Wednesday, April 11, 2018

2018 Color Revamp

Stampin' Ups! last big colour revamp to core colour families was way back in 2010.  The newest colour revamp will be updated in the 2018-2019 annual catalogue release happening on June 1st, 2018.



Stampin' Up! has listened to the feedback from their demos who along with Stampin' Up! want to stay fresh, current and on trend.  They explored different ways to group colors into collections, with each collection having a colour spectrum element and inclusion of colours that worked best together.  The demos also requested the return of some of the most loved retired In Colours, and Stampin' Up! listened.  

Colour Revamp In A Nutshell:

  • 27 of the 50 existing Core Colours are being kept.
  • 13 Core Colours are being retired
  •   5  2017-2019 In Colours*
  •   5  2018-2019 In Colours 
  • 10 New Core Colours are being added
  •   6 previously retired In Colours are returning 
  • A total of 53 Colours are in the new Colour Offering which happens on June 1, 2018
* Stampin' Up! will continue to introduce five new In Colours each year and these new offerings will be available for a total of two years.  The five existing In Colors from the previous year (in this case 2017-2019) will remain in their colour offering in June. 

To see what's going and coming, just click on these pictures and they will enlarge.  



I hope this information I'm providing will help you navigate through the process of change.  I for one can't wait to get my hands on some of these new colours, while I'm sad and have mixed feelings about some of the colours that are leaving.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

WWC #165 - Tenia's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Hi stampers! Last week was a blur getting ready for weekend house guests and celebrating my mom's 96th birthday.  What a busy time with absolutely no time for stamping, which I missed.  I've spent the time cooking up a storm, cleaning and entertaining.  All worthwhile though, as it was totally great seeing and being together with my family, especially after the tragedy in Hombolt Saskatchewan.  Hug those you love and celebrate when you can.   

This week's Watercooler Wednesday Challenge is being hosted by Tenia Nelson and it's "All About Occasions".  We hope you'll play along with us and post a card or project.  Like the scrolled list says it can be "Any" occasion such as a birthday, wedding, sympathy, retirement - the sky's the limit.

It's easy to link up to our challenge  and it's open until 5:00pm on Monday April 16th, 2018.  

Here's My Card: 
I needed a milestone birthday card last week for a girlfriend who's sensitive about her age.  I wanted to give her a laugh and not emphasize her actual age  so I chose this great stamp from Artistic Impressions called "29 Again".  I think it worked out perfectly.   


Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  29 Again Artistic Impressions (AI), Picture Perfect Birthday, Swirly Birds
Ink:  Emerald Envy, Momento Tuxedo Black, Skin Toned SU Blendability Markers
Stampin' Blends:  Crumb Cake, Light Pink, 
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Emerald Envy
Accessories:  Paper Trimmer,  Sequins, Aqua Painter, Tom Bow Glue

Details:
1.  The card base is an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Basic Black card stock, scored at 4 1/4".

2.  The first layer is a 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" piece of Emerald Envy card stock.

3.  The third layer is a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Whisper White that has been stamped with the small to large swirly circles from Swirly Birds stamp set.  I only stamped from the top left corner to the bottom right corner, leaving some white space on the upper right of this panel. 

4.  There are three layers to the image panels.  The first one is a piece of Basic Black that measures 2 1/4" x 4 1/4".  The next panel in Emerald Envy measures 2 1/8" x 4 1/8", and the Whisper White panel the image is stamped on measures 2" x 4".  

5.  I stamped the "29 Again" AI image with Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  The image is coloured with an Aqua Painter directly from the Emerald Envy ink pad.  I used the skin tone Stampin' Blendabilities that were out a few years ago for the facial features, legs and arms.   
This is such an incredibly fun image to colour.  I added some sequins for some pizzazz.  I probably should have done some more shading with the hair and added some Wink of Stella here and there on her balloon or the flowers on the dress, but oh well, next time.

