Opening Tomorrow!

Guest Blogger Laura here again. I promised I would return today with more store info, so here I am. The big news is we are opening tomorrow! Our special hours for Thursday, January 1st are 12pm-5pm. Please note that these are not our normal Thursday hours, and we will not be open in the evening. Also, we won't have our normal Thursday Make and Take card tomorrow. The make and takes will resume next week on the 8th. We will resume with our normal hours starting Friday, January 2nd.

If you get a chance to stop in tomorrow, be sure to check out the Christmas merchandise which is now 50% off as well as our 50% off basket which had new items added as we renovated. You have to love a sale!

We haven't finished all of our renovations, but we have at least completed all the big tasks. Displays are moved, the floor is painted, and the lighting is installed. Most of the inventory is moved, but we are still figuring out where to place a few of the stamp sections. I imagine there will be some minor readjusting in the next few weeks as we get comfortable in our "new" home.

I thought you guys would like to see a few more photos of the store. As you can see, we got a LOT done since my last set of pictures. In the picture above, you can see all the way down to the classroom. Since the time this picture was taken, the round table and ladder were moved so that you can actually walk down the aisle. The fixture with the inkpads also has more on it now, but it still is a work in progress. The new fixture is larger than our old one, and you can really see the ink pads better as well a items such as paints and Stickles. Look at how easy it is to see all the colors of StazOn on the endcap!

In the second picture, you can see part of the new Copic area as well as the other side of the ink pad fixture. We moved the baskets on the floor and will eventually move the paper rack that is between the Copics and the embellishment fixture. Again, it is all about the minor adjustments.

If you have the day off tomorrow and can't stand the thought of a day of football, we hope you can stop by. Besides the Christmas sale, there is a brand new Great Impressions stamp of the month and sample board as well as the new Basic Grey Bittersweet line of products and Amuse's new Valentine images. Nice!

So Much Happening!

Guest blogger Laura here. I thought you guys would like an update on the store. As you can see from the picts, there is a LOT happening "behind the scenes." I know you guys are dying to check out the renovations and spend your gift certificates, but please be patient with us. We still don't know if we can open on Jan 1st, or if it will be Jan 2nd. It all depends on how smoothly things run tomorrow. I will update the blog tomorrow night with our reopening date.

The first picture is one I lovingly call, "hey, where did the classroom go?" I promise you, it is in there somewhere. We had to move everything to paint the floors and are still in the process of putting it all back.


This is another picture of the classroom taken from the vantage point of the Accu-Cut machine. I was imprisoned here this morning and released once I had put the Accu-Cut area back together. Those dies are heavy! I hurt in places I didn't even know were on my body.






Yet another picture of the classroom. You can see some of the shelving that was added to the walls.







This is Marilynn after a donut and coffee. I said, "look happy," and this is what I got. That saying about being careful what you ask for is so true. Notice that we can now hang merchandise in the area between the bathroom and the office. Marilynn worked very hard today to move all the punches there.







I think the register is behind all this stuff. I am not sure.











Angela and her dad working to assemble the new Copic area. It is fabulous!







All of the blue displays had to be emptied before they were moved. These are two I worked on today. The bad thing about moving so much inventory is that I kept finding things I need to have. Notice Angela's brother in the background (or at least his legs). You wouldn't believe how many things we made Steve move, assemble, or fix today.




I know it all looks like a mess for now, but these pictures were taken early today and the store already looks much, much better. There is still a lot to do tomorrow though. Wish us luck finishing it all!

Renovations begin!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! My entire family was under my roof - the first time we were all together in a really, really long time - maybe ever with this configuration of people :-) After a relaxing Christmas eve and Christmas morning, it was off to work later Christmas day. My brother (shown here) removed the sink that was on the "paper room" wall. We're planning to put grid wall here so we can put more product up!





My sister's husband and my dad (behind him) put up 6 new lights in the classroom, and boy is it bright now! I was teasing that it was good we didn't have windows in the classroom or airplanes might be trying to land in there! You will be stunned and amazed how much brighter it is and how much easier the detail work will be back there!







We've started painting the floor, too. We're doing it in sections and kind of working around it. Craziness! We chose a pretty terra cotta color, hoping that it would hide ink, glitter and other stamping hazzards a little better. I'm going to miss those little blue swirls, but I don't think I can convince Marilynn to do that again - now that she knows better :-)

I'm still not sure exactly when we'll reopen. We're shooting for January 1st, and hoping for no glitches. Stay tuned for more details!

