I don’t know where I’m going to put it.



I don’t know what I’m going to put in it.





I just know that I’m in love.



So much so that it may need to come home with me???

I don’t know about you, but when someone gives me something - especially when it’s for no other reason than to be nice - it makes me giddy.

This morning, a lovely and talented regular customer, Ann, brought me this and I practically fell over.



You may recognize this box from the Candy Box class that Rose offered not long ago.

As if the box itself weren’t wonderful enough, it is actually filled with chocolate.



Custom-wrapped chocolates, snug in their cozy box.



And when I give in and break my promise to myself not to eat these treats, guess what?



I still have this beautiful box to keep forever. Thank you so much, Ann!





HOW TO:

Making the box itself is a little tricky and would best be explained by Rose in her class.
Watch for new sessions on our WORKSHOPS page.

To decorate the front of the box, Ann used one of our La Blanche stamps.

She colored directly on the stamp with our stamp markers.

Then (and this is the really special part), she lightly sprayed the paper with water and then applied the design.

Voila! Delicate, exquisite watercolor effect.

This is really kind of a brilliant idea from fiks*d.



The only ingredients are

1. regular double-sided tape
2. tissue paper (or how about some of that beautifully patterned Décopatch tissue we have?).

Of course I haven’t tried it yet myself (I run a store, remember?).

But if you do, would you please bring it in and show us??

I am loving Knit Night more than ever right now.



We’re just having lots of fun and everyone’s making tons of progress.










And please don’t forget: beginners are more than welcome!

If you have never even held a pair of knitting needles in your hands, Knit Night is for you.

Here’s a new website worth checking out.



From their homepage:

“We’re a community of people who love to make things - learning from, inspiring and helping one another.”

I signed up for free (just an email and a password were required) and then was able to browse the site.

The ONLINE CLASSES section distinguishes this site from other crafty venues. And while they offer just over 20 classes right now, and they do charge (around $30) to download a class, I imagine that their class list will grow quickly. And after you download a class, it never expires, so you can refer to it over and over again.

The Fab Felt class...



...and the Paper Arts class both appealed to me.



The PROJECTS section is searchable by type of craft (jewelry, knitting, paper crafts, gardening), item (accessory, decor, clothing...), style (whimsical, traditional, cute...) and by pattern (free pattern, pattern offered by designer...). I especially like the “style” search term. I hadn’t seen that before.

Craftsy also maintains a BLOG as well as a DEALS section that offers specials on some crafts supplies.

All in all, it’s worth a look.

It will be interesting to see how this site develops.

And clearly that will be a function of those who decide to participate. I’m hoping it takes off and becomes a rich resource for us crafters.

I’m a really lucky boss. I feel it every day, but today I took pictures of some of the evidence.

For instance,

I asked Lauren if she would “restock and straighten” the crepe paper.

I got this.



A crepe paper symphony.

“Could you make the yarn shelves look pretty?” I asked Andrea this morning.

Here’s what she came up with.



Not pretty. Gorgeous.

And when I asked Heidi to fill up the new fat quarters cabinet and told her nothing more than, “You know how I want it,” she said, “Yep, no problem.” and wowed me with this:



So lucky.

We are in the process of boosting up our art paper supply.



To serve the greatest number of our customers,
I approached the matter in a pseudo-scientific manner.



I scoured the internet for art class listings (with particular focus on the Bay Area) and printed out as many art supplies lists as possible.



Next, I sat down with a hearty supply of coffee and reviewed the lists.
I noted the items that showed up over and over.



Then I simply went ahead and ordered the most commonly required paper (and sizes of paper).

All that’s left to do is to price and stock.




Could someone please ask the high school to give less homework so I can get some of my wonderful girls in here to help me? Sigh.