Outrageous Octoberfest Update!!

Check out these great offers, in store for one week only (all offers end Saturday October 27th, 4pm!)
" Personal Shopper Kits £10 (save £12.50 per kit!)
" Cardmaking Kits 2 for £10 (save £15!)
" 3 for £10 on chalk sets (save £19.97)
" Bead Sets 3 for £10 (save £10: great gift idea)
" Any 10 Peel Offs for £1 (save at least £5.00)
" Selected 12x12 10 for £1 (save £6.50)
" MIC Embellies 10 for £1 (save at least £8.90)
" Assorted 6x6 paper pads 3 for £10 & 5 for £10
" Assorted 12x12 Paper Pads 3 for £10
" Packs of Envelopes 10 packs for £5
" Helix Cardmaking Kits 3 for £10 & 4 for £10
" Brass Stencils 10 for £10
" Dovecraft Rubber Stamps any 10 for £5
" Liquid Beads 5 for £10 (plus FREE project book)
" Page Coasters 5 for £10
" Ellison Thin Cuts Dies & Easy Emboss Folders 4 for £10
" Ellison Thick Cuts Dies £10
" Bead Café Bead Packs (USP £3.99) 4 for £10
" Decorative Buttons & Flatbacks 10 for £10
" Dovecraft Dimensions 3D Stickers 10 for £10
" Dovecraft Embellishment Kits 3 for £10
" Selected Card Blanks 6 for £10
" Assorted Syntego Packs 10 for £1
" All Die Cut Budget Bits Panels 10 for £1
" Sizzix Paddle Punch Hammer & any 4 punches £10
" Selected Paper Punches 6 for £10
" Classy Accents Decorative Brads & Eyelets 10 for £10
" An extra 10% off everything when you subscribe to any monthly kit

PLUS: On Saturday only - Free Demonstrations, Free Prize Draws, Free Goody Bags for every visitor over 14 (no purchase necessary), Free Make N Takes, Free tea & coffee upstairs.
What a fab time to pay us a visit!!

Halloween Happens!

I had a fun day down at the store today, organising our Halloween window
display. So OK, we don't sell a lot of Halloween goodies but that was soooo not the point. In fact this display, which took me several hours to put together (it's arranging the cobwebs that takes the time! LOL) showcases just fourteen stamps from the latest A Muse Halloween & Fall collections. Obviously we do stock the pre-requisite orange, black & purple cardstocks, ink pads, glitters, card blanks etc - but right or wrong, I just wanted a window that would look cool! LOL. See that spider climbing down the wall? He's HUGE! And hairy!

Death is very cool too! He's about 4' tall and his eyes change colour. How funky is that? Hope you like the display - if you are in the area, why not pop

in and see it for real! You can get some extra inspiration from all the card de

signs we have from the A Muse Crew - A Muse Artstamps' very own fabby design team.

Make sure you check back tomorrow - I'll be announcing ALL the winners from our prize draws at Ally Pally & September's Design

Challenge winner - as voted for by the magnificent seven, our fabby Design Team. And there will be piccies of the prizes too!
If that's not enough, details of our Outrageous Octoberfest event will be announced - there's gonna be never-to-be-offered-again special deals plus lots of free gifts and activities. So watch this space!

Look Who's A Mused Now!

It is ... Sharon Collins, who travelled all the way from Southampton to join in the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA festivities (and stock up on A Muse goodies, of course!). How cool is that?? We were soooo impressed that it had to be worth an A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA goody bag, so it's just as well we kept a couple reserved for just such an occurrence! These goody bags are worth around £18 and packed full of A Muse & Clearsnap goodies - so you're really gonna kick yourself if you didn't visit & have a go at winning one!

Thanks for coming Sharon (and devoted husband, who's name we didn't ask - how rude of us LOL) it was lovely to meet you and hopefully you'll come to see us again one day.

Saturday's A Musement

It's been another long day at Crop 'Til You Drop. Today's festivities included another bunch of free make n takes and our 'ten tags' mini workshops. Check out what we made! And here's a piccie of Kirsty & Jackie as Nina helps them out with the 'Ten Tags' - they just can't get enough of A Muse!!
Watch this space for more

pics coming very soon!

Don't Hold Back on the A Musement!

Our regular Friday Classes took on an A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA twist today. First up, our usual card class became a 'five for a fiver' stamping extravaganza. Generally, we are lucky to get a couple of cards made in the two hours (but we do have a good laugh tho') so I was impressed that the ladies managed to complete all five with time to spare! Here's the photographic evidence!

