Friday, February 27, 2009

Marah Johnson Workshop / Crop Celebration Event

What can I say except, "OMG!!!" We had a most spectacular workshop today, taught by Marah Johnson herself...here...live...in person... You get the idea! She walked us through putting together the most adorable Safari Peek-A-Book (Creative Imaginations Bare Elements line--it has alternating pages with pullouts) using one of the many fantastic lines of paper that she designed herself. And, this lady is an absolute dynamo; she did a workshop earlier today at another store in Louisiana, and then came and did a fabulous workshop here, and was so chock-full of tips and tricks and hints and ideas. Everybody who participated absolutely loved it, and she let it slip that she'll be returning again in a few months. Again, "OMG!!!"

Marah is a most wonderful person, with a really great personality, so totally not pretentious like you may think some big-name designers would be. A very real, down-to-earth person that has the greatest stories that she tells while teaching the class. She and I agree that life is always an adventure, and you just never know what's going to happen or come along. Her story-telling is so enthusiastic that you feel like you were there when it happened, and that enthusiasm is just as evident in her teaching. She truly has a passion for papercrafting, and if I understood her correctly, her joy is in the teaching and showing people how to be creative. Her designs are funky and on-the-edge (an understatement, some say!) and so totally what I absolutely love. To my customers who know me well and have taken workshops with me and cropped with me, you KNOW I don't like to stay within the confines... Normal is boring! I love to take it over the edge, and Marah's lines do just that. We did have a huge display of her products, but many are already sold out, even before she gave the workshop! Awww, poor me, guess I'll have to order MORE!!! LOL

Anyway, I'm kinda punch drunk at this hour. I've crammed lots into the past week and today, especially. Emery laughed at me running around today trying to get everything straight in the store, and he said "Mama, you'd swear the President was coming! Calm down!" I guess I just wanted to make a nice impression for Marah. It's not every day that somebody famous that you absolutely adore actually walks into your store and does a workshop for you! So I wanted things to be "perfect", which of course things never are. But I think it was okay. She did compliment the store, and I laughed when she was "wowed" to see that we sell brads and eyelets individually instead of in packs. I told her not to go giving away my trade secrets, and to make people come here to Louisiana to purchase them from us!

In all, everybody had a wonderful time and Marah was so kind and gracious and put up with my yapping nonstop on the way back to the hotel. Hopefully she'll recover. I was just so excited to have her here!

Tomorrow at Noon we will have the second workshop taught by Marah, and we are really looking forward to that one too. Unfortunately she won't be able to hang out afterwards because her flight out is later in the day, but we are so excited and already planning on her return.

Also, on another note, tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday is the Crop Celebration Event in Hammond, Louisiana. Felix will be working the event until the store closes, and then I'll be joining him. Saturday I will be there, and have two classes scheduled. Please come out and join us for this most worthy cause. This is strictly a charity event with all proceeds from the crop going to the Restoration House Pregnancy Resource Center. Plus, it's just plain FUN! Lots of prizes, goodie bags, silent auctions, and the food there is unbelievable. Cropping for one day is only $25. Check out their website at www.CropCelebration.com.

I hope your day was as absolutely awesome as mine was.

Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping!

Dee

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Million Thanks to Scrappersaurus Customers...

Well, I have great news, and I have great news. Both family members' surgeries turned out very well, and both are on their way to recovery! I want to thank each and every one of you who helped by your prayers. I do believe in the power of prayer, and you all proved that to us these past few days. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I hope you all know that we do pray for all of you, as well, and a lot of you we even pray for and petition for specific outcomes as you ask us to. We care about all of our customers--from the ones who come every day to the ones who can only visit once in a while or can only purchase from us online. You all are what makes our little world turn, and we would not be here if it weren't for your support. So, once again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Now, let's get onto other news: This past weekend was a blowout again!!! We had approximately 21 people cropping and we had two workshops. For both workshops, more people showed up than scheduled, and we had to scramble a bit to get supplies together, but I think everything went well and everybody had a great time. (See, that's why we ask you to call ahead and schedule, so we can be sure to have enough products on hand for you to take the workshops!)

Emery and I were busy, busy, busy all day long assisting customers in the store itself, and Felix was off playing in the City Cup tournament for pool. And guess what? His team WON FIRST PLACE in the City Cup, thanks to him, several times!!! Each of his team members received a trophy and $500, and the establishment that sponsored his team received a trophy, as well. He is STILL exhausted!!!

We have so many things scheduled for this month... This weekend, Friday 02/13/09 we will close at 6:00 PM because the Eve parade will be rolling, and so many of our customers are in the parade that we felt we should be out there supporting them and taking photographs of them riding so they could come back and scrap their fun times. On Saturday 02/14/09 we will be open usual hours and cropping until Midnight. We've got a bunch of people signed up already, so call now to reserve your spot for this weekend if you are planning on coming and joining in the melee!!!

Have I mentioned that on Tuesdays the Catholic Apostolate holds ESL (English as a Second Language) classes here, teaching English through scrapbooking? The classes are held between 12:30 PM and 2:00 PM in the crop area.

