Us and our work

Copyright

2006-2007. All images are the property of Amy Holtz, Kristen Holtz, Patti Holtz and Erica Spotts. Please don't use them without our permission (we're nice gals and will probably grant it).

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Reston Adventures

Yes, I did say Reston. Why, might you ask, did I want to go to Reston on such a gorgeous weekend? Particularly when the day started with the latte that I ordered at Starbucks not having any coffee in it.

Well, ladies, because I had heard of a rubber stamp store out there, with the name of Angela's Happy Stamper. And given that stamping on fabric is my latest obsession, and given that I needed several stamps that I couldn't find at AC Moore or Michael's, I decided to set out on an adventure. And Rob volunteered to join me, for reasons that are not entirely clear, but are probably linked to the fact that he wanted to go to Best Buy and there is one in Reston.

Let's just suffice it to say that my preconceived notions of Reston were not unfounded and we won't be packing a van and moving there anytime soon. That said, the stamp store was quite nice, though I still didn't find what I needed (a raven and a hat--more on that later). I did get some fun images that I'll use for other things. We also stopped at Best Buy and got a wireless router, but that's not particularly exciting, especially since we can't get it to work. Here are the stamps that I did buy that aren't ravens.

We also walked around Reston, which was having an arts festival. What was Rob's description of it????? Oh yeah--schlocky art. Needless to say, nothing was purchased except lunch. At least it was a gorgeous day!

Desperate for a raven and a hat, I made the poor boy stop at ACMoore on the way home. Got a hat stamp (see picture), but still no raven to be found. And then I dragged him into G Street to look for raven fabric--none to be had, but there was nice fishing reel, skull-and-roses, and duck fabric. Ugh.

Still having some energy left, we then proceeded to Expo Center to buy tile for our up and coming laundry room--on sale, to our surprise! Yeah! Then on to Montgomery Mall to buy a camera and well-deserved ice cream cones.

But still no raven. So when we got home I did what I should've done before driving to Reston--I googled "raven rubber stamp". How did we ever survive without Google? I mean really! But I found a fabulous site that had not one but SIX raven stamps! This is the site:

http://www.goreydetails.net/home.php

Click on Exceptional Rubber Stamps 1 and 2. So I bought a raven, an octopus and a couple of other things as well, which I am awaiting eagerly!

So all in all, not a bad day. I also finished another bag (still needs a drawstring). And I started on another project that I'm quite excited about. More on that later (and K will get to see the pieces tonight).

1) having seen many of these stamping projects in person now, I can attest to how freaking cool they are. I am in eager anticipation of the ABC quilt, so bring it on!

2) I need a new obsession. Mom's making cool stuff out of paper, E is stamping up a storm (but not in the happy stamper sort of way) -- what's going to be my new passion? I briefly pondered soldering/welding, but I'm open to input.

3) the log cabin knitting is going well but its getting less fun as the strips get bigger -- and take longer to do. I will post soon.

4) I absolutely love martha stewarts new "hip" magazine blueprint. I recommend you all snatch it up. Outstanding idea that I'm using today? Making a necklace out of a bracelet by tieing ribbon to either end. they showed a charm bracelet (MOM!) but I'm using a sparking thing I have. Wicked cool.

5) How do we get other people to joing in our banter? We are so much fun!

I thought your cool new project was all the fab jewelry that you've been whipping up. And really, if you need an outlet for all your product, you could probably twist my arm into wearing some for you, you know, to advertise your wares... :)

Rob was making fun of the name of our blog this morning, so I told him to be helpful and come up with a better name. From which ensued a long string of things that are either not repeatable in polite company or were rather less than helpful (e.g. Fun with Unicorns and Google Eyes). His most helpful (???) suggestions were "Bourbon Broads" and "BitchCraft". Though I think that either of those choices might lump us into an entirely different category when Googled.