Jun 2, 2020 | Craft Retreats |
I hosted a weekend stamp retreat with my team last weekend. We timed it to play with all the items we pre-ordered from the new annual catalog. Stampin’ Up! limits us to a specific list for our pre-order, so I can’t wait until tomorrow when we can order whatever we want from the catalog (along with customers). The limited offering for pre-order is tied to what Stampin’ Up! ordered as extra inventory for all of us demonstrators ordering. Anyway, I had several new suites of products to play with and fun down time with friends. I now have lots of samples to show off at my Open House this coming weekend. All in all, it was a wonderful time.
Before the retreat, I made a pillow gift for each of them. It’s a Tea Tin that I copper embossed the sunflower images on from the new set, Celebrate Sunflowers. I filled them with goodies and embossed the lids too. The ribbon is new too (Bumblebee Gingham).
I also made towel tags to hang on our towel hooks. I used retiring paper for these and put matching hearts on the back before laminating them. I got some wrinkles on the back, but I like how they turned out.
Here’s most of our group (one couldn’t make it and one had to leave early). But, we also had two awesome ladies that booked the house with us (Kim & Kellee). It was great to chat and hang out with them too all weekend (Thanks Kim for taking our photo).
I got there a day early and watched Star Trek Voyager on my laptop. The rest of the time we listened to music and talked while working on our projects. See my dark chocolate bar tucked under my computer…definitely a retreat essential.
Here are most of the sample cards I made for upcoming clubs, classes, and my Open House this weekend. I have at least a dozen more that aren’t in the photos.
I’ll post more details for some of these samples in upcoming post after I’ve had more time to photograph them better. This retreat was at our favorite spot, Moments Retreat. I can’t wait for the next one!
Happy Stampin’
May 22, 2020 | Cards |
One of my favorite sheets in the Pressed Petals Designer Series Paper is this one with flowers on burlap. Since this paper is retiring and I hadn’t used it yet, I decided to feature it on a card for my May Stamp Club. I designed this easy little get well card with a few hearts added from the Stitched Be Mine dies. The sentiment is from the Dandelion Wishes stamp set.
Here is a close up of the card.
I noticed that the designer paper was a little thin to handle the ribbon taped with Tear & Tape to the back. So, on the ones I made after the initial sample here, I added a piece of Crumb Cake card stock on the back of the designer paper to give it some extra strength and put glue dots in all 4 corners too.
Colors: Rococo Rose, Merry Merlot, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Note: The littlest heart is from the center bottom of the scrolled heart die.
Tools and Stamp Sets:
I love using the ribbon this way to make a textured scalloped edge border.
Happy Stampin’
Apr 22, 2020 | Announcements |
Stampin’ Up! posted the retired lists today for the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog and the 2020 January-June Mini Catalog (the Spring mini).
Here are the links to the lists:
Annual Catalog – Excel
Annual Catalog – pdf
Mini Catalog – Excel
Mini Catalog – pdf
Check out what retired and don’t miss out. Some items will run out right away:
- All retiring items are only available while supplies last and will be discontinued after June 2.
- Due to high demand, retiring stamp sets will have guaranteed availability until May 22, 2020; all other products are not guaranteed and are only available while supplies last.
- Stampin’ Blends aren’t retiring, but will only be offered as a combo pack in the new catalog. If you need a single (light or dark), please order before the singles retire.
- Snail and snail refill are retiring, but the new catalog will have new and improved replacement adhesive on June 3rd. If you need refills before then, you should order some to tide you over.
- Don’t forget to order your favorite coordinating products from the retiring In Colors especially the ink refills and card stock.
Stampin’ Up! has lumped all the retiring items together in the store here.
Happy Shoppin’
Apr 14, 2020 | Cards |
I love how my cute Under My Umbrella card turned out. I couldn’t wait to stamp and color in the little rain boots. Not to mention how perfect the Lily Impressions designer series paper mimics a rainy day background. I made several of these cards so I could color the boots in different colors to match my umbrellas. Since I ordered the Pleased As Punch paper too, I had several styles of fun umbrellas to punch out. If you own this paper, the best way to cut it for punching is to cut the paper in diagonal strips to separate rows of umbrellas.
I also punched out the folded umbrellas on some of them for the inside of the card.
My favorites are the purple ones.
The cloud is the Pretty Label punch…I love punches! The boots and flowers, however, are fussy cut. And, I used Granny Apple Green Textured Weave ribbon under the cloud. I used this cute Spring card for an in-home party last month and my clubs in February. That was back when we were all not so nervous to leave the house or on lock-down. I hope everyone is enjoying time to create in their own stamping/crafting room or space.
The Pleased as Punch paper was only offered in February and March, but if there is any left, it might show up later in the clearance rack. In the meantime, new items were added today to the clearance rack with some discounted as much as 60%, so check it out.
I also noticed that we don’t have Blushing Bride Stampin’ Blends (I used a little water coloring in the pink boots since I don’t have that color in Blends). I’m hoping we have more colors (like all the rest of the colors) available in the new catalog in June. Us demos will get a chance to see the catalog in eight days…I’m so excited! Stampin’ Up! even has a counter counting down the days, hours, minutes for us on our demo website.
Happy Stampin’
Apr 7, 2020 | Cards |
I used the Timeless Tulips stamp set for my Easter cards this year. My stamp club also made these in March. I love how realistic the tulips are. You just can’t imagine how great they look until you stamp them yourself. I do, however, think the tulips look better with darker colors. We made a card at the last Stampin’ Up! OnStage in Vegas using Rococo Rose which just doesn’t show the detail as well as the Gorgeous Grape. I based my design from that card and just added some layers and the Buffalo Check background stamp. Here are both cards.
This is the one we did in Vegas.
And, here is my version.
Here’s a close up.
Colors: Gorgeous Grape, Purple Posy, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
I need to get these in the mail, but wanted to photograph them first. Happy Easter everyone. Even if I can’t gather with friends or extended family right now, I’m keeping busy playing games with my family and spending time in my stamp studio. Oh, and I’m also watching Outlander with my daughters. My oldest is pacing us though, only one a day.
Happy Stampin’
Apr 3, 2020 | Announcements, Craft Shows |
Well, my stamp studio makeover and re-organization is coming together. I love having my wall put back together, and I’m working on going through every drawer and cubby. I keep finding things I forgot I own. The height of the wall units all being about the same is so much more eye pleasing. The white ones on the end need to get painted black to match. I thought that would bother me, and I was right. I absolutely love my new engineered wood floors. I’m so glad we got them done before this bug starting spreading and keeping us house bound (not sure I’d want all those workers coming and going in my house under the current situation). This photo was before they were finished, so their tools are still on my floor.
I decided not to re-install the massive black shelf I had on the other side of the studio. My husband came up with the idea of putting it in our closet. Wow, it’s awesome in there, and now I have a boot shelf almost the whole length of the master closet. It helps store my 20 pairs of boots…I kind of love boots! Here’s a photo of the other side in progress. I hated having my tables covered with everything, but that’s mostly put away now.
I also bought new green boxes through Ikea to replace my old red ones. But, since the store is closed, I had to order them online which means they won’t be here until the end of April. Obviously, I didn’t have my Grand Re-Opening last week which just means I have more time to play in here and make it perfectly organized. Since I knew the re-opening would be delayed, I decided to take it slower and have been working on other areas of the house too. When I’m organizing in here, I get easily distracted and start making projects and spending time on the littlest of tasks…suddenly it’s 4pm, and I have no idea where the time went…lol.
Happy Stamping!
