We're Back

We got back from our holiday on Friday afternoon. We unloaded the car and then went to get Rafe.

While away the weather we had was cold for the first couple of days but then turned quite mild and we hardly had any rain. We didn't manage much cycling but we did see the Dick Whittington Panto, visited Santa, went to a carol concert plus many other things. After Christmas dinner we walked back to the villa and passed by the beach where we stopped to play for a little while.

Watching the singing reindeer.
We have a double buggy that we used at Center Parcs. It also attaches onto the back of a bicycle as a trailer, we find this invaluable at CP as we do quite a bit of walking and the children get tired. Whenever we use it we get stopped by people wanting to know where we got it from - it came from Germany via that well known auction website.

This is Bailey admiring Jo's Christmas Tree. He managed not to pull anything off the tree, in fact this year he has been remarkably well behaved around Christmas Trees.
We had a great time away and the good thing about being away is that I can't work. If we had stayed at home I would have been working on the website or popped into the shop.

At Stamp Addicts the sale started yesterday and will continue on Wednesday through to next Saturday. More products will be added to the half price room as the week progresses so it might worth coming back next week.

Goodies

We received our delivery from LA today. As you can see we always get excited when we get deliveries and dive right into the boxes. One of the boxes from Printworks had goodies in - yum yum!
This shipment included deliveries from JudiKins, A Stamp In The Hand, DeNami Design, Inspired Crafts (EZ Tool Cleaner)and the new issue of Scrapbooks etc. Tomorrow's delivery includes Grungeboard - yeah!

Tim Holtz Blog

Have you seen Tim's blog?
He has just finished the 12 Tags of Christmas. Each tag uses different techniques and products so make sure you check it out. The girls in the shop have been making them and we have a few on display in the shop.

Fingers crossed the Grungeboard will be back in stock tomorrow, we've had all kinds of delays on flights from the US this week, apparently mail is more important than our products! Also arriving is the new issue of Scrapbooks etc.

Currently I am still at work as this is our last staff crop of the year. I haven't attempted any scrapbooking this evening. Instead I decided to use this time to go through all the scrapbooking and crafting magazines that I collected at the trade show in July, as I will be collecting more when we travel back to Anaheim in February. They are a little out of date but still have good ideas for events and classes that we can host in store.

Julie is still working on her 'Book of Boris' scrapbook and I think Vicky is still working on the VAT return. There is currently only 3 of us at the staff crop and only 1 actually scrapbooking - next year I will try not to get distracted with other things.

Martin and the kids are going to Center Parcs on Friday but Jo and I have to follow on Saturday as we are dropping Rafe off at Sue's for Christmas. Martin has packed for him and the kids and the presents are wrapped and boxed ready, now I need to pack, I suppose I could always do that Friday night after they've left.
We had already booked this holiday before we got Rafe and when I called them they had no dog villas available so he can't come with us. Martin probably won't be able to stay in a dog friendly villa anyway, due to his allergy to other dogs. So I guess we might have to stay at home for Christmas in future. As long as I don't have to cook we'll be alright.

JudiKins

Sorry I've not blogged for a while. We had Rob & Judi from JudiKins staying with us, they arrived last Thursday and left yesterday morning.

We spent Friday in the office going over new designs and ideas and working on new TV shows for next year, we managed to accomplish quite a lot so there will be lots of new stamps for you in the coming months.

On Saturday we took them to Regent Street to see the Christmas lights, they were a little disappointing this year. We wondered around the shops and then we made the mistake of going into Hamleys. It was heaving with bodies. We finally managed to get the lift to the top floor and we worked our way down via the stairs (which are decorated like Narnia - really cool!) I managed to buy a couple of presents I needed for Bailey before we high-tailed it out of there but getting out was almost as hard as getting in. Whenever I have visited Hamleys in the past it has always been busy but I've never seen it this busy.

We had a lovely relaxing Sunday morning and then after lunch we visited Vicky in her new house. Later that evening we also visited a friend who has the most amazing Christmas tree. I was really really bad and didn't take a single photo during their whole trip. I am waiting for Rob to send me a copy of his photos and then I will post some up for you.

