Shopping at Castle in the Air

Last week I was in California, which gave me the opportunity to visit Castle in the Air in person.  I’ve been buying from them online for several years, so it was a treat to get to shop in the actual store.

They have a great selection of crepe paper, but since I already have quite a lot of their crepe paper in my stash, I limited my purchases to two rolls of white and black Halloween streamers.

Then I moved on to the adjacent display of Dresden trims.  I really went wild there!  They had so many great ones to choose from that it was hard to pick.

You can see some of my shopping frenzy from this action photo 🙂 Definitely a good time!

Some of my other finds were a few fantastic postcards and yards and yards of 1/8 inch wide velvet ribbon.

We’ve only been home a week and we’ve had Tropical Storm Irene to contend with, so I haven’t had a chance to make any spun cotton ornaments with my new acquisitions (but I’ve dreamed up with some great ideas).  I did manage to work a few Dresdens and a lot of the velvet ribbon into the clothing for my latest Izannahs 🙂 

Animal Print Crepe Paper

Last week  I was in Omaha, NE visiting family.  My sister and I dropped into a Hobby Lobby there to check out their crepe paper selection.  I was disappointed that they didn’t have any flat folds at all in the store ( you can order flat folds on the Hobby Lobby website).   I did find leopard and zebra print streamers there.  I don’t usually use streamers, because I find the width very limiting, but I couldn’t resist buying a roll of each.  I have no idea what I’m going to use them for!  You can buy the zebra print streamers online at http://www.shop.hobbylobby.com, but they don’t currently have the leopard print ones for sale there.

If you buy a package of these great Dennecrepe streamers and use them to create a spun cotton ornament, email me a photo.  I can’t wait to see what you did with them!

In case you are thinking that I had a very dull vacation, if the highlight was shopping for crepe paper, let me set the record straight.  For half of my eight day trip, my sister and I joined up with 13 other female friends for a road trip and craft shopping extravaganza to Arkansas, where we shopped 10 craft shows in two days. 🙂

Castle in the Air Crepe Paper

I received an email this week from Castle in the Air, to announce that they have had a new shipment of crepe paper come in.  If you haven’t splurged and ordered some of their crepe paper, maybe it’s time to treat yourself.

You may also want to sign up for their email notifications, as they are always interesting to read.

Only 3 More Days of Free Shipping

An email from Hobby Lobby arrived in my inbox today.  There are only three more days left on their free shipping offer, which ends on March 13th.  You must spend $25 to receive free shipping.  So if you read my previous post on crepe paper and floral wire and haven’t shopped yet, you may want to whip out your credit card and order up a box full of 99 cent Dennicrepe!

A New Online Source for Floral Wire and Crepe Paper

I have found a new place to shop online for supplies.  The name of the store is Hobby Lobby.  They have 434 retail stores in 35 states and have recently added online shopping.  Currently they are offering free shipping on orders totaling over $25.  I can’t tell from their website how long the free shipping offer is going to last.

Hobby Lobby has cloth-covered floral wire available at a great price, $2.49 for 40 pieces of 18 gauge wire.  They also have very competitive pricing on crêpe paper.  Their online listing for the crêpe paper doesn’t say Dennicrepe, but the packaging shown in the photo is clearly a Dennicrepe bag.  Each 12.5 square foot “fold” sells for 99 cents.  I ordered some this afternoon and I’ll let you all know for sure if it is indeed Dennicrepe when it arrives.  They do not carry as large a selection of colors as some other stores do, but their price is hard to beat.

I checked Hobby Lobby’s site for Sculpey, and they carry quite a few varieties, but their prices are pretty standard.  The only thing that would sway me to buy Sculpey from them would be the free shipping.

I just love finding new sources for inexpensive supplies!  We can all thank my sister, Marisa, for this one.

My order arrived yesterday (1/18/10).  I’m very pleased with the entire order.  The floral wire is terrific.  The crêpe paper is Dennicrepe.  Everything was packed perfectly and arrived in wonderful condition.

