Convention Day 1

Today was check-in day. We picked up our bags when we arrived at the convention center, inside which were our 3 free new stamp sets, convention schedule, meal tickets, pen, pins...oh, AND THE NEW CATALOG!! There were ladies everywhere sitting, standing and walking into others while they perused the new catalog. It's beautiful. We've got new stamp sets like Eastern Blooms (one of my free convention sets and my favorite of the 3) which has a modern, asian feel...sort of eclectic. There are also some vintage style sets, and tons of beautiful paper, simply scrappin' kits and...a new item...card element kits. They're kind of like a scrappin' kit for cards so you can create rubber-free, if you so desire.

When my roommates and I had settled in for the evening and gotten acquainted, we broke out our new sets and did some creating. The only thing better than playing with new stamps is doing it with someone else. We shared ideas and bounced designs off each other...just wonderful!!

Here are some pictures from today:
The Gathering Place...this is where we picked up our bags and will be eating lunch this week. It is also where the display boards are...just boards and boards of cards and other projects to spark our creativity. My camera was full before I got a chance to take any pictures of the boards...but it's empty now and I'll be spending a lot of time taking pictures of the samples tomorrow.








After we picked up our bags we stood in line to get into Memento Mall...2 1/2 hours later, we were inside. I restrained myself and only got a project tote (decorated with fabric that matches a new designer paper), a 20th anniversary charm and a key chain. There were also aprons, shirts, posters and much more. Here we are in line....and shopping at Memento Mall.

And now it's almost midnight (2AM according to my internal clock...stinkin' time zones!) so I'm off to dream of beautiful stamped projects.

Tomorrow I'll try to post pics of some of the swaps I brought with me. In the meantime, here's a color combo from the sunsets last night...bashful blue, apricot appeal and basic gray. The gray was the clouds on the horizon with the blue above and the apricot below...just beautiful. Now, if you'll take the challenge, I'd like to see what you create with these colors. Just take upload an image of your project (to http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ or another online photo gallery such as snapfish or photobucket) and post a comment with the link to your card. I hope you'll share your projects with us!!!

Chasing a sunset

Well, I'm currently sitting in the Las Vegas Airport waiting to depart for Salt Lake City and Stampin' Up! convention 08!!! I can't tell you how excited (and tired...it's 2AM eastern and I still have at least 2 1/2 hours of travel left) I am. My swaps are finished, labeled and packed with the utmost care. And in just under 10 hours I'll have the Fall Winter 08 Idea Book and Catalog in my eager little hands!! I'll be (trying to) post each day to update you on what's happening at convention, what I'm learning and all the goods....maybe even a sneak peek or two. :)

So, allow me to explain my title. I left Pittsburgh just before sunset and, by traveling west, got to experience the longest sunset of my life...3 hours!! It was wonderful! I even jotted down a couple color combinations inspired by the sunset. In addition, there were several thunder storms to the north of use, which made for an amazing light show. I'd love to share the pictures, but, alas, there are none. You see, I inadvertently left my camera in my bag which went in the overhead, rather than putting it in my bag at my seat. I'd also love to share pictures of the Las Vegas strip from the air, but...see my reason above. Argh...I'll definitely be putting that camera in my personal bag for the ride home.

Well, enough babbling. We'll be boarding in about 10 minutes.

Stay tuned for all the fun of Stampin' Up! convention...and don't forget to join us Tuesday, August 12 and "Get the Scoop" on the new catalog and see all the goodies I bring back from convention.

Baroque Wedding

I haven't had time for stamping much more than convention swaps lately, but wanted to share a card I made recently. It's intended as a wedding card, but could easily be an anniversary card, as well.

I hope you like it.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs; Cardstock: Naturals white, Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss; Ink: River Rock, Perfect Plum; Accessories: Ribbon Originals - Theater, Pretties Kit; Tools: corner rounder punch, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, dimensionals, mini glue dot

A New Technique??

Haha...I think I created a new technique. At least, I can't find it anywhere online. I took an existing bleach technique and "tweaked" it. You can see the original bleach technique here.

Rather than simply highlighting the image, I completely bleached it and then added new color with my aquapainter. You must be very sure that the cardstock is completely dry after bleaching and before watercoloring. A heat tool is the quickest way to do this. Just be aware that the longer you heat an embossed image on colored cardstock, the more is soaks into the cardstock and the less raised the embossed image will be.

I embossed the flower from Touch of Nature in black and then used a small paint brush to apply the bleach. To keep the paper from pilling or being saturated, I applied a thin layer, dried with my heat tool and applied again until the area was white. Then I painted my flower as I would an image stamped on whisper white.

Here's my finished project:

Please note: Not all colors bleach to white...and black SU cardstock doesn't bleach at all.

Here's a pic of the back of my cardstock sampler showing (left to right) bleaching on really rust, cameo coral and ruby red. You can see that cameo coral and ruby red bleach to white, but really rust bleaches to yellow.

Stamps: Touch of Nature; Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Basic Black, Ruby Red; Ink: Versamark, Sage Shadow, So Saffron marker, Old Olive marker, Basic Black; Other: black embossing powder, black gingham ribbon, aquapainter, bleach, paint brush