We're Back! (and it's a long one!)

 I've been missing in action for several weeks but I'm back after viewing Saturday mornings Facebook Live. Several weeks ago my husband and I went on a specialty cruise to the Caribbean. We were part of a large group of Cleveland Browns fans that attended the First Annual Cleveland Browns Alumni Cruise. My husband has been a Browns fan since he was a boy and as my T-shirt says, "I married into this". We had a great time but my husband came back with a head cold which he was kind enough to pass on to me. It turned out that we didn't have colds after all, we had Covid. Luckily, our symptoms were relatively mild, the worst being so tired all the time. I still sound way worse than I feel and naps are still a very good thing, but my period of contagion is over.

Sharon has also been missing in action for a week or so but she had a great reason. Sharon and Mark flew down to Jess and Scott's house in Mississippi. From there Sharon and Jess drove to New Orleans and attended the Creativation Convention. It was like old times with vendors introducing their new products and lines. It also gave Jessica a chance to meet many of the owners and designers behind the companies we deal with and purchase from. After some beignets and great food the ladies drove back to Jess's and got to spend time with Adalyn and Brianna. A great trip was had by both Sharon and Mark but as I found out Saturday during Sharon's live, she also sounded about as bad as I do! Hopefully, she feels better than she sounds and we're both on the road to recovery.

The world didn't stop while we were away and neither did the deliveries. Sharon shared several new arrivals and some samples from the show. Let's start with Sizzix. This release will be ready for sale on Monday. What we have is limited so put your order in or come in and get your favorites early. There is one more set that's part of this release and it's a globe you can see in the lower right hand corner of the first photo. I missed being able to take it's photo.

One of Sharon's favorites.

Sharon thinks this will be one of the more popular die sets. Remember when we had these as kids?

This is a matchbox die with basic symbols.

MFT is next and Sharon had a chance to talk to the owner and emphasized her idea for bring back several of MFT's core dies. 

For those who did the snowmen cards we finally were able to order the stamp set and the dies at the same time.

Here is a sample of what Sharon was talking about. This stitched circle frame set and the stitch scallop border set have been brought out of the vault. They are tremendously versatile AND we have them in square and rectangle shapes.

This stitched doily scalloped edge set is also a great set to have in your stash.

We're moving on to Spellbinders. First up is the Medium Tray Set. There are four trays in this package that can be used to hold all your bits and pieces or card projects during construction - lots of uses.

Spellbinders also had these fine line bottles. Many of us like to use a smaller, fine line bottle for our liquid glue. 

We also have new House Mouse. Spellbinders owns House Mouse so we can look forward to our old favorites and new designs.

A great and popular sentiment set from Stampendous. 

This is also a very popular Sympathy set from Stampendous.

More from Spellbinders. We have these three deco floral set as a bundle and we have them individually.

Betterpress designs from Spellbinders.

Buffalo Plaid!

Press and Die set. You get the Betterpress plate and a matching die set to cut them out with.

How do you do more than one color on a Betterpress plate? You use a registration acetate.

This is the registration acetate. You can see the colors in the outlines.

Place your registration acetate on the magnetic base of your Betterpress. Take the press pieces that you want to do in the same color and layer them over registration piece. Ink up the press pieces with your chosen color and run through your Big Shot or Platinum. Swap out your press pieces for the next color pieces and repeat until you've done all the pieces.

Also new is this card holder die. It creates the pocket on the fold that you place your gift card into.

Simon Hurley has several new products including this layered dot stencil. I'd love to see this one done.

Spellbinders glitter paper. This paper is easier to cut than many glitter papers. We recommend.

Altenew had a large booth at the show and one of the new items they showed were these acrylic markers. I have a sample to share.

This is the look you get using the acrylic markers.

New sentiment sets from Altenew.

OOPS! I'm not sure what this is! I think it's a Betterpress plate but I really don't know 😕!

Sparkle Frame die.

Sharon thought this would be good for Mother's Day.

Another favorite of Sharon's. Good sized sentiments with shadows as seen in the sample below this.

New embossing folders, Arches. We will have samples for all of these.

Sylvan Bouquet 3-D

Farmhouse Florals

Luxurious Motifs

Floral Diamond Blocks

Stencils are next. This is Majestic Mountains. If you can see in the upper right corner this is a very detailed layered stencil set.

This might help to show you how these stencils work.

A floral design, Amorous Dream

The reverse

Meadow Burst

One last stencil set but I missed the name.Then we have a press plate with corresponding die set.

This is also a press plate called Burlap.

Sharon is demonstrating how you can use other inks than the archive or betterpress inks. This first samples done with betterpress inks in white.

Hard to see the white so Sharon is going to use Vintage Photo on the edges to bring out the white ink and the texture of the plate.

With this plate, Sharon is going to use a Pink Fresh ink and it works just fine.

Pink Fresh is up next. A great sentiment set

A new stamp set with matching die.

A sweet stand-alone die set, Dogwood Flowers.

A new clipped corner stitched layered set. This set can be used in a variety of ways and Sharon will show you how in the next few photos.

I may have to make a trip to the store for these next items. Pink Fresh has three new Washi rolls with matching stamps and dies. Sharon has samples.

You should get about 40 full sets per roll. When adding the tape to your paper make sure you start at the beginning of the run as it matches the die. 

Beautiful Butterflies!

You can combine florals with the butterflies. The combinations are endless.

This is the third roll. You can see the pattern on the back of the die package.

We also have a new 49 and Market collection. This is a card that Sharon made at the show.

New Sizzix stamps and dies that coordinate with 49 & Market.

Rub-ons

An unfinished card. Sharon will work on and finish for a later video.

A new company at the show was Uniquely Creative from Australia.

They had a variety of products at the show including stencils with a narrower format.

I like this pattern.

Sharon liked these fine point fussy cutting scissors that had a very good price point.

Rub-ons

I think these are cut parts.

Lastly, samples from the classes that Sharon participated in. 

Sharon shows how she takes this main card that she made and made it more visually appealing by cutting it down and mounting on a white card base. It looks much better!

I believe this was done with Simon Hurley inks.

Penny Black was very generous with samples. Here are a few.

A possible class coming up, embossing on a leather like material and creating a mini book.

They also combined with Chibi lights for these next samples.

This last sample is cute. You light the candle and you can blow it out!

That's a lot of product! One or two last photos. Saturday most people are dyeing Easter Eggs. Not us, Alexa is home for the weekend and made dog biscuits!

I'm not a fan of Peeps and when I saw this I thought here are some perfect uses for those sticky little chicks. 

Happy Easter everyone. I'll see you again next week and until then stay crafty and above all Stay Safe.