BASKET WEAVE

As of February 16, Stampin' Up! has added three more selections for the Sale-A-Bration freebies.

Two of them are for $50 purchases: a stamp set and a pack of Specialty Designer Series Paper; and one for a $100 purchase: a bundle that consists of a stamp set and a new Dynamic Embossing Folder.

We demos have the privilege of pre-buying these items before they are available to our customers. I had fallen in love with the bundle, but probably wouldn't have placed an order of $100 by myself at any one time. So, I purchased it. And I'm glad I did.

The card below features the basket of flowers from the stamp set, 

as well as the wonderfully dimensional basket weave background.

I just love the combination of the two components.

I colored the basket of flowers with a few of our new Stampin' Blends. They work beautifully and easily, giving a fine result. 

Because I was limited in the colors I so far possess, I had to be a little out-of-the-box for coloring the basket. 

Not having any "basket" colors, this is how I did it: I used the lighter Calypso Coral over the basket first. Since I had just purchased the Bronze color, I added that to the lines in the handle and the darker portions of the basket body. Covering the whole thing after that, I used the lighter Daffodil Delight. Not perfect. But OK enough.

Even though the embossing is wonderful and dynamic by itself, I wanted to add a little more of an appearance of dimension, and thus, reality. 

To do this, I rubbed my Crumb Cake ink pad directly onto the inside of the side of the embossing folder that has the writing. I then added a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, and ran it through the Big Shot. The result was a deeper color in the lowest portions of the embossing, giving the distinct impression of depth.

I only wish I'd taken photos of the two pieces of Crumb Cake cardstock that I embossed -- with and without the inking. There is a surprisingly huge difference! I think I will probably always use this inking method when embossing with this folder. It's so easy, but gives such fabulous results.

PLUS, I've heard that this Dynamic Embossing Folder will appear in the upcoming new annual catalog! Win-win!

And, with a Stampin' Blend, I was able to color coordinate my Basic Pearls! And so EASY to do. 

I used the darker of the Calypso Coral Blends to do this, but I almost wish I'd used the lighter. Oh well. They turned out fine anyway. 

Below shows how complicated it is to color your pearls. JK.

Have you purchased any of the new Blends yet? I have now added the Crumb Cake Blends to my arsenal -- you know, for when I have baskets to color. Or animals. Or . . . 

The cool thing is that, from now until the end of March, when Sale-A-Bration ends, if you purchase the complete set of Stampin' Blends, you will earn the bundle I used in this project! FREE!

If you'd like to shop for the new Stampin' Blends, or anything else Stampin' Up!, I would appreciate it if you would order with me as your demonstrator. You can shop by hitting either of the "shop" buttons on the top or right side of my blog posts. THANK YOU in advance!

If you do already possess any of the Stampin' Blends, please share with us your comments about your experience(s) with them. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Blended

Smiles.