Color Challenges

 My Stampin' Up team leader posts color challenges for each month where you are allowed to use 3 different colors, black ink for stamping and current products.  The June 2021 Color Challenge was posted on her blog here:

https://brandyscards.com/happy-june-color-challenge/?fbclid=IwAR0tIpPMOcUNrJ4OTa9xZhoNryj5vpFTGBuuBNIHI4dZia8lfI0-N3l00EQ

I did not complete my cards in time.  However, I did finally play around with the colors (Blushing Bride, Highland Heather and Garden Green) in the middle of July.  These are the cards that I created with those colors:

While the cards are all similar, they are not exactly the same.  These used the "A Touch of Ink" stamp set which was a Sale A Bration set from early in 2021 so it's no longer available.  Since my challenge cards were late, I kind of broke the rule about using something currently available.

Catalog

Here is a link to the Stampin' Up 2019 holiday catalog that lists products available now:

2018-2019 Annual Stampin' Up catalog


Here is the link to the annual Stampin' Up catalog that lists the products available now:

Stampin Up Annual Catalog

Then if you're just a beginning stamper, there is a brochure with products intended to ease you into stamping without being overwhelmed:

Brochure for Beginners


These links will take you to my Stampin' Up website where you can view or download these catalogs.  You can also shop right from the website by creating an account with an email address.

If you would prefer to receive a printed catalog, I'd be happy to send you one.  Just let me know!

When You Just Need a Little Frosting

Popular trend these days is to encourage people to "think outside the box".  Crafters have been doing this for  years, coming up with alternate ways to resolve issues with the projects that they are working on.

Well I apparently started this post on March 22, 2019 and here we are almost 7 months down the road and I have NO idea where I was going with this.

I came here today to post photos of things that are going to be offered at Stampin' Up.

The Christmas Is Here Suite is a great set of stamp images, gold ribbon, gold sequins, a bracelet and designer paper with gold foil accents that is perfect for holiday cardmaking.  As of today, it is available to demonstrators as preorder items.  It will be available to customers on November 1, 2019.  The entire suite is $112.50 but you can also pick and choose which items you want.

The New Year Celebration Stamp set was only previously available in Japan.  It is being offered in North America for the first time.  It became available on October 1, 2019 and will be sold until January 31, 2020.  The stamp set is $25.00.

I have goodie boxes to ship off to my customers to thank them for making purchases in the 3rd quarter of 2019.  I scour clearance aisles and the clearance rack and divide up what I find which has included things like the WRMK Letterpress, Ultimate Genius Platform, heat guns, stamp sets, stamp and die sets, holographic paper, glitter paper, cut n emboss folders, sponge daubers, sticker collections, stencils, brushes, paints, glitters, Tim Holtz stains, etc.

Distinktive Stamps - SaleABration and coming in April 2019 Paper Pumpkin

Yesterday I got to play with my new Lasting Lily stamp set that I got for free with $100 purchase from Stampin' Up. 

The stamps are the Distinktive style from Stampin' Up.  For those of you that were into the photo-realistic style of unmounted stamps in the early 2000s, you may remember the difficulty we had getting a good impression. (I want to say I got most of my collection from Bella Rosa Rubber Stamps - they had two halves to their website with different style stamps offered depending on which side you chose.)

Some people took to their stamps with erasers, some insisted that if you stamped first with chalk inkpad then dye inkpad that you would get the best image.  Others used Versamark then dye.  Still others began using press machines, standing on the stamps or putting the stamp on your work surface, then inking it and then putting the paper over.  Still others insisted that inking it with a brayer was the only way to go.  I just remember how delighted we'd be when we finally got it to look like an inked photograph.

