Remember the movie "The Jerk" when Steve Martin's character was so excited when the new phone book arrived? That is my level of excitement for the new catalog this year. It is absolutely gorgeous, and there are some really awesome new products inside. I am in love with it!
There is just so much to be excited about that I don't quite know where to start. There are several lovely Stampin' Up! exclusive Project Life kits available (more than the 1 kit + accessories announced back in April). There is new ribbon, punches and Big Shot dies. And, of course, there are lots of new stamp sets. Don't worry, there are lots of things from past catalogs that carried forward, so it isn't ALL new and overwhelming.
There are a couple of products in the catalog that aren't available yet, and Stampin' Up! has promised to let demonstrators know when they will become available.
- The first item is the 12×12 Black Faux Leather Project Life album. The first delivery that the company received didn't meet their quality standards, so they sent them back and are working with the manufacturer to improve them. I'm certainly bummed that I can't buy one yet, but I'm very glad that Stampin' Up! is keeping their focus on product quality.
- The second set of items that aren't available yet are the new (very much anticipated) Blendability markers. The reason for this is that the manufacturer has taken longer to ramp up on production and Stampin' Up! wants to be sure that they have enough quanitity to meet the very high anticipated demand for these lovelies. Stampin' Up! released a sub-set of the colors for demonstrators to purchase so we can become familiar with them. I have been playing with mine the last few days, and I am now in love with coloring stamped images! Don't get me wrong, it is still crazy time consuming to do it, so it doesn't make sense to do it in a class or for mass production. But, I am now happy with the results of my coloring, and I've never been that thrilled with it in the past. I won't go into detail about all the things I love about them because that would just be teasing you. But trust me, when these do become available (and I will let you know), you are going to want to give them a try!
If you haven't received a catalog and you would like one, please contact me and I'll get one to you. Set aside some quiet time with a cup of tea (or some other beverage) so you can peruse this catalog at your leisure. I still find things that inspire me and I've pored over it MANY times already, and I imagine that you will have the same experience.
