How about a little blog candy? I dreamed a dream...

Once upon a time....

OK, so by now you guys may have guessed that I have some fairly creative imaginations. In my mind's eye there is a delicately balanced crafter's workshop, just waiting to erupt and spew forth all the glitz and moxxie it has stored in its memory box, especially when I haven't been able to scrapbook in a while. Such is the case right now - I've been busy (as usual) and haven't had much scrapping time. I mean, seriously? I really want 2 scrap! Last week I bought some molding paste, and I've been dying to make my own impressions.

The other night my impression obsessions manifested in a stampendous dream... bear with me here while I reminisce. It was a gloomy night and the sky was a sort of basic grey. I was riding my little yellow bicycle down Maya Road, searching for a forest ranger. All the sudden I heard a noise coming from the northwoods; there were seven gypsies chasing me! I don't know how much you know about gypsies, but trust me, I have no dylusions... there was no way I would let myself be caught by their inky antics!

Quickly I decided on my ideology; this was no time for hero arts! I peddled my bicycle faster and faster, trying to make it to my friend Jolee's Boutique. Jolee is an authentique witch - I knew if anyone could help me it would be Jolee. I finally reached the shop, which happens to be right next to a bakery. I wished I had time to pick up a kaiser roll, but alas, I really had to hurry. I leaned my bike against an old magnolia tree and rushed to the door. It opened as I ran up to it - Jolee was waiting for me.

"Anna Griffin!" she exclaimed, "You get yourself into more trouble than anyone I know!" Jolee gave me a quick hug before she slammed the door shut and bolted it. Normally Jolee prefers a sort vintaj style, with lots of layers and fabulous textures, but today she sort of resembled a prima ballerina; she was wearing a white silk unitard and matching tights with a sort of petaloo skirt. Seeing my surprised look she smoothed her hands nervously over her costume. "I know, I know!"she exclaimed. "My Bunny, Bo, got into my closet and made a completed mess - this is all I have to wear until I make some serious alterations!"

Odd costume aside, I was really glad to be with Jolee. Recently she has been trying to teach me and a few of our friends some simple spells - the ones witches refer to as "lifestyle crafts". These are more like enchantments - spell binders, good luck spells, and the classic charms. We get together once a week and call our little group the Technique Tuesdays, since we meet on Thursday. Really, we are not just friends - we r memory keepers. We've been using our little spells to try to improve things in our community; just little tweaks here and there. We are using our powers to make sure all the problems in our friends lives turn out just rite - once they do, we write up simple stories and take them to our friend Darcie's studio. 490 lives have been improved so far - we are really proud of ourselves. Unfortunately, our efforts have been making the gypsies pretty unhappy with us - they make their money on the hopeless and down trodden, and thanks to our efforts there aren't too many hopeless and down trodden people left in Copic town.

"Well," said Jolee, breaking my never ending train of run on thoughts, "At least you're safe here. They'll never know where you are." I wondered vaguely if this would be a good time to tell her about the bicycle parked in the front yard. Nah.

"What can we do to keep the gypsies away?" I ask, hoping against hope that she has an immediate sort of solution in mind.

"Well, I just spoke to our coven leader Martha Stewart today - her crafts are legendary. She said that all I had to do is find a doodlebug nest and gather enough of the bugs to make a brew; I knew you were coming today so that part's already done. Now we need to take it to the quarry out back, owned by Pebbles Inc.; if we throw the doodlebug potion out into the quarry while reciting the magic words the gypsies will move on to a new town!"

"That's great!" I said. "Let's go!" We rushed through her roomate Claudine Hellmuth's Studio apartment and out the backdoor just as a loud noise came from the front of the house.

"Let's hurry, OK?" I said, realizing the gypsies had found my bike. We were halfway to the quarry when I heard a noise to my left - luckily it was just Ranger Tim Holtz.

"Finally! You almost never find a ranger when you need one!" I exclaimed. "Please, help us get to the quarry!" Apparently Tim wasn't too happy with the situation - to be honest, his language was a little graphic - 45 new curse words I'd never heard before streamed from his mouth.

Together we raced to the quarry. Finally, we were there, but the gypsies were right behind us. Together, Jolee and I grabbed the doodlebug stew and yelled the magic word as we threw the stew out over the quarry. "Ink-a-dink-a-doo!"

There was a flash of light and suddenly the gypsies were gone! Jolee and I shared an excited hug while Ranger Tim stalked off into the woods, muttering something about K and Company, Copic town's other quarry, under his breath. Jolee and I ran happily back to her studio, determined to work on some new spells of our friend Karen Foster's design before our next meeting!

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Hello happy blog readers! By now you may have guessed what we're up to, but just in case some explanation is necessary, here goes. The story above contains company and product line names that we sell in our store - but how many different names are there?

Everyone who guesses the correct number before next Thursday is going to be entered into a drawing to win some blog candy!!! (Sorry out of towners - this is for locals only... you must be able to come into the store to pick up your prize. Also, please post the answer using your name, not "anonymous"...).

There may be some mild adjustments to the product names, such as word reversals or words separated by punctuation, so count carefully! If you see a name more than once, it should only be counted once. Good luck! Here's a peak at the awesome prize package from Quick Quotes: