Tag: creativity

2018 – 19 Stampin’ Up Annual Catalog

Confession time: I’ve been a bad, bad girl! Last November I had every intention of continuing my monthly series, Innovation Station, as well as regular posts and blog hops. After all, crafting keeps me sane. Early in November a trip to On Stage in Salt Lake City took me out of town for nearly a week and then my best friend moved (and I had to help – that’s what it means to be best friends for nearly 30 years – you bury the bodies and you help move). Once that was all sorted it was Thanksgiving and then Christmas. So no blogging for two months. Okay, not so bad, right?

I promised myself I’d get going again in January, but as the early months of 2018 rolled by, it became clear that blogging (and even more disturbing) being creative were the casualties of life taking a sharp and unexpected turn in the middle of March. After nearly nine years, I was laid off from my job, which is scary enough on its own, but it also meant I had to move since my home was provided by my employer (yes, I was super fortunate). You would think being unemployed would leave lots of time for crafting, but aside from two weeks of binge-watching TV as I put off processing what it meant to be unemployed after nearly a decade, my life has been surprisingly busy. Busy getting ready to put most of my things in storage and take over my best friend’s spare bedroom, busy looking for a job, busy trying to figure out health insurance (not a simple task).

Once I got moved, I was able to begin picking up the threads of my old life, including being creative. My best friend kindly let me take over a big part of her living room for my crafty zone (a table and a small Origami unit that holds the few stamps, inks, paper, and dies I kept out of storage). Can I tell you how hard it was to fill two 66 quart totes and nothing more? Just today I realized that I forgot to keep out envelopes. Envelopes. I can’t believe it! I went to storage but didn’t have the energy to dig through all the totes to find the one with the envelopes so I’ll just have to buy another package. *sigh*

As a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator I always look forward to the new catalog but given that I was in full packing/purging mode, 5′ high in bins all around my house, for much of May, I really didn’t think too much about the fact that there were 241 pages of new and returning goodies to ‘oh and ah’ over! The one great thing about being settled (at least until August when the bestie moves to Endicott, NY) is I’ve been able to figure out what I’m most excited about from the new catalog.

So, without further ado, my top ten list (plus one honorable mention) of 2018 – 19 annual catalog goodies:

  1. Tropical Escape Suite (p. 121)
  2. Tufted Dynamic Embossing Folder (p. 223)
  3. Stampin’ Blends (p. 205)
  4. Share What You Love Suite (p. 177)
  5. A Big Thank You (p. 122)
  6. Stamparatus (p. 207)
  7. Animal Expedition Suite (p. 27)
  8. Garden Impressions Suite (p. 129)
  9. Friendly Conversation (p. 117)
  10. Artfully Folded (p. 228)
  11. Honorable Mention: Simply Shammy (p. 206)

Wondering why I love these things? Well, give me a bit more of your time and I’ll tell you…

I initially ignored the Tropical Escape suite, but the more I looked at the stamps and the dies, the move in love I fell. The leaf dies have inner and outline dies, making them super versatile. The DSP and the Tropical Elements flowers and leaves are beautiful as well, making this suite a win-win! The Tufted embossing folder is so pretty and when paired with tiny pearls or rhinestones, takes the look to a whole new level. I like the simplicity of the Stampin’ Blends, who wouldn’t, alcohol markers, one light and one dark, designed to blend. My main complaint when they debuted last fall was the palette was very limited. Coming out with 11 new colors was a solid expansion of these markers. I’m in love with Granny Apple Green and Flirty Flamingo.

The Share What You Love suite was the early release this year, out to demos in April and customers in May. This suite has wonderful images and sentiments as well as a double pack of specialty DSP! The bundle A Big Thank You might be something you miss flipping through the catalog, but don’t – there are great sentiments as well as builder images in this set! I often forget that the Stamparatus is new to customers since I first learned about it at On Stage last November and had one in my hands in February. With its stair-step dual plate configuration, you may wonder how you ever got along without it! I didn’t go to On Stage in April, but those who did, kept raving about the Animal Outing bundle and I agree — it is super cute. The whole suite is full of wonderful goodies including leaf ribbon and unique dies that cut both the stamped images and images from the DSP! 

I believe the Garden Impressions suite might be the sleeper suite of the catalog – I’ve seen one of the stamps used as giraffe or leopard print – these stamps are certainly flexible and the dies are intriguing since they can be used with the embossing mats, giving you so much flexibility with these intricate and beautiful dies. Pretty and vibrant DSP, the Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack, and Blooms Elements round out this beautiful suite! Friendly Conversation is an unusual set with just two, large sentiments, but they are interesting enough to be the focal image of a card! I don’t normally fall in love with hostess sets, but Artfully Folded, which is origami images is so fun and playful, what’s not to love?!? The Stamparatus makes this set loads of fun! The Simply Shammy comes along a while after other shammies but as usual, Stampin’ Up! looked at what was on the market and then innovated and the result is a very thick and resilient shammy that gets stamps (particularly photopolymer) as clean as a whistle! Bonus: it fits perfectly inside the standard SU stamp case and since it’s not airtight you don’t need to worry about mold or mildew!

