A Muse News

May 29th a-muse-letter sent

I hope you all had an enjoyable memorial day.  We had a quiet but productive day at the office yesterday filling tons of orders from our anniversary sale.  A huge lot will go out today and I expect that the rest should go out by Wednesday.  Thank you to everyone for the kind wishes and support on our magical 5th anniversary.

I wanted to pop in to let everyone know that our weekly a-muse-letter was sent out yesterday.  This one included an article from one of our instructor's, Shauna Der.  If you are in the LA area, you should check out Shauna's classes - her funky, fun style is sure to inspire you.

Just a note to AOL users... we have had some issues with aol users not being able to open our Card of the Week attachments.  We are so sorry about this!  It is our understanding that this is because of the attempts AOL makes to block spammers (which we are not!).  If anyone knows how we can get around this issue, please email us at info@amuseartstamps.com.  If you are an aol user that is having trouble, I would like to suggest that you sign up for a free hotmail or gmail account to receive our a-muse-letters.  If you do, please send us your updated email address (and your old one so we can remove that one from our list.)

I will be back soon with some photos of our new retail outlet.  My husband has finished all the painting, we should have the shelving up by the end of the week, next is lighting and then we should be able to rip the paper off the windows.  Yay!

Have a beautiful day.

Linda

Quickie update

Thank you to everyone that has posted & emailed us supportive messages in resolving our counterfeiting problem.  I am grateful for your kind words & support.  No worries, we will *make* them stop!

Thank you also to the folks that have posted/emailed that you have received the a-muse-letter from May 22nd but not May 15th.   I will have this one resent tomorrow - it has a really great article on card trends by one of our design friends, Becky Rusher that you won't want to miss. 

Toodles!

Linda

BTW, does anyone know how to add smilies to posts?  Is this possible?  I feel a little lost without them. <smile>

a-muse-letters sending now

We *think* we have resolved the problem with our group mail program and have resent both our a-muse-letters from last week & this week beginning an hour ago.  Sometimes it can take up to 24 hours for all of them to get sent so please don't fret if you have not received yours yet.

It would sure be helpful to know if *anyone* has received these emails.  If yes, could you kindly post a quick note here for me.

Thanks!

P.S.  If you are not currently on our email list to receive our weekly a-muse-letter that features a fabulous card of the week (COW) as well as other interesting stamping "news", send us an email at info@amuseartstamps.com to join the party.  Please include your full name and city & state.  Thanks!

Counterfeit A Muse!!!

Recently we were contacted by several of our customers that they had seen our stamps in one of their local stamp stores, but they were not made by us.  Hello?! 

It turns out that this is indeed the case.  Yikers!!  It seems that a former account decided that this might be a lucrative thing to do and probably figured that they could get away with this because we are on opposite sides of the country. 

This is by far the most outrageous thing that has happened to us in the five years we've been in business.  Yes, we have had people copy our images chaging just a few small elements and calling them their own designs.  Some we have pursued with legal action, others not. This blatant disregard for our copyright is really very sad. 

I cannot post the name of the store that is doing this due to the legal actions we are undertaking.  However, I would like to share some photos with you to help you identify bonafide A Muse stamps.

All A Muse stamps include a clear index label.  These labels show a crisp clean image of the stamp design.  Also on the labels is our copyright notice - (c) A Muse Artstamps  Seattle, WA, All rights reserved (guess they overlooked this part, eh?) www.amuseartstamps.com, Made in Canada. 

This first picture below shows just a few the A Muse images that have been counterfeited. 

This next image shows the A Muse stork on the left and the counterfeit copy on the right.  You will notice that the counterfeit stamps are indexed by hand (no label) and the image is not very crisp.  It is also slightly smaller in this particular case.  This is not true of all the counterfeit copies produced by this store.

The third picture shows our copyright notice - this is included on all of our stamps.

All A Muse stamps are deeply-etched (for the best stamping results) and use a dark red rubber.  Our stamps are closely trimmed on a scroll saw which means that they will never be "undercut" (this means that the foam is the same size as the rubber so you always get a clean stamped impression).

This last picture clearly shows the inferior quality of these counterfeit stamps.  They are not deeply etched, they use a cheap rubber and are cut by hand.

