PaperCrafter's Corner

Welcome to PaperCrafter's Corner!

Welcome to PaperCrafter's Corner! This is your source for Southern Scrapbook News & Gossip!

We began with a focus on Georgia, but we have grown! We recently began covering Alabama and South Carolina, and we plan to expand our reach further to additional Southern states in 2010.

You will find national and area-wide scrapbook "news" headlines listed in reverse chronological order below (ie: Whatever news & gossip we think that you, as a scrapper or paper crafter, will find interesting and/or fun).

Tidbits specific to your state will be posted on your state's main page. Information on local scrapbook stores, events & crops, retreat locations, etc are also linked to your state's page.

We welcome your suggestions! If you know of an upcoming event that we haven't included or of some local scrappy news, gossip or kudos, be sure to let us know!

Feed subscribers receive notifications of news articles posted on the main PCC page, not updates to informational pages or state-specific info. This means you will want to check your state's pages regularly as well.

Giveaway Update & More

By the way, congratulations to Lori Mc of Hazel Green, AL. She won the Valentine Chipboard Album Giveaway. We sent her the album last week so she would have it in plenty of time to play with it before Valentine's Day!

Are you enjoying the giveaways & contests at PaperCrafter's Corner? Hope so! We have lots of great things coming very soon. Like what?

Hmm..... How about a few hints: Lizzy(!), Tim, adhesives, stamps, CK, giftcards to your fave stores and more!!

Stay tuned!

Hobby Lobby Ad: Feb 8 - Feb 13, 2010

Or click to see this week's entire hobby lobby ad from the HL site.  

 

Heirloom Productions Rubber Stamp & Paper Arts Festival, Lawrenceville, GA: A Review

I had a great time at the Heirloom Productions show at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds in Lawrenceville, GA today. I enjoyed meeting so many PaperCrafter's Corner readers ... and I enjoyed meeting some of you who hadn't heard of us yet too! Welcome to all of you new readers that I met today!

Haven't heard of Heirloom?  Since I'm mostly a scrapper rather than a card maker, I hadn't heard of them either until I started researching area events for PaperCrafter's Corner. If you're a hard-core stamper or card maker you probably heard of them "through the grapevine" and were in attendance today!

Heirloom Productions is the sponsor of Rubber Stamp & Paper Arts Festivals throughout the country. Don't we all agree that next year they need to advertise their event on PCC so that more of you can make plans to attend? (Hint, hint!) Scrappers & new stampers would enjoy the event, too!

Today, there were 27 vendors represented at the show. According to show regulars, there were once at least twice as many vendors represented (a few years ago).... but as we all know, the industry has suffered a constriction over the last 18 months. The vendor numbers today were roughly the same as the vendor numbers in 2009.

Imagine 27 vendors offering stamp-oriented products. So many rubber & acrylic stamps that I don't know how anyone could choose! Lots of punches, ink pads, speciality markers, embossers, stencils, embellishments, papers and more.

The good news is that show regulars noticed that today there were many more attendees than at last year's show! (The above photo was taken toward the end of the day as attendance dropped-off.) And I noticed that most of those attendees were carrying shopping bags! Actually, many of them had planned ahead & were carrying wheeled totes & suitcases. Wow! Are we hopefully seeing an end to the constriction in the paper crafting industry?

One of the highlights of my day today surrounded finally meeting people IRL (in real life!) that I've communicated with thus far via email & phone only. Shout out to the Scrap Chic Boutique (Decatur, GA) owners, Casey Spinks of CTMH and Stacey Hyder of Carolina Crafting Concepts! And here's a picture of me with PaperCrafter's Corner Product Review Team Member Brenda Jones. She's such a hoot!

Another highlight of my day today was my "job" manning the (free!) make & take table at The Stamping Studio. I was nervous at first, but after a few minutes, I was into the swing of things & really enjoyed teaching the make & take. It was a fun, challenging, multi-step, 15-minute card! Gorgeous! If you're going to the show on Sunday, you'll have to check out the 2-minute quick card they'll be teaching. 

Were you at the show today? Are you attending on Sunday? Isn't it great fun sharing your love of stamping & paper crafts with so many fellow addicts? Feel free to share your thoughts / impressions (haha, nice pun) in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you!

Here is a list of the vendors that were in attendance today: Heartfelt Creations, Scrapbook Creations, Tessler Stencil Co, Marco's Paper, Designs Unlimited, The Stamping Studio, Lost Coast Designs, Stamp Camp, Morningstar, Stamps on Fire, Heartfelt Impressions, Pop-Ups, Stamp Zia, Another Stamp Company, DRS Designs, Movable Parts, Stampland, Sweetstamps.com, Impression Obsession, PK Glitz, The Stencil Collection, Endless Creations LLC, Woodware USA.com, Close to My Heart (Casey Spinks), Stamp On It, DeNami Design, The Paper Cut, and Carolina Crafting Concepts.

