Hey all,

I've just read a post on Scrapbook Obsession where "americanmom" talked a bit about Youngplay Memories. They have really huge store! It's 20,000 square feet! All packed with Scrapbooking, rubber stamping and jewelry making supplies. Can you believe that?! They have a few photos on their site on which you can see parts of their shop. It's soooooooo big and beautiful! This makes me wish I'd live int he States right now instead of in the Netherlands. Here we have no crafts shops so big.

It makes me wish for such a big place so that I could have my shop in there. Wouldn't that be nice? 20,000 square feet of crafts supplies, right here in the Netherlands? It would be incredible! So, when I win the lottery, I'll start looking for such a place and begin my shop in brick and morter. So, first win the lottery........... It won't help to ask the lottery to give me the correct ticket, would it? It's all about chances, right? Okay, I'll just wait and see.

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 10:45 AM in Category: scrapbooking , Scrapping Memories
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Hey all,

Finally the problems of the Scrapping Memories website seem to have been solved. I can now start filling the shop and earn some money! :) Of course, I have a lot of translations to do, so it's not something that's done in a short time. I think I'll have to work late tonight to make it all happen!

I also have a workshop tonight. For people want to make a flagbook. So, I'm going to have to prepare everything for them.... Cleaning the house, bringing things downstairs so that they can have a look at everything I have for sale and so much more! But I'm looking forward to it!

I'm also gonna try to arrange an open day / evening for Scrapping Memories. I hope to be able to introduce Scrapping Memories in a better way. And let's not forget to introduce scrapbooking for that matter :)

Last but not least I'm going to try to arrange a crop day where customers can do a workshop, crop and have fun. How about that? Since we're close to festivities (Sinterklaas and Christmas) it would be nice I could set it up and attract several new customers. That would be very fun!

Well.... I'm going to do the work that needs to be done. Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 2:02 PM in Category: Scrapping Memories , workshops
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Hey all,

It's been quite a busy week, last week. After a week of illness I started working again. It wasn't ideal, but I was done being sick, as was James. The first day I had to work through 150 e-mails. Can you imagine? It's incredible! And Tuesday and Wednesday I had workshops which filled my entire days. Finally I could get back to work Thursday. Of course, after being away for two days, there's not really much you can do, besides trying to pick where I had left everything Monday. I haven't been able to finish everything I wanted, but at least I have finished a few things. I hope the coming week will go a bit better!

Thursday, I've picked up the photos from Switzerland and the zoo. They're great! I can't wait to start with them! I've seen each and everyone of them and it's a very good result! James still has to see them. He has seen them on my computer, though. But that's no comparison to the "real life" photos.

Before I can start with my new stash of photos, I have to finish the first one. I have managed to make a few new pages in our Italy album. I didn't really have any inspiration to scrap our diner photos and the photos from our souvenir hunt. So these turned out to be really basic. Two of the other pages are based on a Becky Higgins sketch. I was looking in one of Becky's sketch books to find a sketch with 10 photos and more to see if I could use it for the photos I wanted to include in my new layout. I'm really glad with the result:

Behind the big tag on the left side, I've included journaling about our visit to Villa Carlotta. Behind the photo and behind the journaling on the right page I've included more photos. In total I've used 12 photos on this layout. Can you believe it!

Right now I only have the photos from Villa Melzi left over. I hope that I'm able to scrap them this week, so that I can start scrapping our Switzerland album next weekend.

In the mean time I'm also busy with the Scrapping Memories site. I thought I was out of all the problems, but it seems, I'm not there yet. I've deleted the entire shop (OS Commerce), which was a basic installation from the control panel. Right now I'm in the middle of manually uploading all the necessary files and giving them all the correct permissions. Once that's done, I can install the shop once more. I hope it will work this time. Otherwise I'll be really frustrated! Right now I'm even thinking about giving up the shop, instead of thinking about starting the shop in a "brick-and-morter" building. Can you believe that?!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 7:31 PM in Category: Italy , scrap , scrapbooking , Scrapping Memories , Switzerland
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Hey all,

I'm preparing everything for the Knotsgekke Kaarten Dagen. I have made an order with The Box BV for several very nice tin cans. I'm gonna do some workshops with tin cans and I already have two examples ready and I want to make a few more. I hope I'll have everything in time. There are some lovely tins for babies and for a birthday or something like that, so it would be very handy if it all comes in time.I'm gonna do a workshop with a mini flagbook too.

I'm also working on some free make & takes. Any suggestions? So far I already have:
* Tags
* little mini album (to put in some little photos and journaling to include in a layout)
* Envelopes
* Paper Piecings

I'll think about it some more today.....

Talk to you later.

