A Muse News

Retail Shop News - 9/2/09

The A Muse retail store and distribution center will be closed this Monday, September 7th for Labor Day!

Coloring Contest Winner

Congratulations to Bella Anderson! You have won a $10 gift certificate to use at the A Muse retail store!

 

Click the following link to download the new coloring page for the month of September. All entries must be submitted in person at the A Muse retail store on or before September 30th for entry into this month's contest!

Download A Muse Coloring Page September 2009

FREE Make & Take

Please join us this Wednesday and Saturday between 11:30am and 1:30pm to make this fun bookmark!

Fall Class Schedule

Our new fall class schedule will be available next week.  Stay tuned...

Mark your Calendars!
Please join us for two special events this fall. 

On October 3rd, we will celebrate the third Anniversary of our retail store with a free make & take, special discounts, LOTS of clearance items and yummy treats!

Please join us on Saturday, November 7th for our Holiday Open House.  We will share exciting ideas to get you in the mood for this festive holiday season!

Hope to see you soon!

~Amanda

Closed for Labor Day

Please note that our retail store and distribution center will be closed on Monday, September 7th for Labor Day. 

A pleasant surprise!

Did you miss me?  I have been on vacation with my family at our cottage in Quebec the past few weeks.  I am truly grateful to have a great team that can manage just fine without me.  Despite the crummy weather, we had a great time.  Some of the highlights:

• Picking up Hailey after a month-long stay at the National Ballet School of Canada! Same country but still over 7 hours drive.
• All-day canoe trip with friends down the Rouge River- the kids loved going through the rapids even though most of the canoes tipped!
• Makenna won a trophy for highest aggregate in her age group at the annual regatta   
• Hailey learned how to slalom ski 
• Bella mastered diving  
• And LOTS of great times with our Bark Lake friends and family  

It's always hard to leave, but fun to get back to work too.  I have almost 1,000 pictures to sort through so I'll post some highlights in the coming days. I am actually still in Quebec staying with my mom She has had some new health issues arise that require my assistance.  My DH and the girls are back in Seattle gearing up for the start of school next week.

During my vacation, we received some EXCITING news... a "Best of Local Business" award from the US Commerce Association!   Woo hoo!

The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

This is certainly an honor and we are very proud.  Thank you to the nominating committee for this special recognition!!

I'll be back soon with some fun photos and some cards to share!

~Linda 

Housekeeping

As some of you may have noticed, we've been having some technical difficulties over at The A Muse Lounge.  We're working furiously behind the scenes to fix it but, unfortunately, The Lounge will be "closed for repairs" over the holiday weekend.  We're so sorry for the inconvenience and will let you know when we've re-opened!

The A Muse retail store in Seattle will be closed Saturday so that we may celebrate the 4th with our families. 

In the meantime, be sure to join in all the A*MUSE*A*PALOOZA fun here on The Blog!

Weekly Newsletter

Are you signed up to receive our email newsletter?  Each week we share our Card of the Week, Blue Light special, and more.  This week, we are sharing the newsletter right here on the blog so you can see what it's all about (and that it is packed full of fun!)  If you would like to join our newsletter mailing list CLICK HERE to complete a quick signup form.

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Card of the Week
by Elena Shacochis

 

"When I first saw the new Peep stamp, I pictured those cellophane wrapped packages. I can never resist buying at least one. It is as if the sparkly candy bunnies are pleading with me to take them home. I just had to stamp rows of Peeps, just like you see them in the packages. I completed the "package" by adding overhangs at the top and bottom. Don't forget to add the brown dots for the eyes and noses, just like real Peeps!
My favorite tool for this card has to be my stamp postioner. I could not have had straight rows without it!" 

A Muse Product links:
Stamps: Peep, For peep's sake!
4-bar solid notes: Buttercup, Popsicle Pink

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Blue LIght Special

Our three Blue Light Special stamps this week are perfect for Easter.  Two adorable Missy Ballance bunnies, MB Bunny Girl and MB Bunny Boy, along with our Happy Easter NS sentiment! 
For this week only, while supplies last, you can add MB Bunny Girl, MB Bunny Boy, and Happy Easter NS to your collection for just $2 each.

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Punches and Purses are here!

We added a few fun new items to the A Muse website!  Three newly released Fiskars scallop border punches and super cute mini purses which would be perfect for holding a gift card or as favors for a baby or bridal shower!  Remember, you can always click on the what's new link at the top of the page to find all our newest products.  

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Be sure to pop back here tomorrow to see all the upcoming classes that our instructor team has scheduled for March!

Shop News - 01/14/09

Make & Take news

Thank you to everyone that stopped by last week for our free Make & Take.  We had fun making triangle treat boxes.  If you weren't able to make it - don't despair! You can find the instructions on how to make a triangle treat box right here.  They are so fast and easy - you could make one for all your friends!

This week's FREE Make & Take is a little box that we filled with Hershey's nuggets.  Here's Amanda's version that we'll be making tomorrow and Saturday between the hours of 11:30 and 1:30.  And, remember if you participate in the Make & Take, you will receive a 10% discount on items you purchase during your visit.

Featured Classes - Seattle Store

There are still spots left in Rhonda's Sweet Sensations class THIS Saturday, January 17th, from 5:30 to 7:30pm.  Click here to read more about the class and to register.  In case you haven't made the connection, Rhonda is our fabulous Guest Designer for the month of January.  I know you will LOVE her classes - she is an expert on inks and her cards are simply adorable!

Kids Valentines Classes are a fun treat for your little stampers (and a nice break for mom!) There is a class next Monday, Martin Luther King Day, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.  Click here to read more about this class and to register.

And, DON'T FORGET, the lovely and talented Julie Ebersole (Lead Designer and director of our Creative Teams and all round stamping goddess!) will be teaching two classes on Saturday January 24th.  We have samples at the store.  The classes are filling fast!  Click here to register for Valentine Pop-Ups and here to register for Simply Sweet.

Other shop news
We are expecting a few shipments later this week with more Valentine stamps and goodies so come on by to check 'em out.  And, be sure to check out our fabulous new chandelier - so pretty!

Have a great week!

Linda

Shop News

Happy weekend everyone! 

It's nice to see so many of you popping in to the new A Muse Lounge.  There are lots of fun things going on so be sure to pop on over to our website and get yourself registerd!  (You don't have to register... but if you want to post messages you will need to.)

The A Muse Shop is getting back into full swing again after the holidays.  Our Make & Takes are back and we will be doing FREE Make & Takes every Wednesday and Saturday between the hours of 11:30am and 1:30pm. 

Today's make & take is the fun Triangle box that Greta introduced us to back in November.  These boxes are easy and fun to make and can be filled with all sorts of little treats.  C'mon by later today to make one and you will enjoy a 10% discount on your purchases during the hours of the make & take.

