Overdue Blog Update!!

It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over. With taking on our first season of running the Clubhouse it has been a hectic summer to say the least. We loved the opportunity to try new thing’s and without my fantastic staff we never would have pulled it off (at both places). I wanted something fun to showcase our favorite fresh recipes and a tester to expand GSIB. It has been a great experience, and we still have almost 2 months left before we close for the season. So… of course we aren’t through with planning events for the remainder of the season - and even though it seems ages away, we are madly gearing up for Fall & Christmas. Many people often ask, how do I manage with 3 little kids, a jam packed business, and life. It’s a lot of juggling (great grandparents and friends) but the store is a dream. It was designed to provide a balance with things that I love and it is home to us. Friends can usually hunt me down there. Being an escape isn’t just for me - our friends like to meet up there too. If you haven’t noticed I love all things that are creative and soul uplifting. The events I organize and the products we sell, are all items either I love (I use at home or gift giving) or have inspired me in some form and fashion. From locally made products (we have over 20 local suppliers) to Canadian made, environmentally friendly to pure and healthy to food for the soul. With a business as diverse as our selection, and my love of all good things (music, wine, food, scrapbooking, flowers, books, art, travel, bath stuff… the list is miles long) we will continue to grow the business in avenues that “Speak to our Inner Soul”. My goal is that everyone lives their “Dream Life” everyday and cherishes every moment. So watch our newsletter and mark your calendars. You do not want to miss out on any of our events. Take some time for yourself, a date with your spouse or gathering of friends, and stop saying …

“We have to set a date sometime”… and turn it into an actual date!

Some of our events only happen once… so life is too short to catch it the next time… it might not happen again. - Kel

PJ Princess Weekend Crop

Wow... it has been ages since my last blog post!! I really need to start updating more!! Now with Spring finally showing it's face and GSIB taking on the challenge and exciting opportunity to run the Rossman Lake Clubhouse this year I should definitely have more exciting comments to post more regularly! We have soooo many ideas to implement this summer - so this will be the place to watch!

This past week was a crazy week or musical chairs at the store! Wednesday we hosted our final Home Routes concert and fit 47 people into the event area!! Then .... set up tables on Thursday for our weekend crop to begin! So, we just wrapped up our annual PJ Princess Crop this past weekend at the store! We had an awesome time! I can't believe even I was able to start and finish 17 layouts!! The overall goal of the weekend retreats is now to make sure everyone gets plenty of goodies (over $100 to each person was in the deluxe goodie bag), eat tons of delicious food and non-stop scrapbooking to get lots done over a weekend. For some - this weekend is their only chance to scrapbook so I am so pleased when I hear how many layouts were completed and they can't wait for the next weekend crop and all of my goals are met!

My suppliers graciously donated lots of great items that became prizes for the Bingo, Most Pages Completed Award and Te Hide & Seek Hunt! Over 19 products (Stickers to cardstock packs) were hidden in the store for people to find. If you found it - you got to keep it!!

Patti won the draw to attend the next GSIB Weekend Crop Retreat (over $150 value). Thank you to all who attended and continue to provide feedback and ideas to making each weekend crop even better and more productive then the last! It's amazing how we seem to be improving at adding more tables and creating more space for people scrapbook and still plenty of room to move around!! The store is the perfect place proving way less interruptions to work flow and still maintaining a relaxing environment for all to have fun!

Plus wearing your PJ's and slippers all weekend is always a great bonus!

Watch for a summer scrapbooking event and our annual October Crop for the Cure registration forms to be posted on www.gonescrappin.ca !

New Look For Website

Well last night we launched a new look for http://www.gonescrappin.ca/

Thank you so much to my close friend Kendra Sitko (KITKO Photography & Dezine) who has spent countless hours designing and maintaining my website since we first began it! All your hard work was amazing and much appreciated!

After much thought and brainstorming we decided it was time for a change and that we wanted to add some new interactive features.