Babbled by Ilse at 11:08 AM
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Hey all,

Well, I have been working on restoring the backups of the Scrapping Memories site. So far I don't have much luck. The database back up seems to be okay, but the backup from all the shop pages seems to be corrupt. So, I can start all over again! I have to rebuild the entire shop site from the beginning instead of just restoring the site. This really sucks! This is gonna take a hell of a time and I'm not enjoying it! I have a long weekend work in sight and that's not what I had planned. In two weeks time I have another event (de Knotsgekke Kaarten Dagen) I have to attend with the shop and I need to prepare several things. I don't have time for this "bullshit". This is gonna be several long nights.........

I've also checked for another system for the general part of my site. I was considering Movabletype for the Scrapping Memories site too, but with $149,95 for one user it's a bit very much. I'm not sure yet if I'll do that. I'll think about it.

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:06 AM
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Hey all,

This one is in Dutch too!

Ik ben wat aan het bellen en rondkijken geweest. Helaas kon het Hoofd Bedrijfsschap Detailhandel (HBD) mij absoluut niet verder helpen. Dat schoot dus niet op! Zij hebben geen informatie van omzetgegevens in de Hobbybranche. Ook Kamer van Koophandel kon mij niets bieden. Tja, en wat dan. Dan maar een rondje langs scrapbookwinkels. Uiteraar dniet hier in de buurt, want dat schiet niet zo op. Ik heb nu iemand (Dorenda) gevonden in Ede (Scrappen Doe je zo). Zij is met hetzelfde bezig geweest en is wel bereid mij te helpen. Zij heeft inmiddels een volledig bussinessplan en heeft bij de bank alles geregeld gekregen. We hebben afgesproken dat we tijdens de Knotsgekke Kaarten dagen even onze agenda's bij elkaar leggen om een afspraak te maken. Zij wil best haar gegevens met mij delen. Dat stel ik zeer op prijs! En dan kan vandaar uit verder!

Ik hoop dat dit inderdaad is wat ik nodig heb. Het zou mij op dit moment namelijk wel verrekte goed uitkomen! Als ik èn de winkel kan draaien èn bij de gemeente kan werken voor mijn vaste inkomsten, dan zou dat natuurlijk heel mooi zijn. Ik ben heel benieuwd!

Tot later!

Babbled by Ilse at 4:16 PM
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Hey all,

It's all in dutch this time......

Een van mijn wensen voor de winkel was om met de winkel zo ver te komen dat ik in elk geval minder bij de gemeente zou hoeven te werken en misschien uiteindelijk zelfs helemaal niet meer bij de gemeente. Dit blijft een van mijn wensen. Nu staat er bij ons in het dorp al een hele tijd een pand in het winkelcentrum leeg. Ik denk er nu over om dit pand te huren en dan 's middags de winkel open te hebben en 's ochtends nog bij de gemeente te werken. Dit klinkt allemaal veel simpeler dan het daadwerkelijk is uiteraard. Ik moet nog uit zien te vinden hoeveel omzet ik per jaar zou kunnen draaien. Ik denk dat het goed is om te weten hoeveel omzet andere, soortgelijke, winkels hebben. Maar ja, waar vind je dat uit? Ik weet het zo niet, dus ik ga vanmiddag eens proberen uit te vinden, waar ik dat soort informatie naar boven kan halen.
De verwachting van de omzet is eigenlijk de basis voor de keuze om in een pand te gaan zitten. Ik moet wel een fatsoenlijke omzet kunnen verwachten, waarmee ik op een gegeven moment ook minimaal kostendekkend kan draaien en ik bij voorkeur toch ook nog een aardige som geld over houd.

Tja, en dan ben je er nog niet. Het is niet zo dat ik zo het geld uit mijn achterzak kan trekken. Dat betekent dus dat ik een bedrijfskrediet zou moeten zien af te sluiten. Of op een andere manier een investeerder moet zien te vinden (iemand toevallig geïnteresseerd in het investeren in een scrapbookwinkel?). Met het huren van een pand ben ik er nog niet. Ik zal ook de diverse verzekeringen moeten afsluiten (diefstal, brand, opstal en dergelijke). En aangezien ik ook nog workshops wil geven, zal ik ook iemand in moeten huren / in dienst moeten nemen om ervoor te zorgen dat er altijd iemand in de winkel staat. Tja, en dan nog de beurzen. Hoe los ik dat op? Als ik ook geregeld met een stand op beurzen wil staan, doe ik dan de winkel op dat moment dicht, of huur ik dan voor dat moment meer mensen in? Allemaal keuzes die ik dan zal moeten maken.

