Greetings from California!

** WARNING: THIS IS LOOOONG!** :)

Lori and I arrived in California Friday evening after a long day of traveling. Saturday we took a couple of great classes so that we have some awesome samples for you when we come back!

I took the Little Yellow Bicycle Baby Safari (Boy) class and created a super cute layout and 2 mini books. They are great projects that can be duplicated with the Baby Safari Girl line as well. Even better than having my samples, I have instruction sheets too! Be on the look out for them at the store when the Baby Safari line arrives mid-March!

Lori took the Imaginisce Twitterpated class and made the most adorable mini album ever! I have been lusting after it as it is just too cute for words! I love the animals! She has been coming up with lots of ideas for this line so I am sure you will be seeing something come of that too. And she too got instructions to share! YAY! This line should be arriving somewhere near the end of February.

Then both of us took the Imaginisce Summer Cool Class and made a fun notebook portfolio! (Yes we have instructions!) We saw LOTS of possibilities for this project, as far out as Christmas. It's just so versatile. This line too will be arriving at the end of February.

Saturday night we spent some time at the SEI preview party to see all of their new releases. We ordered 4 of their new lines including Mimosa, Lovebirds, Bridgeport and Playday. These releases are spread out a bit so some will be coming soon, and some won't be arriving until June.

Sunday was the first day of the show, and we made it through half of it. We didn't take many pictures this day, we were trying to gather information, catalogs and just get an idea of what was out there. We finished the other half of the show on Monday and spent last night and most of Today (Tuesday) placing orders and picking what we wanted to bring into the store.

We of course spent a good chunk of time with Gary and Chris at the QuicKutz booth. LOTS of yummy new stuff coming from there for sure! They introduced brand new embossing folders at a SUPER price! They will have 2x2, A2 and 12" border sizes available and they will sell for around 6.99 Canadian! Even better, the 2x2 ones come in sets of 4! Sweet! We ordered LOTS but they won't be coming until around March or April so you have to sit tight just a bit longer! They also Introduced the brand new Silhouette SD! Watch for some more information coming on that as we will have a pre-order special available (hopefully next week) as these machines are coming very soon! They also have 3-D shapes dies coming and 9 awesome new fonts. The fonts will be available this weekend and hopefully the dies too!

Bo Bunny has an amazing release this time and we ordered 5 of their new lines that will be arriving sometime Mid-March. Abbey Road is a great Spring line (works for Easter too!) with a lovely colour combination of green, blue, brown and cream. Alissa is a great girly line with pinks, black, green and blue colour tones. U Bug Me is a great boy (or tomboy!) line that is great for outdoor pictures! Its brown, green and yellow colours are perfect for the dirt and bugs it portrays. Pet Shop is super cute for those pet lovers out there and works for both Cats and Dogs! And last but not least, Its My Party is one of the best birthday paper lines we have ever seen! The colours are fantastic and the designs make you wanna have a party every day! Super fun! I don't think you will be disappointed in any of these lines.

We ordered some really fun lines from Reminisce. They have another fantastic Monkey line that is even better than the ones before, we were Bananas over it! We were ga-ga over the new Easter line that had the CUTEST bunny and chick ever! Wait until you see the big stickers that come with it! We also ordered an awesome Graduation line that is stunning, and actually has some papers that will work fantastically for weddings! That line isn't coming until later (April/May) but everything else is coming soon!

We misbehaved again at American Crafts (I am sure Teresa is utterly shocked by this) and ordered 3 fun new lines - Baby, Backyard and Craft Fair. So lots of new papers, thickers, and other fun embellishments coming from our friends at American Crafts. And don't worry, lots of album restock too!

KasierCraft... ooooh definitely one of our new favorites! We ordered TWELVE new paper lines with coordinating brads! They are GORGEOUS! And we were lucky enough to be able to nab some samples for DT to play with! Great things from this company including LOTS of bling, clock faces, mini books, and more. Look for some fun samples and classes using these products, because we are definitely inspired!

Technique Tuesday has some new stamps we just had to pick up, including a lot of Ali Edwards designs! Always good stuff from TT!

Fancy Pants has some great new lines. We were sure to grab Summer Soiree, Delight, and KraftKuts! We also ordered their new window frames for those interested in some home decor type projects.

This morning we did some more misbehaving at the Prima booth! Bev would be so proud, and Jillian, and Kim... don't worry girls we did not let you down!! We ordered the new Canvas books inspired by Donna Downey, as well as some canvas pieces to embellish with. We of course ordered flowers, as well as vines, a couple ribbons, galaxy stars, the most gorgeous butterflies, felt gates and a super cute "Mommy and Me" paper line that included TURTLES! OH MY was it EVER CUTE! I may be a little biased, what can I say, but that whole line is COMING HOME! Of course I got my 10 seconds at the box of flowers and managed to fill my bag to the brim, as well as make a huge mess on the floor. Super fun!

