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 It beckons... Hear the call? "Shop... shop..."
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I love traveling AND shopping. What I hate is looking for the stores I'd like to visit in cities that are “alien” to me. Ok… don't get me wrong… I love walking and discovering stores too BUT if your travel days are limited and your shopping time down to just an hour or two, I bet you'd appreciate any info and directions you can have to get to the stores fast and buy your items pronto! Well I do. So I forced Angela to write her SaFo scrap-shopping a year ago to help those traveling and shopping in that direction. You got to hand it to this hoarder. She really takes the time to post her shopping notes (like in Singapore!). By the way, Angela is set to travel again soon! Lets hope she takes the time to write about THAT one too (without me nagging her about it)! – Thanks Anj! Here's to hoarding! - M
You can directly email Angela for travel/hoarding tips among other things (she's a seasoned web shopper!). Send email to: atiutoc{at}hotmail.com (change the {at} to the proper email sign). She'd love to hear from you! |
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| The Nook as MY Disneyland!!! |
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At around the same time last year, my husband and I went on a much needed R&R in Toronto and San Francisco. We both looked forward to so many things – catch up with former co-workers, friends and family, visit our favorite restaurants, stock up on Tim Horton coffee, and not to forget, shop to our hearts’ content! Of course it was the perfect opportunity for me to check out the scrapbook stores in Canada and the United States.
In the 3 or so years I have been scrap-shopping, I have never gone to an actual scrapbook store in the US. Most of my U.S. purchases were done online. Hence, I was pretty excited about the prospect of visiting the stores. After all, the U.S. is the scrapbook capital of the world, right? J
Unfortunately, due to time constraint, I didn’t get the chance to visit any scrapbook stores in Toronto. I did find a couple based on the research I did on the ‘net. But most of the stores were hours away by car from the downtown area. So I opted not to do any scrap-shopping in Canada. I figured I could get everything I want in San Francisco and not be in such a rush. Plus, with the Canadian dollar doing strongly against the US Dollar, and 8.25% sales tax in SFO as compared to 15% GST and PST in TO, I thought it would be best to just go nuts in SFO. Nevertheless, if you happen to be in downtown Toronto, based on my findings, best bet would be Scrapbooks by Design on Queen Street East in the Beaches. The place is accessible via the streetcar. They carry most of the major brands and recently now offer online shopping.
Scrapbooks By Design
1783 Queen St. East
Toronto, ON M4L 3Y5
Tel. (416) 690-7447
www.scrapbooksbydesign.ca |
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| In San Francisco, we stayed with my cousin who lives in Daly City. Even before we left Manila, I already had a list of scrapbook stores that were located at or near his place and I emailed the list to him. I also told him which stores were a “must-visit” for me. Nothing beats having a well planned shopping itinerary, especially for someone who is as anal and as “O-C” as me! I only managed to visit 3 stores in SFO but they pretty much satisfied my scrap cravings!
First stop was Scrapbook Nook, located in San Bruno. Man, this store did not disappoint! I was like a kid walking into a huge candy store! I couldn’t contain my excitement, I just had to express how ecstatic I was when the store clerk asked how I was doing. It was the typical American way of greeting people and I could’ve just answered “I’m okay thanks”, but what can I say, I just had to gush. (Oh my God, how geeky was that?) Good thing my cousin took my husband elsewhere, leaving me time alone to explore everything the store had to offer. The store was huge if you compare it to the ones here in Manila.
There were rows and rows of anything and everything scrap-related. Cardstock, multipacks, kits, idea books, organizers, stickers, embellishments, albums, pens, stamps, inks, tools, buttons, ribbons, I could go on and on. Imagine, an entire wall of Making Memories items, a whole shelf of albums in different shapes and sizes, countless of pattern papers sold per sheet. Be still my beating heart! I started grabbing everything that caught my interest. I wanted to make sure I don’t miss out on anything. I would just weed out the stuff I don’t want when I’m ready to pay. Needless to say, I quickly filled up 2 baskets full of Bazzill cardstock sets; namely the monochromatic trio sets, the Places we love sets and the multi-pack chatterbox room sets, HOTP’s 8x8 Mickey and Friends Paper, idea books, a lot of Jolee’s stickers, Doodlebug alphabets, lots of Disney stickers (made by Sandylion and Jolee’s), etc. I even purchased a couple of items which I have yet to use - an alphabet stamp set, a pigment pad, Xyron create a sticker with lots of refills, ribbon sets, etc.
My shopping bug must’ve been infectious because my cousin Jen also ended up buying a trimmer, scissors, cardstock and adhesive! She likes to make her own invitations. Suffice to say, this store is a “must-visit” if you happen to be in SFO. They also offer classes, membership and the perks that go along with it, and online shopping. I have recently visited the store’s website and I flipped over all the new stuff for sale! Makes me want to book a flight to SFO pronto!
