Best New Product: Texture Boutique!

Guess which product won Best New Product in Craft/Scrapbooking... 

The Texture Boutique Embossing Machine from Sizzix!

Oh My Crafts loves the Texture Boutique! Cute and convenient, this tool from Sizzix is perfect for transforming cardstock into elegant embossed art.  Just like the name, the Texture Boutique adds texture to your projects by dry embossing a pattern, a shape, or even words onto your cardstock. It even works on metal and acrylic.

Don't be fooled, however. This little machine isn't just for cards. Using A2 or 5x7 folders, the Texture Boutique is a brilliant addition to your scrapbook layouts. Fun textured backgrounds, titles, or just simple embellishments, this machine can emboss it all!

Click Here to check out the article.

PS! Did you know that the new Tim Holtz Textured Fades from Sizzix are compatible with the Texture Boutique? 

. . . Well now you do :)

Happy scrapping!


 







Blessed are the children of scrapbookers, for they shall inherit the scrapbooks!  ~Author Unknown

Introducing....

.........The new warehouse! We've been taking the past few weeks to get settled, and we're so excited to be in the new diggs. And today we're going to show her off with pride! Only, please excuse the mess. Unpacking is the pits.

Especially when you're a craft company.

Mkay. Here's the lovely exterior. We told you it was like a castle, didn't we? Eat your heart out, old warehouse.

Our new home is divided into two sections, customer service, and marketing. Here's the customer service area—where the lovely peeps whom you chat with via phone and e-mail hang out these days.

And our marketing department! Where your designing, advertising, blogging, facebooking, twittering comrades chill.

This big empty room is going to be a classroom—so when crafters like you come to visit we can teach ya something new! Fun, huh?

Next—on to perhaps one of the crowning rooms of our new place. Get a load of this craft room! Here's where our awesome crafty designers work to bring you new trends and ideas! And they've been working their tales off to get the whole place organized. It's quite the task—quite the task indeed.

Had enough pictures?

We haven't either.

Because the best pictures have been saved for last.

Just look at our breathtaking warehouse!! With proper lighting and walking space—and everything! As you can see, growing pains shouldn't be a problem here for quite some time.

(Taken from an upstairs office window):

And when we're not toodling around the country in our craft bus, here is where she'll rest her wheels:

Well we hope you enjoyed looking at our pictures. We're confident that this move will benefit our customers and friends just as much as it will help us out! Now that we have all these awesome pictures we best get scrapbooking, huh??

Happy crafting!

A glimpse at what we're saying goodbye to

Hmmm...so perhaps that last post was a little precocious. Since then, mother nature decided to dump a whole new load of snow on us here in Utah, spoiling any and all bouts of spring fever. Darn.

Oh well. At least we can still look at those cheerful cards in hopes that Spring will return eventually. And glad to hear that so many of you liked them too!

Well for those of you who did read our post on Wednesday, OR who receive our e-mail ads, then you know we're moving to a new home. (And YOU get to benefit with HUGE savings all weekend! Enter MOVE20 at checkout for 20% off EVERYTHING! How's that for the whole kit and caboodle? Head over to shop now!)

We're hoping that as early as next week we can put down our roots on our new turf. And boy are we excited! It's going to be a castle compared to where we are now. Here's a little glimpse of what we're leaving behind. Feel free to be amazed by the...er...primitiveness of our current dwelling place for the last year or so. Not to mention the fact that everyone steps on everyone's toes since it's been so cramped. It'll be nice to have some breathing room.

These first pictures feature the outside of our warehouse/bungalow, with the little doohickey we use to transport packages from the upstairs to the ground, and vice versa. We've often joked about how much cooler the whole place would look—if it were on a port in Seattle somewhere. Don't you think so too?

Aaaaaaand, the inside. In all its glory.

So needless to say, some partings are easier than others. And wait til you see our new place—it's quite the looker. (Pictures to come soon!) The new abode will be much more accommodating to our needs. Which in turn will help us SERVE YOU BETTER! Hooray for improvements, right?

So before we wish you well for your weekend, we'd just like to show off one of the awesome projects our lucky crafters in Spokane, WA are going to be working on in a few weeks, when our Craft Bus rolls into town. These are Sizzix gift boxes using Graphic 45's awesome new pack Le' Romantique. They'll also be creating adorable matching tags, however we'd rather keep you in suspense about those. And guess who else is going to be there???

Yes yes, exciting things are taking place at OMC.

Happy crafting!

Pearls are the gem of queens!

Introducing Oh My Pearls—freshwater, cultured pearls hand selected from pearl farms in Asia! Now you can have that elegant pearl necklace you've always wanted—at a completely affordable price.

Why sell pearls at a craft store? Why not, we ask! First off, pearls are gorgeous, and we're all about that. And second, they're classy! Who doesn't love the combo of scrapiness and classiness all in one stop?

Here's a little about our pearls:

Our pearls come from pearl farms in China, which leads the world in pearl distribution. A pearl is created when a small irritant makes its way into the mantle tissue of a clam, causing it to produce "nacre." Through a process of several years, nacre builds more layers, eventually forming a pearl.

Cultured pearls differ from natural pearls because natural pearls are formed 100% by Mother Nature—and are much more rare and difficult to find. Cultured pearls receive help. Pearl farmers will manually insert an irritant into the clam, thus jumpstarting the creation of a beautiful pearl. Today, almost all pearl sales are cultured pearls. And freshwater pearls tend to be more durable and chip-resistant than saltwater pearls.

