Bright Wishes with New Stampin' Blends Colours

I'm on a bit of a roll lately, playing with the new colours  of the Stampin' Blends that I ordered! I've had this Bright Wishes stamp set for a while now, but it hasn't seen much ink, but it's one of the few I've got now that is useful for spending some time colouring with my Blends.

I have a dear friend who has had a run of poor health this year, so I wanted to brighten her day with a  pretty hand-stamped card. I had a very therapeutic time colouring it, too, and I wanted to share a tip for using the Colour Lifter Blends tool.

NOTE:
I've been having some trouble with my eyes lately, so by the end of the day, I just can't focus at all, which means that fine work like this is really difficult for me. I end up taking off my glasses, which have Progressive Lenses and should work for this kind of project, and closing one eye and kind of squinting a bit with the other. I wondered if it was because my eyes get kind of dry by the end of the day, but I bought some eye drops to try out and they didn't really help the focusing issue. I guess it's time to see the eye doctor again! Nevertheless, I persevered, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

• My favourite part to colour in, was the well itself. I used the Smoky Slate combo pack (consisting of the Light and Dark shades of Smoky Slate) on the stones and the bucket, but I made the bucket lighter by using the Colour Lifter on it to remove a lot of the colour and lighten it right up. I used the Soft Suede Combo on the wood part and the Crumb Cake Combo on the roof and handle and rope.
• The leaves were the Old Olive Combo for the darker leaves and the Granny Apple Green Combo for the lighter ones and the various flowers were the Flirty Flamingo, Highland Heather, and Pool Party Combo Packs. The background was the lighter shade of Pool Party.

• I stamped the image itself with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Whisper White cardstock. That's my favourite thing about Stampin' Blends, you don't need to use special paper for it. Whisper White cardstock works just fine. You have to use a water-based ink like the Memento Tuxedo Black so that the alcohol based inks in the Blends won'l dissolve and blur or bleed the image lines.

Colour Lifter User Tip

I don't know if I'm the only one, but I was getting frustrated, when SU first brought out Stampin' Blends, using the Colour Lifter to fix mistakes, where my colouring had gone outside the lines or into the wrong area. I would use the Lifter and instead of removing the colour where the mistake was, I found that it would just cause more colour to bleed into the area where I didn't want it. I realized that it was because the Colour Lifter was creating an area soaked with alcohol or whatever the solvent is and whatever the colour was in the adjacent area, it would just soak into the wet area. Once I understood what was happening, it was easy to solve the problem. I used the Heat Tool to dry the area quickly before any bleeding could take place. Hallelujah!

So here are my steps for using the Colour Lifter to fix errors:

1. Use the Marker Tip, not the Brush Tip, for accuracy.

2. Push the Marker Tip up to the line from the outside edge of the mistake, rather than starting from the line and colouring out to the end of the error. That gives you more time to dry the solvent before bleeding occurs.

3. Remove some of the colour in the mistake, if it's large, then dry the area with the Heat Tool on the highest setting. (Note: the manufacturer says that the lowest speed is for drying ink, but I've never had an issue with using the highest speed. However, if you want to err on the side of caution, you should use the lower speed. I'm just really impatient and want it to dry before the colour bleeds.)

4. Go back and remove the rest of the colour and dry it again. 

5. Do each mistake separately and don't try to take shortcuts by doing a lot at once. You'll just increase the chances of a colour bleed.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Bright Wishes Wood-Mount Stamp Set [143823] $34.00	Bright Wishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set [143827] $24.00	Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131202] $11.50	Powder Pink 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [144244] $11.50	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $13.25
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $8.25	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [145058] $12.00	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [147273] $12.00	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144601] $12.00	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144597] $12.00
Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [147274] $12.00	Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [147278] $12.00	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [147276] $12.00	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144605] $12.00	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter [144608] $6.00
Whisper White 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon [146912] $10.25	Silver & Petal Pink Baker's Twine [146288] $5.50	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.25	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.00

Back to Black - Last Day of Designer Series Paper Promotion

Today is the last day of Stampin' Up!'s Designer Series Paper Promotion!  So I designed this card to promote one of the collections that is part of the sale:  Back to Black!

In our last catalogue, we had a Basic Black Designer series but it was paired with Very Vanilla, which didn't sit right with a few people. This year we have a series in Basic Black and Whisper White for all the purists out there!  I love black and white cards, with maybe a little silver thrown it!  It's so elegant and a tad dramatic which suits me just fine!  Me, Heather Cooper, aka "The Drama Queen" according to my hubby! Not for a tendency to blow everything out of proportion, but because I ran the drama ministry at our church and the drama program at the school where I taught, for so long.