Judi and I stayed up every night until at least midnight gossipping and catching up, I'm not used to such late nights so hopefully I can catch up on some sleep this week before we go away for Christmas.

We are due a delivery from the US either today or tomorrow so I will be back on and let you know what arrives.

Design Team Layouts Dec 07

This is the first lot of layouts from our new Scrapbooking Design Team.

Christmas Shopping Evening

We have decided to hold a Christmas Shopping Evening, great for those of you who work full time and don't often get the chance to pop in and see us or if you want to send along your significant other with your wish list we will be more than happy to help them shop and find you just what you want for Christmas. We even offer Gift Vouchers.

We want to make it a festive evening so we will have mince pies and mulled wine as well as Christmas music playing. This week we are sending out postcards to all members telling you about the evening and if you bring your postcard you will be able to claim your free gift.

We will also have a demonstrator in store to show you the delights of the Quickutz Squeeze and Revolution - all Quickutz products will be on a special offer for the evening.

Our Christmas Shopping Evening is on Wednesday 12th December from 4pm until 8pm.

We hope you can come and join us.

Back in stock

We finally have the Scraparatus and the Picture It Pageframes back in stock. Our freight company lost the box with the Scraparatus in and it took them nearly a month to find it, but now we have it.

Also just in are the new Scor-It mini boards which are just fabulous, I will get these posted up on Stamp Addicts very soon..

Do you like my slideshow of the fashion show, it took me a while to figure it out but I got there in the end. I have also just read I can now post videos on my blog so maybe I could video someone using the Scor-it board and post it up here for you to see!

I'm taking the day off work Friday to go shopping in Milton Keynes, I've been buying the odd present or 2 over the last couple of weeks but I am hoping to get all my Christmas shopping finished this Friday so I don't have to venture back into the crowds again this year.
But I do seem to be coming down with a stinking cold so probably won't enjoy Friday as much as normal, fingers crossed for a sneeze-free day.

When I get back I will fill you in on our Christmas Shopping Evening at Stamp Addicts.

Don't forget to watch Judi's new webisode this week on CraftTvWeekly.

Fashion Show 2007

Hobbycrafts Fashion Show

If you missed us at the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC a couple of weeks ago here are a couple of photos of our outfit that was in the fashion show.

Jo and Vicky toiled for hours over the dress and I helped where possible but my many skills don't extend to needlework. And of course the tags made by the customers during our Craft In Pink weekend - this all went towards helping us raise £1295 for Breast Cancer Care.

The bodice and the hat are covered with petals which are glued on. The skirt is covered with all the handmade tags. This used to be my wedding dress before we cut off the sleeves and took up the skirt at the front. As I couldn't find my original underskirt we made a new one with pink netting.

We probably won't know if the dress won in its category until February, fingers crossed!

Bind It Project

Lesley created this book using envelopes. The book has been covered with Basic Grey papers and the front of the book has been stamped with a Tim Holtz stamp, the envelopes have also been stamped and inked around the edges for that aged look.

Have you had a look at our Design Team Gallery for cardmaking yet? The majority of the first batch are up there now and the scrapbooking layouts will follow hopefully later this week.

Bind It Projects

Pretty stuff
This is a couple of the projects Vicky made for the BIA class. Unfortunately they didn't have time to make the Christmas decorations and only one class got to make the book, which is made from cardboard. But they did complete several projects including a CD Holder with a velvet spine.

Grungeboard

I've just received an email from Advantus in the USA, they are shipping our Grungeboard, fingers crossed it makes it to the airport this week so we will receive in on Monday.

But, it is Thanksgiving in the US this week so if it is anything like Christmas for us, nothing will happen until next week.

We didn't order lots of the Grungeboard because we weren't sure exactly what is was for when we saw it in July, but now we know we wished we had ordered more. The alphabets are going to be around £15.50 but you do get 26 sheets so it is good value. From what I have seen this is really good to work with and we will soon be wondering how we ever managed without it.

