Happy 2024!
Hi there!
Another year is behind us, and it seems things are looking up. We haven't had visitors mentioned ithe "C" word in several months! Being that we are in a tourist area, we noticed that we had many more visitors starting mid-year. It is fun to learn where they are from and what their paper crafting resources are in their state or country. People are always excited to be able to touch the paper and see the real colors. That is one of the reasons Melissa, Robin and I are looking forward to the summer show in Las Vegas. We are also participating in a virtual show next week. At least we will be able to see new protucts, but what we really look forward to is touching everything, and especially seeing the real paper colors when we go to Las Vegas. I think we can all agree that seeing the colors on the computer is not the same as seeing them in person! We will be sure to keep you posted on all of the new goodies we see at the virtual show in our February newsletter.
We would like your input on inks. We carry the largest selection of colors from Memento. However their prices have been going up...a lot! We are considering switching over to Hero Arts for our basic inks. This would not effect the specialty inks, such as the distress inks.....just your basic, every-day inks in lots of colors. Do you have any thoughts on this? Are you Memento lovers and would buy them at any cost? Have you tried Hero Arts Inks ? If so, which ones do you prefer? Any comments will help us make this decision.
When you are in the store shopping for colored cardstock, you may notice that some of your tried and true colors are not here. There has been quite a shake-up in the paper industry. Some of the stamp companies are having their own papers made to match their inks. We are seeing some of the less popular paper colors being dropped. We try to carry a good variety of quality papers. This means if, say company X, has a color that is not available elsewhere and we need it to fill out our color selection, we will buy it. It may not mean we will have every company X color, however. It is the same with print paper. We don't always purchase an entire paper release. Instead, we look for new papers that are basic, cute, elegant, seasonal, great colors....and most of all, good quality. A release may be 12 papers, but we may only buy 9 if we they are the best designs and will fit in the best with our other papers. It seems that companies that have large releases often have a few papers that sit on the shelf and we feel they were included just to get to a certain number, not because they were really great! We believe that if, as a paper crafter, you put a lot of time and talent into your work, we should provide the best paper and other products to use in your creations. We are always open to suggestions for styles, companies, products you like or are looking for! It will be especially helpful to have your input before the July show! I will be taking my checkbook with me!
We wish you a Happy, Healthy 2024!
What's New?
ECHO PARK Valentine themed paper. Cute picture of my kitties.... :) Graphic 45 New Ribbons
Cute, huh?? He is getting a lot bigger than she is! Sort of monthly theme! Yummy!
You can see what I mean when I say we like seasonal papers to not be strictly seasonal. The EP Valentine papers,can be used for other than Valentines Day, and of course the backs coordinate but have more simple designs.
I had to sneak the kitty pic in for you. They will be a year old, January 22nd. They have really grown but are still a bit wild and crazy. She does look at the drapes and sometimes puts her front paws on them, but she no longer climbs them.....at least in my presence! They have about 14 names but so far none are sticking! I know, at some point they will have real names.
The Graphic 45 collection is really beautiful. The back sides of the papers (not shown) are gorgeous!!! . They coordinate with the front, and there is one for every month, but I would call them seasonal......they are not specifically for a calendar.
We still have winter papers and stamps, as I mentioned. The polar bear stamps that Kathy is using are quite unique. I don't think I have ever seen life-like polar bears before (check them out on the classes page). We will see new image releases transitioning into spring, Easter, and summer very soon.
We received some amazing new ribbons and twines from Spellbinders. They picked up the vendor, Vivant, which is a european company, and are selling the products to the smaller retailers. We added some colors of the double sided 1/2" satin, the metallic twines, and a very unique narrow "dot" metallic ribbons, as well as a couple of regular twines.They are in the photo above.
We are getting shipments about every ten days or so. Sometimes they are collections directly from a vendor/manufacturer, and other times they are from one of our major distributors. Stop by to see what's new!
We hope to see you soon!
