Do you have a strategy for choosing what you're going to buy from the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue?
I used to go all out and try to buy all the major suites and tools and paper and embellishments, but I would often get stung as a demonstrator when things were retired within the next year. I've learned since then to be a bit more discerning and now my strategy is to only buy the stuff I really love (which still gives me lots of new products to play with)! The main pay-off from this new strategy is that I not only get a lot more use out of the products that I buy, but often the sets that I love have universal appeal and do not generally retire after just one year in the catalogue which makes things easier on my bottom line as a demonstrator.
One such bundle, that I absolutely adore, is the Follow Your Dreams Bundle consisting of the Follow Your Dreams stamp set and the Chase Your Dreams Framelits. I'm not sure about the concept of dream catchers, but I love the artistic look of them. The feathers, beads, hoops and macrame just warm the heart of this old hippie wannabe from the 60s! There are so many configurations for this set as well, so lots of opportunity for creativity. Here's what I did with it last night:
- First I want to draw your attention to my new colour palette: Mint Macaron, Highland Heather, Gray Granite and Whisper White. So pretty! I'm loving the new colour revamp. The new colour combinations are endless!
- I used ink smooshing for my background technique. It's so easy and so much fun and it's been such a long time since I last used it. I took an acetate sheet, and scribbled over it with a Stampin' Write Marker in the first colour, Highland Heather, then spritzed it with water (a small amount) then pressed it to the Shimmery White cardstock. I lifted up the acetate and blotted the inked area a bit to remove excess puddles, then dried the cardstock with the Heat Tool before applying a little more colour or a contrasting colour, drying between each application.
- I stamped the inked image of the dream catcher over the background in Gray Granite. I had the option of stamping it on another piece of cardstock and die cutting it with the framelits from the Chase Your Dream Framelits, but I wanted the background to show through and it wouldn't if I used a die cut image.
- I die cut the smaller images of the dream catcher from Mint Macaron and Highland Heather cardstock along with a couple of large feathers and added them to the card front using Glue Dots. For the large feathers, I tied them together with Silver Metallic Thread and added a glue dot on the back to anchor loops of the Silver Thread, before adding the whole piece to the card front using a Mini Stampin' Dimensional.
- I stamped the small feathers from the Follow Your Dreams stamp set on Whisper White using Gray Granite, Mint Macaron and Highland Heather and die cut them before adding them to the card front using a Glue Dot!
- Part of the sentiment is die-cut in Mint Macaron, and the "Big" is stamped in Highland Heather.
What are your favourites from the new Annual Catalogue? Let me know in the comment section below!
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
