Tomorrow morning starts Recycled Rubber . . . the first Saturday of the month has arrived already! Loads and loads of new stuff, just waiting for you to discover new treasures to add to your stash at home. The doors open at 10:00 a.m.!

While you're at Art 'n Soul, be sure to check out the new stamps that came in from Impression Obsession. Oh boy! And if we've sold out on some of the images, IO is still 'open catalog'! I almost had to apply for a 4th mortgage to pay for my order!

Pop on over to Dianne's blog (Backporch) to see a sneak peek of the Magenta new release that's just about ready. We're so anxious to see all that will be new so we'll be able to order them.

by Valerie Dumais, Magenta

Click on this link:  http://backporchatolympia.blogspot.com/

I found a shop while here in Boca Raton thanks to the recommendation of John Petersen through the Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Rep in Florida, Pat Johnson who I met in Las Vegas at the CHA Summer show last year. I did my homework; I bing'd it to search for information and directions. Tom said, "don't drive too far." Piece of cake; I told him it was about 15 minutes from here.

Following the GPS on my iPhone, everything went great until I hit the Florida Turnpike. I didn't get into the correct lane according to the cashier at the toll plaza. I wanted to go northbound and I was in the southbound direction. I had to pay the toll, go down 2 exits and make a u-turn to drive northbound. At that exit, I had to pay another toll to leave the turnpike, make a u-turn, and then pay another toll to get back onto the turnpike. I drive along, and there is another toll plaza but the GPS said to 'stay left'. I stayed left, bypassing the toll plaza. When I exited, I had to go through the toll line AGAIN. Because I didn't have a piece of paper from the bypassed toll plaza, I had to pay that toll plus this toll. I said I was out of cash and only had 39-cents to my name; of course, they don't take credit cards. So she wrote some info on a business card-sized paper for the toll charge I owed and said to mail in the money. Off I go!

After I finished at the store, there was a bank in the same parking lot. I went to the cash machine and withdrew a small amount. When I entered the on-ramp to the Turnpike again, I had to push a button to retrieve a voucher. Part way down the road, I had to stop off at the toll plaza to show the voucher and pay the toll.  But this time I had cash! I also asked if I could pay the earlier IOU; nope, you have to mail it in. I will say that at 4:45 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, the traffic on the Turnpike was smooth sailing.

Back to the store . . . I met the owner, Michelle, and one of her employees, Nancy. After some shopping, I introduced myself when I was paying because there were several mutual friends, acquaintances, etc. Nathalie Metivier, Helene's sister, has taught there several times and is good friends with Michelle. And of course they knew John and another 'team member' Nancy Hawes who has become a very dear friend. Even though the store is much larger than Art 'n Soul and they started out as a scrapbooking store, they reminded me so much of us . . . personal customer service, lots of different types of classes and techniques, a blog but no website for online ordering, etc.

l-r:  Nancy, me and Michelle
Everything Scrapbook

Everything Scrapbook purchases . . .
I figured I could use these stencils to zentangle in and
on the trip home, they won't take up a lot of room in the suitcase!

If you're ever in the Palm Beach/Lake Worth/Boca Raton area north of Miami, do stop into Everything Scrapbooking off of State Road 7 and Lake Worth Blvd. They're wonderful ladies!

At the hotel, they have a bar that uses wine bottles as part of their lighting decor.

these are all wine bottles that have been
stacked; recessed lighting along the other end of
the bottles makes them glow. many alcoves are
'framed' with these bottles and lighting.

This wine label is so cool; it's 3-D. I hope you can see
the raised lettering; even the square image is 3-D.

And these are the flowers in a huge vase that you see upon entering the resort lobby. I thought they were artificial; upon close inspection, they're the real thing! I would have taken a photo of the arrangement in its entirety but I was hurried along to the dinner. Perhaps I'll be able to take one before we leave!

Good night. I hope to see you back here either tomorrow night or on Sunday morning.

Enjoy the deals at Recycled Rubber in the morning!