Do you have a place you’ve visited in the past…one that holds special memories for you? If so, don’t go back! This past weekend, my husband Tony & I went away for the weekend to a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine, Florida, to celebrate our 12-year anniversary. We used to go to St. Augustine quite often before we got married, and this B&B was where he proposed to me. I planned a surprise weekend and even booked the "Romance Package", complete with champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and a horse-drawn carriage ride. We haven’t been there since we got engaged, and obviously, the place holds very special memories for both of us. Well…a lot has changed during the past 13 years, especially us! The "quaint" B&B in my memory isn’t so quaint anymore. The bed is only a queen… there is no counter space in the bathroom… the champagne was cheap and eating breakfast sitting in very close proximity to complete strangers isn’t as appealing as it used to be. We still had a good time, but as we were packing to leave, I said that if I had known, I would have rather gone somewhere else and kept our memories of "our place" intact.
Brand new products from the CHA show are starting to arrive! This week we have papers and stickers from Stamping Station for all 50 states. The paper we added a couple of weeks ago from Jennan (the really brilliantly colored ones) were so popular, we added more. We have a new Seashore line from Creative Imaginations and lots of new "Finished in a Flash" page kits from Hot Off The Press. My absolute favorite items this week, however, are our very own SYT designed scrapbook scissors and paper trimmer die cuts. Wait ’til you see them! There are 58 other fantastic SYT exclusive cuts, but those are by far my favorite. Our custom die cut this week is a movie clapboard, that you can customize with a date, place and "scene". Click here to see them all:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/73008.html. There are also lots of good items left on clearance and overstock –
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/clearance.html.
Happy Wednesday!
As always, thanks for your business
Julie Swatek, President
Scrap Your Trip®
‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
July 29th, 2008
Another successful Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) tradeshow behind us! Lani, Tiffany, Nicole and I spent 4 days in Chicago looking at new product, talking to vendors and designers and eating our way from one side of Chicago to another. We had Portillo’s chocolate cake 3 times! The most fun we had was the night we went to Ed Debevic’s. It’s kind of a Chicago institution, and if you ever have the chance to experience it, it’s not to be missed. It’s a 50′s style diner and their motto is "Eat and then get out!". Ther servers are all "in character" and what a bunch of characters they are. One of the ones walking around when we were there was dressed as a tourist at the beach, complete with rubber ducky swimming pool ring around his waist. I don’t think we stopeed laughing the entire time we were there.
I’m really excited about all the new products that are coming out. We’ve already placed orders from Me and My Big Ideas, Carolee’s Creations, James Buttons, Stamping Station, Paper Wizard, Sugartree, Hot Off The Press, Karen Foster, Paper House and BasicGrey (We made it into the first shipment of BasciGrey. You have to get a bracelet with a number on it at the show and that number determines where you get in line for shipping. Nicole sprinted there the first morning and got us a great number!). There are also lots of beautiful holiday releases coming up. I can’t wait until all the boxes start showing up – it’s so exciting!
Of course, this means I have to have places to put it all. We have been expanding the warehouse and just finished knocking down some walls and rearranging (Tony & I were there until midnight last night moving furniture – who says being a business owner is all glamour?). Still, no room for the new unless some more of the old goes bye bye. There are lots of new items on overstock at a 25% discount. Click here:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/overstock.html. We have also marked down the remaining items from our earlier pre-orders. The following are on 25% clearance: BasicGrey, Cloud9, Crate Paper, Fancy Pants, K&Co, Kimberly Poloson, Prima and Scenic Route. Click here to see:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/clearance25.html. The leftover clearance items from last month have been marked down to 35% off (
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/clearance35.html) and the extras from the pre-orders that have already shipped are also up on the site. They are all limited quantities, so don’t wait (or put them in your wishlist) – they’ll be gone!
As always, thanks for your business!
Julie Swatek, President
Scrap Your Trip®
‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
July 23rd, 2008
I’m leaving…on a jet plane (Be happy you can’t hear me singing!). I’m getting ready to leave for the airport to go to the Craft & Hobby Association Tradeshow (known as CHA) in Chicago. I was born in Chicago, so I always really enjoy going to this show. It’s near O’Hare, which is where my grandmother lived when I was little. Her house was right under a flight path, and to this day, the sound of airplanes taking off is oddly soothing to me. I also like going to Chicago because of the FOOD! Giordano’s pizza,…a hot dog on a poppy seed bun… Portillo’s Italian Beef and chocolate cake…Yes, I know I talk about Portillo’s chocolate cake everytime I go, but if you could taste it, you’d understand! I’ll probably eat there 3 of the 5 days I’m in Chicago.
Going to the tradeshow is really a lot of fun. I get to see all our wonderful vendors…all the fantastic new products they’ve spent the last five months designing and I walk enough miles on the tradeshow floor to burn off the chocolate cake calories! What more could a scrappin’ gal ask for? I’ll have a full report next week.
We have over 140 new items this week, including three beach/summer lines and lots of exclusive SYT designed die cuts. Wait until you see the customized beach bag die cut! We were finally able to get our hands on the travel line from Heidi Swapp…it was worth the wait. We have also added lots of new Disney items from Sandylion. They’ve been around for a while, but they never go out of style. The SYT designers, Tiffany & Jill, also designed some really cute basketball and theme park die cuts (Sky Coaster anyone?). Click here to see them all:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/71608.html.
