Stamp Express

THE OBSERVATION CAR

Once each quarter you can read Jackie's observations on the news, happenings, and trends in the papercraft landscape. Keep up with what's HOT and what's not! Here's her spin on the current season:

Spring is Sprung!! The first day of spring and the first "spring day" can sometimes be a month apart. But regardless of the temperature we are thinking SPRING! Flowers are taking center stage on cards, book covers, and scrap pages. We see die cut chipboard and paper flowers, felt flowers, plastic flowers, stamped flowers, and, of course, silk, mulberry, ribbon, and crodheted. Check out our dollar bar at the store for mix and match flowers from Prima. Add centers to these blooms with brads, eyelets (we love the Crop-a-dile), gems, pearls, stickles glue, bows, and buttons.

Texture on your paper crafts has enhanced the projects so that they look very professional. The Cuttlebug embossing folders do a great job of this and we can hardly keep them in the store. The nestabilities shapes are still popular. The new ones released at the CHA show should arrive the first week of April

And then there are the Copic markers. If you want ease in coloring combined with great results, you'll love these alcohol ink markers. They are refillable, blendable, and you can change the nibs. Once you buy one, you never have to buy it again. But, they are so popular we are waiting and waiting to receive our orders. Since the Memento ink pads from Tsukineko are recommended to use with these markers, we will be phasing out Ancient Page and replacing them with Memento. Tuxedo black, rich cocoa, and London fog are must have colors for stampers.

Easter, Mother's Day, graduation, weddings, anniversaries, and Father's Day are all occasions calling for cards, scrapbooks, and mini books. With our unsettled economy, you can save money on gifts and cards while saving money on entertainment (craft with your family and friends) to get double the value for the dollars you spend.

Go ahead, play with paper every "bloomin' day"!!