Lots of new stuff coming in

Oh my goodness, we were swamped with boxes today! Yes, I know it is Thursday and we always get a lot on Thursday but today was especially busy. We had several boxes arrive from 7 Gypsies, a box from Imaginisce (Foxy collection), A bunch of new Karen Foster Designs, restocks of Martha Stewart Valentine borders and snowflake punches, ribbon, cardstock, and more. Please come in and help us make room!

Don't forget... The registration for our 2009 Scrapbook Store Bus Tour begins THIS Saturday, Jan 31st at 10:00am- We expect this to sell out early so be sure to come in to sign up. You can call in as well but because we only have one phone line you may have trouble getting through and it may sell out before you do. I highly recommend registering in person.

Thank you!

A great big thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate our 7th Anniversary. We had a great time and it was so nice to see so many old friends. Hopefully in a day or two I will have a few pictures up to share but as luck would have it, Terry's son has come down with a stomach virus and I'll need to cover for her today.

Slideshow

Special Guest Instructor

Special Guest Instructor:
Sally Lynn MacDonald will be conducting 3 fabulous classes at The Inspiration Station on Saturday, March 7, 2009

Sally Lynn has been an avid scrapbooker, stamper, paper and altered artist since 1998. Her work has been published in Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamper and Stamper's Sampler Take Ten. This year, she will be on HGTV, featured in a couple of segments of the 'That's Clever!' program. She is a Ranger certified instructor, specializing in the Tim Holtz™ Adirondack product lines. She is also a member of the Design Teams for Prima Flowers, Copic Markers, Tattered Angels, Spellbinders, Prickly Pear Rubber Stamps, and Clear Scraps. Her personal design challenge is to take products or techniques that would have her students saying "Huh?" and bring them to "Ah ha!"
See below for a description of the classes she will be teaching. Take one or take all three! Space is limited and we expect a quick sell-out so dont delay. Register today.
**UPDATE** The Copic 101 class has SOLD OUT. We will try to schedule another date as soon as we are able.

PRIMA CARD BUFFET
1:30pm - 3:30pm Cost $36

Join Sally Lynn as she puts on her apron and presents this delectable delight - 2 hours of creating as many cards as you can possibly get done with gorgeous papers, lace, flowers, Glimmer Mist and the 'buffet of Prima goodness'...all laid out complete with crystals, leaves, buttons, ribbon, bling and flowers in every color you can crEATe with! An extra helping of coloring with Copic Markers will be offered. Enter to win a great PRIMA door prize!

SNOW ANGEL TRANSPARENCY Layout
5:00pm - 7:00pm Cost $36

Clear Paintables transparencies cut design time in half while enhancing the beauty of your layout. We will enhance the design further by color with Copic, using both the Sketch Markers and the Airbrush System and layer with loads of product from Prima to create a wintry layout that will contrast beautifully with the bold designs of the transparency overlay. Lots of chipboard, bling and my new favorite felt voila 'ribbon' and letters complete this dreamy snow themed layout. Enter to win a great PRIMA door prize!

2009 Bus Tour

2009 Scrapbook Store Bus Tour
Sunday, March 15th.

This extremely popular event works like this:
You come to your home store in the morning for a fine breakfast and receive your first giveaway of the day. You also enjoy product demonstrations and shopping at a store-wide 20% discount. Then you board a comfortable coach bus and head off for the next store on the tour, which includes three other fine Connecticut stores: Scrapbook Clubhouse, Wiggles and Giggles, and the New England Scrapbook Company. At each store you will receive a gift, see more demonstrations, enjoy a meal or a snack, and have a chance to win a prize as well as earn raffle tickets for the grand prize. Plus--you'll get a 20% off everything you buy. The price for the entire day, including transportation, meals, gifts, and BIG FUN, is only $60 - We've lowered the price to help make it easier in these tough economic times!

Registration begins Saturday, January 31st at 10:00am. You may register by phone or in person, however, keep in mind that we only have one phone line and it may be difficult to get through. Your fee is payable when you register and cannot be refunded unless we can fill your seat with someone from the waiting list. If you plan to attend with friends, we suggest one person registers all of you.

We hope you will join us for this fabulous adventure!

7th anniversary Celebration

Can you believe it's been 7 years since The Inspiration Station opened its doors? Well it has, and since 7 is a lucky number we are planning a Lucky 7 Celebration this weekend!

Join us Sunday, January 25 for our Lucky 7 Celebration open house. We will have demonstrations, refreshments and prize drawings and of course savings opportunities.

We also would like to have you participate in our "Use your Stash Bingo". Go to our website and print off your Bingo Card. Create a card or layout that using products or techniques shown in the squares that form a Bingo. Bring it to our Open House on Sunday 1/25 and choose a prize from our Basket of goodies. It's a win-win. You get a layout completed, use up some of your stash and win a prize!