Snow!!!!!

I couldn't believe it when we looked out last night and our cars were covered in snow. I don't pay much attention to the weather report so I had no idea there was even a chance of snow.
Luckily it was short lived and it warmed up today but I hear the odds have dramatically shortened against a white Christmas.
We are spending our Christmas at Center Parcs again this year, like we have for the last few. We always used to spend Christmas Day at my parents' house but now they are no longer around it feels strange to stay at home - and I can't cook so it is definitely better to eat out.

So I wouldn't mind a white Christmas but I would prefer it not to start this early, especially as my friends in California are taking great delight in telling me they are wearing shorts and driving their cars with the roof down - I think I could adjust to life in California.

Christmas aside, nothing terribly exciting has happened at Stamp Addicts recently. The weekend just gone was our Bind It All workshops which were great fun. We included a little acetate book but as we didn't ask people to bring photos we supplied them of us and the shop so they could make a book of 'My fave Stamp Store'.

This Friday and Saturday we have Kay Carley teaching 2 different workshops, details on the website.

You may have seen our adverts at the moment advertising our sale. This starts on the Saturday after Christmas and then continues in the New Year. Everything in the store will be in the sale but other than that I cannot give you any specifics.

Do you think we should hold a Christmas Shopping Evening in December? I went to one at Boots on Wednesday, they supplied biscuits and Mulled Wine and extra points - now while I can't offer you extra Boots points I am sure we can think of something!

Home Safe

We made it home from the NEC in one piece. Thursday and Friday was fairly quiet at the show but the weekend was packed so if you are planning to visit next year go for the weekdays if you can.
The bonus with the Autumn show is the Crafts for Christmas hall next door - I usually manage to get a couple of Christmas presents in there, including one for myself!
Our dress made it through 13 fashion shows and only 3 of the 156 tags fell off. I think that is pretty good going. We won't know the results of the voting until February but if you were there I hope you voted for us.

Last week the new Sassafrass Lass stamps and papers arrived but our web guy has flu so they haven't made it onto the website yet, fingers crossed he makes a speedy recovery.
Arrived this week we had a consignment of Bind It All Tote bags so if you have been waiting for one of these it was despatched on Tuesday.

The girls in the shop have been preparing for the Bind It All workshops this Friday and Saturday and they have come up with some fab new ideas, I'll put photos in the gallery after the weekend.

Next weekend we have Kay Carley teaching different classes on Friday and Saturday, more details on Stamp Addicts and you can also book online.

I've just looked out the window and everything is all frosty but the sun is shining so hopefully it will be gone soon.

Gallery

We have received most of the cards from our DT, so far I only have only managed to put a couple up on the Stamp Addicts Gallery but I promise to get the rest up there next week.
If you are coming to the NEC you will be able to see quite a few of them on our artboards.
All the cards are fantastic and I would like to say a big Thank You to the DT as I only gave them about a week and a half to get it all done.

Well the day has come for the NEC, we will spend all day today setting up ready for tomorrow, as always it feels like we have forgotten something and we usually have, but as long as it is nothing too important I'm sure we will manage.

Our delivery from Los Angeles usually arrives on Tuesdays but because of a computer problem it will only be arriving after we have left. I do know in the delivery is the new Sassafrass Lass Owl stamps and new papers, I love these new owl stamps so will probably have to keep some for myself, hopefully we will still have some by the time I get back from the NEC. I don't think there is anything else terribly exciting in the delivery apart from the Ribbon Tree - you will just have to wait and see.
I'm going to go and finish packing my suitcase and then we're off to the warm and sunny climes of Birmingham!

The NEC is approaching

Now most of our thoughts have turned to the Hobbycrafts at the NEC next week. This is our biggest show of the year so it take a lot of preparation.

But before we could get started yesterday we finally had a delivery of the new heat gun that looks like a hairdryer - the Heat Buddy. This has been a very long awaited delivery and many times we doubted it would ever happen but they have finally arrived and, would you believe it, they are LILAC! Whoohoo!
If you had one on backorder it was despatched yesterday so you should receive it before the weekend.

