STAMPLICITY NEWSFLASH FOR MAY AND JUNE 2009

I sit here on a beautiful holiday Monday composing this newsletter but just resting today is a good thing as we were out for the day yesterday with Shawna and the girls. We went to the Bird Kingdom and had an early lunch at the Rainforest Cafi in Niagara Falls. It was a gorgeous day and not to busy in the falls. It was most enjoyable with the girls, Gracie had a ball playing some of the arcade games and Rosemary was just wide-eyed at everything especially the birds in the kingdom and the animals that seemed to come to life in the Cafi. Giggled a lot! It was a fun day getting away and not thinking of the store. Check out my home page on the site to see a picture of the 2 girls. This was taken at Rosie 1st birthday party.

The store is taking on a bit of a different look. When you visit you will see new racks for the 8 x 11 cardstock and most of the older wood racks gone. We are getting ready (and looking hard) for a new line of solid, smooth cardstock in 12 X 12. The current cardstock by Worldwin is not working anymore as they are discontinuing many of the colours. I still have a lot in the store but know it's time to pursue another company. We also are looking at getting in the colour range of Prism cardstock as the texture on it is lovely. It's a project to be sure. I don't want to get Bazzill in as every store carries it and there are other companies that have great cardstock. It's all about being different.

Our store is now re-stocked after Kitchener Scrapfest. It was a great show made all the better by having our friends Bryan and Sandy with us. Bryan did the make and takes with Stampscapes and I don't think there was a chair empty the entire day. Ladies seem to love Bryan as he is so creative. I think it's also about have a man, that has a passion for paper craft, in this sea of ladies. Saw lots of customers I don't get to see too often due to the distance of the store. The unfortunate part of the show is we caught a shopifter red-handed leaving the store with a $25.00 stamp set. Once security was notified and other vendors were informed I found out there were 5 ladies on the floor shoplifting. Kind of puts a damper on the day and you begin to wonder what else was taken.

We have a good selection of Nestabilities in the store and intend to try to keep inventory full, which is a feat in itself. There's so many that it's hard to know what ones will be popular. The SWEET DEAL for May is your choice of one of the four that are at the special price of $20.95. Check out the site for the details. www.stamplicity.com Brenda is working hard to create sample boards of all the nestabilities that we will be carrying. She has 2 full boards done already and working on others. A trip to the store is a necessity to see what the Nesties look like on cardstock.

We also have a great supply of Cuttlebug folders and dies, the carrying case and refill sleeves. I just got information on new Cuttlebug products that should be available in August or September. The site shows what's coming out and I am sure at the July Retailer convention there will be more, with seasonal designs appearing soon. You know I'll keep on top of it and with my prices people will want to pre-order the designs they just have to have. Don't hesitate to pre-order yours so you won't be disappointed. An email or phone call is all you need to do. Sample boards are being done for all the Cuttlebug folders and dies that we carry.

Although we don't have many Slice Cartridges and the higher priced items in stock, they can be ordered for you usually in a quick turn around time. Many ladies are disappointed in what Michaels and Wal-Mart never have in the store so they place an order with me and as long as you didn't want it in the next week we can usually make our customers very happy. For those of you who own a Slice Machine, it is important that you register your machine in order to keep up to date with their upgrades and news releases. If you haven't it's not too late! They have just sent me a Newsflash on some very exciting changes and updates. Go to www.whyslice.com and click on Slice news to get the updates. Interesting stuff!!

I recently went to Ecstasy Crafts Open House in Shannonville and had such a good time doing 6 make and takes, looking in their showroom at all their new products and picking up an order. I decided to take a lesson from them and came back to the store to make up sample board of all the 3D sheets that I carry or will be carrying. It's such a difference seeing the things made up. You'll see a lot more inventory for cardmaking from Ecstasy, although I did an adorable 3D scrapbook page. One product that was pretty cool and I brought one back for the store is a puzzle punch. This punch is different than others out on the market. We are impressed with the results. Come in and have a look at it and shortly there will be samples on the site under New Products.

If you are familiar with the process of Pergamano you know that the first set in making a card is that trace your design on parchment paper with a pen and white ink. While at Ecstasy Craft (who sells the Pergamano supplies) I saw they have a new product out, where the design is already on the parchment paper. All you have to do is the embossing from behind and add colour if you wish. I know some people have trouble with the tracing tracing or find it just takes to long with the tracing to get a card done. I purchased a kit to try it out and got 3 cards done pretty quickly. I know it's cheating but the end results of Pergamano are gorgeous and I think there are ladies out there who would love to skip the first process to get their cards done quicker. Samples of what I did will be put on the site shortly under New Products. There are other products that will be on that page so take the time to check out the site and this page.

