Monday, November 23, 2009

The Best Advent Calendar Project Ever!

























































I couldn't wait to show everybody what we created today in about three hours--Advent Calendars using the Karen Foster boxes, great papers, and lots of my stuff. The crafters were: Ann, Linda, Connie, Kellie, Carlene, and Jean with me (Anne) directing the process and using my completed box for construction/decoration inspiration.











Next week on Monday November 30 the madness and mayhem continues with card projects that I'm calling
Shabby Chic Holidays: antiquing techniques, vintage buttons, lovely faded and muted papers, old-fashioned images, lace, flowers, ribbons, sheet music, recycled jewelry--combining old items with new for lovely shabby effects cards.

Memory Box stamps arrived yesterday and went up on the shelves today along with new cards/envelopes and lots more jewels in red, green, yellow, and clear. Tomorrow I'm working at the store and Connie will join me at some point so that we can write out more orders. We need papers and end cuts from Paper Cut, more coffee bags in kraft brown and in white, and we already need to reorder two stamps from Memory Box to have in time for our December 5th event. Today we noticed that we're almost out of stamping pads and tape refills for the tape guns, we need some fabric ink, and most of the Twinklets are gone. We've also started a Penny Black order that we have to finish up. With the holidays coming we want to make sure that we have everything you could need or want in stock. Remember that we do Gift Certificates, too--and we're pretty good at filling wish lists for people who want to shop for you.

Tons of stuff on sale at 30% off! The latest holiday Cuttlebug folders! Beautiful red and green inks! Glitter and Stickles to glam up your cards and gift tags! And don't forget the tiny pails--great place markers for Thanksgiving or Secret Santa gifts!

Stop by on Tuesday and say "Hi!" or come in on Wednesday and pick up the last minute things you need for Thanksgiving. We'll be closed on Thursday, but open again on Friday and Saturday. We are all extremely thankful for you our customers and friends. Don't forget to put December 5th on your calendar with Your Maine Stamper as your destination that day. Should be tons of fun, good food, free make-it/take-its, 40% off selected items, and some surprise sale items at an even deeper discount!

Happy Stamping!

Anne

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Planning Ahead--December 5th Event @ YMS

I've been working on the postcard for our next BIG EVENT. It's really much cuter in person--I used an interesting font and stamped either Reindeer Rex or the Pile of Gifts (both from Memory Box) on each one. Look for the hot pink postcard in your mailbox next week if you don't have an e-mail address on file with us. There will be some at the shop if you want to send one to a friend or post one in your workplace.

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN
and the elves at YOUR MAINE STAMPER
have an event planned for you!

Saturday, December 5th
10 AM to 2 PM
SAVE THE DATE!

Make-It/Take-Its
Door Prizes
Refreshments
Special Sales--select items 40% off!

You don't want to miss this one!
Lots of ideas for the holidays
and the winter ahead!
Come join the fun!



Monday, November 16, 2009

Two More Boxes Arrived from Memory Box Today!!!

The postman and the UPS guy don't know quite how to take us when they come into Your Maine Stamper and the cheering starts. Two boxes arrived today from Memory Box with all kinds of goodies!

New notecards/envelopes 10-packs in great colors--Concord Grape, Raspberry, Granny Smith Apple, and Licorice
More white and red pearls for the holidays
New-to-us stamps and lots that we'd sold out of already


















By 2 PM we had another order ready to go and I called it in! I can't get over how quickly people have fallen in love with these stamps and want every single one of them! We reordered some of the cards and more of the 6X6 Snow & Cedar paper packs, too.
It was nice to talk to Monica at Memory Box today, and she told me how much they loved the book that several of us put together for Dave out of a Starbucks coffee cup. If you haven't seen the pictures on Dave's blog, check out this link:
> http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/stampcolorcreate/2009/11/20-miles-to-find-a-starbucks.html

As you will see in his posting, I have been named to the Memory Box Design Team for 2010. I am soooo excited about this! I hope you will be, too. This is a win-win for all of us--Memory Box, me, Lydia and the Your Maine Stamper business, and you customers. I'll get the sneak peeks on all the newest products and I'll make sure the store stocks up on them. There will be at least one or two special Memory Box classes each month. There will also be links to blogs so you can see what all of us on the design team are creating with how-to directions for the projects we create. I'll keep you posted through this blog as things progress. Official start time is early January. Watch for class announcements right after Christmas.

