Talent Runs in The Family.........

Most of you know Cheryl and Megan Darrow of Ten Seconds Studio, and their creations with the metal. Well did you know that Cheryl has a very talented son too? He has been working with various metals and making some awesome jewelry pieces. He has also started teaching classes at their studio in North Richland Hills. Last week Sherri went to a class learning how to saw the metal. [We have asked Geoff if he would come to Waxahachie and teach us, so look for some classes in the future.]

He happened to come down to our store a couple of Saturdays ago. He brought me a great piece pictured here.........
Among his other (hidden) talents, Geoff writes poems. While visiting Saturday a poem came to him and he had to share;

No Place Like Home

Here we are at the Crafty Scrapper
With all our friends and nobodies happier
With 2010 just beginning
All the new toys it feels like the lotto I am winning
Now we get to play with all our new stuff
I hope my husbands paycheck last month was enough
Because here at the Crafty Scrapper we are amongst friends
I hope Carolyn will let me sleep here til 2010 ends.

Geoff
2/2010

Soldering Class

It is with extreme sadness that we give you this news. Our friend and teacher, Tina Wright passed away early this morning. As you know, she was diagnosed with colon cancer in the fall. She had made great progress and the prognosis was very positive. She felt like she was going to be able to do classes again and we had scheduled a soldering class with her for January. Then, this week she had some complications which could not be reversed.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family as they deal with this loss. Our lives have been changed by her and we will not be the same without her. I know that many of you have also been encouraged through the classes with her.

If you were signed up for her latest class, we will call you this week to let you know more information once we can get it figured out. Thank you for your patience in this tough time.

Strolling with Santa........

Someone took this picture of us this weekend, it reminded me of something I heard;

The four stages of life,
...you believe in Santa,
...you do not believe in Santa,
...you are Santa,
...you look like Santa!

Every year my husband goes to extremes to white out his beard for the kids. Friday night he came in on the firetruck and helped our Mayor light the Christmas tree. Afterwards we did Santa pictures. This picture was taken without us knowing, sometimes those are the best photos!

Inventory

Around this time of year, the reality of how much product is in the store becomes all too clear. Decisions about ordering many times are weighed by whether or not we will need more before the first of the year, because at the first of the year, we do inventory. The thought of counting everything starts to make some of us cross-eyed. We spend about 2 to 3 days counting all of the things in the store, comparing it to the computer record, updating the computer record and then starting the year with an fresh start.



I thought that it might be fun to put out a challenge to those who read our blog. The person who makes a guess closest to the actual amount without going over will win a prize package. We'll throw in some papers, a punch (the wings one pictured here), some flowers and maybe a stamp or more. It will be worth about $30.00. I hope that be motivation to make a guess. I will look for the winner Monday the 23rd. I can only hope there will be more than one response in our comments field.

The question for you - How many items are currently listed in our inventory? (different items)

I'll try to clarify....Say a paper is called Mistletoe and we have 25 sheets of it, for this purpose it is one item, not 25. Make sense?

For obvious reasons, anyone who works or worked at the store and can see the number in our computer is not eligible to guess or provide assistance to any guessers, but other than that, the rules are simple: post a guess before Monday evening, I will pick the person closest and then will put it on the blog for all to see.

Later!

Halloween Follow Up

Finally, a few of the pictures from the Trick or Treat Day on the Square. We were visited by kids in many types of costumes. Accompanied by parents, hundreds of children came by to get a treat. With merchants all around the square handing out candy, each child could get quite a bag full!





How cute are they?



This princess is a special part of our design team (as a model)-Ask her grandma.



another super special model:



and you may also know this guy! He has been in a few layouts and books over the years.



In case you didn't recognize the last one, that's Carolyn's son. He came up with the costume on his own and was quite an actor, portraying a much older man.

Wanna know what items are new in the store? You'll have to check back on Friday's post!

Friday....

Today was Trick or Treat on the Square. Each year, the merchants in downtown provide a place to trick or treat safely for children. We had hundreds of kids on our block. We took lots of pics, but will have to post them on another post.

For now, thought we'd share a few lines that came in today. As usual, the UPS man was loaded down with boxes for us. Most of the boxes were items needing restocked and were items for classes coming up, but there were also a few boxes with brand new product.

Here are four new collections that are out in the store as of this afternoon.