The second class of the day was our Scrapbooking class - another regular fortnightly slot. Again we used A Muse stamps - the photo corner from the new collection, clear numerals that were new to us & a couple of the old favourite backgrounds. Our layouts are usually more scrappy than stampy - so it was a refreshing change to do something so stamp based. I think we might incorporate stamping a bit more often LOL. Here are the ladies hard at work!

Pokemon For Grown Ups!

Today's A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA event was an ATC workshop & swap. We had a short demonstration to show the newbies what it's all about & then spent a couple of fun hours making our own - with a selection of the new A Muse stamps of course!
I like to introduce the concept by saying that they are like Pokemon cards for grown ups - except you get to make them yourself. I alwaysget a buzz from teaching & it is really lovely when smiley, happy people say how much fun they've had as they leave!

As promised, there was cake, chocolate biscuits & A Muse lollipops. So here are today's pics: from the top 1) Jane does a swap for some of the ATCs I made as part of Design Challenge #10 over on the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Blog before making today's batch 2) Jackie works on her first ever ATC and quickly becomes a paper craft addict 3) Kirsty & Rosemarie complete their Grand prize draw forms in the hopes of winning a whole year's worth of A Muse goodies!

Stay tuned for more pics tomorrow!

Something Else To A Muse You

July 9th was the official start of A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA & to kick it off, we hosted a VIP night. We just had sooo much fun. Due to a bunch of unforeseen circumstances, the new products only arrived a few short hours before so the whole event when live, unrehearsed! The make 'n' takes were as new to me as they were the ladies attending but we battled through & made them both with relative ease. As soon as everyone finished, the big question was 'Can we shop now?' Two lucky ladies won A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA goody bags (worth around £18 each) in our free draw & obviously everyone filled in the grand prize forms to win a year's worth of A Muse (how cool would that be???). Here's a little pic of a looby-pop (that's Looby with a lollipop).

There will be more free draws (& lollipops) all week long, so make sure you don't miss out! There are loads more chances to try out the new products in classes & in the free make n takes (Thursday & Saturday) AND don't forget that the only place in the whole of the UK that you can get a grand prize draw form - is right here, in person, at the shop! come along, we'd love to meet you!

I'm amused too!

OK, so I'm jumping on Beverley's bandwagon with the A Muse related titles LOL, but I have completely fallen in love with A Muse stamps!

I've been playing this week and have come up with these cards and ATCs.

The little vampire ATC (just HOW cute is he?!) was made using the HOTP masculine papers. The other ATC was made with the HOTP Personal Shopper (March 2007) and 2 A Muse stamps - "car load" and "ribbon" (which is so versatile).

The Happy Birthday card was made with the Present block stamp and a previous issue of Let's Make Cards! stuff. The other 3 cards all use the English Paper Company papers.

The "You've passed!" card involved a little bit of improvisation - I didn't have anything to mask off the presents, so had to strategically place the ink and didn't do it too well and ended up with a line - so I got my black pen out and turned it into a roof rack!

Hope to see lots of you at the various A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA events in store next week - I'll be the one with the big grin on my face, randomly grabbing at yummy stamps!

Secret Stash For My A Musement

See this box? It contains Top Secret Very Important Stash! I had to rescue it from Parcelforce, who were determined to send it back to the US (should be a law against that sort of behaviour LOL).

I can't tell you what's in it, you'll just have to book for the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA VIP night on Monday (9th June, 7.30-10pm) to find out! Here's a clue though: Mmmmmmmmm!

Tickets are £10 & are worth a £12 credit to spend at the event. This needs to be booked in advance - telephone or pop in to the store for details.

Come Along & Be A Mused

How does a stamping session in our new play space absolutely free sound? Hmm, thought you might like the sound of that - so here's the deal: You may already know that we are the only store in the UK to be taking part in the second annual A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA stamp extravaganza from July 9th - 15th 2007 & you may also be aware that I'm competing in the AP Ambassador's competition. What you might not know is that I get points in the competition for running swaps.
So, I've decided to open the playroom at all times that there are no classes running to anyone that wants to come along & play with the A Muse stamps in mine & Auntie Jane's personal collections so long as, in return, you either take part in one of the card or ATC swaps that I'm currently running.
Beginners are also welcome & we can give you a quick intro to stamping if you've never done it before! Feel free to bring along your own supplies or use what I have up in the classroom!
You can find more info about the swaps over on my personal blog, or ask in store.

We're Back!!