I've also included pix of a few other new stamps that arrived: The latest House Mouse for December is here! There are also some new Penny Black stamps. We've got a wide variety of trees in stock right now--the perfect things for your holiday and winter cards--just add some Diamond Glaze and Twinklets for chunky snow or use a Glue Pen and Glamour Dust for a light coat of snow on the branches.















Happy Stamping!
Anne

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Playing with Memory Box Stamps, Cards, Papers




































I had the best time Monday morning playing with my new Memory Box stamps. I made oodles of tiny 3X3 cards and put lots of them on display at the shop. Maybe you can get some ideas from what I've done.


I have had a good time with the pumpkin window, thinking about ways to use the window for other seasons and covering up the pumpkin. Once before I used tiny print paper as wallpaper and made a coordinating paper shade for the window and added a Jolee's sticker Christmas tree to cover the pumpkin to sort of look like the interior of a livingroom. Monday's big idea was to stamp the pile of presents on some tiny print Memory Box paper, cut them out and place them in front of the window. My next project will be to stamp the chair and place it in front of the window with "you're my cup of tea" somewhere on the card front. For those cards the window is an interior one. You could also stamp the window to be outside a building with a snowman or a tree or Reindeer Rex (the cutest dog ever!) next to it.

One of the other "discoveries" on Monday is that the silhouette bird fits very nicely inside the Christmas words block. I stamped the words using the Pearlescent Chocolate and then stamped the bird in Ancient Page Crimson and the branch in the Chocolate. Love the look! The little holly leaves on the end of the bird stamp are perfect to decorate the bare branches or the bramble wreath. Just add some of the red pearls for holly berries!

Monday afternoon's class was a hoot! We made Christmas Critter cards--Happy Howlidays from the dog using Reindeer Rex; a Mouse (not a creature was stirring...) in a striped nightcap; a many-pieced owl in a Santa hat (Owl be seeing you); a pair of lovey dovey birds; and a Have a Merry Stinkin' Christmas skunk. Lots of laughs!!!


Check out the list below for upcoming classes.

Saturday, November 14th – 10:00 to 12:00
New Twist with Inks
You will make 2 Christmas cards and a bookmark.
Samples are on display.
Please bring your favorite adhesive.
Instructor: Jamie Smith – Fee: $15.00 Limit: 5

Saturday, November 21st – 10:00 to 12:00
Courtney’s Christmas Goodie Class
This is an annual event at YMS!
You will make 4 projects guided by Courtney.
Instructor: Courtney Ricker – Fee: $26.00 Limit: 8
You will also taste the delicious foods she will prepare for the projects.
This class is full. Wait List only.

Saturday, November 21st – 1:00 to 3:00
Holiday Accordion Purse
This purse has several compartments holding tags with messages and a pocket for a
gift card.
Instructor: Charlene Frost – Fee: $17.00 Limit 5

Saturday, November 28th 10:00 to 12:00
Country Tags
You will do country lettering on tags. Make as many as you have time for
(20 or 30 tags). Please bring #.05 black micron pen.
Limit 6 Class is full; wait list only
Instructor: Courtney Ricker – Fee: $15.00

Monday Mid-afternoon Merriment and Mischief Making
with Anne Thompson
1:00 to 3:00 - $15 per person, per class
Limit 6 participants per class

Monday, November 16th
Symbols of the Season: jingle bells, snowflakes, Santa, a gingerbread house—familiar
symbols of the holiday season, fun cards to create and delightful to receive

Monday, November 23rd
Counting Down to Christmas: an Advent calendar project – This class is $18.00.

