CREATE, New Stamp Sets, and Ephemeraology

This past Friday Joanie Relf and I hit the road to attend the CREATE Artists' Faire with our Coffee Break Design goods. While there we met up with Bianca Mandity who was teaching some awesome classes that week. We were so lucky to have a gorgeous day as you can see from the photo above.

Here we are all set up and ready to go. The show was only 3 hours and went by way too fast! I had so much fun meeting customers face to face, including some who have been long time Retro Cafe Art Gallery customers (your rock Valerie!). We drove home that same night, making a coffee stop at 2am. It was a fun little adventure and I was so happy to have Joanie with me!

Changing the subject, I wanted to let you know that we are now carrying several of the Tim Holtz Cling Mounted Stamp Sets. I started with my favorites. We also have the Tim Holtz grid blocks.

I am also totally in love with the new Dylusions Stamp Sets (also cling mounted) and decided to bring in a few of those as well. The are just so unique and whimsy! And both stamp lines are currently ON SALE!

Another great thing about CREATE was meeting Mel from Ephemeraology! We have teamed up and Retro Cafe Art Gallery is hosting a $25 gift certificate on her blog. Click HERE to enter!

Mel is also a fantastic artist and created this piece using the Clear Man Buttons (covered with alcohol ink). Of course they also come in opaque too!

Finally, and this is your final warning, the Shrine Kit Contest ends Friday so get in those entries! The Acrylic Tag Giveaway ends Friday as well! Have a great rest of your week. xo

Acrylic Charm Giveaway!

It's not like me to not have a giveaway running! Anyone want to win some of our Acrylic Tag Charms? They are so easy to use. Check out the Acrylic Tag Tutorial too.

Simply leave a comment on this post. Deadline is September 3rd, and I will use a random number generator to select 3 winners to receive a set of charms!

Become a fan on Facebook, and if you are a winner I'll send you an extra goodie. Let me know if you're a fan in the comment that you post.

There is still time to enter the Shrine Kit Contest too!

Happy Weekend All! xo

Cynthia's Charms

Check out what our awesome customer Cynthia made with our Acrylic Charms and Acrylic Charm Tutorial! You can see her full blog post HERE. Cynthia, thank you for sharing your cool photos and thank you for the kind words about Retro Cafe Art Gallery in your post! xo

A Few Project Tutorials

Sharing a few project tutorials with you today! First, see how Bianca Mandity made this gorgeous book cover using the Fancy Flaming Heart Milagro Shrine Kit and the Optical Stencil. See the full details HERE.

And check out how Jennifer Ingle made this sweet bracelet using the masonite Small Fancy Gothic Windows HERE.

Design Team Work and Create!

The Retro Cafe Art Gallery Design Team girls have been busy, so I have several wonderful pieces to share with you! The necklace above and the two below were created by Jennifer Ingle. In the above necklace, Jennifer used the Small Chipboard Wing Cut-Outs, a Trinket Pin, Tim Holtz Ball Chain, Jump Rings, and a Frozen Charlotte Doll Head.

The necklace above incorporates another set of the Small Chipboard Wing Cut-Outs, Tim Holtz Ball Chain, a Frozen Charlotte Doll, and a Trinket Pin.

The highlight of this piece is the Tiny House Charm Trinket and Hello Dollie image. Jennifer also used Tim Holtz Ball Chain and Jump Rings. Fantastic jewelry pieces Jennifer!

The piece above and the three below are by Gerri Herbst. In the above sample, Gerri used the Jewel Tone Vintage Digital Collage Sheet. A great way to display the sweet pins also made by Gerri!

For this piece, Gerri incorporated a Heart ATC Frame, the Jewel Tone Vintage Collage Sheet, and some sweet scalloped pink German Dresden.

Gerri is awesome at turning the inside pieces of the ATC Frames into something functional and this piece is no exception. For this necklace Gerri used the inside piece from the Fancy Frame 3 ATC Frame!

And Finally, this necklace was created from the Gothic Arch Shrine Kit and also incorporates an image from the Hello Dollie Bodies Digital Collage Sheet. Love them all Gerri!

Bianca Mandity created more fantastic journal pages. The above page uses several Coffee Break Design Stencils including XX XY, Wings, Half Two, and Small Onomotoholes. And speaking of stencils, now you can get any of the 4" x 5" stencils in 7" x 7" via this listing.

Bianca created the witch by stenciling the girl from the Talking Head Stencil set and adding the witch hat from the Hat Accessory Cut-Outs. She created the scalloped design below the witch by using the Fancy Frame 2 ATC Frame as a stencil.

The page above incorporates the Small Psychedelic Circle Set, Ink Blot Stencil, and my favorite part, and Acrylic Lady Button in the center. Awesome pages as usual Bianca!

Finally, Coffee Break Design and Retro Cafe Art Gallery will be vending at Create on Friday August 26th. The event is open to the public, so if you are in the area be sure to stop by. We will have several products that aren't available online yet, so don't miss it! Bianca will also be teaching several fantastic classes throughout the week, and of course several Coffee Break Design products will be used in the classes!

Gothic Chipboard Haunted House Kit Giveaway Winner!