Woo-hoo! opening day was fantastic, it's just soooo good to be back. As expected we weren't really ready but we opened as promised. Many a goody bag was given away, although I'd run out of ink last night so we weren't able to give out any class timetables, new loyalty cards or any of the other bits of paper we usually like to dish out.

Our new signage (which is sooo funky) wasn't finished until late afternoon but was so worth it that we didn't care. I've a couple of pics to share with you: First, here's steve (AKA SizeOne) a local & very talented graffiti artist finishing off his artwork. Second, the finished canopy (I had to stand in the middle of the road to take this one LOL). Third, a piccie of the lovely looby, who came along & helped us for the day. Now this is how we like you to leave us - laden down with lots of bags of new stash LOL.

Look out for a very special competition coming up on the next blog post - you're gonna love it. There will also be a brand new piccie of the shop on our website very soon.

We Have A New Shop!

I've had it confirmed today that we will be able to complete on the new premises next Friday, June 15th. And we fully intend to move in over the weekend.
We will be on a massive stock clearance sale right up until we close the current store & then there's the official re-opening the following Saturday, June 23rd, with more offers, freebies, make N takes & some exciting new product ranges. And all that before the A-MUSE-PALOOZA week of events starting on July 9th! We will also be able to start the classes again within a week or two!
If you haven't already signed up to the mailing list, now is a good time to do so - all our special offers, events, class changes, new stock info and general news is released in e-mail bulletins as & when it comes in. Just click on the mailing list icon on this page.
And while you are surfing the net, why not pop over to my blog for another great chance to win free stuff. Just click here & leave a comment with your answer on the post.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Events!!

I'm gonna announce the events for the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA week one day at a time - there's just tooooo much to take in all at once. We have planned a couple of things (at least) for every day of the event week! So: here we go with Monday July 9th!
Early Bird Prizes: We will have a goody bag for the first FIVE customers purchasing A Muse products today. We will have available for sale, stamps and accessories that we are using in today’s card class.
Five For £5: Make 5 stunning cards, created by the A Muse Design Team using fabulous stamps from the new range. 12.30 – 2.30. Booking Required.
VIP Night: Be the first to see the newly launched A Muse collection! Free Make N Takes, Free Draw, Free Refreshments. Tickets must be purchased in advance (£10) and are worth a £12 credit against A Muse purchases at the VIP event only. 7.30 – 10.00

We are reserving tickets for the VIP night & also taking reservations for the classes now. As the shop is closed until the fire damage is sorted out all reservations can be made by e-mail or on the dedicated thread on our forum
The new 2007/2008 A Muse Collection is being kept top secret until the international launch on July 9th - we have only seen the designs we'll be using for the classes but I've gotta say, they are soooooo cute LOL. I am sooooo looking forward to the whole A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Event Week, it's going to be a whole lot of fun!

Another UK Exclusive!

So I spent last night checking my e-mail every two minutes, and then I checked every few minutes this morning (& yes, I am aware that other parts of the world are asleep for large parts of my working day LOL) and finally, at 6.50pm the three little words I've been longing to hear dropped into my inbox: You are IN!! (bet that's not what you were expecting LOL).
Crop 'Til You Drop is to be the ONLY UK store to host A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA How exciting is that?

From the 9th to 15th July 2007 we will have special events every day in store to mark the launch of A Muse Artstamps 2007/2008 range. It's all top secret stuff & you will not be able to get sneak peaks at the new products anywhere prior to the launch (not even on their own site!) Watch this space for exciting news of all the things we have planned for you, which are to be finalised in the next couple of days. I can tell you there will be prize draws, FREE Make n Takes, brand new card classes and a fantastic Grand Prize Draw (internationally) where one lucky participant will win A WHOLE YEAR'S SUPPLY of new products!! The entry forms will be available only at A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA events (do you see why I'm soooo excited!)

And if you can't wait until July, check out the AP Blog now, where you'll find great challenges and lots of chances to pick up freebies in the run-up to the big week. And if you'd like to put my name in the referral box when you register that would be good as I've registered for the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Ambassador Competition (& I really want to win LOL)

New Clubs At Crop 'Til You Drop!

