Friday Fragments

I'm not sure how much exciting stuff I'll have for this post, but here it goes:

• school is almost over - well in two more weeks. Right now Cameron is in the last push for classes, summatives, and assignments - and then it's exams. It's been a heavy semester for him so we'll both be glad when it's over
• he's also looking for a co-op placement for the summer - as part of his SHSM programme that he's in. He will have to work all of July. He's actually looking forward to it and I know he'll do well because he loves :doing."
• tomorrow is the big crop in Guelph - it's a fund raiser crop for the Children's Wish Foundation and Scrapbook Nerd is the onsite vendor for it. It's going to be a fun day.
• we are trying to figure out what to do for our summer vacation. So many options - but everything is just too expensive.
• Two of the boys have been complaining of issues with their backs so they had an assessment with the Chiropractor. I has suspected that it would be Cameron would have some issues going on, which, as it turns out, he does have some, but it's Matthew that has some major stuff going on. It was a big surprise, and a bit of a shock, but hopefully we will see some improvement with regular adjustments.
• I love car conversations! I don't know what it is, but travelling in the car with my guys always produces some very deep, thought-provoking conversations. Last night was one of those conversations - it started as one topic and ended up with a philosophical debate on murder and morals. When we got home, it was late, but I went into the kitchen and within minutes Spencer joined me for a cup of tea and more conversation - the topic was different, but it was cool that he felt like he didn't want the conversation to end either. I love times like that!

This week on the Use Your Stuff, the challenge was to use flags.   I just love this new collection from Pebbles - Lakeside. It's so much fun, and the perfect collection for a Canadian summer!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

So how are things going?

I hear these words every time I go out with family, friends, and acquaintances. People want to know how things are going with our new venture "Scrapbook Nerd." My answer is usually the same - I think it's going really well. I don't usually elaborate more beyond that because it would require more time to get into it all.

My answer today is still the same. I think it's going really well.  Since this is my first time doing anything like this, and since I don't have any experience in retail, I really have nothing to judge it against except my own expectations. My expectations were that it would be a slow start and our biggest struggle would be to get the word out. Well, the biggest struggle has been to get the word out, but I've been amazed at how word travels in the scrapbooking industry. People tell people. Friends tell me that they hear people talking about Scrapbook Nerd in other circles. That's a very good thing.
The start hasn't been as slow as I expected. We've had more "unknown" people become customers than I had expected by this point. We've only been in open for business for 4 1/2 months and we have filled 210 orders so far. We've been the onsite vendor at one retreat and 3 (including one this weekend) day crops. We've hosted our own crop/open house for National Scrapbook Day. We have one crop and two retreats booked for the Fall. So, I feel the numbers are very good.

To me, though, it's about more than just the numbers. For me it's about customer comments. It's about the incredible support that we have received from our own circle of scrapbooking friends ... and I have to add in here that I have the best group of friends ever!! It's about the online community that we have built around the store and the incredibly fun and creative ladies that frequent there (this was a strong focus for both of us in the creation of our online business - creating that sense of community of a brick and mortar store). It's about feeling like an adult again - after 17 years of being a stay-at-home mom.

Most of all, though, it's about building a stronger bond and a great working relationship with my partner in crime - Joy. They say it's not a good idea to go into business with friends or family members, but we took the chance anyway ... after making sure that the priority was the friendship, not the business. In the last 6 months we have learned a lot, (she has taught me a lot), laughed a lot, talked A LOT, and grown a lot, both as people and as friends.

So .... How is it going? I think it's going great.




Now for the shameless plug. Have you checked out our store? Scrapbook Nerd
Want to check out our online community? Scrapbook Nerd Community
Our Gallery? The Gallery
Like us on Facebook Scrapbook Nerd Facebook Page

Some newish layouts to share

I don't have a lot of time these days to blog ... Nor a lot of real blog worthy events to share. So, while I have a few minutes between band rehearsals, and while I'm relaxing at Timmies with my tea, I thought I would quickly post a couple of newish layouts.

This first one is of Cameron's reunion with his nursery school teachers a few weeks ago. All the products are from the Basic Grey Hey You collection.



This one is from a weekend challenge to dig into an older collection that we hadn't touched yet. The photos are old ones of my boys. I really enjoyed working with them.

Use Your Stuff Challenges

I'm behind - again! Sheesh! I really need to get my act in gear more!

Two weeks ago, the challenge on the Use Your Stuff blog was to use a tool you haven't used in a long time. For me, that would be my crop-a-dile (you remember, that heavy pink tool you have in your tool caddy - the one that punches holes and sets eyelets and snaps!) Not only did I pull out an old tool, but I pulled out an older layout that was started but never completed. I'm so glad I did.

 

I don't remember who made all the paper.

The surf boards, sun, and title were all done on the silhouette.

 

This week's challenge was to use a geometric shape - other than a circle. I decided to use stars.