Also, on Wednesdays there are two local teachers who are holding Spanish classes starting at 4:00 PM. There are two sessions each Wednesday, and they just started, so if you want your child to learn Spanish before it is offered to them in high school, now is the time to come and sign them up. We've even had adults requesting classes, so things have been jumping around here! If you're interested, please drop by the store and pick up a flyer, or if it is after hours, there are flyers and posters in the windows with more contact information.

Don't forget, the wonderfully uniquely talented designer Marah Johnson will be here, IN PERSON doing two workshops this month--Thursday 02/27/09 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM and Friday 02/28/09 from 12:30 to 2:30 PM. PLUS she's creating a surprise for us to raffle off to workshop participants. YOU may be able to actually own something this amazing designer has created with her very own hands!!! I have to tell you... I have personally experienced classes and one-on-one make and takes with Marah, and she is so creative and makes things look so easy to do, and they turn out to be absolute masterpieces!!! Plus, she's one of the most pleasant and interesting people I've ever met, and very easy to work with. We have a sample of each minibook you will be creating in the workshops she'll be doing here on the counter in the store.

Also on Friday 02/27/09 and Saturday 02/28/09 is Crop Celebration in Hammond, Louisiana, held as a charity crop for the Restoration House. Aside from it being a most worthy cause, it is a very social, cheery event that has silent auctions of products--both raw materials (like papers, kits, stamps, etc.) as well as finished pieces (like greeting card collections, minibooks, etc.)--raffles, door prizes, goodie bags, make and takes, and workshops. Plus, did I mention the food there is AWESOME??? I don't know who the chefs are, but they DEFINITELY get 5 stars in my book!!! Check them out at their website at www.CropCelebration.com. (Also, please note that where we are listed on the Vendor page, they have our old Metairie store listed, but, as you know, we did close the Metairie store in December. :( We currently only have a store in Mandeville, Louisiana.)

Okay, I can feel Gina wondering when I'm going to shut up, so I will. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your week, and I look forward to seeing you all at the Eve parade Friday night or here cropping at the store on Saturday (if not sooner!).

Until next time, happy scrapping and stamping!

Dee

Monday, February 9, 2009

Prayers Needed

I don't usually use this blog for personal things, but tonight I am going to.

My young niece is undergoing very serious exploratory surgery tomorrow (Monday), and they will find out if she has cancer or not. She may come out okay, or she may come out having to have such extensive surgery that she will not be able to bear children. She's not even married yet. She has never been sick, and has never been in a hospital before. She and her mother, my sister, are terrified. Please pray for her. Her name is Hollie, and I love her more than she'll probably ever know. She's my Goddaughter and my only niece. If she makes it through this surgery and has a good outcome, she's only a semester away from being a Special Needs Teacher. She's extremely intelligent, hardworking, patient, kind, affectionate, and really cares about people. Please send her as much love and light and well-wishes that you can.

Secondly, I will have another family member undergoing surgery (more minor this time) on Tuesday. Please pray that all goes well for him. I love him immensely and hope he has a good outcome to his surgery as well. He has asked to remain anonymous, because a lot of our customers know all of our family members and he is a private person and does not like a lot of to-do. Please send him as much love, light, and well-wishes as you can. You can pray for "M" if you feel you need to name someone. God will understand who it is.

I want to thank all of you for all of your support of the store, and me, Felix, and Emery personally. We love you all and are here for YOU. Please help our family now in this time of our need with your prayers.

Dee

Friday, February 6, 2009

Marah Johnson Workshop / Hurricanes Workshop / Distress Layout Workshop

Marah Johnson's Workshop schedule has changed, so please take note!!! There will be a Thursday evening class (Feb. 26th) which will be the Safari book, and a Friday afternoon class (Feb. 27th) which will be the A-List book. PLEASE CALL US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO LOCK IN YOUR SPOT!!! The phone number is 985-624-3338.

Now, on a totally different note, I'd like to share something special with you all. All of you who have met me and know me personally know just how much papercrafting (of all sorts) means to me, and how much I LOVE what I do. Thus said, you all know how thrilled I am when you give us feedback letting us know that all the hard work Felix, Emery, and I put into bringing you all wonderful and unique products is worth our while because you like what you find here. Well, I'd like to share a letter we received last night from a customer who visited us from out of town. It is this sort of thing exactly that makes us feel what we do is worth all those long, hard hours we put in. Here it is:

Dee,

You might not remember me, but I shopped at your wonderful store right after Christmas. I was visiting from Texas and was thrilled to be in a "real" scrapbook store--so thrilled in fact that I came to your store three times in the week that I was supposed to be visiting my family in Hammond! Now that I am back in Texas and scrapping with my girlfriends, I just had to tell you how many compliments I have gotten on the paper I purchased at Scrappersaurus. Every time I pull something out, someone asks, "Where did you get that paper?!" And they are very jealous of all my Stickles colors. ;-)

You've provided me with many hours of enjoyment and creativity. I look forward to seeing you all again this summer when I visit. I'll keep checking your website, too.

Sincerely,

T.R.