 

Class schedule

Copies of our winter class schedule are now available at the store and also right here for you to download. :)  We have some exciting classes lined up to inspire your creativity:   

• JulieHRR (Her Royal Rubberness) will be teaching two classes on Saturday, January 24th
• Vi will be teaching two Valentine Card making class just for kids
• Joyce will teach you all about COPIC markers and the fabulous Scor-Pal tool
• Rhonda, our Guest Designer for January, will share her design secrets with you as well 

You may register for classes online by clicking here.

NEW 2-hour Parking

 

Look what was installed in front of the shop this week!  Wahoo!  Thanks to my dh for his efforts to make this happen.

New Window Display

Check out the fantastic NEW window display that Nina made for us.  Isn't she amazing?!!  These squirrels are based off the adorable little squirrel in this clear stamp set.   I *love* how she added the bow to the "girl" squirrel.  So sweet!

 

Sorry the photos are not so great...  we have had some very grey days of late!  In case you missed it, Western Washington has been hit hard with rain and snow melt over the past few days.  There has been LOTS of flooding and major highways have been closed, impacting the transport of goods (and people).  We are hoping the weather cooperates and does not delay a shipment of our Valentine images next week! 

The weather has caused some heartache for my friends and family... our ski hill was devastated by a mudslide earlier in the week.  It was not much of a hill but it is where we skied every weekend.  If you google Hyak avalanche you will find lots of photos.  Here is a video taken from one of our condo neighbors.  And here is a cute video that shows Hailey and Annabelle skiing just 3 days *before* the mudslide (taken by the same neighbor).

I hope you have a GREAT weekend and if you are in the neighborhood tomorrow, please stop by the shop for our FREE Make & Take!

Shop News: 12/9

Holiday Open House

We have been having so much fun making crafty things for the holidays. We'd like to share them with you!  This Saturday (December 13th), we will be hosting a Holiday Open House at the A Muse Retail store between noon and 4pm.  Our retail store is located at 7107 Greenwood Ave. N in Seattle.

I hope you will join us to make FOUR fabulous Last-Minute-Holiday-Projects and help us to collect food for the Northwest Harvest Food Bank.  Come play with us - and you'll receive 10% off your purchases.
Admission: a non-perishable food donation or $5.

Here is one of the projects that we'll be making.  I got this idea from Stephanie at the Paper Garden Boutique. 

   

We'll also be making an ornament, a gift tag and a gift card holder.  So fun!

Can't make it on Saturday?  We'll be making two of the projects on Wednesday between 11:30am and 1:30pm.

As always, children are most welcome to participate with the supervision of an adult.

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More Holiday Gift Tag ideas

As promised, here are a few more photos from our Holiday Tag class. This tag uses the Marvy Giga Star Punch.  I folded a sheet of A Muse Vintage Red cardstock and punched out several stars from one sheet.  The trick is to note push the folded edge of the cardstock all the way into one of the points of the star.  I like to do this with almost all of my punches.

 

These sweet litte tags were all made from A Muse 4-bar notecards - you can make two tags from one notecard.

 

This acordian tag was a favorite from the class.  You can't see the snow we added with the Signo white gel pen.   This tag was made from an A Muse square notecard.  I cut the notecard in half lengthwise (2 1/8" x 8 1/2") and then added score lines 2 1/8" from the edges.  Fast and easy!

 

Merry Christmas Banner

This has been my "banner" year! LOL!  You may recall, I made this banner for Makenna, and one for Annabelle (scroll down in the same link as Makenna's) and one for Michelle.  Naturally, I couldn't resist making one for holidays.  This one says Merry Christmas and was created using a new XLarge version of the A Muse polka dot alphabet.  We are still trying to figure out how to package this fun alphabet but you'll be hearing more about it soon because I *love* it!

Here's a picture of the whole banner.  I used Grass, Red & Pink Kitchen cardstock for the flags. 

 

Here's a close-up photo where you can see the snowflake embellishments at the top of each flag.  I used an EK Success snowflake punch (we have a few different ones at the shop) and a LOT of clear twinkle stickers.  To divide the Merry and Christmas, I made a blank flag that I embellished with the Marvy Snowflake Punches and more bling!

 

Ornament/Place Card
Oh yes, here's another fun thing to make - a wreath ornament.  To make this, you will need a 1.75" circle punch and the Marvy Giga Scallop Circle punch.  First punch the 1.75" circle punch and then use the Giga Scallop circle punch to "frame" the smaller circle.  I added some A Muse Red Dots twinkle stickers and a bow made from A Muse Sheer Swiss Red Ribbon.  This was a super easy project and would make a nice table decoration.  Instead of Merry Christmas, you could write the name of your dinner guests and you will have a beautiful place card!

 

So tell me, what are YOU making this holiday season?  Are your cards started or finished yet?

A Muse Shop News for December 2nd

I *love* December! Don't you?  There's always so many fun things to do and yummy things to eat!

Holiday Tags Class - $25

We still have a few spots left in tonight's Holiday Tags class.  We'll be making 12 holiday tags so you'll be set for the holidays! If you'd like to join us, please call the store asap at 206-783-4882. 

Here are a few of the tags we'll be making.  I'll post the rest in the coming days... need to take pictures first! (click on photos for a larger view!)

This first tag uses the Marvy Giga Snowflake punch.  It's such a fun punch.  I embellished with glitter glue and a great big Pink gem sticker.  I was too impatient to let the glitter dry on it's own so I whipped out my heat gun and presto!  I like the way the ends turned up a bit.

 

Who says cupcakes aren't for Christmas?  I love the versatility of our new Cupcake Builder set!  You can pair cupcakes with just about *anything* for a fun card!  It's hard to see the special details on these tags... I used the Sakura clear glaze pen on the windshield, headlights and bumper of the Holiday Car... the Feather tree is stamped in Encore Honeydew ink (so pretty!) with Clear Twinkle Sticker decorations.

{Sorry for the washed out photo.  It's a dark day here in Seattle and the lighting is terrible for photos.}

FREE Make & Take

Thank you to everyone that stopped by last week to make a TicTac box.  We had lots of fun!  I will post the directions for those tomorrow. 

I do hope you will be able to join us for our LAST free Make & Take of the year!  This week we are making Snowman Soup.  This is an "oldie but goodie" idea.  Who doesn't love Hot Chocolate with all the trimmings?!!  Most versions put all the ingredients into a clear bag and add a topper with the Snowman Soup poem.  These are fast and easy to make.  If you google Snowman Soup you will find lots of pictures.

I wanted to do something a little different and played around with a bunch of different ideas that were swirling around in my head.  Here is what I came up with and this is what we will be making tomorrow {12/3} & Saturday {12/6} from 11:30a to 1:30p}. 

Don't forget...  all participants receive a 10% discount on all purchases during the Make & Take hours.

 

Here's what's inside:

 

I will post the template later this week because I *know* you will want to make some!  It's a fun project for kids too!

