Only a month to Stamp Escape!
June 2012 |
News Highlights Stamps and Dies Alcohol Inks More Copics Letterpress Bonus Stamp of the Month |
Happy Summer.....
We had such a mild up and down winter, that it hardly seems like summer should be here. Our weather was picture perfect for Stamp Escape and everything went off flawlessly.....well only one minor glitch with the resort but that was nothing unusual! Our teachers were wonderful and everyone commented about what a lovely group of ladies we had. I think everyone will agree that year eleven was the best ever. I am currently working on next year and looking for great teachers. If you missed the weekend this year, you should start saving for next year. I am proud to say that this is a very special event and not to be missed. I want to add a special thanks to our teachers, Alma de la Rosa, Els van de Burgt, Angelica Turner, and Chris Livingston who were fun and fabulous. We are grateful for the support of our special vendors who sent door prizes and the help of our cheerful volunteers who make things run smoothly. Thanks to all. We have been filling lots of special orders from Stamp Escape, but also adding new merchandise along the way. For the first time (since Melissa has the travel bug) The Cat's Meow will be represented at Summer CHA. Melissa will attend on her own in July and will meet up with some of her Tombow friends. She will also be on the look out for the newest treasures for the store. WHAT'S NEW? Traditionally this is a time of year without a lot of new releases, however I am happy to say some of the vendors have suprised us with new stamps and paper. Memory Box has a new release of dies and stamps and I really like some of the clear sets from Penny Black. We are also on auto-ship for all of the newest collections from Authentique. I love the latest two groups, Carefree which features tangerine, the color of the year and Glory in red, blue, and cream. Authentique is a relatively new company that features excellent quality and design. Be sure to take a look at their paper. Of course there are new dies from Cheery Lynn Designs. We added some new flourishes, leaves, doilies and dragonflies. We also have new die sets from Lifestyle Crafts and Spellbinders. Everyone was so excited about the use of alcohol inks on the Shimmer Sheetz at Els class that they bought all I had in stock. This gave me a chance to start fresh so I now carry ALL Ranger Alcohol ink colors in open stock instead of packs of 3. I never really liked the packaging because it was hard to see the colors and if you ran out of one color you had to buy another pack of 3. Robin will be using this technique in her class on June 9th. We refilled our sad looking Copic fixture. It was looking pretty bare which speaks for the popularity of their markers. It is now nice and full and colorful....just waiting for you! If you were interested in Letterpress following the class at Stamp Escape, Chris generously left me the bonus printing plate sets so I can extend the offer of a free set with the purchase of each starter kit. This is a $25 value. Speaking of value, I have a change to tell you about for Stamp of the Month. Since some of months the stamps are in clear sets and cards might be made with stamps from more than one set, it made it hard to kit them. Also cutting the kits took a full day. My latest brainstorm will be tried out for the next few months and we'll hopefully arrive at a good decision about what works best. Starting this Saturday, if you come to class for Stamp of the Month, you can make whatever card you want with the set(s) of your choice. You will receive a 10% discount on any of the stamps featured on the board along with papers you use to make your cards. Of course you will also get instructions for all of the cards on the board. Just a note.....in July we will have a board from Great Impressions instead of Inky Antics! Just want to switch things up now and then.... Yippee...ink is here! We still don't have everything, however inks are starting to arrive. We got the beautiful new colors from Memento, and all of the black pads we had on backorder from everybody in the world arrived at once! We shouldn't run out of black ink any time soon. We are still waiting on Stazon, though. We have lots of orders written and are anxiously awaiting their arrival. Check in to see what's new......the air conditioner will be on! HOT TIP!
If you are still having difficulty cutting detailed dies, don't despair. One of the first things to try is running them through once and then without removing paper from the die, give it a quarter turn and run it through again. Also, try the Cuttlehug....the metal shim. We have them in stock and they make a big difference. Are the plastic plates in your sandwich warped? Invest in some new ones. For the Cuttlebug, the B plates come in a pair and the C plate comes separately. They are a good investment.....will soothe frayed nerves!
Be sure to visit our website to check out the class schedule! See the link below? |