Banana Frog Blog

Banana Frog loves...Willow Tree Crafts!

Each month we are going to profile one of Banana Frog's stockists and friends. We will tell you a bit about the shop and show you some pictures -because we are all just a little bit nosey right?!

Willow Tree Crafts is run by Amy Heavey and is based in Watford, Hertfordshire, UK -about 30 minutes outside of London.  The shop is a treasure trove of goodies and Amy and her team always have time for a chat and coffee!

 

As well as the shop in Watford, they have a website where you can book onto any of their events, order any supplies, or just read the blog.

Specializing in scrapbooking supplies from a wide range of manufacturers. As well as Banana Frog, Willow Tree Crafts carries American Crafts, Maya Road, Creative Imaginations, Creative Cafe, Bazzill, Scenic Route, Basic Grey, Autumn Leaves, Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Tsukineko, Making Memories, Chatterbox,  Rusty Pickle, KI Memories, My Minds Eye, Bisous PDQ, and more.

Amy runs monthly all day crops, as well as evening crops and other classes for both traditional and digital scrapbookers.

Twice a year Willow Tree Crafts host a weekend retreat called Scrap Fever (previous teachers have included Donna Downey, Venessa Matthews, Stacy Julian and Shimelle Laine. The next Scrap Fever in October will have classes taught by Layle Koncar and Mary Anne Walters. Scrap Fever is a fantastic all inclusive weekend retreat that the attendees just love!

During the year there are also lots of other events, such as the Banana Frog workshops in August.

The Banana Frog workshop in August is a full day class covering different techniques and stamping on a number of surfaces. The kit includes a free set of stamps and you will also get to play with lots of other sets! The Banana Frog workshops are August 15th and 16th and the cost (including the set of stamps) is £35.00 per person.
For more details and to book, check the Willow Tree Crafts website. The classes are going to be great fun, so let us know if you are coming along!

The digital classes that they run range from complete beginners, right through to more complicated techniques, and complete digi layouts. They are taught in person to help scrappers really learn how to use their software.

Yes, Banana Frog definitely loves Willow Tree Crafts and you can often find certain DT members (both past and present) lurking in the shop or at a crop!

Check back next month when we introduce you to another Banana Frog stockist and friend!

Banana Frog loves...Memory Mania!

Each month we are going to profile one of Banana Frog's stockists and friends. We will tell you a bit about the shop and show you some pictures -because we are all just a little bit nosey right?!

This month we are delighted to introduce you to MEMORY MANIA which is based in Louisiana. 

 

Memory Mania is owned by Tammy Murphy. Over to you Tammy!

I am one woman who lives, eats & breathes this awesome passion for Scrapbooking.  In 1999 with my BFF I visited a small scrapbook store in northern Louisiana (about 5 hours away) and thought WOW-our area is so family oriented, we have to share this with southern Louisiana.  We just celebrated our 10^th year anniversary –we’ve come a long way baby!

 

Memory Mania is a local scrapbook store, an online scrapbooking shop focusing on our custom page kits, monthly kit clubs, weekend retreat and you can email or call for anything seen on internet or magazines-we carry everything!!   Memory Mania is Where Ideas Bloom.  Tammy believes that education & inspiration is the cornerstone of Memory Mania.  We offer 2 MMU semesters per year (with a choice of over 24 classes).  Memory Mania hosts the most incredible, inspiring teachers around.  

Tammy is so devoted to inspiring other scrappers, she published a book for scraplifting, featuring 50 artists from around the country!!!!   It features over 200 double page layouts with 68 NEW sketches and it a great tool for scrappin’.  Visit the online store to check out this incredibly helpful scrappin’ tool.  Its spiral bound to make it easier for scrappers to recreate layouts. 

Memory Mania is a great social community, some people just come & hang out, there is free cropping in store, Friday night crops;  It’s a great place to meet up with scrapbook friends, classes, crops and  always has the coolest NEW products!   For challenges & daily “what’s up”, visit our blog http://memorymania.blogspot.com/;

Memory Mania has also hosted a weekend scrapbook retreat over the last 9 years.  CCL  Weekend Retreat is always a fun place to be with a fun theme (Set Sail with CCL);  its not really a cruise, just a fun theme to get everyone motiviated & excited to crop the weekend away at a hotel-37+ hours of croppin’, meals, door prizes, goody bags, etc are included & hotel is optional.  Check out our blog for more information, pictures & awesome comments from past croppers:  http://cclretreat.blogspot.com/   You are awarded tickets for every page completed during the weekend crop & entered into a drawing for free admittance to the next CCL.  CCL weekends are held annually in January & July.   

 

Memory Mania will be hosting workshops this summer by Marah Johnson & The Glitz Girls – see blog & newsletter for more details.

We hope that you enjoyed meeting the team Memory Mania.  Our staff  provides tons of  inspiration, super friendly & incredibly helpful.  Stop in soon & we’ll help you.

Until the end of May Memory Mania are offering $5 off Banana Frog Stamps!

Thank you Tammy, it was great to learn more about Memory Mania.

Check back next month when we will introduce you to another new friend and Banana Frog stockist!

Banana Frog loves...Scrapbookiando!

Each month we are going to profile one of Banana Frog's stockists and friends. We will tell you a bit about the shop and show you some pictures -because we are all just a little bit nosey right?!

This month we are delighted to introduce you to Scrapbookiando which is based in Italy.

