Monday August 21st, 2006

I can't believe it's been 4 days since I last updated my blog. I definately have to do better at keeping up with it and also figure how how to post some pics. (Maybe DS Jonathan can help with that when I get home)

We had a great weekend. Met lots of wonderful scrappers and a few DH's :)

We had 4 people at our Friday night crop and 9 gals, plus me & two good friends cropping Sat till 12-midnight. I had a great time at both crops... but Saturday was really alot of fun with all the ladies. We ended up re-arranging the tables to a long t-bar row instead of the original set up of 2 side by side all the way down. I really like to new way and it only loses 2 spots and if we need those 2 spots for a crop of 18-20 we can change them back :)
I hope everyone liked the snacks and dinner. It's hard to get a feel for the gals until you get to know their likes and dislikes for food. We had pizza, kickin chicken, breadsticks & sauce, cinnamon breadsticks, chips, chex mix, dip, all kinds of sodas & bottled water, coffee and of course chocolate.

As usual I worried about whether there was enough food and enough choices but everyone seemed really pleased. And there were actually some leftovers except all the chocolate was completely gone :)...So that saying about scrappers and chocolate still holds true :) There was enough food/snacks/drinks but I need to up the chocolate count next time :)

For goodie bags I used cute little painted tin buckets painted pale lavender and filled them with eyelets, brads, some samples of Crop & Glue adhesive, Autumn Leaves travel stickers, a few other goodies and Jitter Mugs (the coffee shop down the street gave me some chocolate bars with handmade wrappers offering discounted coffee drinks) I used the quickutz bread-tie die and cut little tags and put everyone's name on the handle of the bucket and had them setting out when the gals came in for the crop. I filled one of the Crop & Glue canvas totes with goodies and used it for a drawing at the end of the crop and everyone got to look under their chairs for a taped envelope with a surprise in it (brads, eyelets, labels etc)

Several ladies played with the Cricut quite a bit plus we had the Zip'e-Mate, Sizzix Machines, Quickutz, etc all out for everyone. A few ladies knew I was worried about what I had ordered from Autumn Leaves, K*I etc and shared lots of feedback and requests with me; for which I was really grateful. I actually did a pretty good job with the Autum Leaves items I ordered. I know retail well from having been with Michaels for so many years but ordering for a small store and trying to predict what my customers will like hasnt been easy for me. Also my plan is to refresh merchandise every 30-45 days after arrival in the store so I need to plan my ordering carefully. Hopefully as I get to know everyone more and more it will become easier.

I am getting alot of requests for classes especially for altered items (I really could use my online friend Jen for that...she shared some of the cutest ideas this weekend..she is one of the most talented gals I have known in the scrapping world there just happens to be 100's of miles between me in GA and her in TX) I have come up with alot of neat classes for September, October and November and well as some more themed crops. Since this area is a high homeschool area also I have had several requests for altered craft classes for preteens so I am working on that also.

There store still needs alot of decoration help. But it is coming along. I see progress daily and
many customers comment how it is changing every week. I finally found some ladder style shelves super clearanced from $29.99 to $9.00. I am putting these between the sections of slatwall to hold altered items etc. (my Michaels only had 4 and I currently have DS Jonathan on a shelf quest through-out Atlanta...he just checked in from Mall of Ga and got 2 more so we are at 6 and I need 8 so he is off to another Michaels :) They arent quite as tall as I would like (48 inches or so) and need to be painted white but for $9 I will take them :) I did find some really cute square ceramic planters with bright colors perfect to put in the middle of the tables to hold
Crop Price Tally Sheets, pencils, pens etc in clearance 90% at Michaels :) I still have alot to
get done...valances for the windows in the cropping studio, re-do the sewing machine cabinet,
put 2-3 more shelves back by the cricut, xyron, sewing machine area, decorate the coffee central area, find a sofa table for upfront by the idea lounge area, paint the words of inspiration along the border of the ceiling, make samples, and more samples , decorate the bathroom,
and clean my office which will probably NEVER get completely done. Even after 12-14 hour days the list just keeps growing :)

Speaking of things to do Karen just got back with 12x15 ziplocks for me to put the Kaleidscope items in as kits that I am marking down 1/2 off. They are part of an inventory that I bought and I need to go ahead and mark them down to make room for all the new stuff :)

I will definately do better posting and updating when new items arrive the next few weeks :)
And get DS to help load some pics to add some color to this blog :)