 



 

I made a star template on my silhouette and then used it with the texture effects.

The paper is all older paper from my stash that I was thrilled to use up. The space paper was from Ocotber Afternoon. The background paper was from Bo Bunny (I think).

The wood veneers are from Basic Grey and Recollections, and the journaling block is also Basic Grey.

I even broke out some of my washi tape for this.

 



It's the weekend

... a long weekend here in Canada! I hope you're all enjoying it.
We're at the trailer right now, enjoying a relaxing time.

I'm not sure if we'll have internet access, so I've got this post scheduled to post automatically.

Here's another layout share from the online crop over on Scrapbook Nerd that was held on National Scrapbook Day.

The challenge was a sketch challenge. I had a lot of fun with my texture paste and templates. I can't seem to do a layout right now without using it. Have you tried it yet?
Anyway, the photos are older, from over two years ago, when we went to Mexico. We spent a lot of time riding the trams because the resort was huge.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

A week in review

It's Friday already. What happened to this week?
It was pretty busy for me:

• -John was travelling for work. He left Sunday (yes, on Mother's Day) and came back late Wednesday night
• Last weekend - as already posted -  I was away at the Scrapbook Convention with 11 other of my scrappy friends
• On Mother's Day we went out for breakfast before Church - it was the only time we could all be together for the day. I loved every minute of it!
• Tuesday was spent with the girls, here, scrapping.
• dinner out on Tuesday with Janet and Joy - and Cameron. Milena stopped by for a few minutes
• a little bit of work stuff this week - not much - some orders to get out, and the newsletter
• some time spent trying to help Cameron get his paperwork together for his Specialist High Skills Major co-op that he has to do this summer

It's the first long weekend of the summer and we are heading here:

 

We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend mixed in with a little bit of work. It looks like the weather is going to be nice. Yay!

 

 

Now, before I shut off my computer, I'm going to share another layout from the online crop a couple of weeks ago. The photos were from Mother's Day last year.

Last Week on the Use Your Stuff Challenge Blog ....

Yes, that's right - last week! I'm a tad behind.

It was my turn to host the challenge and since I'm addicted to texture paste right now, the challenge was all about adding texture.

I used the Martha Stewart Texture Effects and a DCW Reversed Chicken Wire template to add the texture. I love the effect!!! Both of these, btw, can be found in the Scrapbook Nerd store.

This photo has been hanging around for a few years now. It was from a photography class I took at the local college. Cameron was  a lot younger then - back in the days when he was a willing model for my photos.

I'm Feeling So Inspired

We are finishing up our last day at the Great Lakes Mega Meet and it's been a blast. The shopping has been great and the classes have been awesome.

The coolest part was that I had the best surprise when we arrived.
In my last post I mentioned that there were 5 of us going. Well, 7 of my other scrapping friends showed up. Apparently they've been planning this surprise for a very long time. The plan was to just show up at our hotel room. The funniest part was that at one of our shopping stops on the way down we ran into two of the ladies in a store. They were acting very suspiciously and tried to tell us that they were just there for a quick day trip to do some shopping. Milena and I got talking and we quickly figured out that they were attending the Mega Meet and that they were trying to surprise us. I knew who the ring leader was, and sure enough, we spotted her, and the other 4 culprits in the parking lot. They were so busted! Our little group of 5 grew to 12! Needless to say there was a lot of bad behaviour going on for the last three days!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Great Lakes Mega Meet

I'm off today with some of my besties to attend the Great Lakes Mega Meet Scrapbooking Convention. We went last year and had so much fun that we couldn't not go this year.
We're going to have a few days of shopping, eating, laughing, and taking classes.

Before I take off, I'm sharing one more layout with you. This one is also from our online crop on Scrapbook Nerd.

The challenge was a no paper challenge. We were allowed to use cardstock for the base, but that was all ... with the exception of embellishments. It was a fun challenge to do and I want to try it again.

The pictures are from 3 years ago when Spencer graduated high school.

Celebrate Your Inner Nerd

I'm back to share another layout from the online crop at Scrapbook Nerd this weekend. The challenge I hosted was to celebrate your inner nerd. My layout is about Joy and I as we began to build Scrapbook Nerd into what it is now.

Time to get back into a regular blogging routine!

Life has become quite busy for me, but I'm determined to try and keep up with my blog.
So ... I'm going to start trying to post regularly again. I'm going to start with trying to post each day this week and maybe it will get me going again.

Starting up Scrapbook Nerd with Joy has been a lot of fun and a lot of work ... but even the work has been a lot of fun! Part of our vision of the online store is to create a real community feel that you can get from a brick and mortar store ... so we have an online forum. We have a great group of ladies who chat, and hang out there. It's so much fun. We've also just put together our first Design Team - it's very exciting.

This weekend we had an open house for the store, plus we hosted an online crop in the forums. It was so much fun - the ladies are so talented. There was a lot of creativity going on. You can check out what they made in our gallery.