Counterfeiting is a criminal activity which could result in fines of up to $250,00 and jail time (don't they read the notices at the beginning of movie on VHS or DVD?!! sheesh!)

Buy the "real thing" from one of the stores listed on our store locator at www.amuseartstamps.com or from us. 

Have a beautiful day!

Clear stamps added!

Yay!  It has been a great day for our website!  I just added our new clear stamps to the site.  Check them out!!!

I am still trying to figure out a way to show the whole alpha set when you click on the thumbnail image.  I have an idea that I will work on later this week.  For now, I must get home to eat dinner, play with my girls and fold laundry!

I will post tomorrow once the weekly a-muse-letter has been sent (hopefully this will be the case!)  This way, if you did not receive it, you can email us and we will look up your name on our list to make sure we have the correct address.

Enjoy the rest of your evening/night!

Linda

Website updated!

Allrighty,  I have just updated our website with our new Summer Images and some sample cards that we designed to inspire your creativity.

Just a note to those of you that have been patiently waiting for our weekly a-muse-letter.  We have been having problems with our group mail software.  grrr!  We did not realize that last week's card of the week did not get sent out either.  We hope to have this problem resolved by tomorrow.  The good news is that you will receive TWO a-muse-letters from us this week. 

If you simply cannot wait to hear more about our Anniversary Sale, here's the scoop!  In celebration of our 5-year anniversary, we are offering a 5% discount for every year we've been in business (that's a 25% discount off all A Muse products if you are having trouble with the math.).  All orders must be received on or before Friday May 26th so don't delay.   The catch is that you must be on the a*muse email list in order to qualify for the sale and you must write "Happy Anniversary" or "Annivesary Sale" on your order.  Don't fret - if you are not on our email list, you can sign up today.  Email us at info@amuseartstamps.com.  Please include your full name plus your city & state.

Stay tuned - I hope to add images of our new clear stamps to our website shortly.  When the upload is complete, I will post here.

Have a great day!
Linda

Happy Anniversary to us!

This weeks marks the 5th anniversary of A Muse.  Wow!  How did that happen?

It is not often that I reflect on how things have changed for us since the "early" days but I was thinking about this a lot today.

There are some pretty amazing things that have happened on this journey.  The one that stands out most prominently in my mind is that this business has brought some amazing people into my life! 

Early on, I was lucky to meet a woman who has been the main designer for A Muse.  She is so incredibly talented and has this uncanny ability to draw *exactly* what is in my head.  The best part is that she lives just a few doors up the street from me and has become a good friend.  Thank you, Nina!

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to come across the work of Julie Ebersole.  She is a creative genius and leaves me constantly in awe of her work.  Not only is she an incredibly talented stamper, she is an amazing person with a smile that lights up the whole state of WA!  Love ya, Jules!

More recently, I met our 2nd designer who is also an IW - Incredible Woman.  She came into my life by pure karma, I'm sure.  You see, we receive many solicitations from artists each week.  We were not looking to add a new artist but I felt a special connection with this woman right from the start.  It's amazing how her art style is such a complement to our product line.  She has really embraced a*muse and her stamp ideas are genius!  Just wait until you see our new holiday stamps!  Thank you, Beth!

I have been lucky to work with some of the industry's best stamp artists who love our products.  The cards they design with our products are a gift.  I am constantly amazed by the creativity of these women.

We have GREAT customers.  It is a joy to work with them each day.  Please support your LSS.  These store owners work endless hours managing their stores and we appreciate their continued support.

Lastly, we would not be where we are today without our SUPERB manufacturer.  When I began this business, creating a quality rubber stamp was very important to me.  The one comment that we hear from our customers consistently is that the quality of our stamps is the best available.  Our manufacturer has been making the finest stamps for over 20 years and we are so fortunate to work with him.

Stay tuned for our 5-year Annivesary Sale that is going to happen THIS week.  Details will be included in this week's "a-muse-letter".  What?  You haven't signed up yet?  What are you waiting for?!!  Email us today at info@amuseartstamps.com so that you do not miss out our Anniversary Special.

I'm off to bake a cake!

