The End of an Era… May 29, 2009

Yep, I’m talking our first child’ s high school graduation. I can’t believe we have reached this point in our lives! What a milestone for her and a changing point for us as her parents. Congratulations Amy, and we know you have the ability to change the world around you.

Now, many parents do a scrapbook of their graduate’s life as part of their graduation gift. Sorry Amy, you already have two completed scrapbooks about yourself, so Mom didn’t do another one! Check back after June 11th to see what we did to celebrate Amy’s milestone… However, I do have a good number of supplies here at Pages In Time to scrap that momentous occasion, with numerous papers, stickers, and embellishments with the graduation theme, along with custom papers from 9 local schools.

Look for new lines from Basic Grey to arrive in-store mid-June. They’re releasing Lemonade and June Bug. Both lines have brighter summer colors with that expected Basic Grey flair. Have you tried their card kits? If not, be sure to pick up one next time you are here! They release a new kit with each new line release. These kits make up 8 cards and they have all the papers pre-cut along with embellishments. Cost for kit is $14.99 – a good savings over store-bought cards!

I hope to see you this summer, hopefully more than once! We constantly get new products in the store, so you should be able to find something each time you visit!

Enjoy your summer!

Ahhh…spring March 25, 2009

As I’m sitting here freezing, (even though it’s March 25th), I can’t help but be in much anticipation of spring. It has to be my favorite season. I love watching the daffodils and tulips come up, and it’s amazing how the grass seems to turn green overnight! Now, if I could just get my nose to love spring too!

There have been a lot of new products showing up at our door within this past month. New and updated themes such as Easter, cute boy lines, adorable girl lines, new marching band, and more. I hope you’ll take the time to stop in and check things out!

I can’t believe we celebrate 3 years next week! When I first opened, people were telling me that 3 years is a good marker in retail as to whether you will be able to stick around or not…you don’t really see a “profit” until that magic number. And wow, it seems to hold true. I thought 3 years seemed way off at that time, but here we are at that milestone, and I can say I am very happy with where Pages In Time is and hope to continue to celebrate more anniversaries in the years to come! A HUGE “thank you” to everyone that has helped out with this business venture. I couldn’t do it without you! Please don’t hesitate to give us feedback about our store, our classes, and our ideas. We are here to serve you and want to do it to the best of our ability, and that means listening to you – our customers.

Well, here’s to three years! Stop in and say “hi”!

To buy or not to buy? February 11, 2009

I’m sure this is something that’s on everyone’s mind these days. And I need to make sure you do! At least here in our store . So I’ve been looking at the new releases on the market for scrapbooking and cardmaking and believe me there are a lot of them! Recently, the CHA winter show was held in California. This is a major manufacturer show where new products and lines are shown to retailers and released over the upcoming months. I didn’t get to the show this year, but believe me, my sales reps have all been in to see me! So, in order to provide you with new products and keep you coming back, I’ve tried to carefully order what I think you’ll love to use! It’s a hard job, but someone’s gotta do it. So here’s a small preview of products that will be arriving in-store shortly (some have arrived already):

Basic Grey – new lines such as Marrakech, Porcelain, Wisteria and more. We are also ordering the cards kits for each of these lines – these kits are great sellers making beautiful cards using their new releases.

Best Creation – the glittered papers we’ve all come to love. New baby papers, Easter, and more

Karen Foster – new field hockey, auto mechanic, equestrain, Sweet 16 and Easter to name a few.

Creative Imaginations – Stars Wars, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty

Cosmo Cricket – Everafter wedding line, Girl Friday, Snorkel, and Lil’ Man collections

Scrappin’ Sports – new “Sports on Fire” papers

Moxxie – Made from Scratch, Destination, Senior Prom lines

Vinyl for Cricut and Pazzles machines

My Little Yellow Bicycle – Zinnia and Traveler lines

Bo Bunny – U Bug Me, Alissa, Pet Shop

KI Memories – Family Ties and Tropical

These are just a sampling of the new products that have been ordered! Hope you saw something you need. I know things may be a little tighter for everyone these days, but remember that preserving family memories is a priceless project and hopefully we’ll see you in the store soon!

The Christmas season is here….aaaahhhh! November 21, 2008

Can you believe it? Where does the time go? (I hate when I say that because it really makes me feel old…blah.) Our marching band season is over (I have two kids involved and it really does take up a lot of time) so I thought we could breathe again, but now I need to think about what to buy for gifts, answer numerous requests for my kids’ Christmas lists (of which there have been none given to me), and what to stock the store with. The last one is the easiest!

