The Good Stuff...

Let's Talk Mini Book

We are very fortunate to have some fabulous designers working with our December kit.  Jennifer Allred made this adorable book to document different conversations her family has this holiday season. Here's what Jennifer has to say:

Our family likes to have fun conversation starters to chat about while we are eating supper together.  When I saw this book and the journaling tags included in the add on kit, I realized it would be perfect for creating a little book of Christmas-themed conversation starters. 

I mixed in a few photos from past Christmas celebrations to break up all the writing.  All I have to do is keep it next to our dining room table with a pen so I can write in their answers right away.  It will be fun to be able to look back and see our thoughts and feelings about Christmas in 2009.

 On pages with the journaling lines, I included a small punched photo to highlight that family member's thoughts for that question. 

  
  
 

December is here!

It's hard to believe that December is already here.  It seems like yesterday I was wishing spring would come so that my flowers would bloom.  Now I am wishing for a white Christmas!  

This past weekend I went to our local garden store and took a wreath making class with my Mother-in-law and sister-in-law.  It was neat...for $15 they gave you all the supplies you needed to make the wreath, and they showed you how to do it.  I liked my wreath a lot, so I was very upset when I got home last night to see that it was quickly dying!  I called Kathy, my mother-in-law, and she said it was supposed to live until February.  I took it off of my front door and left it in our garage overnight after spraying it with water, but it was too late! I checked this morning and it is still dead. :(  Here is a picture of my wreath before it bit the dust!
 

Back to the Blog

How is everyone?  I hope all is well!  We have lots of things going on at Two Chicks, and there isn’t enough room to tell you about it in our Facebook status!  Here’s the scoop:

Many of you know about Two Chicks Designs because you met us at a scrapbook convention or a crop.  For the past four years, we have traveled both far and wide to bring our products to you at events all over the United States!  You may have encountered Christie (that’s me!), Brent (my husband), Brooke, Emily, Sarah, Austin, Susan, Krystal, Laurie, Amelia, Nanette, Tim, or even someone I have forgotten…but most of the time, you would meet Brent and/or me.  We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all and seeing how much you love our products, but attending 20 conventions a year wears you out.  It becomes even harder when you have to leave a 4-year-old and a 1 ½ year old to do it. 

This year, we sent lots of different people to the shows so that Brent and I could spend a little more time at home with Zach and Andrew.  In September, we sat down and looked at the list of shows and our company financial statement.  I told Brent that I would love to be able to stop going to shows for a while, but that I knew we had to do them.  Much to my surprise, Brent looked at the numbers again and told me that we don’t have to do them, because we have grown the website so much!  I was shocked at first, and then a little panicked…what would I do if I wasn’t traveling all the time?  After the panic faded, I started to get really excited!  I always said that we were doing the shows to build our website, and that has worked, so we made the decision to stop doing the shows for a while.

Please don’t worry about this decision…I know you may miss us at the shows, but we will still be there in a way!  There will be a vendor carrying some of our products.  She won’t have as much as we did in our booth, but you will definitely have the opportunity to buy the latest and greatest products we have offered at the show.  In addition, I will have some more time to be in touch with you, our customers!  I will be blogging regularly, working on our kit club, and designing new products.  I will also be on Facebook issuing challenges and just having a good time!  

What else is in store?  Video chats, classes, online crops, more grab bags, and of course more of your favorite scrapbooking apparel and gifts!  If you aren’t a fan of Two Chicks Designs on Facebook, you should be!  We have lots of fun, and we actually—gasp—scrapbook.  That’s right…the chicks will have you scrappin’ in no time!  Stay tuned to my blog...I promise to be here on a regular basis.

Christie

 

Where does the time go?

    

I can hardly believe that July is already gone.  It flew by!  Here is a quick rundown of what has been going on for me:

• Two Chicks Designs partnered with Scrap Funattic to launch a new scrapbook kit club called Chicks in the Attic!  We have been very pleased and excited with the response, and can't wait to show you all what's in store! We have almost sold out of our August kits...and September is going to be even more exciting!

• I actually stayed in town (as opposed to going on business trips) for seven entire weeks.  It was fabulous to spend time hanging out with Brent and the boys.  We are having fun!

• We moved our offices again...to a much nicer place! We are collaborating with some really great people.  Sarah is still making and shipping out all of our orders, and Brent is still running the website.  I am still trying to do whatever it is I do! :)

• Brent and I are remodeling our kitchen.  It's still a work in progress. We have all new appliances now, but need to figure out a backsplash.

• Andrew is walking everywhere.  He still holds his arms up in the air for balance, but at least he has finally stopped crawling so much!  Zachary has renewed his obsession with golf.  I spent 30 minutes trying to find a close up of him, but had no luck...all of his photos involve him and his golf clubs.  For those of you wondering about him golfing...we never really enocouraged it! My parents live on a golf course, and both Brent and his dad love to golf.  Zach picked up his first set of fake clubs at the age of 1 and has been golfing ever since!

• I am preparing a new line of apparel to sell to all women instead of just scrapbookers.  We should be ready to launch the website next week, if not sooner!  We have some really exciting things in store!

• Two Chicks Designs is rocking on Facebook! We have lots of fans, and I am trying to stay on top of things there. Two Chicks Designs Facebook Check our page out for exclusive offers and fun giveaways!

• Last weekend I went to CKC Valley Forge and met lots of new scrapbookers...and saw some old friends too!  I love to go to shows and see all of our customers and friends.

Other than that, we are just living a crazy chaotic life!  Things are very good, and we are so blessed to have you all as customers and friends!  Check back soon...I'm really going to be blogging.  No, really, I am!  I promise!