Oh! And by the way, the festival will be in Anderson, SC in September 24 & 25, 2010. Heirloom doesn't have the details available on their site quite yet.
 

Club CK Launch

After much buzz in Dec 2009, Creating Keepsakes finally announced TODAY their launch of Club CK!

Rusty Pickle to Close :(

Rusty Pickle announced on their website, blog and via facebook today that they are closing :(

Here is what they had to say:

This past year has been incredibly tough on Rusty Pickle due to the economic situation. We feel that we can no longer survive as a company; consequently we have decided to close Rusty Pickle. We would like to thank all our customers who have supported Rusty Pickle for the last 7 years.

Rusty Pickle will be liquidating inventory. We now offer everything at half price. On Rustypickle.com, everything is not 50% off - prices as marked. The warehouse is also now open to shop. Call or email to find out more of what we have. (801) 746-1045 or jeri@rustypickle.com

 

Very sad. Scenic Route and now Rusty Pickle :( If you're a big fan, you'll want to check their site & see what you can find. Some on the message boards are saying prices aren't fully marked down quite yet, but it'd be worth it to check back now & again!

Several of the Rusty Pickle "Chefs" (design team members) are PCC readers. I know those readers are extra sad to see this company go. {Hugs to you!}

 

 

 

 

PaperCrafter's Corner Readers Selected for Two Chicks Design Team!

 

Two Chicks Designs announced their new Design Team members on their blog yesterday. Of the 11 team members chosen, 3 of them are PaperCrafter's Corner readers. Awesome!!

Congratulations go to:

Kelly Hansen of Carrollton, GA: Kelly blogs at http://kellyscrapmylife.blogspot.com/ and is also the design team coordinator for Sweet Memories Scrapbooks in Carrollton, GA. Kelly has been a PCC reader almost since the very beginning so we are especially excited for her!!

 

Mandie Dillard of Alabama: Mandie is the "Crimson Cropper." She is a Rusty Pickle chef (design team member) and teaches classes at her LSS, Paper Moon Scrapbooking in Dothan, AL. You can visit her blog at:  http://crimsoncropper.wordpress.com/

 

 

Savanna Carson of Alabama. Savanna only decided to enter the Two Chicks Design Team contest about 6 hours before entries were due! It must have been meant-to-be. You can check out her (cute!) entry on her blog here. Or visit her main blog page at  http://www.carsoncats.blogspot.com/. 

Join us in congratulating these members of your PCC community!

CHA Recaps

Wow, it sure was quiet last week out there in the scrappy blogosphere, wasn't it? Everyone was busy at CHA in Anaheim, CA!

Sure, a few people posted a picture or two there & tweeted a little here & there, but for the most part, most of the recaps & reviews from CHA are showing up this week.

PaperCrafter's Corner did not have a presence at the show, but several of our readers & other Southern scrapbloggers did! Below we've listed (in no particular order) some of YOUR posts & reviews that we've seen. If we missed yours, please tell us about it in the comments section so that we all can benefit from your experiences at CHA last week:

Holly Craft (Lawrenceville, GA) of Today's Creations.

Holly visited the CHA Consumer Super Show last week. She has shared several articles on her blog, covering EK Success, Spotted Canary, Bonnie's Best Art Tools, Kaleidoscope Kreator, Sparkle N Sprinkle, and several product reviews of things she picked up on her trip. I recommend hitting her blog & reading several of her entries!

 

Sara (Georgia) of Expressions of a Creative Mind.

Sara worked at the Flower Soft booth at CHA but managed to cover several topics in several blog posts. She discusses some new products, an overview of paper at the show, and a jewelry trend she noticed while at the show.

Kim (Georgia) of The Basement Stamper

Kim worked at the Clear & Simple Stamps booth. She has a great review of the entire show that can be found specifically at this post, CHA Anaheim Recap.

Amy (Suwanee, GA) of Modpodge Rocks.

Amy of course was covering "the podge" as she says, but she has lots of pix from the show to share in a few posts here, here, and here.

 

 

Suz Gray (Lawrenceville, GA) of Crafty Suz Gray Creating Everyday.

Suz didn't attend CHA, but she did blog about her CHA picks.

 

 

 

Couture Cardstock is based in Marietta, GA and had a booth at CHA. This was their first showing at CHA and they posted about it several times on the Couture Cardstock blog. 

And of course, no discussion on CHA would be complete without directling you to national scrapblogs The Scrap Review and Scrapbook Update which are both featuring full discussions & picks from the show.

Yes, I noticed. Did you? ALL of the Southern Scrapbloggers listed above are Georgia-based. What's up with that? If you're in Alabama, South Carolina or another Southern State and you have blogged about CHA, be sure to let us know!

