Paper Trail Archives - Page 3 of 4

#PaperTrail Day 11

13 Jun

Another fun day on the road! Today I visited Life’s Memories & More. Before I left, I checked the Facebook page for the store to say I was on my way and saw that they had put a sign up on the building- so cool! There was also a welcome banner out on the fence but I was concentrating on guiding Scotty in and missed it.

The store is located in what used to be an old elementary school. When I asked where the restroom was, Tanya sent me to the Principal’s Office! AHHH flashback!

We started off with a demo of the Mini-Album and then went right into class, the Bloom Box. We used the Blocks/Cube/Bank as the box and then filled it in with beautiful paper flowers that we colored with my Clearsnap ColorBox Blends inks. The fun texture was created using the Animal Prints Textured Impressions folders and then colored in with Blends to look like cobblestones.

Tanya and Barb show how you can make more than flowers out of coffee filters..

There was a great turnout and everyone did a beautiful job with their boxes and flowers- each one was as different as the person that made it. It has been great meeting everyone and spending time with them.

A special announcement is coming up later today- stay tuned, Papertrailers 🙂

#PaperTrail Day 6

8 Jun

I awoke to a beautiful day. My sister and brother-in-law live on three tranquil acres near Woodstock, NY. Kathy has a really cool garden and I walked around with her and took pictures while she tidied up and fed the bunnies. A bird family has taken up residence in her hanging geranium basket.

We had a nice relaxing day. One of the things I always want to do when I am visiting her is go to the dump.

They have all kinds of random things that people leave there that you can take if it strikes your fancy. They also collect garbage, accept recycling and you can leave your big pieces like old appliances, swing sets, outdoor furniture, etc. My favorite thing to do is throw the glass bottles in the glass dumpster. You would not believe how much fun that is!

I didn’t see anything interesting till we got to the big scrap pile. There I found a rack that I will use to hold dies, a galvanized trough for inks, a weird lamp that I may or may not keep and pins samples to as a display and some metal pieces with brackets for labels which I am not sure what I will do with but were small and cool enough to bring along and think about.

We also went to a few antique stores and estate sales. I found a cool wooden box with nails and hard ware in for $20 plus a nice yellow yardstick (I collect them from so that one day I can use them as a chair rail). Kathy and I shared a wooden box of sewing supplies- I got the box and she got the sewing stuff. When we got home we cleaned them up and they look a lot better. Got some Chinese food for dinner and then drove to my nephew Garett’s place to pick up his daughter Jana for the evening. Garett is a metal work artist and has all of these amazing pieces throughout his place.

Here are two necklaces that he made for his sister and girlfriend…

This is one creative family! Thanks Kathy and Mike for the hospitality, for help with Scotty and laundry service!

Tomorrow I am off to Springfield MA to the Stamp Show. Another day of fun! What are you up to this weekend?

#PaperTrail Day 5

7 Jun

Today I went to the Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. Luckily, my sister Kathy lives only about 30 minutes away from there. So I stayed over at her house the day before and we drove over together. The original plan was to bring the camper, but Scotty was leaking water and needed some special attention which my BIL Mike graciously agreed to help out with. The weather was perfect- about 70 degrees and sunny! Kathy and I picked up my niece Katrina and her 20 month old Kira and we were on our way. Somehow we lucked into a great parking place and unloaded the stroller and baby supplies and set off.

The first thing we saw as we came in were four little vintage trailers set up owned by members of Sisters in the Fly, an outdoor adventure club for women. Read the interesting story of how this group started here…

I got to talk with the trailer owners and mentioned my water leaking troubles and they were happy to give me some good suggestions on what the problems could be and ways to deal with it. Their trailers were so amazing and all fit out with accessories reflecting their styles. I was there an hour and hadn’t even gotten to the show section!

Inside there were food booths of all kinds and barns and pavilions set up with vendor displays.

When I knew I was coming to the show, I emailed my friend Jo Packham and said, “Jo, you know everyone. Who should I go and meet?” She wrote back right away and said, “Jen O’Connor of Earth Angels!”

I found her booth- it covered half of an entire pavilion and was filled with all kinds of vintage treasures- textiles, quilts, lots of assemblage, wearables, paper goods, stationery, home decor, jewelry (some by one of my favorite artists, Lisa Leonard), and one of a kind pieces. Jen was at the register so I chatted with Jocelyn, one of the artists.

