April 2018 - Delight of my Art

Magical Day – Dragon Cave

Posted on April 13, 2018 by debjoysmeak

My son just turned 8 and he wanted me to make him a birthday card with a blue dragon that was also a shaker card. Challenge accepted! This was a lot of fun to create, but it did take a while! It actually has quite a bit of painting involved, using my aquapainter. I think it turned out pretty fantastic, don’t you think?!

This Magical Day stamp set is amazing and I’m so surprised that it is on the retiring list. Get it now, while you still can! It’s so cute with the mermaid, unicorn, dragon, knight and wizard along with the nice sentiments and sparkle stamps. I’m getting a lot of use out of it. My son made thank you notes to his friends in his birthday goodie bags with the tiny sparkle elements in this set. I let him pick out exactly what stamps and ink colors he wanted to use. They turned out really cute! And he did them all himself. He chose Dapper Denim, Crushed Curry and Lemon Lime Twist.

Ok, back to the birthday card! I used Thick Whisper White as the base of my card. The top layer is Shimmery White because I knew I’d be water coloring on it. The middle layer is Basic Black. First I cut a circle out of the center of my shimmery white top layer, which I think was the second biggest in the layering circles framelits dies.

Then I laid that over the black panel to see where to stamp my sentiment. I wiped my embossing buddy on the black cardstock to reduce static, stamped my sentiment in versamark ink and sprinkled with white embossing powder. I tapped off the excess and heat set that with my heat tool. So far so good!

I stamped the dragon in Memento ink on Whisper White cardstock, cut him out with the matching framelit and colored him in with the Night of Navy Stampin’ Blends. I love those things! When they are back in stock, make sure you snag as many as you can. And there are new colors coming with the new catalog!!! (Can you tell, I’m so excited?!)

I used my aqua painter and ink pads to paint on the shimmery white piece. I made horizontal black stripes around the cave with Basic Black archival ink. Then I made a light wash with Smoky Slate underneath the cave and around the cave again after the black dried. Then I added a little bit of Crumb Cake all around for depth of color. I stamped a scrap piece of white multiple times with Smoky Slate using the heart from the Sure Do Love You stamp set (another one that’s retiring!). Then I used the larger cloud die from the Up & Away Thinlits to create the rocks. They looked kind of blah, so I added shadows with Basic black, and also some jagged lines to break up the circular cloud shape and then the crumb cake on top of that really finished those off nicely. I added some fire tendrils using Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Real Red up top, but it looked strange the rocks were on fire, so I added some mossy tufts to be on fire with Garden Green and Lemon Lime Twist. Whew!

For the shaker part, I turned over the shimmery white piece and adhered a window sheet square to match over the opening. Then I put the foam adhesive strips right around the hole and also a bit along all four sides for support. I poured in a generous amount of gold glitter flakes before I took the backing off the adhesive strips. This is the point of truth! Carefully taking all the backing off so as not to spill the glitter I also had to carefully align the black middle layer with the sentiment side down (so it would show through the cutout) so that the sides were even. Ahhh! Nerve wracking! I got it fairly straight but not perfect. Usually I don’t have a sentiment inside and just put a scrap down for the backing before turning it over and applying it to my card. This was a bit harder but I managed it in the end. I just had to adhere the dragon and my rocks and the card is finished! It took probably 2 hours of planning and execution, way longer than I anticipated, but my dear son is worth it. Let me know what you think! Please leave a comment below and join my mailing list to be updated on future posts.

I’m running a special this month, April 2018!! I will send you a gift in the mail for any order of $30 or more as a special thank you for helping me promote this month to the next level demonstrator! I’m super close, less than $150. Please help me reach my goal and let me spoil you! 😀

Use Hostess Code: R2YGTKCV at checkout before the end of the month. If your order is $150 or more, do not use the hostess code, claim your Stampin’ Rewards and I’ll still send you a gift in the mail.

To place an order, you can click on any of the products listed below and it will take you to my store. Have a wonderful day and happy stamping!

tams# 21967

Product List

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Color Revamp 2018

Posted on April 11, 2018 by debjoysmeak

We were due for a refresh on our color line to stay up to date and I think they really knocked it out of the park! These changes don’t take place until June 1st but I wanted you to have all the information as soon as possible as retiring inks, refills and papers will get snatched up quick.