I didn't have those kind of issues thanks to the stamp platforms that are popular now.  I used one color of ink and let the stamp image control the shading and highlights.  I did do some stamping off when I added the foliage at the bottom.  My first practice sheet - which is a very glossy but thin printing paper - kept lifting off the stamp platform.   The magnets didn't help hold it nor the sticky backing from the Little B Perfect Positioner. The paper was the back sides of printouts that were supposed to be taken for sale at convention by my daughter.  The printouts had streaks, smears or wrong size ruining the images.  Waste not, want not - the back was still clean, glossy and fine for stamping on.  For the full practice sheet, I went ahead and used the Stamper's Secret Weapon and that worked fine.  I found that scrubbing at the stamp with a shammy to take off any residue made the stamp work better.  Also discovered that more than 2 stampings without cleaning the stamp would produce a duller image - some of the detail was lost.  If the stamp wasn't completely flat onto block and you had an air bubble under it, it would show when you stamped.  So for the best image, clean seasoned stamp completely flat on pad or platform, not overinking from stamp pad and even pressure to the paper and leaving it there for a few seconds to give time for the ink to transfer.  I think my issues had to do with the type of paper I was using but once I got the technique down, then stamping a card went fine.  Well the second time it did because the first time I got a green streak across one of my lilies so I had to flip the card front and start over (stray ink - disadvantage of block vs platform).  I ended up fussy cutting one of the practice images to make the second card.  Here they are:

I shared them to my Stampin' Up team page but they were underwhelmed.  The stamp set came with the phrase "I adore you" but I just wanted the "adore" so I covered the other words with post-it notes, inked the "adore", removed the post-its and stamped it onto my die cut.  The "today and always" was also part of the stamp set.   I think they are pretty and am pleased anyway because they look exactly as I'd pictured them in my head.  I will play with these more - more than 1 ink color, highlighting the center, watercoloring, etc.  I haven't seen anyone use the irregular blob in the set but I intend to stamp that in a light color as background to a sentinment with a dark color.  Not sure if that was the intent of the stamp when created but that's how I see it.  Or maybe I'll use it to make an entire background.  Definitely need some playtime!

Stampin' Up offers a coordinating die set for $27.00 for these stamps.  I have a Scan n Cut so didn't buy those dies.  The item is:  LILY FRAMELITS DIES 150071 $27.00:

The Paper Pumpkin set for April will have a Distinktive stamp set.  Paper Pumpkin subscriptions are $19.00 and include a stamp set, usually an ink cube or two, all the paper supplies needed and instructions to make 4 cards.  To get the April set, you must subscribe before April 10th.  They sell subscriptions of 1, 3, 6 or 12-month periods.  If you see the preview for the next month and don't want it, you can suspend your subscription for that month by the 10th to skip getting it.  You can also subscribe month-to-month and have it charged to a credit card each month.  I prefer prepaying for a certain length of time and then entering that code into the paperpumpkin.com site.  If you subscribe for 6 months, it's $108.00 so they take $6.00 off the price.  If you  subscribe for a year you pay for 11 months and get the 12th month free for $209.00.

Anyway, that's my stamping update.  As always, would be happy to have you join me as a customer or if interested, as a fellow Stampin' Up rep.  My site:  Shop SU with Vee

UPCYCLING with Stampin' Up

I recently got an order with one of the new incentive stamp sets from the second SaleABration release.  It is called All Adorned.  This is the stamp set:

This stamp set became available to Stampin' Up customers on February 15th and is available until March 31st, 2019.  It is a Level One award, free with any $50 purchase.

Wanting to play with my new toy, but not having a lot of time, I spied a Stuart Hall "Thank You" card set that I received for free with an order from Creative Images.  This is what the plain cards looked like:

I took out four shades of Stampin' Up ink pads (balmy blue, mint macaron, pool party, blueberry bushel) and went to town.  I tried to use an acrylic block but kept getting stray lines.  Using a stamp platform, I got no stray lines but had to rotate the cards and that worked fine.  I could've just used a smaller, more appropriately sized block but did not want to go dig one out since I was crafting at the kitchen table and not in the office.  To me, it was just as important to ensure that I got some play time in instead of being Uber-efficient during my playtime.   Just goes to show that there IS more than one way to accomplish a task.

Those are all the cards that were successfully stamped.  Then I took the ones with boo-boos and stamped on the inside to create colorful backgrounds to cut apart to make other cards.  They looked like this:

That keeps the messed up cards from being wasted.  There was no other way to save them because the line went right thru the Thank You sentiment.

