Think of 'ACME' ...

...and what picture do you get in your head?

Something like this? Me too! I think of Wyle E Coyote trying all manner of weird and wonderful products from the Acme Corporation in his attempt to catch Roadrunner in the Looney Tunes cartoons! But think again because there's a new coyote in town ... and ... and I'm getting my analogies all tangled up! Allow me to explain. The Gauche Alchemy girls have decided to upgrade me from being their 'Designer at Large' for Autum 08 - to a permanent team member where I'll be designing with [and here's where the explanation bit really kicks in] their Acme kits!! I'll hand over to Amy to describe exactly what one of these is:

"What is an Acme kit, you ask? Well, it’s a kit full of various great stuff that hasn’t found it’s way into any of our monthly themed kits. It’s a little bit of anything and everything. We’ll be offering them for sale soon. In the meantime, keep in mind we will make one for anyone who requests one and gives us a price range to work with. How cool is that?"

Well actually ... it's this cool:
After it's long trek from sunny Arizona to still-pitch-black-when-I-get up England my pizza box of vintage goodness arrived just in time for my recent birthday. And it's wonderful!

If you've ever wanted to get any of your men-folk interested in your crafting I'd recommend you invest in a Gauche Alchemy kit. Both my partner and my Dad have spent time scrutinising many of the weird and wonderful items of ephemera that Heather and Amy pack into their kits. All I could hear was their exclamations of: 'I remember those board game pieces'! 'Hah! A match-book!' and 'What's that?'.

It was also full of lovely squares of fabric, 12x12 papers and jewel-y 'bits' and bobs, my favourites being:
1. a chunky vintage watch-face which my genius of a sister suggested would make a great helmet for a little fabric doll - imagine a little face peeking out from behind there!! Too cute!
2. and one wonderfully tactile and entirely adorable domino piece. [Domino pieces can be adorable - I've decided].
So what more could a girl ask for? You get a box of pretties which also keeps the boys quiet for a while???! Perfection!

Watch this space for future Acme projects ... that Roadrunner had better watch his step!