Splish, Splash, Sparkle!

April's promotion features one of my favorite FSJ products - our silks!  It also features the splashes and they are great too, but I LOVE the silks.  It's rare that I make a card that doesn't feature them, because they are the PERFECT finishing touch.  My cards look nekkid without them now.  It started innocently enough ... "what are these silks" I pondered as I looked through my catalog as a brand new coach.  Let's order one and see.  So I did - I picked Dark Roast and it remains one of my favorites.  
They are so cute and so inexpensive, I just added a couple here and there, and FSJ added a few more colors and (be still my sparkle loving heart) then, in last years Holiday catalog, SPARKLE SILK!!  Oh lordy... that escalated fast, and almost immediately sold out.  People hoarded.  Lack of sparkle silk was a real thing, it's that good. 
Black Licorice, Whip Cream and Beach Ball are the latest additions.  I wasn't convinced of the need for a black silk when Dark Roast is such a dark brown but I was WRONG.  You can absolutely tell the difference and there is absolutely a need for both of them.   

 See my pretties?  I love them all but my favorites are front and center and if you need any suggestions where to start your collection, those are the ones I'd suggest.  And here is one of the first cards I ever made using silks.  That's Dark Roast  and Gold Silk - the total of my collection at the time using Hey Honey (SS-0356) which was one of the sets in my Coach starter kit.  

Celebrating Life's Moments

Ironic that the new catalog should be called "Celebrating Life's Moment's" when I missed the excitement of launch day, stuck in bed with a sinus infection.  Not much to celebrate there TBH.

This new catalog is fabulous!  I know everyone always says that about new catalogs but since I saw the preview copy and used some of the sets during FSJ live, I've been excited for everyone else to see it too.  Anyone who ordered over $50 in during the last quarter should have received their copy in the mail and I hope you love it as much as I do.  There is a link to the online copy on the right hand side of the blog, but if you would like a paper copy in your hands, please let me know.

This is the card we made during FSJ live - we used the shaving cream method for the background, which is an old technique which was very new to me.  Messy, but fun.  I loved the way it came out and I love this set.  It's called Small Things (SS-0572) and it's my featured set of the month.  Look out for more examples of how to use this versatile set.  Look closely and you will see it also features our Silver Silk which is part of the Splish, Splash, Sparkle  April promotion.  Look out for a whole separate post on why I love our silks so much :) 

Make Lemonade

This set (SS-0372) caught my eye the very first time I looked through an FSJ Inspiration Book so imagine my delight when I saw it on the Collection Jubilee Promotion, meaning I could get it for 30% off the original price.  The matching Washi tape can be colored but I really liked it just the way it was.  Harder to see is the beautiful new Sparkle Silk that I used to highlight parts of the strip,  That little bottle of loveliness is going to get it's own post very soon.  The 30% off promo ends on April 30th. 

Inspired by..

I have so many stampers I admire, who inspire me with their creations and their willingness to share. This card was inspired by this post by Jennifer McGuire, a lady I've never met, but one who has "inspired" me to spend lots of crafty dollars over the years.  As soon as I saw it,  I thought of this set - 'To You (SS-0083) by Fun Stampers Journey.  And of course, it needed a few splashes of silk to finish it off.  As I type this, I have several more on order...

CAS(E) this Sketch #206

Here's the sketch:




And here's my take - and let there be no mention of the many versions that I went through before settling on this....  

Love You So Much

Friday was happy mail day :)  New stamping supplies and more Color Silks for my collection.  Why are more people not talking about this amazing product?  

I didn't really know what to expect when the first cute little bottle showed up - but that's why I ordered it.  Love at first splash!  Now only a month later the collection has quadrupled in size and I won't be completely happy until I own them all.  No card seems complete to me without those little splashes, but that's not the only way you can use it.  You can add it directly to your stamps, and you can use it with baby wipes to create a watercolor effect.  Looking forward to experimenting more as my collection grows!