Stampin' Up! Birthday Sale

At the end of July 2018, I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Am really liking their products even though I still have to get all the stickers put on my new inkpads.  They are foam ones similar to the ones that Stephanie Barnard sells, nice and juicy and give good impressions.  I really like the color selection but I am too new to the line to be able to spout off all the colors by memory.

My membership was sponsored by a friend who is a former demo, she wants their products but didn't want to join again.  She also has brought along friends that like Stampin' Up! products and with me buying as well, that has given me 3 customers so far to kickstart this.

I'm hoping to get my act together to be able to make and share stuff on this blog that I have created with their products.  So far I've had a little play time but not as much as usual due to youngest daughter's schedule for marching band.

Here are the products which will be on sale for ONE DAY ONLY:

October 23, 2018 - ONE DAY ONLY

October 23, 2018 - ONE DAY ONLY

The time constraint also prevents me from updating the blog so that is also a goal I hope to meet soon, regular updates.  That's it for now!!  If you are interested, come check out the Stampin' Up! products at my site:  veestamps.stampinup.net.  I'd love to send you a catalog, leave me a comment to let me know if you want one (and your email address so I can contact you for mailing info, if needed).

FODDER

So “fodder” has one meaning that is “a person or thing regarded only as material for a specific use”.  In this case, my travels and in particular, the things I observe while traveling, provides fodder for my blog.

My blog is quite outdated – it’s not that I haven’t written any blog posts.  As a matter of fact, I wrote one to get back into the groove a long time via my phone and the Blogger app.  Even has photos but for some reason, it has never successfully finished publishing.

Then I started a long rant post on my Surface while I was flying on a Southwest plane.  However, that post is incomplete but the Surface has been kidnapped by a teenager so remains unfinished.

So what kind of fodder did I come across this time?  A strange modern family ritual.  I recall being filled with trepidation at the thought of flying cross-country with youngsters in tow.  I had three kids that were 1, 2 and 3 years apart (oldest 3 years older than youngest, 2 years older than sibling 2, siblings 2 and 3 were only 1 year apart).  Don’t get me wrong, mine were good travelers but you just dread that you may have to correct chair kicking (yep), stop your kids from bothering people (yep), what they will say to strangers (nothing stands out), whining (not usually), crying (now and then), unexpected things happening to upset the apple cart, urgent needs for bathroom, etc.  Apparently families today don’t suffer from those fears.  I saw multiple families that were traveling with a toddler, an infant AND the lap dog in tow.  Really – now I’m all about animal rescue – anyone who knows me will tell you about my love for animals.  But taking them along on the plane with the whole rest of the family? Two strollers – one for the kid, one for the mutt.  I guess because I would never have just one animal that never entered my thought process.  But while having 2 youngsters along as well – it wouldn’t be happening.  That’s why they have places to board animals or sitters for pets. 

The crowded flight from Dallas to San Diego with every seat taken had at least 3 dogs going.  I have no issue with the dogs going either – only one was a senior lady’s companion, the other 2 were with families. 

On my subsquent flight from San Diego to Las Vegas, there were at least 2 dogs along.  One was with a young couple who sat in front of me and the dog was out at the airport and in their lap the whole flight.  So not even sure why they bothered with having a carrier – I guess that was in case someone told them they had to follow the rules and put the mutt away.  Now this was no show dog.  It was a poodle shih tzu mix.  Kind of looked a bit like Hoganess.  I overheard them say that they had two more shih tzus at home.  So why does one get to travel – and the others stayed home?  I don’t know.  I just know I had a bad enough experience having to change poopy diaper on plane much less worrying about a dog that may have to take care of their business.

However, I was amused at the article in Southwest magazine about the cost and planning to take into consideration when taking pet along, the size consideration and the need for carrier and to keep the pet in the carrier.  That last part didn’t happen – and I don’t have an issue with it  - just wondered what about people who have allergies or are afraid of dogs.  None of the flight attendants told them to put away their pets but then I believe in following rules.  The same people who break those rules are the ones who don’t put their phones in airplane mode when instructed and do what they want when they want.  Just because you’re an independent thinker doesn’t mean you can infringe on other’s rights though.