Pearls with a "AAA" grade rating are considered highest-quality, with a nearly flawless surface and high luster. "AA" still has a high luster, however the surface may have more visible defects. "A" is the lowest-grade, having a lower luster level and more defects on the surface. Pearls in the "A" grade are often the cheapest priced.

Pearls also come in several different shapes, the most common being Round and Near-Round, however other pearl shapes are found as Oval, Button, Teardrop, Semi-Baroque and Baroque. The shape of the pearl is one of the determining factors of its value; round and near-round tend to be the most prized due to their rarity. The pearls we have chosen to carry at Oh My Crafts are as close to round as possible. (Read more on pearl shapes at Pearl-Guide.)

Interested in pearls but not sure how to care for them? Here's some simple tips that will keep your lovely pearls looking elegant no matter how long you've owned them:

• Always put your pearls on after you've applied your make up, perfume, hairspray, lotions and creams. The chemicals in these cosmetics can dull the luster of your pearls.

• Wipe your pearls down with a soft, lint-free cloth on a regular basis. Extra dirty pearls can be cleaned by dampening your cloth with a mild soap and water solution. Allow your pearls to air-dry before putting them away.

• Never clean your pearls with harsh detergents or cleaners that contain ammonia.

• Do not use ultrasonic cleaners to clean your pearls.

• Avoid storing your pearls with other jewelry, as they can get scratched easily by metal. It is recommended you store your pearls on a soft surface.

So go on. Indulge in the inner queen you know you are! Our pearls come in a variety of sizes (measured in millimeters) and lengths. We just know you're going to love 'em.

Happy pearl-perusing!

2009 Highlights for the OMC Crew

2009 has been a total blast for Oh My Crafts. We've loved every minute of it! So today, on New Year's Eve, we'd like to take some time to reminisce on all the fun memories!

1. Back in May we sure had a blast cruising and creating throughout the beautiful scenery of Alaska! Talented crafters joined us from all over the world, not to mention we had some amazing sponsors join us as well; namely Provo Craft, Northridge Media, Bazzill Basics, independent designer Trisha Ladouceur and our vinyl expert Machelle Newman!

2. Then this summer we headed to CHA in Florida and had a great time. Our creative director, Sandy, had tons of fun picking out new products to offer to YOU. (Check it out here.) Plus, lots of innovative products were introduced by some darn tootin' amazing companies! Like what, you may ask? Provo Craft's Cricut Gypsy comes to mind.

3. This summer was also SU-PER fun because of our 10K! A 10K for Facebook, that is. And with faithful fans at nearly 13,000 we're well on our way to 15K—which just so happens to be an OMC New Year resolution. Wanna join in on all the fun? Go here.

4. September was neat as we got to watch our very own Sandy Cottle strut her itop stuff on Good Things Utah. Speaking of the i-top—now there's a 2009 crafting tool in the limelight.

5. Also this fall we were excited to offer our EXCLUSIVE Cuttlebug embossing folders and internet exclusive Sizzix embossing folders. We loved them, our customers loved them, and life was great!

6. Then, we headed out for our second crafting cruise of the year. This time we headed to the other side of the country and visiting Canada and New England. Talk about a ball! Provo Craft, Bazzill, Northridge Media and Trisha joined us again, along with Making Memories and independent designer Janine Wahl! We couldn't have asked for a better crafting group either! Fun was had for all!

7. This year has been full of exciting ideas and plans. One of which is our craft bus, which was brought on board this past fall. We can't WAIT to get started cruising around the country bringing crafts to the masses. To learn more about our schedule, visit here.

8. Just this past November, Sandy and Kevin Cottle were invited to Japan to teach craft classes to a group of eager crafters! What an honor to be invited!

9. It's always been our goal to continue to offer the best deals from the hottest companies out there, and 2009 brought us many associations with some wonderful, wonderful companies. Recently we've teamed up with fantastic companies such as Doodlebug, Create-a-Cube, Flirty Aprons and PureWorks.

10. And naturally—we have LOVED getting to know all of you! Whether it be through our crafting events of 2009, or Facebook, or blog hopping, or what have you—we just love our crafty customers! We love sharing ideas! And we can't wait for what's in store!

So what is in store for 2010? Well, for starters our Craft Bus takes off in early January for Monrovia, CA. In fact, sign ups for classes are on sale and going on now. Come crop with us in Monrovia! And then we're also well underway with plans for our Discovering Possibilities 2010 crafting event in Salt Lake City's Hotel Monaco come October 2010. And that's only just the beginning.

Happy New Year,

Oh My Crafts—Croppin' in Japan!

Oh My Crafts owners Sandy and Kevin Cottle recently returned from a crop in Japan! Just outside of Tokyo, in Irma, Japan, the Cottles and many other eager crafters joined together for an all-out scrappin' party! They had a blast! A lot of them brought their children along, which made the event even more fun! Everyone was excited to learn new methods of crafting!

Sandy Cottle, our creative director, leads the class in a demonstration.

The classes featured two fav's in the industry—Cuttlebug and Cricut, but the ladies also got to test out the Letterpress, vinyl, and fun misting techniques.

Here's the goodies each cropper was able to create and take home:

Hmmm—where should we venture off to next? ...Maybe your way?

Happy crafting!

P.S. View some short footage from the event by clicking here. Oh and take note of the BLUE Cricut Expression they used—which is a limited edition look for the holidays! Get yours quick!