We are waiting on the first lot of cards arriving from our new Design Team and we will be taking these to the NEC, if I get chance to put them up here or on our new Gallery before we go I will let you know, but things get manic in the build up to the show - we leave on Wednesday morning to set up at the NEC because it take all day to get ready before the show opens on Thursday.

Before I sign off today I should say a big thank you to Lyndsey from Kuretake. She was in our store on Saturday demonstrating some of the Zig pens - Calligraphy, Brushables, Dottariffic. She is a brilliant calligrapher and artist and we would love for her to come back and teach a class on writing techniques - I know I don't like journalling on my layouts because I don't like my handwriting. If you would be interested in this class drop me a line and I will organise it.

Time for work!

New Stuff Arrived

On Tuesday while I was getting my fill of Me time we received a delivery from the USA. It included all the new Ranger Distress Crackle paints, Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding papers and Crafters Workshop doodle templates. Ooooh I almost forgot we also received the new colours of Stickles Glitter Glue, I think there are 4.

I am loving these templates, I can't wait until our next crop so I can play with some of them. The only problem is going to be choosing which ones.

These templates haven't made it onto our website yet but the Crackle Paint and Figgy Pudding have.

In this delivery we also received some more Bind It All Tool Kits, the tote bags should be with us next Tuesday.

I think that was pretty much it for new stuff this week so fingers crossed for more next week.

Champneys Health Resort

I was lucky enough to spend the day at Henlow Grange on Tuesday with a friend. This was the first time for both of us. We had to book this day months in advance so we could both clear our schedules and do nothing but relax for the day.

On arrival we were issued with our robes, lockers and our treatment schedules. We took the guided tour as we didn't want to miss out on anything. What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that we could join in upto 20 classes ranging from spin and indoor cycling to pilates and yoga. Unfortunately I didn't bring the right attire for an exercise class - oh what a shame!

My aim for the day was to relax. So we hit the swimming pool first, a 25m pool with a jacuzzi. We were impressed with the decor and the details, yes there were a small few areas on the ceiling that could use a little tlc but on the whole we were very impressed. After our feeble attempts at swimming a few lengths we moved onto the jacuzzi swiftly followed by the steam room. If you have never experienced a steam room it can be quite daunting at first, walking into a room where you can't see much and the extreme heat it takes a couple of minutes to relax and enjoy. But once you start relaxing in there you don't want to leave.

After leaving a steam room you are supposed to go for the cold shower to cool down your body temperature. I did go for the cold shower but wasn't brave enough to stand underneath it, I stood to the side and splashed myself with the cold water.

We repeated the above cycle a couple of times before we had to leave the pool area and head off for our massage and facial. These were followed by a lunch that was far too healthy but quite tasty.

After lunch we relaxed overlooking the pool until we felt ready for another steam session - I could easily get addicted to this.

We both had a manicure and pedicure and then we sat in the conservatory while our nails dried. From the conservatory you can see some of the beautiful grounds and hear people playing tennis.

We have decided that it is absolutely necessary, for our own sanity, that we do this at least once a year, preferably with a couple of nights included just to ensure that we do completely relax before we return to our hectic lives.

I think top of my Christmas List will be - vouchers to a health resort please.

Saturday with Graham - What a scream!

Well, if you didn't make it into our store on Saturday you missed out. Graham Hansford was in store demonstrating his embossing board. We thoroughly enjoyed Graham's company for the day so much so that we have invited him to join us at the HobbyCrafts show at the NEC on Sunday 11th November, so if you missed Graham on Saturday you have another opportunity to come and see him in a couple of weeks - I promise you won't be disappointed.
If you have ever met Graham you will know how much fun he is, and if you came in on Saturday we hope you enjoyed the demonstration.

This Saturday (27th October) we have another demonstration. We have Lyndsey from Kuretake who is going to show us wonderful techniques and ideas with the Zig range of pens i.e. Calligraphy, Brushables, Dott-a-riffic, etc - Hope you can joins us.

