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! 

Quilt All Year with Quilted Christmas and Stampin' Up!

A 101 years ago one of my best friends taught me to quilt. Her grandmother quilted, as did her mother, as did she. I admired all of their handiwork as well as those countless women I never knew, but either lovingly touched their quilts or bought their quilts to keep my young family warm.

At the time I was living in the Midwest in a somewhat country environment and surrounded by Amish communities. I took every chance I could get to venture out to fall weekend festivals and obscure antique shops 'just looking' for quilts.

When I decided I wanted to try sewing one myself, I labored over the calico choices in the fabric store ~ literally labored as I was expecting my second child! With primary colored calico selections, 'Garden Green' green for the sashing, fluffy white batting and thread and needles, I was prepared for my first quilting lesson. I had also decided upon the relatively simple nine patch pattern and the size of a baby quilt.

I completed it all by hand; it blanketed my youngest and it has moved with me and is now safely stored, but readily available as needed for any visiting baby grand. (I tried a few additional quilts, with varied success.)

Needless to say, I was delighted when Stampin' Up! introduced the Quilted Christmas Suite. It is the first suite shown in your Holiday Catalog, and it was the very first holiday item I purchased!

DSP  and ink for fabric ~ framelits for templates ~  paper trimmer for scissors ~ snail for thread...

Choosing the pattern is simple, but the 'fabrics,' well that's still a little labor intensive, only because I love it all. But, I can have it all! With all of the items in the suite, I can stitch, quilt and even applique.

I particularly like this sweet and joyful font!

As always, I look to the many talented demonstrators and crafters online and in my cyber communities, my upline and downline and the catalog for inspiration and a starting point. The combination of talented artists and SU materials always equals success.

I have many more Christmas cards to make with this suite, but the incredible beauty of this suite is that it does not have to be ~ should not be ~ limited to Christmas!  I used it for Thanksgiving: 

And I copied a design that I thought was interesting and not particularly holidayish:

Can you see that needle and thread? Created with die cuts and the coordinating framelits. 

This is just too much fun!! 

Although you can use this suite of products all year long, the products are only available through the end of this year!!  Join the fun and we can create a virtual quilting bee!

Tell them thanks

Tell them thanks...

Please don't put away your fall and Thanksgiving stamp sets yet! I know everything in the stores is beginning to scream Christmas, but let's not forget about what just may be the least commercialized holiday of the year. 

I love autumn! We have stamp sets and dies and papers and embellishments and embossing folders that make for beautiful fall cards. Stunning cards. Handsome cards. What a lovely way to say 'thanks.' 

I will be happy to help you design a card if you like it - just ask! 

Please don't let this season of gratitude slide by without

telling them thanks! 

Bonjourno!

Bonjourno! The ship is rolling just a bit as we are making our way from La Spezia (our port for Florence and Pisa) to Civitavecchia (our port for Rome), but I think I can still type.

With these breezy days in the seventies on the Mediterranean. it is tough to consider the holidays and how quickly they are approaching. But before I left home on this much anticipated cruise with my husband, I did spend some play time with some products from the new Holiday Catalog.

I started out with two Designer Series Paper offerings : Be Merry (annual catalog page 113)

and Quilted Christmas (holiday catalog page 5). You know I love paper!

And although I did have the holidays on my mind, I was just playing and...

I picked up the new cat punch (have you found that in the holiday catalog?) and began punching out calico and gingham kitties.

Thinking of quilts, I chose different papers for cats and background and sashing and juggled them around a bit. I embossed several options for the background with the Quilt Top Textured Embossing Folder ~ solids and patterened papers. Then, I couldn't decide which side of the embossing I preferred.

I will say that embossed white or white with small and sparse patterns look a little like Northern Quilted Bath Tissue. I opted for a darker, almost-solid colored background for my paper quilt.

Not being the swiftest with numbers, I cut and embossed a piece of DSP measuring
5 1/2 x 4. Then I simply placed four kitties fairly evenly spaced on that layer and used 1/4" ribbon as the 'sashing.' And it worked! I could then layer that onto a standard card base of 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. Heavy cardstock is quite useful here.

So, I have not completed my cards; still playing, but I have lots of ideas, and not all Christmas...

Maybe another glass of wine will inspire more ideas.

Ciao!

Watercolor Tricks

After two attempts I was finally able to make a watercolor class with my fabulous upline. (My foiled attempts were because of dental work which resulted in a bit of discomfort.)

I purchased the watercolor pencils as soon as they were released last year. I just love playing with those pencils, along with aqua painters and blender pens. And there are so many stamps and papers that lend themselves to use with those tools.

In my class I learned two ways to lay down color for two different looks.

I think it is instinctual to color lightly with the pencils - fear of breaking the points and the well known rule 'you can always add color, but you can't take it away.'  So when I was instructed to color heavy, I re-colored several times.