Holiday Hours
Just a reminder that our Retail Store is open from 10a to 6pm weekdays and 11a to 4p on Saturdays.  We have lots of fun gift items for all your crafty and not-so-crafty friends.  We also have gift certificates available so be sure to tell your friends and family what you want for Christmas!

Please scroll down to see our Advent box for the 2nd day of Christmas!

Fa la la la la!

A Muse Shop News - 11/25

I *love* this time of year - don't you?  It's such a busy time but there is no shortage of fun things to do!  Today starts what we refer to as Nutcracker Madness in our household.  This week are the on-stage rehearsals and performances begin THIS weekend! 

I volunteer to help at all the shows that Hailey is in because I have to drive her there and pick her up.  I also do it because it's lots of fun and I get to watch the show on the monitors.  My "job" is cheeks - I get to paint red circles on the girls' cheeks... I think we need a stamp for this! LOL!

Thank you to everyone that stopped by for our Grand Re-Opening last Saturday!  It was fun to see so many familiar faces and a bunch of new ones too!  There were LOTS of great deals and we cleared out a LOT of stuff so thank you! 

We've had LOTS of requests to share some of the good deals with our friends that are too far to visit us in person.  So, we've added a *sale* category on our website and we will be posting lots of great deals there.  Many of these items will be discontinued and some are simply overstocked at this time.  Be sure to check back often for updates.

We had fun making Candy Cane holders.  As promised, you can find the template here. I think this box would be great for all sorts of "treats".  You could fill a cellophane bag with fudge, tiny cookies, mints, etc., tie with pretty A Muse ribbon and pop inside the box.  So fun!  Cindy promised that she would bake some tiny cookies to show us how it is done so I will get a photo of it as soon as she does some baking.  Go Cindy!

 

For those of you that haven't met Cindy, she is our Sales Manager and resident baker extraordinaire. If you were at the Cupcake Social... you *know* what I mean!

FREE Make & Take this week

Please join us on Wednesday 11/26 or Saturday 11/29 between 11:30am and 1:30pm to make one of these adorable Tic-Tac boxes.  This idea was inspired by Liz in NH who took our classes at The Paper Tree.  Thanks, Liz!!

 

Aren't they sweet?  We'll post the instructions next week so stay tuned.  Remember, you get a 10% discount on your purchases when you participate in the Make & Take.

New in store
We have a few new goodies to tell you about!

• RED Enamel marker bins

• Metallic Noteboards with stands (2 sizes)

• Lots of fun lipgloss - perfect for stocking stuffers

• Fun new EKS scallop circle punches (1.25, 1.5 & 2")

Closed for Thanksgiving

Our Retail Store and Distribution Center will be closed thisThursday 11/276 for Thanksgiving.  We will be open during regular business hours on Friday 11/28.

We hope to see you at one of the Make & Takes this week.

A Muse Shop News - Grand Re-Opening and more!

Grand Re-Opening THIS Saturday!
We are busy getting ready for our Grand Re-Opening this Saturday, November 22nd.  We hope that you will join us as we have lots of fun stuff planned!  The shop will be open from 10am to 6pm.

We were hoping to have a moving sale *before* we moved but that never happened. LOL! So, we have LOTS of things that we are planning to clear out at outrageously low prices on Saturday!  There will be some *awesome* deals, a free Make & Take, yummy treats, fabulous door prizes and suprise discounts ranging from 5-50% off your entire purchase!

Free Make & Take TODAY!

Thank you to everyone that joined us last week for our free Make & Take.  We have another fun project planned for this week - a Candy Cane Holder.  Our make & take is offered on Wednesday, from 11:30a to 1:30p and will also be offered from 10a -4p (this week only) on Saturday.

NEW in store
We have some fun new gift items in the shop that will make perfect stocking stuffers for the girls on your list - yummy cupcake lipgloss, cupcake pens, lollipop lipgloss, mini cupcake alarm clocks and more!

We also have a bunch of new punches in store - the NEW Extra Giga Scallop Circle, Oval, Square and Rectangle punches by Marvy, Snowflake & Star punches in assorted sizes as well as a bunch of new scallop circle punches by EK Success.

Hope to see you soon!

FREE Make & Take this week!

Hey Seattle Stampers,

Stop by the A Muse Retail Shop for a FREE Make & Take this week.  We will be making these fun little Thanksgiving place cards complete with a treat inside!  Fast and easy, you could have your whole table done in an hour (unless your family is as big as mine... 36 first cousins! Oy!)

This week's Make & Take is offered from 11:30am to 1:30pm on Wednesday (11/12) and Saturday (11/15).  And, you will also receive a 10% discount on any purchases made during these hours. 

Please note that children are welcome to participate in the make & takes with adult supervision.

A Muse product links: Vintage orange notecards, Pilgrim girl stamp, Happy Thanksgiving, French roast sheer ribbon, Palm green sheer ribbon.

Details: finished size = 3"w x 3 7/8"H x 1 3/8"D, inside is a mini Kit-Kat bar. 

A Muse Shop News!

It's been a busy week at A Muse HQ in Seattle.  We opened our new retail shop on Wednesday and it has been so fun to welcome everyone to our new location.

November 7-9

This weekend, A Muse Instructors and Designers will be heading to Seattle for our Instructor Training weekend.  We have been planning for this weekend since April and I can't believe it is almost here!  I am really excited to see everyone and meet the newest members of our team. 

We thought it would be fun to throw a party for our customers to meet the team!  In case you missed the invitation in last week's email, we are hosting a Cupcake Social on Friday night (Nov. 7th) at the new A Muse shop from 7-9pm.  Space is limited <for safety and fire regulations!> so we are selling a set number of tickets.  There are still a few spots left if you would like to join us.  $20 admission includes a free Cupcake Builder clear stamp set, free make & take and yummy treats!

Click here to purchase a ticket for the Cupcake Social.

Free Make & Takes

We will be offering free Make & Takes on the following dates between the hours of 11:30am and 1:30pm at the A Muse Shop.  No registration required, just come on by! 

Wednesday, November 12th
Saturday, November 15th

Wednesday, November 19th
Saturday, November 22nd

Wednesday, November 26th
Saturday, November 29th

Wednesday, December 3rd
Saturday, December 6th

Please note that the Make & Take projects offered on Wednesday will be repeated on Saturday.

Classes

By popular request, we have added a few classes to our schedule for November & December.  You may register for classes online at our website, or give us a call.

Picture Perfect - $25
Join me, Linda, to make three fabulous photo cards - perfect for the holidays or other special occasions.  Please bring your own photos (6 to 10) to this class. 

Morning: Tuesday, November 18th 10:30am to 12:30pm or
Evening: Tuesday, November 18th 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Holiday Tags - $25
Join us to make 12 festive holiday tags!

Morning: Tuesday, December 2nd 10:30am to 12:30pm or
Evening: Tuesday, December 2nd 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Super Simple Cards - $25
Create 6 fast and simple holiday cards that will look like you worked on them the entire year!