Thanks for hanging out with me today and listening to what’s new with me! I hope to begin innovation station this month (next week). Until next time, remember, creativity and imperfection live together in all we do. “Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.”

~xoxo

Fun & Crafty | “Oooh, Something Shiny!”

Hello my crafty peeps! I’m happy to be here again this month as part of the Fun & Crafty blog hop. This month’s theme: “Oooh, Something Shiny!” is one we can all relate to, particularly at this time of year. I’m sure you are NOT like me … I’m sure your Christmas and New Year’s cards are already done … however, should you find yourself in a last-minute rut, I hope you take some inspiration from the below as well as all the other inspiring projects in this month’s hop.

fun-n-craftybloghop

If you are anything like me you look for stamps and dies that are versatile. When I saw the “Greetings from Santa” stamps and “Detailed Santa” dies, I knew it would be simple to create a number of cards that were different. Far from requiring a lot of thought, these dies and stamps are pretty straightforward in their versatility making them some of my favorite ‘go to’ sets for holiday cards.

For this month’s hop I decided to showcase the simple versatility of these stamps and dies using three different card stocks and three different glitter papers. Each card contains the same elements, but each looks vastly different due to the color combinations. The first combo, ‘Straight Up Christmas’, combines red and white. It is simultaneously colorful and whimsical. The second combo, ‘Frosty Friends’, combines red and dazzling diamond. This is the bling-y version of the card. The third and final combo, ‘Winter’s Magic’, combines silver and blue into an elegant version that evokes a cool winter’s day.

dec16_7  dec16_1  dec16_2  dec16_3

What I especially love about these two products are all the extra images and dies that can be used to add little touches to your envelopes. Here are a couple of examples of what I mean.

dec16_5  dec16_6

Oooh, something shiny wouldn’t be complete without a wee bit of Chibitronics fun. Below is the fun trade I created for a demonstrator event back in September. I used the Cookie Cutter punch and stamp set to create this light up reindeer to guide Santa’s sleigh.

dec16_4  dec16_8

There is a ton of inspiration throughout this hop. If you started here, please visit the other talented team members listed below and leave them some blog love! Until next time, remember, creativity and imperfection live together in all we do. “Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.”

~xoxo
Beanie

  1. Tobe BThe Craft Sea
  2. Christine Szekeres – Artful Musings (you are here)
  3. Pamela Wu – Stinky Tofu
  4. Kathy Thisted – Stampablog
  5. Jennifer Blomquist – Northwest Stamper
  6. Danielle Elvin – Going to Collage

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Greetings from Santa
Dies: Detailed Santa Thinlets
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, & Whisper White
Glitter Paper: Dazzling Diamond, Silver & Red
Ink: Versa Mark
Embossing Powder: White & Red
Other: Fine-Tip GlueEmbossing Buddy

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The Great Crafty Escape of 2016

I have been so low on creativity lately that I decided to attend my friend Jennifer’s crafty weekend. She does this event twice each year (in the spring and the fall) at the local Hyatt House in Bellevue, WA. You get a 6′ table all your own in addition to snacks and goodies from Jennifer. The goal is to work on your unfinished or planned projects.

I attended this back in the spring and didn’t get much done, but I decided that I had a better plan of upcoming projects and would be more successful this time around. It’s funny, last time I was judicious and smart in my packing and didn’t get much done and this time I feel like I packed everything but the kitchen sink and got a lot done. Go figure.

One thing I knew for sure is that I didn’t want to do the whole weekend. Last time I was there Friday night, all day Saturday, and most of Sunday. It was simply too much and come Monday I was exhausted. So, I focused on Friday night and Saturday, leaving Sunday for rest and time with my best friend, which turned out to be perfect!

I had a bunch of new goodies from Lawn Fawn, Stampin’ Up, My Favorite Things, and Concord & 9th that I wanted to try out and I am happy to report that I was able to try out almost everything I brought. I created some Halloween treat bags that I will use for our intern team at work, I experimented with the new Concord & 9th Christmas Cottage stamps and dies, the new Lawn Fawn stitched pop-up hill dies, and some new unicorn and bear stamps from My Favorite Things. In addition, I got to play with my MISTI and a bunch of interactive dies.

Here are a few of the things I created:

craftyescape1  craftyescape2

craftyescape3  craftyescape6

I will confess that I don’t always support my local store, but I’ve been trying to get better about buying local. If you live in metro Seattle here are my three favorite places to shop: Ellen Hutson, Impress, and Urban Scrapbooker. The first is not a traditional brick and mortar store but has a great variety of products and manufacturers, the second has two great brick and mortar stores as well as a decent online shopping option, and the last has one of the best discounts available (a standing 15% off for Club Urbie members). Thank you for sharing some of your time with me today. Until next time, remember, creativity and imperfection live together in all we do. “Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.”

~xoxo
Beanie