ScrapBook Nook
444 San Mateo Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066
Tel. (650) 588-3112
www.myscrapbooknook.com
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| Lookie... lookie... at the Nookie... Angela can't have enough of everything! |
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| Hoarder HARD at "work"! |
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| Angela with Jen - whom she infected with the scrap-shopping bug! Tsk.. tsk... baaaadddd influence! - kahit ako nahahawa! -M |
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As I mentioned earlier, my cousin Jen is into making and designing her own invitations, greeting cards and announcement cards. She buys her materials from this store called Flax Art & Design in Market Street. This store wasn’t on my list but since it was on the way to our next stop, she dropped me off and gave me about 20 minutes to look around. This was another huge store, as in warehouse huge. Their catchphrase “Where Creative People Shop” is an apt description of the store - If it’s anything art-related, this is the place to go to. They have a wide and diverse selection of paper – be it handmade, mould made or machine milled. (Mabelle, our scrapdiva will love this store). I wasn’t too sure though if all of the papers were acid free. But it was so enticing to buy, seeing all those beautiful papers! I also love pictures and am always on the lookout for picture frames. Flax had an area devoted to frames! I didn’t buy any though. For one thing, the ones I liked cost a hundred bucks and up, and were really heavy. They also had beautiful (expensive I might add) photo albums that looked handmade to me. Moving along…I did manage to buy a couple of Jolee’s By You stickers which I didn’t see in the first store.
And since scrapbooking IS considered an art form, chances are you will find something here that can be used for our craft. While Flax Art is not a scrapbook store per se, I would still recommend it to scrappers as a place worth visiting.
Flax Art & Design
1699 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel. (415) 552-2355
www.flaxart.com
Last but not the least was Scrapbook Depot on Laurel St. One store just wasn’t enough for me. I had to make sure I got everything I needed. Besides, it would be such a waste if I didn’t fill up my balikbayan box, right? Plus, one store may carry items that another one doesn’t. And that’s exactly what I encountered at Scrapbook Depot.
Here, I saw 12x12 double page Layover Layouts by My Mind’s Eye. It came in different themes, like baby girl, travel, friends, family, etc. This was a never before seen item to me at that time and I totally flipped over them. Bought one of each. It also came in 6x6 size (Yes Mabelle, it would be PERFECT for the AMM accordion album I got for you).
Another product I liked were the 2nd Avenue double sided cardstock with coordinating frames. Here also was where I saw clear plastic slip-in cover for 12x12 albums. Got one to try out for my Pioneer post-bound album.
I’m kicking myself now for not buying more. I also bought an embellishment kit and Alphadotz stickers by Scrapworks. This store wasn’t as big as Scrapbook Nook and didn’t carry as many items but you could say it served as a good back-up. Keep in mind that I had done my major purchases at the 1st store so for me to end up buying additional items here, it only goes to show that Scrapbook Depot is also worth your while.
Scrapbook Depot
889 Laurel St.
San Carlos, CA 94070
Tel. (650) 592-2767
www.myscrapbookdepot.com
There are numerous scrapbook stores (superstores even!) scattered all over the United States. So whichever city or state you choose to visit, chances are you will find one near your area. It’s just a matter of doing some research and knowing how to look for it. More on that on my next article. In the meantime, it’s time to get some scrapping done!
Postscript:
It was my last day in San Francisco . We had already packed our two huge suitcases and the two balikbayan boxes have already been weighed and sealed shut the night before. But we still had the whole day since the scheduled departure time of our flight was at 12 midnight . So we spent the day doing last minute shopping at nearby Serramonte mall. I went to Target to buy my favorite Almay pressed powder and guess what, Target has an aisle devoted to scrap book materials! And yes, I bought an item or two. Told you the U.S. was the scrap book capital of the world! But there's more…what I am about to say will make all you scrapaholics wail in frustration…Next we went to a strip mall called Metro Centre along Colma Blvd. I have been going to that area every single time I go to SFO. But you know how you tend to take things for granted and overlook things because you see it all the time? That's what happened to me. I have this shopping policy that I have to go to the farthest places/stores first and save the nearest ones last. Makes sense right? Well that didn't work on this trip! As we were about to call it a day, I saw a Jo-Ann Craft store at the strip mall and get this, it was only 5 minutes away from my cousin's house! I really wanted to go inside but I knew my cousin and my husband would give me grief for being such a scrap addict. Besides, there really wasn't much room anymore in our luggage. Talk about irony. So near and yet so far! *sigh*
Jo-Ann Store
75 Colma Blvd.
Colma , CA 94014-3231
Tel. (650) 755-1711
www.joann.com |
On a positive note, my folks went to Vegas last September and I asked my mom to buy me some scrapbook magazines which were not available here. I purposely didn't ask her to buy me scrap book materials because 1) she was there for a convention and was on a tight schedule and 2) I don't want her to end up buying the wrong items (long story but she does that).
So magazines were the simplest thing I could ask her to get for me and believe me I was very very specific with the titles and which issues I wanted.
My mom means well and she really goes beyond the call of duty. She asked for help from a family friend who took her to, YES, you guessed it - a Jo-Ann Craft store (!) to look for my mags there! |
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So of course, I got my mags and then some! She got me a couple of embellishments, colored metal words, a Simple Scrapbooks Family Album Kit, a set of journaling genie templates by Westrim, a couple of idea books and 2 postbound 12 x 12 scrapbook albums (she said they were on sale that's why she got the albums for me). Judging from all the stuff she bought for me, I still feel like such a fool for not visiting Jo-Ann in SFO. But that just gives all the more reason to want to visit the U.S. again, hopefully in the near future. For now, I'll have to content myself with browsing at Jo-Ann's online store.
(Anj: There are 4 Jo-Ann Stores in Las Vegas Nevada ; 2 of which are Superstores! My mom doesn't remember which one she went to). |
| To read Angela's Singapore scrapping finds, click here. |
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