Winds of Change

Hi Stampers!
Woohoo! My Holiday catalog preorder is coming today and I'm really excited.  I will finally get to see a print copy of the catalog and also some of the products that I chose. Would you believe I even texted my UPS driver to see if there was any wiggle room in her schedule and she could come to my neighborhood sooner rather than later?!!  She's a friend and she will proceed as her job requires so I'm guessing it will still be several hours.

I really shouldn't be that anxious as there are still so many things in the annual catalog that I haven't given much attention to. Summer is a great time to be outside and do all the fun adventures so my stamping time is hit and miss some weeks.

I live in an area with a huge Dutch community nearby. Have you ever heard the saying, "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much!"  Well, I have and while I disagree with the saying (haha) many of these people are some of my dear friends and fellow stampers. I even met a couple of demonstrators from the Netherlands at an OnStage even a year ago. All that to say that when they saw the "Winds of Change" stamp set in the Annual Catalog, I would guess they jumped for joy!   I had some fun with this set recently:

Probably the most iconic symbol of the Dutch is the windmill.  They are scattered throughout the Netherlands and there are even a few here and there in our country.  I actually looked up what a windmill does and they harness the energy from wind to mill grain or pump water in the past. They are probably mostly for looks now and boy do they look charming! This was a fun card to make with my coloring using Stampin' Blends Alcohol markers. I also used the Rectangle Dies to cut out my layers.

Another iconic "Dutch" thing is the Delft blue and white design on everything from housewares, decor to linens. I'm a big fan of blue and white and have several pieces in my home. I thought that should definitely be one design idea for a card!

I also wanted to try and incorporate the other stamps that are included in this set, including some long stemmed tulips and a bicycle. I just did a little bit of coloring, only the flowers to give this card some interest but mostly kept it simple. I cut the sections apart from a 3.75" x 5" piece of white card stock as I stamped them and then adhered them to my background with some space in between. I did have to tweak my trimming just a bit but it wasn't hard to create this card.

This is a fun stamp set to play with, especially if you are enjoying all the coloring options we have from watercolor pencils, blender pens, Aqua painters and markers. Coloring is back in a big way and I'm so glad Stampin'Up! is on board!

You can get this set as well as my other supplies by clicking on the supply list below which will take you to the store. Online shopping is easy and convenient. Try it!

Until next time, happy stampin'!
Sarah