The bottom, vivid image was stamped in Archival Black ink on watercolor paper and then colored with pencils - darker colors out to lighter on the tips of the petals. The object was to lay down thick color. Then, the image was spritzed with water, allowing that thick coloring to bleed. The result was stunning!

I will layer this on a slightly larger layer of Basic Black cardstock and then onto a card base of Rich Razzleberry!

Did you notice that small scrap of white paper in with my pencils, which I store in a  thin stamp case?  It was used as a palette - I colored, heavily, a circle of Calypso Coral. Then I used an aqua painter to pick up just a bit of the color - that light shade provided the perfect skin tone for the Beautiful You gal dancing in the water - top card! It really is just a kiss of peach - you'll have to take my word for it - try it!

I put down a circle of Bermuda Bay and again used an aqua painter to pick up the color and paint a thin shadow line around the gal - neat effect.

I am going to spend more time with these two techniques!!

Who Doesn't Like to Play in Water?

It seems universal, children love to play in the water, for the most part.

The water hose, washing the car, watering the plants, water fountains, a stream, the ocean, the bath tub (except for washing hair), swimming pools ... and now there are children's play fountains in parks and gardens and amusement venues.

I could fill this blog with pictures of my children and grandchildren playing in the water. My water play was in a ringed plastic wading pool or in the sprinkler, but not in the front yard! Mama would not have children in bathing suits in the front yard!

Play for me today is water and ink!

I truly love the watercolor options that Stampin' Up! has given us: aqua painters, watercolor pencils, watercolor paper, shimmery white card stock ... they can make an artist out of any of us.

Although there is nothing really hard about ink and water, first attempts may not result in what was anticipated. Like water, sometimes you must go with the flow. I have read many blogs and viewed videos to glean tips that may produce my desired effects.

Aqua painters and markers is probably as close to controlled as you can get with the watercoloring techniques. On the top left card I scribbled Stampin' Write markers in three colors and then painted with water right over them - using an aqua painter.

I found this card and the alluring blog title "Three Step Watercolor Wash" from Natalie Lapakko/stampwitch.blog.  She very succinctly instructed to  1. scribble colors, 2. apply water from aqua painter and 3. splatter water from aqua painter onto colored area (to create bubbles, texture, interest) and blot with paper towel.

AND it worked. First time! I  love it when things work the first time around!!

She also used a bit of the new Copper Trim for accent; I used some to ground the piece, almost like sandy shore, I suppose. The ribbon can be stretched out to suggest fishing nets, chicken coop wire, sand ...

Not only did I enjoy creating this, but the gals in my classes did as well. Thanks Natalie!

I used the Shimmery White Cardstock for that art piece. And then moved onto Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Paper for the canvas sling beach chair in the card on the right, a design by Mary Brown at stampercamper.com.

I found the SU watercolor paper too thick and textured for stamping, so switched over to the Shimmer White again.

The watercolor background was created with one of our acrylic blocks ~ ink the block up with several beachy colors (all at once), spritz with water, stamp it onto the paper. HOLD block down, or weight it down for a bit so that color is absorbed into the paper. Pulling the block up immediately causes the water and colors to run downhill like a mudslide. Thank you Mary for that advice!! I had previously produced many mudslides and decided that I could not handle this technique.

I will say that I continued working with my initial stamped image on the the heavy SU watercolor paper. I added a little color with markers, added water with the aqua painter and I like the result, but I did not try stamping a sentiment onto that heavy paper ~ just left the beach scene as a mini watercolor masterpiece for myself.

Don't be afraid; go ahead and play in the water!

Who has bonus dollars?

Me!

I already have $10 in Bonus Dollars and it is only the 8th of July!

You know the deal for Bonus Days, right?

For every $50 order you place in July, you will receive $5 to spend in August, on anything you'd like, INCLUDING a new pre-release holiday bundle, Carols of Christmas!

How did I get $10 in Bonus Dollars? I spent $100 on product yesterday. 

It has really been rough beach weather this week ~ horribly hot and humid, blowing and stinging sand, biting flies and 

So, I had a lot of time on my hands and a Stampin' Up! catalog close by. 

Maybe I should have picked up the novel I have just started,  Savannah Breeze. It's an older one by Mary Kay Andrews, my favorite of the Queens of the Beach Reads authors. 

Although the skies were threatening with thunder and lightning and gusty winds, no precipitation,  just the loss of power for a bit.

All's well that ends well.

But oh, more Bonus Days details: collect as many $5 certificates as you can this month ~ you can use them all on one or more orders next month. They do expire, however,  they must be used during August.

When your order qualifies for Bonus Dollars,  Stampin' Up! will email you certificate codes to redeem.

HOLD ON TO THOSE EMAILS.

Save those emails because I will not get a copy of them .  The codes will not be re-mailed.

So, happy shopping. What's at the top of your list?