Sorry for my absence; when I finally settled at home last night from an afternoon class and dinner out with my husband, all I could do is say 'night, night'!

Don't forget . . . did you 'spring forward' your clocks? We're officially on daylight savings time at 2:00 a.m. If you don't spring forward, you're going to be late for your dates until you do!

Tomorrow (Sunday), from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. (daylight savings time), our Marj Marion and Dianne Johnson will be offering a demo on die-cutting techniques. Dies! dies! and more dies! are all the rage these days, and wouldn't you like to know how to make the best use of them and, more important, know how to easily cut your die shapes? The demo is free . . . all we need is you!

There are sooooo many more reasons to stop in at Art 'n Soul this weekend. More orders arrived yesterday, so we have lots of new products for you to add to your supply stash and collection of stamps.

New from Penny Black . . .

Wouldn't this make a great Father's Day Card?

I love these two stamps . . . and the colored sample they

show on the packaging is quite nice.

There are so many more new stamps

from Penny Black, Outlines, Impression

Obsession, Memory Box  . . . come and look!

Lots of new paper arrived from The Paper Cut; they supply us with the beautiful mirrircard (Dianne says the blue mirrircard is stunningly beautiful!); glossy paper, metallic paper, textured paper, So Silk & Skin papers. I've heard that many of you like the new Memory Box papers, especially the colors we're using for the current Memory Box Make 'n Takes. I'm going to place a small order this week for more colors and designs.

Journal Club met yesterday afternoon. Art 'n Soul is so fortunate that these talented artists regularly choose to meet at our store for their monthly session; it's quite inspiring and the work is incredible!

It's been quite a while since Tamara joined in, and we were so thrilled to see her. Look at her original artwork in her art journal . . .

a close-up of the background
pattern Tamara drew

One of the hand drawn Thanksgiving cards she
created for a friend . . . unbelievable, isn't it?

This is a "mail" portfolio that Kathy Peterson made for her niece, who wants to revert to the art of written letters of communication instead of emails. Kathy used a regular office folder that has a pocket on each side of the inside.

The cover

This has a calendar of the year as a
background. On the pocket, Kathy has made a
pocket with a booklet containing the names
and addresses of family and friends.

In this pocket, Kathy will include stationery supplies
for her niece to use.

The back . . . I think this is a really
great funky gift for a young adult, or older adult,
to inspire them to write a handwritten note to someone.

By Kathy Peterson . . . a 2-year that turned into a 4-year journal she made covering her
life during 1957-1960. I know you'd like to page through it . . .

I especially liked this page because she's listing
the books she read. It's inspiring me to do a journal of
just the books I've read, and perhaps would like to read,
inter-mixed with some other tidbits. Hmmmmm. . . 

And these are pages from Kathy's journal

about her trip to Paris a few year back, evoking

a lot of personal memories I've had from Paris that should

put into a journal, too!

And this is the spine of a book

she's made using beading on

the outside stitches. I overheard

her say the smaller the bead, the better!

More from the Journal Club will be posted tomorrow. The blog is acting up!

From Els at Elizabeth Craft Designs, another stunning sample of her work . . .

by Els for Elizabeth Craft Designs

"The flowers for this card are from Hero Arts. I did stamp with the gold StazOn on top of the Bronze Shimmer Sheetz. When the gold StazOn was drie I used the Hero Arts die from the same set and die cut the flowers. I colored on top of the StazOn with the Copic markers. This gives a really nice effect. For the background I used a strip of the 40mm Be Creative tape and glittered the strip with the Apricot Glitter Ritz micro fine glitter and burnished it. The other piece is the Yellow Shimmer Sheetz, alcohol ink on top of the yellow Shimmer Sheetz, embossed with the new Spellbinders M-Bossabilities and sanded with a sanding block. I folded the leaves of the flowers a little bit and they will stay that way when you are using the Shimmer Sheetz. On the left side I used a gold glitter border Peel Off and colored it with a Copic marker and I did the same with the Happy Birthday Peel Off sticker."