Speaking of New Products we have added a new page to the site called "New Products". We want to keep you informed of the new items that arrive or are coming and if you can't get in to see them the next best thing would be to check our site. It will be noted above each new product whether they are currently in the store or when they should arrive.

We now have in the Stitchable Stickers and the Dazzle Stickers from Hot Off The Press. Janice as well as myself have gotten a few samples up as well on these products. Very cool, easy and effective on cards.

Some disappointing news for Coluzzle users. It looks like Provo Craft will not be making this product anymore. I can't get the mats and the swivel knives anymore as well as most of the templates. I still have templates in the store that are now 50% discounted. Not sure what's up with that, other than they are company that makes Cricut and Cuttlebug so I would guess they are trying to push customers to these machines. The Curvy Cutter is the next best item that we would recommend if you want something to cut various size ovals, round corner squares, and circles.

For Stampscape enthusiats, Kevin has produced 6 different word sets that compliment his scenery cards. Check out his site www.stampscapes.com to see the different sets and if there is any that appeal to you, you know you can order them anytime for me. I will be placing another order from Kevin probably in the next month or 2.

Next month's Sweet Deal will be something unique once again! Magenta is a stamp company that I started out with 13 years ago. I have ordered from them on and off for all these years. They have a huge catalog with many interesting designs. Normally I would have to order 2 each of any one design from this company, but they are waiving that condition for the month of June so I decided to allow anyone to browse their catalog and order stamps of your choice. As well as picking your own stamp/stamps we are also giving you a 30% discount on the stamps you choose. With that big news I will leave you to browse their site www.magentastyle.com

The Sweet Deal for July will be a new company to us, My Favourite Things. Check out their site, www.mftstamps.com as the set "Tote-AllyFantastic" will be on special to pre-order for the month of July at $12.95 (regular price $19.95) These are quite popular stamps with some very different sets. Brenda and another customer have a special request to order the set "Twisted Sentiments". This set would not be for everyone but some of you might want to check it out on their site under "My Favorite Products" and then under "Tongue in Cheek" and pre-order one as I probably won't be carrying them in the store. They are different word stamps.

We have a very nice selection of Hero Arts and Penny Black stamps that have just come in. New ones from these companies.

If you are still looking for a different event to attend this year check out our "Spring & Fall Fling" on the site. We have changed it this year quite a bit and by the looks of things people are liking the line-up we have planned. This includes a intro stamping class on the Stampscapes line with Bryan Hann. He will also be doing make and takes for people who have had a class on the basic of Stampscapes and just want to fine tune some techniques. In the make and take you will be given a black and white scenery design and Bryan will help you to colour it in whether it be to make a night or day scene, fog or whatever you would like to master. That is why you must have the basic technique to take the make and take. Brenda, Sue and Sandy are making some decisions on their make and takes and we are trying to work with very different techniques so you won't be telling us you already know it. There is still some openings for all the Options but don't hesitate to sign up as almost all of Saturday's time slots for the make and takes are full.

Dan Gryn, my web master, is doing a terrific job on my site. When customers bring in their work to show us I take a picture and then send them to Dan. He very patiently puts them on the site for me and works his wonder so the site is much easier to navigate. Life is much easier with him now. I no longer have this periodic desire to throw the laptop out the window.

I won't be going to the Creative Hobby Retailer event this year as it is in Orlando Florida! Heat and I just don't get along too well at this time of my life. Don't worry as the companies I deal with will keep me up to date of what's new and coming out. Keep in mind when you read magazines about these new products they advertise, that chances are they likely won't be available for a bit. They always try to generate interest to see whether the products will be popular.

Our next out-of-town event is the yearly trip to Bancroft for Stampfest on July 18th I have lost count on how many times we have been invited to attend this great show. Bryan and Sandy always manage to come with us so it's a great weekend for all of us in so many ways. For an event that is in the small town of Bancroft there is always many vendors and many attendees. Check out their site for the details. www.stampfestbancroft.com On our way up to Bancroft of course we go through Shannonville and stop at Ecstasy Crafts so you can be assured I will be picking up more of the new products I saw at the open house.