One of my favorite lines of the show - 3 Bugs in a Rug! Loved it so much that we ordered 5 lines! Snips and Snails is my favorite (once again I may be biased). It's the cutest boy papers I have seen in a long time. It's got turtles, snails, frogs, inch worms and just lots of fun! Butterfly Kisses is a girly girl line with lots of pink, butterflies, dragonflies and flowers. What a Hoot makes me giggle with its silly owls and super funky colours and designs. Happy Bird-day is a very whimsical line with birds, and flowers. I even like this one, and most of you know my aversion to birds! haha. The Homegrown Collection is just plain cute with all the houses and basic designs. Can't wait to see these papers arrive in March!

Little Yellow Bicycle Baby Safari should be arriving late February/ early March. Lots of cute papers, stickers, embellishments and kits in this line. There is one set for boys and one set for girls so everyone is sure to find something that works! The Traveller line will be coming later this year (around June) and has a more masculine colour tones. It's great for any travel projects you will be working on.

We of course stopped at Stamper's Anonymous to order the newest Tim Holtz stamps as well as more Darcie stamps since they went over so well last time!

Bazzill, oh how we looooove Bazzill! Let's see... new Swiss Dot colours, embossed cardstock, edge borders, paper flowers and bling. Always good stuff.

We also did a lot of misbehaving at Imaginisce! Not only did we order the Twitterpated and Summer Cool lines I mentioned earlier, but we just had to re-order Fairest of All because it's been in great demand. We also ordered two other lines coming in a few months - Teacher's Pet and Wild Things. SUPER CUTE! But they also have a new tool called the I-Top coming in June. It's a brad maker and a very cool one at that. We will be sure to have demos with this awesome new tool once they arrive!

For all of you Basic Grey fans, not to worry. We ordered collection packs for all 4 new lines - Marakech, Porcelein, Wisteria and Lime Rickey.

We went to visit Cosmo Cricket to see what was new and left three lines later - Girl Friday, Snorkel, and Lil' Man. Oh and I almost forgot, the game spinners! I see a class in Bev's future with these!! These lines have more of a vintage/retro feel to them, but the colour is not lost! I think you will love them as much as we did!

And let's just not talk about how much we misbehaved at Maya Road! We THOUGHT we were taking it easy... not so. We couldn't pass up on the new coaster chipboard books like apples, coffee cups, birds (a new style!) and scallop tags. They have 6 new mist colours, and we of course stocked up on the previous colours as well! Some awesome new sheers are available (think mini birds and owls!!) as well as some gorgeous hat pins! We also grabbed a few new sheer ribbons, acrylic books, and chipboard keychains. But don't worry, we also made sure to re-order some of your favorites!

You know, I think we did A LOT of misbehaving! :) Teresa is going to be gathering images for a LONG time, which is going to get us in a fair bit of trouble when we make it back home later this week! Just remember Teresa, we love you! The laptop and camera don't want to cooperate with me right now so hopefully we can post some pictures for you soon. We will be sure to get some of our samples on display when we get back to the store as well as have some catalogs available for lines we are still considering.

We still have a few hours at the show tomorrow to finish up some more orders and plan where we are going to put everything! I definitely am ready for bed, it's been a long couple days and my feet are tired! We will keep you updated on when things will be arriving!

Good Night! (or by the time some of you will be reading this... Good Morning!)

What a wonderful group

of Turtles we have in our pond. So many of you came out to share in our Third Anniversary celebrations. The auction on Sunday was a successful wrap to a very busy week. Almost everyone went home with something, whether they won the bid or whether one of the generous Turtles that inhabit our pond gifted them with something. No sooner do we have the Anniversary over than Hannah and Lori are abandoning us to the cold while they fly off to sunny California to participate in CHA. While this is a big event for them, with lots of planning and spending to take place, those of us left behind have to do something. Watch your mailboxes tomorrow ... I'm just saying ...

Also, while the weather is a bit cold for going outside it's a good time to start going through all your stuff and purging ... making room for all the new goodies that they may be ordering over the next week. We have the date set for the next Turtle Yard Sale. It will be held on Saturday, March 28. Forms will be available closer to the actual Yard Sale date but nothing is stopping you from starting to set those things aside that you are willing or ready to part with.

Hmmm, what else are we working on? Well, Lori has been hard at work planning her next QA class. She always comes up for amazing projects for those lucky to be part of QA and available to take the class each month.

We have a Sweepstakes on for QK. Between now and February 8, for every $25 you spend in the store or online you will receive a ballot for a chance to win the $1000 QK Sweepstakes. We will be drawing two names here at the store. You can also get ballots by signing up for our QK Mailing List (you can either add your name to the list in the store or sign up on the homepage of our website). Purchasing 5 dies will also get your name entered. See ... so many ways to participate, but time is limited.

