Got Snow?

Our second a muse a palooza make and take features more of the new winter release from A Muse. The designers at A Muse designed this card...I never remember to use red with my snowflakes, but I've seen it in a few different places already this year, so it might be the new trend! Come in and get trendy and get snow! The make and take is free and is available all day Thursday!

Run for the Border

Poor Jean! Our Learn at Lunch free demo tomorrow is "all things border". Perhaps that was too "wide open" for Jean. She's made tons and tons of samples featuring border stickers, stamps, punches, ribbons, chipboard borders...she's been a border making machine. I particularly love the baby card pictured here. She used two different borders: one with holes at the top which she wove ribbon through and accented with buttons and a solid border at the bottom where she carried the button motif through. Adorable! If you've been stuck in a rut, then you definitely need to make a run for the border tomorrow from 12-2. No reservations are necessary!

Fun new storage

Guest blogger Laura here. Do you guys get as excited about new storage containers as I do? I was thrilled when the new dauber organizer came in because at the moment, I have sponge daubers all over the place! Sponge daubers fit on your fingertips and are the perfect applicators for adding chalks or inks to your cards. The storage case itself has plenty of room for your daubers of every color and even comes with a blank dauber to get you started. How great is that?

6th Anniversary Open House

We hope you are making plans to join us at our 6th Anniversary Open House on Saturday, August 1. We have lots going on all day, including two sessions of make and takes. The morning session runs from 10:30 - 12:30 and includes 4 projects for $18.00, including this amazing metal dog tag necklace. Learn how to create unique metal pieces with very little effort. You'll want to make tons of them for gifts, and your friends will be amazed! In this project, you can choose the color of your metal, so the pieces will reflect your style and personality. Sign up soon by visiting our web site or calling the shop. These spaces fill quickly!

Ahoy Matey!

Something about this card reminds me of television shows when I was a kid. I can't tell you why. It makes me happy to look at it, though. In our Thursday FREE make-and-take, we'll be creating this card using stamps from Prima, Hero Arts and A Muse as well as a border punch by Fiskars. Too, too cute! And a perfect summer greeting!

Wild about Ribbon

Jean LOVES embellishments, so it's no wonder that she has thought of literally hundreds of ways to use ribbon on her cards. Weave it, tie it, color it (with Copic markers), stamp on it...the list goes on and on. I don't know how many techniques Jean can share in only a two hour demo, but it will be worth finding out. The Learn at Lunch demo is Tuesday from 12-2 and is FREE. No registration is required.

A time to give thanks

So....you know how you really need to send a thank you note, but time keeps getting away from you? Eventually, you reach the tipping point where you either have to just admit that you're not going to send one, or you have to make something so fantastic that it looks like you were working on it the whole time. That's where I found myself today. And, since the shop is closed, I thought maybe I could work on something fantastic. So, I pulled out my Outlines stamps to see what I could come up with. My friend loves to sew, so I thought something sort of "patchwork" might be nice. I added a little bit of bling with light blue gems by Memory Box. All in all, I thought it was a respectable bit of gratitude. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Simple Elegance

One of my favorite things about the Memory Box line of stamps is there is a stamp for every mood. There are silly stamps and there are elegant stamps and everything in between. Tomorrow's make and take card features one of the new clear stamp sets. This card can truly be used for any occasion, and I think it could be sent to a man or woman. Stop in Thursday any time between 10 and 8 and make one for yourself. The hard part will be deciding who to send it to!

Ink Potion No. 9

If you are of a certain age, you'll be humming along to the name of this new product by Tsukineko: Ink Potion No. 9. This blending solution works with any water soluable medium for making stunning faux watercolor images and washes. Marilynn, our watercolor queen, will be sharing lots of tips and techniques for using this solution during our FREE Learn at Lunch demo tomorrow (Tuesday) from 12-2.

An evening with Impression Obsession

We had a full house and a great time! Poor Mitra (the owner of Impression Obsession rubber stamp company) had a heck of a time getting here from Williamsburg. Her company is scheduled to be in two conventions this weekend - one here at the Dulles Expo Center and one in Florida! So cars were being switched and keys exchanged and in all the craziness, Mitra arrived and completely WOWed us with her techniques. It one point, I just had to interrupt to lead a round of applause. She had tons of brilliant ideas I had never thought of before.


One of her ideas was for inking a stamp with multiple colors. We will often do that with markers, but then you have to stop and color again between every impression. That takes a long time if you're trying to mass produce. She showed us how to make a custom ink pad with the colors we want in it so we can just stamp over and over and over in much less time. Cut n Dry felt is my new best friend! In this photo, Mitra is demonstrating Flower Soft. She brought in a sample of the old fashioned Raggedy Ann doll with the hair Flower Softed in Poppy Red. It was absolutely stunning, and had I not been so enraptured with what she was saying, I would have remembered to get a picture. Sorry about that!




We very much hope to have her back soon. The travel schedule these artists maintain is completely crazy, so it's hard to say when. But, if you see a listing for her return, DO NOT miss it.