Simply Sketched Sympathy FMS90

I can hardly wait for the new catalogue to be released in Australia - just over 2 weeks to go now!

Ever since we had a sneak peek at Convention, there has been excitement in the air. Now many of us have our hands on the new In-colors and returning colours plus a few stamp sets and accessories we are desperate to show them off to our customers.

Sneak Peek!

Last week I was at my Upline, Sue's house, and she let me stamp off some images from a hostess set from the coming catalogue, Simply Sketched.

I only stamped two of the three sketched images, and one of the greetings, because that is what I needed at the moment, but as well as this sweet poppy there is a sprig of  leaf with a few berries, and a darling little bird, which I've now seen very subtley water-coloured too. The other greetings are Happy Birthday Wishes and Thanks So Much.
There I was this morning with a page of stamped images, a sketch from Linda Callaghan at Freshly Made Sketches and an urge to break out my new ink pads. I began by cutting the images with a variety of Framelits, this one is two sizes of  the Labels Collection Framelits. These were the first ones released and mine are very well-used. I have used Crumb Cake as my base, and teamed it up with Pistachio Pudding, the prettiest shade of green ever. I embossed a piece using the Fancy Fan embossing folder through the Big Shot. At convention we were given a stamp set (in the New Catalogue) called Gorgeous Grunge, and it definitely is that. These diagonal stripes (or half chevron, if you like) are stamped in Strawberry Slush using, probably, the least grungy stamp in the set. If you love splodges and sprinkles, this stamp set will be a "must have". I finished it off with a Very Vintage button threaded with Calypso Coral Bakers Twine.

I have had the Aquapainter for ages, but had only ever used one of them to bleach stamped images. I thought that Stampin' Write Markers and a Blender pen were all I needed for watercolouring. However, at the weekend I spent some time with a fellow demonstrator and she showed me the water colouring she had done with an Aquapainter, so I decided to give mine another try. Oh my goodness! It was so much fun, and I love the effect, so soft and pretty. So once I have earned the Simply Sketched stamp set, I will really be giving the Aquapainter a work out. You can order a pack of two for $19.95, and you don't even have to use the water colour paper, although I think that would give a nice finish to this image.

You get to choose from our lovely Hostess only stamp sets if you host a demonstration, and your sales reach at least $300. Another way is to hold a "Virtual" party and collect up the orders and money from your friends totaling that amount, or you might be Stampin' Up! obsessed, just like me, and have no trouble putting together a $300 plus order all by yourself!

I've already finished my "other job" working week, and I look forward to the next few days stamping up a storm, although my darling husband and I are travelling into the city tomorrow night to see "Jesus Christ, Superstar".
Hope you have something nice to look forward to, as well
Cheers
Rachel