Aahh…the sheer madness of trying to get kids ready for school in the morning.  It’s like a finely choreographed dance.  Each step has to happen on time and in sequence or it all falls apart.  My kids started school on Monday and it’s been a tough adjustment getting up at 5:30 again (kids at 6:30).  They keep asking why we’re waking them up when it’s still night time.  Get dressed…brush your teeth…make breakfast…pack lunches…why haven’t you brushed your teeth yet?  We started getting up an extra 15 minutes early this year so it’s not so chaotic, but this morning everyone (including me) was in slow motion and we could have used an extra hour!  Our friends have a son who also started Kindergarten this year and yesterday he said to me, "Why didn’t you tell us it’s so HARD getting them to school in the mornings?!?"  It’s like the pain of childbirth – we tend to block it out and you think "It won’t be that way for me!"

 

 The kids are so excited to be back.  Logan was so nervous on the first day he told us he thought we was going to throw up.  We told him it was just his nerves, but he said "No, my tummy feels rumbly!".  Lauren is thrilled and feeling like a "big kid" because starting this year (3rd grade), they switch classes throughout the day.  It’s amazing that she’s starting that in 3rd grade.  I didn’t start that until high school!  She also was finally able to see Matthew, the love of her life that she has been pining away for all summer.  And in true female fashion, she saw him, went "eh" and came home to declare Kevin is her new love.  I’m sure Matthew will be crushed.

 

 I am so excited to announce to debut of our very own line of paper!  I came up with idea after seeing how some of my Utah pictures turned out (the dirt paper is a picture Lauren took).  Just like our die cuts, there are lots of papers that you request that just aren’t available in the marketplace.  So, just like our die cuts, if I can’t find it for you, we’ll just make it!  If you have any additional paper ideas for us, please post them on our blog.

 

Along with our new papers, we have a great selection of over 290 new items this week.  We have new travel albums, idea books, glitter paper and Just the Edge from Bazzill.  We have the Passport collection from Making Memories, Russia, China and India collections from Dove of the East, felt ribbon from Queen & Co and 3 new Disney page kits.  In honor of back-to-school, we also have 2 different back-to-school collections; one from Reminisce and one from Moxxie.  They are two totally different looks, but both have papers for each year of school so you can make a complete album.  The SYT Design Room even made a customized pencil border!  Click here to see all the items:  http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/82708.html.

 

We’re having some trouble with the wishlist this morning, so if it doesn’t look right to you, that means I haven’t gotten it fixed yet.  I have a call into the programmers and hopefully it will be fixed by this afternoon. 

 

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

 

As always, thanks for your business.

 

Julie Swatek, President

Scrap Your Trip®

‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®

There are things I know and things I don’t know and never has that been more evident than this week.  We are located in Orlando, Florida and we closed the office early yesterday to send everyone home to prepare for a wicked rainstorm from Tropical Storm Fay that never materialized (at least not here).  Even though it’s "only" a Tropical Storm, it can still do quite a bit of damage.  Fay was supposed to come ashore on the west side of Florida, dump a bunch of rain across the state, and head out to sea to fade away.  Storms aren’t supposed to strengthen over land…Fay wasn’t supposed to get out into the Atlantic and then become a hurricane.  There are hundreds of meteorologists working on computer models around the clock, and none of them predicted this.  It’s just a reminder to me that nature is very unpredictable and no matter how many Weather Channel meteorologists say that they know what is going to happen, they don’t.  As far as the weather is concerned, we only know after it’s over.

 

But this storm also reminded me of something I do know for sure…Given the opportunity, people are good.  We were driving home from the beach on Monday and passed convoy of trucks from a power company in North Carolina.  It immediately brought me back to 2004, after Florida was hit with 4 hurricanes in 6 weeks.  Hundreds of trucks from power companies all over the Southeast came to help us get the electricity working again.  They were here on their own time, away from their families, working 24/7 to help.  The North Carolina power trucks on Monday didn’t know for sure where they were going, or even if we would need them, but they came anyway.  I am grateful that they came to help and even more grateful of their reminder of the kindness of my fellow humans. 

 

We have over 150 new items this week, plus the new Basic Grey collections.  We have a bunch of new kits from Applegate Productions, including one for the Disney Cruise.  We have some gorgeous new travel papers from one of my favorite vendors, Paper House, and Smoky Mountain die cuts from Paper Wizard.  We have lots of sports, including soccer, volleyball, softball and even miniature golf!  It’s Back-To-School time, so we have some great papers from Best Creations along with SYT exclusive designs.  We even have a customized "Princess Ears Hat" that can be "embroidered" with your name.  Click here to see them all:  http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/82008.html. 