Monday, November 30th
Shabby Chic Holidays: antiquing techniques, vintage buttons, lovely faded and muted
papers, old-fashioned images, lace, flowers, ribbons, sheet music, recycled
jewelry—combining old items with new for lovely shabby effects cards

Monday, December 7th
Gift Trios—A Tag, A Bag, and A Card: chipboard snowflakes, candy canes, and
peppermint stripes, triangle trees—decorate at least three treat bags (with extras
to take home) and create a coordinating tag and card for each

Saturday, December 12th – 10:00 to 12:00
Re-usable Calendar
A sample is on display.
Limit 4
Instructor: Jamie Smith – Fee: $19.00


SAVE THE DATE: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5th!!!
Holiday Open House at YMS 10 AM to 2 PM
Join us for Make it/Take its, sales, yummy treats and lots of fun.


This morning Connie and Robyn and I put together yet another Memory Box order. Many of the stamps that came in last week were either pre-ordered or have flown off the shelves. We've reordered some of the favorites and a bunch of stamps you haven't seen at the shop before as well as more 10 cards/envelopes packs in some luscious new-to-us colors. Have I told you how much everyone is loving this company's products?!!!

So what else is new? We've got an autographed copy of David Brethauer's CARD DESIGN book (see photo)--he's the Memory Box owner/designer.(OOPS...this book went out the door already. Please let Lydia know if you'd like to have her order a copy for you.) Faith's Clear Embossing Powder; Twinklets chunky white glitter--perfect snow; holiday Cuttlebug folders in lots of new designs; Marvy inks in Old Gold and Barn Red from their heritage line; some cool African-themed stamps from Magenta (extras from a special order). Tiny pails are going out the door--twenty today! The perfect thing for mint candies, a Secret Santa tiny gift, one luscious truffle, a gift card...the possibilities are endless for decorating and stuffing them.

I redid the sale area this morning and added a few more items, all at 30% off. There are some great sparkly papers in fall tones as well as blues and white for winter crafting. All the Adirondack Inks from the Lights/Brights/Earthtones collection are marked down. Off-season stencils, stencil paste, Memories Mist, and other related products are now on the sale spinner rack. And there are tons of stickers and paper crafting embellishments, too.

Hope you'll get into the shop soon and see what we've put together for the holidays!

Happy stamping!

Anne

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Holiday Idea #1: using the fir bough




This YOUR MAINE STAMPER wood-mounted rubber stamp is a perennial favorite at holiday time. The sample is by Courtney Ricker, who also designed the stamp for us. Simply lightly trace a circle in pencil onto cardstock (end cuts are perfect for this in white or cream, but you could stamp this on any number of papers and it would be stunning) and then stamp the branch in your favorite green (try Versamagic Hint of Pesto or a Memories Pine Green or Hunter Green) multiple times to create a wreath. Courtney added Stickles in red and white for ornaments and a ribbon bow. You could use a glue pen and fine or chunkier white glitter (we have several kinds to choose from at the shop as well as some lovely colored glitters) for a snowy effect. Or dimensional pearls--I'm partial to the red and gold ones from Memory Box. Or use the Memory Box holiday jewel stickers in red, green, and clear. Try a narrow red velvet ribbon, a red/white polka dot, or a vintagey plaid. The possibilities are endless.

Once your design is finished, layer it onto another paper (or two) and then onto the card front. Courtney layered hers on red, then white, and placed it on a dark green cardstock card. You could use a BoBunny dot paper, a subtle stripe, or a tiny print paper--check out the holiday 6X6 paper pads--for layers. Make your own cards from a wide selection of cardstock, and white envelopes are only ten cents each at the store. Or pick up a package of ten cards and matching envelopes in a lovely red or a dill green--the Memory Box cards are white on the inside. Or use the kraft beigey cards--my favorite all year round for a country,shabby chic, or old-fashioned look.

Then start thinking of other ways to use this stamp. Make your own trees and sprinkle them with glitter snow. Create a swag tied up with a pretty bow. Stamp a garland border across the top of a card.

To finish up, add a few sprigs to the inside of the card and on the envelope. Someone once told me that you should always take a design element from the front of your card and echo it somehow on the inside. I suggest that the envelope should also receive a similar treatment.

Happy Stamping!

Anne
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