And now the impatient waiting begins. The wait for all the new products to arrive. I have seen them, touched them, drooled on them, ordered them, took notes about them, reviewed the catalogs 3 or 4 times, dreamed about them, and now I have to wait for them to get here. I know you all are waiting too. It’s a waiting game now. For those of you who are obsessed with new products, as I know so many of you are, this is torture. And the hunt has begun to find it, order it, or buy it and have in your hands first!! You want to do something with it immediately and post it up, show it around and be so happy that you have this luscious new product. Then there are the others of you who are not so concerned with when you have it, just so that at some point, you have it in your hands and on your scrap space table. You could be one of those people who has it right away, but it just sits on your stash, waiting for you to find time to use it. or you could be one of those scrappers, who waits to use a lot of their stash before jumping in and buying new stuff. And you could be one of those who buys exactly what they need for the layout at hand, and not a huge stash that you will pick through as you work on it. It is ALL of you who we work to provide products for. My goal is to be able to stock and offer products that are not only new and fresh, exciting and hot, but also continue to hold them for those of you who will wait to get them. To stock products that are the staples and things that make scrapbooking easier, and things that are maybe more basic and simple. And to get it on an ever rotating schedule.

One of the ways that we hope to change this presentation is by moving our inventory to a “Just in Time” inventory system. We have spoken with some of our manufacturers who are able to provide us with the information and products that will require this to work as smoothly as possible. Not all of our products will be offered on this system, but through the year, we hope to work it out so that everything will be offered in this manner. What you will see when you shop in our store, is an indicator below the products to let you know if a particular product is available to ship right away, or if it is shipping in 2 weeks or in another appointed time frame. This will allow us to be able to place smaller orders on a weekly basis, have things coming in and rotating on a continual basis. This will allow us to be able to provide more products for you at any given moment than we have in the past. The products that are shipping in 2 weeks or so, will be managed much like a backorder for us. You will be able to order the products you need and given a ship date for the items that are available immediately and a ship date for the items that will take a week or more to get to you, things that may require us a bit of time to receive from a manufacturer before shipping to you.

We spoke with a lot of our manufacturers about this while visiting the CHA show and had a great response to this system. We are really hopeful that this will take care of a lot of the issues that we have suffered in the past with our store. We are excited about getting this up and running and being the best that we can be for you.

We are doing a lot of new products on a Pre-Order status right now. Several of the bigger lines coming in are now offered on preorder in our shopping section. We hope to be able to provide this service on a lot of the new things coming in the next year. In March, we are offering a deal: If you place a preorder for new products adding up to $50 or more, you will receive a $5 coupon for your next order here at Two Peas in a Bucket.

I ordered a ton of new things to come in throughout the spring months while in Atlanta for the CHA show. I don’t usually write up an extended report of any kind, but this time I did. I am sure that you have probably already seen or read about all of the new things coming out, but if you would like to read my thoughts on things anyways, you can see them here on the site: Tradeshow Wrapup.

With everyone waiting for the newer products to come in, things are a bit slow around here, so we are going to attempt to liven things up a bit, but offering a few freebies with orders place between now and March 15th: . Free goodies in each order and 5 sheets of 12x12 cardstock with every order over $25.**

With the addition of our new Digital Scrapbooking section, we are offering Digital kits by Rhonna Farrer. Rhonna has designed some beautiful kits for Two Peas in a Bucket. We are really excited about these. We know these kits are a bit higher in price than may be available at other locations, but we feel that we are offering a really high quality product that is well worth the money spent. Rhonna has all kinds of ideas for uses with these products that will last more than just one layout. The uses are endless as the products are non-consumable. You don’t have to just use it once, like you do with traditional supplies.

We encourage you to check out the Digital Kits and give them a shot!

Kristina

 

"New Product - Autumn Leaves Stickers" by Jennifer (Ditz) McGuire	"Tea Time - SEI Serendipity Too" by Tracy Miller
"Newsletter-new Art Warehouse *Riley-Vocabulary" by Stacey Sattler	"New Product...(Kopp Transfers)" by Margie Scherschligt
"4th Birthday Tag" by Tina Barriscale	"New Basic Grey... a couple of cards" by Allison Kimball
"The Crinkle (new Chatterbox)" by Allison Kimball	"Tiny Blessing - New Sharon Ann Baby" by Anne Heyen
"100% Sweet Baby * Carolees Printed Twills" by Anne Heyen	"Cranky Momma [new digital kit]" by Jen Lessinger
"{ sweet love • Rhonna's digital kit }" by Ali Edwards

A huge selection of products coming from CHA. See the CHA report for more details on what I have ordered.

 

"Coming Soon - Foofala" by Jennifer (Ditz) McGuire	"New Products - Night at the Nelsons" by Carrie Colbert
"yes, i do!" by Kim Heffington	"coming soon! new mustard moon stickers and papers" by Jamie Waters
"Enjoy! - NEW Autumn Leaves MOD line" by Tracy Kyle	"Kiss - New Fontwerks Paper" by Tracy Kyle

When did you start scrapbooking?
I have always kept a journal/scrapbook. It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I got “seriously” involved.

What are your sources for inspiration?
Other scrapbookers (Gallery, Garden, magazines), advertisements, clothing, anything… a couple of layouts have come while helping my children with their homework.

How do you get started on projects (layouts, etc)?
I usually start with the journaling of a layout. It always helps me understand the mood I want to set. Sometimes a photo just speaks to me and I don’t have anything to say so I just play with products.

What things do you like to communicate through your work?
I want my children to know how much I love them. How much I value their lives and how much they teach me. I want to express both the beautiful moments and the less than perfect times in our lives.

What have been your biggest achievements or greatest layouts or moments with this hobby?
My greatest accomplishment came when one of my girls said to me, after looking at her album, “You must love me lots! You made this just for me? I love you mommy!”

My first published layout, being called for HOF 2004, and being asked to be a Garden Girl have all been a rush!

What kind of goals do you have with your scrapbooking?
I don’t think I have any. Just to have fun and when it’s not fun to take a step back.

Where do you scrap?
A home in my “studio”. Not too exciting.

Do you attend crops or conventions?
Yes, sometimes. but I don’t take any scrapbooking supplies with me. I really like to socialize and find it difficult to concentrate, so I usually bring a quilt to work on.

Where does scrapbooking fit into your life? Do you scrap in the morning, evening, late night? When do you do your greatest work?
I think about scrapbooking much more than I should. I scrapbook whenever I get a free minute. Sometimes during naptime, sometimes while my girls are working on their art projects or homework (my studio has a spot just for them). I like that my room can be a gathering spot for everyone. I even have a few empty cupboards that the boys like to hide in.

I don't know about my greatest work....

What does your family think of your scrapbooking?
I’m not sure… I suppose they just tolerate it. Do you have a favorite product line, paper, sticker, or cardstock color? I don’t have a favorite. I love pattern paper, I love words and alphabets, I love ribbons, I love it all! I would use red all the time if only my children had more red clothing!

What do you want the peas to know about you?
I love and am devoted my family and my faith. Everything else is just secondary. I am more uptight than I should be and I would love to have the most patient disposition.