Adventure on a Scrapbook Retreat, Part II

(Part One of the Story )

Our story resumes. It's very late Friday night. The scrappers give-in to creative block & fatigue, and one-by-one, they reluctantly head to bed. Those in the upstairs room fall asleep to the tinkling sound of tiny ice pieces hitting the roof.

Around 3am, there is a loud ~clunk~ followed by the too-quiet sound of.... a power outage. Uh oh... Those in the upstairs rooms turn over & go back to sleep, ignoring the eerie silence. Those in the basement, shiver in their beds as the temperature drops steadily throughout the rest of the night.

It's now 10am. Your heroine, the latest sleeper in the group, awakes to the sound of a Cricut cutting! What? A Cricut? That means the power is on!

Yep, the power came back on sometime after 7 that morning and continued without interruption for the lucky group of scrappers. In fact, the only adventures that weekend were: Dramatic disappointment by some over the lack of snow, Disappointment by another that she would have to catch that Monday 7:45am flight after all, and One ill-advised dip in the untested hot tub, which had been unable to overcome the frigid outdoor temps.

The remainder of the weekend continued like most other retreats: Lots of laughs, pages completed, loopy punches borrowed, YouTube videos shared, CHA Tim Holtz vides watched, war stories swapped, craft store mental shopping lists made, and pajamas worn for one 36 hour period straight.

The ice-covered trees were beautiful on Sunday as the group pulled-out to head home and back to reality. Another fantastic scrapbook retreat with some great friends.... ...And now I need to run out & buy that loopy punch and a copy of Design Studio for my Cricut!

Haven't been on a scrapbook retreat yet? What are you waiting for? Grab some friends and scope-out an area retreat location.... Or attend one of their organized weekends solo or with one other friend.... Or checkout your state's events pagefor special retreat weekends.... Or check with your local scrap / stamp consultantas many plan regular retreats as well!

Hobby Lobby Coupon & Ad: Feb 1- Feb 6, 2010

Or click here to see the full hobby lobby sales ad for this week.
   

Adventure on a Scrapbook Retreat, Part One

Our story begins on a Thursday. Our heroine is unpacking at her much-anticipated scrapbook retreat in the North Georgia mountains. While carrying in load upon load upon load of supplies, she & her friends joke about the "winter storm" that supposedly is coming. Wouldn't it be great if they were snowed-in & couldn't leave on Sunday and had to just stay and scrap? Ha...ha...

Skip to Friday at mid-day. The group has left their den of scrappiness in search of essential supplies.  Matches, fire wood, flash light, batteries, "beverages," adhesive refills in bulk, and that cute theme paper the small LSS carries that they'd never seen before.

It's now Friday night. The group nervously laughs as the sleet comes down. Coffee is brewed so it can be reheated on the grill tomorrow, if needed. The threat of power outages prompts jokes of staying up all night to crop as long as the power lasts. (After all, their cropping space would be diminished significantly if they had to build a fire in the fireplace instead of using it as a storage spot for scrapbook supplies.)

What will happen to our heroine & the scrappy group? Will they have power when they awake in the morning? Will the roads be iced over? Will they be able to drive home on Sunday, back to their husbands, children, jobs and responsibilities?

Only time will tell. Stay tuned for the next episode of "Adventure on a Scrapbook Retreat" to find out!

Valentine Chipboard Album: A Giveaway!

Isn't this adorable? Wouldn't it make a great gift for that special someone?

Beth Kingston of Ain't She Crafty is featuring this Valentine Chipboard Album at an upcoming class in her studio in Columbus, GA.  She also has donated one to us for a fun Valentine Giveway! The prize is a brand-new in box, unaltered version of this book.

To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us something that you love. {Examples: I love PaperCrafter's Corner...or I love chocolate ....or I love giveaways!} The winner will be chosen by a random drawing from the entries. Contest is open now through Sunday night, Jan 31, 2010, at midnight. Gotta pick a winner & get you your book in time for you to work on it before Valentine's Day!

Can't wait to hear about what you love :)

In addition to her side business, Beth is also the spokesperson for Xyron (!!) and is a total hoot. We look forward to highlighting Beth & Xyron further in a future article.

Contest Winners! BHG $50 Credit & CTMH Stamp Set

We have two new PaperCrafter's Corner winners to announce!

Congratulations Karen O! You won the Better Homes & Gardens Life In Photos $50 credit contest! We will email you the special code needed to claim your prize. We can't wait to hear what you ultimately decide to use the credit for and what you think of your experience with BHGLIP. (The original contest is posted here, along with the entries.)

Congratulations Barbara Staradumsky! You won the So Sweet {A Close to My Heart Giveaway} Tweet Tweet giveaway! We will email you to get your mailing address to send you your prize. We hope you love your new set & if you'd like to show us a project later made with your new loot, we'd love to see it. (The original contest is posted here, along with the entries.)

Many thanks to ALL of you participated in these events. Are you bummed that you didn't win? Don't be! There are many more fun contests & giveaways right around the corner....