Morning: Tuesday, December 9th 10:30am to 12:30pm or
Evening: Tuesday, December 9th 6:00pm to 8:00pm

We hope to see you soon!

Moving update...

Hi friends!

We've moved - yay!  We've spent the past few days getting organized in our new building.  The new building is still not completely finished so we are having to improvise a bit.  Despite the chaos, we are so happy to finally be in our own space. 

My husband has done an AMAZING job remodelling our building.  His attention to detail and ability to juggle a multitude of things at one time are truly remarkable.  Thanks, honey!

We started shipping orders today but it will take us a few days to get completely caught up.  And, we have to figure out how to track down our USPS delivery/pick-up person...  There hasn't been anyone at our location for almost a year so I'm sure it will take a few days for us to "catch" him/her.  We may have to part with one of our boxes of Leonidas chocolates as a bribe!

The retail space is coming along nicely.  There is still more work to do before we are able to open our doors again later this month. 

Here's a peak of the shop with paint on the walls.  This photo is taken inside the front door looking in... it looks small... it IS... but it is BIGGER than our last shop. LOL!

This photo is taken from the top of the steps you see in the photo above.  Can you see my silhouette taking the photo?  Pretty cool, eh? (I have a really small head! LOL) 

On the home front, things are always busy and exciting.  Nutcracker auditions were held on Sunday and the casting is posted tomorrow.  Hailey is very anxious to see if she will get a part in this year's 25th Anniversary edition of the Nutcracker.

Today was a "watch day" at the ballet school so I was able to watch two of my ballerinas in action.  There are only a few "watch days" throughout the year and my husband and I fight over who gets to go!  I won this time... only because he was tied up moving the shelving units from our old location.  I think I will have to let him go the next two times to make up for it!

We have been working on a very exciting project that you will hear more about in the coming days so stay tuned for more information on this.  We also have a fabulous guest designer for the month of October.  This month's guest designer was part of the very first A Muse Design Team.  She is one of the most talented card-makers I know and I'm so thrilled that we will be able to share more of her amazing designs with you.   

Thank you for following the A Muse journey through this blog.  We appreciate you, our readers, and *love* your comments.  Thanks for stopping by today!

P.S. We only have one phone working at the moment so the best way to reach us is by email (info@amuseartstamps.com).

We're mooooooving!

Later this month, we will be moving 14 blocks south into a newly remodeled building!  We are very excited to move to higher and drier ground... especially with the rainy season fast approaching!  Nina created a fun display for our current shop window.  I love the polka-dot moving van and that looks like Cindy in the driver's seat!

Our new building is still under construction, however, big changes are happening every day and we plan to move at the end of September.  Actually, we HAVE to move at the end of September because our lease is up at the end of the month.  My husband is confident that we are still on track but I foresee a LOT of late nights in the coming days.

Here is a photo of the exterior of our new location... this was taken early last week.  I'll  admit, it doesn't look all that great at this stage.

The masonry was completed last Friday and it really looks great.  I'll post an updated photo soon so you can see what I mean.

It's been fun to listen to passersby speculate on what type of business will be moving in.  It seems everyone in the neighborhood has an opinion as to what type of business they'd like to see.  Surprisingly nobody has mentioned a rubber stamp store! 

I asked Nina to create a sign for us to put in the window to end the speculation.  It's a little difficult to read because we have protective plastic over the windows.   The "stroller" crowd seems pleased that we will be moving in. :)

We do expect to be closed for a few days towards the end of the month as a result of our move. We will keep you posted on the details as we know more.  In the meantime, be sure to note our new address:

A Muse
7107 Greenwood Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103

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I also have a few cards to share with you today!  I just got back from a fabulous trip to Sacramento to visit my good friend, Stephanie, owner of The Paper Garden Boutique.  She was celebrating her store's 2nd anniversary and it was fun to be there for such an exciting day.  I took my two youngest daughters with me and they LOVED it.  The Paper Garden Boutique is a treasure trove of fabulous things!

Here are a few of the cards that I taught on Friday evening.  Are you getting in the mood for Halloween yet?  I sure am!  Especially now that all the stores have their shelves stocked with Halloween CANDY! 

This pink and black crow card was a lot of fun to put together. 

We had fun practicing with a stamp positioner to get all of the images in the right spot on this card.  You can't see it in this photo but the chandelier is colored in with a Silver Spica glitter pen.  It is super sparkly!

I just *love* Bernice!  She looks right at home with this Halloween color combo.  We stamped her on extra thich vellum in Brilliance Graphite black ink.  Since Brilliance takes a while to dry, we colored the image from the back side.  You can attach white vellum to white cardstock with a regular glue stick and the glue won't show.  Or, vellum glue dots also do the trick!

I hope you've enjoyed the sneak peek of our new building and my card creations. I have a few more cards to share later in the week.

Have a beautiful day!

   

Shop News

The A Muse wholesale operations will be closed for inventory this Thursday and Friday (August 7th and 8th).  Only the distribution center will be closed and the Retail Store WILL be open.  That means we won't be shipping out any orders those 2 days, but you can still come in and shop!  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Summer Fun at A Muse

We have a new window display at the A Muse Shop for the summer!  Nina always has such clever display ideas.  We made some fun paper lanterns from our Kitchen papers.  They are a cinch to make using the Scor-Pal tool!  And, Joyce even figured out how to make TWO mini paper-lanterns from a 4-bar notecard.  Woohoo! More on how to make the paper laterns in a future post!

The paper lanterns hang from a branch so it looks like a festive garden party! 

I like how Nina filled some of our shopping bags with tissue paper and attached cards to the bags using mini clothespins.  So fun!

And, here' s a photo of the shop with our new "We're a Winner" sign.  I think I mentioned this before, it's a really BIG sign! LOL!

Thank you again to everyone that voted for us!  We are so excited to have this sign out front of our shop!

Our newsletter is sending right now... in case you've been wondering where it is! Nina is on vacation this week and I was a little late getting everything published.  It is most definitely worth the wait!  I was amazed looking through all of the fabulous creations from our Creative Team.  Wowie!  If you own our Sundaes stamp and or Sports clear stamp set, you will especially want to check out this week's edition.  For now, you can access our weekly news blog here.  Stay tuned, however, because we are hard at work on some exciting changes.  If you have not yet signed up to receive the A Muse weekly newsletter, you really ought to do so today.  It's fast and easy and most definitely a good thing. We may even sneak in a few special offers this summer just for our newsletter readers.  Click here to join.

Have a beautiful day!

Quick update

Next weekend (Saturday, June 28) our retail store will be closed because of the Greenwood Car Show. This event blocks the access to our storefront and parking is impossible. We apologize for any inconvenience!

Nina is feeling better and was able to get our newsletter completed... it's on it's way this very minute!

Have a great weekend!

Housekeeping

Just a quick update on a few stock-related things...

