New Ventures

This fall I started a couple of new ventures at our local A. C. Moore craft store. The first one is doing demonstrations on the "Cricut Expression" and the second one is giving classes. These have been great fun and I wanted to these ventures on my blog.

The demonstrations started as a one time favor for one of the employee and turned in to a two time deal, with possibly more in the near future. I had my "Cricut Expression" for a while but had rarely used. Part of the problem was that I'd gotten mine prior to "ProvoCraft" providing an "how to" video in the package. What I knew I had learned from watching a couple of infomercials and the promotion on QVC. When I was asked to help out with the first demonstration I reviewed everything I knew and re-read the owner's manual. The first demonstration went well, but I was asked many questions I could not answer. I didn't feel bad not being a representative of the "Cricut" products and not having been trained on them, but still I knew I could personally do better. So I buckled up and went on line to get myself ready for the second one. Needles to say I learned a lot and am now using my "Cricut Expression" a little more often.

The classes started almost as a dare. I did one class just for the employees on card making and scrapbooking materials and their basic use to introduce many of them to the products the store carried and they sold! I was very surprised at how little people actually knew about the most basic information and so I decided to do a four part series on the basics of paper crafting open to the public. The first class I covered the basics and we actually walked around the store while I talked about the various types of papers, adhesives, tools etc. The second class was a run through of the various die-cut systems, from hand punches to "Sizzix" and "Cuttle Bug" to the "Cricut Expression". The third class was an introduction to card making, while the fourth class was an introduction to scrapbooking. These were loads of fun and I was amazed at how passionate I could be about these various aspects of papercrafting. I have now decided to do a second more advanced series of three classes.

The best part is that I learn so much and get so many ideas that it's an education for me as well. I will post my class schedule on the side of my blog. Hopefully I will see some of you there.