The random number generator selected #4 as the winner of the Gothic Haunted House Chipboard Shelf Shrine Kit!

A big congrats to Angie!

I'm sure I'll have another giveaway soon. In the meantime, be sure to enter the Shrine Kit Contest. Check out the awesome entries so far.

Brand New Coffee Break Design Halloween Stencils

I have 10 BRAND NEW Coffee Break Design Halloween Stencils to show you! Here they are in no particular order!

And for some stencil inspiration, here is another fabulous journal page by Bianca Mandity incorporating the Bus Stencil.

Get your new Halloween Stencils HERE!
Good Witch, Bad Witch, Ugly Witch, Bat Camp, Bat Wings, Gravestone Border, Mysterious Birds, Black Cats, and Dead Trees (set of 2)!

Design Team Work and Some New Goodies!

The fantastically creative necklace above was created by Design Team Member Gerri Herbst! The base is the inside portion of the ATC Frame Fancy Frame 4 and the star bursts were created using the Optical Stencil. The owl, which looks 3-D is actually an image from the Vintage Jewelry Collage Sheet. Love it!

The gorgeous piece above was created by Design Team Member Jennifer Ingle. The doll image is for the Victorian Dollie Collage Sheet and she also used a Classic Brass Crown. So gorgeous!

And for some new goodies! I just listed 3 new Halloween Stamp Sets. Halloween Inchies, potion labels, and more...

Fantastic Fairy Door Pendants with hinged doors that open and close! Use to store your secret wishes. See all 4 styles!

And last but not least, really fun yet moderately creepy acrylic eyes in green, brown, and blue! Don't forget to enter the Haunted House Giveaway and Shrine Kit Photo Contest.

Have a great weekend! xo

Got Halloween?

Check out this awesome Halloween ornament by Denise Phillips using the Glasses and Monocles Accessory Cut-Outs (she even used the extra star pieces that come with the set)! You really should check out Denise's blog and become a follower! It's filled with lovely art and she often shares her techniques! She is a huge Retro Cafe Art Gallery fan and we love her back!

As you can see from the post below, I'm in the Halloween mood! I went through the site yesterday and put Halloween tags on all the fun Halloween items.
Go HERE and search "Halloween" to see over 150 goodies that are perfect for creating Halloween art!

30 NEW Coffee Break Design Products! Halloween - Stand-Ups - ATC Arches - and a GIVEAWAY!

I've been on a designing/listing roll and so happy to bring you these 30 NEW Coffee Break Design products! The first products I would like to show you are the Stand-Ups! The sweet pieces above I created using the new Stand-Up Houses. I made little family portraits also using the Edwardian and Provincial Frames. The Number Stand-Ups are super fun too! Great for birthday art! And my favorite lady, the Bus Lady. Just for fun, I also added some Masonite Inchie Blanks!I was already starting to see some Halloween art, so that put me in the mood and I went crazy from there! I ADORE Halloween as you can see! My most favorite new product the Halloween Mini-Dash Shrine Kit, complete with bat and spider. Next, I created my largest piece yet - The Gothic Chipboard Haunted House Shelf Shrine Kit!
I was inspired by our Coffee Break Design Shelf Shrines, created by the late and great Mike Meador back in 2007! But of course added a twist. This lovely kit comes with the house, 13 Stand-Up gravestones, 6 gothic windows which fit over the openings, and 2 tiny brass hinges for attaching the door! Of course I couldn't wait, and just had to play! I had so much fun altering my house! Along with the House Kit, I also designed several Halloween Cut-Outs that go perfectly with the kit and I used several in my piece above. The sizes are also great for ATCs! There are so many that they have their own category now :). And I'm sure I'm not done yet... In no particular order... The web corners are amazing on ATCs! More Stand-Ups! Gravestones and Dead Trees. Oh, and I love these Spider Web ATC Overlays! They go great with our ATC Bases. Super cool Gravestone ATC Borders. 2.5" and 3.5" so you can have your ATC vertical or horizontal. Again, great with our ATC Bases. After I designed the windows for the Haunted House Kit, I decided they would be great as a set on their own. Available in small and medium.And the I decided to go for some fancy gothic windows! Trefoils, Quatrefoils, Lace Quatrefoils, and so much more with amazing detail. Available in small and medium, 12 windows per set! Finally I designed the new ATC Arch series. 7 different gothic arch windows, all ATC size! They are all available in 3 different materials. I think these are also perfect for Halloween. And of course there are coordinating ATC Arch Bases so you can layer them if you would like. The ATC Arch Windows also look cool on a standard ATC Base or just use them as the are as ATCs or add them to a larger project as a window! They would make great ornaments too. See all the new goodies in one place HERE.

And of course after all that there must be a GIVEAWAY! Leave me a comment on this post telling me which new product is your favorite. I will used a random number generator on August 13th to select a winner. Winner will recieve the NEW Gothic Chipboard Haunted House Shelf Shrine Kit!

If you are the winner and a Facebook Fan, you will also recieve your choice of the new Halloween Cut-Outs. Please let me know if you "like" us in your post.

xoxo, Kristin