Good news:

• Linda's Essential Copic marker set is now orderable again.
• Spica Glitter Pens - set of 13 markers is now orderable again

Bad news:

• Beyond Basics Copic marker set is still not available as we are missing several colors. We are hopeful that the missing colors will arrive the week of June 23rd.
• We are presently out of stock on Koh-I-Noor Colored pencils We hope to have more stock later in the month.

We have lots of in-store specials at the moment as we are trying to minimize ou non-A Muse stock before we move to our new location at the end of the summer.  We are clearing out all of our Memory Box A2 notecards, envelopes and bulk paper, Coluzzle kits (ovals & circles) and more!  Joyce keeps adding to our clearance pile each week so be sure to stop by to see what other great deals are to be had.

Hope your week is a good one!  Be sure to check out the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA blog for the names of our contest and challenge winners tomorrow.  And, there's more fun in store!

Also, be sure to check out the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA featured gallery at SplitCoast Stampers.  It is fabulous!  When uploading cards using A Muse products to the Gallery at Splitcoast, be sure to add A Muse in the supplies list so that your cards will appear in the A Muse gallery.  (A Muse is spelled as *two* words).  Thanks!

CLOSED on Memorial Day

Please note that our Distribution Center and Retail Shop will be closed on Monday, May 26th for Memorial Day.  We'll be open as usual on Tuesday.  Have a safe and fun weekend!

A Muse opening

We have an immediate part-time opening in the A Muse Retail Shop located in Seattle.  Must be 18 years or older and able to work Saturdays.  Please contact Heidi for details.

You are NOT going to believe this!

We were FLOODED again today!!!!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

If you've been keeping a tally, we've now been flooded FIVE times in two years.  Not good.  Today's problem was because the Mexican restaurant a few units down has been dumping their grease into the drains and it was blocked over 100 feet in the main line. 

I owe a HUGE thanks to my DH, Heidi, Cindy, Heather and Amanda for their heroic efforts in keeping the flooding from damaging too much stuff in our unit. 

Our slum-lord actually had the gaul to yell at my husband and Heidi and tell us it was our fault.  Ummmm... hello?  Despite the fact that the plumber explained to her (and drew a diagram for her) exactly what the problem was, she insists somehow that we are to pay for it.  Yeah, sure! 

Apparently there is no agency within the City that governs commercial tenant rights.  I'm really suprised about this.  Thank goodness we will be moving soon! 

Tomorrow will be better.  Right?  Actually I know it will because we have an awesome treat for you... some fabulous new ideas from our next Guest Designer!!!

Hang tight!

Vote for us!

If you've visited our A Muse shop in Seattle and enjoyed your visit, we'd like to ask for your vote over at The Seattle Times NW Source People's Picks.

http://www.nwsource.com/peoplespicks/2008/

Please vote for A Muse Artstamps in the Knitting, Sewing or Craft Shop category. The voting period is May 1- June 1, 2008 so please vote today. And, you can vote daily through June 1st!  How fun!

We'll keep you posted if we win!

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! We celebrated tonight with some yummy margaritas.  I hope your day is a festive one!

Have a beautiful day!

Flooded - AGAIN!

It rained pretty hard last night in Seattle.  Our landlady (aka SLUMlord) refuses to do any basic maintenance on our building and we were flooded again!  We are getting pretty efficient at cleaning these messes up... but I'm afraid our retail store will be closed for today.  Thank goodness we will be moving to a new building in August!

Spring window

Nina has worked her magic again!  Our new window display features the Seattle Girl.  She is so cute in her yellow rain slicker, rain hat and wellies.  I love how she made the rain out of A Muse notecards.  They rain drops are strung on fishing line and whenever the door opens, they flutter about making it look like it's raining!  Nina is a creative genious!

The weather in Seattle has been pretty nice this week... you can see the reflection of blue sky at the top of my photo.  I just wish it would warm up!!  Every morning this week, we've had to scrape our windshield.  Ack!  I am so READY for summer!  Yoohoo, Mother Nature... do you hear me? S-U-M-M-E-R weather, pretty please!

Easter window display

I can't believe that we've had our new Easter window display up for over a week and I haven't shared any photos with you.  I kept forgetting to bring my camera to the shop with me - doh!

Nina always does such a fabulous job creating our seasonal window displays!  I LOVE how she can create larger-than-life versions of her stamp designs out of foam-core.  Amazing!!

This first picture shows an overview of the window display.  The main feature is our new bunnies stamp and they have big fluffy tails!  So cute!

Can you see the blue sky reflected in this photo?!!  We have been having a *beautiful* sunny week here in Seattle.  It is so nice to see people out walking and enjoying the sunshine!

{Someone suggested that I need a polarizer to minimize the glare... I must get one of those!}

Nina made some really cool paper flowers using our Kitchen collection notecards, EK Success flower punches (whale and medium size) and some fun doodlebug buttons. Let's see if we can beg her for a quick tutorial on these...  Oh Nina?...

Here are a few sample cards in the window to inspire passers-by.  These two cards were designed by Becky.

And this last photo shows you the fun easter eggs Nina that are hanging over the display.  These are just the regular variety plastic eggs that Nina painted with polka dots.  She inserted a wire through the top of the eggs for the ribbon to tie onto (that's our new grosgrain stitch ribbon in action!)  I think I'm going to make some with the girls to decorate the front window at our house for Easter. 

Have a beautiful day! 

 

$1,167 for Scleroderma

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you for purchasing the A Muse 2008 Calendar.  With your support, we have raised $1,167 for Scleroderma Research.  Wow!!  I will be mailing a check to the Scleroderma Research Foundation in this amount tomorrow. 

Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from the various types of scleroderma, and as many as 10,000 patients die every year from the most serious form of the disease.  Eighty percent of those afflicted with the disease are women, though scleroderma also strikes men and children across all ages and ethnic boundaries. Unfortunately, the disease typically strikes in the prime of patients’ lives, when they are 30-50 years old.
{copied from the Scleroderma Research Foundation website.}

My mother has scleroderma, so I thank you for your enthusiastic support!  The Calendar will remain for sale until I have time to create a new one for 2009.

COPIC storage solution

My main stamping MO (always wanted to find a way to incorporate this acronym into stamping somehow! LOL!) is to stamp in black ink and color with my COPIC markers.  So, the three main things that I have within easy reach on my counter are:

• Tonic 6" mini-guillotine (for quickly cutting my cardstock to size)
• VersaFine Onyx black ink pad (my fave!)
  and
• My collection of COPIC Original markers

I've had some of my COPIC markers for over 7 years now and they still work as well as the day I purchased them.  Gotta love that!  I store mine upright and according to the COPIC folks, it doesn't really matter how they are stored (as long as the caps are on tight!) 

