Our July calendar is almost finished and should be out in a day or two at the most, but in the meantime, here are the dates for our next three crops, all of them hybrid crops, meaning you pay only for an evening crop but can crop all day if you want to, as your table will be reserved for you from 10 am on. You get dinner, salad, dessert, snacks, beverages, prizes, a raffle, special lightning sales, and loads and loads of inspiration, education, and fun, all for only $20.
In July, you can join us on Saturday the 11 or Saturday the 25th. The entire August calendar isn't set yet, but we do know that there will be a crop on August 1st. If you can find just one day a month to crop all day at the Clubhouse, you'll be amazed at how much you can get done!
For all you many, many Copic crazed crafters out there, we have the newest addition to our Copic department: a refill bar with our 72 most popular colors. As you know, one of the great advantages of a Copic marker is that it can be refilled--but you don't necessarily use a color enough to justify buying a whole bottle of ink at $7.49 for every color in your stash. That's where the refill bar comes in. For just a dollar a dose, you can restore all your markers to the perfectly juicy state they arrived in. (Wide markers are $2.00 a dose.)
Stop in and check out the bar soon--and remember to bring your dry or drying markers with you.
And will we be adding more colors than the 72 we've started with (the 72 most popular colors we sell)? If the demand is there, you betcha!
How happy was I when I checked out the Hero Arts Blog http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/ and found that this week's posts are all about using Hero Arts stamps with QuicKutz! Here is a beautiful card by Jennifer McGuire using QK's nesting label (in stock at the Clubhouse, might I add!)

Visit the blog and look for the inspiring layout by Nichol Magourik posted yesterday
(6/10/09) and all the amazing prizes they are giving away this week. Love it!
p.s. QuicKutz is doing the same on their blog, http://quickutz.typepad.com/qk/. So fun!
As always, Jennifer McGuire and the Hero Arts Design Team inspire me to think of my stamps (and my Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock) in new ways. Here is a graduation card Jennifer posted on the Hero Arts website. Here is a link to her directions - http://heroarts.com/cardmaking/cardIdea.cfm?cardID=4057. Wouldn't it be perfect for a pre-K or grade school graduation? Or someone who has gotten their teaching certificate? Enjoy.
Forgive me, but today I've just got to brag on our Wendy, who's been with the store since shortly after we opened. In fact, she's pictured on our website at our very first crop, which is when we instantly recognized her considerable talent--and hired her.
When we launched TimeSavers there was no question that anyone else could do the job but Wendy. Each month she designs and pre-cuts 5 different layouts and releases them on the night of the TimeSavers class. All the students have to do is put them together. (As long as you've pre-registered, you can pick up your TimeSavers kits anytime after the first night.) These are the five stunning layouts she did for the month of May. If you like to do two-page layouts, we always have the relevant paper available for you to buy a sheet or two and make the second page. Of course the best part is that all the work is done for you--thereby saving you the one commodity that probably seems the most precious to you right now: time. But we're also saving you money as all five layouts cost only $25.
When our new shipment from Doodlebug came in, Tracie and Wendy both had the same happy reaction: "Doodlebug is Doodlebug again!" Doodlebug at its best--which these lines most assuredly are--is cute and sweet without ever being "cutesy." Here are some sample papers for you to consider, and be sure to check out their darling brads when you're in the store!