We will have five new In Colors, like every year. But they also totally shook up all the color lines! We have to say goodbye to thirteen core colors and the five 2016-2018 In Colors. But we get sixteen new colors! Check out the charts:

IN COLORS

THE NEW COLORS

We also have previous In Colors that are returning and joining our core colors:

Mossy Meadow
Poppy Parade
Flirty Flamingo
Coastal Cabana
Mint Macaron
Blackberry Bliss

NEW COLOR COLLECTIONS

So pretty, right?!! I’m super exciting to announce these new colors. The neutrals has some color splashed in, which is so fun. The other color family colors really blend so well together so you can feel great about getting an entire color family. Which color family are you drawn to? I feel like it depends on my mood and what time of year it is, but I still think I’m mostly drawn to the Subtles. They also added an additional category, Basics, which is just Basic Black, Whisper White and Very Vanilla.

But wait, there’s more! The ink pads also have a brand new design and improved ink! I’ll be getting my new In Color pack of ink pads next week, so I’ll show them to you. They are easier and more intuitive to open, they stack (!!) and now include an extra label for the interior so it’s easy to see what color you are using. The ink has an anti-foaming agent added to the pads and the new reinkers so that the surface of the ink pads have no bubbles for optimal ink coverage. You can still use the old reinkers on the new pads and vice-versa, with the exception of the Basic Gray Archival ink pad…

Which brings me to my sad news. Basic Black and Basic Gray Archival inks are retiring. What?!! My go-to black is going away. (sad face) First my favorite adhesive, Fast Fuse, and now my favorite ink. I’ll be ok. Our black ink options will be Memento, which is a fast drying black ink that we have been using with the Stampin’ Blends (alcohol based markers). This will be the main go-to black ink. They are also bringing back StazOn ink, a fast drying waterfast permanent ink that can be used for watercoloring or stamping on non-porous items such as the window sheets or even wood. The StazOn does need a special different cleaner to clean off your stamps, as it is so permanent. So you see, we are not out of options and I’ll recover. But I did add another Basic Black reinker to my recent retiring order! See! Get the items you want before they’re gone!

If you want to get any of the retiring colors, you have to hurry because they are only while supplies last!

Click here and click SHOP NOW to stock up on your favorite colors before they’re gone.

***I have a special this month for ordering! I am very close to promoting to the next level of Demonstrator in the month of April, (less than $150!). As a special thank you for helping me reach my business goals, I will send a gift package to you in the mail for any order of $30 or more during April! I appreciate you!***

Last-Chance Products – Retiring List 2018

Posted on April 11, 2018 by debjoysmeak

Hey crafty friends! The new annual catalog was just released for demonstrators early for us to view online. You can start purchasing from it starting June 1st, but one of our perks of being demonstrators is the early peeks and pre-ordering products to play with them before they are released. I’m super excited about the new news, but first things first:

The list of retiring products (There are a few things retiring that I was shocked to hear!!)

I will be going through the catalogs live at 2 pm EST today, Wednesday April 11, and that video will be posted for future reference as well. So get your catalogs and follow along with me with your highlighter to see what is carrying on and what is going away. These PDFs will list the products that are retiring but I think a catalog walk-through will be easier for you and maybe you’ll notice some things you missed. The Holiday catalog already had a retiring list and carry over list. I’ll be going through that catalog on my walk-through as well.

Annual Catalog Retired List

Occasions Retired List

The retiring items are WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!! Order now to not miss out on what you’ve been eyeing these past few months! I’ll let you in on what I ordered from the retired items during my walk-through. I thought I’d have more time to save up for them, but I don’t want to miss out and have to pay an arm and a leg for them on eBay later!

One more thing: I am very close to promoting to the next Demonstrator level and I greatly benefit from doing so before the end of April so I’m running a special this month! I will be mailing you a gift package in the mail for everyone that places an order $30 or more as a special thank you for helping me promote. Now is the perfect time to get those last-chance products and get a bonus too! Click here and go to SHOP NOW. I really really appreciate your orders!