P.S. We will also be in Halloween outfits this Saturday.

Tequni-Fun Friday

Last Friday we held our first technique filled class - Tequni-Fun Friday.

They started the day playing with the new Ranger Crackle Paint, followed by a Gingerbread man Christmas card - all taught by Vicky.
Then Julie took over the class to teach them how to make this ATC book using the Bind It All and magnetic snaps.
Finally, Lesley spent a couple of hours with them in a Mixed Media session using dabbers and H20s on canvas and creating the Ribbon box using alcohol inks.
Everybody seemed to have a great time although they weren't to keen to get their hands dirty (as you can see from the surgical gloves!).






We hope to be hosting another day like this in January.

Saturday

If you have watched our 'Wings' TV show on Create & Craft then you will have seen Graham's Embossing Board. We have persuaded Graham Hansford to come to our store on Saturday and demonstrate his board for us along with the punches that match the board and some stamps. Hopefully you will be able to come along to the shop and see for yourself how versatile this board is and how much fun Graham can make it.

If you have been on to our website recently you might have noticed all the products we have been adding, we are also adding as much information as we can about the different products.

Some products even have a video clip for you to watch like the Zutter Dreamkuts machine, this gives you a good idea about how the machine works before you decide to buy.

We are continually striving to improve our website and hope that now you are finding it more user friendly.

Congratulations

Well, congratulations to those of you that made it on to one of our Design Teams. We were overwhelmed with the huge response that we received, which is why it took us longer than anticipated to decide.

If you didn't make it onto one of our teams this time please try again next time. The quality of artwork that we received was extremely impressive.

Now I just have to get my act together and send out products to our new DT members, I am also trying to think ahead to the NEC which is less than 4 weeks away. Now is the time I need to be ordering products to make sure they arrive in time.

I do believe the new Tim Holtz Crackle Paint will be arriving on Tuesday. For those of you that have used crackle paint in the past you will find this so much easier. All you do is paint on and leave to dry (it even has a brush attached inside the lid) once cracks start to appear you can then heat with a heat gun to speed up drying time. The thicker you paint it on the bigger the cracks. It comes in all the same colours as the Distress Inkpads.

There are still several other items we are waiting on that we ordered at the trade show in July, hopefully we will receive them before Christmas!

Fingers Crossed!

Design Team

We have decided on our Scrapbook Design Team and I will post the details in the 'News' section on our website tomorrow.
We are down to the final 10 on the cardmaking DT so we will post these results in the next day or two.

We are going to set up a customer gallery on our website so if you would like to have your work shown please send it to us for consideration - these cards must be made with stamps purchased from Stamp Addicts.

Good luck

New York

I'm back. We had an amazing time, it was just the two of us wandering around New York for 3 whole days, I would most definitely go back again.

Below are some of the photos I took, I was quite conservative I only took 160 photos.

These are called Brownstones, like in Sex & The City. Apparently a Brownstone is a house with a stoop (steps) at the front and they are not all brown. They lie mainly in the southside of Manhattan, in the village 'Greenwich' or 'East' I can't remember which.
We bought a pass to the open top bus tours which are hop on hop off so we could get off and wander around different neighbourhoods.

This is one of the views from the Empire State Building. We hired one of the audio tours which was very informative and told us about all the different buildings, although we couldn't see everything as we choose to go at night. The queue was relatively short at only 90 minutes to get in but well worth it for the view from the 86th floor.
It was a little bit windy all the way up there but if we get the chance to go back to New York we will have to go up there during daylight.


This is Grand Central Station - why don't we have train stations that look like this?
It was enormous and beautiful. There was even a food concourse with about a dozen different eateries. The majority of the place looks like it is constructed from marble. We couldn't see the building from the outside as it is hidden under the skyscrapers.

On our first day our first stop was Times Square, it was a bit misty to start with but the sun soon came burning through. We had temperatures in the 90s which is unusual for New York at this time of year. The thunderstorms were due to start yesterday after we left. Whilst we were in Times Square so was JLo, we could hear her singing but couldn't see her through the crowds. We also saw the Pussycat Dolls down a side street early one morning - I say early but can you believe the shops do not open before 10am on a Saturday! We were wandering around for ages waiting for everything to open, but then they are open until 10pm.
It is nice to see they have a sense of humour amidst all the chaos that is New York.

