Christmas Store Hours

Just a quick heads up regarding the hours we'll be open over the Christmas holidays. We will close at 4 pm on Christmas Eve and open again on Monday December 28th at 10 am till 6 pm. Our very first year-end sale starts on the 28th and you'll find some great bargains with 30% off all Christmas paper and Christmas embellishments (stickers, ribbon, brads, rub-ons.) 25% off all kits, and 20% off all albums. The sale ends at 4 pm on Thursday December 31st when we close for New Year's Eve. We will be closed January 1st (of course!) Beginning on Saturday January 2nd 2010, the store will close each day at 5:00 instead of 6:00 p.m. The other big change for the new year will be a daytime class on Mondays! The store will remain closed on Mondays but I will be offering a class from 1 to 3 pm as there have been several requests for daytime classes. I hope to have the January class list posted by December 29th so stay tuned for more info to come. Classes will not begin until the second week of January, but there will be a Friday night crop on January 8th so be sure to sign up and start the new year off with a fun Friday night of cropping with friends. Don't forget you can also drop in anytime we're open to do some scrapbooking on your own (or with friends) for just $5 and you don't even need to book a spot (although it's a good idea to give a quick call before you head out with all your gear....just in case there is stampede of scrapbookers descending on the Cafe LOL)!

Cafe Treats

It's been a very busy week and believe it or not I bought my first Christmas gift today! I have no idea when I'll get the rest done but at least I've finally made a start! Here are a few goodies we've been making in classes lately. I made a few different types of teabag holders. They are also good for holding two of the after dinner mint - type chocolates. I really like the one with the golden ornament on the front. I used gold mirri cardstock with a Cuttlebug die/embossing folder. These would make lovely place settings at the Christmas dinner table don't you think? The tall brown/red striped one holds a package of hot chocolate mix or a chocolate bar which "magically" appears when you pull up on the bow. The origami tree card looks a little complicated but is actually quite simple to make. I used Christmas Magic paper from Fancy Pants....by far my favourite Christmas paper this year. Finally, the little pocket card is great for a holiday party invitation or a gift card holder. It fits into a standard A2 envelope. I used more Eskimo Kisses paper for this one and one of the teabag holders and I think they look quite festive. Hope you're all way farther ahead with your Christmas preparations than I am. Thanks for stopping in and have a great week.

Here we go again...apologies for the lack of postings! I don't know where the time goes, but this week has certainly flown by in a hurry. Lots of people have been stocking up on adhesive to finish their Christmas cards! I wish I could say I was anywhere close to being done mine, but.......!
It's been a great week at the Cafe with people spending time in the store working on Christmas cards and our fabulous mini album class with Heather last Wednesday.
We had a great group of gals for the class, and everyone did a fine job with their album, even though we ran a bit overtime with all that inking!! Due to the popularity of the class, I will be offering it again this coming Monday evening, but it's already full, so if you are interested in taking the class, leave me your name, phone, e-mail etc. and we'll see about doing a repeat in the new year.
On Wednesday, we'll be making two special Christmas cards... an origami tree card and a pocket card, plus a treat holder and a teabag holder...all for $20 and you'll have some lovely stickers left over to add to your Christmas projects. Only 6 spaces are available so book your spot ASAP. In the meantime, here's a peek at a few Christmas cards I've found time to put together so far...now I just need time to write them out and get them in the mail!!!!

And the winner is.....

I'm very late posting these pics as my Grand Opening was held last Saturday November 21st, but I wanted to share them anyway. The winner of the papercraft gift basket was Judy Fysh. I called Judy as soon as her ticket was drawn and she came right over to pick up her prize! She looks like she spent ages getting ready doesn't she? The other photos are of my friend Jennifer and her family. Jen has been the most incredible help and support during the preparation and first weeks of having opened the store. Even though she has a young family and a husband who just went back to school, she has been there every time I needed help (or just someone to listen to me babble!)I wanted her youngest daughter, Brooklyn to draw the ticket, because the store opened on her first birthday, but she wasn't interested until we gave the job to her big brother Christian...then she wanted to pull them all out LOL! Anyway...it was a family affair with big sister Madison and Dad Michael watching over the proceedings!(Madison ducked out before the photo was taken..!) I was also thrilled to have my brothers Peter and Tony with their wives Sharon and Kathleen make the four hour drive to celebrate with us. They even went out of their way to pick up my daughter Andrea so she could be with us too! It was a lovely day and when I got home all I had to do was put my feet up with a glass of wine while the girls pitched in to make dinner and clean up the kitchen. We stayed up WAY too late chatting, but it was so good to sit and relax with family. Big hugs and thanks to all my wonderfully supportive family and most of all to my amazing husband Steve. We celebrated 32 years of marriage this week and what a wonderful journey it's been! Well that's it for today...thanks for stopping in!

Marie

The Important Things

Well here I am.....four weeks after opening the doors of Papercraft Cafe and one day after my Grand Opening On November 21st.......exhausted but very thankful.
I'm thankful that it is Sunday...the day of rest (and I aim to get some!)
I'm thankful for family and friends who are supportive, helpful and understanding.
I'm thankful for all the lovely people who have visited my store, taken classes and made encouraging comments.
I'm thankful for the lovely cards and floral gifts and wine (Mmmm!) I've received during the past few weeks.
I'm thankful for the opportuntity to share my love for papercrafting with the people in my community.

