Friday, June 26, 2009

What we have been up to lately

So, last weekend we had Angela Moen, from the Button Farm, http://thebuttonfarm.com/blog/ here to teach three classes. She is a terrific teacher and a great designer. The classes were filled. We will be having Angela back the first weekend in December to teach three Holiday classes.


We have had these very cool magnet boards in the store for a while so I decided to make up a sample. Dimensions are 14 x 20 inches, and it comes with three wood-covered magnets. See the photo below.
I used Claudine Helmuth's Studio Paint as a base, added Ranger Dimensional Pearls, in bright colors. After that dried I then rubbed Vintage Photo Distress ink all over and wiped most of it off. This softened the brightness while keeping the color scheme. Stamping was done in assorted Stazon ink colors. (The metal piece comes out for all this painting.) I added ribbon along the side of the metal backing before I put it back in. We also sell the assorted magnetized pieces that are attached, and I made a few magnets by gluing (Zip Dry) some of Tim Holtz' Ideology keys to small round magnets. I sprayed Grungeboard letters with Maya Road Mists, attached them to spell the store name, and added some Ideology gears and spinner arrows along the right side...again-Zip Dry.
Use your imagination...this can be done in any style. I will, of course, make one up as an Advent calendar, and year-round calendar for my house.



In honor of my actually returning to blogging, I am doing a Give-AWAY!! Leave me a message on the blog about what kind of class you would like to see us offer, and we will choose an entry randomly. The prize is the first Tim Holtz video DVD. We will announce the name of the winner and then you can send us your address and we will mail it to you or you can come in to pick it up. I would really love to hear what techniques or paper companies you would like to work with. I will give you five days to respond. I will make the random drawing at noon on Wednesday, July 1. If you live too far away to attend a class, we will happily accept your entry of a great class idea.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Back from Ranger U

I'll be on the infamous NJ Turnpike for a lot of the day tomorrow as I head north and home...I had a great time and really did learn a lot from the three great teachers at Ranger U...Tim Holtz, Claudine Helmuth, and Suze Weinberg. Some of the techniques we covered dealt with melt art and the melting pot, Perfect Pearls, Distres inks, Distress Stickles, all the Adirondack products, the new alcohol inks, sticky back canvas and Claudine's new acrylic paint and mediums, paint dabbers, pigment inks ...lots to have fun with...so, I am ready to start planing some great classes and kits. Stay tuned...

We've got Michael deMeng coming into town to teach here this weekend--very exciting...

I will be posting some info about our Woodstock-like event (without the rain or the music) which will take place when Ted Cutts and his travelling road show, Stampers Anonymous Trunk Show & Festival comes to town. I will be speaking with Ted this week to firm up the plans...I do know there will be lots of demos...This event will be happening here over the weekend of July 17-20...

More info to come...