Shake Your Booty! No, really!

 Art Impressions has some of the best ir-rear-verent, I mean irreverent, stamps.  But now, they've added motion to the notion.  Ugh - I should quit while I'm .... behind????

Join us this Thursday for our FREE make-and-take project featuring stamps from the new line of Shake Your Booty sets.  These sets include a "Wobble" spring so you can make your image on the inside of your card pop-up and boogie!  These sets feature the "girlfriends", but they also have collections for dog and cat lovers, and even a duck set.  I love the unexpectedness of it!  So much fun to send - and easy too.  The springs fold completely flat for convenient mailing.

Stop in between 10 & 8 on Thursday and sit a spell.  Ok, seriously, I'm done now :-)

Getting Excited!

We have been anxiously awaiting our shipment of the new Dina Wakley acrylic paints. Today Ranger sent out this picture to let us know they will be shipping soon!

Here is what Ranger says about the paints:

"Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints are artist quality opaque paints available in 11 bold colors plus white. Richly pigmented, these paints feature a thick buttery consistency that holds brushstrokes, peaks and tool marks and can be easily smoothed. The paints blend well with other Media colors, creating an endless palette. Use with Dina Wakley Gel Medium for additional effects."

As you can see from the picture above, the paints come in tubes to make them easier to use.  Here is a link to the Ranger press release as well as pictures of all the available colors- http://rangerink.com/ranger-press/new-signature-designer-dina-wakley/

Be on the lookout for the paints to arrive at the store, and of course, you are welcome to have us hold whatever colors you want for you!

Engaging Embossing Folders

Embossing folders are a wonderful way to add texture and dimension to any card project.  And, you can do much more!  You can use a white core medium (like Shimmer Sheetz or paper) and scruff color off for even more "pop".  You can add ink to the embossing folder prior to embossing for a 1-step card!  You can die-cut and then emboss.....the possibilities are truly endless!

Join Angela tomorrow (Tuesday) between 12 & 2 and play a little bit.  You'll be hooked.  Quick, easy and impressive.  My 3 favorite words!!!!

Learn at Lunch demos are completely free and no registration is required.  Hope to see you there!

Happy Weekend!

It Is so pretty outside today. If you are out and about this weekend, why not take a detour to the Happy Stamper?  There are some really great new products.

Wink of Luna pens.  So many of you are fans of the Wink of Stella glitter brush markers, so we know that you are going to love the Wink of Luna pens as well.  The Wink of Luna pens from ZIG-Memory System are metallic brush pens, and the nylon brush tip produces both thick and thin lines.  The gold and silver markers arrived, and we are expecting other colors to arrive soon.  Give them a try! 

Alcohol Inks.  We restocked the newest colors of Alcohol Inks from Adirondack.  We have individual colors as well as the brand new packs of colors.  We also restocked the felt applicators that allow you to add the inks to your projects.

Krylon Low-Tack Adhesive Spray.  We have large and small sizes of this spray.  Add a little bit of this repositionable spray to the back of your stencils, and it helps prevent inks and sprays from seeping under the stencils.  

Faux chalkboard cards are so popular right now, and we have a brand new board from Darcies with lots of samples.  Of course, we have all the stamps to recreate the cards.

This picture of the Inky Antics board doesn't do it justice.  A lot of the cards pop open in interesting ways, so you really have to touch the board to appreciate it.  We also have the new die that makes weaving paper a cinch.

Hero Arts.Daubers, embellishments, and stamps.

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New Arrivals Part 2

We are blown away by the new house pivot die from Elizabeth Crafts. Have you seen it yet? It makes an awesome 3D card which could be used for "we've moved" cards, housewarming cards, a gingerbread house for Christmas, or a haunted house for Halloween. It is easy to make and will make your recipients say, "Wow!"

Next, have you been wanting to try Encaustic wax (basically beeswax) in your mixed media projects? We have tons of wax as well as their versatile heating tool. You can change out the tips to change it from an iron to a stylus. Marilynn has put up some samples in the store, and you can really see the dimension you can achieve with the wax. She will be using the wax in upcoming classes, so be sure to keep an eye out for that if you are interested in hands-on opportunities. If you have never heard of encaustic wax and would like to see more, here is a video from CHA:

 

One new "favorite" product we have at the store are the Die Snips from Elizabeth Crafts. The tip is incredibly small and makes cutting your die cut sets apart a snap.

We received so many cute new dies from My Favorite Things. There are campers, keys/locks, flowers, a paper bag die, and tons of decorative elements.