Well now that the Three louises are all checked in it's time for me to post our latest news: Club meetings. These are different to a usual class or crop & are as much a social group as anything for specific members of our community. If you would like us to run a particular club that isn't yet listed, contact us with your ideas (you can also let us know when would be good days & times for you) and we'll see what we can do. All our new clubs start in May, and a full list of dates/times will be available in store soon. In the meantime, get in touch with any questions and we'll be happy to help. Here's an overview:



Decopatch Club: An opportunity to have a look at some of the things that you can do with this excellent stuff! We'll do a little project in each meeting/have a 'show & tell' Raffles & Prize Draws & maybe bring in your own stuff to do (kinda like a knitting circle then!). I'll also have the camera on hand if you have stuff to showcase on the Gallery. This month’s dates are: Thursday May 10th 7.30 – 9.30 pm & Friday May 25th 12.30 – 2.30 pm. You'll never look at a boring household object in the same way again (& as the papers are acid free, you can use them in your scrapbooks too!) A little image to the right just to remind you what can be done with an old chair!

ATC Club: Discover the joys of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) in this fun & informal meeting. Each session, we will look at a different theme/technique and you will then be able to have a go or work on your own creations and take part in a ‘swap’. We’ll have a bit of a show & tell for those who’d like to take part & those will be displayed in store until the next meeting - & there will be a prize draw for those who take part! This month’s dates are: Friday May 11th 12.30 – 2.30 pm & Thursday May 31st 7.30 – 9.30 pm. This is such a fun way to use up all your scraps from other projects & we know you'll be hooked from the start!!

Member's Only Club: your very own meetings now in store twice per month. Have a go at the monthly projects under supervision, find out more about your special offers, meet other members & have your say about a range of things: what sort of projects and competitions you’d like etc… Show & tell previous projects, take part in the raffle etc. This month’s dates are: Wednesday May 9th 12.30 pm – 2.30 pm & Thursday May 24th 7.30 – 9.30 pm. The project this month is something you might have seen before: THAT HAT!! Yep, it's the decopatch hat that started life as a grocery box & has received an awful lot of attention both in store & online. In May's meetings, I'll be on hand to show you how! Here's that picture again LOL


The three Louises will be receiving their first box of goodies next week so I expect we'll be hearing from them again very soon. Please do come back often as I expect there will be something new most days. And look out for details of our Mad May Mega-Sale coming soon!!

Sneak Peeks & Current Classes!

I've had a very productive day today! Not only have I finished a couple of personal projects (visit my blog to read more about that) but I've finally finished and photographed the layout for tomorrow (wednesday) night's class and got ahead on the next one. Wednesday nights concentrate on a different style or trend in scrapping and this week I've created a very bold & brave layout with bright colours. So the style is modern and incorporates some stapled ribbons (one of my fave trends that never seems to date!!) I'm also trying to incorporate more variety in the styles of title and journaling as it is all too easy to get bogged down in computer journaling and rely to heavily on die cut letters for your titles (those in the know will only too aware of how much I love the big shot LOL).



Unusually, I'm a bit ahead and have started the next layout for Friday/Saturday - which I don't need for another week. In these classes (and yes, you spotted it, it's the same class held twice!) we focus on a technique (but let's not get too bogged down in what is a technique and what is a trend!!). This time, we will be exploring another simple form of doodling and this is a brilliant layout for using up scraps - so it's good for your purse too! I don't want to give away too much yet - but here's a sneak peek at what's to come. If you'd like to book for any of our classes, or just need a bit more info, you can contact us by e-mail or at the shop 7 days per week.



One last thing for today - our altered traffic cones have received quite a lot of comments so, for those of you that cannot pop down to see for yourselves, here's a piccie! I have to confess I can't claim the credit for these, they were a surprise gift from my mum & my stepbrother! They came about as we were having alot of trouble with inconsiderate people parking right outside the shop. As our lease doesn't allow us to place an A-frame outside the agents suggested we either put a couple of old crates or some traffic cones out there. I wasn't thrilled with either option as I thought they'd look really scruffy. A few days later, mum arrived with these - how cool is that?

Save The Date

May 5th 2007 is National Scrapbooking Day (well it is in America!). A couple of the UK magazines have decided to adopt the day as our own & I have to say I completely agree. So in honour of the great day we have decided to hold ..... The Scrapbooking Weekender!

Saturday will be a veritable feast of make n takes, demos, free draws & beginner's intro sessions. All day during normal trading hours (10-5) - so pop in, try your luck for a freebie or two & maybe make something or learn something new!!

Sunday brings a whole day of cropping: tea & toast followed by a cropping session in the morning; tea & cake followed by a cropping session in the afternoon. Kits will be available to purchase - or you can bring your stash along & do your own thing. There will, of course, be a few spot prizes up for grabs & an optional raffle. Spaces are limited so you'll need to book for this one!! Telephone the shop to book.