simple dreams

Wizard and Excalibur Updates and a Little Motivation

It's official (I hope - LOL!)! After several months of waiting the new Wizard machines will start shipping to us on June 24th!!!

If you are on our waitlist you will be the first to be able to order one of these upon their arrival here. It's not too late to be added if you are interested, just email us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com.

The new model (W-001) will be easier for beginners to get started due to the softly rounded ergonomics. It is still made with the same high quality steel construction and weighs only 7 lbs, but is a beautiful new "raspberry-like" color. This little machine is capable of creating 3,000 lbs of pressure to assure sharp cuts and deep embellishment on each and every project.

Now for the long awaited Xcalibur update! Based on the input of retailers and consumers alike, Spellbinders technical team had to continue it's push for high quality, versatility, affordable pricing and foremost safety. Their most recent goal was to ship these machines come this fall, but due to critical issues needing to be resolved it has pushed the ship date back to the first quarter of 2009. I completely understand your disappointment of not having this exciting new product in time for this holiday season, but they just could not and would not sacrifice the safety and quality of this product in order to beat the clock. We thank you so much for your understanding, patience and support of this product. I think that it will surpass all of our expectations.

My last announcement is just a little project and a HUGE THANK YOU for your support during our Friday the 13th promotion. We worked so hard and fast and are proud to tell you that all orders were shipped out by Wednesday, June 18th. If you have not received your order by the beginning of next week please let us know so that we can follow through and make certain it is on the road to your home. We also appreciate the many thank you's you have emailed us - we are adding them to our "Wall of Love"!

Today I wanted to create a thank you card and present it on behalf of all those who work here at Ellen Hutson LLC. After thinking about it for a short while I decided to use a Motivational Center instead. I chose this particular sentiment because of you! Each of you have helped me realize a dream. Each of you have given me confidence to head in this direction - I can now live the life that I imagine because of each of you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Supplies used: Memory Box Provence, Memory Box Willow, Neutral Art Flowers, Poinsettia Dew Drops, Motivational Centers and Glossy Accents all available at Ellen Hutson LLC

Don't forget about our new Inchie Challenge - now that time may be more on my side I am looking forwards to beginning to fulfill my Inchie ABC's - woohoo!

I hope that you each have a dream and that life takes you on the road to fulfilling it! Have a wonderful weekend Ü

Brand New Lockhart Images - It's all about Versatility!

It is always so thrilling for me to see the new Lockhart rubber stamps drawings! Then the anticipation of their arrival starts - I am so excited to share that Karen has just released 31 new designs! It was a bit of a surprise to me when I received the email notification today that they were up on her site and so I immediately set to getting them up on our site as well, being we already have a nice supply in our inventory.

I have elected to use THREE of them in this month's Stamp of the Month Packet and hope to share the information regarding this project in the next couple of days. We (well, more appropriately my DH, JJ - LOL) are still moving all of my supplies down to the office, but I hope to have that taken care of early this week as well. I have crossed my fingers and toes that my productivity will now be able to increase Ü

Versatility is always key when it comes to how it is that we can use a stamp. The apron in the new collection is just one example of how incredibly versatile Karen's stamps can be. The image on this particular design is approximately 2 1/2"w x 3 1/2"h. This larger size allows us to use the Itty Bitty images as well as some of the sentiments on the apron front. I am going to share the "naked" apron with you today and then some of the incredible options that Karen has colored to show the versatility of this stamp.

This is the apron in it's "naked" form - ha, ha! Below are just a couple of different possibilities for this marvelous piece!

Same idea - different colors and different doodling on the apron pockets.

Or make it masculine!

You could stamp this beauty on patterned paper and piece it together similar to my Robe and Bella post creations. You could also use Itty Bitty's to create a background or Backgrounders and masking to create other interesting versions. Add words like the new "Hot Stuff" or use it as an invitation with the word "Brunch" on the front. I am so excited to see the different possibilities you have in mind!