We didn't have room in the "New" section to put all of the stamps/dies we received from Lawn Fawn, so we put them on a rack with other clear stamps:

As you can see, we restocked lots of Faber Castell products. Did you know you can take Gelatos, add some water, and make a spray out of them? We have a tool kit that will help you make your sprays. You can also use a tiny bit of Gelatos and mix it with their whipped spackle to make any color of dimensional paste you want. The paste you make is perfect for combining with a stencil and adding dimension to your projects.

Angela's Happy Stamper 11411 Sunset Hills Rd A Reston, Virginia 20190

 

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Slider Savvy!

Two of Marilynn's favorite finds at the recent trade show were the Slider Cards (from Paper Cut) and the Fude Ball Pen.  She was basically bonkers over both - and she has combined them into one fabulous card.  Don't say we didn't warn you!  Stop in this Thursday between 10 & 8 to make this interactive card for yourself!  It features stunning Washi tape, stamps from Rosie's Roadshow, Impression Obsession and Printworks.  And, then (hidden behind the tree) you'll get a chance to create some clouds and the sun with "the most perfect pen ever created".  How can you resist?????

Big Fan of Big Brush Markers!

 Have you had a chance to play with the Big Brush Markers from Faber-Castell?  If not, then Tuesday is your chance!  These markers (with their nice firm tip, which makes coloring on your stamps a breeze) are filled with vibrant India Ink, so they are permanent and wonderful for layering on mixed media.  They blend easily, and they don't bleed through the back of your card stock.  Sooooo much to love!

Stop in Tuesday between 12 & 2 and color.  You can't get a better offer than that!

The New Arrivals are Getting Crazy

This is going to be a Part 1 blog post to show you some of the new items that arrived at the store lately. There is just too much to show in one post. Also, there have been enough boxes coming in to the store this week that items put in the "new" section by the door a few days ago have already had to be moved to other locations in the store to make room for the product that came in today. So, the next time you are at the store, be sure to look around. There are new things everywhere!

Have you seen the new samples from Rosie's? They are so much fun and are easy to recreate. If you are a fan of Rosie's, don't forget that Donna will be teaching a day and evening Rosie's class on May 14.

I think every staff member bought one of the Faber Castell collapsible water cups for their craft kits. They are easy to store or pack, and they have dips on the rim to hold your brush:

Are you a fan of Distress Inks? We have the three new packs of mini Distress Pads (we also restocked the older mini Distress sets as well):

What project did Marilynn rave the most about from the trade show she attended? Slide cards from the Paper Cut and Impression Obsession. We have packs of these fun, interactive cards in a variety of colors. All you have to do is decorate them with stamps or die cuts. Be sure to check out the samples the next time you are at the store:

If you weren't lucky enough to take classes from our guest artist last weekend, we still have some of the decorative, interactive dies from Sizzix and great embossing folders from Elizabeth Crafts:

If you want a "heads up" about other new products I will be blogging about tomorrow, we have new Lawn Fawn, My Favorite Things "die-namic" dies, tons of Impression Obsession, and lots of Faber Castell.

Also, don't forget we are closed this Sunday for Easter.

 

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Faux Watercolor Flowers

Like the look of watercolor but are, perhaps, intimidated to try it?  This technique will give you a soft watercolor washed look, and it's wonderfully easy!  We'll apply a fine mist of water to watercolor paper, then create the washed background with a Memento Dye pad and a reservoir brush!  Ahhhhh, spring flowers!

Stop in any time between 10 & 8 on Thursday to create this lovely all-occasion card for yourself - FREE!

It's NOT taxing!

First of all, can I just tell you how much I love this stamp?  It's elegant, but quick to color - AND it's half-price this month because it's the Stamp of the Month from Great Impression.  You can't beat that!!!

I colored each of these cards with the Irojiten Pencils from Tombo.  Can you see that swatch of black card stock?  I colored it with the Neon pencils, and they showed up beautifully.  Plus, the Neon colors actually glow in the dark under a black light - Elvis anyone?!?!

I love these pencils because they are part-oil, part-wax, so they are firmer to work with and don't leave a waxy build-up.  And, you can blend them with a Dove blender.  Stop in Tuesday between 12 & 2 and try them for yourself.  I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised!

Fun with Karen Burniston!

 We had such a great time today with Karen Burniston - the amazing die designer for Elizabeth Crafts!  Somehow, she kept us all on track and we made four highly interactive and interesting cards in 3 hours.  We are clearly very proud of our work :-)

Just for You, Chickie!

