Spring/Summer and Sale-A-Bration 2017 Launch Events

Good Morning! Just a short post from me today! Yesterday I ran my Launch events for the new catalogues and I thought I would share with you how I set them up and a little peek into my craft studio for those of you too far away to attend.

This is the make and take table and then I had 2 separate tables for "shopping and browsing"

 I love dressing up my dresser with the latest projects from the catalogues and it's always a place my customers stop at to admire the products and projects.

 Ooo some of the Made in Dagenham leaflets snook in there too! If you want to come and see it then tickets are available here

And finally here is a little video tour of my studio!

Thank you!

 Well today is the LAST DAY of Sale-A-Bration 2016. Just a little reminder for those of you who may have any last minute orders to make the most of the free goodies. I will be closing off the Online Code Club Order around 9am this morning so please do get in touch before then if you want to use the code or if you are local if you want to add onto the order.

I have now been at The Paper Haven craft studio for a month and I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on my first month. It has been hard work and tiring but it has been so amazing and I am very glad I made the decision to go for it. 

Moving most of my craft things out of the house and down here was a little strange but I am enjoying the fact that when I get home it's family time, as well as all the cooking and cleaning of course. I think I am actually being more productive too! If I do need to nip down and collect something or do some extra work it's only 7 minutes drive! I have received so much positive feedback from my existing customers and also my new customers who have joined me at classes now that I am here at the studio. 21 new class attendees joined me during March which I am thrilled with and I am looking forward to welcoming more people.

I had a lovely open morning with lots of new people popping in to see the new place and sign up for classes. Thank you to those who attended and to everyone who helped me out.

 My Crafternoon Teas are proving to be the most popular event at the moment. I offer one per month on the second Saturday of the month. We make a lovely craft project and then enjoy a full afternoon tea provided by my caterer on vintage china. I have seats left for 14th May and 11th June if you would like to treat yourself. I can arrange for groups of friends to sit together too.

And so as the month ends I am feeling happy and grateful that I have been able to make this leap into the world of owning a craft studio, a dream I have had for a long time. I am looking forward to adding to and enhancing my class lists and in April I am excited to be hosting my first Baby Shower and private Birthday Crafternoon Tea Party. I have lots of events planned including this one to make the beautiful bags and card below. 3 different sessions available, all on my Classes/Events page or on Facebook here

So it's only appropriate to end with a tonne of thank yous. Firstly to my husband Robin who has tirelessly listened to my ramblings and ideas about the studio since the middle of November 2015 and has helped me to lift and shift my old craft room down here, as well as many other jobs. My Dad who has been a big help with the paintbrush and moral support. My Mum and Kate who washed up every piece of cutlery, cup, saucer, plate, teapot, mug, sugar bowl, milk jug and organised my cupboards for  me. To Sharon who came and painted chairs and pulled about 100 staples out of old chairs. To Monica who kindly gifted me the gorgeous dresser (that has had many comments) and came and painted whatever I asked her to and organised my ribbon drawer. To everyone who sent a card, gift, flowers and messages of good luck to me, I was overwhelmed by those. To all my class attendees who have had to change their routes to craft class, some are now nearer, some slightly further away but all have been positive about the space. To my team for adjusting to a new setting and set up for team trainings events and for bearing with me whilst I was a little distracted for the last few weeks. To the staff at Gaunts who were great at dealing with my requests and answering all my questions. To my fellow tenants at the Springfield Centre, thank you for welcoming me to the "family", I feel like I have new friends. Finally to anyone who I have forgotten (huge possibility) and to the many people who I have pitched ideas to, used as a sounding board and have listened to me bang on about the studio for the past few months. I am truly grateful, my glass is brimming and I am looking forward to many many many more months and years at The Paper Haven. 

More Studio photos

Well I think I have exhausted all my crafty makes to share with you. I haven't done any crafting for over a week as I have been to occupied with moving into The Paper Haven. So I guess there is nothing else for it but to share some more photos with you of the current progress. 

 I purchased this sideboard at a charity shop for £25. Its very sturdy and on castors and I knew it would be great for my card stock and my ribbons (in the drawers). It needed a bit of love so I had half a tin of the sage green chalk paint left and went about transforming it.

And now it looks like this. As well as being great for storage it will also be useful for displays and as a Big Shot station for classes. 