I'm behind on my Inchie INKlings challenges - it's high on my to do list this week. I will also be working at adding the new Memory Box 6x6 papers to the store and a few other goodies that we now have in our inventory, but I just haven't had an opportunity to get them uploaded.

Be certain to stop by our home page and sign up for our newsletter - I have a big announcement that I am planning on making shortly and you are NOT going to want to miss it Ü Perhaps you can start guessing as to what one special day is in June and in no other month this year. Talk to you soon!

It's moving day!

First of all I want to thank you for sending up those prayers and positive thoughts. I am currently feeling a little like I've been hit by a freight train, but I truly believe that my surgery on Friday went well and that soon I will be able to live a more pain free life!!! YEAH!!! I hope to be able to start creating and posting projects soon :D

Next I just wanted to let you know that we are moving tomorrow and Thursday (May 7th and 8th). We hope to be able to be packing all orders again on Friday and get back up to speed quickly. So we're knocking on wood (and better yet, my DH is down working on the computers right now so they are ready to rock and roll come Friday.)

Blog Candy Winners!

OUTPUT Copy down or cut and paste into your application

197 105

We had 198 posts and so running the random number generator we have two winners!!!

The first winner (lined paper backgrounder) is:

Hi Ellen!
Great give-a-way! I am thinking the lined paper is my favorite. I could use it for the boys' school pages.

Posted by: Debbie Fisher | April 22, 2008 at 01:50 PM

The second winner (grid paper backgrounder) is:

My favorite backgrounder stamp is polka dots. Love it with the new swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.

-*Linda*-

Posted by: Inkylin | April 19, 2008 at 07:42 PM

Thank you to all who have left comments and played along. Would Debbie and Linda please send me an email with your snail mail address and so that we can get your backgrounders out to you ASAP!!!

Remember that our promotion, CHFFun, runs through tomorrow and it will include the two latest backgrounders - Dots and Circles, and Tiled Scallops. These will be available for sale starting at Midnight EST tonight.

Inchies from A-Z: C is for...

C is for Crazy

Life is crazy busy. My little one has come down with a cold and fever and there is always so much to do, so no surprise - I'm running behind yet again. Can you see me huffing and puffing along Ü

Guess what - I did it! I did get the new blog, Inchie INKlings, started and have posted the challenge AND my next letter C post there. This will allow you to easily take in the Inchie information if that is your primary interest AND it will give you a "yard" (get it - Inchies/Yard - ha, ha) to see what others will create for the Inchie Challenges. I hope that I can make it a fun little gathering spot for all things Inchie related. I couldn't help myself - I did keep the tag-line - habitat for those who are inchie "challenged". I know - pretty corny - LOL! So go and check it out and let me know what you think.

Product Update:

Just a quick FYI - I have my fingers crossed that we will be receiving the NEW Nestabilities and tags soon!!! Keep stalking our store come Friday (maybe Saturday) - I'll try and let you know here when I know for certain, but it will be soon - I am SO excited to give those new dies a try AND I can hardly wait to share some new ideas twirling around in my head Ü

Wait till you see this!!!! Xcalibur!

Word is out - you are not going to believe what Spellbinders Paper Arts has come up with for CHA this year!!! I have the pleasure of sharing this amazing news with all of you out here in the blogosphere - Spellbinders is continuing in their tradition of innovation by introducing... THE FIRST MOTORIZED DIE CUTTING and EMBOSSING SYSTEM!!!

A touch of the button gently feeds and slowly releases mats for cutting and embossing. The mats used in Xcalibur™ will be the same mats currently used in the Wizard, Universal Craft Tool. Xcalibur™ will cut, emboss and texturize virtually every consumer die from leading manufacturers making it the universal system of choice.

Stay tuned for more information to come and check out Spellbinders home page for more updates Ü

Xcalibur™ is going to revolutionize the die cutting world!!! If you will be attending CHA Winter stop by Booth #5071 and experience it for yourself. We expect Xcalibur to be available to us in May 2008!

