You know those days where you have a lot of business errands to run and you decide to treat yourself by stopping at a craft store? I had one of those days!
One of the other design team members (Justin) on the Paper Craft Crew recently set up shop locally. (I live on Long Island, so by locally I mean anywhere on Long Island. I live on the east end of the island and his shop is west about an hour away. Not to worry, for a Long Islander an hour drive is standard operating procedure. Anywhere else in the state and people would consider an hour drive to be in a land far, far away! Plus, it’s in the town next to Ikea. That’s right. More than enough reason to head west.)
It was quite a treat to shop in a store that is exclusively for scrapbooking, card making, and paper crafting. When you walk in, the left side is devoted to scrapbooking and the right side is for rubber stamping. The back of the store had several large tables for classes.
I was really impressed with the number of scrapbook page samples and card samples that they had on display. I found it very inspirational to see so many fabulous creations.
I had a little trouble finding the store since I’m not really familiar with West Babylon and that part of route 231, or was it 27A at that point? I definitely need to spend a morning this summer in Babylon shopping on that cute Main Street. Lots of shops and ohhh the possibilities!
If you live on Long Island and plan to visit (definitely do!), this is right next to the K-Mart store. Pull in to K-Mart and park all the way to the left. The shop is on the side of the building where Cancos Tile is located, so you don’t see the shop from the road. You have to drive around to the side of the building. It’s easier if you just park in the K-Mart lot.
This is really 2 stores in one! Scrap-A-Latte is the name of the store and the Stamp, Ink, Paper Store is located in a corner of that store. I grabbed a picture from the Facebook page of Justin’s store to show you the inside:
This is what you see when you go in on the stamping side! There are more pictures on Justin’s Facebook page which you can access here: CLICK HERE
This is great store organization…the die sets are next to the coordinating stamp sets as are the small stamp pads that coordinate with the set. Why don’t all stores do that? From this photo, you can see that Justin carries quite a nice selection of Hero Arts products. He also has Lawn Fawn, Altenew, Waffle Flower, and Concord & 9th just to name a few.
He’s got quite a variety of inks, die cuts, embossing folders…you name it. I love browsing through my Stampin’ Up! catalog and it’s exciting when my order arrives on my doorstep…10 days after I order it. I have to say that it was a treat to browse an entirely new set of goodies that I have not seen before and get them right away. Justin did say that if you are looking for something in particular that he doesn’t carry yet, he can order it.
I have to say that I was very happy to stop in the store and to see someone who is living their passion and their dream! Justin makes amazing cards. (Honestly, he’s never made an ugly card! I know this because I see his creations every week on the Paper Craft Crew site and I secretly hope that just once he’ll make a card that is not stunning. It hasn’t happened. ) He’s also very knowledgeable about his craft. He can give you all kinds of tips about how to use not only the products that he carries, but other products in the crafting industry.
The scrapbook side of the store was also amazing! The paper selection is huge and the sample pages were just gorgeous. This part of the business is owned and run by Renee. You can see her latest news and class list here: CLICK HERE
I grabbed this picture from Renee’s newsletter so you could see some of the pretty papers:
I really had to control myself on the scrapbook side. She had these gorgeous Blue Fern papers and quite a nice selection of chipboard pieces and lots of embellishments!
The shops offer a variety of classes and crops. They have guest instructors and experts come in for classes as well. I don’t know about you, but I love taking classes. You can never know everything and I always feel that if I pick up just one tip or technique, the class was worth it. Plus, you get to spend time with other crafters! I signed up for an Altenew class for one evening this week and I’m really looking forward to it!
My haul:
I actually stopped in because I was interested in the Altenew stamps and dies. A crafty colleague gave me a birthday card that she made with an Altenew set and it was just beautiful. You can see that I grabbed the butterfly set! I also couldn’t resist the sea horses from Hero Arts and the tree ring background stamp is a WOW! I’ve never seen anything like that before and I love it. You can see they have mixed media materials as well as stamping and scrapping stuff.
For me, it was a great treat. My warmest congratulations to Justin and Renee for their new adventure. It’s a wonderful thing when you can follow your dreams and share your passion and expertise with others!
Thank you for stopping by my blog today!!!
