Rhinestone Beagle: Come create and enjoy

Well, I am out on a merry jaunt to the great state of North Carolina. The mountains abound with pine trees in full needle and nekkid hardwoods shivering in the cold. Seriously, I came to the south to get away from the unusually frigid weather blanketing the Midwest right now, only to find it here. Did you know that ice on the roads in these mountains means the school buses can't get kids so school gets cancelled? Never, I mean not once, do I remember having a snow day, though my mother the teacher vehemently assures me we did. So with the schools closed most of the shopping opportunities are closed too. Thankfully the crafters in the area have ice water in their veins, come hell or high water nothing will stop them from keeping appointments with their favorite hobby! Enter the paper crafters.......this rowdy bunch will not let below freezing temperatures, ice covered sloping driveways, and snow covered roads that drift right over cliff edges stop them from a class at the local paper craft store. The The Bear Pages Paper Arts, Etc was a fine collection of color and texture, of sight and sound, of retired ladies cutting and pasting like they were in kindergarten.

We made Christmas cards that were right up my alley: animal themed. We had a Polar Bear with mittens on his ears, a dogger with a candy cane, and a cute kitty with a hat and mittens. I kept getting distracted by all the stuff, and things, and uses of paper and its derivatives. I had no idea there were so may techniques to make such a collection of cool cards. As you can imagine after all the zoning out about different card ideas I would fall behind in the class, thankfully my mom is a card carrying member of this paper guild so she helped me get back on track using that tiny paper cutter of hers, sometimes I even required help with the glue stick.

We drank Hot Chocolate, we made fun cards, we chatted about "how would the kids make up the days they missed due to the weather" to no end, everyone here has an opinion on that last one. The two hour class flew by and it was time to leave. I loved my time with these crazy carders, so much so that I think I will do this every time I visit my mom down here in the NC. So if you are ever in the Southeast and you are looking for some creative fun, head on over to Murphy, NC to the Bear Pages. They have tons of supplies, great classes, and plenty of inspiration. They even ship!