 

We also have the 3 just released new collections from Basic Grey; Ambrosia, Eva and Offbeat.  They are available in a limited quantity.  Unlike the last time, when we put them for sale on a pre-order basis, these are actually in the warehouse and we will not be re-ordering (it would take 6-8 weeks to get another order anyway!).  To make it easier, we put the papers together in paper collections – one of each design.  As usual, we also have the matching Bazzill packs.  Don’t save them in your wishlist – I anticipate that they will be sold out in a few days – and I don’t want you to be disappointed.  Click here to take a look:  http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/newbasicgrey.html.

 

As always, thanks for your business!

 

Julie Swatek, President

Scrap Your Trip®

‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®

Lately, I’ve been focusing on "living the square".  I read a great quote by the chairman of Caterpillar, Inc. that really made me think.  "One side of the square represents our work life, one our family life, one our spiritual life and one our community life.  I believe we’re healthier, happier – and more productive – if we live on all sides of that square."  My life wasn’t a square; it was one of those funky geometric shapes whose name I haven’t known since high school.  Because I own my own business and spend 24/7 with my husband (since we work together), it is really easy to lose the boundaries between work life and home life.  It kind of creeps up on you and before you know it, it has crowded out almost everything else.  Everyone talks about wanting to achieve "balance" in their life…the image of "living the square" has been really helpful to me and I wanted to share.  The other night, Lauren, my 8-year old daughter, said "Why are we eating dinner already?  It’s not even 8 o’clock!"  I’m getting there.

 

 We have such a fun collection from Me and My Big Ideas this week!  It’s the Sunshine Summer collection and it’s so bright and cheery – it makes me happy just looking at it.  It even comes with a matching album.  We’ve had a lot of requests to carry MAMBI, so we picked up lots of travel stickers and bling while we were at the CHA show.  We have new travel and outdoor fun stickers from Stamping Station, including stickers for tubing, kayaking and wave running, all with coordinating papers.  We have sports from Carolee’s Creations and Moxxie, new embellishments from James Button and lots of camping and beach die cuts from the SYT design room, including a customized beach pail and shovel (thanks to Marge for the suggestion!). 

 

Lastly, we have a few unique items this week.  First we have transparent plastic "paper" from Bazzill.  It’s got a nice thickness to it and it’s perfect for using on cutters like the Cricut.  We also have silver and gold foil paper from Bazzill, along with 3 new colors.  We also have a limited quantity of Rhinestone Flowers from James Button.  When we talked to them at the show, they were telling us how much people liked using them, so we thought we’d give them a try.  We have six different colors and when they’re gone, they’re gone.  Hope you like!  Click here to see all 203 new items:  http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/81308.html and here for the rhinestone flowers:  http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/limitedquantity.html.

 

Hope you’re having a good week.  Think "square"!

 

As always, thanks for your business,

 

Julie Swatek, President

Scrap Your Trip®

‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®

When your children are babies, life with them is a series of milestones.  Their first smile…first time they ate baby food…first word…first steps…It’s all about the "firsts".  As they get older, we don’t realize it right away, but it becomes about the "lasts".  The "lasts" are so different than the "firsts", because you don’t know that the last time is going to be the last time, so you don’t savor the moment as much as you should.  The last time they ran to give you a hug when you picked them up at school…the last time they let you give them a kiss in public… the last time they called you "Mommy" instead of "Mom".  My kids are getting ready to enter 3rd grade and Kindergarten and I know that the "lasts" have only just begun.

 

What has me so nostalgic about their childhood, you ask?  They packed their own suitcases.  We went on our second summer weekend last weekend and they each packed their own suitcase.  I gave them a list and even my 5-year old Logan, read it, pulled the proper number of items from the closet, folded them neatly (for a 5-year old) and packed them in his suitcase.  I don’t think he could have been any prouder of himself!  It’s so weird to realize that my kids have become self-sufficient.  My daughter Lauren makes her own breakfast, including putting it in the microwave and she doesn’t even need a stool anymore!  Sigh…I guess there are still a lot of "firsts" and "lasts" in my future.

 

Speaking of firsts, we have the first new idea book we’ve had in a while this week.  It’s the "Scrapbook Trends: Vacations – Scrapbooking Life’s Adventures Book" and it has some really cute ideas.  It’s one of over 200 new items we have available this week.  We have lots of new travel papers from Sugartree, two new collections from Teresa Collins:  Boardwalk and Recipe Collection, sports from Carolee’s Creations and Karen Foster, Spring and Summer from Scrappin’ Sports and More, camping, birthday, ancestry, DIY, even State Fair!  The SYT design room made a customized life preserver for your pool.  They worked on several requests this week, so if you were asking for "Learning to Tie Your Shoes", "Deputy Sheriff" or "Lamda Chi Alpha", you’re in luck!  The last request they made was for me.  When we were in Chicago for CHA, we missed our plane coming home (complete with the mad dash through the airport – of course we were at the VERY last gate).  I’m pretty sure as you look through all the new products we have this week, you’ll see which one I had them make for me!   Click here to see them all:  http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/80608.html.

 

As always, thanks for all your business!

 

Julie Swatek, President

Scrap Your Trip ®

‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®