Post from May

Keeping up with a blog is hard work. This will be my first attempt via mobile app. Not really sure how the app controls content.

Haven't gotten my craft area set up. I'm procrastinating about getting a wall painted that is holding up bringing in more supplies. I was too impatient to wait for that so drug my stuff to living room to play.   This is my newest die with sparkly paper from Dollar Tree.

Test

Why won't blogger work from my phone

Moving Day Is Approaching & Testimony to God’s Faithfulness

We’ve spent a good portion of the last 2 years trying to find a suitable house to buy.  The first one we almost hitched our star to ended up having a leaky roof, a really leakyroof – patched several times type of deal – which we found out 2 months after we almost plunked down a bunch of money on lease/purchase to buy it.  Found it also had broken sewer pipes and a layout that ultimately didn’t work for us.  It was a great neighborhood and awesome backyard – except for the flies (from the broken pipe).  Found a way to control the indoor flies by the huge tub - http://www.ortho.com/smg/goprod/ortho-home-defense-fly-bait-decal-for-windows-indoor-insect-control/prod11120009 

Really cut down the fly population – only bad thing was that I found it about a month before our lease expired .  The landlord decided to up the rent by $75 after the 1-year lease expired – even though they hadn’t fixed the roof the whole time we were there.  That meant all our stuff was stored in the backyard shed or stayed in plastic containers in case we got snow or rain which would leak in the office, garage, kitchen, living room,. front room, fireplace, bookshelf, etc.

We prayed for patience, for guidance towards the right place for God to put obstacles in the way for any property that we weren’t meant to have and to clear that path for where He wanted us.  We looked at mobilehomes in very rural areas with 40 acres of land and only snakes and cows for company.  We checked out old (1935 and 1958) farmhouses with 10 acres of land that consisted of 1/3 dead trees, broken down fencing and non-working and collapsing outbuildings.  We checked out houses that turned out to have dried up wells.  We looked at rundown mobilehomes with a few acres that had chicken coops and greenhouses with them.  We looked at metal sheds converted to houses with 16 acres of brush-filled land surrounded by more acres of fenced-in scrub.  We considered a previously rented mobilehome on 5 acres that was dirt cheap as Seller wanted to break even as he was away in military and couldn’t manage the place any longer. 

We were keeping list of houses on 806homes.com, zillow.com, realtor.com, trulia.com, and a Keller Williams phone app.  We made a list of all the “must haves” but started to think we would have to settle for almost everything, or everything but in the wrong school area, or a property with a decent price but more land or housing than we currently needed.  We started the application process in July and found out that they wouldn’t count 1/3 of husband’s income (his bonus) until he had 2 years on the job.  So then we were counting the months and then days until the 2-year mark arrived.  Until then we worked on paying off stuff to improve our credit scores.  We began narrowing down our selection and we were still getting almost everything we wanted. 

Then we found an adorable place, right area, everything we wanted but our financing wasn’t ready and it sold in a week.  Our spirits were crushed and we were back to “well there’s this one or this one”.  We found a lovely home with almost the acreage we wanted, in the right town and school area and thought we’d make an offer.  It was located on a quiet country road that dead-ended, out of city limits.  Even took our visiting son to drive by to see it in September, sure that it would be ours soon.  Scheduled a viewing and loved the place.  Then found out the fireplace was capped and didn’t actually work and that even though it had 1800 square feet, an add-on breakfast nook,, workshop and detached garage, it was actually a manufactured home/mobilehome in good shape .  The payments would be great but the credit scores had to be even higher than brick and mortar home, higher than we could get them in order to buy this cute little place.   Found out age was  20 years old and almost past what the lenders would loan against – so basically impossible to get a loan.  We were basically back to square one.  The metal home was marked ‘pending”, the 5-acre rundown mobilehome was still available but mobilehomes were off the lender’s table and there were more expensive places, with more land than we could handle, that were $75,000 more than we budgeted.  The mortgage payment was do-able but the down payment would be more than we had.  While lenders often loan for mortgages at 5.5x salary, we were hoping to keep it under 2xsalary. 