I would definitely recommend it as a place to visit but without children under the age of 10. I know there is too much walking involved for my kids, lots of sightseeing, shopping and people watching - not favourite activities for my kids.

Mary Jo's DVD

We were exhibiting at Alexandra Palace this weekend so I took my laptop along so I could check my emails, etc from the hotel. Unfortunately in this particular hotel internet access was not included, in fact it costs £15 per day - as you can imagine I didn't get hooked up, as much as I wanted to check my emails and surf the web I could wait 2 days until I got home.
So we had no internet access but we did have some new DVDs. The one we watched was Exploring Art Materials by MaryJo McGraw, obviously you can find this on our website.
So many instructional DVDs that I have seen in the past I am sitting there thinking 'just hurry up and get on with it, I don't need to watch you cut a piece of paper!'. But this was one was far more informative. It covers quite a few products I have heard of but never been brave enough to use or didn't understand quite how they work.
One of these is Gesso, MaryJo covers Gesso, Acrylic Paints, Gel Mediums and Beeswax plus others. There are explanations for each product and then several projects that you can complete. And yes, there were one or two moments that I thought 'just hurry up and get on with it' but on the whole I learnt quite a lot from it.

But my favourite part is always the Bloopers.

I think we should start a 'Get MaryJo to England' campaign - what do you think?

On a different note, I have managed to get my hands on the new Blonde Moments papers but we are not allowed to put them up on the website until next week so if you want them you will have to come into the store or give us a call.

We had a delivery of the new Luxe Desigs papers today, they are already up on the website and hopefully tomorrow we can get the HOTP decorated Christmas brads and Really Big Brads on there too.

If you've been on the website recently you will see we've added 7Gypsies stuff, we've had it in store for a while but only just managed to get it online. We are slowly working our way around the shop to get everything online, but as you can imagine this is quite a slow process.

Have a good evening.

Photo Cube

This is the last of Roz's work that I have to show you tonight. I might let you see more next week!
The photo cube has been created by attaching photos to cardstock and then using the Bind It All to punch holes along all edges. It has been bound together using cable ties. You could also try this with thread.
For durability you can include a layer of acetate over the photos or laminate before punching and binding.

Tag Book

This book has an acetate cover (snowflakes) over a double sided paper (We R Memory Keepers)

The inside pages are made from 6 x 12 pieces of double sided cardstock folded in half and then one corner is folded in to the center fold and stuck along the bottom edge to create the pocket. This gives you a one page pocket.

On the reverse of the pocket page you can attach photos or embellisments, etc.

The tags are made with cardstock and some have an acetate overlay. On the tags you can journal or attach photos.
We used 3 sheets of co-ordinating cardstock to make this book. It is bound using the Bind It All machine.

Roz's Creations

I know, it is a bit later than I promised but I have been busy getting ready for Alexandra Palace this weekend, we leave tomorrow morning to set up ready for Saturday and Sunday. So finally, here is some of the artwork that Roz created for us using the Bind It All machine. This is an acetate book. As you can see the pages are made by sandwiching the contents between 2 sheets of acetate.


The sheets of acetate are held in place with some eyelets and thread and then the whole book is bound together with the Bind It All.




Some of the embellishments are inside the acetate sandwich and others are on top to give it texture. The possibilities with this are endless.
On this book the acetate sandwich has been machine stitched to hold them together.
More projects to follow . . . .

Delivery of stash

We often receive our deliveries from the US on a Monday and today was no exception. We received the latest Stampington (I think it was Stampers Sampler) and a box from Adornit by Carolees Creations containing some Christmas papers and some Halloween papers. Will try and get these up on the shop site tomorrow but if not I will definitely post some pics here.

