New Kid On The Block

Hello Happy Crafters!

(Read to the end, it’s worth it!)

It is with great sadness that I must tell you that we are no longer hosting crops in Central PA. Shantih and I both moved out of state this summer. It is a hard transition to leave the place that we’ve called home for so many decades. However, we do so with great joy and optimistic hope for the future. I have relocated to be closer to my 9-5 office in preparation of returning to in-office work. Shantih has relocated to be closer to her grand babies! It’s only been a few months so far and we already miss the comforts of the place we’ll always call home. And we miss seeing you!

It’s been said that when God closes a door, he opens a window… and for us, this has rang true during this pivotal time in our lives. While we will no longer be hosting our precious day crops, we will be launching a new product line under the Heart After Arts moniker. We are SO excited about this new venture and we hope that you will join us in our excitement and support our cause.

Being women of color, it is frustrating to scrapbook with papers that do not have characters who look like us. (Representation matters!) For years we have wished for companies to pay us more attention. But now, we’ve realized, we don’t have to wait for them to notice us, WE can be the change we’ve been hoping for all this time.

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we are launching this scrapbook line that puts African American characters at the forefront. We are tired of coloring in Santas’ noses with brown markers and colored pencils. That era is dead; change is here. Please do not be discouraged, we are not ignoring our non-minority fanbase! We aim for inclusivity. However, it’s time to start featuring people who look like us.

As a trusted member of our scrap community, you are the first to hear about this exciting new venture and we hope that you are happy for us and excited to use our products. We are working on a new e-commerce website that will allow you to purchase our products. We will be offering patterned paper, solid coordinating cardstock, stamp sets, die sets, and fashionable embellishments. Our items will come in kit form so that you have everything you need to create just from opening the package! Card makers, you may purchase individual stamp sets or stamp & die set bundles. Cricut users, you may purchase .svg cut files to upload to Design Space.

Follow us on Facebook & Instagram to see layouts created by scrapbookers just like you! Want your design to be featured on our social feeds? Just send us an inquiry at heartafterarts@gmail.com.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be opening up our e-commerce site for pre-orders. At this time, we are only accepting pre-orders so be sure to follow us @HeartAfterArts on Facebook and Instagram so that you are alerted when the website launches. If you would like to be on our email list, please send us an email with your email address and your consent to marketing from us. We will send an email when each new paper line launches.

Our first paper line launch is called “Feeling Santa-mental” and focuses on the Christmas holiday. You don’t want to miss this. Here’s a sneak peek of some of the pages (watermarks included will not appear on actual printed paper). Please take a peek and get excited!

I welcome you to share this with your scrap tribe. We are counting on loyal friends like you to help spread the word of this new venture so that we may continue to create the future we’ve been waiting for! Have a good rapport with your local scrapbook store owner? Please give them our contact info so we can discuss wholesale purchases to get our products on their shelves.

Thank you for your support and generosity over the past years. We hope to see you again some time in the future. Until then, please stay safe, stay healthy, and be happy.

Until next time Friend,

Ayana & Shantih

Feeling Santa-Mental