Bellingham ....... Places To Explore

We were in Bellingham this past weekend and I had a few hours to myself and so of course I headed off on a shopping trip. Now no trip to Bellingham would be complete for me without dropping by "Stampadoodle" and "Paper Zone" two of my absolute favourite papercrafting stores in the North West. They both just rock! Since it's been awhile since I've visited them, I was shocked to drive up to the previously co-joined stores located at 915 Iowa Street to discover that Stampadoodle has relocated to a larger new location. They are now located at 1825 Grant Street (corner of State and Grant) about five minutes down the road. Their bright green building is easy to find and has ample parking. The new store is spacious and airy with a large class area and lot of room to move around between the stamp displays and other merchandise. They have such an awesome selection of ribbons and papers you just have to check them out. My favourite part of going to Stampadoodle has always been checking out all the beautiful stamping samples. They have one of the largest on site stamp supplies I've ever seen. I remember the first time I visited the old location I wound up with a crick in my neck from looking at all the samples on the walls....... just couldn't get enough of them. I also love their Stamp on the Month displays and usually can't resist buying 3 or 4 of these fabulous Great Impression stamps. The featured stamp for June is Seaweed. Another great thing abut Stampadoodle is their staff......... talk about awesome. They will stop what they are doing and show you how to use a product. How neat is that!

Paper Zone has expanded in the old location. Being a "paper lover" I am just bowled over by their marvellous card and envelope stocks. I generally buy all my cellophane clear envelopes here as they are economical and always have everything I want. They also carry rubber stamps, paper crafting tools and supplies, embellishments and have great classes and samples. This weekend I was able to pick up free templates for a BBQ apron card front, seed packet template and Packing Tape Transfer instruction sheets. I can't wait to try these out. Each month they offer an Art Technique Demo class which focusses on different techniques to create cards. I'm hoping to attend one on Sunday July 13th at 1:30 on Artist Trading Cards. It's followed by an opportunity to meet with local ATC traders from 2:00 to 4:00pm. This should be fun!

Hope you enjoyed hearing about these stores! Next time I'm in Bellingham I'm also going to visit Joanne's and Treasury of Memories