Linda

Stamp conventions?

Have you ever been to a stamp convention?  I have been only twice and wow - they are a different kinda place to find stamps.  Lots & lots of unmounted rubber.  Personally, I am not an unmounted kinda gal - I think I'm just too lazy!  Also, there are not a lot of unmounted images that appeal to me.  I was definitely in the minority at this show!  People were spending fistfuls of $ scooping up lots of stamps.  I overheard a couple of women that were visiting from Australia - they actually planned their trip here around this stamp convention!!!  One of the women was trying to figure out what she could leave behind so she could make room in her bag for more stuff!  Gotta love it - stamp supplies are more important than undies!

The show I went to was in Puyallup, WA.  I was planning to hook up with a friend but she had an emergency and could not make it afterall so I ended up looking around by myself and ran into a few "industry" acquaintances.

One friend that I ran into is the owner of The Missing Link Stamp Company.  "Link", the owner, is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.  He is the kind of person that is always happy and relaxed and seems genuinely pleased to see you.  Link used to manufacture some stamps for A Muse and we have fun getting catching up.  I also ran into another friend that has recently moved back here from NYC and it was good chatting with him as well.  It's funny, there are not a lot of men at these stamp shows but I seem to know most of them! LOL!! 

Lastly, I ran into Elaine Woodhouse who is the co-owner of Carved Stamps.  She and I were neighbors at an Art Stamp Trade Show when I first started out.  She is awesome - talented, friendly and she has a British accent, which I love.  Elaine introduced me to the Crop-a-dile.  Now this is a *very* cool tool and should be on every paper-crafter's wish list.  It has two hole punches a 1/8" & I think the other is a 3/16".  I punched through 2 layers of metal and a layer of chipboard with ease!  It also sets eyelets and snaps silently and effortlessly.  It is a little pricey - $27 - but I may have to get one anyways!

  Here is my card for the day.  It's not my usual style (a little more "fussy") but I like the results anyways.  I have always loved our PJs stamp and now that we have a new sleeping bag, it's perfect to make sleepover invitations.  My eldest daughter (who is only 8!) tells me that nobody calls them "slumber" parties anymore.  So, it looks like we will need to create a fun new "sleepover" stamp.  LOL. 

I hope you are playing with your stamps this weekend!  I am going to play with our new Holiday protoypes.  Yesssssssssssss!

Linda

Two days in a row!

I'm off to a pretty good start with my Card a Day Challenge!  Yes, I'm a little late with this post but I did actually stamp this card on the 19th.  I just got around to taking a picture of it a little late.

Our Superhero stamp is probably one of my most favourite stamps in our entire line.  He/she just makes me smile.  Now, most people think that this superhero stamp is a little 'man' (he kinda looks like Bill Gates with a cape, don't you think?!) but if you color him in pink, you have a superwoman!  For a finishing touch, just add some diamond sparkles to those superhero booties!

I decided that I would make use of my planned stamping time and actually make an early father's day card for my husband.  He can pretty much do anything so I think this card is very appropriate.  No worries about him seeing this card on my blog - he doesn't get to spend too much time on the computer and I'm sure he would never even fathom that I have a blog!  LOL!

I stamped a bunch more cards tonight too but you will have to check the A Muse website next week to catch a peek at some of these cards.

happy stamping!

linda

The Challenge!

I have decided that as the owner of a rubber stamp company, I really ought to make better use of my stamps!  I am going to try to design a new card each day.  Are you up for the challenge?  C'mon, give it a try!  I would love the company.

Here is my creation for today.  I thought I would start with some of my favorite stamps.  I just LOVE these three dresses but I have only ever used them a few times.  I think they look really fun together, especially when combined with one of our fun pretty little tiny flower papers and a bit of organdy ribbon.

All stamps are by A Muse.

Thanks for looking!

Linda

Time to stamp?!

Do you ever feel like you need more hours in a day?!  I seem to feel this way EVERY day.  I never seem to have enough time to stamp out all the ideas that are bursting inside me.  Today, however, I *had* to stamp and boy was it fun!  I whipped up four fun cards that use our new summer stamps.   It was fast and easy - somedays are just like that.  I must say that it was pretty easy to find sunny inspiration because it was a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l day here in Seattle.

