Barbara Gerson will Teach Breakfast Club on September 11

Barbara has made a number of samples that you will use to Springboard off of during the Tuesday,September 11,Breakfast Club. Breakfast Club is $13 and you will make 2 cards and you choice of bookmark. She will be teaching the technique of coloring directly on the stamps with water-based markers, to create a very neat collage effect with the coordinating stamps.Bring stipple brushes if you have them. We will supply some for shared use.

A Stamp in the Hand Classes-with the very talented Patti

These are the four cards you will make in Patti's "A Stamp in the Hand Card Class." The class will be held on Saturday, September 15, from 1-4 pm. It will also be presented again on Sunday, October 14, from 1-4 pm. Cost is $25. Pre-registration is required. Patti's classes usually have a waiting list, so I encourage you to jump all over this one.

Distress Crackle Paint

Patti and I (Kate) will be in the store all day Saturday, this weekend, September 1, and we will be playing with lots of the colors of the new Distress Crackle Paint. As far as I know, we are the only store with a supply of these paints anywhere at all. Ranger was kind enough to be very supportive during our recent series of Tim Holtz classes. Consequently, we have a good supply left of all the colors. We have some tricks and tips from Tim to pass on to you, so you will be succefssful in your initial attempts. These pictures show the tiles with the paint having just crackled (it is a one step process...paint it on--it crackles) and before any Distress Inks were added, which enhances the effect immeasurably.

The Artgirlz, Traci and Allison Stilwell, will be visiting us here at the store next week. On Friday evening, September 7, they will teach us how to make art dolls in the "Three Girlz" class. These girlz can be made into pins, or used as elements in artwork, ATCs, or altered books. Saturday morning, September 8, is the Christmas Elf/Girl/Person, and Saturday Afternoon is the great charm bracelet, that I, personally, will turn into a necklace...we will show you how to do this if you are interested. Both Traci and Allison are extremely creative, and quite a bit of their line of charms, felt balls, kits, and rubber stamps will be available for viewing and purchase and we will be able to ask them for tips, ideas, and pointers in using all their materials.

Tuesday, September 4, Breakfast Club

These are two samples of the cards you will be creating in Terri's Halloween Layered card class on Tuesday, September 4, which begins at 10 am. Check the calendar for other info about the class. Terri is also presenting this class in an expanded form, making four cards, on Sunday, September 16th, from 12:30-3:30 pm. Cost of that class is $20.

Thursday, August 30th

Hello again. Wow, this blog thing is very new to me. Today, I will update you on the latest arrivals here at the store. I will continue to mention new items in the weekly e-mail, but there will be a more expanded description at this site.

American Crafts has new rub-ons, stored in that very cool matchbook style folder. These rub-ons come in a birthday style as well as two new Christmas designs. They also have these very different "jars" of leather-looking (but really vinyl) shapes in Christmas colors and styles.

We have received some great Christmas jingle bells, angel images in a garland form, small ornament-shaped boxes...and I am busy incorporating these and lots more into my Christmas-Album-in-a-Day Class.

New Books Just in...here are a few book reviews from yours truly. The first book is called "100 Great Ways to Use Rubber Stamps." Initially, I thought this would be a good "beginner" book. Now, having read it, I am convinced that we will all benefit from it. Beginners will learn a ton, but advanced stampers will be very motivated by the wide range of techniques included. Some of the chapters are: Stitching, bleach, collage, fabric stamping, acetate & glass, polymer clay, and so much more.

The next book is brand new and put out by a group of young women who have a website that "dares" scrapbookers to try new things. So, this book is very edgy and the styles are very contemporary. The bok is called "We Dare You" and the chapters are titled: the good, the bad, the ugly, the silly wacky funny, the random and the best. This book will definitely take you outside of your current style, and provide lots of new ideas to try.

The third book is called "Living the Creative Life" with a subtitle of "ideas and inspirations from working artists. (I am aware that, in writing, book titles get underlined, but I cannot make the computer do that in this blogplace...perhaps I will learn.) Rice Freeman Zachary is the author and has compiled sections filled with answers to "art" questions..."what is creativity," "how to keep journals, sketchbooks, etc," "opening your eyes to inspiration," and more. Both Michael deMeng and Claudine Hellmuth are featured along with many other artists. There are "tips" and "try this" sections throughout the book. It looks like a great resource to me. Come in and take a look.

We did get a bit of the Abby & Jack line from the Love, Elsie designs from KI Memories. More is due in any day now.

There are lovely new Halloween and Christmas ribbons recently in from both May Arts and Imaginisce.

Your First Look

Here it is, the unveiling of the AbsolutelyEverything Blog. Welcome. This will updated every now and then, and if there is something crucial in it I will let you know in the e mail weekly newsletter. But apparently I can post pictures here more efficiently.

We just had a demo today with Irina Kitaeva, who showed us lots of transfers onto bamboo tiles and dominoes with Omnigel, along with other jewelry tips. Irina drove down from the Bethel Maine area and she will be back to teach some of her fantastic books with transfers, along with jewelry. She has a great class with a piece of beveled glass, surrounded by strung seed beads, It strikes me that Irina is quite talented and we are very glad she is staying on the east coast!

We also had an A Muse class today...as usual, Jenn Shurkus was great...she will be back, too.

Check out my weekly e mail newsletter (go to the website(www.absolutelyeverything.com,)find the "news" page and find the newsletter for August 26. It will have pictures of the three classes that Tracy & Allison Stilwell, the Artgirlz,are doing here on Friday & Saturday, September 7 & 8.