Friday, January 15, 2010

Hi everyone!

It’s been over a month since I last wrote…. A lot is going on (as usual).

Our move went fairly well. We still have a few odds and ends to bring over, and of course not everything has a good solid home yet, but we’re making progress.

I’ll try to shoot another video for the blog this weekend.

Several mishaps since we moved: the cost of putting in the 2nd floor in the new warehouse was almost double what the “estimate” from the contractor. And of course they want paid “now”. (money doesn’t grow on trees yet…. )

We’ve been plagued by a series of employee illness… and today is my turn. If I could stay home, I would, LOL!

I’ll spare you all the details…. But so far, we’ve had to struggle. Things will get better.

So of course, now we’re behind on orders AGAIN!!! I hate that we can’t be super fast…. I want to be super fast again!!!

CHA is just around the corner. Trying to save money (due to this major cost overrun), so we’re driving this year. We’re leaving on January 22nd in the afternoon, so we can make it over the pass before dark. For those of you not familiar with the area, the “pass” is the Siskiyou mountains. The I-5 freeway, which runs all the way down the western part of the US from Washington to California, has 1 MAJOR mountain pass: The Siskyou pass. It’s about ½ hour south of here and they close it OFTEN at night when they have snow storms. You see, the pass is ½ way between Oregon and California… so the road crews that clear it are ½ California crews and ½ Oregon crews. I’m sure you can figure out that 2 government agencies working together can be a nighmare…. A lot of time, the Oregon side will be clear, but the California side is not, so they close the whole dang freeway. We’re talking THOUSANDS of commercial trucks lining the side of the freeway for miles upon miles when this happens.

On a better note, CHA is bound to bring us many wonderful new products! I’ve already got a few things posted on the “sneakpeek” page on my site…. And will be adding more in the next few days.

Speaking of peeks, take a look at http://www.cosmocricket.typepad.com/ to see Cosmo Cricket’s 3 new lines. If you leave a comment nominating Frantic Stamper as your favorite store, we can win a full collection (which would really help financially right now) + YOU can win too!!!

I’ve seen the new Basic Grey lines, but I’ve been sworn to the utmost secrecy. We can’t reveal ANYTHING, other than “it’s gorgeous”. Sorry to tease….

Tim Holtz has tons of new products in the works including 12 new distress inks (we are taking pre-orders) + dies from Sizzix due out in March as well as a MOTORIZED die cut machine with Tim’s name on it! I’m sure the Idea-ology line from Advantus will also have new products. We love Tim!!

Well, I must get back to work. Lots of orders to get out the door before we leave.

Hugs,

Fran

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