Wall of Fame

Hey guys, blogger Laura here. I wanted to remind everyone about the "Wall of Fame" promotion we do at the store. Every month, we decide on a theme and challenge people to make us a card following that theme. At the end of the month, we randomly draw one out of a hat to win a prize. I hope more of you will decide to participate. It is always so much fun to see what people create. The theme for February is "Happily Hero." It can be Hero Arts or some other "hero" that you know.

I am posting a Hero Arts card to get everyone started. It is made using one of the newest Hero Arts clear sets as well as some October Afternoon paper. I stamped the image with black Memento ink and then colored it with Copic markers.

If you want a jump start on the next few challenges, here are the upcoming themes:


March: Animals ("in like a lion, out like a lamb")
April: I'm Stuck on You (using stickers)

I can't wait to see what everyone creates!

Foxy February!

Some people find I go too far with alliteration, but I find that farsical! One can never go too far when describing this fabulous, furry, foxy funny valentine! ..... Anyway ..... this card features one of the $1 Snag 'em stamps from Imaginisce - you can't beat that price, and look at how nicely it stamps! This card also uses printed vellum and a little bit of bling! Join us any time on Thursday, Feb. 5 and take this little feller home with you...the make and take is FREE! Fantastic!

You'll LOVE this Tote!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we have another fabulous tote for you to win! The picture shows only a sampling of all that's contained in this stylish BoBunny shoulder tote - in all, the package is worth about $200! All you have to do to enter is stop by the shop between now and Wednesday, February 11 and spend $35.00. For each $35.00 that you spend, you'll receive an entry in the drawing. There is no limit to the number of times you can enter (so spending $70 will get you two entries, for example), and all of your purchases can be applied, including class registrations and sale merchandise. The drawing will be at 5 PM on Wednesday, February 11, and you do not have to be present to win! Can you feel the love?????

The Sun will come out...tomorrow!

So, hopefully with cooperative weather, you'll all stop by for this week's free make-and-take on Thursday featuring an adorable set from Savvy stamps. You can use this card as a Valentine, but it's much more versatile than that. And, hooooooo doesn't love versatility?

While the weather's been bad, UPS and USPS have lived up to their promise to keep on delivering....so there are lots of new things for you to see! Brand new sets from My Favorite Things, new colors of Glimmer Mist, a HUGE order of new stamps from Stampendous and more!

Not a Moote Point - or is it?

I'm so excited to announce that one of my favorite book and paper artists is planning a series of workshops here at the shop! I met Cherryl Moote a few years ago at CHA. (She's from Canada, so we don't cross paths very often). She has written several books on bookbinding, and her instructions are completely understandable! That's really hard to do - having written a few nearly incomprehensible instructions myself :-) Cherryl will be teaching 3 workshops the weekend of April 18 & 19. One is a full day of Fancy Fold "books". These projects use no glue and can be used as books or cards - very practical and versatile. One workshop features Quilt Inspired Paper Crafts. And the final workshop is a twist on a more traditional bookbinding project - the Longstitch Journal. We should have actual samples in the shop in the next week or so, so be on the lookout! You won't want to miss this!

What's in the box?

Blogger Laura here again. Are you tired of me yet? I know people have anxiously awaited the new Memory Box "What's in the Box" promotion, so I wanted to let you know it is finally here! We have 40 new stamps, seven 6" x 6" paper packs, lots of new 12" x 12" papers, and a brand new line of 8 1/2" x 11" patterned papers that coordinate with the Memory Box notecards.

I am posting a card I made with the new "Sweetbay" line of paper. I used the same butterfly and saying that was used in the MITI two weeks ago, so many of you already have the images for the card. I stamped the butterflies three times onto blue paper, edged them with a blue colored pencil, and added rhinestones for extra 'bling.' I cut out the butterflies and attatched them to the patterned paper as well as added a heart I cut out using the Accu-Cut machine at the store.

Thursday Make and Take

Now that the crazy Inauguration weekend is over, we are back to our regular hours and events. Please join us Thursday to make a floral card that features embossing, brayering, and sponging. Thursdays are a great time to try out new stamps and techniques and to learn something new. See you then!

Store Hours

Hello everyone. Guest blogger Laura here again. Angela is away in sunny Florida this weekend, so I thought I would post some store information in her stead. We are planning to be open normal hours tomorrow (Monday, January 19) even though it is a holiday. Our normal hours on Mondays are 10am- 3pm. On Tuesday, January 20, we will have shorter hours in honor of the inauguration. For this Tuesday only, we will be open from 2pm-9pm.

As far as the card I am posting today, it has nothing to do with inauguration or store hours. I just thought the Memory Box stamp and notecard looked sunny and warm, and after the temperatures we have experienced over the last few days, I thought we could all use something that wasn't winter related.

The Ides of January

Last Thursday, we received the new Valentines stamps and paper from Memory Box. Thursdays FREE make-and-take features one of the new 12 x 12 papers and two of the new stamps. Honestly, I don't know when Dave finds time to sleep, because on the heels of this new Valentine's release, we are expecting a shipment Thursday or Friday of the new Spring Memory Box release. This new release includes 40 wood mounted stamps (which I haven't seen. Dave says some are whimsical and some are collage-y), 21 new 12x12 papers, 7 new 6x6 paper packs and MORE! I'm sure we'll be using several of these new products in upcoming make-and-takes. I know Laura is also planning a class using the new products as well, so you don't want to miss that! And, this is just the beginning of lots of new stuff to come. I've already seen some sneak peeks from the huge CHA trade show, and even ordered some of the new goodies! Things to be on the look-out for: new border punches and stamps that coordinate with the scalloped squeeze punches from Fiskars (we'll be demoing these new products on Tuesday, Feb. 17), new metallic Crackle Paint (and a white as well) from Ranger (supposed to be shipping sometime in February), Impression Obsession has new designs from Leigh Hannan and Alesa Baker as well as from a new designer Sarah Phelps, and new stamps from Stampendous featuring our old friends Fluffles and Changito and our new friend, Fergie Frog. Whew - it's a good thing we made some shelf space at the shop. We're going to need it!

First Make and Take in 2009

We're kicking off the new year right with a card featuring stamps from the new 2009 Hero Arts collection. Even though the background is stamped with a large Design Block stamp, you'll be amazed at how easy it is! I've worked with large stamps before that were hard to ink evenly and even harder to press evenly, but these stamp like a dream! And, who couldn't use a Thank You card at this time of year?

So, if you haven't stopped in yet to see the place since we renovated (I'm telling you, it looks like an entirely different store), why not drop in Thursday and make this card as well? (Oh, and I hear from Dave at Memory Box that his new Valentine stamps should be arriving at the shop tomorrow - Wednesday - so there's yet another good reason to stop in).