6.  The inside panel measures 5 1/4" x 4" and is stamped with the sentiment and party blowers from a Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set.  Love this set! 
I love these stamps from the Picture Perfect Birthday Set .... what fun!
Well that's it for this challenge.  I hope you liked my 29 Again Birthday Card.  I know the recipient will get a kick out of it.  Let me know what you think.  I hope I inspired you to get out your ink pads and start colouring your images.  

If you haven't checked out the other members of the Watercooler Wednesday Design Team, be sure to do so.  They've done such a fabulous job on their cards this week.  Click here to return to the Watercooler Wednesday WWC#165 challenge.


I'm also entering this card at the following challenges:
http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.ca/2018/04/201-happy-birthday-aud-sentiments.html
and
http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.ca/2018/04/vibrant-colors.html

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

On April 9th Stampin' Up! released their Retirement lists for the Spring Occasions 2018 and the Annual Catalogue 2017-18 in preparation for the new Annual Catalogue release on June 1st, 2018.  And you're going to fall in love with the new Cattie, honestly.  Stampin' Up! has gone all out on this one in celebration of their 30th Anniversary.  

So What Does "Last-Chance Products" mean?
  • It means that all InColour products for 2016/17 are retiring (except for Flirty Flamingo)
  • It means that many stamp sets from both the Occasions and the Annual Catalogues will no longer be available because they are being retired
  • It means that all the bundles of stamp sets and dies offered in those catalogues will no longer be available.  Note: Some of the dies and stamp sets will be carried over to the new Annual Catalogue however they will no longer be sold at 15% off they will be sold as individual items.
  • It means that this year 13 colours will be retired from the existing colour families and will be replaced with some new released colours.  If you have a favourite ink or card stock that is retiring it will not be available after June 1st.  
The 13 colours that are retiring are:  
    • Tempting Turquoise
    • Tangerine Tango
    • Marina Mist
    • Pink Pirouette
    • Soft Sky
    • Wild Wasabi
    • Always Artichoke
    • Elegant Eggplant
    • Island Indigo
    • Perfect Plum
    • Rose Red
    • Chocolate Chip and
    • Black Archival ink

All retiring products will go fast so if there's something you're interested in you can check out the lists below or go to my On-Line Ordering page here  and see what's on the way out.  Items are divided into Retiring Stamps, Retiring Bundles and Everything Else.

Here are the links to the PDF Lists for those of you who like lists:

OCCASIONS:

ANNUAL

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Creative Circle CCDT April Blog Hop - It's For The Birds!



Welcome to the Creative Circle Design Team's April Blog Hop.  If you're new to the crafting world or you're not familiar with our acronym "CCDT" it stands for "Creative Circle Design Team". We are a group of like minded Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world who love paper crafting, Stampin' Up! products, SVG or electronic cutter patterns and participating in blog hops.  

Our CCDT hop is held on the first Thursday of each month and every 3rd month Liz Holloway, the leader of our group provides a pattern and challenge to create something using her 3D SVG and Silhouette formats.  

For our April CCDT Hop Liz has challenged us to create a bird house/card holder using her wonderful pattern.  This awesome paper bird house can store up to eight cards and envelopes, but could also hold a mini album, candies or other treats.  It would be really lovely for a Mother's Day Gift.

Here's My Bird House and Cards:
So far we've been having a soggy wet and cold Spring. with intermittent rain and occasionally snow and limited amounts of sunshine in between.  Since I'm unable to go outside and work in the garden, the weather has given me a great excuse to stay indoors and play in my craft room. Here's what I came up with.
Following Liz' wonderful pattern I assembled the cut out pieces for the shell and then decorated it in my own quirky style.  I love the way it turned out.  

