Monday, May 10, 2010

Separation Anxiety

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. Even those of us with furry "kids" got in the spirit!

Remember about a week or so ago when I told you about the colors that Stampin' Up! is going to discontinue on July 1, 2010?

Just to refresh your memory, here is a small pictorial - I hope you can read the names ok.












So, this past couple of weeks I've been trying to create, using the new items I've gotten from the Summer mini-catalog.

And I kept inadvertently pulling the Discontinued Colors.

I'm torn with this - do I keep showing you these colors so that you can decide whether or not you need more of something ( card stock, markers, re-inkers, pads, ribbons) before they're no longer available?

Or do I purge my CS of all of these and start showing you only items I've made using the "Carry Over Colors"?

Tonight I decided I would separate the two groups, so that I can make a conscious decision.

I'm still sad to see some of these colors go away. Apricot Appeal has become one of my favorites in the past 5 years.

BUT - I'm excited we're getting some new colors to play with - and I think by my sorting them in a rainbow format, I'll start seeing new color combinations to work with in the future. And I'm excited to see some of the old "In" colors return to our palette.

I found some packets of card stock of some of these colors the other day, have brought them over nearer the "CS pile" so that I'll start remembering I can use them again.

I've received one sheet each of the five new colors, whose names are:
Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Cajon Craze, Marina Mist, and Early Espresso.

I'm sure you can figure out they are: red, yellow, rust, light blue, and dark brown.

But having only one sheet of each color doesn't really give me anything to create with. So, until June 1st, when I can order these in quantity, I'll probably be concentrating on trying to use the Carry Over colors.

HOWEVER - that doesn't preclude me from showing items I've already made that used the Discontinued Colors, OK?

That said, here are some photos of a technique I've been playing around with for the past 2 weeks.

This technique is called Black Magic.

You start by stamping a solid image using White Staz-on on to basic black card stock. Here are several I stamped...


















After you've let the Staz-on ink dry, you can color over the ink, and the color will adhere!

I played with: watercolor crayons, metallic colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and chalks - every one of these medium worked beautifully!

I decided to use this as the main theme of the Stamp Club at our April meeting, (hi ladies!) and knew that they each already had different tools that might work. So, I used even discontinued tools (watercolor pencils and metallic colored pencils) to show them those could be used, if they had them.

They each give a somewhat different look, but I liked all of them. At this point, it becomes a matter of which you prefer, or have on hand.

Here are several of the images, colored...



This first one was done with the watercolor crayons minus any water.

I also spritzed it with Gold Smooch Spritz. You may be able to see sprinkles of in on the black card stock. It's available in the Summer mini and comes in 4 different colors.

That was fun to play with, too! And I managed to get it all over everything! LOL I guess you're supposed to confirm WHICH WAY the nozzle is pointed BEFORE you spray!! {grin}






This one was done with the Chalks.

I felt a little more in control with the watercolor crayons, but I have to admit, the chalk one came out quite beautifully! I used Q-tips to apply the chalks, just like we've been doing for years.

After I finished the technique I layered several colors of card stock, and added a bow.






I've been playing around with the burnishing technique as well, and will post some more photos of those samples in the future.

I used items from the Summer mini for a couple of graduation cards I made over the weekend, but I'm not going to show them to you for about a week. I want to make sure the recipients receive them before I unveil them to you.

So, what have YOU been stamping lately? Have you seen something in the Summer mini-catalog that you just HAVE to have? Let me know!


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