Last Make and Take of 2008

I'm hoping to take some time over the break to go back and look at all of the Thursday make and takes we've done since the blog started in March. That should be a fun trip down memory lane. It just might inspire me to get a head start on birthday and thank you cards for next year, too! This is our last Thursday make-and-take of the year as next Thursday is Christmas Day! YIKES! So, please stop in if you can - we're playing with stamps from Impression Obsession and Lockhart - two of our favorites. And, mark your calendars for January 8, our first Thursday make-and-take of 2009! Happy New Year, everyone!

Congratulations!

Barbara Papile was our lucky tote bag winner! She took the Intro to Stamping class just a few months ago and has been a very happy stamper ever since! We plan to offer similar promotions in the months ahead: another pink tote (a different brand and with different goodies) in February for Valentine's day and a green tote in March for St. Patrick's! Stay tuned for the details on those. Again, congratulations Barbara!

Hero Arts is Here!

Hero Arts has done it again. We are always very excited to see Rory, the UPS man, arrive at the store, but today he delivered 9 boxes of ALL NEW Hero Arts products. I don't know if Hero has added some new designers in the last couple of years, but I am totally loving both last year's and this year's selection! We received more than 30 new clear sets and 9 long border sets. Plus tons of design blocks, shadow stamps and other wood-mounted sets. Keep in mind that this is a sneak peek - we ordered it sight-unseen. So, there are even more great new finds to explore in the 2009 catalog! Pick one up and let me know what you'd like me to order for you.

Remember that your purchases of $40 or more through 4 PM Saturday, December 13, will qualify you for a ticket into our terrific tote bag drawing!

This week's Make and Take

....(sung to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas) "Three rolling hills, two evergreens and a deer full of holiday cheer."

Clearly I've been listening to the All-Christmas-radio-station just a bit too much! I love to give Marilynn credit for the amazing cards she creates for our Thursday make-and-takes, but this week, credit goes to Dave Brethauer - owner of Memory Box. He designed this stunner using his paper and stamps.

Remember, you can still acrue tickets for our tote bag drawing (see an earlier post for details and a picture) so your visit can be twice as nice! Hope to see you!

Still feeling thankful!

A great big "thank you" to everyone who stopped by the shop on Saturday to celebrate the holiday season with us! We had a great time getting to see you all, Harriett's food was phenominal as usual, Laura's air brush demo was awesome and the stamp swaps were rowdy! That's my kind of fun. But I was particularly touched by how generous you all were with your food donations! It's hard to tell from this picture, but we had to put down one of the MIDDLE seats of the SUV (not just the back) to get it all in there. The folks at the pantry were stunned by the amount. I've always thought paper crafters were the nicest people on earth - now I know you are also the most generous! Thank you again!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

If you are traveling today, may the roads be clear. And if you are staying home, may the dishes somehow clean themselves! My family's tradition is to head downtown this morning and spend time at one of the museums. For our Thanksgiving meal, we go to the American Indian Museum. If you've never been, the exhibits are amazing and the food is exotic and delicious (and more like what a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal would have been, I like to think).

So, my life is such a routine, that any changes throw me off a bit. For example, I woke up this morning and panicked that I hadn't loaded the Thursday make-and-take photo on the blog. Duh! Since we're not open today (or tomorrow for that matter), there is no make-and-take today. But, being a creature of habit, I thought I'd load NEXT Thursday's (Dec. 4) make-and-take photo instead. The Wall of Fame theme for December is Poinsettias and Evergreens, so this card will help get your juices flowing in that direction. It features one of the stunning Hero Arts Design Blocks, layered poinsettia flowers by Creative Impressions and a cool card shape by Paper Cut. Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and see you next week!

Fun with Claudine!

We had such a great time on Saturday with visiting artist Claudine Hellmuth! She showed us some amazing tricks for working with her matte medium, studio paints and sticky-backed canvas. Did you know you can run the canvas through the cuttlebug and emboss it? You can also gently curl the edges (like she did with the coral flower on her scarf) and it will stay curled. And, even though there are just 15 colors of paint, Claudine showed us the paint mixing chart she has created for very simply mixing a total of 51 colors. You can download this chart for yourself on her website! Two hours was not enough time to pick her very talented brain, so Claudine and I are working on a date for her to come back and teach some full-length classes in the new year. I'll keep you posted on that!

