Greetings for the New Year!

I hope you are getting excited for the new year and the release of Stampin' Up!'s Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration Event. It is going to be tremendous year ~ Stampin' Up! celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, so I feel certain that we will all have many chances to celebrate with them.

But before the clock strikes midnight and calendar rolls over, consider some stampin' housekeeping before the new products arrive on your doorstep.

I do not want to say that I abuse my Stampin' Trimmer, but it does get a tremendous amount of use as the only paper trimmer I have; so I attempt to keep the surface clean of snail adhesive and liquid glue goo ~ I usually use my silicon craft mat for all of my work, as I am sure you do as well, but sometimes I get in a hurry, or behind ... 

Give your trimmer a good wash down, as well as the cutting mat and the plastic slide/ruler for the blades. I use alcohol wipes to clean the surface and plastic ruler. The trimmer mats do come out of their position and can be turned over. Dust and minuscule bits of paper get trapped in the mat. If needed, add replacement mats to your next order. I always have a spare pair of cutting blades on hand, too.

The alcohol wipes I use work wonderfully well on acrylic blocks; now is a good time to get them cleaned up for new year stampin', too. Try cleaning your bone folder, paper snips and piercing tool while you are at it.

I recently cleaned my Stampin' Scrub ~ just in the kitchen sink under running water, drying it in the dish drainer. 

How about your Big Shot Cutting Pads? Are they clean? Fairly flat? Try to rotate the pads occasionally to help keep them flat. Flatter pads hold framelits to the magnetic platform easier. Having a spare set of pads is a good idea.

Once everything is in terrific working order, stamping becomes even easier and more enjoyable.

The cleaning and supplies take little time and little funds.

Organizing ~ now that's a different matter, but something to consider as you prepare to begin ordering from the new catalog. Take stock of what you already have and make a list of what you need to replenish. As you look through the new catalog at the gorgeous Designer Series Papers, stamp sets and kits, check that you have the coordinating colors of cardstock and ink or refills. 

Cheers! Let's stamp in 2018! 

Hope Your Day Goes Swimmingly!

My day went swimmingly, indeed.
It was a good day to swim ~ I heard on the news last night that most of the country is under a 'heat dome.'  And actually, I don't swim. But I was in the pool with my noodle and some of my favorite people, including my buddy, my three year old grandson.
He swims better than I do ~ he'll dive right in, fall in, jump in and sometimes even walk down the steps. He is brave, in my opinion, but he also sports green 'floaties' while he is still mastering his strokes.
And my noodle is really his noodle.
After such an energizing morning in the pool I was motivated to dive into the new Seaside Shore stamp set.

Kathleen Wingerson (kathleenstamps.com) inspired me with this design.
Thankfully she not only had info on her blog, but also a video. This was a smidge tricky, but now that I have completed one, I think I can handle a few more.
The 'aquarium' feel to this card was the real draw. It is created with a slice of window sheet on the front of the card between two panels of embossed pool party waves and stamped images behind it (on the inside of the card). The fish are also on the front of the card, in case you cannot tell from my photo.
There are no framelits for this stamp set, so be prepared to fussy cut; but the SU Paper Snips makes it easy going.
One day, perhaps, I will get to the point where I do not have more ink on my hands than on my card. And maybe also learn how to use the tombow liquid glue without gluing my fingers together. And how not to smudge window sheets, at least where it shows.
But, this was a fun design and I like my finished card. I will create more; thanks Kathleen.

I played with the set for more fun:

I came across Brandy Cox (brandyscards.com) designing this card, creating her own DSP by stamping the images in the new Dapper Denim ink on Dapper Denim card stock. The fish are swimming in two directions and bubbles fill in the gaps between the fish. The By The Shore DSP is fabulous, but this is more creative to make with the stamps, And, honestly, it takes me forever to decide which of the collection's designs I want to use! So, for today, this worked. I am anxious, however, to cut and layer the DSP. Stay tuned.