We saw a listing for a place near that 5-acre rundown mobilehome that happaned to have the size land we wanted, the size house we needed so I could work at home from my own space, the basement to hide from storms if needed, the fireplace, the barn and animal shelter, space for fostering rescues, space for a wood workshop, room for garden, room for a pool and a trampoline, wood floors, nice kitchen and it was just a smidge over our price range (but under the amount for which we had loan approval). We drove by and the whole family voted that it was okay and maybe we’d ask for a showing.  We did schedule a showing and every agreed that the house was okay.  We hemmed, hawed and debated about it for 2 days.  But we made an offer and held our breath and it was countered but acceptable and we kept pinching ourselves all the way until escrow closed.  Shortly after we made the offer, I took in 12 rescues in the same week – a mama and 3 pups that need a temporary place while waiting for transportation to Colorado and another mama and 7 pups who were too beatiful to be euthanized.   We really needed to be in the new place!

The Seller stayed there an extra 10 days and then we began taking our things over after Christmas – slept there for New Year’s and moved even more over.  Seller still has things in the barn and storage shed.  Our freezer is defrosted. Rachel’s bed is moved, the loveseat is moved, one set of table and chairs is there and the lawn chairs and canopy are there.  The 16 boxes of crafts from under the bed and all the coats and crafts in the front closet are there. The sondude flies here this week to help move the big stuff so that it’s not all on Rachel and Carl (my asthma keeps me out of the pic for big items – I pack and direct, unpack and sort.)  The storage sheds are almost emptied and scheduled to be removed this week.  TV is moved, internet and phone were not available at the company providing 200 mbps speed but a company that is a co-op for rural places that will have phone and 25 mbps speed (same speed as office is using so I’ve been spoiled).  We are still amazed at God’s faithfulness – he said to test him and try him to prove it and we did.  We were willing to take less than we wanted and he said no, let me show you what I can do

God put us in a place that was newer than what we thought we could get, under what the loan company said we could afford and not only that, it had everything on our “must have” list that we’d given up getting.  (These are the listing photos, we were offered the donkey and horse but they moved down the street as we aren’t prepared for livestock yet).

Front of house and back view

Shots of the back pastures (split in half by fencing in middle)

Barn, chicken coop, storage shed and backyard (not our trampolines)

 

Sara’s bedroom, shared bathroom and what will become office/craftroom

Rachel’s bedroom with her own bathroom

Master bedroom and bathroom

Laundryroom off garage and kitchen – basement

Living room with door leading to basement

Kitchen

 

Dining room and entryway

Lagging on Posts

 

Sure, I’ve gotten behind iin updating my blog.  Life happens and we all seem to be playing catch up.  I’ve still had a little bit of play time but have also taken in a few rescue dogs with their puppies.  At one point, we had our 3 dogs plus 12 add-ons!  One mama and her 3 pups were transported to a rescue group in Colorado so we only have 8 extras now.

Got this gesso which was significantly discounted but then when I opened it, it was already about 2” down from the top of the bucket.  That’s okay, I think what is left in there will last me a long time as I’m not gesso-crazy like some art journal/mixed media crafters.  I did pages without and then with to see the reaction of the color mediums I work with.

These were the pages without the gesso:

Then a few shots adding gesso to some blanks – and over colors already there:

I just continued to play and have fun.  To me making a mess and enjoying the process is what I like about crafting – losing myself for hours in pure fun:

I believe where the colors are similar above, the first image was without gesso and the second image (where the water beads up a bit more) is with the gesso.  I like both so I can’t say whether I’ll become a gesso maniac or not.

Now onto some cards I made:

I think that’s it for this update.  You may have seen that butterfly in another shot when it was created – but now it’s become a card front.  For a HUGE card, that is.  I had to go buy some A7s and then cut the image down to fit onto it.  The paper on the rooster card was in that same blog post – but I added the rooster stamps and sent it to my boss for his birthday (they have a mini-menagerie including about 8 chickens).