The Martha Stewart Line...

has arrived! Well, the domestic diva has struck again with her new craft/scrapbooking line at Michaels. I am often in this store picking up supplies and one of the employees told me that they were given strict directives by Martha's handlers to clear out all merchandise from the first aisle to make room for her products. They did this and apparently Martha's "people" said the lighting was inadequate on the first aisle and made them move everything off the second aisle. They also said they cannot tag her products like they tag their other merchandise. She certainly is a control freak...worried about her pristine image and all...ha ha. Anyway, my first impression of her line is that it's nice, very well-made, and a bit predictable. Lots of eyelet cards and envelopes, gift wrap paper, colored glassine paper in tubes, sticker tags, cupcake and pastry boxes and accoutrements, markers, stamps, various glues, glitters, self-healing cutting mats, pom-pom kits, ribbon boxes, etc. The biggest surprise was the size of her largest scrapbook. It's ginormously huge....like 20 x 20! The papers for it are 18 x 18! I guess if you wanted to make an over-the-top, larger-than-life scrapbook, this might be kind of fun. But, I'm telling you it's so big, I don't know how you would store the thing. If you've been pining for a big canvas to play on then check it out. I think it's about 80 bucks. Here are a few things I picked up...white label stickers and glittered letters...a set of six different colored baker's twine...various glues...seam binding ribbons and several bottles of fine and course glitter (it's not glass, but the colors are spectacular). It's so much fun to create with new supplies.

On a spur of the moment decision, I have decided to attend the Art & Soul retreat in Virginia. I leave next Thursday so, unfortunately, no time to make swaps. With the extensive class supply lists, it's a chore to find everything and get packed! Many of the classes were already closed, but I signed up for one paper arts class, one assemblage class, and two journaling classes. I'll be sure to share my creations when I return. As Ms. Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."