Planning a Road Trip to Scrapfest

My latest challenge has been to find a way to ship my mobile store all the way to Kitchener, Ontario and back. Who would of thought I would want to take on that task and risk, only me, the crazy woman! lol. It would definitely be cheaper to drive it there, but I want to make sure it gets there in one piece and without a stressed-out driver (me) and also without a stressed-out husband waiting to hear if he has to come get me. And why Kitchener you ask? Because that's where Scrapfest is Apr 17 & 18 and my good friend Lisa is organizing the biggest and best scrapbooking show ever. Check out her website at: http://www.scrapfest.ca/ My other good friend Trisha Ladouceur will be teaching there and let me tell you, you don't want to miss her class, guaranteed to be awesome! So awesome, she can't even tell me about it. Ugh!

So, today Trisha and I are on the phone and she's reconfirming that I'm a psycho woman for doing what I'm doing (in a good way) and especially in today's economy and recession, who is going to want to buy a mobile scrapbook store? Well, there is no time like the present to get into your own business even though everyone says we're in a recession (what we're in a recession? People are still buying supplies from me and my business has grown). Everyone knows that with your own business your income can be as large or as small as you make it. This is the time to break free from making only $15/hr at a job, this is the time that you can make $$$$ with your scrapbooking passion without chaining your self to a long-term and expensive lease. With a mobile store, you also do not have expensive overhead and staffing costs and you end up putting way more money into your own pocket and that's what we all need. Anyways, Trisha and I had a very good talk and then she had this major breakthrough for me and proceeded to tell me that there's actually another show in Ontario, the weekend after and wouldn't it make more sense for me to go to not ONE, but TWO scrapbooking shows.

OH MY GAWD!!!! Now, I'm calling Trisha a psycho woman for not only making my already crazy life crazier, but her crazy for giving me another crazy idea to make my life crazier. (I don't think that made sense, but anyways, we're now both crazy). She told me that the Creativ Festival is the following weekend and I should have a booth there too since that way I would have two shows to make money at plus meet even more potential franchisees plus blah blah blah. Plus I could spend the week meeting potential franchisees and go on some morning shows and I could go sell stuff in front of the CN tower and I could....... Oh my goodness, my head is hurting already.

So then I proceed to phone Rita from the Creativ Festival and now she's excited about me coming because now that means we can also get some more media involved and ..... even more yikes. Wow, is that ever a big show, 20,000 attendees and 50% of them are scrapbookers, check out their website at: http://www.creativfestival.ca/ Both shows are definitely a MUST ATTEND event for everyone. I know they both have fantastic events planned.

So, eventually in April, watch for pictures of the truck getting ready to go on a road trip and we'll follow on a plane. The truck will be on the train and we'll be on the plane, who's going to get there first????

Have a great week everyone and I look forward to hearing from you. We're still looking for some out of town events to attend on National Scrapbook Day, let us know if you know of any.

You know what is going to be the worst part of this all? Telling my husband that I'm going to be gone for 10 days, doing 2 shows, plus.... well, you get the picture, it's going to be crazy, but it's going to be a great crazy and I'm so looking forward to helping more women get into their own mobile scrapbook stores. Who knows, maybe I'll even just sell mine there and not have to bring it back at all???? Hey, I know he'd like that one. lol Then I'd just have to build another one to service all my great customers that I have here.

Wonderful Friends

One of the things I am most grateful for is my friends. I have many friends of all types, some are rich some are poor, some are successful and some are not, some are successful in other ways besides money and some are not so successful. Each of my friends enrich my life in some way and I have learned over the years, that I cannot live without them. Even though I do not get to communicate with them or visit them or call them or even email them as much as I would like they are all in my hearts in some way.

I remember as a kid how I would wake up on a Saturday morning and go over to my grandparents' house and wait to see who would show up for coffee. If someone wasn't coming over, then we were going to visit someone. And nowadays, there is no way you would just pop in to someone's house and visit, it always has to be a planned event. It seems like our generation has cocooned so much that we forget who brings us happiness in our lives besides our family and that is our friends. We seem to forget to make time for our friends and socialize. Whenever my husband and I get together with our friends, we realize how much fun they are and wonder why we don't hang out with them more often. My parents and grandparents were always socializing with their friends and family. And they always had so much fun.

What made me think about our friends at Christmas was a teaching job that I was at on Friday. Every Friday morning since September, I have been teaching scrapbooking at a drop-in centre for low income people and people in need. I have really enjoyed teaching there because they have no expectations. They don't expect me to create masterpieces, they're just happy to get out of the house and have a place to go to socialize and make some pages. Never once have they complained about not learning anything and they just love whatever it is they do because they take my idea and make it their own. And they are just happy that I take the time out of my day to come and be with them and show them something new. They all gave me gifts and cards for Christmas and I brought them donuts. Their handmade gifts were so special and are something I will treasure forever. They helped me to realize that Christmas doesn't have to be this big major commercialized event. It just has to be something little and special. And now I consider these girls to be my friends, they're awesome!

Thank you to all my friends you make my life special and I hope in some way I touch your lives. This is the year for me to spend more time with my friends and not cocoon so much.

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

BoBunny Serendipity Clear Album

Last night I decided to play again with the clear albums. I just got in the new BoBunny Clearly Mixed Up albums and are they ever fun to play with. They're acrylic albums, but all the shapes are mixed up. When you see the one I played with, you'll see what I mean. I also used the Fancy Pants new Arctic Chill line and that is just to die for, it is so awesome. Keep in mind, I added some extra pages into this album plus I also added some of the fancy pants artic chill transparencies cut in the same shape as some of the album pages. I didn't take picts of all the pages, just a couple, but you get the idea. They also have some different types, so if you'd like to see them, let me know and I'll get you pics of them. They're definitely lots of fun to work with.