We have beautiful papers and embellishments in stock for the Christmas holiday from vendors such as Basic Grey, Creative Imaginations, My Little Yellow Bicycle, BoBunny, Anna Griffin, My Mind’s Eye, and more. We also have cute mini-albums, acrylic accents, ribbons, and stickers.

Looking for a unique gift? How about creating a 12″ x 12″ shadow box using papers and embellishments and featuring your family or the receiver of the gift? Create a recipe book preserving all of those great family recipes to hand down to the next generation. We have tissue boxes ready to decorate which would make great teachers gifts! Know of someone that enjoys scrapbooking or card making? We have storage solutions, unique embellishments, acrylic stamps, and papers galore! Have a high school student? We feature papers from eight area high schools to help you create a special page or album for them.

Don’t have the time or energy to create it yourself? Let us make it for you! Give us your ideas and photos – we’ll make it for you and you can even take all of the credit for yourself if you’d like.

We also have gift certificates available for that hard-to-buy for scrapbooker or card maker on your list.

Stop in and see us…either to shop for yourself or for someone else. And don’t forget – we offer free gift wrapping!

Ahhh..fall. September 24, 2008

So, school has begun and so has the endless list of school projects, running kids to practices, getting to open houses at schools, writing endless number of checks for lunches and school pictures, all while still trying to keep up with laundry, groceries, cooking, working, and everything else. But, it’s still nice to have them back in school, right? Right? Hmmm…

Well, I hope you’ll take time out for yourself and keep up (or get back into) your scrappin’! We’re continually getting in new product to help rejuvenate you and give you new ideas. Also, check out our class schedule for October on our web site.

October 4th is World Card-Making Day and we’re featuring two card classes that day.

October 9th – 20th are the “Lancaster County Best Kept Secrets” tour dates. If you haven’t already purchased your exclusive bag to take part of the tour, please call. This will be a great way to discover unique shops and business in the Lancaster county area. Feel free to call for details.

Our shop will be open until midnight on Oct. 10th as we host our monthly Midnight Scrap. Put the kiddos to bed and come in to shop for the latest and greatest!

October 18th features the BoBunny “FAMILY” word album. Create this adorable mini-album to give away or keep for yourself. It’s never too early to start thinking Christmas you know!

The class is limited, so call to register quickly!                                                                                               

I hope to see you this month! Don’t let time get away from you – make time for yourself!

Buying Frenzy at CHA! July 22, 2008

So I attended the Summer CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) trade show this past weekend in Chicago. I was really excited when I arrived on Thursday and fairly exhausted when I left on Sunday. This was my first show, but I’m sure it won’t be my last! I took pictures of samples and put in around 20 orders. Here’s a sneak peek at what I’ve ordered:

Bazzill: new embossed dots papers in the wonderful Bazzill colors; new In Stitchz templates for Christmas, handwriting, and circles; and two cute new ribbons for Christmas.

Little Yellow Bicycle: beautiful lines - I wish I could bring everything in, but then there wouldn’t be any room for any other stuff! Their lines are enormous. However, I did order papers and embellishments from their “Frightful” collection, “Christmas Magic”, and “Love Letters”. Can you guess the holidays they represent? Beautiful papers with flocking, die cut edges and foils. I can’t wait until they come in.

Pebbles, Inc: new “Candy Dots” – brads that look like the candy dots we used to eat off the paper; their new “Legacy” line and “Snow Fun” line, and their Share & Tell albums with 4×6 journaling cards. A quick way to scrapbook a lot of photos.

Bo-Bunny: Papers from “Beau Jardin”, “Believe” christmas, and “Beautiful Life” fall line, along with a few of their “My Big Fat Word Albums”.

Black Market Paper Sociey: a fairly new company with gorgeous designer papers. I ordered papers from three lines entitled “Ebony & Alabaster”, “Lucky ‘n Love”. “Let it Bloom” and “When the Weather is Fine”.  Beautiful double-sided textured paper.

Sample papercrafts from Graphic 45

Graphic 45: This is a great paper company for heritage lines. I’ll post some photos of her samples. I’ve ordered from three lines: “Baby 2 Bride”, “Playtimes Past”, and “Bontanicabella”.

Daisy D’s: I’m bringing in papers from their fall line entitled “A Village Harvest”.

3 Bugs in a Rug: Ordered their Christmas/Winter line.

Imaginisce: new Halloween called “Hallowhimsy”, Christmas line entitled “Snowy Jo” and a future line called “Fairest of them All”. Of course, they are all cute and glittered with great .99 stamps and great embellishments! The Christmas line features Santa and an adorable snowman.

The Tim & I! (& Kate)

Ranger: I took an adirondack class with Tim Holtz on Thursday and fell in love with their Dimensional Pearls, so needless to say I’m bringing in one of every color, plus the new colors of stickles and distressed stickles.

