brand. They have some pretty great classes too! They carry a lot of great products! This really is a must see store. Somehow we managed to miss the other store in Kent on the list so we will be coming back as one of our girls was sick and couldn't make it and also wants to check out both of the stores.

Stop #3 - The Mad Scrapper in Issaquah, WA Theme: Alice in Wonderland

Adorable little store! They had amazing class kits! They hold classes every Thursday, if your in the area I highly suggest you check them out. They have a wonderful ribbon collection as you can see, I picked up this these for $1.75!!

Stop #4 - Stampin' in the Rain in Bothell, WA Theme: Singing in the rain

If you have never been to the Country Village in Bothell let me tell you, this place is a day trip in and of itself. Because of time we stayed on track but it was hard. In the center of this little village there is a pond and kids were feeding the ducks. Stamping in the Rain was more of a specialty stamp store with lots of inspiration and stamps. I picked up the cutest little pink blank journal...new art journal in the making!

We hit 8 stores total yesterday! Look for part two soon!!

✿ Cheri