Oops looks like I gave Jocelyn antenae! 🙂

Then I got to meet Jen… turns out she lives about 20 minutes from where I grew up and is one of five kids. She’s one of those people you feel like you have known forever so we had a nice chat and then she had to get back to the check-out counter. Lots of people in line!

I wandered the fair and found all kinds of fun stuff.

I bought a beautiful new bag from a company called Sassy Sparrow. It’s run by the Zimmerman family (7 kids!) and their product is right on trend with fabric and color. I love it!

I found my Instagram friends, The Modern June, who had her new book out and yards and yards of pretty oilcloth! Next door to Kelly (who is the Modern June) was TwistStyle, Mary Ellen Kim who also had a great busy booth. Thanks to both of them who took a minute out to get a pic of us!

We spent the whole day at the show and came home tired, slightly sunburned and excited about our new purchases. We ended the day with pizza and mini pies made by Katrina.

My class at Kept Creations was cancelled so I am postponing my trip to Springfield to Sunday. That was I can spend more time with my sister and her family. When we got home last night, Mike caulked all of the seams outside and also screwed in some bolts that had come loose so Scotty is fixed up and ready to go.Thanks Mike!

Thanks for following along…

#PaperTrail Day 4

6 Jun

My day began in a McDonald’s parking lot in NJ.

A steady rain was coming down but I was tucked nice and warm in my Scotty bed. The sound of the rain on the roof was very soothing and I dozed in and out for a little while… until I simply had to go in and use the facilities. Then it was time to hit the road and get up to CT for the next event- a Chunky Book class at the Great American Stamp Store.

Amy and I had come here on the first #PaperTrail adventure and had a great time. This store is loaded with stamps, papers, dies, inks,and everything else you might need to get your craft on.

The owners are Judy and Jamie and Jane (middle) was working the register while we crafted. (don’t you love the ribbon background?

I got to the store with an hour to kill so I re-organized my supplies and started loading up the cart to bring the supplies in. Unfortunately it was still raining pretty heavily, so getting everything in there was a pain but I was glad I had brought my cart to haul it on.

I need to buy bungee cords. On on the way over to the store, the giveaway die fell off the cart and when I realized it wasn’t there, I ran out and saw it in the middle of the street, run over. :-0

Noooooo! BUT I am happy to report that the die is fine- we tested it. Those steel rule dies just take a lickin and keep on tickin! Phyllis was the lucky winner- congrats!

I was so happy that Amy of Plucking Daisies could join us! She is also the co-ordinator for my Sizzix Inspiration Team and Team ATB and does an excellent job of keeping it all together! We didn’t have too much time to talk but I will see her again at Beautiful Impressions June 13-14.

We made quite the creative mess with our Chunky Books, but it wouldn’t be a good class without lots of stuff everywhere! Each book turned out so great- I got lots of ideas when we had show and tell at the end.

Poor little Scotty just couldn’t take the rain and sprouted two more leaks (that I thought I had fixed). Also many bolts and latches were broken off and bounced out of place with all of the potholes on the road. So it was off to my sister’s in NY- my BIL Mike is a whiz at fixing things and I hope he can help me repair Scotty. I don’t look forward to another three weeks with rain leaking in…

Tomorrow we are off to the Country Living Fair. Talk to you soon… Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more pics and happenings!

#PaperTrail Day 3

5 Jun

I got up this morning after a late and frustrating night. When I pulled into the Travelodge in Lancaster at midnight, I was greeted by a locked lobby door and a sign posted on it that said Eileen Hull- go to the Red Roof Inn to get your key. No address or phone number of the Red Roof Inn to be found and typed in 4 point font.

I set off in search of the key. Battery was almost dead on my phone so I decided to drive around to see if I could find it. No such luck… I made a mistake and turned right which took me down a bunch of winding and very narrow roads with no Red Roof Inn. Finally after 45 minutes, I found it. Got to my room and found this…

The room itself was not too bad except that there was no light over the bathroom sick, no garbage cans and no outlets. However the shower was good, which helped a lot in the morning. I did go in in the morning and offer my suggestions to the guy at the desk, who said he would pass it along. Right.

That’s OK- time to move on. Showers and sleep really do work wonders. The weather was beautiful and I set off for Pages in Time, a picturesque old schoolhouse/now scrapbook store, set in Lititz, PA- Amish country. Note to self- when in this area and the GPS says it will take 35 minutes to go 11 miles, believe them! I thought how can this be right? There are horse and buggies here, farm machinery on the road and lots of lights. Glad I built in some extra time…

I arrived at the store, parked and opened the curtains and windows- so pretty!

