SUOC 43, Occasions Goodbye!

The excitement of the Stampin' Up! stamp retirement list coming out a couple days ago kind of pushed the fact that the Occasions Mini catalog is ending in less than two weeks(!) out of the spotlight.  There are several stamp sets and accessories that I really hope will carry over to the big catalog in June! Really, really hope. Like, I'm going to throw a temper tantrum if they don't. Well, okay, maybe not a tantrum, but I will be very sad.

Our Challenge this week at SUO Challenges is to bid a fond farewell to something in the Occasions Mini that you are going to miss. If you don't have anything from the Occasions Mini (gasp!), then any retired Stampin' Up! product may be used.  I hope you will join us and share your project at SUO Challenges. We love to see what other creative people make with Stampin' Up! products. You all are so inspiring!

The sketch this week from Mojo Monday was my inspiration. The individual tea cups were colored with a marker and stamped twice. One was punched out with the circle punch and the other was fussy-cut and popped up on a dimensional onto the circle. Since the greeting was already on the last circle, pearls were added instead of a banner at the bottom.

The Occasions Mini items used were the Tea Shoppe stamp set, 40mm Pearl Basic Jewels, and Twitterpated Designer Series Paper. These are all going away April 30th!


Stamps: Tea Shoppe
Cardstock: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, and Twitterpated DSP
Ink: (Stampin' Write Markers) Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive
Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka-Dots embossing folder, 1" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 40mm Pearl Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals

SUOC36 - Try a New Technique!

The theme at SUO Challenges this week it to try a new, or fairly new, technique (or one you haven't done in a while). Emboss resist has been around for quite some time but, for some reason, I've only tried it a couple times. So I think this falls under the "fairly new" (to me) category.

The tea cups were heat embossed on the DSP with VersaMark and white EP, then lightly sponged over with Rose Red Classic ink. It really makes the cups pop! If the color sticks too much to the embossed image, lightly buff with a dry tissue, or do what I did - barely moisten a cotton swab and carefully remove the excess ink.

It's funny, when I got to preview the new Occasions Mini catalog, the Tea Shoppe set didn't really appeal to me.  I thought "Meh, take it or leave it." But the more I saw it, and saw things made with it, the more I grew to love it. Now I think it's my favorite new set! Same with the Attic Boutique DSP.

Does that ever happen to you? Maybe one or two of the new In Colors don't make you swoon, but after a sort while, all of a sudden, those are the only ones you're grabbing for nearly every project? Or you see a stamp set and think, 'Gah! What were they thinking?!' and it ends up being a "must have"?  Well, let me tell ya.....it happens to me ALL. THE. TIME.

Stamps: Tea Shoppe
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Rose Red, Attic Boutique DSP
Ink: VersaMark, Rose Red Classic
Accessories: White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits, Stampin' Sponges, Rose Red 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Pearls Basic Jewels, Mini Glue Dots