Stamping with Erin!

Break Out the Salt!

Ornate Blossom & Medallion

I LOVE this card. LOVE it. Doing some sponging with different inks gives the prettiest effect on solid stamps. The bigger the stamp, the better. Adding the rhinestones gave me the perfect excuse to use the "You're a Gem" sentiment. It's also retiring.

Medallion. Oh, how I love thee. I think this was SU!'s #1 seller year before last. Sometimes I think everyone buys something within months (weeks? days? hours?) of it coming out, therefore nobody is left without it to need to buy it later. I will certainly miss this gem.

 

 

 

I {Heart} Hearts, I will {miss} miss you!

I'm sad to see this one go. It has such a nice variety of hearts and I've made quite a few cards with it:

from 2010 probably

We made this at a recent class. I really love this card. I CASEd the design from a stamper named Joan Bardee.

I titled this card "Manly Hearts" on my computer. :)

Questions about the Ink Pads & Markers

I know the changing ink pads and retiring products list are confusing. So, here is some info I hope will help some of you!

 

 

1)      The Classic Ink pads are being reconfigured. I’m neither happy nor sad about this. The new pads will have a firm foam surface, which is supposed to give better coverage and not fray. I know of a couple demos that I know personally that have used them and love them. I have not had issues with my ink pads fraying or not getting good coverage, but some have so this was done to help that. So, I will slowly replace my ink pads but am not required to ever change them. The new In Colors will have those new ink pads, so I may get them and fall in love and decide to replace all of mine. We’ll see! The flip case design will be the same.

2)      There are 5 colors of Classic Ink that have been reformulated to work better. They are: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Marina Mist, Perfect Plum,  and Tempting Turquoise. That means the current refills we have will NOT work with the new firm foam ink pads. Also, the new ink refills will work with the CURRENT pads. Does that make sense? Current refill will NOT work with new pad, Current pad will work with new refill. Just these 5 colors. After 4/30, all refills of these colors will be the new, reformulated kind.

3)      Craft Ink (the kind that stays wetter longer and can be used for embossing) is retiring. All of it. I NEVER used this ink, so I’m cool with that. You’ll notice that the refills on the retirements list are “Craft” ink.

4)      Some markers will not be available to buy individually by next catalog. All colors will be available, but some only in the color families sets. The biggest sellers will still be available individually. I’m a little sad by this, but I have to remind myself that I haven’t had to replace any of my markers yet- and I use mine a TON.

Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions. I am SO EXCITED to see the new catalog!!!

PS: The Paper Snips and Craft Scissors were on the retired list BY MISTAKE. I can't tell you what a big "WHEW!" I let out when I found out. Those ribbon scissors are to die for! (Jeez, think I could end any other sentences with a preposition??)

Take a Spin

This set was in last year's Ocassions Mini. I loved that you could also get spinners to go with it. A fun stamp set that could be used for a variety of cards.

This first one was a CASE from SU! Demo Mary Brown (StamperCamper). This card was super fun to make and not so fun to slide into an envelope. It was definitely a "give it to the person IN person" kind of card. I actually gave it to my son's basketball teacher after their first game, a win. :)

We made this card in a class. I liked using it as a flower center. That's one of the daisies from the Flower, Daisies #2 Bigz Die.

Don't like Take a Spin pass you by!

 

 

Smarty Pants & Funky Four

Funky Four is a fresh stamp set that screams "70s" to me. Since all my baby pictures have me surrounded by shades of brown, orange and green thanks to the styles of the 70s, I have a soft place in my heart for that retro look.

In this card (that we made at a class that I remember vividly because everyone coloring the stamp with 4 different markers took FOREVER!), I combined the row of mushrooms with one of the sentiments from one of my all-time favorite sentiment stamp sets, Smarty Pants. If you know me, you know I appreciate sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor. I will NOT part with this stamp set. I only keep a very select few, and this will be one!

Of course, this card is one of the reasons why I will keep Smary Pants forever. What other sentiment would work with these goofy owls? :)

 

Loads of Love & Grunge Rock

Wow, this was one of the first stamp sets I bought from SU!. My oldest son, Jake, had a truck theme in his room as a baby that looked JUST LIKE THIS TRUCK. I thought the images designed to sit in the bed and the front were so cute, especially those dogs. (Jake's room also had a dog in the theme!).

The set was so versatile- it really looked like a boy-ish set, but I colored it pink this time and it was very girly!

This is one of the very first SU cards I ever made. I think I may hang on to this set- I feel kind of sentimental about it!

Grunge Rock is a great set, too. I made a lot of cards for Jake's friends with it. The images are perfect for that boy age when cutesy doesn't work anymore. And they also work for grown men! I love the diamond pattern and the crown.

 

Flight of the Butterfly, so long...

This card actually uses Inspired By Nature, another one of my favorites that is retiring. I use the grass stamp on a lot of cards!

This card was inspired by a stamper named Denise. I saw her card on SCS and ran with it! I used the baby wipe technique to make the tie-dyed butterflies. This is one of my favorite cards.

I made these SUPER simple cards almost 5 years ago when I first became a demo. The two step technique these stamps create is so fun and makes you feel like a real artist!

Hey, look! Another Inspired by Nature and Flight of the Butterfly combo! I know this card was inspired from somewhere, but my notes don't say who. I apologize for not giving proper credit!!

So, if you are one of the few who do not own BOTH Flight of the Butterlfy (and the set that has 3 more butterflies, Butterfly Prints ((also retiring))), and Inspired by Nature... you need to fix that problem right away!!

Fifth Avenue, Au Revoir....

I made this card the other night. I had a feeling we would be saying goodbye to Fifth Avenue Floral and I wanted to make a simple card with it, using the super cool reinker technique I had learned from Patty Bennett a few years ago. (See below)

One of my first "big" classes was showing the water and re-inker technique with these stamps. It was definitely a "WOW!" moment. This is the card we made that night, back in October of 2009.

One more card. I made this for my friend Cyndi's birthday. I will really miss this stamp set!

Going, Going.... GONE!

The retired stamp set is here. Let's all bow our heads for a moment to say a goodbye. I would especially like to thank Fifth Avenue Floral, Dasher, I {Heart} Hearts, Loads of Love, Flight of the Butterfly, and Medallion for helping me make some of my most favorite cards. I will post several cards throughout the next couple of weeks that use some of the retired sets. Retired accessories will post on 4/25. Stamp sets will be available until 5/31, but accessories are first come, first served.

Here's the PDF:

Retired Stamp Sets 2012