Talking of Halloween Bailey's outfit arrived today, it is of a skeleton pirate (like the Pirates of the Carribean) and has a funny little hat that he kept putting on his head, he is going to look so cute. The new unmounted pirate stamps are due in next week so I will definitely be needing a set of those.

A lot of today was spent unpacking from Harrogate so apologies if you placed an order over the weekend it might not have been despatched today.

If you didn't make it to Harrogate you missed Roz (Lippy Chick) playing with the Bind It All machine. I will do my best to photograph her creations tomorrow so you can see why you need a Bind It All machine - so I've got quite a few things to photograph tomorrow.

As you can see my blog is quite basic looking so if there is anyone out there that pretty up this site for me it would be much appreciated. I'm not great at this internet technology except for shopping - that I have mastered no problem!

Harrogate

Well, tomorrow we are off to Harrogate so I probably won't have access to the internet over the weekend. Roz from Lippy Chick is demonstrating the Bind It machine for us all weekend and she has made some fabulous things with it so I will post up some pictures for you to look at next week. Hope to see you at the show and if not there is always Alexandra Palace next weekend.

Luxe Designs

We have just received our first delivery of Luxe Designs papers, these are fabulous double sided papers. Unfortunately we didn't receive everything we ordered but here is a peak at what we did get. They will go up on the Stamp Addicts website tomorrow.

Pashmina







Hoodie







Cocktail Dress








Classic Black.

This is my boy Bailey noshing on a big piece of Yarg cheese. For the first year of his life he absolutely hated cheese, but now you can see he loves cheese and we had to wrestle it from his hands.

It isn't often we can find Yarg so we do buy a big piece when we can and Bailey helped himself to all of it. We finally managed to prize it out of his grubby little paws so we could all have a piece.

Saturday

Well, it has been an uneventful week, which is good because the next 3 are going to be hectic. I actually have the whole off this weekend off from work but as yet haven't planned to do anything. The kids have swimming lessons this morning so maybe we'll take them to the park and then spend the afternoon at home - family time Annabel calls it.

We finally got our delivery of the new K&Co Peppermint Twist yesterday, you can find it in the 'NewProducts' section. I also have high hopes for several new products and papers arriving on Monday from LA, some of these new products we ordered in July and we are still waiting - there is no sign of the Tim Holtz Crackle Paints yet.

We will spending most of next week getting ready for the Extravaganza show in Harrogate, Roz from Lippy Chick is going to be demonstrating for us so if you are coming to the show stop by and see what she is up to.

The following week is Alexandra Palace, where we have Kay Carley demonstrating on the Saturday.

You might not be able to tell yet, but all week we have been making minor adjustments and improvements to the Stamp Addicts website and increasing the product information wherever we can, these things take so long but we are getting there. Hopefully you will be able to see the improvements soon.

Enjoy your weekend.

Design Team

Well we are starting to receive lots of lovely cards but not many scrapbook pages. Where are all the scrappers? Deadline is the 21st (next week). If you want to email your layouts please send to vicky@stampaddicts.co.uk. After we have chosen the design team I am planning to feature their layouts on here as well as their information. We are also thinking about setting up a Customer Gallery on the Stamp Addicts (www.stampaddictsshop.co.uk) website so if you want to send in any artwork using our stamps please address it to Vicky and we will try and include as many as we can.

Good luck.

Crocs

I have always looked at people wearing Crocs and thought 'do you have any idea how silly you look?'. Well for my birthday back in July, Vicky kindly bought me this pair of Crocs and I promptly put them in the conservatory for use in the garden only.

Two months down the line and I can admit to having worn them out in public, they are sooooo comfortable. They are absolutely brilliant on long flights to the US. Normally I would slip off my shoes and socks and wear the socks provided, my shoes don't fit during the flight and are quite difficult to get back on when we land so I just pad around in airline socks for the duration. But because these are quite roomy and have lots of ventilation it was easy to slip them on and off so I didn't have to worry about getting wet socks from the bathroom floor (don't you just hate that on airplanes!).