We also have a pre-order from a new company called "Black Market Paper Society". The papers are really cool! They are textured and almost feel like linen paper. Some of the papers are a really different look and some of them remind me of Basic Grey. I hope you’ll like it! It should start shipping around August 13. If you need any of your other items sooner, please place them in a seperate order. Click here to see:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/blackmarket.html.
I hope you’re having a wonderful week
As always, thanks for all your business!
Julie Swatek, President
Scrap Your Trip®
www.ScrapYourTrip.com
http://blog.scrapyourtrip.com/
‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
July 15th, 2008
So instead of a summer vacation this year, we decided to do three weekend trips instead. (Yes, I know I just got back from Utah – I’m a travelin’ gal!). The first trip was over 4th of July weekend. I traded a portion of our timeshare for a timeshare unit here in Orlando, near Disney. This is what I learned…if you don’t get outside of about a 50 mile radius of your house – it doesn’t count as a vacation. I thought it would be really cool to be so close to home. Think of the drive time we would save (not to mention the gas). However, my plan backfired. Since we weren’t "really" going anywhere, we didn’t get around to packing on Friday and just came back home after fireworks (let’s just sleep in our own beds tonight – we’ll just get up early on Saturday and pack…of course we will). It was lunch time by the time we got on the road for the long 20 minute drive (let’s stop at Costco since it’s on the way). I drove home on Sunday to work since I didn’t have internet access in the room. Even the nearby restaurants were one’s we normally go to anyway. Orlando may be the number one vacation destination – just not if you live here! August’s trip is a 4-hour drive to the beach – it will be much better.
Beach season is in full swing and we have lots of new beach scrapbooking supplies! We have a new vendor this week with some gorgeous hand-painted designed papers that I think you’re going to love. The colors are really brilliant – no pastel scenes here! We also have a new Retro Tropical line from Creative Imaginations and lots of family and friends papers and embellishments from Masterpiece Studios. We have some new sports collections from Sandylion, along with a customized soccer jersey from the SYT design room. We even made hamburger and hot dog die cuts, to help scrapbook all your summer BBQ’s. Over 250 new items this week – click here to see:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/70908.html.
We have pre-orders from three different companies this week: Five collections from Cosmo Cricket, six collections from Jenni Bowlin Designs and a retro line called Tangerine Twist from Sandylion. As always, we have matched to Bazzill cardstock for you and have every piece of each collection for you to choose from. Our estimated shipping date is August 6th. If you want the other items in your order sooner, please place them in a seperate order, as we will not be shipping orders containing pre-order items until the products arrive in early August. Click here to see all the pre-order items:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/preorder.html.
As always, thanks for your business!
Julie Swatek, President
Scrap Your Trip®
‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
July 9th, 2008
What do a grocery store and the 4th of July have in common? Freedom of choice. We recently had a new Whole Foods open in Orlando. The build-up (and subsequent traffic) rivals the recent opening of our IKEA store. But this isn’t just any grocery store. It’s a 52,000 sq ft grocery store, with a 4,000 sq ft produce section, 30 varieties of fresh made sausages and kebobs, 400 types of cheeses and over 900 wines. It took us 2 1/2 hours to see it all (along with 500 or so of our closest friends). It was, quite simply, the most amazing food experience I’ve had in my life! We picked up several different kinds of prepared food and took it home for dinner.
Every night at the dinner table we take turns telling “Best Part/Most Grateful”…the best part of our day and what we are the most grateful for that day. When it came to my turn, I said I was grateful for all the food choices we have available to us on a daily basis. Within a 5-mile radius of where I live, there are literally thousands of different foods/menu items that I can choose from. As I was explaning to the kids just how fortunate we are, I got really choked up. As an American, I feel as if I live in the most incredible country on Earth (my apologies to my international scrappin’ friends). I have the freedom to eat what I want, dress how I want, run the business that I want, get the education that I want. Any choice I want is available to me. If I make a bad choice, I get the opportunity to make a better one next time. My daughter is unaware of how different her life will be as a woman, simply because she was born an American. It’s very easy to take all our freedoms for granted, but I try to remember all the heroic men and women (and the families that support them) who are fighting to protect my freedoms every day. From the bottom of my heart…thank you.
We have over 50 new patriotic/4th of July items this week to help scrapbook your 4th of July festivities, including 10 exclusive SYT designs. Click here to see:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/70208.html.
It’s almost summer CHA time! Every July, the summer Craft & Hobby Association Tradeshow is held in Chicago and I get to go squeal with delight at all the new scrapbook products that our talented industry has designed. That also means it’s time to clear warehouse space, so it’s “Out With The Old, In With The New” time! We have over 1,000 items (1,046 to be exact) items marked 25% off. We have 129 Bazzill colors on marked down on overstock and over 700 items are going away forever, so get while the gettin’s good! Click here to see all the items:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/clearance.html.
I hope you have a fantastic 4th of July weekend! Be safe!
As always, thanks for your business.
Julie Swatek, President
Scrap Your Trip®
www.ScrapYourTrip.com
http://blog.scrapyourtrip.com
‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
P.S. Scrap Your Trip will donate $1 of every order placed 7/2 – 7/4 to
OPERATION GRATITUDE. “Hundreds of thousands of American troops are deployed in hostile and remote regions of the world, including the Middle East, Afghanistan, Africa, Guantanamo Bay and on ships throughout international waters. The physical conditions they must endure are difficult and they may be separated from loved ones for long periods of time. OPERATION GRATITUDE seeks to lift troops’ morale, and bring a smile to their faces by sending care packages to service members overseas. OPERATION GRATITUDE care packages contain food, toiletries, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.”
July 2nd, 2008