Although the bird house holds eight cards and envelopes in its interior slot, I only made four cards.  I matched up the materials used for the bird house for my "bird themed" cards.
The  finished bird house measures 4"(w) x 9"(h) x  7-1/4"(d) and can actually be suspended on its own.  The roof is equipped with some strategically placed magnets that really have super holding powers.   I didn't have any wooden dowels to put in for roosts, so took advantage of some twigs in the yard.  
I combined the Swirly Scribbles Thinlets and the images from the new Flying Home stamp set to create this cute little scene.  All the images were coloured with Stampin Blends and were fussy cut.  I sponged over the brick stencil from Pattern Party Decorative Masks with Soft Suede ink.  To create the background for the bird houses I used an Oval die over top of a square piece of card stock.  I used a combination of pool party and soft sky inks for the sky and old olive for the grass and a sponge dauber. 
Supplies:  
Stamp Sets: Flying Home (#145929 - Occasions 2018), Badges and Banners (#141610 - Annual 2017/18)
Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Pool Party, Soft Sky, Real Red, Momento Tuxedo Black
Stampin Blends:  Light and Dark shades of Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Pool Party,  
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Real Red and Old Olive
Accessories: Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Duet Banners Punch, Petal Burst and Fiesta Embossing Folders, Swirly Scribbles Thinlets, EK Success Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes Framelits - Ovals), Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Wink of Stella Glimmer, Sequins, Dimensionals, Foam Tape, Tom Bow Glue.
Flying Home 8 piece rubber clear mount stamp set #145929 
Duet Banner Punch 

Badges and Banners - 7 piece clear mount rubber stamp set 

Pattern Party Decorative Masks - these can be used with sponge daubers and with textured embossing paste. 
I added Clear Wink of Stella to the roof tops and a few scattered sequins.  The images in the Flying Home stamp set were fun to colour.
Here you can see my improvised twig roosts and the bird house design on this side of the bird house.  The tile look on the roof was made with a retired embossing folder called "Fiesta".  The scallops are part of the design Liz created.
Here you can see the top of the bird house whenthe roof is removed.  The holder has enough room for a treat or eight cards and envelopes.  


I made four cards exactly the same except for the Swirly Scribbles design.  I did not add a sentiment or design element to the inside of the card because this is a "hello" card, leaving the inside blank leaves plenty of room for a personal note.  The card base for these cards is Very Vanilla, although in this picture it looks like white card stock.  I embossed the front of the base with the Petal Burst Embossing Folder

I stamped the birds nest and a two of the tiny butterflies from the Flying Home stamp set on the face of the envelope in Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  Note:  If I had coloured these images I would have placed a piece of watercolour paper on the inside of the envelope to protect it from ink leaking through. 


Love the little banner from the Badges and Banners stamp set.  I stamped it in Old Olive ink and punched it out with the Duet Banner Punch.  So eash to create a beautiful little sentiment piece.  I popped the banner up with Dimensionals on the Swirly Scribble. Although you can't see it the bird's nest has a coating of Clear Wink of Stella. 

I hope you enjoyed my Bird House project today and will take the time to comment.  
This project was very straight forward and Liz' pattern was easy to follow.  See her blog for more information.  Liz is holding a draw for 3 giveaways on May 3 on her blog so make sure you visit her and leave a comment and use the hashtag #LHDContest






Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot

WWC#164 - Marsha's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge


Welcome Stampers!  Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We were invited to a small family gathering on Sunday for dinner, and it was just perfect. The food was terrific, conversation was great and we got to break bread with one another again.  Although the day started on the cloudy and windy side it finished with a glorious blaze of sun in the West.  Pretty fitting for the Easter weekend!  

The only problem with a long weekend, and especially a four day one, is getting back to the grind and into the routine of things. Monday was a day of mishaps and time delays which was quite fitting, as my horoscope said Mercury Retrograde in my birth sign was going to wreak havoc.  Right on point!  


We have a Feminine Anything Goes Challenge this week being hosted by Marsha.  She's challenging you to design a feminine card or project and post it with links to our site by 5:00pm Mountain time on Monday April 9th.  I hope you'll join us.  Our design team seems to have been synched in our thinking because many of the designs this week have a floral focus.  Mine fit right in the groove.  

