Are you ready for some awesome news about Stampin’ Blends, the alcohol markers from Stampin’ Up!  There’s another 6 colours being released when the 2018 Holiday Catalogue goes live on September 5th.  Of course being Stampin’ Up! they’ve made sure the colours fit the season.

The new colours are Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Mango Melody, Basic Black, Cajun Craze and Blackberry Bliss.  As always you can buy the markers individually or in combo packs containing a light and dark colour.  I have some of these on order and hopefully they should arrive tomorrow.

Today though I fancied playing with some of the colours I already have and a favourite stamp set, Beautiful You.  It seems like I haven’t used this set in ages and it was nice to get it out again.  I chose the dancer and a complementary sentiment and sat down to create a bookmark.

A SIMPLE BOOKMARK

Using my Stampin’ Trimmer I cut a piece of Thick Whisper White Card 2″ by 5-1/2″ to create the bookmark.  I stamped the dancer onto the bookmark using Tuxedo Black ink, followed by the sentiment.  Then I began colouring with my Stampin’ Blends.

The dress started with dark Pool Party, followed by light Bermuda Bay and then dark Bermuda Bay.  The hat is light and dark Daffodil Delight.  For the skin I used the Ivory marker with light Smoky Slate on the ‘ground’.

Stampin’ Blends are designed to saturate the card so I worked quickly and didn’t blends the colours too much.  My strategy worked and with the thick card there wasn’t much bleed through at all.

CORNERS AND SLOTS

The Detailed Trio Punch was used to round the four corners and then add the slot in the bookmark.  Once that was done I threaded a loop of Coastal Cabana 1/8″ Ribbon from the Tea Room Combo Pack through the slot, then passed the ends through the loop.

I was finished in no time at all.

I must say that I do love working with Stampin’ Blends.  Paired with gorgeous line art images, they really are a joy to use.

You’ll find some of my other projects using Stampin’ Blends in these earlier blog posts:

Wonderful birthday

Bright and early

The strangest conversation

STAMPIN’ BLENDS STORAGE

I’m always looking for great storage and organisation ideas in my craft studio, and right now I’m looking at how I store my Stampin’ Blends.

Currently my markers are stored in a clear flat plastic box with a lid that’s held on with catches at each end.  The box, purchased at Walmart, came with a removable tray insert that I’m using as a drawer organiser.

I like using this box for a number of reasons.  It’s the perfect width to hold the markers laying flat (important to prolong the life of the markers), plus the box is portable and the lid is secure.  The box is large enough to hold three layers of markers, each with 9 sets of colour combos plus a single marker (Ivory, Bronze or the Colour Lifter).

My dilemma is this, with the 22 marker combos in the Annual Catalogue, plus the 6 new colour combos in the Holiday Catalogue, my box will no longer hold them all.  I’ll have 2 markers too many if/when I finally get them all.  So I’m looking at ideas for an alternative storage solution.

Here’s what I need.  It should hold at least 60 individual Stampin’ Blends markers, remembering that they have a larger barrel than regular markers.  Also it’s essential that the markers are stored laying down.  Finally, the storage solution needs to be easily portable as I love to colour when I’m travelling.

Do let me know if you know of something that might fit the bill and is available in Canada.

MY PAPER PUMPKIN PROMISE

Tomorrow is your last chance to subscribe to Paper Pumpkin for half price, and I’ve got some hints about the August kit.

The kit contains full-size cards suitable for beginner card makers or casual crafters.  What’s more if you like the floral images in the promotional advert, you’re going to love the August kit.

My promise to you is that if you subscribe to Paper Pumpkin using my link and don’t like the kit when you get it, I’ll make sure you get a full refund.  To get the kit for half price you need to quote the promo code BLOOM0818 and be a new subscriber (so use an e-mail address not already in the Paper Pumpkin system).

In addition, with Paper Pumpkin there’s no long term commitment so if you don’t want the Halloween-themed kit in September, you can skip that month.  Or you could simply cancel your subscription entirely.  You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  There has never been a time to take a look at these amazing craft kits that are delivered right to your door.

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