It Feels Like Winter, Finally?

 Yes, the snow is falling, the temperature is dropping and I can't find my other glove! That's a sure-fire way to know winter is here. That said, winter is a great time for cardmaking, scrapbooking and paper crafting. You have a no guilt excuse for hunkering down in your craft space and playing with all your stamps and paper and everything! I've mentioned before that if it's February and it's snowing and cold you have no right to complain, we live in Buffalo! Talk to me again when it's late March early April and I'll be complaining about cabin fever and how tired I am of winter.

It's also a great time for no guilt stamping of spring and summer images. We have Valentine's Day on Sunday, St. Patrick's Day on March 17, and Easter on April 4.  Lots of reasons to make bright, colorful, happy cards. We also have our Winter Stamp Camp coming up and a 'Save the Date' for you later in this post. First up is Sharon's Facebook Live from today. You will find it HERE .

I also have some product photos from Elizabeth Craft Designs and Colorado Craft Company. First up is Elizabeth Craft Designs

Also new in the store are these stamps from Colorado Craft Company.

This next photo is of 49th & Market. I think they are rub-ons. They coordinate with their papers and the colors are just lovely.

Honestly, don't know who's paper pack this is!

Lastly, we are happy to be able to ask you to 'Save the Date' for this summer's Maker Mania event. Sign-ups will be announced soon, but block this weekend off your calendar now so you can enjoy all the crafty goodness coming up. As a reminder, Maker Mania is a weekend long virtual event where 18-20 stamp/scrapbook/paper crafting stores, across the US AND Canada will demonstrate projects, cards, pages you can create using the identical product items in a box you receive shortly before the event. The idea is to watch each store's video presentation, gather inspiration, instruction and new creative ideas and then use that inspiration to create your own spin on what you have seen. Each store gets 45 minutes to illustrate what they have made. They also show you a technique you can use with the supplies in your kit. Several well known companies contribute to the box. This year we had Pink Fresh, Sizzix, and Hero Arts. The weekend's videos are held in a private Facebook Group. You have access to this group for chatting, sharing ideas and projects. The stores do an intro tour of their store and a quick sneak peak of their projects. I do not know the cost of the June event yet. Once sign-ups open up we will come back with more info. 

Just for an example, one store owner created a cube box with the papers in her kit. I thought it was really cute and I followed the directions (every store posts directions to the FB group after their presentation) that you can print out, and made my version of the box using my own papers and a Newton's Nook Easter/Spring set from last year. I made a second, mini box with a bumble bee theme. It was super easy and super fun.

That's it for me for today. I'll be back sometime on Saturday or Sunday with the Saturday Facebook video and any other goodies I can get photos of. Enjoy my funny, again, hitting way too close to home!

Stay warm STAY SAFE, and Have a Crafty Good Week!