New! Sets of Push Molds

I have a new accessory available to go along with my Spun Cotton Ornament Class by Mail.  It’s sort of in the “fast food’ category of ornament supplies, it’s quick, easy and inexpensive.  My spun cotton classes include information and directions for making your own push molds, so you absolutely do not need to buy a set of molds from me or from anyone else.  However if you are in a hurry and can’t wait to get started, or simply do not want to go to the trouble and expense of finding dolls and doll heads to use in your own mold making, then these are for you!

Several years ago I went a little crazy and spent well over $500 buying lots and lots of broken doll heads that had been dug up from the site of former doll factories in Germany.  I wanted to use the broken heads to make molds because mold making is hard on the original and I really didn’t want to subject any intact antique dolls to the mold making experience.

This first collection of molds contains some of my favorite and most useful faces.  The molds will make face-masks from 1 inch to 2 – 1/4 inches high.  The three smallest size faces are perfect for hanging ornaments and the two larger faces work really well for larger candy container size spun cotton figures.  The largest face will need glass eyes – or you can sculpt eyes if you prefer.

I’m selling the set of five molds for $42.  (I can just hear the screaming already “What? You said they were inexpensive!”.)  I know that sounds like a lot, but if you’ve purchased any Sculpey Mold Maker lately you’ll know how pricey it is.  So by the time I’ve bought the Sculpey and pay to mail the molds to you, the cost of producing them really starts to add up – and that’s not even mentioning how much buying the doll heads was to start with.   Could you make them for less at home, maybe, but it will be a close comparison.  Unless you can score a big bargain when buying heads – and if you can – good for you!!!  We all love those little shopping victories 🙂 .

Please Share

If you would like to share photographs of your ornaments with fellow class members, I would love to put them on this blog.  You can email your photos to me at Paula@asweetremembrance.com.  Please include your name and  any website or blog that you may have to showcase your work.

Many of you have also generously told me when you find new sources for materials, which I have been able to share with everyone on my class mailing list.  So if you happen to run across a great place to shop, I’d love to know  about it.  Email sources to me at Paula@asweetremembrance.com.

Where to Buy Crepe Paper

There are two excellent mail order sources for good crepe paper, D. Blumchen and Co. and Castle in the Air.  Both company’s have interesting websites that are fun to look through.

Blumchen carries Dennecrepe, even though their web description doesn’t come right out and say that, they say “American made”.  Blumchen also has a nice selection of double faced crepe (two different colors, one on each side).

Castle in the Air, has a great selection of specialty crepe papers, double faced, printed, metallic, and one color florist crepe.  Avoid the metallic crepe for small spun cotton projects as it is like crinkled aluminum foil.  It’s very stiff and difficult to work with, plus it has no drape.

You’ll find many other great ornament making supplies at both sites, including Dresden trim.  Happy Shopping!

Bamboo Batting

There is a new batting out on the market, bamboo batting.  The batting that I bought is 50% bamboo and 50% cotton, by Fairfield.  I ordered mine from Keepsake Quilting .

I actually bought this batting for two quilts that I’m in the midst of making (they are both finished except for the bindings).  Due to the size of the batting and the size of my quilts, I have quite a bit left over.  So I have been experimenting with bamboo batting on some of my ornaments.  I like it.  It looks good and it’s very soft and silky to the touch.  Plus it’s “green”, environmentally friendly,  and is naturally antibacterial.  Could you ask for more???  Well inexpensive would be good too, but in all honesty bamboo batting is rather pricey.  Maybe the cost will come down once it has been on the market longer.

Since I happen to have quite a bit, I’d be willing to share.  Unfortunately I don’t have enough for all of you, but I do have two –  24 inch  x 24 inch pieces to give away.  If you’d like to give bamboo a try, just email me before 12/20/09 at Paula@asweetremembrance.com, subject “Bamboo Give Away”.  I’ll put the names of everyone who enters in a hat and draw two at random.  Then I will email the winners to get their mailing address.  Winners names will be posted here.  Naturally we would all like to see what the winners do with their prize, so photos of your “bamboo” ornaments would be appreciated (hint, hint).