Eerst maar eens zien te achterhalen waar ik omzet informatie vandaan kan halen. Ik neem aan dat ik dit soort gegevens wel bij KvK of bij Hoofd Bedrijfschap Detailhandel kan krijgen, maar dat weet ik niet zeker. Anders maar wat winkels nabellen? Ook maar even bij de accountant informeren. Misschien dat hij ook nog ingangen heeft.

Ik weet in elk geval via pappa al wel dat het gemiddeld zo'n vijf jaar duurt voor een bedrijf kostendekkend draait, dus ik ga er ook van uit dat ik minimaal voor de eerste vijf jaar dekking moet hebben.

Verder ga ik er vanuit dat ik voorlopig ook nog even parttime blijf werken bij de gemeente. Mijn idee nu is dat ik 's ochtends werk bij de gemeente en 's middags de winkel open heb. Ik werk dan gewoon iedere dag (in plaats van nu maar 4 dagen) bij de gemeente, dus ook de vrijdagochtend. Op vrijdagavond is de winkel dan ook geopend (koopavond in Rijen) en op zaterdag is de winkel open. Dat betekent dat ik ten opzichte van andere winkels met volledige openingstijden, zo'n 12:00 uur "tekort" kom. Privé heb ik daardoor dan echter wel een vaste inkomstenbron die helpt om de vaste privé kosten te kunnen betalen. Het zou er namelijk op neer komen dat ik dan 20 uur voor de gemeente zou werken. Dan zou ik via de gemeente bijvoorbeeld ook verzekerd kunnen zijn voor mijn ziektekosten, waardoor ik dit niet via de winkel hoef te doen. Dat scheelt toch ook al weer……

Ik weet het allemaal nog niet. Het is in elk geval een hoop uitzoekwerk zie ik al.

Tot later!

Babbled by Ilse at 10:40 AM
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Hey all,

The host of the Scrapping Memories site told me today there are no server backups! So they screwed up and now we all have to fix the problems ourselves! Lucky for me I have a few backups. Granted, they are more then a month old, but at least I have both the MySQL database (the one for PHP Nuke AND the one for OS Commerce) and I have all the files in back up. Lucky for me I build AND maintain everything on the site.

Althoug I do have the backups, I still have a hell of a job to do. I have to restore thousands of files and I have to check if the databases will properly work. And all of this needs to be done beofre August 11, since I'll have a scrapbookevent by then. This is really annoying! Thismeans I'm going to have several (almost) sleepless nights. I'll do it in the weekends, otherwise it's gonna take way too much from me and I don't want that to happen........

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 9:52 PM
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Hey all,

Due to a migration from accounts from one server to another server, my hostingcompany (for Scrapping Memories) and it's partner screwed things up big time. DNS Servers we're not working, accounts we're lost (including the account of Scrapping Memories), mails we're lost and response time to help tickets was really bad. Due to all these problems the site of Scrapping Memories is now temporarily offline. Now I have to restore everything! Luckily I do have some older backups, so I could work with those. I hope, though, that RCT host can restore all the accounts. That way I wouldn't have to use older backups!

Anyway, until then there's little I can do......

Talk to you later.

Babbled by Ilse at 7:51 AM
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Hey all,

Well, there's an end coming into view. Little by little our bathroom gets finished. The toilet hangs, the shower was already finished, the bath is now finished too (including the kit) and our sink hangs. All that's left to do now is the real finishing touch. A few things need to be hanged and of course we need to clean everything. When you're doing such a thing you really need to clean everything afterwards. I think I'll start the cleaning job coming friday. I'll start in the attic and work my way downstairs. Thank god the living room is more or less decent now. Afterfour weeks it has been enough with everything just lying around everywhere. I think, or should I say hope, that it's just a few more days until it's finally completely done.

It's a complete other story for the site of Scrapping Memories. Since I have a new logo I want a new design for the layout too. Before I can work on that, however, I have to completely update the core component of the site due to security issues of PHP Nuke. I'm currently in the middle of downloading everything I had on my site. I have already made all the neccessary changes to the offline files. All that's left to do is check to see if it's working correctly. Once it does, I can finally start to work on my new layout for the general part of the site. When that's finished I can start working on the layout for the shop part on the site. And once that's done, I can upload all the products again. That would be wonderful! Then I can finally continue earning some money with the shop again! I'm really looking forward to that.

Well, this is it for now. Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 7:58 PM
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Hey all,

Although we went to bed late last night, we were up early this morning. Today I had to give a workshop for someone who came especially from Helmond here in Rijen to do the workshop Mini album in a can. I don't mind giving a workshop for just one person. That way I can really give al my attention to that one person. I prefer small groups instead of the big ones, just so that I can give each attendee enough attention.

Anyway, the basic preperations were done, but I needed to bring all the shopping products downstairs and we needed to clean up the leaving room, before I could give this workshop. Since the attendee was going to be here around 10 AM, I didn't have that much time. James went shopping for groceries and I finished up everything in the house. I was just about ready when the attendee was here.