This week's FREE make-and-take card features an adorable spring image from Impression Obsession - as well as a Cover-a-Card stamp that makes an elegant monochromatic overlay.  Even though it is a busy pattern, stamping it in a subtle color doesn't detract at all from the focal image. 

Stop in between 10 - 8 this Thursday and make one of these beauties for yourself.  So cute!

Glitter & Glitz!

This Tuesday's Learn at Lunch demos features another way to work with Glitter - using plastic stencils!  I think this may be the easiest way yet!!!  In the past, I've created masks using the "tape covering", and I've also used brass stencils, but the plastic stencils create a nice crisp mask without tearing, are easy to clean up and are also easy to remove from the tape.  Yay!!!

Join me this Tuesday between 12 & 2 and see little secrets that make this technique super quick, easy and eye-catching!!!  There is no fee to participate, and you don't even need to register.  Come on in!!!!

Guest Artist Next Weekend and new Sale Items

We feel very lucky to have Karen Burniston coming to the store to teach next weekend.  She is a licensed artist with Elizabeth Crafts and will be teaching Interactive card classes using her own incredible line of dies.  Students will get to make a garden bench, pivot, pop-up, and accordion card.  The morning class is now full, but Karen offered to teach the class again in the afternoon, and there is room in that class. 

Interactive Cards with Karen Burniston
Date: Saturday, April 12
Time: 2:00 - 5:00 PM

Our very own Marilynn took one of Karen's classes last week at a wholesale trade show and came back extremely excited about the class projects as well as Karen as a teacher.   Marilynn said that Karen really loves the products and therefore is very good at showing you how to use her dies as well as giving you multiple samples of what you can do with each die.  She said that Karen's energy really draws you in and keeps you very engaged and interested throughout the class. 

Also, for those of you who love a deal, we sorted through items in the store today to make room for new products arriving from the trade show.  We put hundreds of sheets of paper in the sale racks.  They are priced at 40 cents/sheet, for a savings of at least 60%.  There are papers from Pink Paislee, Bo Bunny, Kaiser, Basic Grey, Graphic 45, and Little Yellow Bicycle, so there should be a little something for everyone.  We also added some stamps and embellishments to the 50% off rack, so there are lots of new bargains to be found.

Faber-Castell and....Caramels?

I hope you had the chance yesterday to take advantage of the Faber-Castell demo. Wow! We learned about image transfers with gel medium, making sprays out of Gelatos, coloring with Gelatos and Big Brush Pens, and coloring their Whipped Spackle to use with stencils for added dimension. Then, they did a wonderful surprise make and take with Chalkboard Paint and Gelatos. So much fun!

As you can see from the picture above, we are well stocked with Faber-Castell products. If you missed the demo, be sure to talk to a staff member about the products or pick up one of the free Faber-Castell instruction sheets we have by the register:

One of the new things we have at the store is a color sheet of the Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks (Marilynn was kind enough to stamp us one at the trade show). You won't believe the colors in person. Stunning!

Also, if you are a fan of Art Impressions, you will love the new arrivals. We have the humorous ladies as well as cute critters (from the front and back):

Finally, as much as it pains me to say it, Dee will probably be named everyone's favorite employee. She said that Saturday, April 5th is National Caramel Day and thought the store needed to hand out caramels. Here is what she left for me to put out for Saturday customers:

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Fun with Faber-Castell

 We are having a blast today with Tammie Wilson of Faber-Castell! We're playing with Gelatos, Chalkboard Paint, Whipped Spackle, Big Brush Pens....too much fun! The fun continues this afternoon with a free demo/make-and-take from 4-7. Stop by and play - no reservation is required!

No Make-and-Take this Thursday!

"We interrupt this regularly scheduled program so that we can bring you the following special presentation."

The lovely lady pictured above is Tammie Wilson, artist extraordinaire from Faber-Castell!

She will be teaching a workshop Thursday morning from 10 - 1 (as of this moment, there are 3 spots left, so call the shop if you'd like to register) and then hosting a FREE demonstration Thursday afternoon from 4 - 7 on working with tons of the Faber-Castell products including Gelatos, Big Brush Markers, Pitt Pens, Chalkboard Paint and more!!!  You do not have to register for the FREE demo, just stop in! 

Since these fabulous activities will take up our classroom space, we will not be able to offer our regular Thursday make-and-take.  Join us next Thursday, April 10, when we'll be back with a FREE spring card project featuring Impression Obsession stamps :-)