Monday, June 21, 2010

New! New! New! Can there be too much?

Seems like there's been an overload of "new" stuff in my life the last few weeks! And as exciting as new stuff can be, whoa! I think I'm going to need a little time to adjust to it all!!

Besides all the cool new stamping stuff that we'll all have to play with soon, everyone in my household has been evolving too, and I'm not sure I'm doing a very good job at keeping pace with it all!

My husband took a new position within his company several weeks ago, and that's changed the routine around here some. Just when I thought he couldn't possibly travel more, yeah, well, let's just say we're going to be rollin' in frequent flyer points. And I've been doing a little work for him to help until things settle down, which has seriously cut into my already-lacking stamping time!! Then the school year ended, my son left for Badger Boys State, and my daughter started driver's ed., all about the same time those blasted AARP envelopes with MY name on them starting arriving in the mailbox--talk about a whammy of a week THAT was!

Luckily for me, that "big birthday" thing was relatively easy to take because I was showered with cards (many of them hand-stamped!), flowers and surprises (none involving black balloons! Thank you! Thank you!!) for days! Now, sending the son away "to college" for a week--that was a little tougher. I'm just not used to NOT having all the offspring in the nest at night. But he had a good time, and I think he appreciates home-cooked meals, clean laundry and air conditioning a whole lot more this week.

So, now, the only thing I have to work at managing a little more effectively is all this new stamping stuff on the horizon! I've been reorganizing my craft room little by little, switching out retiring colors and accessories with the exciting new ones. I love new catalog time, but I have to admit that both Melissa and I are going to need a few weeks before we're not doing a double-take every time we open the "Brights" scrap drawer and see Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie staring us in the face!! I have the updated charts posted in a couple of places to help us with the transition. And I've been working on swaps to trade with other demos, which helps to train my old brain a bit faster.

This is one of my swaps, using a Level One Hostess set called "Because I Care."

I had just finished teaching my stamp clubs the "Black Magic" technique when this preorder set arrived and I was pleased with how well the technique worked with this hydrangea stamp.

All you need to do is stamp an image onto black cardstock with white craft ink, allow it to dry very well (overnight in humid weather--or try your heat tool), and then use colored pencils to color over the white stamping. (I used my Stampin' Up Watercolor Pencils and was pleased with how the colors coordinated with the Garden Green and Concord Crush cardstock.) The final step is to add highlights with a white gel pen.

And this card uses what I think is (so far) my "favorite-est" new catalog thing--the 1/8" Taffeta ribbon. It's going to be available in 13 colors, and I have a feeling every one of them will be in my drawer by the end of summer. It's fun to have a new width of ribbon to play with.

Okay--gotta scoot off to the post office with this swap and another one I've been working on. And then it's time to jump in, full-steam-ahead, with final prep for the "Aloha" party this Friday night. If you haven't RSVP'd yet, make sure to shoot me an email. We always have a blast at this!

Happy First Day of Summer!

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