Switching gears....here is the other make-and-take we'll be doing at the Holiday Open House on Saturday, Dec. 6. As our dear Donna likes to say, "It's just stinkin' cute"! For $10, you can participate in both make-and-take projects, and also catch the demos as well. Fun!

Count Your Blessings

This week's FREE make-and-take card features a great fall stamp from Memory Box and fun Thanksgiving rub-ons. Bring postage and an address with you and drop your card in the mail on your way home! Remember, we won't have a make-and-take next Thursday as we'll be closed for the holiday, so try to enjoy this one a whole bunch! Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Open House

We hope you can join us for our 6th annual Holiday Open House on Saturday, Dec. 6. We have lots of fun things planned, so please stop by for at least a part of the day. We have a little thank you gift for you (one per household) just for stopping in. We really do appreciate your support over the last year! We'll be collecting food items for our local food banks (see the complete list on our web site). For bringing one or more of these items, you'll receive a FREE stamp goodie bag - again 1 per household while supplies last. Also on the 6th is when we begin our Win a Totebag promotion! Each time you spend $40 between the 6th and the 13th, you'll get an entry for the pictured totebag. (It's a Mimi Travelmate, and with all the goodies inside retails for more than $250!) You can combine your receipts over the course of the week to get as many tickets as you can. We'll draw on Sat. Dec. 13 at 4 PM. You don't have to be present to win!


On the 6th, we'll have demos and make-and-takes. Again, take a look at our web site for times and to reserve your space. Laura will be demonstrating the Air Brush System for Copic markers! One of the make and take projects is pictured - adorable tree hangers that hold mini candy bars. Perfect for your pet lover friends!

There will be refreshments, Santa Swaps, card exchanges and much more! Join us for some general merriment!

Save Gas, Get a Reindeer!

...those are the words that are a part of this adorable new clear set from My Sentiments Exactly. It's good advice - even though gas prices have thankfully come down a bit. For this Thursday FREE make and take card, we'll be playing with flocking and "nose bling". Hope to see you!

Oh Coffee Break

....sung to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree". Two of my favorite winter smells are that of the live Christmas Tree and fresh brewed coffee (actually, I like the smell of fresh brewed coffee pretty much any time). So this card is just perfect for me! Stop in today to make this card (for FREE), which features the Coffee Bean Tree stamp by Impression Obsession. While you're in, check out the scented embossing powders by Gel-a-tin in both the coffee scent or the pine tree scent. (I don't recommend mixing them, however). They would make a fun twist to your holiday greetings!

Wow - it's Thursday again!

Just this morning, I said, "I can't believe it's already Wednesday..." then was oh so gently told I'm a day late and a dollar short. Thankfully, Marilynn is in charge of the Thursday make-and-takes, so everything is ready for you to stop in and make this adorable card (including the weather!) This card features the "Let it Snow" set from Gina K. The smoke wafting from the chimneys in the background seems just perfect on a day like today!

Fall for this Make and Take Card

You can tell by the weather that fall has arrived! We are celebrating the season with this FREE card make and take all day Thursday, Oct. 23. We created the card's unique shape by using the Accu-Cut machine. Feel free to purchase some paper and use our machine to make as many cards as you like in whatever colors you choose! The possibilities are endless!

Tuesday's Demo

This Tuesday's FREE Learn at Lunch demo features "hanging" punches from Ecstasy Crafts. Our dear Jean called today and said she couldn't be with us tomorrow as her hip is really bothering her, so she asked me to come pick up the supplies and lead the demo in her absence. You can see from this sample that Jean made that she is one classy lady. Look how cute the stockings are hanging from the garland!


Of course, I took one look at the stocking punch, and my mind went in a totally different direction. I clearly need to take some "classy" lessons from Jean. Here's my take on the stocking punch....


Stop in tomorrow (Oct. 21) between 12 and 2 and see where your mind takes you! We'll be playing with the stocking punch and the shirt punch. Ecstacy also makes an ornament punch (so cute on large Christmas Tree stamps) and an apple punch (great for fall and for teachers!).

It doesn't look easy....

...and yet it is! The peg stamps by Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamp beautifully and are an easy way to add lots of color to your projects! Use them to create frames, borders and even design elements like the one around the letter "O". And, simply by changing the ink colors, you can achieve an entirely different look. Give peg stamping a try for yourself during our free make and take today. Just stop in any time between 10 and 9 to make this card....but know you may find it a bit addictive.

