more updates

It never fails.
As soon as I hit send on the email, I have more information to share.
I hate that!

Anyway, a couple of more updates:

Sunday's Cricut class is completely SOLD OUT. If you are interested in taking this class on a Sunday, please email me and I will see if I can schedule a date.

The Cricut class for the 24th had only 1 spot left this morning. Again, if you areinterested in taking this class on a weeknight, please email me and I will see if I can schedule a date.

The September Store Page Kits are ready and in the store. They are first come, first served so get yours soon.

Autumn Passport Program (formerly the Shop Hop)

AUTUMN PASSPORT EVENT
Interested in the Shop Hop, but just can't make it on the 13th?
Well, read on ...
When you sign up for the Autumn Passport event,
you'll have one month to visit all five stores.

Here are the highlights:

Receive 20% off at each store. Visit all five stores and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a Cricut Expressions (retail value $499). Plus, each store will be raffling a prize package filled with $75 in scrapbooking supplies.


Your $25 registration gets you coupons, your passport and tag album. Register anytime!

Take your passport, coupons and album to the participating stores anytime between Saturday, September 13th and Monday, October 13th.

Each store will stamp your passport and at the last store you visit leave your completed passport for entry into the drawing for a Cricut Expression.

A Time for Memories - North Grafton, MA
Inspiration Station - Stafford Springs, CT
Life's Memories & More - Palmer, MA
Sturbridge Scrapping Corner - Sturbridge, MA
Times To Treasure - West Boylston, MA



At each store, receive 20% off your purchase with your coupon.

Receive a raffle ticket for every $10 purchased. Each store will be raffling a prize package filled with $75 in scrapbooking supplies.

Learn two techniques at each location! Each store will have make-and-takes throughout the month.


If you have previously registered for the Shop Hop, you are welcome to visit all five stores on Saturday, September 13th or spread your shopping out over the next four weeks.

Stop in the store and pick up your passport, coupons and tag book anytime.

Is it too early to decorate

for Halloween?

Donna says it's never too early for Halloween and we just got the greatest cling vinyl black silhouettes from Martha Stewart for the windows.... I really want to put them up! They are so cool I had to buy extra because I knew people would want them for their homes. Oh, and her Halloween punches are great too; there has been a lot of buzz on the internet about the "Drippy Goo" border punch. Get in early to get it beacuse it won't last!

Being productive

I finally got a chance to play with some paper and I feel like I was very productive. I made 2 page samples and 2 card samples. That's a lot for me in one day; I never have time to just be creative anymore. I will be at the store from 10am-2pm so if you need anything feel free to stop in for some retail therapy.

Update on the kitties

Now I know. The big one is male, the little one is female. We have named them Tut and Sasha. They are very cute, but still too cautious to let us catch them.

Labor Day

This Monday is Labor Day and although my girls will have the day off, I will be going in to open the store from 10am-2pm. I've got my little brain working overtime to come up with some "unadvertised" specials to offer that day to anyone who comes to visit.

This is the last chance to sign up for a spot at our Customer Tag Sale. Participants can pick up their labels any time Friday, Sept. 5th. Tag sale goods must be dropped off on Friday, Sept. 19th and unsold items must be picked up by Tuesday, Sept. 23rd. Anything not picked up by that date will be donated.

Dawn & Donna have added some awesome new classes to the schedule, you should check them out. Dawn will be doing a monthly class that focuses on using up your scraps! Donna, of course, will be doing fun stuff for Halloween with a Halloween Treats class and a separate Halloween Card Class. Both of my Cricut classes are just about full so I will look to see about adding another one in the future. If you are interested, let me know whether you prefer weekend or weeknight.

New Friends

I've mentioned before that I live on a farm; not that we actually raise anything- but still it's a farm with an enormous barn. Next door is another farm with another enormous barn and lots of horses. Horses come with flies (lots of them!); and barns come with stray cats (unfortunately lots of them too).

Last fall I was able to rescue a little bitty kitty I named Boo from our barn. We don't have animals in the barn therefore there is no feed to attract mice so no cats (except in the winter when they are desparate for shelter). Most of the cats around here are extremely skittish and impossible to get a hold of. I would like to be able to get them so we can have them spayed and nuetered but unfortunately we can't. It doesn't help that there are plenty living in the barn next door. Anyway, Boo's mom was an exception. She wouldn't come to us- but she wouldn't run and hide either. She hid under our deck and got into our garbage and after she had Boo she let me take the kitten without any fight. Unfortunately I was not able to catch her to get her spayed she disappeared for the winter and this spring she was back in our garbage and pregnant again.

