I too, am considering making my hobby, a part time job. Not necessarily for the money, but for the company of other crafters who enjoy the same hobby as I do. To the best of my knowledge there is not an active club or group within 15 miles of me now, and I hate having to drive a lot futher to learn new ideas and layouts. I can't make myself just go with CM though. I find that there are just too many new items coming out almost daily, that CM just does not carry, and many people are requesting for their books. I think that CM got so used to being the "only" supplier early on, that they no longer tried to find and market new items, and so they are now paying the price for their slow marketing skills. While I do use some of their products, and enjoy them, I find MANY items cheaper, and of a MUCH larger selection, in the variety of stores that are now catching on to this craft, along with of course all the online stores now available. I would say that if you have enough of a following in your area of friends, who are not already connected with a CM consultant, then by all means go for it, but do your homework first. For example: How much will it cost you to rent/use a building for a class, if your home in not big enough for you to hold it there? How many friends do you know who would be willing to leave their regular CM consultant now, and become your customer? Who will watch your children while you are at your classes? What is your up front cost going to be and how long do you project it will take you before you recover these inital expenses? Does the building in question have heat, cooling, tables, and at least a fridge or soda machine for your classes? The more answers you find for these and other questions you ask yourself now, the more successful you will be later, and the more you will be able to judge if this should be your job or remain just your hobby. Good luck and I wish you the best. Penny

We are limited here, too. Hobby Lobby has quite a good selection of supplies (much better than Walmart, and their prices on equipment are about the same). However, the best here is a store that 2 fellow addicts just opened about a month ago. It's called Scrapbook Station and they have the prettiest papers, a huge selection of stickers by all the best manufactuers, a really fancy die-cut machine( for a nominal fee, they will cut your pictures in the shape you want), absolutely gorgeous albums--It's just paradise. Their papers and stickers are about the same price as anywhere else, but other supplies (punches, etc.) are really much higher. I won a free crop during their grand opening week, but I'm not going to use it until school's out--I want to stay all day and get the good out of it! i wish we had a Michael's around here. I hear they are about the best as far as chains go. Agree?

Hmmm, new stuff . . . it seems like paper dolls are really popular right now. I saw a lot of the Paperkins and Jill's paper doll templates. I also saw a lot of Journaling Genies and Overalls (page toppers by EK Success). There was one HUGE die cut display, but I didn't see a lot of die cuts at the individual stores. The Coluzzle booth was getting a lot of attention. I tried the EK Success Circle Scissor. I liked it, but am still contemplating the CM circle cutter. The circle scissor is cheaper, but I'm not sure about the durability. Flowers seem to be big right now in papers and die cuts, but that may be the season, also. Suzy's Zoo stickers are very popular. Oh, here's one local company that has patented really cute stick people that you can buy in rubber stamp form, or in a small book that you can trace or copy for personal use. The people that own the store are very nice and they let us stamp-and-take as many samples as we wanted. Unfortunately, their web site doesn't really show off their stuff. I think you can request a catalogue, though. They are at www.scrappinpeeps.com. Their booth was one of the most popular at the show. I bought a couple of books because they were half price. If I thnk of anything else I'll let you know.

That sounds like a really interesting time but unfortunately, I live too far away. I hope you can get it together though. Rebecca