Wall of Fame Challenge

OK, I'm a little intimidated to post a sample after our "guest" bloggers' cards below. Holy cow! First, a shout out to our Wall of Fame winner for September - congratulations Kathy Cummins! Our theme for October is "Sweet" cards. I took some of the Imaginisce Rub-ons to create this card. I made a little pocket, then attached a paper handle to the top with brads. I put the rub-on candy on the back of the card to look like it was sticking out of the bag, but it leaves the pocket free for a gift card or some other goodie. When you pull out the gift card or note, the candy appears. I had so many left over rub-ons that I just kept going. So far, I've created 4 additional cards, and I'm not done yet. So, that got me thinking...how many cards could a person make with just the two sets of Imaginisce Halloween rub-ons and some paper? Are you interested in taking the challenge? This month, in addition to our regular Wall of Fame contest (in which you can use any stamps, paper or rub-ons), there will be an additional contest for those who wish to participate. Simply make as many cards as you can with the two sets of rub-ons (you'll have to purchase them, but we have lots). Bring one card in for the Wall of Fame but also bring a picture of all the others you made along with the total count. The winner of the rub-on contest will receive this cool "Boo" lace paper and Bling brads from Creative Imaginations. The Boo paper is missing a tiny piece in the corner - I brought it home from the trade show and the airplane "ate" part of it. So, let's see what you can do!

Halloween Ideas

Guest blogger Laura here. I thought I would share with you some ideas for Halloween in case you are still trying to come up with something. For the most part, I sat around with my two new sets from My Favorite Things and my pack of Sparkle paper from Memory Box to create a bunch of Halloween cards.

The first card uses a candy apple stamp from Impression Obsession and a saying from a My Favorite Things clear set. I stamped the apples with black Memento ink and colored them with Copic markers. I then added some Diamond Glaze to the top of the apples to make them look like they have a candy coating.







The second card uses some images from a My Favorite Things set. I stamped all my images with black Memento ink and colored the "ingredients" with Copic markers. Again, I added some Diamond Glaze to the cauldron and the ingredients to add interest. You can't tell from the photo, but I added some clear Spica pen to the cobwebs and some green Spica to the cauldron steam to make them shimmer.












For the trick or treaters, I once again stamped them with black Memento ink and colored them with Copic markers. I added a saying and layered them onto some of my Memory Box paper.










For the witch card, I stamped the witches onto some cream paper and then onto several pieces of my Memory Box paper. I cut out the dresses and added them to the image on the cream paper. If you have never tried the "paper piecing" technique, you should give it a try. It is an excellent way to use up your scraps!













The final sample was actually made by Marilynn. She stamped the candy corn tree by Impression Obsession onto white paper using black Memento ink and colored the image with Copic markers. Hey! Isn't that my gig?

I hope you have been inspired by this post! Angela has both My Favorite Things sets in stock as well as the candy apple and candy corn tree images by Impression Obsession.

Let It Snow?

It was odd to return from Florida to find this "splash of snow". It jerked me right back to the reality that Christmas is only 11 weeks away. How did that happen? Our Free Thursday make and take features stamps by Hero Arts. I hadn't thought of using the Joy stamp in blue ink - I was thinking reds and greens - but I really like it! Another job well done, Marilynn!

Congratulations Blog Candy Winners!

The following poster each won a cool prize: Linda S., Sharon C., and Tiffaney in VA. The prizes include a crafty bumper sticker, a Magenta idea book and some rub-ons for each of you! Please email me at angela@ahappystamper.com to claim your prizes! I will be posting my Star Ornaments class tonight on the web site. We'll be making two different sizes - approximately 10 inches and approximately 7 inches. The class will be on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Hope to see you there!

I'm Pooped :-)

Tonight's three hour marathon class was with My Sentiments Exactly. They thought we might be tired of making cards by now, so they came up with a bunch of different projects using home decor items. Really??? Is it even possible to be tired of card making? And, how am I supposed to get all this cute 3-D stuff home in my suitcase? I'm thinking about leaving my dirty clothes and toothbrush here in Florida. That stuff can be replaced :-) Anyway, this project is a wooden letter H (for Ho and Holiday and Happy Stamper and HELP!) covered with Tinkering Ink paper, ribbon and stamps. The cool bird in the upper right hand corner is a Heidi Swapp clear bird that we stamped with white acrylic paint - waited and waited and waited until it was dry - then sponged on some green acrylic paint and waited and waited and waited. You get the idea. Waiting this late at night leads to some nap taking....and too many people around here have cameras. Let me know as you surf the Internet if you see any pictures of me snoring or drooling.