We have a winner!

Generate pseudo-random integers between and allowing repeats with no repeats

OUTPUT Copy down or cut and paste into your application

134

OK - so I counted and recounted from the opposite end - and I arrive at Melissa's name. Congratulations Melissa! You will now get your opportunity to give these a try being she wrote:

       "I haven't tried the Copics yet due to cost, but I would love to try them out if I win them!"

I will be sending you an email shortly, but if for some reason you do not receive it please email us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com so that we can get your goodies in to the mail to you on Monday Ü

Have a fun, relaxing, creative weekend everyone!

Classic Scalloped Hearts Corrections To Happen

Yesterday I learned that my assumptions were correct. In creating the Classic Scalloped Hearts something clearly went amiss - they do not match up with the Classic Heart dies and do not scale properly. I had not been involved in the creation of this particular set of dies and when I received the first packet I thought - that is SO strange how they are packaged, but being incredibly busy I did not give it much thought and did not remove any of the dies from the packages to play with them.

This weekend when I went to create my heart frame was the first time I opened my package of Classic Scalloped Hearts and used them. My immediate thought was, "OH NO this can't be right!" After contacting Spellbinders with my findings they have gone in to immediate action - we have not yet determined how we are going to do this, but we want to assure all those of you that have purchased the Scalloped Hearts that we will take care of you. We have pulled the sets of Scalloped Hearts from our store being that they do NOT match up to the Classic Heart shapes. The Classic Hearts are perfect - they scale up beautifully, but the Scallops - well that's another story.

So please stay tuned - for those of you who have purchased the Scalloped Hearts through us we would appreciate your help. If you could email us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com with your name, address and invoice number we are compiling a list of names of customers who we need to help with this problem. It is a tedious task and so if you could help by providing us with this information it will definitely help us with this huge task. We appreciate your support so much and we will definitely make this right! Stay tuned for updates as they become available to me.

I Heart You Winner!

I would like to thank you ALL for participating in our drawing for the Classic Scalloped Hearts. Yesterday was such a whirlwind and I wasn't able to get to bed until after midnight, so I should have posted our winner at that time. Alas I was exhausted and thought I'd do it first thing this morning. Well, we are madly packing orders and continuing to try and stay on top of any requests you might have and help those who are having trouble navigating through the store.

Hee, hee - so you really want to know who won - don't you Ü I'm such a tease! I am THRILLED to share with you that our winner is number 80 - I counted through a number of times being that was a big number - LOL! And that person is...   Donna Calamari   ...  please send your snail mail address, as well as telephone number for shipping purposes, to customerservice@ellenhutson.com and we will get these right out to you!!!

I am still scrambling on our Stamp of the Month Packet - I completed the project last night extremely late and just didn't have the umph to get it to the final stages. I am working on that right now!!! Watch for it shortly. Instructions will be posted to our blog soon - you will then all know how to make those cute little paper flowers that I tempted you with a LONG time ago. Here is just a glimpse of what is coming!

I thought these could be useful to send out as Thank You's for the gifts you have received during the holiday's using the new sentiment - "thanks a bunch"! Watch for an update to the store soon.

ETA: It's up Ü - Stamp of the Month

Cosmo Cricket Picasso

I just learned that Debbie Olson was crowned the first ever Cosmo Cardmaker Picasso! You must check out her absolutely fabulous creations on the Cosmo Cricket blog. It is such a true privilege to work together with Debbie - she always inspires me and her genuine kindness is from the heart. You should also head over to her blog to see the spectacular ornaments she has designed with the Lockhart angels. If you would like to purchase the Cridgeware Ornaments act fast - I don't think that Tolemine will have them for long with the flurry that these beauties have created Ü. Congratulations Debbie on the most incredibly beautiful creations yet again!!!