Melissa Buhler published too

I forgot one other thing, our web designer, Melissa Buhler - she was also published this month. She is an awesome scrapbooker too, plus she designs great websites. I'm really excited about her new printing company called Green Pixel Printing. Check it out she caters especially to scrapbookers and knows what we need. www.greenpixelprinting.com

Canadian Scrapbooker is here

Yes, the winter issue of Canadian Scrapbooker is in and it's better than ever! One thing I love about this magazine is how it always has exciting layouts with every single issue and every time it gets better and better. I have 6 issues available, so if you would like one, feel free to send me an email so I can put one aside for you. And for all the girls I'll see at Camp He Ho Ha this weekend, I'll have it there.

I'm excited about two things with this magazine. One is that my customer/friend Candace Robichaud has been published for the first time. I met Candace over a year ago and she had just started scrapbooking at the time. One thing about Candace is that she was instantly good. She didn't have the warm-up to scrapbooking period like a lot of us do. I know with myself, it took a long while for me to really feel comfortable about my layouts and doing things without scraplifting. Candace just happens to have this fabulous style and a natural ability to scrapbook. She has a great eye for what looks good and has no problems mixing & matching different mediums and making them look great together. I have always loved her style and I hope she submits more layouts to the magazines because then you'll see more of her unique scrapbooking ability and style. The layout in the magazine is a great one, but she has even greater ones than that. (I know she's going to be blushing when she sees this). I've been trying to get her to buy her own Memories in Motion Franchise because she would be fantastic at it, but she's too busy working with her husband http://www.carsgone.com/ plus raising her awesome kids. Anyways, Candace, I hope you continue scrapbooking even though you're so crazy busy becoming a gazillionaire. lol.

Ok, so the second thing about the magazine is that we're on page 22 with a picture of my husband & I on the Dragons' Den tv show pitching our business. I know, everyone is bugging me and even bribing me to tell them what happened and I still can't. I know, it's just as hard on you as it is on me. The Mom Magazine has asked for the exclusive story about my experience on the Dragons' Den and I'll be sure to tell you as much as I can. My one friend asked me if I would tell her and I told her she'd have to come bail me out of jail after they sue me. The show is every Mon on CBC until Dec 14. www.cbc.ca/dragonsden Ok, I will tell you this much - I didn't get beat up. How's that?

Oh, one other thing I have to tell you about. I just got in the Glue Glider Pro and it is AWESOME! I love it. It's like those big honking ATG guns, only way smaller and easier to handle. Plus, it doesn't take up so much space in your scrapbook bag and the other great feature is it's half the price. Check it out, I just love it and I only have 4 left.

Also, don't forget about our contest - the "Most Embarrassing Layout" Contest. We're pretty excited about it and all the prizes we have to give away. I just got an email from a lady who said she definitely had to enter this contest. I just laughed.

Take care and have a great day/weekend! Check out http://www.canadianscrapbooker.ca/ and their new winter issue, it's awesome. Great job Katharina and Jackie and the rest of the team!

Contest Time!

Hi everyone,

We're so excited, it's time to do a contest. So, check out: http://www.youtube.com/user/scrapmobile for the details of the "Most Embarrassing Layout" contest and tell all your friends to check it out too. And of course, submit your layout to our gallery.

We're so excited, we have lots of prizes to be given away from Cosmo Cricket, We R Memory Keepers, 3L Adhesives, Prima Marketing, Fire and Ice Designs and Fiskars.

I'm looking forward to seeing your layouts and giving away lots of prizes!

Kelly Falardeau
www.memoriesinmotionscrapbooking.com

Winter is coming

Yes, it definitely feels like winter is coming and I'm already tired of it and it hasn't come yet. I asked my husband the other week what he thought about moving to a warmer climate and he just laughed at me. I took that to mean "no". He started a new job just over a month ago and he really likes it, so I don't think I'll be able to convince him to move any time soon. Bummer!

Anyways, on to the good stuff. So what has been up with the Scrapmobile? Well, I was driving home from the Heartland Inn (Thorsby) and all of a sudden the truck quit and so I pulled over and called my husband to come pick me up. Well, this time, the transmission and motor went. Ugh! So anyways, to make a long story short, the Scrapmobile is up and running again and ready to get back on the road. I have lots of great events to attend in the next couple months, so I'm really excited. I'm going to be in Hinton and Viking in November. If any of you are from there, send me an email and I'll pass on your info to the girls. I'm pretty sure both events have room for more attendees.

I am also putting the finishing touches on our first contest. We're being crazy and starting a "Most Embarrassing Layout"contest. Yes, that's right, remember all those first layouts that we did so long ago and we're totally embarrassed about? Well, those are the layouts we're looking for. I wanted to do something fun, crazy and stress-free. Once I get it up on the website, I'll put out another notice and then you're more than welcome to upload your layouts and refer it to all your friends. And of course we have lots of prizes, including a We R Memory Keepers Big Bite and some other great stuff from Cosmo Cricket, 3L Adhesives, Prima Marketing and Fire and Ice Designs.

I am also proud to announce that we have added Peter Singleton and Steven Bell from TLC Franchising to our team. Peter and Steven are experts in the franchising area and are looking forward to chatting with people who are interested in purchasing their very own mobile scrapbook store. If you are interested, don't hesitate to call or email us any time.

Well, nothing else new and exciting. I'm really looking forward to going to more retreats this fall plus announce the exciting contest we're organizing. Take care and have a great halloween.

Kelly