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Buggy Staff Challenge
We do a monthly Staff Challenge here at the stores. We have secret ingredients or sometimes a theme and the staff members all compete to see who can come up with the best project. This month we had a box of some of our new brass bugs and each person got to pick a few to create something with. This month the prize was Fame as each winner will be featured in a how-to tutorial on our website and in the stores. This month it was really hard for me to decide. I drew on the expertise of our web site designers and we finally decided upon the ones that we would turn into tutorials. After we were finished, however, I kept thinking that maybe you would like to tell me which one should be a tutorial.

Keep 'em busy! Family Crafts for Thanksgiving Day
Do you have family that you dearly love but would rather not spend too much time talking with? You know, the Aunty who likes to ask you if you have gained 12 or is it 15 pounds since she last saw you? That Uncle who always feels compelled to share the tale of the time when you were two years old and removed your pants during dinn

Thrifty&Swifty Gifties part 2
Do you know any knitters? I do, and I am always impressed by the way they whip out a knitting project anytime, anywhere. Beading and jewelry making may not seem as portable but they can be if you have a neat wrap to put your project and the needed tools into. Full-sized jewelry totes with

Mincing Mockingbird and Frantic Meerkat Steal A Car, news at 11
This photo shows Kim of the Frantic Meerkat, the mysterious Mincing Mockingbird and me at the Stationary Show last year. The Humanized Animals (as we call them but not to their faces) are two artists or maybe writers who create paintings, collages and really, really funny cards. I love their work and send these c

What will you accomplish before you turn 50?
What are you going to do before you turn 50? Run a marathon? Climb Denali? Swim with dolphins? Learn to surf? Christy from Colorado was in the store last week. She is on a quest to visit all 50 states before she turns 50. I know from this picture it looks like she has 15 years or so to accomplish that, but appare