I hauled in the supplies for class and the demo. We had a fun time making the Sizzix Mini- Album. This is such a versatile die (if I do say so myself). I love that the spine is adjustable so you can make it 3/8″ or 1 1/8″, depending on how many pages you want to include. These would be great to make at a kid’s birthday party!

Then we worked on our Artist Trading Block. We doodled on them and I think everyone was surprised at how great they looked with a few little tips on enhancing your lettering. I always love when we are sitting there working and people talk about their kids, their families, jobs and life- I think that’s one of the main reasons that I am doing this…

Now I am sitting out in the camper. I have the laptop set up and a Coleman lantern going, my power source gadget is going and extending the computer battery so I can finish this post. I will go in to BK where I am parked and hit the bathroom, get a refill on my soda and get back on the road. It’s the Great American Stamp Store in Westport, CT tomorrow! Good night!

Invite your friends to follow the #PaperTrail. All shares welcome!

#PaperTrail Day 2

4 Jun

WHAT. A. DAY! It was the best way I could ever imagine to kick off the #PaperTrail!

CardMonkey was the most thoughtful and generous host. Read her blog posts here for more info and pics- she is on the ball! I arrived at her house and was greeted with a hug, a beautiful necklace that she had made me- she is a CloseTo My Heart consultant and I loved seeing all of her cool creations from paper to jewelry! The pic is a tiny Scotty replica complete with details down to a very tiny image of my face in the doorway! Love it 🙂

Also a handmade card, adorable Welcome banner for Scotty, and a 3D replica of the camper!

I already was happy 🙂 Then we went over to Kathy Davis Studios, where we were welcomed by Bill, CardMonkey’s connection to the studio, and invited inside (pull-through parking- yay!).

We met Kathy who was just lovely and very welcoming…

The whole staff was gathered in the garden for a birthday party, and Kathy introduced us. We got a snack and drink and went upstairs to the offices and had a lovely chat about her company, how she got started and the journey that brought her where she is today. So inspiring. She asked about the #PaperTrail- who knows? Maybe next time I can get her to come for a ride along 🙂 I feel very honored that she and her staff took the time to make us feel so welcome. Kathy left us with Lorraine, the Executive Director, who gave us a complete tour of the office- I loved looking around the light and airy studio and seeing what all of her artists were working on. They all were happy to answer any questions we had. When we left, Linda, who manages the retail store (yes you can SHOP there too!), gave Ellen and I both beautifully wrapped gift bags filled with Kathy Davis cards and a book! Kathy came in and said goodbye and went off to her next appointment. I am left with nothing but admiration for a great artist with very good business sense who also cares about her staff, their families and her community. Turns out we have several friends in common- Joanne Fink and Jo Packham! The visit was a pleasure (remember I was nervous?)

So… Ellen and I left the studio, after shopping, and went to Corner Bakery for some lunch. We went back to her place and she graciously offered her guest room for me to have a nap, which I did. Naps are the best. I woke up an hour later refreshed and ready to go. But first I had a good look at her studio while she was making final arrangements for the class we had. So mad I didn’t get pictures of it! It could be in a magazine! Everywhere I looked there were inspirational projects, bins and shelves loaded with fun goodies and every tool and gadget you could think of! The whole time, CardMonkey was on high alert for texts from her daughter Emily, who is ready any day to have her second baby (and also attended class that night!)

Then it was time to pack up and get ready for the next adventure- craft night at Frank’s Pizza. We hauled in all the supplies and got set up. This was such a fun event! Ellen had about 16 ladies there. I gave some tips and tricks for using Sizzix ScoreBoards, showed them how to use the Big Shot and then we made some projects. They were going to town! They used my new Clearsnap on their projects too and were embossing, inking, and taping up using iCraft tape!

With 71 miles to go to Lancaster I was pretty proud of myself for booking a $32 room on Priceline at a Travelodge. I can’t even talk about what a disaster it was, but let’s just say I will never stay in one again. My broken ankle is totally swollen from standing on it too much so I need to remember to sit down once in a while…

Many thanks to CardMonkey for making the whole day happen! More tomorrow…

Thanks for following the #PaperTrail!