 The builders did a great job building a new toilet for me with a separate sink area and I debated what colour to paint the outside walls and then it came to me to paint it with blackboard paint so I can make a feature of it and write on my classes and events etc....

Nearly there!

 Yesterday was quite a momentous day as Robin and myself moved 2 of my tables down there. There will be another one arriving today. They just fit inside the back of Robin's estate car.

 Along with a lot of my craft supplies from my craft room.

Even more exciting was a visit from my spline and friend Monica who brought me this gorgeous dresser she promised to me as a very generous gift for promoting twice last month. I am so grateful for this and knew it would look fab with my stamp sets in there. You should have seen us, we couldn't wait to get them all in!

 The tables went in too and the tablecloths were put on! Still waiting on another table today and then I should be able to start crafting here. I will have to play about with layouts of the room as the classes occur but for now I put the tables like this. 

 Thank you for all your comments, messages, texts etc about my move. I have been blown away by the support and I know I am very lucky to be able to realise a huge dream of mine. Bookings are coming in nicely for events and Crafternoon Teas have been really popular. March is sold out and I already have a few bookings for the April and May events but still plenty of space left!

And of course if you would like a little freebie in March then don't forget my February Online Code Club is still going strong!

Studio Update

Good Morning! Well it's been all go at the studio! I have had the keys for a week now and have slowly been taking things down there and doing some painting etc.. First up was this ugly but very useful racking at the back of the unit. 

On Saturday I set to painting it with gloss paint similar to Stampin Up's Soft Sky colour and a couple of days later it now looks like.......

This!!!!! Although I took this photo before the front bottom bits were done.

Will soon be filled with all my essentials for my classes and workshops, oh and I also strung up some bunting too!

The bathroom has been installed and I now have a working toilet and painting started on this space yesterday courtesy of my very helpful Dad who spent all day Wednesday helping me.

Mr K bought me this tea urn for Christmas and it saw its first use yesterday, perfect for classes 

Mr UPS also managed to find me to deliver my parcel yesterday, that felt very exciting and I am sure all my fellow demonstrators and customers will understand my excitement and need to snap a little photo of his van!

I purchased these really sturdy but horribly upholstered chairs from Preloved for a steal but I was worried about getting the horrible red velour off them. This pulled off fairly easily but the hardest part was getting all the staples out which had been used to staple the foam down. Myself and my friend Sharon spent the morning sorting these chairs, each one must have had at least 50 staples on it!

Dad's screwdrivers and pliers came in very handy and before long they were sanded down and painted and they looked like this.....

The green and yellow ones in the middle were the burgundy disaster chairs, don't they look a heck of a lot better!

I have left my white chairs as they are and have just 2 more chairs to paint until I am done with the chalk paint for now! 

I do hope you will join me at my studio soon. I have a number of events coming up which can be found on my Classes/Events page above. Some events are sold out so please do contact me and check before booking on. 

Have a Happy Thursday!

New Beginnings

So you may have seen from my Facebook post that I am changing things up a little from March. About a year ago I made some tentative enquiries about renting my own crafty studio as I was finding I was spending a heck of a lot of time loading, unloading, setting up displays, taking displays down etc.... and I longed for a permanent base to run my events. Circumstances weren't in my favour and the timing wasn't right so I held fire on this idea but I never stopped dreaming about it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I secured my own place in Farsley and I have been busy working behind the scenes on collecting furniture and building my website. I LOVE all things vintage and shabby chic so my studio will be decked out in this style and I have been sourcing furniture and transforming it to how I want it to be, as you can see below.

You may already know me as Paper Haven Craft Retreats, which I have been running since 2013 so it made sense to keep the name the same, something you are familiar with and of course a haven is a place of safety and sanctuary.

Nearly all of my events from 1st March onwards will now be at The Paper Haven and I would LOVE to see you there. I will be running more events, Crafternoon Teas and Retreat Days plus I will be able to offer private crafty parties for you and your friends. All my events will still solely be using Stampin' Up products and everything will run the same way, just in a permanent venue! I am so so excited to share this with you.

If you would like to find out more information or to book onto a class then please visit my new website, which is best viewed on an iPad or laptop/computer at

www.thepaperhaven.co.uk

I hope you can join me and Escape to a crafty place!