Lory and Simona are two women who have a passion for scrapbooking and had a big dream of developing scrapbooking in Italy. In 2005 Scrapbookiando was born. 

Scrapbookiando is more than an online scrapbooking shop, it is a scrapbooking community full of inspirations, challenges , contests, real friends, online classes and  cool products! There is a forum to  chat, share ideas and participate in challenges and inspirations. There is also a gallery to upload projects. Since its launch it has developed a fantastic community not just in Italy, but throughout Europe.

 Scrapbookiando has a wonderful creative team of talented girls MANU, TATI, GIULY, IRENE and PALLINA! You will can find their creations on the Scrabookiando blog www.scrapbookiando.typepad.com

Scrapbookiando also have a section for online classes by Italian and international teachers such as Kim Archer, Rhonna Farrer, Kerrin Quall., covering different projects and styles, digital and hybrid or traditional. The classes cover all kind of needs, from beginners to advanced scrapbookers!

 In addition to all this, Scrapbookiando has, for the last two years, worked in association with  Paper and Co Show France (www.paperandcoshow.com/), organised the Paper and Co Show Italy (www.paperandcoshow.it). 

This is a show with classes tought by  international and Italian talented teachers! This year the teachers included Emily Falconbridge, Celine Navarro and Elsie Flannigan. There were even creative sewing classes as well!

 

We hope that you enjoyed meeting the team from Scrapiando and PACS Italy. I would definitely recommend PACS, even to those like me who speak only random words in Italian! The whole team are super friendly and helpful and oh so talented!

Check back next month when we will introduce you to another new friend and Banana Frog stockist!

Banana Frog loves...Scrapangels!

Each month we are going to profile one of Banana Frog's stockists and friends. We will tell you a bit about the shop and show you some pictures -because we all like being nosey right?!

This month we would like to introduce you to Scrapangels which is in my favourite county in the UK, Cornwall.

Scrapangels Scrapbook Supplies is situated on the edge of the pretty seaside village of St Agnes, Cornwall and is owned by Rebecca Johnston. Rebecca first discovered scrapbooking whilst living in Sydney, Australia in 2003 and brought the love of the craft back to her home in Cornwall. She started a crop in the local church hall and soon discovered many more scrapbookers in the local area.  Rebecca then created the Scrapangels website www.scrapangels.co.uk selling Monthly Page Kits online. The Kits are still going strong with many subscribers across the country. Each Kit has a different theme and paper style every month.

The Scrapangels store has recently moved to bigger premises and now there is more space for great products including the brand new 'It's All About...' collection from Banana Frog! Scrapangels has a special Introductory Offer for the new range at £15.99!! Also all other Banana Frog stamps are now £9.99 - until the end of April. All the stamps are available to purchase in the online store www.scrapangels.co.uk and we offer a postage rate of just £1.00!

At Scrapangels there is a large workshop area that can seat up to 14 people in a Class.
Classes are very popular at and take place every Saturday. Most Classes are taught by Rebecca - however there are some great guest tutors teaching at Scrapangels this summer! Banana Frog classes coming up are:
Friday 12th June 6pm-11pm Friday night class and crop with Tracie
Saturday 13th June 1pm Interactive flap album class with Tracie
Saturday 18th July at 1pm Layout and card class with Bev
The new Class List for the summer can also be viewed on the website www.scrapangels.co.uk

Scrapangels also hosts special one day scrapbooking events twice a year.  Inviting talented scrapbooking tutors to Cornwall to teach a one day bonanza of scrapbooking classes. Tickets include refreshments, lunch, three Classes with great Class Kits and a fantastic Goody Bag.  The Autumn Scrapfest is now to be known as the Banana Frog Fest with Bev and Tracie! Tickets priced at £65 and are available online from Monday 23rd March.

We hope that you enjoyed meeting Rebecca and having a little nosey around Scrapangels. Don't forget to check out the special offers on Banana Frog!

Check back next month to meet another Banana Frog friend, Memory Mania in Louisiana.

Don't forget, there are still a few more days to let us know what your favourite set of Banana Frog stamps is -just leave a comment on the March challenge post and you could win one of 10 sets up for grabs!

Banana Frog loves... Scrapbook Star!

Each month we are going to profile one of Banana Frog's stockists and friends. We will tell you a bit about the shop and show you some pictures -because we all like being nosey right?! 

This month we would like to introduce you to Scrapbook Star and owner Samantha! 

Scrapbook Star is a Canadian shop and based in the gorgeous city of Montreal. 

Samantha says "The store opened in February 2006 in a family oriented neighborhood of Montreal, called Notre-dame-de-grace (NDG for short). The store looked bare in the beginning but these days it's full of product and life! It's amazing how much of a community has formed in and around the store!  We give classes on the weekend and hold large crops once a month at a local community center, which allows me to bring my love for party hosting and scrapbooking together."

Scrapbook Star also has a busy and fun online community, with games, contests, online crops and more - which can be found at www.scrapbookstar.ca. Samantha has ordered the It's all about... collection and as soon as they are ready to ship they will be on their way to Montreal! 

We hope that you enjoyed meeting Samantha and learning a little about Scrapbook Star. Doesn't it look like a gorgeous shop?!  Check back next month to meet another Banana Frog friend!

Don't forget there are still a few days left to enter the February Challenge. We would love to see your creations.