I know that many of you have been adding The A Muse Essentials and Beyond Basics COPIC color assortments to your collections - thank you for your support. We are pleased to offer this nifty little acrylic case to store them in.  The case holds up to 36 markers and works with the Original, Sketch and even the Ciao markers.  I love how compact it is.  I also like that it is very obvious when one of the markers is not put back. Sometimes I need this little reminder!

I have added the clear case to our COPIC page.  If you are planning to order some of the new Elzybells stamps tomorrow, don't forget, you can add any of the items on the A Muse News blog to your order to consolidate shipping.

Have a beautiful day!

Stock update

The Clear Spica pens are back in stock. 

A Window for Valentine's Day

We are so excited about our new shop window display for Valentine's Day.  This is definitely one of our BEST - Nina has certainly outdone herself! 

The bandit is one of our new images for Valentine's Day.  He makes me smile!  I really like the scalloped hearts that Nina created to display some of our card ideas on.

Our shop is overflowing with great ideas for Valentine's Day so be sure to pop in soon.  Don't forget, if you received any A Muse Holiday bucks (those cute little wooden coins) - they must be redeemed in person at the shop during the month of January 2008.

Our Shop special this month is 10% off anything Red or Pink (ribbon, paper, notecards, Marvy Mega-size punches, stickles, glitter, etc).  The Shop special is only applicable to purchases made at our Greenwood location.

My mum (AKA as Stamp Maven!) is in town for a few months and she is eager to put together some FREE Make & Takes during the daytime (11-2).  If you are located in Seattle, please let me know (email me) which weekday would work best for you.  So far, we have a few votes for Thursdays.

Lastly, our shop will be CLOSED this Thursday, January 10th, for our annual inventory. 

Join our Team

We have several immediate openings at our Seattle location.  I know that many of you are not located in Seattle, however, I'd appreciate it if you could please let any of your Seattle friends know!

Retail sales/Wholesale order processing

Order processing

Product packaging

Thank you!

For our Canadian Friends

We are pleased to let you know that we have added a new shipping option for our Canadian Customers - FIRST CLASS.

Canadian customers may now choose to have orders shipped via First Class Mail or Global Priority Mail. First Class Mail is a less expensive option, yet it will take longer (we've had some parcels take 12 weeks) and once your order has been shipped, it is not traceable. So, please only choose this option if you have *patience*. Once your order has shipped, there is nothing we can do to make it get there any faster (trust me, we've tried!). The good news, is that it usually works out just fine and doesn't take too long.

More good news... these new shipping rates also apply to Elzybells NA orders. I still need to update the shipping info on the Elzybells blog, but you will see the new rates at checkout.

Please be advised that the DEFAULT Shipping rate is set to FIRST CLASS mail. If you wish to have your order shipped Global Priority, be sure to choose that option at the time of checkout.

Under control?

Today was a crazy day!  We spent the morning continuously mopping up water in the shop and then barricading the back of the building to prevent massive flooding.

The leak in the front of the shop was due to blocked drains on the awning over the front of the building.  It was literally raining in the shop!  Our landlady finally showed up mid-morning and told us that it was ok because we should have flood insurance.  I almost decked her! 

This photo is taken from outside the shop looking in.  The water is *inside* the shop!  That's Heidi wringing out a towel.

This next photo was taken after an hour of continuous mopping!  Look at all the water on the floor!!  The floors have started to buckle and our fun mutli-colored carpet is trashed.  ugh!

My husband saved the day for us by getting up on the awning and unblocking the drains.  It took about an hour for the water to stop gushing in but it did the trick. 

Our next concern was the back parking lot.  Our shop is located in a valley and three hills drain into the area, which also happens to sit over a watershed.  The storm drains all over Seattle have been taxed due to the massive amounts of precipitation (snow & rain) we've had in the past 48 hours.  The parking lot was getting pretty full and we knew it was only a matter of minutes before it started to flood the back of the building.

It's hard to show you how deep this water is.  If you follow the arrow, that leads to the back of all the shops in our building.  You can see that there is a river of water heading down those steps. 

Once again, my husband saved the day.  He waded out into the parking lot with his pants rolled up to his thighs in his bare feet to unclog the drains.  The drains were actually bubbling up more water.  So, off he went to Home Depot for sand bags.  In the short amount of time that he was gone, we had to fend off waves of water caused by cars driving through the "lake".  Thank goodnes for the absorption power of corrugated cardboard.  The sand bags saved us from massive flooding - for today anyways.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. It is still raining.

The good news - we are all safe.  We didn't lose our computers (hallelujah) or too much product. The damage sustained to our retail space will hopefully be tolerable.  We received our new Valentine images today (yes, UPS delivers in *all* kinds of weather!) and if all goes well, they will be shipping to stores tomorrow. Stay tuned for more details on this release in the coming days.

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and encouraging words.  It was certainly not a boring day and we managed to have a few good laughs over it all. 

We expect to be open tomorrow but I will post here if that changes.

xo

Shop closed today due to more flooding

The news at 7 am today is not good.  The shop had more flooding overnight.  Heidi says it looks like it is raining in the shop.  Not a good situation.   

We will be closed for today (Monday, December 3)  trying to deal with the water.  Sorry for any inconvenience! 

Flooded

This is just a quick post to let you know that we had a flood at the shop today.  There was water *everywhere*.  The cause of the flood - blocked gutters on the roof!

Fortunately most of our stuff was off the floor. We will have a better assessment of the situation tomorrow once we've dried things out a bit. 

Still here!

I cannot believe how long it's been since I've posted here.  We have been SUPER busy working on new products and business planning. 

Things are also ratcheting up a notch as Nutcracker quickly approaches.  My daughter, Hailey, is a soldier in the infantry (red coat, tall fuzzy hat) so if you go to any of the performances, be sure to look for her name in the program guide.  There are 2 casts so there's only a 50/50 chance you'll see her.  Opening night is just two weeks away!!

Nina worked her magic on the A Muse shop window again for the holidays!  This year's window was inspired by a card that Julie created.  Nina created the Santa Birdie out of foam core - isn't he cute?!!  Hailey and I found the branch in our neighborhood after a wind-storm and it works beautifully!  Such a happy little scene.

Here is Julie's card that served as our original inspiration. 

We have a few specials for the month of November that are available at our retail store only.  Save 20%* on:

• all Art Institute glitter
• Essential Glue Pad
• Colorbox Fluid Chalk Queue - Pumpkin Spice

* limited to stock on hand... shop early for best selection!

I have added a few new items to our online shopping links (upper left corner).  Have you tried the new Spica Glitter pens?  Holy moly these are sparkly pens!  They are made from real micro flakes of glass and available in 13 essential colors.  I really like the no-clog tip. It is much finer than any other glitter pen I've used and works really well with A Muse's smaller images.  Check them out here.

Speaking of small... we have some cute t-shirts for girls (little ones, that is!)... you can check them out here!

I have actually stamped some things that I will share over the weekend.  Stay tuned!

This is cool!

While out for my morning run, this idea came to me.  In fact, I do *lots* of my thinking while I'm running... very therapeutic!

