New Store and Candy

Welcome to Live & Love Crafts' Inspiration and Challenge Blog

I’m so glad you found your way over here. I’m Sandra; some of you might know me as Sandy from Sandy’s Stamping Scene. After several months of planning and preparations, I’m now almost ready to now go live with my online store, Live & Love Crafts.

The name pinpoints exactly how I and many of you feel about this wonderful hobby; we’re making cards and gifts we can give away to brighten someone’s day and scrapbooking pages to treasure our dearest memories. It’s something we love doing, but it’s more than that; it’s a lifestyle. Just think about it for a moment; how many blogs have you visited before you ended up here? How many hours a week do you spend in front of your computer, visiting friends and other crafters in blog land? How many friends have you made through this hobby?

…and to continue along those lines; how much time do you spend online checking out what the craft stores have on offer and what new stamps, papers, dies etc. have just been released? Furthermore; how many of you take the opportunity when away on holiday with family and friends, to sneak in to the local craft store if only just for a brief moment to treat yourself to some goodies?

Me personally being a Swede living in the UK, never miss out on the chance when visiting friends and family back home, to also visit any craft store I come near. That’s how I a couple of years ago discovered the beautiful scrapbooking papers from Maja Design; brought a whole bunch with me and almost had to pay overweight on the flight back to the UK… :-)

I believe we’re all familiar with Magnolia; the creators of the sweet and so popular Tilda and Edwin stamps. Magnolia, as you probably all know, is a Swedish company just like Maja Design… and then we have Pion Design and Bildmalarna and Reprint and Papercraft Scandinavia.
 

I have no idea why it is that so many nice craft products come from Sweden (and for the record; I’m not getting paid by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for stating this… :-)), but I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be stocking products from all of the vendors mentioned above!!!

It doesn’t stop there though. It’s only a coincidence that these companies happen to be Swedish. I’ll also, as the only store in the UK, stock the wonderful vintage scrapbooking papers from the Danish company Riddersholm Design.

I haven’t limited myself to only Scandinavian suppliers though, but will also carry products from Maya Road, Melissa Frances and Ranger Ink.

I believe you’re starting to see where we’re going with this…Live & Love Crafts is not like any other crafts store; we’re SPECIALIZING IN VINTAGE AND SHABBY CHIC CRAFT MATERIALS. My goal is to under one roof bring together the best vintage products and brands from all around the world.

Does all this sound like a dream that you’d very much like to be part of? Well, it doesn’t have to be. I have started recruiting for a Design Team and I’m extremely blessed to have three tremendously talented ladies, all as passionate about the vintage crafting style as I am, joining me on the Live & Love Crafts’ Design Team. These amazing ladies who I know will do a marvellous job of inspiring us all are:
Elizabeth (Norway)
Karita (Finland)
Tina (Germany)

Please go and check out their blogs; you’ll walk away inspired…

I’m still on the lookout for two more members and will post a Design Team Call on this blog in a day or two.

Thanks for bearing with me. Now over to the good stuff; the reason you hopped over here in the first place. :-)

In order to celebrate the Opening of Live & Love Crafts, we’re doing a Grand Candy and this is what the lucky winner will receive:

(I’ll ship worldwide):

3 sheets from Pion Design’s newest collection “Grandma’s School Book”
3 sheets from Maja Design’s newest collection “Vintage Summer Basics”
3 sheets from Riddersholm Design’s newest collection “Huntington Garden”
2 different trims from Maya Road
1 Cameo Broach from Melissa Frances
1 Pack of Chandelier Drops from Melissa Frances
Flowers and Pins from Papercraft Scandinavia
1 Bottle of Liquid Pearls “Baby Blue” from Ranger
  5 Metal Charms from Bildmalarna/Reprint
1 Pack of Kitchen Cloth

Together these goodies are worth more than £30!!!

The Candy will be open until Sunday, July 8th, 8 PM (UK Time).
The random winner will be drawn on Monday, July 9th.

For your chance of winning, please do the following:
1) Become a follower of this blog
2) Post a picture of the blog candy in your blog sidebar and link back to this post.
3) Enter your details in Inklinz below.

That’s it; easy peasy!

Finally over to the question you’re all dying to find an answer to; when does Live & Love Crafts open? Though I don’t have a definitive date at this very moment, I can tell you that much that it’ll be very soon…we’re only a few days away from launch. :-) :-) :-)

Please make sure you sign up as a follower of this blog; I’ll keep you posted on the launch date and will also in the coming days post sneak previews of what the store will have on offer. Furthermore; we’ll do a monthly challenge - details to follow…

One last thing; I hope you like the blog header and background, but don’t get used to it… It has been designed by Linnea of Vintage Made For You. Yes; she happens to be Swedish as well. :-) Some of you might even be using Linnea's fantastic backgrounds for your own blogs. Linnea has created a customized background and header for the Live & Love Crafts’ storefront and once the store is live, the look of this blog will take on the same appearance.

That’s it for me for this time. Until next time,

Hugz,
Sandy

P.S. Sorry about the long post; I'll be briefer next time. :-)