Introducing...

As you all know, I've been missing my sweet Baloo for nearly two years now. And I still miss him every day and probably always will. He was the most amazing dog ever. However, even though I still have a huge Baloo shaped hole in my heart, I have been looking for the right new trail buddy to come along and she finally has.

So, let me introduce Piper. She's a black lab mix of some kind - just a little over half Baloo's size. She was a stray that never got claimed and was in need of a new start in life, so I drove downstate to meet her and bring her home.

She's a total sweetheart around people, but is very nervous and frightened around other dogs - that will take some work. 

These first two pictures reminded me a little of mug shots, but the worst criminal behavior so far has been the destruction of several toys and a swiffer duster. We'll see what mischief she gets into as she comes out of her shell a little further. 

Here she is snuggled against my sister on her first full day in her new home. She looks very nervous, doesn't she? But, even in her discomfort, she loves to cuddle.

The rescue organization estimated her age at around two years, but her new vet told me today she's probably closer to one. 

Oh, the adventures to come...

Introducing VersaFine Clair (and Other Ink News)

As promised, I have the new inks checked in, photographed and up on the Stampeaz site.  

Sadly, some of the inks that I have loved for years are being discontinued, so I went searching for possible replacements. I think I found one. I wanted something that would work with finely detailed images, dry quickly, be light fast, and fade resistant. Also, I wanted the pads to have matching inkers available, so they could be refreshed easily, rather than needing to be replaced when they started to lose their juiciness.

VersaFine Clair seems to have most of the advantages of our beloved VersaFine originals, with the added benefit of inkers to match the pads. I always found it frustrating that VersaFine only made refills available in Onyx Black and Vintage Sepia.  I plan to keep carrying the original VersaFine pads and inkers as long as they’re available to me (my supplier seems to be phasing out the standard sized pads, but I can still get the minis).

Some of the Clair ink names are a little obscure, but I have pictures of each pad and inker, so you can get a pretty good idea by selecting them from the drop-down menu. (For example, the orange pad below is called, “Summertime” and one of the reds is known as, "Glamorous".)

I'm going to keep looking for new ink possibilities, and I hope that these will be useful - I'm looking forward to giving them a try.

Previews of Coming Attractions...

I was going to do a completely different kind of post tonight, but I decided it might be fun to share a little about how the website rebuild is coming along, since several people have asked for progress reports. 

I've been taking lots of pictures of carving blocks, kits and tools to put up in the shiny new Stampeaz store. So far, I have all the carving blocks and linoleum blocks entered in the new database and am ready to start on the various carving kits. 

After that, it's on to the tool section. Here's the picture I'm thinking about using as a category teaser for the Carving Tools part of the store. 

I've been trying to reorganize things so they'll be more streamlined and (I hope) easier to find than they were in the old site. So, good thoughts and crossed fingers are much appreciated as I learn a whole new way of doing things. 

Baloo has been surprisingly patient, as I slog through learning about creating menus and categories and as I try to pull descriptions and information about products out of the old database to enter all the information into the new one. Of course, he also makes me take regular breaks to go out for walks and get some fresh air.  He's thoughtful that way. :)

Webfoot Launches a Blog!

Now, this is an amazing thing -- a brilliant notion suggested by none other than the great Green Tortuga, himself. A place to let folks know when something new and wonderful has landed at Stampeaz, or share tips and tricks. It really is a grand idea -- I just need to learn how to use this little tool, so here's my test post. :)