Support your LSS

Man! After a LONG weekend (with prom hair and makeup galore, birthday parties, and other things going on) i'm actually very excited to get back to the more every day routine (which is endless of course) of my life. I made a 20 page scrapbook for the birthday party as well as a shadowbox frame. Did i remember to take pictures of any of it? no i did not. Bad crafty person... bad!

I still have a few cards i need to post, so not all is lost. haha.

But more on the reason i posted this entry before showing off a card. And beware... this has been weighing on my mind... it could get lengthy!

Last week i got a sad email. A scrapbook store in Easley (a town about 20 minutes or so away) was closing down. The owner is a friend of mine. She's the one that owned The Scrapbook Company where i taught before. She's moving back to Florida to work at her old job (they called her out of the blue and asked her to come back) and as she put it to me... she and her husband needed health insurance more than she needed a scrapbook store. So she has lost both of her stores in the past year. Very sad. I wish her the best and hope that she is happy back at her previous job.

On thursday afternoon, i decided to make the drive down to her store just to see what goodies she had left. Now for some... making only a 20 minute drive to go to a local store would be heavenly. Since moving to South Carolina, I have been blessed with many scrapbook stores around me. But one by one... they are dying. And it's oh so very very sad! Main Street Memories in Easley is the 4th that have shut it's doors in the 3 years that i have lived here. I know there were others that suffered untimely deaths before I moved here as well.

Then when I was at Belinda's shop... i heard another local scrapbook shop in Easley was closing! Creative Chaos will also be closing it's doors. Now i had never been there. I tried once or twice, but the store carried odd hours and i never seemed to get them right. The odd hours may have hindered the shop's success. But it's still sad to see a craft shop go down.

Then on Saturday i got a letter saying a very local shop (it's within 2 miles from my house) will also be closing it's doors! This one had me in total shock. I didnt realize the store was doing so poorly. My dear friend, Jan (whom i worked with at The Scrapbook Company) works there. I wonder if she saw it coming. This one is quite as sad of a story... they are closing their brick and mortar store to return focus to their online shop ... http://www.scrapbooksupplystore.com. Locals will be able to buy online and then pick up at the warehouse, but no more in store browsing (unless someone happens to be at the warehouse. So it's just very very sad to me!

I guess economic times are hard for everyone. But that being said. it's still a very sad thing to see the little people go under. Being a "little company" myself. It kinda makes me never want to shop at a chain place again!

Ok... my soap box has tipped over and this post has gotten very very long... but it's been on my mind and i wanted to get it out. For those who have even beared with my rambling this long... here is a card for you today. It's a card i created for Funkie Munkie Scraps using Argus from Paper Makeup Stamps.



All products used on this card are available at Funkie Munkie Scraps.
Patterend Paper (on sale for a huge 60% off) is by American Crafts. See that fun scalloped border? It's already cut on the paper. Easy peasy. Cardstock is by bazzill. LOVE their rich browns and there are so many to choose from! Buttons are from the glorious button bin. You can get 20 buttons for like a buck. Outstanding deal!!!! And the floss is bazzil's In Stitches. Now i have a slew of cross stitch thread but this stuff is a little thicker and wonderful. It's also made for paper so you arent going to get dust and fuzzies while you are sewing on your paper.
OH - and Argus is colored with copics. (of course, you know i love my copics!)
His body is e35 and E37. I did a wee bit of shading with E29 as well. The green spots are YG21 and YG25. Teddy is E43 and E44.

Thanks so much for stopping by and listening to my rant today!