So, if you happen to be shopping over at the Elzybells blog, and then jump back over here, and want to add some of our new clear stamp sets, an A Muse T-shirt or some of our yummy new 4-bar notes, you can add more stuff to your cart and consolidate shipping charges!  This is possible because the shopping carts are all under the A Muse "umbrella". 

See, I told you it was cool! J

Good news!

Our new Coffee time & Birthday builder sets should be arriving on Thursday.  We're keeping our fingers & toes crossed and promise we will ship them out to *everyone* that has been patiently (and not so patiently! LOL) waiting for them asap!

More Elzybells sneak peeks coming tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Product update

Just a quick post to let you know that our new Coffee Time and Birthday Builder clear stamp sets are presently out of stock.  We received only a small shipment of these sets and are expecting the rest on Wednesday of next week.  We will hold all orders that include these sets until we get them.  If you would like to make different shipping arrangements, please email us at orders@amuseartstamps.com.

We are very sorry for the delay.

special visitor today!

For those of you that have visited our retail store in Seattle, you most likely were helped by Brittany.  Brittany stopped by today with her *new* baby boy, Cole.  Brittany is doing great and Cole is just the sweetest thing. 

Lucky me, I had my camera and was able to get a few photos.  Cole was very sleepy during his visit so we only got to see his beautful eyes for a few moments...  not when I had my camera ready, of course!

Spoooooooky!

Usually, the window displays for our store window come together quite easily.  Nina and I brainstorm a few ideas, she works her magic and presto - fabulous window display!

This time, *none* of our original ideas were coming together.  Our first idea was to have a cauldron with some kind of bubbles or steam.  NOBODY (including our favorite haunt Costume & Display) had a large-size cauldron in stock.  Sheesh - they must have sold them all for the Harry Potter release or something!  Our next idea required lots of pumpkins.  Did you know, fake pumpkins are EXPENSIVE?  And, we didn't want to have a display full of real pumpkins in the window for two months.   Can you imagine the fruit flies?  Eeeek!

Then we had an "AHA" moment and came up with the idea of using Boris, our mad scientist guy, and our Ingredients jars.  Nina made a giant Boris (Julie is going to be sooooooooo jealous!) and found some fun "ingredients" at our local joke shop, Archie McPhees.  She added some of the fun spiders she made last year and a few other accoutrements and the shop is now ready for Halloween!

(It is a dark & dreary day here in Seattle - Boris feels right at home!)

   

Stop by to check it out in person! And when you do,  be sure to check out the newest Card of the Week display - 20% off all A Muse products used on the Card of the Week when shopping at the A Muse retail store.

Not receiving the A Muse Card of the Week?  No worries, click here to learn how to join our email list.

Fall Class Schedule

In addition to the fantastic series of classes with Julie on Sept 28 & 29 (just a few spots left!), we have a fun line up of classes for the fall.  Check them out here.   
To register for classes, please stop by the shop or call to reserve your spot. 206-783-4882.

Shop News

New arrivals: We just received a bunch of new stuff at the shop, including:

• More Copic, Prismacolor (colors listed below in case you've been waiting on a specific color)
• Triplus fineliner markers
• Koh-I-Nor Woodless color pencil sets (set of 24)
• Punches - including the EK success slot punch
• Stickles
• Making Memories Ribbon Slot punch ($11.99)

C'mon by to check out the new goodies!

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Holiday weekend schedule:  We will be open this Saturday from 11a to 4p, closed on Sunday and Monday for the holiday.  Back to regular hours on Tuesday.

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We had even more out-of-town visitors yesterday!  Seattle was at her shining best - clear, sunny and hot with great mountain views ofthe Olympics, the Cascades and Mount Rainier. 

Here are Jill & Janice from Vancouver.

And, here are Naomi & Kumi from California.  I *love* Kumi's owl t-shirt!

In case you didn't guess, that's me, Linda, in the red shirt.  Lots of people say I look different from my photo on the upper left corner of the blog. Must be the headband? LOL!

Have a beautiful day!

Linda

Copics received:

• Sand
• Raw Silk
• Salmon Red
• Pale Cherry Pink
• Tender Pink
• Begonia Pink
• Lavender
• Warm Gray 3
• Lemon Yellow
• Lettuce Green
• Pale Sepia

Prismacolors received:

• Crimson Red
• Warm Gray 80%
• Lime Peel
• Lilac
• Sky Blue

Novell's birthday party!

Last night we had a fun birthday part for Novell at the A Muse Shop.  I was honored when she asked if she could have her party at the shop.

It is always a good time when you get a bunch of crafty ladies together to stamp!  I wanted to keep the projects simple so that everyone could work at their own pace and let their own creativity flow.  And, it was especially fun that Julie was able to pop in as a surprise guest!  Thanks Jules, you are da bomb!

At the pre-school that my my girls attended, it was a tradition for the birthday girl or boy to have a special birthday crown.  I *love* this idea so I asked our printer to cut some strips of cardstock for us.  With a little paint, some stamps, glitter and the Essential Glue Pad, the gals made some fabulous creations.  It is difficult to see the detail on Elaine & Rhonda's crowns but they really went to town!  (If you click on this image, it should appear larger on your screen.)

Here is Novell working on her Birthdays book.  I designed this fun little book to keep track of birthdays throughout the year.  Our Mod Dots notecards are a perfect fit to stamp the word "birthdays" using our clear polka dot alphabet set (7-PDLSM).  There are 12 pages inside the book, one for each month.  We stamped each page with the letter of the month as well as a small A Muse image stamp that represented a theme from the month.   

To bind the book, we used the Bind-it-All to punch holes.  You can purchase coils to bind books with but for our project we simply used our new A Muse sheer ribbons in coordinating colors.  Here is a photo of Novell tying ribbons on her book. 

We also made a fun card which I will have to post later because the photo is on my other camera. 

Novell brought some yummy food for us to nibble on.  This fruit basket by Edible Arrangements was gorgeous and YUMMY!

These cupcakes were delish as well. mmmmmmmmmm!

  I was thrilled that we were able to use my new cupcake stand.  I purchased if from www.vintageweave.com.  They have many gorgeous items.  Pop in for a visit when you have time.

Thanks, Novell for sharing your birthday with us.  I hope everyone enjoyed their loot bags. J

A Special treat!

We have just finalized the details and I'm positively thrilled to post this news!

Classes with Julie Ebersole
Yes, that's right!  Julie will be teaching classes at the A Muse Retail Store in Seattle on September 28th and 29th.

Julie has been demonstrating, teaching, writing, and designing, both freelance and for publication, in the field of art stamping for 10 years. She also currently serves as the Design Team Coordinator for Splitcoaststampers.com, the world's largest online stamping community. And, of course, she is well known for her fabulous A Muse creations!