We now have the beautiful Love Letters line from Little Yellow Bicycle in the store. I am working on getting it online so watch for images soon.

So many things to do ... I better get back at it.

Thanks to everyone

who came out to participate in our Anniversary Make and Take this week. We hope you like the pages you created and that they inspired you just a little. Lori, Bev and Kim did a great job on them.

We have had our draw for today and the winning number is

241466

Congratulations. Your prize awaits.

See everyone tomorrow at the Auction.

The Turtles are doing anything but basking

in the warm Turtle Pond today. Things are hopping (no frogs here, though, that I've seen). I' m just stealing a few minutes to post yesterday's winning number.

241392

Congratulations to Bob Dunham, yesterday's winner. He is in the store this morning so he has picked up the prize.

Bev has created our final page layout make and take for this week. It is here, waiting for you to stop by and create.

We are finishing up preparations for the Auction tomorrow. Bryan is home resting his voice (depending on how the kids are behaving) and we are getting things ready here. If you don't get in today, we'll see you tomorrow. Registration starts at Noon and you must be registered by 2:30. The auction starts promptly at 3:00. We will have Make and Takes, Tim Hortons Coffee and Cookies so you won't be bored while you wait for the auction to get rolling.

I'll post today's number later.

See you all tomorrow!

Today's number will be delayed

due to our anniversary crop. We have a full house tonight so the numbers won't be drawn until after the last cropper leaves ... sometime after midnight. Soooo, the number may not actually be posted until tomorrow morning as who knows what might come out of my fingers at that time of the early, early morning.

Congratulations do go out, however, to Janet Holland, the winner of the Wednesday draw, and to Avril Tanner, Thursday's draw winner. We hope you enjoy your prizes.

As I type this the December QuicKutz and the new Little Yellow Bicycle line are being entered into our computer. There has been a delay with the January dies, so please be patient. You will "Love" the new LYB line. Watch for images early next week. We'll be a bit busy this weekend but I'll get everything up as soon as I can.

Has everyone been checking in every 15

minutes or so to see what the winning number is? Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to get it posted before I left the store ... DH made supper and it was calling. I did, however, have our impartial assistant (and part-time doorman) William draw the winning number for us. Tonight's number (typed from another keyboard so hopefully I'll get it right this time) is ...

0403002

Congratulations!! I know that you are very excited!! Your prize is waiting for you at the store. See you tomorrow.

Time for another winning ticket number

William gets credit for drawing this one. And the winner is ... (insert drum roll)

0402957 *

Congratulations to Eva Martin, yesterday's prize winner.

You still have time to get in on these daily draws. You know that you want to come visit us at the Turtle.

Watch for the new number tomorrow night.

*Sorry for the short number earlier ... we are having keyboard issues and I didn't double check the number, just figured everything I typed actually appeared.

The second draw has taken place

Thank you, Aidan, for drawing today's winning ticket for the gift bag. The winning number is ...

0402932

Congratulations. We have your goodies waiting for you at the store.

Come join us for a new make and take tomorrow. Each day offers a different project. You don't want to miss them.

And the Winner Is ......

We just drew the first of our daily tickets. The winning ticket number (as drawn by Maegan) is

0402909

Congratulations!!! The prize is here waiting for you at the store.

We will be holding a draw each day this week so come on in, complete the make and take, do some visiting and shopping and maybe you will be one of our winners.

With regards to our changed hours (as posted last week) ...

The building is locked at 5:00 from now until March Break, as decided by the property managers. The Turtle is still open until 6:00. This week, we will try to have someone downstairs. Otherwise, give us a call and let us know that you are down there, or knock REALLY loudly and we will come down to let you in. Unfortunately, the ramp is not available after 5:00, so you will have to use the main door to the building. It's not ideal but at least we are able to be open.

See you tomorrow with another winning number.

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock ...

Time is slowly running out to accumulate those precious Auction Dollars. We are 12 days away from the auction event! We have been working hard here at the store at getting things ready. Our display window is FULL of items that will be available for bidding. If you get a chance, stop by and check it out. We'll try to get a photo of it up here later this week. I think you will find many items to use those accumulated dollars on.

This Saturday is QA Saturday and Lori has a beautiful project for those of you lucky to be signed up. Not a member yet? Stop by the store and ask for details. We also have many of the previous projects for you to see and get an idea of what a great programme it is.

On a final note, we were informed at 2:00 on Monday afternoon that the building would be closing at 5:00 for the next several weeks. We are working to rectify the situation. We are hoping to have something worked out by Thursday or Friday of this week. Please check with us before stopping by on the way home from work. We'll do our best to help where we can.

Off to work on a couple of more things for the Auction. Watch for updates.