Labor Day Weekend

Can you believe that the summer is officially over? Where has the time gone? Before you know it Christmas will be here. Oh, how I dread the shopping, cooking, and general hustle! I used to love it, but it just really makes me tired and I long for the olden days. Whatever happened to just a few gifts? Why is everything to glorified? I think this year we will be cutting down, not because I just don't feel like shopping, but because we just don't really need anything. Now if I could just get the rest of my extended family to understand that we really don't need another doodad and would really love some gift cards to go out to dinner, movies, skiing etc. my house would be a little less cluttered and we would really love our gifts!! My daughter who is 10 also would rather a gift card because she just loves to shop and pick her own things out. Just the other day we went to Lord and Taylor to buy her back to school outfit which she used a gift card from her birthday in June. She wanted to save it for something special and added another $1 to it to get just the right thing. I loved it, because she knew how much she had to spend and was trying to adhere to her budget (although I told her I would put in the extra money). The price tag was actually more than the card by $8, but when rung up, there was a Kids Coupon they gave us which made it only $1 more, and she pulled out her little stash and was glad to fork it over! She was as happy as a clam and felt like she had picked it out and bought it for herself!



In the meantime, I am busy making more beaded jewelry and have got quite a large stash for my upcoming shows. Last night I made this beautiful freshwater pearl and garnet double strand necklace which can be worn either twisted or straight. Check out all my other creations at http://www.beadedjewelrybyjane.etsy.com/. Have a great night. Jane

Busy, Busy

While my main function this week has been getting ready for back-to-School, I have been able to create some beaded creations late at night when the house is quite. I am getting ready for some craft shows and home parties and have been doing my best to get everything up on my website at http://www.beadedjewelrybyjane.etsy.com/. We have been busy getting all the back to school items bought along with new shoes, clothes and of course the must needed hair trim. Can't wait until Wednesday when school officially starts and the fall schedule clicks in. In the meantime, here is my latest creation of Handcarved Rose Quartz, mother of pearl, freshwater pearl, swarovski crystals, ruby and garnet. More pictures are on my website. Have a great Sunday!! Jane

Back From the Outer Banks

Well, I'm back from the Outer Banks all tan and relaxed. I have been working my little fingers to the bone and have created three new pieces for my Etsy Website. There is a beautiful necklace, a sweet little bracelet and matching flower earrings. Check them out at my website at http://www.beadedjewelrybyjane.etsy.com/ along with 80 other pieces. I am busy getting ready for the Holiday season and producing as fast as I can. Keep checking back for previews! Thanks, Jane

Little Yellow Bicycle "Vita Bella" has Arrived!!

Today we got in "Vita Bella" which is Little Yellow Bicycles newest release. This is only sold to Independent Stores, so you won't find it anywhere else!! This is a beautiful collection in soft greens, teals, blues and browns and has a Family/Love Theme. Their are 15 papers to choose from and beautiful embellishments including ribbon, Cardstock Sticker Die-Cuts, Cardstock Sticker Verse Die Cuts, Chipboard Adhesive Embellishments, Metallic Rub-Ons, Fabric Tags, Metal Filigree Brads and Epoxy Words. I can't wait to start playing with this line. Remember, that this line cannot be re-ordered from the manufacturer, so come in soon for the best selection. Jane

Saturday Night in the City!!

Well, we are just winding down and packing from a long day of cropping here in the store. We had a full house with lots of great things being made. I actually completed a book for a client with all party invitations in it. She is a party planner, so there were some really great invitations. Makes me want to have a party!! My goal for the day was finishing that book, so I feel really good about crossing that off the list.

Then I actually posted three more pieces of my jewelry on my new website http://www.beadedjewelrybyjane.etsy.com/. Pictures are below or check out the site for 70 pieces!! I have been working my fingers to the bone!!

Here are two of the pieces, but the third keeps turning sideways!! Sorry, but it's been a long day. Have a great weekend. Jane

Thank God its Friday!!

I'm exhausted this week. My daughter has had to be up and out of the house by 6:30am 3 days this week and it is really wearing on me!! Next week will be the same, but then its off for vacation. I will definately need some R and R by then!

I had a great class last night and have 3 kits available for purchase. Yes, I said Kits!!

I worked a little bit on my jewelry website today and added two great pieces. Check out everything at http://www.beadedjewelrybyjane.etsy.com/. Here are the two pieces added today

We have a crop at the Store tomorrow from 10am-11pm, so the store will be open. Hope to see some of you then!!

