Scrap*Funattic

Okay!!! FINALLY!!! Work day is over, dinner is finished, laundry is (almost) finished!!! And now I can FINALLY sit down and FOCUS on this blog!!! I've been DYING to tell more about my trip to kc!!! First of all - the family had a GREAT time!! It was perfect!! We were "footloose" and "fancy free"!!! It was so nice to just "BE" with the kids and Rocky - and just be "US"!! I highly recommend that you take more time to do things like that!! It really brings things back into clear focus when you focus on your kids and husband, and where you really began...does that make sense?!?! But, I'm very lucky - Rocky was VERY patient with me and helped me to find all the stores that we visited and he even sat with the kids in the CAR for most of the time!!! I'm very lucky!!! Thank you honey!!!

Okay - so first stop - Topeka!! We stopped at Scrapbooks, Etc.!!! I was SO excited about this store, for several reasons!! First, we hadn't planned on going through Topeka, so that was a SURPRISE!! But, we work with the ladies that own Scrapbooks, Etc. and have NEVER met them!!! Scrapbooks, Etc. does all of our custom die cuts for our schools, and other misc. items!! They were SUPER sweet, and even there for me to meet!! I was SUP-A excited!! They had a Tic-Tac-Toe game for the kids and that kept them busy long enough for me to REALLY scope out the store!!! I got some KILLER die cuts!! PERFECT for our vacation!! Worlds of Fun, Oceans of Fun, Great Wolf Lodge and Cabela's die cuts!! HOW COOL IS THAT!! They have a GREAT selection of product - and an awesome sale corner!! I HIGHLY recommend this store!! It's GREAT when you go to a store that's got great "stuff" - but even NICER people!!!!

So, that was Monday!! Then on Tuesday - we were at Great Wolf all day long, so I got up early and headed to one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE stores.....2Scrappy Sisters!!! Mom and I visited this store before we opened our store....and they were MORE than nice to us! The girl that "manages" the store (not sure if that's her actual title, but she SHOULD be if she's not!), is Allie....she is SO knowlegeable, and SO helpful and friendly!!! She was there again Tuesday!! I spent TWO HOURS in that store!! TWO HOURS!!! (did I mention that I was also shopping for mom, sarah, kristy, kelly and renee?!) so, I spent a lot of time on the phone with the girls!!! They had a LOT of "goodies" that I hadn't seen before - LOTS of great ideas for CHA!!! But it was SO nice to be treated so friendly and just to be left alone to shop!! ! I LOVE TO SHOP!!! I REALLY would love to have their Crop AREA!! It's the entire size of our SECOND addition in our store!! Wouldn't that be AWESOME!!!! But, they've got some great things going there - I highly recommend this store as well!!!!

Okay - so then, Wednesday.....We spent the entire day at Worlds of Fun....the kids and Rocky had a BLAST!!! But, I was (secretly) counting down till 7:00 - when we were leaving, cuz Archivers was open TILL 9:00!!! So, we drove to Archivers!! Got there at about 8:15pm - Rocky got the kids some dinner while I shopped!! It was in a Kick *#(( mall!!! I love Archivers!!! It's just nice to go into a Scrapbook WAREHOUSE!! Got lots and lots of great stuff there!!! The ladies were great, that work there and very helpful!! Picked up some great ideas for Albums to maybe carry in the store there!! But, at about 9:00 I was hurrying and the ladies told me not to worry - they were fine with me still there!! I FINALLY was ready to check out at 9:15 - and it took her TWENTY minutes to RING ME UP!!! While I'm standing there, Hayden had to go to the bathroom - so we didn't get out of there till AFTER 9:45!! I'm sure they were CUSSING me!!! But, they told me about two other stores in the area!! So, that was nice!!!

We get up on Thursday and had told the kids we would spend the day at Oceans of Fun, AFTER mommy got to shop at some more stores!! So, we drove right down the road from where we were staying to The Scrapbook Workshoppe!!! It was a very cute store - and it was PACKED!!! She had lots and lots and LOTS of stuff for sale per individual piece!?!? Liked that!!! Got some things there that I had NEVER seen or even HEARD of there!! Liked that store too!! It helped that there was a photo of the Owner with Heidi Swapp on the register!!!! That was NICE!!! They had some really nice kits that I purchased with one of my favorite companies - JUNKITZ!!! They had some great designers in their store!!!

After the Scrapbook Workshoppe - we drove up the way to "Captured Memories". It was a larger store!! Nice! The man that was working was very informative and helpful with all of the requests of the kids and me!! They had some really cool RIBBON!!! I'm a ribbon sleeze!!!

Then, the kids got to go to Oceans of Fun and had loads of fun there, got lots of fun, sun, and water!!!

Friday morning we got up - got around and headed "home" around 10:00ish!! We stopped by the Paperie Place.....this was a really nice, quaint store! The owner was working, her name was Ann - she was SUPER nice to me!! So many times when we go to stores, it's hard to decide whether or not to tell them that we own a store of our own, because so many owners get very defensive and almost rude at times!!! So, when I go in - I never know if I'm going to "talk" with the owner or not -but she was SUPER nice!!! It was nice! It was nice to just be able to ask questions and get honest opinions about the "business" side of it!! I really did enjoy this store - she's really sweet, has a great mind for the business and seems to have an excellent relationship with her customers!! We're "stealing" some of her ideas that she has in her store....you'll see more of that in weeks to come!!! I HIGHLY recommend the Paperie Place!

After the Paperie Place, we headed to "All About Scrapbooking"! It was a nice store as well!! They had a very nice selection of products as well!!! Actually purchased some of the lines, I hope to "pick up" at CHA!!! They had shopping carts JUST LIKE OURS!!! They had lots of Rusty Pickle and Junkitz as well!!!

So, all in all - I had a GREAT time!! Visiting other stores is SO nice!! Whether we get to talk with the owners or not - it's just nice to get to shop as a regular consumer again, but also to see what else is out there!! I don't want to get in the "rut" of having the same lines, and the same ol' same ol' - so it's nice to see what other stores are carrying!!!

Renee and I spent most of the day planning out our itenerary for CHA!! Mom and I have over 80 booths that we definitely are going to visit - three meetings scheduled and 15 seminars and classes to take!!! FUN FUN!!! The show IS fun, to network and catch up with fellow store owners that you've met in the past, and see the LATEST and GREATEST trends and releases, but it's REALLY hard work!!! So, wish us well!!!! I PROMISE to blog - EVERY NIGHT about the fun stuff we're learning and seeing!!! Stay posted to the blog for SALES while we're gone!! We have a few things up our sleeves!!!

Also - Karen Chamberlin is planning to open her NEW scrapbook store "Scrappin Time" THIS WEEK!!! I will post that on here, to keep you informed!! Best of luck to Karen, and we wish her the best!!! She is opening her store in Derby!!!!

Okay - so this is your question - you can post your comments here on our blog: what do you think of the new Basic Grey Releases!??! What about the new Daisy D's Releases?!! Your opinion is VERY important to us!!!

Peace out - thanks for reading my NOVEL!!! Here are some photos of the kiddos on vacation!!

ps - I'm meeting tomorrow with someone special - who you'll hear more about later this week - that's all I can say!! ( I CANNOT KEEP A SECRET!) :)