New from Sassafras Lass

I don't have a photo of this because they are releasing it at this show, and I didn't want to "scoop" them on the Internet. The exciting thing is that we are the first group of folks to get to order, so we should be the first ones to get the new product as well! They've come out with 6 double-sided papers with the scalloped bottom edge called "Life at the Pole", but it's definitely not your traditional Christmas paper! The papers feature an almost atumnal color palette (they're stunning) and an interesting cast of characters like Rudolph, "gumdrop boy" (my name for this character) and others. I also ordered 3 of the 4 of the new stamp sets - one is the Life at the Pole companion set and the other two are more Woodland Creature-type sets like owls, acorns, mushrooms turtles and more. They did not come out with a 6x6 pack for this release. I'll bring the flyer back with me, so if you are really, really anxious to see, I'll have it in the shop for your examination by Tuesday morning :-) I'm off to keep shopping! This evening I have a 3 hour class with My Sentiments Exactly and tomorrow I have a 6 hour class with Creative Imaginations. Thankfully there is a Starbucks in the hotel :-) I finally went outside for a few minutes yesterday and touched a palm tree and stuck my big toe in the pool. I can now safely say I've had a Floridian experience!

Another great one!

This card features flowers and ribbons from Creative Impressions. I love the more traditional/heritage colors. The ribbon block on the right is sandwiched in between two cut out rectangles (made by the Accu-cut), so you can see the ribbon block from both sides after you've opened the card. It's a great way to use up your little pieces of scrap ribbon, and it's lovely. Now, I'm headed off to my 4th class of the day - OUTLINES! You know I've been waiting for this one!

Hero Arts Rocks!

My first class this morning was with Hero Arts. That is a most excellent way to start the day! I've never made a Christmas card with a frog on it before! And, I loved the really different size of the card and the things hanging off of it. Really fun and unusual! I also got a couple of ideas for two totally different classes from this class...a gift card holder class and a bookmark class. I've done a bookmark card class before (I think it was last year???), but I have several new ideas that need to be shared.

My crafty twin

In my fifth class of the day, I finally got to meet my twin. I'd been hearing all day "Have you met the Happy Scrapper?" We ended up sitting next to each other in this class and I said, "Oh, it's YOU!" We each had pictures made (it looks a little like a mug shot with us holding up our nametags....not that I would know anything about that). So, if you ever get to Florida, look up Teri of the Happy Scrapper. Tell her the twin says "hello".

For the do-gooders!

I posted earlier about a shop that had major roof damage during the hurricane. Well, I just had lunch with one of my friends, a shop owner from Rhode Island. I had seen her at the show at the very end of March, and about a week after that show, her shop (part of a strip mall) burned down! I hadn't heard! So, she's been closed all of this time, trying to find another location that would work for her. She's finally going to be re-opening later this month. That's a long time for folks to have been without their LSS! I was thinking that it would be a ton of work to replace all the product, but then it dawned on me that the bigger problem would be replacing all the SAMPLES! Holy cow - can you even imagine? She's been open almost exactly the same amount of time I have, and I know how many samples we have. (Well, actually I don't know how many samples we have - but I know it's a lot)! I think it would be fun to make some card samples to send to her with some "well wishes" greetings inside. She carries a lot of the same stamp companies that I do - Hero Arts, Memory Box, A Muse, Impression Obsession, etc. If you'd like to make a card sample for Maryann at Bella Art in Rhode Island and bring it into the shop, I'll send them off to her on Oct. 10. I know she'll be very touched that her "stamping sisters" are thinking of her!

Blog Candy Contest

Three classes down - 3 more to go! It's a full, full day! Isn't this star amazing? It's actually very easy, and a great way to use your decorative paper. This is about 9x9"! I'm definitely going to bring this back to teach - it's great bang for the buck - easy and it doesn't require much precision. Wahoo!

I'm also having my first every blog candy contest. I got some fun little goodies I want to share, so all you have to do is post a comment to the blog sometime this weekend. (Actually through 11:59 PM Monday night). I'll choose 3 winners randomly from those who left comments to win some little goodies. Easy as that!

I'm Here!

