The Hun’s great Spring project is a garden big enough and strong enough to hold the denizens of Jurassic Park. We are right on the verge of an heirloom tomato festival.

Flash update, our phantom subscriber is working hard and has signed up many new subscribers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are hard at work on Urdu and Pashtu versions of the newsletter.

road trips and classes

The Artful Journey in Daytona Beach was as good or better than last year. This is a show that seems to continue building its audience and the South East is finally coming into its own as a stamping region. This year I taught several classes and the extra prep time is getting to me. You know, hand outs, class kits and the tools and materials to bring.

Luc, a proud owner of several of my amulet bags had e-mailed me prior to the show that she wanted a black bag to wear on more formal occasions. The others she owns are for every day wear, you see. So I made up two for her to choose from (just knocked them out one month) and packed them up with the eight I had made over the last six months. (See the gallery section on my web site if you are not familiar with the look of these little beauties.)

Luc was taking one of my classes the day before the show started and she asked to see “her” new bag. Well, she bought both black bags and the other participants in the class bought another six. One gal bought three. I was almost sold out in under 20 minutes.

Fortunately Patricia from South Carolina was walking by at the time. Last year she had driven over four hours to the show on Saturday morning (she had to work that Friday) and was upset that all the bags had been sold before she arrived. At this point I had only two bags left but she said one of them was calling her name. She could not believe her good luck and was happy and teary, I was happy she was happy and beginning to tear up. The Hun was looking at both of us like we had lost our minds.

The next day I had to put up with a bit of abuse as I had no bags in the booth when the show opened.

Inuit Mask
264-002M

After the show on our way up to Savannah for our annual visit with Cheryl and Alan Ross, we stopped in St. Mary’s, Georgia and had dinner with Paula Amari of Old Town Crafts. Good friends, good food, and an all too brief visit.

BTW Paula is producing a terrific stamp and mixed media show in St. Mary’s this coming February 2003. Exhibitors will be placed in multiple historic house venues within the old town of the beautiful and charming town. Great classes, great exhibitors, perfect weather, and only a ferry ride away from Cumberland Island (where John Kennedy Jr. was married). Contact Paula at 877-313-6745 or on the Web for info.

DARLAPALOOZA in Houston, Texas is a brand new show produced by Darla Pruitt of Eccentricities. The show was well attended and produced. It is my experience that a stamp show needs a year or two to build an audience. The biggest disappointment was that The Hun didn't come along. Vickie Rineheart of Bmuse powders joined me instead. All The Hun groupies in the South West were sorely disappointed.

In answer to the many requests from Southern California fans I will be doing the California Art and Rubber Stamp Festival in Del Mar, California, September 21st and 22nd. For further info contact Pat or Eileen Lawson at 541-574-8000.

May the Earth Sing
263-001M

flash!
summer specials

• Grab bag – 12 dies for $8.00 plus $1.00 shipping

• Geometric Shape Stamps Grab Bag Special:
  • Six large shapes plus 1 Lucite mount for $10.00
  • Six mini shapes plus 1 Lucite mount for $8.00

  • Add $1.50 for shipping for each set

• We are an official purveyor for all Secret Sister exchanges. We will wrap each present in plain paper and insure that no mention of the giving sister will appear. Just let us know the receiving sister and your dollar limit.

• ERA Graphics gift certificates are available in any denomination from $15.00 on up. Each certificate will be hand calligraphied by me on a special certificate form.

• A prize of $25 in the stamps of your choice (from my catalog) will be given to anyone who has a project published in a national craft or art magazine (using my stamps or mold board, of course) and where attribution is given. Just send me a copy of the article.

Large Sliver 20-017D		Large Sliver 20-018D

surprised was i

After several such calls, I tromped down to my local stamp store for a copy of the June/July issue of Stamper’s Sampler. Lynn Miller had an article there where she used my images extensively but didn't use the catalog nomenclature to identify them, so confusion abounded. Here is the true skinny, so you don't have to surf the web site at three in the morning trying to match up images.

