Creative Escape Chapter 2

The Shopping Spree



So bright and early Tuesday morning we all gathered in the lobby to go on the Lux shopping tour. We were to go to ten (yes 10) of the local area stores that were related to scrapping or papercrafting in some manner. The goal was to meet at 8 and return at 8:30 that night......snicker snicker well we did meet at 8 as you can see by the photo, but we did not get back until almost 10:30.

This is all of us except for four ladies that caught up with us at Melrose Vintage because their plane didn't get them here as early as they might have liked. It was funny because as all good scrapper we had a line up of cameras and so a bellman, and a non-shopping scrapper went through the line up twice and took pictures on each camera. I am sure it was not the last for that fella during the week.

Krista was the organizer and she did a fabulous job. From having coolers filled with water and softdrinks to bags of wonderful snacky goodness. Lunch was great and supper was tasty. She had us all covered and that in and of itself was the sort of thing that makes spending $85 for the tour worth it


So off we go into the wild warm (okay dang hot) blue yonder and after about a 30 minute drive we arrive at the very delightful store called Melrose Vintage. As you will see from the following photos that it is filled with Incredible Vintage Goodness for the home, office, and what you don't see is the scrappy stuff. While there is a little bit of something for every scrapper I have to tell you that if you like the look of Anna Griffin, Seven Gypsies, Prima etc. Your gonna love this little store. I did manage to empty my hands long enough to take a photo of what I thought was the coolest "ribbon" I didn't buy any because it was $10/yd. However, I am thinking that I can maybe make my own version..............

Now this has nothing to do with the scrappy fun of the store but outside was a wonderfully and beautifully bright tree with rich pink flowers. I loved taking the photos and was about to reach my hand into them to hold a flower closer, when I was stopped by Bill the bus driver. Who then warned me of the long inch to two inch thorns that were hidden within. Looks like the photography gods were on my side.






(This photo is from Leslie who was on our tour, probably the only photo that I appear in sort of LOL)





Next was the fabulous Mystic Paper - oh be still my beating pocket book.


This store is a bit deceiving when you first walk up........In no way does it elude to the wealth of scrappy and vintage goodness inside its doors. Nor does it prepare you for the wonderful and giving nature of the owners.




I walked in not expecting very much but my breath was taken away the moment I walked in the door and met with a display of vintage maps, drawings. The display cases are filled with the scrap talents of the store instructors and designers. It blew me away that they allowed us to photograph in detail the mini albums - and of course very thankful.


It was here that I first encountered the three new lines from Graphic 45 and I amongst others stood by snitching papers as they tried to put them on the rack. Not sure if much made it to the rack when we were done. We were also besieged with a plethora of ephemeria to make our mouths salivate. I am telling you this is a vintage, chabby chic designers heaven on earth. What I know for sure is that the next time I visit that place it will be with a large UPS box and fully charged credit card.

Featured below was the famed Rufflers Roost this was the one store that was mentioned to me as a must visit place for the avid Ribbon Collector (another name was used but....that is not suitable for a PG rated Blog.) I was told it was a ribbon lovers mecca and yes indeed there were many tasty ribbons availble. I was a bit disappointed because the few ribbons that had me drooling were well above what I was willing to pay. The rest were run of the mill and there weren't any that consituted a bargain compared to Canadian prices.














There were a few more stores but I must admit that while they were all nice and they all had there niche or they tended to cater to the non-vintage scrapper so that made a lot of my fellow shoppers happy and that is what this whole tour was about letting us see and feel the scrapping community in the Phoenix area.
The last store of the evening for me was Stamp Works, this is an absolutely fabulous little store that is filled with loads of stamping goodness. This is another store that I am returning to with a fully charged card and a big box............... Aside from incredible stamps, an amazing selection of accessories they have the one thing I was hoping to get.........Copic Markers. They had their Copic Marker certified instructor their and the things she should me...... ok us but I honestly feel that she was put there to show me what I was missing. So I may not have bought the most - come on cut me some slack.......9 stores before this and still two more stores for Wednesday - but I probably came out as one the ones the most passionate about them and the desire to play and incorporate them into my scrappy world. So I bought a parakeet green color and a more vintage green (darker) and the blender pen This blender pen is what sold me. I will acquire a few more and then do a write up on the virtues of Copic Markers.




So its been a really long day......we straggled into the hotel around 10:30 a couple of hours later than we expected to be but all still smiling and laughing even if it was not as energetic as we were at 8 in the morning. Krista should I be lucky and priviliaged enough to be able to attend next year I will be making sure that I am amongst the first to sign up for your full day tour. Your attention to detail, willingness to admit there were a couple of flaws that threw things off and that you would take those into consideration for next year won me over!

Well I will close this posting and get to work on Wednesday and maybe even Thursday of this fabulous trip.