Have a great weekend!! Jane

New Website

I know, I haven't blogged lately. I can list a whole bunch of excuses, but I'm sure that you have heard them all once before. Anyway, one of my excuses is that I was in "The King and I" with my daughter and it sucked all extra time right out from under my feet! Now that it is over, I have some extra time on my hands and I have been typing away organizing my new website at http://www.beadedjewelrybyjane.etsy.com/. I have started to sell my jewelry on-line and have about half of it all pictured and listed on my new site. I am so excited about the new venture and look forward to creating more beautiful things. In the meantime, I have started to book Home Jewelry Parties in the North Jersey area and have a couple of Craft Shows for the Fall lined up. Hopefully I will be able to handle all the extra hours. Anyway, below is one of my newest pieces, but you can check out 65 other things on my new site. Thanks for looking and hopefully I will be back posting soon!! Jane

Freshwater Keishi/Cornflake Pearls with Seed Pearls and Turquoise

New from Fiskars and Autumn Leaves...

Well, as you can tell by the amount of time I am blogging, the store has been busy with crops and classes and some new things are coming in as well. This week we didn't receive a lot because of the short week, but all the Ranger Paint Dabbers and Inks are back in stock. Things were looking a little sparse in the color section of the store. It has now been officially fixed!

Along with that we got two small orders. One was from Fiskars and they are packages of assorted chipboard pieces. Three different sets of alphabets, shapes, hearts and photo corners. These little packages are loaded with great product ready for all your painting and inking (and we have them!!).

We also received a new line for us from Autumn Leaves. It is called Manhattan and uses pretty tans, taupe, sage green and blue greens with shades of brown. There are 7 choices in the papers along with alphabet stickers, journaling stickers and wonderful chipboard words that have foil accents along with pretty epoxy brads.
That's it for this week. Hopefully I will post again shortly. Maybe I'll even show you some projects I have been working on. Have a great weekend. Jane

Basic Grey Is Here!!!

Well, I've finally checked in all the new Basic Grey and boy is it pretty! Every collection includes papers, rub-ons, and pretty brads. We also got three different sets of raw chipboard letters and the new Rub-On Roller Tool.

Sultry Collection - This line has a great botanical garden pattern of urban florals, all in an organic palette of spring greens, peony pinks and touch of russet brown.

Boxer Collection - With medallions of navy blue, barn

red, field green, gunmetal grey and antique white,

chivalry is alive in the Boxer collection - perfect for your next bold and noble project!

Two Scoops Collection - Treat yourself to this blissfully delicious assortment of refreshing designs ribboned with swirls of creamy yellow, bubblegum pink and soft-serve blue. Naturally fat free! Two Scoops is another sweet treat sure to please. Sorry for the sideways picture, couldn't figure this out!!

Sugared Collection - Create a soft and gentle look for all your precious memories with the delicate florals and whimsical patterns of Sugared, all in a soothing array of baby pinks, moss green, honey gold and paprika red hues.

Cupcake Collection - The festive patterns of Cupcake make every day a party! Celebrate with a carnival of colors in intense hues of cherry red, sapphire blue, sunshine yellow, grass green and pink frosting.

Archaic Collection - This collection unearthed a fantastic find. Fossils, artifacts and treasure long forgotten all await in the new Archaic collection. Explore rugged terrain. Create historic memories. Discover Archaic.

Other than the new stock, we had a great class last night and created some really cute cards! Tonight we have a crop until 11pm, so if you want to check out the new stock, feel free to stop by. Jane

I'm not MIA anymore!!!

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. Last week my time was taken up with rehearsals and dress rehearsals and performances! My daughter was in Annie last weekend at a local Children's Theater group and my time just got sucked away. On top of which, I worked every night last week also! This week should be a lot more relaxed and I just wanted to post pictures of the new beautiful Prima Flowers and gems that arrived last week. There are great clear stamps also! Stop by and check them out!! The bottom picture is actually beautiful gem strips in assorted colors. The picture does not do them justice and they are selling like hotcakes!!! Also, today when I checked in, I learned that my Basic Gray order arrived today. Can't wait to see the goodies in these boxes. Hopefully I will get to snap pictures and post them before the end of the week. Have a great one. Jane

Back from Vacation!!!

Well, we are back from Puerta Vallarta, Mexico all tan and relaxed. We had a wonderful time enjoying the sun, sand and Margaritas!!! My daughter loved eating her way through Mexico, but her favorite thing was swimming with the dolphins. I totally loved the experience also, and recommend it to anyone thinking about doing it!!

Now back to work!!! We have lots of classes and crops coming into the store for May, June and July, and I am proud to say that I actually have my own classes booked through July 1st. I think this is truly a record for me!!! Check out the schedule on our newly revamped website at www.thecrazycropper.net. Last week we received orders from Tinkering Ink, Maya Road and Sonburn Designs (all pictured in order below). There are great new chipboard alphabets from Sonburn with a great little bag of colored shapes to match. These are sure to sell out quickly!