• Follow Your Dreams – Large sliver 20-017D and parallelogram 12-026F
• Star Collage – Small parallelogram 12-022F and equilateral triangle 20-010F
• Best Wishes – Large sliver 20-018D and large wedge 4-027F
• Cupids Arrows – Large sliver 20-018D and small parallelogram 12-022F
• Mountain View – Large sliver 20-017D

Small Parallelogram 12-022F		Equilateral Triangle 20-010F

and now there are 39… oops! 41

Bmuse Ultra-Fine uses an 18 pt grind rather than the 16 or 14 pt used in most other powders, enabling you to emboss even the most detailed images.

Also a summer special, 12 assorted mini muses for $10.00 plus shipping.

all those with a collage degree please stand up

Bored almost to tears, Kerchunk (her online zine), Web mistress duties, and her chocolate Christmas tree ornament business not being enough to keep her little mind occupied, she has set-up a new Web site catering exclusively to collagers. I will let her tell you a bit about her new site in her own words:

We love to find cool stuff for collage and bring it to you for non- fancy prices! Everywhere we go, we look for collage stuff, especially in places where others see junk or waste or leftovers. Excess phone cable -- or cool colored wires? Pocket debris from a vacation -- or cool travel ephemera? It's all in your state of mind!

Other cool stuff can only be found in gigantic quantities, and a bag of 500 items may be a bit more than you need. Or one gizmo is expensive but getting a gross makes each one reasonable - if you can use the other 143! And sometimes pretty cool stuff is just found by chance, which favors the perpetual shopper, not the average time- starved crafter.

Enter the staff at SkyBluePink, Queen Xina and her Lady in Waiting, Liz. Consider them your personal collage shoppers or fairy godmothers, always on the lookout for collageable treasures just for you. You never know what they'll bring back next, but you do know it will be cool stuff for non-fancy prices.

Goddess III
258-003L

bistro hun

For me one of the coolest things to do (pun intended) is to poach something. Poaching simply means to cook a food in hot liquid. It can be vegetable, starch, or protein. Ah, you say, what is the difference between boiling and poaching. Is it just a fancy name that allows a restaurant to double the price of an item?

No – boiling is just that, cooking in boiling liquid. Poaching is much gentler as you cook the food in a simmering liquid. And by a simmer I mean that the surface is free of bubbles and is barely shimmering. Also boiling usually involves just plain water and poaching a flavored liquid; stock, wine, vinegar and water. You can use a combination of these liquids and also add herbs and spices to liven things up. And you do not need a fancy pan to do it in. Any high sided sauté pan or even a Dutch oven will do.

The two things I poach the most are chicken breasts and salmon. Poached salmon is great for dinner or dressed up a touch, lemon slices and parsley, a terrific company dish. Depending on appetites, one-quarter to one-half pound per person should do it.

Carefully remove the pin bones from a salmon filet and place skin side down in your pan. Cover with a mixture of three to four tablespoons of vinegar, one-half to one cup white wine and water to cover. Remove the fish, bring the liquid to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Drop in a cheese cloth bag of herbs, such a tarragon or marjoram, and some whole pepper corns. (You could just throw everything directly in the liquid but the cheese cloth makes removing it much easier.) Put the fish back and cook until done. Remove from liquid and cool in the refrigerator (will hold for two days or so just fine). You can discard the liquid or boil it down to make a sauce.

Now the big question – doneness. The best indicator is the firmness of the flesh and the best way to tell is to touch it. Over time you will develop a tactile sense of doneness. Pressing the uncooked fish indicates how soft and mushy it is. A general indicator is about eight to nine minutes per inch. You can cut into the fish to gauge the degree of pinkness as well. Also it is hard to overcook a fish when poaching since it will not dry out in the liquid.

Serve with plain or flavored mayonnaise (chopped herbs, curry powder, etc.).

That's all for now!
Roberta