It's important to take the time to reflect on the important things in our lives and sharing those reflections with friends and loved ones can be a very rewarding experience. On Wednesday December 2nd, Heather Brooks of Ninabrook Designs will be at Papercraft Cafe to help us create a wonderful keepsake mini album called "The Important Things." Everything but adhesive and a trimmer is included in the cost of this class which is just $25! Space is limited so don't miss out on the chance to create something very special for yourself or a loved one.
Call or stop in to reserve your space. If you are unable to attend the class, but would like a kit to make the album at home, call by December 1st so we can have enough kits on hand. Hope you're enjoyng a restful Sunday.

Better late than never

As promised...here are the pics of the cards we made in our embossing class last week. I apologize for the poor quality of the photos...I'm a bit out of practice and I'm not used to the lighting in the store yet.... hopefully I'll improve soon! I have a hard time getting my measurements just right when I use the wrought iron corner punch and as you can see I have a little gap on the tree card. It's such a plain design that I could probably cover it with a small embellishment but I thought I'd show it as it is...mistakes and all. The navy and white card seemed to be the favourite for most people. I love the silver snowflake. We used both dry and heat embossing during this class and everyone loved these techniques. Heat embossing is one of my favourites and it's so quick and easy to do. Thanks to Sandra for bringing the extra heat gun which speeded things up a bit. Actually we did really well for time considering there were several steps to a couple of the cards and we were sharing tools. I'm really looking forward to our bags and tags class tomorrow evening. Each person gets to choose their own papers and stamps so it will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with. Hopefully the ladies will let me take photos of their creations to share here...if not you'll have to settle for my samples!

Jolly By Golly

I've been trying to find the time to post pics of our last card class, and each time I think of it, I don't have my camera with me or I'm on the wrong computer. I was determined to upload the pics tonight and guess what? Yep... left the camera at the store AGAIN!!!! Anyway, in the meantime,here's a sneak peak of what's coming up for the week of November 23 and 25th. Jennifer will be showing you how to use the fabulous Jolly By Golly papers from Cosmo Cricket to make 6 adorable cards and you'll have enough materials left to make another dozen at home! Cost is $20 plus GST. Book your spot early so you don't miss out....... and I promise I'll have those photos up by Sunday evening!!!

First Class

I'm very late posting this due to all the lovely new goodies that have been arriving at the Cafe this week. It takes me a while to get everything unpacked, checked off, entered in to the computer inventory and priced. This is partly due to the fact that I'm not very speedy on the key board...(that's the boring part) and partly because I keep rearranging stuff every time new products arrive...(that's the fun part!)
Anyway our first class was lots of fun. The ladies made 4 very pretty Christmas cards and even though we all got pretty frustrated with the Martha Stewart Doilie Lace punch (it's so hard to use!)the results were worth it. I got lots of exercise running around the table passing things back and forth and I learned that more than one sample card is needed!
Friday night was the first crop night and four very artisitic ladies made excellent use of the in store stamps and die cut machines. Some of my stamps have made it onto shelving on the wall of the crop room (thanks to my wonderful hard-working hubby Steve) and the others are patiently waiting their turn in baskets.
Tomorrow's (Monday) class is already full and I have only four spaces left for the Wednesday class so I'll be busy making up the samples today. Hope you are having a great weekend and thanks for stopping in.

It's Official!

Hurray! My store sign finally went up today, just in time for the re-opening of the road. Phew! Am I ever glad that's over. I'll post a better photo of the sign later, but here it is...a work in progress. Now that people will be able to find me, I'm hoping we'll have some sign ups for upcoming classes and crops. I had to cancel the Monday night class, but we're on for Wednesday. Only 3 people so far but it will be fun. I'm still working on the final layouts of the cards (yes...I am a procrastinator!)and I LOVE the papers we're using from Basic Gray's Eskimo Kisses and the Christmas Magic Line from Fancy Pants. I'll post pics when we're done!
Starting tomorrow, anyone who makes a purchase of $10 in the store will recieve a ballot for a chance to win the lovely prize package shown in the photo. It's worth over $100 and includes an Autumn backgrounds paper pack, Basic Gray Calendar Kit, Inadinkadoo Holiday Seasons Clear Stamp set and other assorted goodies. We'll draw the winning ballot at the Grand Opening on November 21st at 4:00p.m. More about the Grand opening soon. Don't forget...every Friday is Crop Night at the Cafe. Hope to see you there!

Construction blues

The title of my first post has nothing to do with a new shade of paper,ink or ribbon. It's all about the massive machinery tearing up the street in front of my brand new store during my opening week! I've never been known to have great timing, but I think I've outdone myself this time. Here I am with a fabulous storefront location very close to the main intersection of our lovely little town of Kingsville....loads of drive by and foot traffic...UNTIL that is, the town decided that this would be a great time to close the entire intersection to traffic for 2 weeks for repaving! Needless to say, my first week in business has been kinda quiet. It's not all bad though. I've had time to get to know my new computer system a little better, although to be honest...I don't think it likes me very much LOL! I've also had the pleasure of meeting some very talented ladies who were nice enough to bring their fabulous scrapbook layouts and cards into the store to show me. I'm always amazed by the variety of styles there are in both card-making and scrapbooking and that each style has it's own charm. Hopefully some of my talented friends and customers will want to share some of their creative masterpieces here so we can inspire each other. I've been in a bit of a creative slump recently with all the business details to take care of, but I'm excited about the card class coming up on Monday November 2nd. We are going to make 4 Christmas cards and I'm hoping that will help get me started on my stack as I had about 30 already made this time last year! There's still time to sign up for the Monday or Wednesday night card class and Friday nights you can crop till you drop (6:30 - 11p.m.) for only $5.
Stop in to reserve your spot soon!