This week, these two little guys showed up outside my bedroom door to the porch. Mom is long gone and they were very hungry. I'm guessing they are about 12-14 weeks old. They have made their home under our deck and although they run every time we approach, they do come close when I bring them food and they are getting more comfortable with me and my daughter. They hang around and play after they've eaten. They still will not let us pet them or hold them. I haven't been able to figure out whether they are male or female or a combination. One is quite a bit bigger than the other and judging from the way he/she pushes the little one out of the way when I bring food I'm guessing that's the dominate one. My hope is that I can get them to trust me enough to pet and hold them so I can get them to the vet. We'll see. It will take some time I'm sure.

New Papers

OK, so the new Graphic 45 papers flew off the shelves this week (we are re-ordering just be patient); but we also received the cutest line of Christmas papers from Dream Street, and finally found some paper for Bermuda and Aruba! The Halloween lines have been moving very quickly and it's not even September yet; guess I'll need to re-order a few of those too.

This week - August 18-23

WOW, what a day we had Saturday for our 3rd annual parking lot sale. We had great weather and a fabulous turn out. The people who came got some great bargain (one even called me to thank us for the sale!!), and we cleared out a lot of older stock.

Never content to sit idle, we have already started planning for the next event, our Customer Tag Sale. This time YOU have a chance to clear out your older stock! Yep, for just $5 you can rent a space at the Tag Sale to move out your old supplies. Every penny you sell will be given to you in the form of Craft Currency so you can spend it on brand new stuff here at the Inspiration Station. It's a win-win for everybody! Last tag sale some people sold over $200! Space is limited so register now.

Kids Kamp is done for the summer and we are revamping it for the fall. Beginning with our next Kamp (Columbus Day), we will split the class into two groups; one for ages 7-10 and one for 11+. This will allow us to offer more advanced projects to the older kids without overwhelming the younger ones.

New Cuttlebug folders for Fall

They're here! The awesome new Fall/Halloween and Winter/Christmas cuttle bug folders arrived Thursday. Get 'em while you can, they are sure to sell out fast!

Also new on Thursday, is a great selection of new stamps from Impression Obsession. Those cute little pink Baby Scrapcans from Croppin Cuties are finally back in stock too.

What's new this week (August 12th)

Donna is back from vacation and apparently the UPS & Fedex drivers really missed her! They were both so glad she's back that they have been in every day to see her!

This week we have received the new Scenic Route Sonoma line (that I made my Family page with) along with a bunch of super cool, and affordable chipboard. New Halloween stamps (yes, more) from Inkadinkado came in. Some of the new Cuttlebug embossing folders and the Cricut Storybook cartridge arrived yesterday. The Graphically Speaking cartridge came in too, but it's sold out already! We are expecting the Cosmo Cricket Halloween line on Thursday and some new $1 clear stamps from Studio G should be arriving any day.

Our 3rd annual Parking Lot Sale is scheduled for this Saturday, August 16. Please pray that we don't have rain that day! We do not have a rain date planned so if it rains we will be bringing everything inside...and it gets really crowded when that happens! The sale is on from 11am-5pm. This is the time that we sell off our old samples, overstocks and more. Prices are below cost on most items and all sales are final.

Wanna know a secret?

Thursday is our busiest day for receiving new merchandise. Since we are closed on Wednesday, we always get a TON of stuff delivered on Thursday. So if you are looking for the latest and greatest or want to get things before anyone else - come in on a Thursday afternoon or Friday! If you wait for the weekend you could miss out. We have people come from all of the area on Saturday and Sunday and they scoop up all of the goodies. This is especially true for those hard to find items like the new Cuttlebug folders or the new Jumbo scalloped punches from EK. We are on our second shipment of those already!

Adorable new stamps

Remember our friend, Changito the Monkey? He's back!!!
He's all dressed up for Halloween trick or treating along with his friend Fluffles the cat. No tinto Halloween? Wait until you see what he is doing for the winter holidays- Shoveling snow, drinking cocoa, delivering packages... Oh, and it you are fan of Pirates; he's also dressed up a a peg-leg pirate! Too much fun!

Crafting with Cricut

I know many of you have purchased the Cricut in the past year and many of you have not even taken it out of the box!! Shame on you! Let that bug out and put him to work. Everyday I answer questions from Cricut owners on how to use their machine; so in September I will offer a class in "Crafting with Cricut". You will bring your machine, cutting mat and one cartridge and I will walk you through the basics (like setting the proper pressure and depth) and then we will check out some of the extra features that really make this a fabulous machine. This class is for the original Cricut or the Cricut Expression.

Sunday, September 7th
1pm-3pm
Cost: $20

By request, I am looking to add an evening class in as well. What the newsletter for updated information.

Here is a layout I did using the new Scenic Route papers I have on order (love it when reps give me samples ahead of time!).

I scraplifted the layout from BH&G scrapbooks etc. magazine and used the Sonoma line, some prima flowers and my cricut home accents cart to cut the title.