The Designer Series Paper Promotion, in case you've forgotten the details, is Buy 3 packages of any of the Designer Series Paper on pages 186 - 187 in the 2014-15 Annual Catalogue and get one package free. That is like 25% off!  But you need to act fast to take advantage of the offer.  Call or email me today.

• On the Basic Black cardstock we have the Whisper White panel and covering half of that is the Back To Black DSP.  
• I used some of the new Silver Satin Ribbon to mask the join of the DSP.  It is the most elegant ribbon I've owned in quite some time.  It has a heavy weight and a glossy sheen and it's just beautiful, as are the other colours, Gold, Whisper White and Very Vanilla.
• The leaves are die cut with the Flower Frenzy Bigz L die.  This is one large die that I will never regret purchasing because I know that I am going to get a lot of use out of it.  It has probably already paid for itself!  I used both Basic Black cardstock and our Brushed Silver Cardstock.

• The Flower Shop Stamp Set is another really useful set that I have inked up continually since I purchased it last year.  It pairs with the Pansy Punch, although sometimes it can be tricky to line them up.  I have marked where the bottom of the punch should fit, on my wood block so I know to stamp that petal towards the bottom of the paper. Hope that little tip helps.
• The sentiment is actually a Photopolymer Stamp from the Project Life Remember This set.  I loved the look of the little fireworks on each end of the congratulations, and actually, after I took this photo, I added some Rhinestones on the stars to up the bling factor!!

Thanks for dropping by today.  By the way, I am getting awfully close to 150,00 page views!  I think it is about time for another Blog Candy Give Away!  Stay tuned this weekend for the details! 

Also, tomorrow, August 1, you will be able to order ALL the colours of the Blendabilities Markers and there is a Big Shot promotion coming.  Pop back tomorrow to find out the details!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today! 

Product List

Project Life Remember This Photopolymer Stamp Set [135786]	Flower Shop Wood-mount Stamp Set [130939]	Flower Shop Clear-mount Stamp Set [130942]	Back To Black Designer Series Paper [133700]	Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [121045]
Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Brushed Silver 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100712]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Silver 5/8" Satin Ribbon [134548]	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents [119246]
Pansy Punch [130698]	Flower Frenzy Bigz L Die [133728]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]	Mini Glue Dots [103683]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

New Promotions for July

Amazing photo of Vancouver by hubby, Ken Cooper

Well, all good things must come to an end and we are on our way home from Vancouver and visiting with our growing family!  In the rain, Vancouver can be dreary, but when the sun breaks through, it's absolutely glorious!  We had a great walk to Jericho Park and Beach and a sushi lunch yesterday.  It was WARM out though.  I can't imagine living in Arizona or Palm Springs these hot days!

I just wanted to keep you up-to-date on a couple of Stampin' Up promotions:

Buy 3 DSP, Get 1 Free!!

For the month of July, it's buy 3 packs of Design Series Paper and get 1 free!  Great deal!  And so many beautiful design series to choose from this year.  Definitely include some Modern Medley - all Basic Black and Very Vanilla designs!  I also really, really like the Eastern Elegance in shades of Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry and Smoky Slate, and Afternoon Picnic with it's vintage designs.

If you don't want to buy all of those, check out my Paper Shares, which are starting Round 2 now.  Round 1 participants, the order is in and I will be packaging and delivering orders in a week.'s time!

The other promotion is The Best of 25 Years!  This month of July features "The Best of Shelli", Shelli Gardener, our CEO's favourites from 25 years.  Here's what this set looks like:

I'm so happy to see my favourite hummingbird from the retired set, Elements of Style, back again, and the beautiful flourish.  It looks familiar.  I thought it was from the Sale-A-Bration set Bliss from 2 years ago, but it's not.  It's a never before seen image!  And a typewriter - an essential for vintage-style stampers!  This set will be available along with all the other Best of 25 years sets until March of 2014.  You can download a Collector's card and save the little stickers that come with each set.  When you have collected 6, you can get one for free!  This is one set I am getting for sure!

Soon I will be ordering my sneak peeks from the new Holiday Catalogue and \I will be able to share some really neat products with you!  Always something to look forward to!

Talk soon, from good ole' West Kelowna!