new decopatch paper just in...

We opened this box today and saw this lovely paper. Several of our old favorites have been out of stock so I was happy to see them.

Some of our favorite papers are being discontinued by the factory in France. We'll have new ones to take their place, but we do get attached around here. I am sure that the new papers will be fabulous, though, and we are eager to see them when they finally make their way here. The lovely Emily, our resident Parisienne, says that it's really true what they say. France closes down for the month of August. She's there right now, enjoying her family and hopefully picking up some new crafty ideas for us. Nous vous manquons, mon chéri!

Katie Hacker mentioned me!

in her blog...

check it out!

wow, she's pretty famous here in the bead world so now I am feeling pretty fancy.

Ok, gotta go read a book and change a diaper!

new items headed to the platers

We have to have a lot of the fabulous items we sell plated before we sell them. They arrive mostly made of brass and we like to spruce them up by plating them with copper or gunmetal or just antiquing and sealing the brass...so here we are sorting the plating out in the various bins per finish. We do it by the pound and pay per full pound.

So I never want to send 12.2 lbs. and pay for 13.

These fabulous Swarovski crystal rhinestone balls will be plated and back soon, I love these and put them in just about anything I can. Hmm, maybe I should use some in a project for the book?

This business of getting a plating order ready is kind of fiddly, but I enjoy it. If I get to do it I often will throw a few things in for fun that we don't usually get plated in a certain finish. This drives the other folks at work nuts, I think. They want to know will we always have the item in that finish (maybe) and if the price is the same as the usual price (sometimes) and do they need a special code (nah) or will it be stocked with the unplated version (huh?)

I love to make 'em crazy.

watching my demented troll

It's four in the morning. For some reason, Nora has decided that she must, Must, MUST be awake and wandering the house at this hour. We have a good friend visiting and our house is small so in the interest of maximum quiet I am sitting here in a dark living room while she wanders around commenting on the objects she can pick up and identify in the inky room. No lights. I don't want to wake her up. She is cackling like a troll. I kid you not.

Here is a picture of her in the daytime. Although she's cute in her jammies I couldn't work the camera at this hour if I tried. She is changing the invisible diaper on that dolly and saying 'pans, pans, pans' which is her version of pants.

new felt is here!

Wahoo! We just got a big (13 boxes!) shipment of felt from Nepal. It's taking up EVERY surface in the office. It looks like a giant cartoon beanbag exploded. This picture is a quick snap of the new Christmas felt ball mix. It's a mix of sizes, in pink, red, white and greens. Kind of a Dr. Seuss Christmas, but I like it.