Hi there!

Here we are already in the second month of the new year! Our hope is this year will be great for all of our Cat's Meow friends. We have been hearing from many of you and it is always so much fun to catch up. We have had a lot of questions about Stamp Escape so I thought I would fill you in. We are set to go for April 22, 23, and 24. We will be making a few changes, but for those who have attended before, the basic schedule will remain the same. Our teachers are Els from Elizabeth Craft Design who will be teaching a mini-book. Anna Wight who designs dies for Art Impressions, and stamps for Whipper Snapper will be using her images for cards. Lori Craig with Global Creative, Inc. will use images from Taylored Expressions (she also designs for them) and Karin Markers. Julie Kelly's class will feature PinkFresh images from their large spring release. We think the teachers will offer a variety of styles and techniques so there will be at least one favorite for everyone. 

We especially want to thank all of our attendees who have stuck it out over the last two years. We have missed seeing everyone annually and can't wait to get together in April. As you probably know we do keep a waiting list...just in case! If you would like to be on the list, please email or call us (559-642-6611) so we can notify you if there is an opening. If you are attending and did not get an email with contact information for The Pines to make sure your room reservation is up to date, let me know and I will put you in touch with the right person. 

As we mentioned last month (I think) we are looking for new vendors. We just put together an order for Colorado Craft Company. They are not a new company, but new to us. We think they have some of the cutest whimsical images we have ever seen. We can't wait to get our first order, and Robin is already planning a class! You might have seen images by Anita Jeram, and they have a new artist, Kris Lauren. We can't wait to receive their adorable images! If you have a company you would like to have us check out, feel free to shoot us an email!

So many of our customers have kept track of the (slow) progress of the animal shelter that is being built in our area. As you know I have been extremely involved in the project from the very beginning. We have had some rough patches over the years......couldn't find property with appropriate zoning, got the property but had major issues with CalTrans, costs escalated so funding (all private) took longer than we would have liked....so now we are putting the finishing touches on what has turned out to be a $4,300,000 facility that has been entirely built with donations. As we get closer to completion, every day is crazier than the last. We are so excited for this wonderful facility to be open so we can serve the needy animals in our area. As planning or lack of planning would go, the Eastern Madera County Animal Care and Adoption Center should open around the time of Stamp Escape......now won't that be fun! So this is my warning and my excuse.....I may be crazier than usual with two major events at once. Please pray for me!  :)

With our shipments coming in a little quicker.....can you believe FedEx brought one today that was scheduled for tomorrow, we hope to be able to provide better service for our special orders. We will be participating in a virtual show at the end of this month so we should have lots of updates in the next newsletter. Be sure to check out What's New and follow us on Facebook. Don't forget to look at the classes for February, too.

See you soon,


                                                                             WHAT'S NEW?

You may have been hearing a lot about a cardstock from Hammermill that works great with foiling machines. We sell the Spellbinders Glimmer machine and really do notice a difference in how foiling works on different papers. We purchased the Hammermill in reams and have packaged it for you in packs of twenty-five. If you are in love with foiling, be sure to try it out. We also just received more stock of the Aura Foil from Spellbinders. It is really beautiful and works very well. We do know that some foils, even some colors of foils are more trouble-free than others. If you are new to foiling and want to be successful, try the gold foils first until you get the hang of it. 

We have two of the new Graphic 45 collections pre-ordered. Of course, we loved the Sunflowers and Bees.... and the Cottage Garden. Since we pre-ordered we should be getting our order any day.

We have so many people who like kraft cardstock. We do have a favorite and it is in transit as I write...... I must admit, I was in a funky mood at Christmas so my Christmas cards were black and kraft with snowflakes in white, black, and silver.....not traditional but I am the reason we ran out of kraft cardstock. 

If you have gotten into stenciling, you may want to check out the new stencil storage from Taylored Expressions. We have their 6x6 and slimline storage systems on the way. As always, Taylor puts a lot of thought into her products and we think these are a great way to keep stencils in good condition and easy to locate. 

We had an interesting accident a few weeks ago. Melissa was re-ordering the Craft Consortium Inkdrops 6x6 paper pads. When the box arrived, the pads were 12x12! We hadn't noticed they came in 12x12, but they were beautiful! And they were also a great price...$14.49! They started selling right away, so we were glad we had them. Melissa happened to be watching a live video where the paper was being used and one of the people watching commented about the price the company being represented in the video was charging being too high. Sure enough, we checked and they were charging $24.99. The person doing the video answered by saying pricing is sometimes determined by availability, how much stock is on hand, and other factors. Really?? The first thing we did was check our invoice to make sure we had not made a mistake....and no, we had not. We were charging the correct price! It just goes to show that the big guys may not always give the best deal. Kind of sad :(