AROUND THE STUDIO:  Each morning I gingerly open the lid on the hot tub, and  I look for a little blotch of green where the lid folds to see if Kerstin has returned for the summer.  On the morning of July 7 there she was!!  She is looking well rested, her complexion looks great and her colouring is a very fresh chartreuse.  (Who's Kerstin? See "AROUND THE STUDIO in the Newsletters from this fall and winter October Newsletter  & Winter 2005.

With all my little antidotes about life in the woods, you might get the impression it is a utopia....close, but not true.  So, I thought I should balance things out a bit with this little story about the 'birds & the bees wasps'.  We do not have any house wrens singing their hearts out and having babies in the little birdhouse at the entrance to the studio.  This year some wasps got to the birdhouse before the birds and began a hive inside the house.  The hive grew to the point that it closed off the 1" hole in the front the birdhouse.  There was just a little pencil size hole that the wasps entered and exited from.  I gave a lot of thought to as to how I could get them out of there.  I was concerned that people coming to the studio would get stung.  I agonized over it, but I finally decided the only thing I could do was stick a dowel rod in the entrance hole and just leave it there until they died inside.  I went out at twilight one night and placed a step ladder against the tree the birdhouse was mounted on.  As I stepped on the ladder about three wasps scampered out the little hole in the entrance to have a look around.  I did this three times and each time they came out, but they always left one behind as a sentry.  I could not believe how on guard, organized and intelligent they appeared to be.  Well, I screwed up my courage and when there was only one left I smashed him with the blunt end of the dowel rod and then tried to stick the dowel in the entrance hole to the birdhouse.  It was hard to get it in, because the wasps had coved it over with their nest building material and it was a tight fit.  As I tried to position it the wasps were trying to get out of the hole, but finally it went in.  My adrenaline was flowing when I got back to the house, and I had to read for awhile to calm down before going to bed.  By morning I realized that given the way the wasps had looked so organized, I couldn't just leave them in there to die that terrible death.  So, I decided I would work the stick around a bit to destroy the nest inside the birdhouse as best I could, and then when it was dark I would pull the stick out.  My hope was that maybe these little guys would realize how vulnerable they were having had there nest destroyed, and the potential for being locked in permanently.  That might have been a stretch, but they did seem very bright.  So, I went up the ladder in the morning and began to move the dowel rod around to destroy the nest.  As soon as I moved it a wasp manage to get out on the left side of the stick.  Undeterred by my size he flew straight at me and sank his stinger into my neck.  I was very impressed!  At the same time the dowel rod knocked the birdhouse right off of the tree, and it tumbled into the undergrowth at the base of the tree.  I covered the 100 feet to the house in about three steps!  Over the next few days with the aid of a garden hose, I was able to harass them, and eventually persuade them to settle elsewhere...once again having restored the balance between the birds & 'bees'.

ATTENTION UNMOUNTED STAMPERS:  Someone has invented a better 'mouse trap' for UM stampers, and it is called EZ-Mount.  Some of you maybe familiar with it already.  We took one look at it and realized that it was superior to what we have been doing.  EZ-Mount is adhesive cushion with the static cling built right into one side of it.  So, you stick your UM on the adhesive side and cut it out with a pair of scissors.  Then you just peel off the paper on the other side and stick it on your adhesive block.  That's it!  It does not get any easier than this!  We now have 8" X 11" sheets of EZ-Mount in stock.  EZ-Mount is1/8" thick, which is twice the thickness of our regular cushion.  The price is the same as the old adhesive cushion, $5 Canadian or $4(US).  So, besides the convenience, you also save the cost of the cling vinyl.  I would encourage you to try EZ-Mount...try it you'll like it!  

The process is so simple now, that we have scrapped our PowerPoint presentation on preparing unmounted stamps for our Christmas booths this year.  It just is not needed any longer.  There really is no need to 'sell' unmounteds anymore.  With the ease of EZ-Mount and the advantages of the system, it really has gotten to the point that the real question becomes, "why wouldn't you go unmounted"?

However, do not fret for we will continue to stock our regular double back adhesive and sheets of cling vinyl.  If you normally order your unmounteds pre-trimmed on cushion, please specify whether you want "classic" or EZ-Mount cushion. 

IT'S BACK!:  We are once again accepting MasterCard.  My apologizes to everyone we inconvenienced by discontinuing MasterCard at the beginning of the year.  Our service provider breached their end of our agreement so blatantly, that I felt I had no choice but to terminate it.  In any case, we have a new provider, and you are welcome to use either your Visa or MasterCard again.

CHRISTMAS SHOWS:  Our Christmas show schedule is now set.  We will be doing Vancouver, Calgary & Toronto this year.  We are not going to do Ottawa this year.  The 6 1/2 weeks on the road last year was just too much.  Anyone who saw the two dragged out looking people in Ottawa last year will understand...actually Trudy still looked great, but she had the advantage of a little make-up.  I looked like death warmed over, but more importantly I felt it!  So, maybe we will gear-up for it next year again.  For details on show dates see Where to Find Us.

MARGARET'S MUSINGS:  If you have had an opportunity to see our display at anytime over the past several years, you would have seen sample cards by our friend Margaret Appleton.  Margaret is always trying something new, and comes up with some great effects with our stamps.  She has agreed to write a short piece for each newsletter on stamping in general and on techniques slightly beyond the basics.

If a product will add glitz, glitter, sheen or shimmer to my stamping, I am game to try it! Lately I have been playing with the metallic rub-ons that have been in my drawer for a while. I thought that there must be many ways to use them and it was time to explore and discover.

Metallic rub-ons are wax based and non-toxic. The ones that I have come in a palette of seven colours and I have 4 different palettes. The rub-ons are used to add a metallic sheen or luster to stamped projects or paper and are applied with a bit of sponge or with your finger. When using the fingertip, it’s best to apply the colour lightly and sparingly to avoid a fingerprint. Practice on scrap paper is a good idea. On 3-D molded projects you can buff the colour, after applying, to get the shiny look of metal and it’s best to allow some drying time. A fixative spray might be needed in some cases.

TESTIMONIAL:  It is so incredibly nice for people to take the time to get back us to express their pleasure with our product and service.  Here is a flavour of what our customers have had to say in the last few months:

Put on your paint clothes, loosen up & give it a try!

To begin these cards, I selected 3 colors of paint: bronze, green, and taupe.  I decided to challenge myself to step outside my comfort zone and try a new color pallet.

I selected a few sheets of heavy card stock, pre-scored cards, some corrugated cardboard pieces, and a handful of “bits”- patterned paper, tags, cropping, scraps, etc. 

I used a paintbrush to randomly apply acrylic backgrounds to the cardstock.  I also randomly painted some of the cardstock and bits.  The results were a great selection of coordinated pieces to assemble.  When the acrylic paint dried, I stamped images using Color Box Pigment ink, then embossed them.  I found that embossing was important with this project, as the images tend to be overwhelmed by the acrylic background.  Embossing helped to bring them to the foreground. 

I snipped away at my paintings/stampings.  This is a good time to do some creative cropping.  I encourage you to put the ruler away for now, and try cutting freehand. 

Finally, I began to assemble my cards.  Layer paper to “frame” selected images.  Glue on interesting bits as embellishments.

Happy Stamping (and painting)!   - Emily