Maybe A New Record ...

This might be a new record for me: It is the Monday before my workshops and I actually have all five projects planned. Not sure how that happened, but I am not complaining! Not one bit!

My goal this month was to use only retiring sets. Now I must tell you that most of my customers have been stamping forever, they know what they like, they each have their own styles, they each have their own favorite non-SU stamp company, so basically I fill their SU niche and needs, and give them an excuse to get out once a month. I guess what I am trying to say is: If they like it, they've probably already bought it. I do have a few new customers I can tempt with the retiring stuff, but overall I do not expect humongous sales from this effort. So why am I doing it? Let's just call it a Good Demo moment, k? :-)

In a totally uncharacteristic Crooked Stamper day, I spent Sunday touching nothing but SU stamps and accessories. Some of these projects I made up all by myself, and some were inspired by others, and I will, of course, give full credit where it is due.

First up is one I did all by my lonesome:

I love, love, love the Artfully Asian set, and I cannot believe it is retiring so soon. I also love the color combination of River Rock (retiring) + Black + White, and how well the Ginger Blossom paper goes with it all. Note to self: buy more of this DS paper before the Retiring Accessories frenzy begins. (I have already started to hoard the card stock...like you were surprised about that.)

Did you notice the fake brads? I was going to try the layering thing with brads on punched circles, but I decided the black dots looked just fine all by themselves. Plus, if I asked The Ladies to punch tiny little holes in those tiny little circles, there might be a revolt, and I'd like them to want to keep coming back here.

This next card was cased from this card on SCS.

In yet another Good Demo moment, I switched out the stars used so they are all from current sets. All the stars on the top were punched with the two SU star punches, and the stamped star on the Blue Bayou (retiring) is from Starstruck. Oh, the polka dots? Those are stamped from the polka dot stamp from the retiring Polka Dots & Paisley set. Do you like how I worked in another retiring set? :-)

Now check out that layering. Does the black piece look like it was punched from a die? Even a little bit? If it does, then I have met my goal! SU does not have these die-cuts, so I made one by punching two 1/2" circles and layering them behind the black rectangle. I taped them reeeeal good and put the brad through the sticking-out part. I was pretty happy how it turned out. It's all about the possibilities!!!

Next up is what I think is a pretty lame card, but I really like how it looks like a composition book. Well, sorta.

I first made these for my kids about two years ago, and instead of using a flourish like these do, I used my Collegiate Letters set (source unknown at this moment) and put their respective college letters on their cards. Like I said, lame. BUT, this uses both the retiring Weathered background stamp and Carte Postale. I was going to let them choose which flourish to use, but I am actually so embarrassed about these cards I think I'll let them make both if they want to. I can be generous like that at times.

There is another card (not posted here) that uses the Unfrogettable set, and I did that mostly to torture The Ladies. Some of them refer to it as that darn frog, if you get my drift. I think the double previous project might redeem me. Maybe. They are probably just glad they'll never see the little bugger again after this weekend.

And in yet another uncharacteristic Crooked Stamper moment, I saw this on SCS and this linked from SCS yesterday and immediately decided I needed to copy it for my 5th project next weekend. So this evening, after I got more cat food (the ants are winning, but that's another story for another day), I stopped in at Michael's, which is conveniently next door to the pet store, and after about 30 minutes of staring at things in the bead aisle, I got some hemp and some closure thingies, then went to Lowe's and got some washers. A word of caution: if you are looking for washers, I do not think the hardware stores have been alerted yet to the need to overstock these things for those nutso craft people, so you may have to search high and low to find some.

Anyway, I used some of my SU rub-ons and SU Glossy Glaze and made this in about 5 minutes:

This is sooo easy to do. Step 1: Rub on the rub-ons. Step 2: Stick the rub-on side of the washer in Versamark. Step 3: Dump on the Glossy Glaze. Step 4: Heat to melt. That's it! Except for Step 5: Give it at least 5 minutes to cool off before you handle it. Please. Metal gets very hot when heated. Ask me how I know.

Okay, so maybe the washer thing is not the best choice, especially because I am not a jewlery-maker, but my classes are about enabling people to be creative. Heck, if they did things like *I* do, they'd all be in trouble!!! I just hope to give them the ideas and let them go from there.

So that's it for my SU entries. The rest of this week I'll try and play with all my new-and-not-yet-opened stuff before I put it away in anticipation of the regularly-scheduled Clean Sweep this weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

And don't forget about my milestone challenge! Check out all the details posted here and enter now! Time's a-wastin'!