On Wednesday, I completed the Maryland Passport Tour. We had our own mini caravan transporting us from store to store. Here are some of my highlights:
Scrapmania in Hagerstown- They are carrying most of the new hot products from CHA. My favorite was the new water/sea glittery papers from Best Creation. At each store you collect a free layout that will fit in the Maryland chipboard album that you receive when you completing the tour. This store created my favorite of the five layouts and everything was nicely precut with printed instructions.They also have a really extensive class schedule with something for everyone.
Scrapbooks n’ More in Frederick- The store is slightly smaller than when I was there last year (only taking up one store front instead of two), but is filled with gorgeous layouts and ideas. They have a great selection of ribbons and had new collections from Little Yellow Bicycle, Basic Grey and others. Their sports section was definitely the most extensive theme.
Photo Scraps in Eldersburg- The amount of product they carry is slightly overwhelming, but I’m not complaining. They carry pretty much anything you are looking for. I was very pleased to see that they carry Flower Soft products. I called ahead and found out they were the only store on the Passport Tour that carry this line of products, which was also very reasonably priced. I stocked up on some adorable owl papers, clear stamps and of course, Flower Soft. It was nice to see the amount of time the employees took to answer the questions of their customers.
Great Scraps- This store is packed floor to ceiling with product. The owner, Barb, greeted us when we walked in and told us about their Wednesday make & take. There were two to choose from and both were adorable. As we made our way through the store we stumbled across many of the new collections from CHA as well as some older products that we had never seen before. I thought I owned every piece of strawberry themed scrapbook paper, but I was sorely mistaken. I was able to find four different papers (here, here, here, and here) from four different manufacturers that I did not previously own. Needless to say I was a happy shopper.
Memory Treasures- The first thing that caught my eye was a strawberry bling embellishment from Basic Grey. It was a perfect addition to my newly acquired strawberry papers. My favorite find of the day was a die cut paper from Making Memories that happens to feature a map of Baltimore. I stocked up since I know this paper will sell out fast. Just like everything else in the store, the paper and embellishments were very reasonably priced and clearly marked. That was my one pet peeve with most of the other stores on the tour-almost all of the paper is not priced. I also noticed the new classes for September. I really liked the school themed layout with its intricate overlay and sophisticated design.
If you participated in the tour, leave me a comment and let me know about your favorite finds!