On a different note, we have made big progress lately on our new retail outlet which I hope will open soon.  My DH bought the flooring for our space today and it is going to be so fabulous!  Once the floor is done, we just need to get another coat of paint on the walls, install the lights, put up the shelves and we are set. 

I can hardly wait to get the paper off the front windows!  It will give us so much more light and bring the hub-bub of the daily life in our Seattle neighborhood (Greenwood) into our lives.  Just a few more weeks, I think.  I will take my camera down to the shop tomorrow and see if I can snap some photos to share here.

I do have one fun photo to share.  Some of our stores have requested A Muse signs to display with their collection of A Muse products.  How cool is that?!!  We made ten signs and have given almost all of them away.  We did manage to save one for our own shop.  Here is a picture of Megan holding our sign - slightly tilted!  This is *before* we patched and painted the walls a very fun  green color!

We have had a very exciting week at A Muse.  We are planning a HUGE event that will be the FIRST of its kind.  I got to see the graphics for our poster & promo buttons today and they are AWESOME!  Don't worry, we won't keep you in suspense too much longer.  I just can't spill the beans for a few more days.  So, please stay tuned!

Remember, if you have not signed up to receive our "a-muse-letter", you really should.  This past week's a-muse-letter included a great article on card trends that was written by Becky Rusher, one of our card designers.  To sign up, simply email us at info@amuseartstamps.com.  Please include your full name along with city & state.

Have a beautiful day!

Linda

I love summer!

Autumn used to be my favorite time of the year.  Growing up in Quebec, the fall season was fantastic.  Cool sunny days, perfect for cozy sweaters and admiring the beautiful colors of the maple trees.

Now that I live in Seattle, I find that I really CRAVE summer.  I love the summers in Seattle.  The warm, dry weather that never seems to get too hot.  The beautiful sunny skies *every* day.  The beach.  The endless bike paths. Summer in Seattle is always great.  I think this is why I have always loved our summer stamp releases. 

We start working on our summer designs when there is still snow on the ground.  Somehow this makes the damp rainy weather much more bearable because I *know* that summer is coming soon.  It must be, we're working on summer stamps! LOL!

We just released these stamps to the stores that sell our products.  It's always exciting to see the first orders come in for a new release.  It is fun to see which stamps will be popular, which ones won't.  Everyone has favorite stamps that they are rooting for and it's fun to keep track of how they are doing.  The best part is seeing all the wonderful creations from our Design Team members & Instructors.  We are so lucky to work with such a talented group of people.

The real hero at A Muse is my mother, Viola!  My mother produces *thousands* of sample cards for A Muse each year to send out to stores.  She really loves to make cards and we are so lucky to have her.  She is a perfectionist and takes such great care with every card she makes.  So, when you see our beautiful samples in the stores, please know that they were made with loving hands.  Below is one of the many summer samples she is working on!

We will be posting our summer images and card ideas on our website shortly.  We like to give the stores a head start to get them in their stores before we do.

Stay tuned as we have something very exciting to share with you SOON!

Have a beautiful day!

Linda

Summer Stamps coming soon!

Our summer stamp releases have always been my favou rite and this year it is no different.  There are 40 fabulous new designs that will begin shipping to stores next week.  We should be receiving our first shipment of these new stamps tomorrow.  It is always so exciting to see them for the first time.  I can't wait!

I am busy designing sample cards to send to stores and to post on our website.  Yup, this is a fun job but somebody's got to do it.  I just love this new golfer stamp.  I used one of our new twinkle stickers (TWI102 Mini dot) for the golf ball.  Fun!  I created a "green" with our Skinny Oval bl sm (3-5012C).  I think that both our skinny oval stamps are "must-have" stamps for any collection.  I use them for so many things!

Please be sure to check out the A Muse website for more card ideas.  We will only begin posting the new summer stamp designs on May22nd.  This gives our stores a chance to bring them in for you.  If you would like to see these images the week before, sign up for the A Muse email list.  Email us at info@amuseartstamps.com and please be sure to include your First & last names, city & state for our listing.

Have a beautiful day!
Linda