I know that two orders which everyone will jump on have currently been shipped and are in the hands of UPS. They are...drum roll...Basic Gray and Prima Flowers. They should get here most likely next week after Wednesday and I will open and snap pictures as fast as I can.

Other than that, I hope you all have a great Mothers Day!!!

Jane

Hero Arts is Here!!

Great new Gems in just about every shape and size. I just love these gems to add a little bling to almost everything. Even the sides of my glasses!! You can use them in strips or lines or cut them off individually. Also some really cute new stamp sets and great invitations and envelopes with assorted colors in each package. Check out the pictures below!! Jane

Snorkeling anyone??

Last year while in the Bahamas we thought we would take Ciana snorkeling. It was fun, although the water was freezing and very rough. She spent a good deal of time petrified of the fish because they were actually swarming around us. While we thought we were getting some great underwater pictures, we learned that the underwater disposable cameras were not up to our expectations! This fun layout captures what should have been a bright, fun day, although we did have fun! Afterwords we spent the day at a beautiful resort basking in the sun on the private beach and enjoying their pools and hot tub. It was a great day, although she is not asking for scuba lessons. Enjoy my layout below. Jane

Busy Weekend..

Sorry I didn't get to post this weekend. We had a busy weekend at the store and at home. At the store we had a crop of Friday night until 11pm and Saturday 10-5. I got 2 classes developed and some pages of my own!! Yippee!! On the homefront, my daughter was singing in a benefit for our church on Saturday night and we were busy with that. Sunday I spent the entire day switching from winter to spring/summer clothes because we leave for Mexico this coming Saturday. Can't Wait. In the meantime, here is one of the layouts that I created this week using some great paper from Creative Imaginations and Bazzill, Chipboard from Maya Road sprayed with my favorite product, Glimmer Mist. The picture is exactly a year old and taken on a Cruise to the Bahamas. Better late that never! Enjoy. Jane

One year ago today...

Where were you one year ago from today??? I can tell you exactly where we were. I was at the store busy bailing out from the flood of 2007. This building hasn't been involved in a flood since 1984 and hopefully will live out another 23 years before flooding again. My thoughts on the flooding are that we survived pretty well with about $1000.00 of lost stock, repairs and clean-up. On the other hand, by mothers' store, Adventures in Cooking, did not do so well. She lost over $50,000 in stock alone and another $170,000 in building repairs and clean-up and 3 months of lost business while closed for renovation. I am praying that this year will be a better year for all of us. So, the sun today is welcome! Enjoy the day. Jane

The backdoor of our store

Inside my store

The back of Adventures in Cooking from my truck (couldn't get into the front)

Stock at Adventures in Cooking waiting for Insurance Claim

Little Yellow Bicycle is here!!

One of my favorite new lines is Little Yellow Bicycle. This was a new concept at the trade show and the basis of their business is that they will release a new line every three months, it will only be in your Independent Scrapbook Stores (that's us!!) and when it is gone, its gone!! Our first collection has arrived and it is called Delightful, and it is just that! Check out the pictures below which include double sided cardstock, die cut papers, glitter papers, fabric stickers, rub-ons, brads, ribbon and more... Can't wait to start playing with this! Jane

Tinkering Ink is Here~~~

Can you say "Happy, Happy, Happy"? These papers are so bright, fun and happy, they just are begging for some spring pictures!! The collection on the left is Al Fresco with bright, hot colors great for spring, summer, beach or well, anything!! The collection on the right is Wild Woodland and is a bit more subdued, but really soft and pretty. Both collections come with glitter stickers, rub-ons, and finery (small elaborate felt adornments). My other favorite thing which isn't pictured is the Peek-a-boo album. This is a chipboard and acrylic album made to alter, alter, alter. We will be using them for a class, so keep your eyes on the lookout. It should be posted shortly!! Jane

Memories Complete Scrapbook Albums arrive...

We just received the most beautiful top loading 12x12 and 8x8 scrapbook albums. These albums are TOP QUALITY with fabric fronts that have been pre-treated to resist spots and stains. Some have a bow, but if you don't like that look it can be easily removed!! You are going to love these, check them out below. Jane

Bo Bunny Arrives..

Well, I finally took the plunge and ordered the Bo Bunny Dot paper. This is beautiful tone on tone dot paper which is textured and double sided. The other side is as white wash solid of the front and they come in so many yummy colors. Just couldn't choose, so in my fashion, I ordered them all! Stop by and check them out.

Also took in the Beachy Keen line, some pretty silk flowers, ribbon and brad packs and dot ribbon by the yard (had to choose these)!! I'll be at the store from 7-9 tonight if you want a sneak peek! Jane