We’re a long way from whale season in Hawaii…the humpbacks won’t return until late this year.  In the meantime, I found this funny stretched out fellow to keep me company:

• Longfellows Hostess Stamp Set
• Basic Black and Baja Breeze Classic ink pads
• Baja Breeze ink refill; Not Quite Navy Stampin’ Write marker
  
• Certainly Celery, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock
• Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss Designer Series Paper (retired)
• Black Gingham Ribbon; Aquapainter
• Itty Bitty Buttons and Itty Bitty punch

I have an enormous stash of retired papers and I am trying very hard to use some of them up.  The return of some of our previously retired In Colors as part of the new Color Renovation is helping…but there’s still a lot of paper.

The Bitty Buttons are returning in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog – and I’m thrilled – but Gingham Ribbon is going to that giant craft desk in the sky, so if you want to keep some earth-bound, you’d better get it soon.

I’ve had a few requests for information on the clipboards and I’ll try to post some details next week, but I have to tell you that they are embarrassingly simple.  The biggest issue is the product you use to adhere the paper to the board.  You want something that will dry quickly, but not instantly – you need a little time to work.  I’ve given up trying to cover the paper with a decoupage-style finish on top as I have yet to find a product that will dry sufficiently hard to keep papers on the clipboard from sticking to it.  It may be trial and error for some of you, depending on your climate and the products you have available.

I’ll be home from my travels soon and will have some new stamp sets to share 🙂

My husband grew up with dachshunds.   By the time I joined the family, they’d had quite a few.  The pair in residence when we were married were named Max and Ginger.  My dear Mother-in-law warned me about Max – he’d been abused as a young dog before they adopted him from the shelter, and he was unpredictable.

One of Max’s notable characteristics was LOVING to play ball.  He was incessant.  You’d throw the ball, he’d bring it back.  Throw, bring back, throw, bring back.  If you didn’t throw the ball out right away when he brought it back, he would bark at you.  If you ignored too many barks, he might nip your ankle.  My husband and his brother would tease him with the ball, pretending to throw it or hide it, but Max was too smart for them and wouldn’t play that game – he’d let them know he wasn’t kidding.

Once when we were visiting, someone rolled the ball under the TV.  (For any readers under 20, there was a time when a TV was a piece of furniture – a screen built into a wooden cabinet on legs.  Yes, I am old enough to remember that.)  When Max got to the TV, he was sure it had his ball.  He barked at the TV…no ball.  Barked again…no ball.  The TV was apparently playing games.  Max started to nip at the wooden legs on the TV, and at that point my mother-in-law gave orders to the brothers to get that ball out from under her TV before the dog chewed up the leg.

What does that have to do with cards, anyway?  Just this:

• Longfellows Hostess Stamp Set and Itty Bitty Backgrounds
  
• Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, and Soft Sky (retired) card stock
• Retired Halloween DSP from a year or two ago and Thoroughly Modern DSP
• Early Espresso and Soft Sky Classic ink pad
• Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker
  
• Pumpkin Pie corduroy button; Linen thread; Photo corner punch
• Piercing tool, mat and template; Aquapainter

This little doggy is not an ankle nipper 🙂  One of the things I love about the Longfellows Hostess Stamp set is that the stamps all have a little sentiment included underneath those long bellies.  These are stamps for quick cards!  I just stamped this fellow and used a marker to color in his spots, then took the Aquapainter and gave him a little ground to stand on.

Those corduroy buttons are on the Last Chance list and you’ve got until the 30th to bring them home from the Online Store.  The thread I tied the button on is our Linen thread dragged through the Early Espresso stamp pad.  If you are patient, you wait until it’s dry – if you’re me, you hit it with the heat gun a couple of times and then get your fingers inky.

These long critters crack me up.  Somehow I just knew this Ellie wanted to have pink ears.  She seemed like a pink-eared kind of girl:

• Going Grey, Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock
• DSP from the SAB paper pack: 2 3/8 inch Scallop Circle Punch
  
• Basic Black Classic ink pad
• Pirouette Pink ink refill and the Aquapainter
• Pretty in Pink striped grosgrain ribbon
• Filigree brads and Pretty in Pink brad

Yep, I’m playing with more of my Sneak Peak items from the 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  The new ginormous scallop punch is absolutely awesome – lots of big scallop circles in a hurry!

I’m sorry to see Going Grey leave the Color Collection.  It’s clearly “Elephant Grey” and I’ll be getting creative when I look for a substitute.  But having seen the Color Collection new colors and the new In Colors as well, I am convinced we’re going to have plenty of inspiration in the color department.  It’s all good!

The Stampin’ Up! 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog is outstanding in many ways, but one of the things that I am really excited about is the quality of the exclusive free Hostess sets.  Demos get to purchase a limited number of those sets during our Sneak Peak period, and I have a few cards to show you.

• Longfellows Hostess stamp set
• Whisper White, Crumb Cake (Kraft) and Always Artichoke card stock
• Retired Designer Series Paper
  
• Always Artichoke Classic ink pad
• Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write Marker
• Wild Wasabi ink refill and Aquapainter
• Barely Banana button and Linen thread
• Big Shot and Lattice Embossing folder

Doesn’t this crack you up?  I love the stretched-out gator…and wait til you see some of his friends.  If I was you, I would be signing up to hold a workshop first thing in July so that I could earn this set for my own!  (hint, hint)