These are just some of the products we’ll be receiving in our store over the next couple of months. I didn’t post all of them – just wanted to tease you with a few. Be sure to stop in periodically so you can check out all the new stuff!

May 22, 2008

So, school’s coming to a close…hard to believe! I’ve been seeing lots of you as you do grad boards and grad albums. I guess my turn is coming next year as I have a daughter that’s a junior right now. We’ve started the college visits and senior year decisions. Doesn’t time fly – especially when you’re getting older!

However, I am anxious for summer and the unique schedules and activities that go with it. We don’t have much planned, except for two trips to the beach as a family, since we did our vacationing over the winter. BUT, I am going to the Craft & Hobby Assoc. trade show in July! My first time to Chicago and my first time to the trade show. I can’t wait…I’ve got my airline ticket and my hotel and I’m ready to go. I hope to see a lot of new products and order them with you in mind!

My oldest daughter, Amy, will be helping me out in the shop this summer. A benefit for her and for myself, as I’ll be able to spend more time with the other three at home, but also with her in the shop. I think you’ll find her sparkling attitude a joy! (You can also look for her at Stauffer’s in Lititz!)

Thanks for your continued business! I love working with all of you, and hope to for many years to come.

 

The stuff….the stuff! April 2, 2008

Well, they’re finally starting to arrive…the things I ordered from CHA that is. We’ve gotten new papers from Heidi Swapp, Glimmer mists from Tattered Angels, new lines from Reminisce & Karen Foster, 13 new themes from My Mind’s Eye featuring Wild Asparagus 4 and 29th St. Market lines, new 7 Gypsies, new word books from BoBunny featuring “Beach” and “Travel”, new Technique Tuesday stamps, and more. We’ve also had to re-order Archaic and Cupcake collection packs from Basic Grey, but just got Sugared in-store. Stop in and look at all of our new goodies!

We’re celebrating 2 years this week! And we owe this all to you, our loyal customers. Join us for an in-store celebration on Saturday, April 5th with prizes, freebies, make-n-takes, and refreshments, along with a 20% off everything sale!

 Laurie

Exciting new products on order! February 28, 2008

I think I’ve finished ordering new items from the CHA winter show. Here’s a small highlight of items/vendors I’ve ordered from:

7 – Gypsies: New Revolving Photo carousel. Similar to their ATG stand, but designed to hold 4×6″ photos.  A great new way to display your pics!

3 Bugs – their new Easter and summer line

Melissa Frances – new vendor to our store, but classic products. Beautiful soft subtle tones. We’ve purchase kits, mini-spiral albums, the metal tin stars, and hardware.

Tattered Angels – look for 12 colors of their Glimmer Mist sprays!

Heidi Swapp – new 12×12 papers in Carefree and World Traveler collections, along with embellishments.

Technique Tuesday – new acrylic stamps such as In a Word: Family and In a Word: Happy.

Reminisce – beautiful new beach/lighthouse papers, dance, My Jungle Safari, and prom.

Piggy Tales – new vendor for us. Ordered some barn door books, guitar hero papers, and more!

Imaginisce – new baby line coming in March which features the great glitter effects they’ve become known for!

Fancy Pants – new papers from two of their new collections – About A Boy and Celebrate along with new transparencies and glitter cuts.

My Mind’s Eye – 13 new themes from 29th Street Market and Wild Asparagus 4 - gorgeous!

Plus more from Karen Foster, Die Cuts with a View, KI Memories, Carol Wilson, to name a few. Some are arriving now, and more to come. Come in and check it out!

To go digital or not to? February 13, 2008

I’m always thinking of ways to improve our store or make it stand out from the others. My thoughts lately have been of the hybrid/digital scrapbooking. I’m reading more and more about it, and although I don’t think I could go totally digital because I like working with the different elements and textures, I do believe I would like to give hybrid/tradigi (a blend of both traditional and digital scrapbooking) scrapbooking a try. What are your thoughts? I’m researching what it takes to introduce digital scrapbooking, and what the investment would be on our part in order to introduce and/or support the digital scrapbookers out there. I’m also looking into having a photo kiosk available in-store in which you print your own photos, or enlarge or reduce, etc. and looking at the investment of a 12″ printer for those that need to print their pages after they’ve completed them digitally. So, I throw the question out to you…would you like to see any of these services available at Pages In Time? Would you be interested in learning digital scrapbooking? Let me know! I’d also love to know what other ways we can improve our store and customer service, so feel free to leave any comments here or send me an email at pagesintime@dejazzd.com

Happy Scrappin’ 

Laurie