James continued with the bathroom (these things have to go on also) while I gave the workshop. Truus (the attendee) was enthousiastic. She told me she had had a course for beginners in scrapbooking and that she had made a few 12" layouts, but she wanted to make mini albums too. That's why she wanted to do this workshop. I have to agree with her on the fact that mini albums are a lot of fun to do. I have made several mini albums (which, as soon as the gallery is finished, will be shown here in my gallery too) and I have made several "big" layouts. I like to do both of them. Also, I want to design several mini albums myself. Really original albums that noone's made before. Maybe I'll even sell packages of these albums in Scrapping Memories. That would be fun, wouldn't it?
I'm glad Truus enjoyed the workshop. After all, she had to travel about 2 - 3 hours from Helmond, so it'd better be worth it, don't you think so?

Anyway, back to the subject. It is doable to be rebuilding the bathroom and to give workshops, but only when you're "finishing up". On one hand I'm not happy with the fact that I had to put everything on a hold for rebuilding the bathroom. On the other hand I am VERY happy. We'll finally have a bathroom that fits our needs with a style that is really ours. There was nothing else to do then set aside the scrapping and Scrapping Memories. It wouldn't have been fair to James and this gave me an opportunity to work with him on something that's going be ours!
I just hope the next rebuilding we're gonna do is far away in the future. Or that I have a shop in "brick and mortar" so that the shop can continue.
The Happy side is still winning, though the bathroom isn't finished yet.........

Well, talk you later again. Have Fun!

Babbled by Ilse at 4:59 PM
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Hey all,

I had planned to work on the site of Scrapping Memories all day yesterday. Early on in the morning I discovered the MySQL server was down. And well, since I'm in the Netherlands and the hosting company is in the States, it took some time before they discovered something was wrong. Yesterday evening I still couldn't work on it, so that was bummer. I wanted to upload new products and I wanted to add some nifty modules so that everything would work better. It turns out, this is something I'll have to do tomorrow. With a little trick I managed to get everything back to work again, but I just hope it keeps on working!

In the meantime I have been busy designing a new layout for the site of Scrapping Memories. I have a new logo now, so it's time I have a new site layout as well, shouldn't I? You can see the logo here.

Well, this is it for now. As soon as I have the basics of the layout finished, I'll show it here!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:57 PM
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Hey all,

It's been quite a while since I wrote here. I have been working hard with the reorganisation going on at my job. We have had quite some time which was hard. But that's all passed us now. For now, it's all peace and quiet. Hopefully it will last a few weeks, before we have more work than we can handle again.

I have also been working very hard for Scrapping Memories. I have had a creativity weekend in Eindhoven two weeks ago. I was supposed to give. The organisation told me I could give workshops every hour and I could have ten people per hour. Well, on a day from 10:00 h to 17:00 h. this means I could get seventy people, right? Wrong! Visitors didn't come there to do workshops. They came there to buy things (well, duh, that's a surprise, isn't it?). I was there with two other ladies who were also giving scrapbookworkshops and in total we have had 5 people in three days who followed a workshop. Impressive, isn't it? The weekend started Friday and at the end of that day we decided we were going tob ring things to sell for Saturday and Sunday. That way, maybe, we could make a bit of profit. And so we did. Luckily we decided to do that!
In the end this weekend took me quite some time in preperation, and didn't really give me alot in return, but that's okay…… Maybe next time it's better.
I have also been working very hard on the site. I have added hundreds of new products and I have been thinking about new products I can produce and distribute myself: Flagbooks. Well, I can't really "produce" them, but I can order everything I need and make the packages myself. I'll have this packages with me on the next weekend where I'll be with the shop: The National scrapbookweekend in the Netherlands. I have also been ordering several more products from producers in the USA, like Buttons Galore & More and Boxer Scrapbook. I hope I have made the right choice for this next event!

Well, that's about it for now. Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:05 AM
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Hey all,

I have decided to have a stand on a scraphappening with Scrapping Memories. I will be there from March 24 up to March 26th. I have to shop so that I'll have enough things to sell there. That's the only problem left. How much do I have to buy and above all....What do I have to buy? I think I'll concentrate on the Embellishments and Mini Albums, seen the fact that I decided to specialise the shop in those two directions. And I think I'll just take some solid coloured cardstock with me. I'll just think about it. :)

Also, I recieved a newsletter from Sirius Hobby this weekend and they have a wonderful new bindingsystem, which is also perfect for minialbums. I think I'll have that in my assortment too. I think it's a very good product idea!

Talk to you later!

Regards,
Ilse

Babbled by Ilse at 12:56 PM
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