Finally checking in

Wow!  I am amazed how quickly time is flying by!  It seems like yesterday I had a newborn baby and an almost 3-year-old.  I blinked, and now I have a 14 month old and a 4-year old.  Things are going well for us.  I am trying to spend less time on the road, which makes things a lot easier at home!  The boys love having both Mommy and Daddy home on the weekends--Brent and I love it too! 

Brent and I were both in the Dallas area for the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington and for another show the first week in June.  I was very worried that Andrew was going to start walking while we were gone, but he waited until we came home!  We went to a movie last Tuesday night (the Hangover, and it was HILARIOUS by the way!), and when we went to  pick the kiddos up at Brent's parents, Andrew decided to take his first steps!   We missed Zach learning to walk four years ago because I was at GASC Arlington, so Brent and I were both very excited to see it. 

Last week, at Brent's orders, I basically took a week off.  I loved it, and had lots of fun with both ofthe boys.  Being on the road so much this past year has helped me appreciate the little things, like watching "Phineas and Ferb" with Zach, or sitting and rocking Andrew.  Even bath time and dirty diapers.  I have a sign in my kitchen that says "Take a Deep Breath: Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."  I need the sign as a reminder, because I tend to get too busy, and it's not any fun!

We actually stayed home this past weekend and had a great time.  Andrew wanted to help make brownies, so I got out a pot and some utensils for him to play with.  I turned  around and he had climbed into the pot and was quite proud of himself!  And yes, you do see a baseball tee in the background.  Zach was afraid it would rain, so he brought it inside and deposited it in the middle of the kitchen.  Doesn't everyone have a tee in their kitchen?  I cannot complain because I have finally gotten him to understand that he cannot play baseball or golf in the house, but I do occasionally allow putting.  We went to the pool on Saturday and hung out at home on Sunday.  Nothing major, but to us it is exciting to have time to spend together.  It is easy to take time with kiddos for granted, but I am trying to do a better job of living in the moment!

Live from Louisville!

We are at CKC Louisville this weekend, and we are having a blast!  The ladies here are so nice and grateful to us for coming--we love their excitement over our products!  Plus, last night we ate at a Cheesecake Factory, and because it was during the Louisville game we got in right away.  Gotta love that.  Brent has purchased his usual souvenir: t-shirts!  He chose Western Kentucky, Louisville, and Kentucky this trip.  Personally, I am just glad we are not experiencing the blizzard right now.  Sounds like things in Wichita are a little bit crazy from the snow.  I must get back to work now, but I will check in again this week!

I am still around...

It's true.  I am still here and actually doing pretty well.  I am going to get back to this blogging thing soon.  Really, I will.  Lots of new and exciting stuff going on lately at Two Chicks Designs, and I will tell you all about it soon.  I am headed to CKC Louisville tomorrow morning, so I must get ready for that, but I did want to let you know that I am still here and I have not forgotten you!

Pink?

I have a confession to make.  Pink is not my favorite color.  I can hear a collective gasp from everyone reading this...how can pink not be your favorite color?  I am also sure many of you are thinking, "I have seen her booth at conventions and it's almost entirely pink!"  That is true.  It is also true that pink is the best selling color of t-shirts and other apparel for us--pink sells 3 to 4 times better than any other color.  But it's not my favorite.

I love red.  I am a red girl--I just decorated my office with lots of black and red, and I love it!   

I love all the red things.  I went crazy buying red and black decor at Hobby Lobby!  Don't worry--it was all either on sale or on clearance!

 

And yes, I did put a shelf on top of my file cabinet.  I think it works...I know it's weird, but I like it.

My favorite thing is the red memo board with white polka dots.  I love it!

 

I also love the red tin shelf, and the two little chicks on it.  I have had my eye on the shelf for a long time, and my office was the perfect place to use it!

There you have it.  I like pink, but I love red.  Please don't hold it against me! :)

Scrapbooking t-shirt horror stories!

Nothing compares to the horror I experienced a few years ago when I ran into Barnes and Noble wearing a scrapbooking t-shirt (by Two Chicks Designs, of course!).    I normally don’t wear them in public, and the one I had on was of course, “Scrapbookers do it all night long.”  When I realized that I was wearing  said shirt, I attempted to keep my arms crossed or my book selections held carefully in front of my chest.  I thought I had been successful on my mission as I headed to the checkout.  I am short, and the counter is tall, so I should be safe, right?  Wrong! As I am paying, the young, cute, male clerk says, “You might be interested in these mini scrapbooks we just got in.”  I thought I would die right then!  In fact, I am sure my bright red face was a little alarming to the poor guy.  The only way he could know I was a scrapbooker was the shirt!  Thankfully, I lived through the whole experience relatively unscarred.  J If you need some scrapbooking t-shirts, check ours out: Two Chicks Designs

 

This week we have a sale: 30% off your order, and orders over $25 get a cute Two Chicks Designs t-shirt for free! We love our new logo, so we wanted to share it with everyone!

I know I am a pathetic blogger at this point! For anyone who still stops by to check out what's up in my neck of the woods, I apologize! I figured that if I blogged before the end of the month I would at least have two posts in December, which would be an improvement over October and November! Things have been busy, obviously, or I would stop by and update more often.  We have been dealing with the usual round of December bugs that seem to strike everyone this time of year.  Zach was the first one to be sick, on the 16th, and I was the last, on the 29th! Fun times, fun times.  At least the dogs have been healthy. 

Christmas was good.  Lots of fun with the boys--Zach is finally starting to share with his brother more frequently, which is a good thing, and they are having more fun together.  The only way to get Zach to pose for the Christmas card picture was to allow him to wear a costume.  Here is fireman Zach and his trusty helper Andrew!  I am going to add more pics without comments...suffice it to say Zach changed to his construction costume for round 2 of Christmas card photos!