Here's My Card:
I've been working on some ultra feminine "Thank You" cards for my customers who placed March orders.  I love how they turned out.  I used a Sale-A-Bration stamp set I hadn't gotten around to using called "Heartfelt Blooms".  Oh my gosh I wish I'd used this set sooner, because I totally fell in love with it!   
How do you like the combination of floral stamp with the Designer Series Paper. I think it really works well together, and the basic gray panel really helps to show case the floral design and add just the right touch of femininity.  

The inside of the card is pretty basic.  The Whisper White panel measures 5 1/4 x 4.  I stamped a small portion of the floral image in the bottom right hand corner, leaving plenty of white space for writing a message of thanks.  

Stampin' Ups! Whisper White Envelopes have a super deluxe shiny finish that accepts ink so well.  I used a standard envelope and stamped the image across the back flap.  I think this really added to the feminine look of the card.  Alternatives to stamping the flap would be to create a liner or use the DSP to cover the outside of the flap.  

These cards were quick and easy to make using my Mini Misti positioning tool.  Stampin' Up!  has a new platform tool that will be coming out with the new catalogue called a Stamperatus.  

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Heartflet Blooms (Sale-A-Bration 2018 - Retired)
Ink: Basic Gray, Flirty Flamingo
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories:  Paper Trimmer, 8" Coordinating Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Whisper White Envelopes, Tom Bow Glue.

How It's Made:  
1.  Cut Flirty Flamingo to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and score at 4 1/4" for the base.
2.  Cut a piece of Designer DSP to 5 1/4" x 4" and adhere to the base.
3.  Cut a piece of Whisper White to 4 1/4" x 3 1/4" - once the layering on this panel is finished attach to the card face with Dimensionals or score tape depending on the thickness you want. 
4.  Cut a piece of Basic Gray to 4" x 3" adhere to Whisper White panel.
5.  Cut a piece of Whisper White to 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" and stamp sentiment and image on it.  Tie ribbon around this piece before adhering to Basic Gray panel. 
6.  For the inside cut a 5 1/4" x 4" panel of Whisper White card stock.  Stamp a portion of the floral image in the bottom right hand corner.
7.  Stamp the image on the flap of the envelope.  

Here are some additional samples using this design:
This sample is in Island Indigo and Whisper White.  The ribbon is 1/4" White Cotton.  
Island Indigo
For this card I used Lemon Lime and switched the contrast card stock to Basic Black to give it some additional pizzazz.  I forgot to put ribbon on the stamped panel before adhering it to the black one, so just addd some black rhinestones 

I decided to keep things simple on the inside of the card, and just added a strip of designer paper on the right hand side of the card.  The black mat adds some drama.

This card is made with Berry Burst DSP, inks and card stock.  The contrasting card stock and ribbon are Crumb Cake.



I love the captions in the Heartfelt Blooms set.  There are three different ones:  "Thinking of You", Sending Heartfelt Thoughts" and "Thank You".  The fonts in these sentiment are simply beautiful.





I loved all the variations I made and the versatility of the double sided designer papers gives you even more choices.  This is a terrific way to use up some of those paper stashes, we all have.  

Well that's it for today.  I hope you've enjoyed my floral feminine cards this week and that you'll use this design template for your own cards.  You can create the same effect using any larger floral stamp so don't be intimidated if you don't have the Heartfelt Blooms.  Cards in this style can be used for any occasion and it's an economical way to get your card supplies loaded up.  

If you haven't already checked out the WWC164 Challenge on the main Watercooler Wednesday site, take some time and check it out.  The other DT members have created some beautiful cards to share with you and would be delighted if you visited them too.  Until next time............

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot 

Paper Pumpkin Alternatives April 2024 and Sketch Challenges

The past week was so busy that time literally flew by.  I have a number of projects on the go, including working on my April 2024 Paper Pump...