So I confess to be a Crocs convert, I've heard they come in different styles, but the boots are only for children. They did feel a little bit strange at first and my husband still find thems uncomfortable but that's a good thing, these are mine all mine!

And the dog hasn't been able to chew through them but he is tempted because they are made of a similar product to some of his toys.

Go on - you know you want them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

As September is our 15th birthday month we will be giving away lots of different free gifts, keep your eye on the 'products' section of our website where the free gifts will be featured. More will be added throughout the month.

I can't believe we have been going for 15 years, my 9th wedding anniversary is also next week so this is a celebratory month for me, not that we celebrate much. Over the years birthdays and anniversaries have become just another day but I think it is time to change that, we should celebrate these events in our lives and not just let them pass us by.

On that note we have also decided to make more of an occasion of halloween, it should be fun for the kids to dress up and go to halloween parties. So you will find in our store a small area dedicated to halloween and this includes pirates. Lesley has been making some halloween ATCs so come in and swap at our new ATC Trading Post. If you are throwing a halloween party we have just the stamps to make your invitations. The halloween paper stacks have been so popular we are having trouble keeping them in stock.
All I need to do now is find a good costume. When we had our last halloween party I used my wedding dress and dyed it purple (don't scream, I'm not planning to get married again and I couldn't bear to give it away so at least this way I got to wear it again). But now my former wedding dress is having another transformation for the fashion show so I can't wear it for halloween.
What I need is a quick trip to the US because they have huge stores dedicated to fancy dress costumes, and it just so happens I am going to New York at the beginning of October so I will start planning my shopping now.

Well I could ramble on for ages but I think I will leave it there for tonight.

Help - Advice Needed

I need your help. I want to make our website www.stampaddicts.co.uk easier to use and navigate. I think we completely revamped the website about 3 years ago so a lot has changed. When we started the website we were mainly a Rubber Stamp company and this is reflected in the website. Scrapbooking has been a bit of an add on to the website.
We are slowly adding all the scrapbooking manufacturers we stock to our manufacturers list, but how else can we make it easier for you to find things?

I look forward to your suggestions.

Once Upon A Time

This is another layout from the DCWV class, using the Once Upon A Time and Metallic Stacks.
These photos of Bailey were taken while Annabel was at a gymnastics class and he was just running wild in the gymnasium. The tears are because we wouldn't let him climb the bars.

Nana's Kids

This is one of the layouts we made in the DCWV class using the Nana's Kids Paper Stack.
My children stopped in at the shop after swimming one Saturday morning and sat in my office to eat their giant sausage sandwiches.

Book of Boris

This is JKs first ever scrapbook page, the first page in her Book of Boris. Unfortunately little Boris was only with JK for a short time but long enough to have a big impact.

Julie Too (JH)

We have two Julies. You will find this Julie in the store on Wednesdays and Saturday. If you have just applied for membership then it is in the hands of Julie who loves anything Pink (I know not Purple, can you believe it!). She is also an avid stamper and loves ATCs, so much that the two Julies are setting up an ATC Trading Post so come in and swap with them.

Julie (JK)

I thought you might like to meet Julie, Julie is our new shop manager. So if you phone up to place an order or ask a question it will probably be Julie that you speak to. She is an avid stamper and loves ATCs.

Oooooh its Purple

We've had these for a while but today I finally got one out the box to play. And of course I chose Purple. This is a KomfyCush. The idea is if you go to crops with hard plastic chairs then this has built in cushions and the pockets on the side so you don't have to keep everything on the table. Isn't it so annoying when you have to keep moving everything on the table so you can use your 12" trimmer to cut a piece of paper.

We didn't receive anything else purple today but we did receive the new DCWV Rockstar and All Dressed Up paper pads, I haven't got them out of the box yet but once I do I don't think they will make it onto the website, we haven't got a huge stock and I think they will go really quick. I do have some pages I made at a DCWV class in July so on my Wednesday night crop I will add some photos and upload them for you to see. It was an amazing class, we made 11 double page layouts in 2 hours. I have never scrapped so fast in my life.

I'm now going to go and take the dog for a walk before he chews my ankle off.