So check out http://www.gonescrappin.ca/ which now showcases music, event calendar at a glance, gallery slideshows, video tutorials and so much more! I would love to know your thoughts!

I will be continuing to update with new photos and videos - if you have any photos you want to share - please email me or upload to our facebook page!

Again thank you so much Kendra and thank you for your continued help with the new site!

PS:

We are now accepting registrations for Crop for a Cure - Scrap Pink & there are still a few tickets left for our Home Routes Concerts - either season tickets or advanced tickets for our 1st concert Oct. 7th!!

WEYA Awards Gala Highlights - May 20th at the Fairmont in Winnipeg!

To sum up the night with a quote from a favorite book "Brilliance - Uncommon Voices for Uncommon Women" (at my store LOL) states: Brilliance may be difficult to describe, but we all know it when we see it. It's a bright idea. a daring decision, an ingenious insight, a soaring aspiration or a wise compassionate action. This quote describes this fabulous evening to a tee by celebrating all of the very talented and brilliant women that night!

Brett & I had a blast! The night began with a VIP cocktail room for finalists and sponsors. All 23 finalists were just buzzing with excitement! I was so nervous to say the least!

We were then directed to enter onto the red carpet as we were individually announced, pause for the camera flashes... and presented a beautiful statue with our name engraved! Dinner was delicious and we had great speakers from government officials to other businesses to congratulate us all on such an achievement! The gala, MC'd by Maralee Caruso, CTV News Anchor, was well attended, with more than 450 people.They then played video bio clip on each finalist right before their respective categories and then the winners announced with an official envelope opening! It was like being at the Oscars.

My name wasn’t called but the experience and achievement of being a finalist is such an honour! All of these women were of outstanding caliber - it was great to meet them and was truly an amazing lifetime moment for me! This was not an easy task to be a finalist. After less then a couple of weeks to submit a very extensive book highlighting the growth and story of GSIB, and then succeed through the judging process and to be recognized by the judges as a finalist worthy, is not an easy feat, and all of these women are very special to be recognized!

"Each and every one of our 23 finalists are to be commended on their success in business. We take pride in the integrity of our submission and judging process and anyone named as a finalist is certainly a successful business woman. The nine women who won Awards in ten categories on May 20th will join an esteemed group of Woman Business Owners who have stood before them as winners of these prestigious awards,” said Christine Dubyts, President of WBOM and President of Dubyts Communications Inc. "Launching and running a business is a challenge for anyone. Being a woman business owner brings with it a unique set of challenges and it takes a true entrepreneurial spirit to embrace those challenges, managing risk andultimately reaping the rewards. The Woman Entrepreneur of the Year gala is our opportunity to recognize and celebrate these successful women.” Women represent a growing economic force in Canada:
· There are more than 821,000 women entrepreneurs in Canada.
· Women in Canada make up a larger share of the self-employed than in any other country.· Women contribute in excess of $18 billion to Canadian economy each year.
· Since 1976, the average annual growth rate for self-employed women has been 5.3% compared with 2.2% for men.
· One-third of self employed Canadians are women.
· Women entrepreneurs hold ownership in about 45% of Canadian small and medium enterprises.

Each day I am living the life I have imagined. As women entrepreneurs our life is full of everyday cares, concerns, commitments, our dreams, hopes and plans, our mistakes, setbacks & triumphs. Sure there is a lot of stress, anxiety, and major juggling but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Thank you everyone for your warm wishes, good lucks and lots of hugs!!

It is with deep felt thanks to the continued support from my husband, children, our parents, my GSIB Girls, close friends and customers. Without their support GSIB wouldn't be so successful. They helped put wings on my dreams to soar. I can only imagine where my dreams will take me next!

I hope my story inpsires other women to trust their dreams and take a leap! Thank you!

Finalist for the Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award

I am so very excited and honored to be one of 23 finalists for the 18th Annual Manitoba Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEYA).

