Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Craft & Hobby Winter Trade Show Has Left the Building

I'm just returned from the 2012 Winter CHA Show. I had a great time and for the first time ever even placed a few orders. That took some extra thought for me because it's not what I usually do.

Usually, I'm there as part of the sales team for the first few days. (This year I was in the Heidi Swapp booth and had a blast!). Then I spend a bit of time scoping out what's new so that I can plan classes and stock my boutique. But I always place my orders after CHA, not while I'm there.

Since I hadn't planned to shop, I had to shift gears and quickly get into planning mode. I have got a few stores out there that have invited me to guest teach, so thinking about class ideas was a great place to start. I'll also be vending a weekend crop again for National Scrapbook Day weekend, so that gave me some good direction too.

I'll be sure to share what I've got in the works as I get further along in the process. And I'll be sharing photos and impressions of the CHA show on my other blog for any readers who might be interested. I'll leave you with a pic of "Team Heidi".

The team at Heidi Swapp booth

Saturday, January 28, 2012

How to Tie a Perfect Tiny Bow

This is a fun little video tutorial on tying tiny bows (think twine, floss, etc.) using a fork.

Genius!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A New Year, A Fresh Start

Just when I felt like I was getting some momentum with all things PaperCraft Princess last spring, and working hard to get some routines going and the Etsy store stocked, everything came to an unceremonious halt. I had a big party looming heavy on my mind and burdening my schedule. As if that wasn't enough Party #1 was to be followed by Party #2 - a smaller party in terms of guest list and budget, but not in terms of planning and details. These were the graduation and promotion parties for my two kids. My son (and eldest child) graduated high school and we threw a large-ish costume party. My daughter (and youngest child, since I only have the two) was done with middle school and wanted a Phantom of the Opera themed formal event (so also a costume party).

Frankly, there was just too much to do. It was all I could do to stay on top of household projects and party planning, purchases and projects. Etsy went by the side. The blogs went by the side. (Though you can see a few pics from both parties on my other blog: Grad Party and Opera Party.)

So here it is 2012 and I am ready for (yet another) fresh start. One of the unplanned projects I started last summer was a scrap space re-do. After removing most of the furnishings from our living room for the first party to make room for a dance floor, it seemed like perfect timing for re-painting. That in turn led to purchasing my dream storage piece, an Expedit wall unit from IKEA.

My re-designed (but not yet organized) scrap space

So, now I'm on my way to more efficient, streamlined crafting and working. However, the purge/organize part is still a work-in-progress. So, I'm taking that on in little chunks.

I'll leave you with a great blog post from Beth Dargis at My Simpler Life. It's all about decluttering storage areas. This is my next Big Project. Gotta tackle that storage space so the long term stuff has a place of its own. I'm reminded of that saying that "you gotta break eggs to make an omelette".

If all goes as planned, you'll start to see more shaking and baking here at the PaperCraft Princess blog as well as at my little neglected Etsy shop.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Twine Giveaway!

Want to win some fabulous baker's twine? Head over to the Itsy Bitsy Paper by Lindy blog to see how you can win a Sampler Pack from The Twinery!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

We've got a winner!

There were seven blog comments in by midnight yesterday, so I ran the numbers through Random.org, and the winner is.....

Drumroll, please...

#1 Logan Manuel Carver

Blogger Logan Manuel Carver said...
Loved your make and take . . . I think it was the busiest one all night. I couldn't even get in. I hope I win so I could have your lovely creation! Can't wait for your Etsy to be filled . . . more yumminess for me!
May 30, 2011 10:42 AM


Thanks, so much to everyone who commented and congrats to the winner. And to the winner, please email me your contact info so I can send your package on its way:

Congrats!