My first week of Project 365

Yeah!! I made it through the first complete week and did my layout. I still have no idea if I'll be getting the CK kit but at this point I will probably save it for next year if it does arrive. Becky Higgins was kind enough to post digital files of some of the kit components on her blog today, so if you are still on the fence about how to do this you can try using some of these.

I'm still not sure I like my "week of" card so I may end up changing that but at midnight last night I called it "done". Let me know what you think.

Due to the icy weather today, Dawn's Scraps & More class scheduled for this evening is being postponed until next Wednesday, Jan. 14th- Good news for those of you who did not register - you still have time!!



There is still time to sign up for the 8x8 album class that begins tomorrow (Thursday 1/8/09 from 6-8:30pm). There will be a total of 4 classes held to complete an entire 8x8 album using beautiful Melissa Francis papers in rich colors like green, burgandy, brown, ivory and gold. During each class you will create 5 layouts. Each class costs $32. They will be held on the second Thursday of each month January - April. If you sign up and take all 4 classes you will receive a beautiful fabric album...FREE! The store is closed Wednesday, but be sure to call by NOON on Thursday if you would like to attend.

Happy New Year!

2009 is off to a great start! We had a full house for our first-ever New Year's Day Crop and quite a few non-cropping customers too. The crop ladies were having such a great time they asked if they could come back tomorrow for our regular Fun Friday Crop and just leave their stuff. OK, why not? So if you are interested in coming to an unadvertised crop from 6pm-10pm- give us a call- we have a few seats available.

It's Girl!

Congratulations are in order for our Saturday girl, Michelle. She and her husband Eric and their son Cole welcomed a new baby girl into their family on Dec. 26th!

Ava Marie was 7 lbs 11 oz and we are told has a head full of hair! Both mom and baby are doing well and expected to come home today. Our best wishes to the whole family!

Snow

The snow has really showed us down this weekend. Yes, it looks pretty; but being the last weekend before Christmas it has really taken its toll on our sales. We only have 3 more shopping days until Christmas (we are closed Christmas Eve)- so I hope you all have a chance to get in at the beginning of the week. Lots of men have been in for gift certificates but only a few have come in to fill Wish Lists; today would be a good time to remind them!

Holiday fun

The ladies in our ATC Group had a great time making these adorable snow people. These imaginative beings are recycled bottles!

As seen on TV

I was flipping through the channels on TV this morning while drinking my morning cup of tea and came across an infomercial for a product I recognized; the Top Score & Enveloper tools from Crafter's Companion. We have been carrying this product for months and I have been meaning to set up a demo day for it, but as usual I haven't had time. Anyway, it is a very cool tool and would make a great gift. Save yourself the shipping and handling and get it at The Inspiration Station.

More cats?

I have had a number of people asking about the kitties that I took in a few months ago, so I thought I would follow up.
Sasha & Tut are doing great. Tut is a big love- and when I say big, I mean it. He is at least twice the size of Sasha. He loves to be snuggled and tries to come in the house whenever he can. Sasha is so stinkin' cute but only allows me to hold her for a minute at most. She is an aerialist and loves to climb and jump. She is still quite tiny, especially in contrast to Tut.









Sasha









Here's the problem... apparently - Tut has spread the word among the feral cat community that I can be trusted and have invited several friends over to dinner! A few days ago I found Sasha & Tut hanging out with another kitty on the porch. The new kitty (I'm calling #3) looked a lot like Sasha but has a white chest and white feet. It appears to be the same age. I'm thinking it may be a sibling.

Last night when I went out to feed them, I met #4.
We have an enclosed greenhouse like room over our in ground pool and that is the new home to Sasha & Tut. It is cold, but out of the wind, rain and snow- so I made a nice warm bed for them and I can go out and feed them without having to go outside. There is a loose panel in one wall that allows the cats to come in and go out whenever they want. So when I went to feed them (in the dark) they were swirling around my legs and I heard another cat crying from the other end of the room. I turned on some lights and saw a different cat in the room. It was crying and obviously hungry and I am a sucker and couldn't shoo it away. It immediately came to the bowls and started eating. Sasha & Tut did not seem to mind. In fact, Tut walked away from the food and wanted me to pick him up.

This morning when I went to feed them, Sasha & Tut were curled up (yin - yan style) on the bed I made and #4 was not around. Of course, as soon as I poured the food in the dish, #4 popped in through the wall and came running. Again, Tut walked away to let it eat. I went in and got my camera to grab these shots.

So there are at least 2 more ferals in the yard, my husband says he's seen three- so it looks like I'll need too call Our Companions once again. I don't know whether these 2 are male or female and if I don't trap them I could be over run with kittens by spring...

2009 Bus Tour

Plans are underway for the 2009 Scrapbook Store Bus Tour. We had to make some changes to our initial plan due to scheduling conflicts, so as it stands right now the bus tour will be Sunday, March 15th. Mark your calendars! We will only have one tour in 2009 so you don't want to miss out. Details about registration and itinerary will be available sometime in January, but I wanted to give you a heads up so you can plan your schedules.