It has been such an amazing process. We each had to create a submission package for the judges highlighting our story and things we have accomplished. It was like a more creative business plan. Regardless of what happens I now have a book that shows me what I have accomplished in a short amount of time to make my dreams come true. I will be able to cherish it and hopefully add to it.

http://www.gonescrappin.ca/2010%20Finalist%20Press%20Release.pdf See the link for the full press release!

I can't wait for the gala night on May 20th to find out who the winners are! Brett and I will be dressing up for a night out in Winnipeg at the Lombard. I am so excited and have my fingers and toes crossed. Wish me luck!

Rossburn Easter Egg Hunt

A few years ago Kendra and I began an Easter Egg Hunt. We had 2 little boys and thought this would be so much fun for them. It's amazing how it has become a family tradition for our children and the memories they share.

Over the past few years we have had more children and lead even busier lives. So this year we were grateful for the Rossburn Chamber of Commerce take over, add a fantastic lunch and help it continue to be annual community event.

It will continue to be a family tradition for us and trust me there is nothing quite like watching 25-50 children running around gathering easter eggs. It is pure chaos but the most adorable! From ages 0-9, you never know what kind pure enjoyment you will see. It is an experience like no other!

Each of my 3 children vary so much. This year Dalyn had to gather as many eggs as possible, Haley wanted only "the pink" eggs and Noelle was content to scoop up just a couple - toddle around shaking eggs (she's just walking so a little unsteady). Each year Dalyn also looks forward to feeding the bunny a carrot (during Kendra's photo shoot). It's amazing that he has never forgotten this moment since he was 2. Their ability to remember the neatest things continues to astound me. When we started the Egg Hunt - Haley wasn't even a month old and Noelle wore that dress today. I also see how they are growing up so fast.

I am so grateful that our community will continue to host this event. Children from all around can come and begin new family traditions and memories - just like ours hope to enjoy this for year's to come! So mark on your calendars to come join in the fun next Easter in Rossburn!

!st Home Routes Concert was AMAZING!

We hosted our very first Home Routes concert the other night at GSIB. Alan Rhody was our musician and we were the last stop on his circuit!

He was fabulous and was a very good intro for us into the home routes program!

With 31 (plus 3 kids) we had a full house! He was the nicest guy to have stay at our house! And was a great way to explain to our 3 children (ages 4 1/2, 2 1/2 & 9 months) why we had people/song writer's coming to stay in our spare room. He is a Grandpa too - so our kids warmed up to him pretty quick!

Our old heritage general store was such a warm and cozy atmosphere and the acoustics were phenomenal with the wood walls & ceiling. A guest said it was a good/or even better then concerts in his home town of Jacksonville, FL.

I decided to bring my 3 little ones to the store for the 1st concert - my baby was clapping to the first two songs and then "crashed" for the entire evening. My 4 year old had to go home at intermission as he'd had enough. And my 2 1/2 year old opened "the dance floor" near the end of the evening. She was enthralled to say the least and was ready to dance all night. Can't wait to post those pictures.

Everyone thought Alan's music was excellent and loved how he gave background info on the songs - why he wrote them or why he liked such and such song or artist. It was such an easy going night and seemed to fly by. He gave everyone their money's worth by playing probably way longer then usual! But we loved it! We were toe tapping, slinging along and moving to the music! Being there - having a world class talented musician in Rossburn - in my store was like a dream coming true! I have always loved music and was always saying to my husband I wish we could go to concerts like these. Light bulb - it's happening right here!

I think the only thing I regret was not having as much time to visit with him. By the time: arrive/set up/eat/concert/bed/breakfast/pack up/leave - it happened so quick! Oh well maybe next time - I'm already starting a scrapbook!

Can't wait for our next one - David Stoddard on Oct. 25th. We already have very few seats left and after Alan's fantastic performance - we are assuming the calls will start flying in once word gets around! So call 859-3334 to reserve your seats!

Kelly & Brett Hunter Rossburn, MB