Please note:  We will begin taking registrations for Julie's classes beginning on Tuesday, August 21st at 10:00 am Pacific time.  Please call the store to register.  Local calls 206-783-4882, toll free = 1-877-783-4882.

Class details below.

Friday, September 28^th

3 to 5pm

A Colorful Christmas {$27}*

We'll put a fresh spin on all the colors of Christmas with A Muse Art Stamps' holiday images and note cards!   6 holiday designs in color combinations ranging from dreamy to eye-poppin'.

6 to 8pm

Send a Smile {$27}*

A Muse Art Stamps make it so easy and simple to send smiles to anyone, whatever the reason, whatever the season.  We'll create 6 delightful cards suitable for a variety of occasions.

* Stay for both classes and we’ll provide a yummy pizza dinner for FREE! 

Saturday September 29^th

9 to 11 am

Glimmer, Twinkle and Shine {$27}**

Simple, little touches make all the difference.  We'll incorporate glitter, A Muse's Twinkle Stickers, and Creative Clear Candy Embellishments into 6 card designs that are sure to sure to evoke plenty of "oooohs & aaaahs".

11:30am to 1:30 pm

A Colorful Christmas {$27}**

We'll put a fresh spin on all the colors of Christmas with A Muse Art Stamps' holiday images and note cards!   6 holiday designs in color combinations ranging from dreamy to eye-poppin'.

2pm to 4pm

Send a Smile {$27}**

A Muse Art Stamps make it so easy and simple to send smiles to anyone, whatever the reason, whatever the season.  We'll create 6 delightful cards suitable for a variety of occasions.

**Stay for two classes and we’ll provide a yummy pizza lunch for FREE!

I'm at the shop today

Yup!  It seems that the rest of the A Muse Crew is off this weekend so they have left me in CHARGE at the shop! 

One of my friends popped by for coffee and we spent the better part of the morning doing some paper engineering.  I can't say what we're working on because I *know* that Novell is probably going to peek in here and it is a suprise for her birthday party we're having here later this week. 

Have a sunny day!

A Muse Shop News

New KIDS section at the A Muse Shop!

I love working with kids - their creativity knows no bounds!!  I decided to bring in some fun supplies especially for them.  The items in this section are high quality, yet inexpensive.  I have found that buying lower quality art supplies for kids is simply an exercise in frustration – for me and for them!  Adults are better able to handle finicky, lesser-quality tools, but kids need quality items due to their lack of fine motor skills (and patience!)

I had fun creating the "banner" for this section.  I used the Marvy Mega Merchandise Tag punch to make the "flags".  Aren't they fun?  This section is right down at ground level for easy access for our youngest customers!

 

Two of the items we've added:

Watercolor Compact Paint Set – 12 colors for $1.99

These sets include “real” watercolor paint disks with a small well for water.  The lid can be used for mixing colors.  And, the set is only 3” in diameter so it they are great to take to the park or on vacation.

Origami & Kirigami sets - $13.50 each

I bought each of these sets for my girls and we have had such fun learning these ancient arts this summer!  My youngest daughter who is 5 is able to participate with extra help with folding (origami) and cutting (kirigami).  My older daughters, ages 7 & 9, have been able to do these just fine by following along with me.  Adult  participation is required to interpret the enclosed instruction book. I highly recommend both of these kits for several afternoons of hands-on creativity! 

Have a beautiful day!  I'm spending the morning with my mom, aunt & sister teaching them how to make a book.  Stefanie from The Paper Garden Boutique taught me how to do this while I was visiting her in Sacramento earlier last month.

Please visit the A Muse Shop to find these and other fun items.  For our blog friends, if you would like to add these to your next A Muse order, please put add the name & price of the item above and we'll send you what we have.  The watercolor compact were a special ordered item so quantities are limited.  I did buy a rather large lot though so I'm sure we'll have them for a while!

New Shop Window for SUMMER!

You can mark your calendars because SUMMER is *officially* here now that we have a new shop window.  Nina, the mastermind behind our visual merchandising, did a fabulous job, as usual!  Here she is hanging the fun flags that my mom made for us.

It is so difficult to get a good photo of our shop window.  There is always a glare.  Here's a few pics... I did my best!

And, here's a picture of Nina behind the counter, after hanging the flags. Isn't she cute?!!

We had some fun visitors to the store today!  We are so fortunate to meet so many of our long-distance customers when they visit Seattle.  Today, I met Abby from North Carolina.  She and her hubby are out here on a business trip (he is a FABULOUS  photographer heading to Oregon to photograph a wedding - check out his website here!) and popped in to see us this morning.  Here is my dorky moment for the day... I snapped a picture of Abby in front of the shop thinking it looked pretty good.  THEN after chatting a while, I discover that her Kevin is a professional photographer!  I'm going to post it anyways because it may give them a good chuckle!  <smile>

Come check out our new shop window.  We even have beach sand!! 

Help wanted

Just a quick post to let our readers know that we are hiring, in case you know of someone fabulous! <wink> 

Here's the job description and details on how to apply.

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Retail sales & Wholesale order processing

We are a busy local paper-crafting company looking for someone to assist with retail sales and wholesale order processing.  Ideal candidate will be honest, out-going, and reliable, with prior retail experience.  An interest in paper crafting (stamping & scrapbooking) excellent customer service skills and an eye for detail would be helpful!

We need someone who can work three mornings per week, with an occasional 5-hour shift on Saturdays.  Position is a combination of wholesale order processing and retail daily operations, customer service in person and by phone, upkeep of store appearance, etc.

·        Must be able to stand and walk all day.

·        Must be able to fill orders based on an alpha-numeric pick ticket with 100% accuracy.

Please email your resume and a little bit about yourself to info@amuseartstamps.com.  Please do not call.  We will contact you if interested for an interview.

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Thanks for passing it on!

Fun day!

I love to stamp but more than that I love to connect with other people that share this crazy passion too! 

Today, we were so lucky to have Ericka, from the Dominican Republic, stop in at the shop. She and her husband flew to Vancouver, BC for a concert and she insisted that she must come to Seattle to visit the A Muse shop!  Ericka tells me she has been eagerly following the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA festivities online and she can't wait to get home to participate in the next challenge... with some of her new stamps!  Unfortunately I did not have my camera today so I wasn't able to get a picture with her.  Have a safe trip home!!

As I was leaving to head into the shop today, this was what my spunky girl was up to... Sadly she only sold one glass of lemonade and she lost the money.  Don't you just love her sign?

We had some fun shipments come today... lots more Prismacolor and Copic markers in stock now (no Salad or Robin's Egg blue though!)  More punches, some great new embellishments (which I will try to post tomorrow), tooth fairy tins, fun new mini albums and more!  Stop by soon - we look forward to it!

We have been working on a SUPER fun contest for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA that will be announced this week.  Be sure to check out the blog because you do *not* want to miss it!

Last thing... don't forget about our BIRTHDAY sale... it's only happens once a year!!

I hope your day was filled with fun too!