On my trip from the airport to the hotel, I shared a van with some scrapbook shop owners from Texas. One of them has been closed for over 3 weeks now because her shop roof was damaged during the hurricane. She's going to do some serious shopping this weekend to replace all of her damaged inventory. Wow! I'm very grateful that the hurricane just rained on my birthday but didn't cause us any serious damage. Tomorrow begins my marathon class sessions. I'll be taking classes with Sonburn, Custer's Last Stamp, Bo Bunny, The Robin's Nest, and I will get my Fiskars certification (presumably) tomorrow night. I'll be posting more tomorrow after classes with photos of projects or new product that I'm too excited to wait to share until I get back, so please stay tuned!

Boo-tiful Card for Thursday!

The card for this Thursday's free make-and-take features the new Owl-oween clear set from Hero Arts. Owls are scary enough (with that whole rotating their head all the way around Exorcist thing) but when they put on a ghost sheet???? Hooo's scary now?

OK, it's clearly time to put down the candy corn. Anyway, the large matting circle is paper from Imaginisce that's been punched with the new Xtra Giga circle punch from Marvy. These punches come in 8 shapes and are super handy for framing those slightly larger images. They're a "hoot"!

I'm late, I'm late!

I've been so wrapped up in getting everything ready for Karen Lockhart's visit tomorrow and Saturday, that I completely lost track of time. This is TODAY'S make and take card - totally worth waiting for, which I can say since I didn't make it! The card features the stamp of the month from Great Impressions as well as the Limited Edition "tree" stamp by Hero Arts. This tree is only available through independent stamp shops - it's not available online or in the chain stores. So, come try it out and if you love it, grab one while supplies last!

Thursday Make and Take

Hooo's having a birthday? Owl bet this card will make their day! I could keep going, but I won't. You'll thank me later. Anyway, this week's FREE make-and-take features these adorable owls from Gina K.

Speaking of nesting (get it???), we received the new lever punches from Marvy - the XTRA Gigas. These are their largest nesting punches yet and work great for cards or scrapbook pages. They are available in 8 shapes. Come see!

Another Birthday Card

Isn't this card great? Look at all the little details - the scalloped edges of the layering card stock with the printed paper behind it, the pearls in the centers of the flowers... I just love it! And the Stamping Bellas are great, too. You can personalize their hair color to match the recipient, and I hadn't thought of putting the birthday number in the balloons...I'm totally stealing that idea. We just received a huge shipment of Bellas, including new images called trickortreatabella, hippychickabella, and daisybella. You may also want to check out our upcoming class featuring the Bellas for lots of ideas on working with them! We should have the card samples early next week.

A Real Pumpkin!

The FREE make-and-take card for Thursday features this floral background stamp by Great Impressions. Marilynn did a nice job creating a fall card by using warm colors. Just by changing the colors of ink you use, you can create a totally different effect. Come see the sample board with 6 other cards featuring this stamp to see how versatile it truly is!

We received the brand new Halloween stamps, paper and Card Samples from Memory Box today as well. Dave has done it again!

First Birthday Card photo

What a great idea, Mahnaaz! I'll post one a day for the next few days (actually, I'll take a break on Wednesday to post the make and take card sample for Thursday). I received over 80 cards - wow - thank you so much! We have them all hanging up in the shop for your viewing pleasure, so feel free to come in with your camera and snap away! This first card features the brand new stamps we just received from Cat's Pajamas. I love the asymetrical side opening and the ribbon closure. Also, this is a nice use of shadow stamps. Very cool card!

And What a Party it Was...

On behalf of the entire Angela Fan Club, we would just like to thank all of you who braved the weather and came out to celebrate the birthday of our dear Angela. It was wonderful to see all of you. And so great of you to show your love and support for Angela, the store, and the community that has developed from having such a wonderful place for us all to retreat to. In the next few days, we'll be posting pictures of the incredible cards that you all brought in. There's no end to the talent in this place!

It's My Party....

...here's hoping I won't be crying. We are planning to celebrate my big 4-0 tomorrow (Sat. Sept. 6) at the shop all day, weather permitting. Rain doesn't bother us, but a lack of power would put a big damper on things. If the weather is rough, please give us a call first to be sure we're still open. 703-435-0051. Although, someone "gently" pointed out that there will be a few more candles on this cake than on the one in the picture from 1977, so who really needs electric lights???

Feel free to bring me a handmade birthday card tomorrow and take 40% off one item in the shop. This excludes class fees, special orders & items on hold and previously discounted items. And, there will be cake!