A colour challenge!

Anne-Marie, another Stampin' Up demonstrator in the "Gail Force Stampers" family, decided we were all whinging a bit too much about not having any inspiration lately - any "mojo", as we say.

So she threw down the gauntlet. She asked us to open our Summer Mini catalogues to page 16, and look at the "Kaleidoscope" decorative paper there. In catalogues, Stampin' Up thoughtfully prints a colour chart of the colours that match with all their decorative papers. Neat, hey?

Our challenge was to take that palette of six colours, and make ... something ... with it. The colours were a bit eye-popping! There's Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Summer Sun, Only Orange, Pink Passion and Pixie Pink. Yes, that's TWO different pinks, and some intense brights. Not my usual combo, but hey, I was up for a challenge.

However, I was a bit short of stamp pads. I only had one of the mentioned colours. So, I pulled out my full set of Watercolour Crayons - what a great way to have one of every colour! And I disregarded the (unspoken) specification that it should be a stamped card. Instead, I went silly with collage. And it was fun! I collaged some papers (photocopies from old magazines), painted thinned gesso over the whole thing (wiping any excess off, especially off the person's face). I coloured with crayon, and used a water brush to move some of the colour around. Then I could stamp on top of the whole thing at will. With borrowed stamp pads - we demonstrators stick together. What fun! Here's my results - and I made some others later, which you'll see on my regular blog.

These stamps are all from the "Hello Again" set, in the Summer mini catalogue. A great, all-purpose stamp set.

Here's Chris' take on the same challenge. And here's Kaz's.

Little Christmas Gifts

I needed to make some little thankyou gifts this year for a Christmas event. Stampin' Up stuff to the rescue (and chocolate of course).

Here's what I made : there's a tube of So Saffron cardstock, made to fit a chocky bar (they are exotic Skor bars from Canada - delish!). Before fastening them at the back I ran the Retro Remix wheel over them. Then got to work with the punches to make Santa. That's a square scallop punch cut in half for his hat. I think I could have done with a face a tad smaller - as always, owning circle punches in every size is a good idea.

I drew the faces on in Stamp 'n Write marker. I should probably practice those!

What? Stamps on special?

Yes, it's true, Stampin' Up are having a SALE! There's a clearance of certain inventory items, and I'm very pleased about a couple of them.

First of all, check the list on this page, that'll show you what's on offer.

Next, grab your catalogue, and see what we're talking about.

Finally, recoil in delight as you discover ALPHABETS! HALF PRICE! Yup, three of them, two of which I don't already have. There's the Jumbo Outline alphabet (excellent, and used in my Giraffe card here). You can colour it in! You can overlap the letters. The "o"s are circles.

Then there's the Big Deal alphabet, which I've shown in full here (yes, it took some computer wizardry to do that, so you can be impressed). Oh wow, I need that one.










And there's also the Wild West alphabet, a very ornate and cool one...

Each of the alphabets is use $38.98 (that's half price). Good deal!

And there's more besides, but you'd better have a look. As my little friend Giraffy the Giraffe* would say, "Too cool".





* must work on that name.

Do the bunny hop!

Here's something I made... I was using the "Forest Friends" set from the last mini catalogue (such a great set, I'll bet that turns up in a regular catalogue in the future - not that I would know). It needed a little something.

Then my order from the CURRENT mini catalogue arrived. And there was the little something!

What would a little bunny be thinking of? Carrots, of course.

The carrot is made of (wait for it, it's good) the body of the butterfly from Butterfly Prints. Our friends at Stampin' Up have designed the wings and body as separate stamps, so you can use the butterfly punch on the wings. Yay for that!

For the record, to ink up a carrot, you can do one of two things. Use two markers (that's easy), or use two stamp pads. Since it's strictly top-half-one-colour and bottom-half-the-other-colour, you just tap half the stamp onto the pad, and have a good look from the side. My colours were Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie.

Oh, and of course the big thought bubble is the scallop oval. But what is the small bubble? You'll work it out.

A special ATC for Paperific

I was very happy to attend Paperific simply as a stamper this year - not working or running a stall. Ah, what fun!

I made some ATCs for swapping - wanna see?

Now, if you are keen of eye, you will notice that the stamps I'ved used here are NOT from the current catalogue. They are "retired" (that's so much nicer than saying "obsolete").

So here's my little essay on "retired" stamps.

It IS a nice thing to keep using your retired stamps, you know. You bought them because you love them, and old friends don't stop being old friends.

So when I'm representing Stampin' Up, or at a SU! function, or trying to sell you something (!) I'll be using all the latest and greatest. But when I just feel like tinkering with my lovely stamps, I'll be dipping into the old classics often. No wonder some older stamp sets become collectors items.

Oh, and you'll see, I managed to use that curly label punch on the day it arrived! That's Kraft card, and Old Olive ink, a classic combination, and behind the window it's Very Vanilla card and the same ink. I've added a little "drop shadow" in pale grey marker to the flowers - it makes them pop! And did I tell you SU! sponges are the best? I think I did. Well, they are.

Christmas Gift Giving - or maybe for you?

Have a look at the Gift Giving Guide Stampin' Up have released for the holiday season (I've added a link to it here, and it's on the Stampin' Up website too). What a great idea! If you spend just $85 on the goodies in the guide, you will score a FREE punch. A Square Scallop punch to be precise. Everyone needs that one.

But here's and extra bit of info - the offer's been updated - you can choose either the Square Scallop punch, OR the Boho Blossoms punch - that's the one with three flowers. Boho Blossoms features on page 95 AND page 153 of the catalogue ; it also goes with the "One of a Kind" stamp set on page 95. So that's awesome.

Second awesome bit if info is, I have worked out the absolute best package to get from the Gift Giving Guide (or "GGG" as we like to call it). It's what I bought with my first run at the GGG (yes, I'm planning another). If you choose the Curly Label Punch Bundle (that's a stamp set and punch that belong together), then add the Spiral punch (that's the one that makes "sprocket" holes along the edge of your cardstock, and makes pages that fit into our Art Journals), that comes to just over $85, and you'll get your freebie. So that's three gorgeous punches and a set of stamps for $85. Now THAT'S a Christmas present.

My first Bagalope!

Bag-a-what? A Bag-a-lope, of course! It's a little bag made from an envelope, a cool trick known to lots of stampers, and cultivated by Stampin' Up! demos everywhere, because they are easy to make and demonstrate.

I just had to be different though - couldn't make a straight forward one for my first one...

So I decided it would be a BIG one - made from a C5 envelope (that's the one that fits a piece of A4 paper folded once). You know, a smaller bag would be more sturdy - well obviously! But the person the gift is for needs a LOT of chocolates.

And instead of tying the top up with an elegant ribbon, I went for this cool handle. The secret's the tag punch, folks!

I've used stamps from the Hello Again set, and the Retro Remix wheel (wheels are the secret of bagalope decoration). Those stamps will be coming in the Summer Mini Catalogue, in December. And of course, my two favourite colours, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive.

Hmm, well, I'm sure I could do a fancier one, but I have to say, that was pretty fun and easy for a quick gift.