Aloha, all!
Finally – here I am back in my Craft Room and feeling as if I have a little bit of time to really play. I've decided that today the lunch dishes can wait until I've made a card or two.
Thanks to all of you who have sent good wishes, thoughts and prayers our way as my husband has been dealing with his illness. Thankfully, he came through his very extensive surgery well, and is now at home recuperating. I hope you never have the experience of having to be away from home to be with a loved one who is in the hospital as long as I had. Instead of going home each night for a month to rest and recuperate among familiar surroundings to be able to face the next day, I had to go to a hotel room. I realized then how much value there is in one of Stampin' Up!'s programs, which is to support Ronald McDonald houses around the country. So many parents have to travel away from home to be with their children in such a situation. I wish there was something like that for us dealing with an adult.
Meanwhile, I really was "Thinking of You…." I really like sharing what I do with you, and it would have helped if I could have been able to do something creative and then spend some time in the late evening sharing it. Even now, though we've been back home for almost week, it's been a very tiring one as I try to get all the household chores done myself. Yup, those lunch dishes are still there. But today I really got into my craft room and set some crafting goals for myself. Over the next few days, I'll share some of what I've done and really make an effort to get back into my groove.
As always, I look to my SUDSOL online demonstrator group for some inspiration. Yesterday, I had a challenge to make a card with 8 separate steps. It involved the number of colors of card stock and ink that we had to use, the number of layers to be included, the number of stamp sets to be used and the number of embellishments to finish it all off.
And this is a sneak peek of sorts, too! One of the three colors I used is Stampin' Up!'s newest yellow in the core collection – Daffodil Delight. Such a pretty yellow for summer! and the coordinating Daffodil Delight Ribbon is one of thirteen new 1/8" Taffeta Ribbons. What a nice size for an accent. Finally, I textured the Daffodil Delight layer using Stampin' Up!'s newest Sizzix Textured Impression Embossing Folder, Vintage Wallpaper.
A special thanks to fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Amy Celona, who help me out by getting the list of retiring products posted over to the right. Nothing in this card is going to retire except for the Not Quite Navy brads – part of the Earth Elements collection of brads. This set of brands is still available, but there are other items that are selling out already even though June is just half over!
One thing you may have noticed in the list of retiring accessories is an asterisk in the column "Being Reconfigured." What this means is that some or all of what's being retired is still going to be around. For example, those Earth Elements Brads are going to be "reconfigured." Some of the colors of brads will still be around, just in different groupings. And the brad groupings going forward will be in sets of 6, not just 4. If a color is a retiring color, the brad will definitely be retiring. If you have any other questions about any of these lists, please be sure to let me know!
More creativity tomorrow!