First is this Fab birthday collection. Although the stickers with the set seem to point to young birthdays - 1st, 2nd and 3rd, this collection is perfect for any age. I think it is great for teens, adults or the young kids. VERY bright colors and great designs.
This Chivalry collection is very neat as well. Marah Johnson's swirls and signature designs are on this paper and embellishments. The pages have foil and are great for boys and men. Rub-ons and paper indicate honor, hero and other words describing the great guys in our lives.

This birthday collection is also great. It is soft in color with a circus theme (would have been good for the party earlier in the year, huh?) Very cute items. This joins 2 other CI lines in the birthday section of the store.


And over on the Sports wall is this great line. Great sayings on the stickers and some awesome papers--great for many pages - not just sports.

More later. Have a great weekend.

Happy 4th of July Weekend......

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We started by making our family tradition, rice krispie treats, with the help of our crafty girl Alysia. Friends and family came over for a BBQ and then we took the kids to the cliffs to watch all the fire works along the beaches. Sorry the pictures didn't come out!
Brother-n-laws bonding while BBQ..........
Saturday morning the guys took the boys, Antonio and Denton fishing. Little did my sister know she had to drive them out on the warf, not her favorite place to drive a car, LOL!
Denton's first fish, maybe now he will go fishing with Michelle and me.
They also caught a star fish and a crab. These two guys did get to go back to the ocean.
After lunch on the water front, us girls met the guys on the warf.

Later, my sister said it was a MUST to go visit the toe ring guy. Everyone that comes to Capitola has to get fitted for a toe ring. If your ever here go by and visit them, Capitola Reef Script Craft Jewelry.

Friday we went to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We were so busy with the kids, I didn't get many pictures.

Thursday Pedro planned a trip out to sea to go whale watching. OMG it was amazing, we saw 4 whales. Two of them were very playful and jumped all the way out of the water. Unfortunately my pictures were too far away.
The sea lions were all so friendly, they just lay around everywhere. I was amazed at how many we saw out at sea.


Towards the end we came across 13 dolphins swimming along the boat. The water was so clear you could see them under the water.
We are heading to the beach for our last day, then back to HOT Texas tomorrow.
Have a great weekend!

Day 2 in California.......

Today we took the kids to a marine science center in Santa Cruz while the guys went fishing.Did you know that Whales are the largest animals ever to roam the earth? I didn't, I guessed dinosaurs! Tomorrow we are taking a boat out to go Whale watching. Hopefully I can get some great pictures, if I do not get sea sick!
Every Wednesday night they have concerts on the beach down the street from my sisters house. We packed the cooler, ordered a pizza, got the chairs and parked it on the beach. Tonight was swing music.
Antonio and Denton found a friend and decided to dig a hole.
My sweet Alysia hung out with the girls and posed for the camera.

Hello from sunny California.......

We made it! Why did I ever move to Texas, I LOVE the weather here. First thing this morning we headed down to the beach. My sister and brother in law found this great house in Capitola, right down from Santa Cruz, over 2 years ago. The cousins have their boogie boards and are ready to catch some waves.

As we were walking down to the beach, I saw this hand crafted gate. The artist in me had to snap a picture to share. I love all the neat little houses here.

This is called the "Village", it is right down the street at the beach.

Daddy, Denton and his uncle Pedro coming up for air after trying to survive the waves.

I see a canvas creation coming on with this picture.

We are renting a boat later this week to fish for Halibut, so stay tuned for more updates.

WOW what a awesome Mega Workshop........

Tim Holtz and Cheryl Darrow teamed up and taught a Mega Workshop today at her studio. I NEVER get to play and enjoy a class, so this was a treat and they both came up with this awesome project.


Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Tim, he was surrounded with people after the class and I was so into what I was doing during the class I forgot. The first 2 hours were with Tim doing the inside of the shadow box, it was a blast creating these little canvases.


The second 2 hours we were with Cheryl. This is were Karen and I found her. She looked a little tired!
But she soon brightened up and started doing what she loves....showing people how to use her metal.

I am thrilled Mary Lou came to play. She works so hard and is always doing for other people, she deserved a day for her.

Thank you Tim and Cheryl for a great day and sharing your creativity with us.....sorry it was so HOT Tim, believe me you never get used to it.

That's why I am leaving tomorrow morning for California! I grew up in the Bay area and cannot wait to spend some time with my family. If I can pull myself away from the beach I will post updates and pictures.