I managed to get some scrapping done myself. This is a layout I did for an early-bird challenge.

 

Go over to Scrapbook Nerd and see what everyone else created. You'll be inspired, I'm sure.

This week on Use Your Stuff ...

... the challenge is to use a big title. I don't use big titles very often, but I love the look.

My layout is from our cruise last year during the March Break.

I think I need to use more kraft, too!

Join us on Use Your Stuff  to participate in the challenge. You can also find this challenge, and other ones on the challenge board at Scrapbook Nerd.

High Five For Friday

Two days in a row. I think I'm on a roll.
Can you believe it's Friday already? Why do I feel like I've missed a couple of days this week?

1. Our home away from home for a week. Oh how I wish we were still there! It was a fantastic cruise and a great itinerary.Too bad our ship wasn't the one that got stranded in St. Maarten.

2. One of our stops was in Barbados. For those who don't know, we spent 5 years living there ... in fact it was where Cameron was born. He was three when we moved back so he has very little memories. We rented a car for the day and tried to see as much as we could ... which ended up being not a lot.
One of the memories he has is of this hotel that we used to frequent as we had a membership. I made him sit in our usual spot.

I made sure to take Cameron to what I consider the most beautiful beach on the Island and he loved swimming in the powerful surf.

We also made a visit to Peter Pan Nursery School - his, and Spencer's, old nursery school - and to visit with his teachers - Margaret and Anna.

We didn't contact anyone else while we were there because we were so short on time and I wanted to make sure Cameron got around to see a few things.

3. The Lizzard Hunter - one of our guides claimed that Cameron would never catch one, but he did - in fact, he caught quite a few!

4. I finally got my hands on the new edition of the Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine. Have you seen it? Did you see what was on page 107? It's the ad for our new online store - Scrapbook Nerd
Pretty cool, eh?

5. The funniest moment of my week this week was when I was going up to bed one night and found Cameron lounging on a chair in the livingroom playing on his computer. He had fashioned himself a mohawk hat out of tinfoil. That kid makes me laugh!!

I'm linking up to other Friday High Fivers on From My Grey Desk.

I'm off this afternoon to go with the teens from our Church on their youth retreat. I know it will be a fun-filled weekend - but with very little sleep.
What are you up to this weekend?

Hopefully this is a return to regular blogging!

I've been such a bad blogger lately. I've fallen out of my regular blogging routine and it's time I get back to it, and back to reading the blogs that I follow.

So, in an effort to break out of the blogging hiatus, I'm going to try and jumpstart my posts with this edition of Thursday Thirteen.

Thirteen things that have kept me from blogging:

1. The Scrapbook Nerd Store.  It's been up and running for about 7 weeks now and it's going really well.  I've been rather preoccupied with it for a few months now - lots to do including ordering and receiving product, uploading to the website, filling orders, mailing orders, lots of phone meetings with my partner, Joy.
2. The Scrapbook Nerd Forums.  Since our mission statement it to try and capture the sense of community, and make connections with people who share our hobby, our Forums are very important to us. We've had a lot of great people joining us on the forums. It's been a lot of fun!
3. My family. They have been very supportive of the new venture and have been happy to jump in and fill in the blanks around the house. I've been trying to make sure they are getting a healthy portion of the attention pie.
4. Attending and hosting some crops in the past month.
5. Vacation. Last week, Cameron (my youngest) and I went away for March Break with my sister. We were on a cruise in the Caribbean. It was Heavenly.
6. Juggling Family Schedules - Cameron is the only one I really have to run around anymore - although I still have the occasion pick-up or drop-off at the bus for Spencer - but he's still involved in a few things that have meant that I still am in the business of running "Mom's Taxi.
7. I've been able to squeeze in a little of my own creative playtime that's not business related.
8. I've also been fortunate enough to have some time with friends. It's helped to keep me smiling.
9. Faith-based and Church activities. Now that Cameron's practices have been switched from Tuesday to Wednesdays, we can not attend the Bible Studies at Church on Tuesday nights. We've been really enjoying it.
10. Band practices of all types - Senior band, junior band, Divisional Youth Band, Jazz Band.
11. Trying to keep up with the everyday running of the house, although, I must admit that it's been a bit of a challenge to keep up and the family is helping out a lot in this regard.
12. Getting lost on-line. It seems that I have good intentions to blog, but then once I'm online my attention is easily diverted in one site or another.
13. Sleep - although I haven't been getting enough of this lately!

Want to participate in this weekly meme? You can check it out here: Thursday 13

this week on Use Your Stuff

The challenge is to do a winter-themed project.
I took some pictures on Friday of the big winter storm that blew through here. It was a snow day for us, and we couldn't have been happier! I love winter, but the last few winters here have been very dissappointing. So, Friday, we enjoyed every minute of it.

Come on over to the Use Your Stuff Challenge Blog and share your winter-themed projects.