I have to tell you, I just about cried with joy when I read that letter. Thank you to ALL of you out there who let us know that you appreciate what we do. After all, we do it for YOU!!!

Remember that the Healing from the Hurricanes Workshop (first one) will be this Saturday at 11:00 AM. We have information posted on the website calendar that lets you know what it's all about. We have had a number of customers voicing their desire to do something with their hurricane photos or to put something together on the hurricanes. So, we worked really hard to come up with the topic list that you will see if you click on the class title for that day or cut and paste the following link into your browser: http://www.scrappersaurus.com/KatrinaWorkshop.html. We have a handout planned to give to participants that list many, many different links to gather even more information, news articles, and pictures from the different hurricanes (not just Katrina). Please consider coming. I know it won't be easy, but I do believe it will help you to feel better in the long run. We all know how soothing and therapeutic papercrafting is when we're really stressed out. We believe that papercrafting this very stressful subject will actually turn out to be a healing process for many. Please sign up now so we can ensure that you will receive a handout and all of the photographs we will be giving to each participant.

Also this Saturday is the Tim Holtz Extravaganza Distress Layout Workshop. Many of you have seen the sample on the counter at the check-out in the store. Heather will teach you many different ways to distress papers, photos, and fibers using different techniques and the multitude of products Tim Holtz has come up with just for distressing. If you have not signed up already for this Workshop, please do so now so we can make sure we have a kit put together and ready for everyone who wishes to take the Workshop. You will leave with a finished layout, tag, and some Tim Holtz product.

I hope to see you all this weekend. Until next time, happy scrapping and stamping!

Dee

Sunday, February 1, 2009

AWESOME Crop this weekend!!!

WOW!!! What an awesome Saturday crop we had!!! To start off with, when we arrived (late, due to Felix's addiction to Starbucks), there were at least 10 people waiting at the door, ready to shop, crop, and have an absolutely fantastic day of fun. The day was jam-packed with nonstop action, and I personally didn't get the opportunity to sit down at all until 2:30 PM!!! In addition to an all-day crop, we had a Cricut I workshop, and the Layout of the Month Workshop using Fancy Pants' Arctic Chill collection.

We had our wonderful, ever-loyal Dino Divas from the Southshore, which included (in no particular order, just my memory): Liz, Michelle, Yvonne, Nina, Joan, Tammy, and Rahema. Nina's friend, Annette, came by a little later in the day to join in the fun. We had some wonderful Northshore customers come also: Toby, Harriet, Jennifer, Lindsey, Patsy, Betty Jo, Laura, Ashley, Kyleigh, Tanya, and Jenny. I think that's all of them (if I forgot somebody, please forgive me, it was REALLY a hectic day!). So, that made 18 people cropping. We had to put several of them in the Digital area, and then had to boot them over to the Sale Table once the Cricut class began in the Digital area! It was quite the party! But in all the melee, I think everybody had a fantastic time and lots of fun.

On a very disappointing note, we had to turn away at least 8 people who called throughout the day wanting to come crop... :( I cannot stress enough the importance of calling ahead and reserving your spot... We already have people scheduled for crops through the middle of March. Yes, we DO still have spots left, but we are already scheduling, so it's never too early to call and reserve your spot. We really hate to turn anybody away. Also, PLEASE call ASAP if you're wanting to take workshops, too, because those are filling up quickly, as well. Now that we only have the Mandeville store, we're trying to take care of people from as far away as Luling, Avondale, Belle Chasse, Houma, Slidell, Pearl River, Folsom.... you get the idea... We limit our workshops to ensure all participants have some one-on-one instruction if necessary during the workshop. We don't lecture, we have hands-on funtime. No one will walk away from a Scrappersarus Workshop with any doubt that they did not get their money's worth and more!

We also had tons of customers, many new and many who had already shopped with us before. We had several who had initially purchased from us online, and were in town visiting relatives and decided to look us up. We were so honored that they thought so highly of the store, and found our items to be unique. We work really hard for all of you to bring you the best we can find. Including bringing in big-name designers, like MARAH JOHNSON of Creative Imaginations! We still have a few spots left for the workshops she's doing for us on February 27th, so if you want to join us, please call ASAP to reserve your spot. The actual samples of what you'll be making are on the counter at the shop (as well as on our website), so come by and see them, or visit www.Scrappersaurus.com. Check out Marah's blog at http://marah_johnson.typepad.com/ where you will see US listed in the upper right column under her upcoming workshops. If you wish to see some of her current collections being offered by Creative Imaginations, visit their website: http://www.creativeimaginations.us/store/CI_MarahJohnson_startpage.php.

We have some other REALLY fantastic workshops coming up, so check them out on our website calendar at http://www.scrappersaurus.com/February09.html. Right now I'm twisting Felix's arm to complete the March calendar, because I've got stuff scheduled that he doesn't have on there yet.... Feeeelixxxxx!!!!

And, last but most definitely NOT least, I wanted to tell my wonderful friend Tanya happy 40th birthday!!! Of course, she probably won't even know about it because she doesn't "do computers", so if you see her, let her know I posted it in the blog!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping and Stamping!

Dee