The most wonderful time of the year ...

Thanksgiving to Christmas is a very busy time of year at our house.  After Thanksgiving is my eldest DDs birthday.  This year I took her and 7 of her friends to see a movie at the local second run theater (that's where she works too, so its kinda fun)  Astro Boy had (sadly) left the theater so we went to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  I am an animation buff and would probably choose an animated movie over any other kind most days, so I was only too happy to comply.  It was frenetically hilarious! .  After that there is my sister's birthday then just a few weeks til Christmas, then my birthday and New Years.  Throw in an annual church conference and a holiday cookie exchange and you have one seriously packed month. 

All that by way of saying I haven't had a lot of time to make much ... or rather to photograph any of it.  I made the cutest little covers for bags of Lindor Truffles ,,, about 20 minutes before we had to leave for the youth group white elephant Christmas party.  I've also made other cards that I had to put in the mail right away so they would arrive on time. 

But  ... I do have some sneak peaks just to make things fun ....

Stampin' Up! is coming out with a line of clear mounted stamps!  I know right - fab-u-lous!!!  I love clear and find it so much easier to work with, especially when two step stamping, so I was extremely excited to see this announcement.  Being a demonstrator I had to keep quiet about it for a while, but now I am free to talk.

These stamps will be the standard red rubber & foam that SU! is known for, but they will have a different backing to be used with acrylic blocks.  All the Occasions mini and Sale-A-Bration sets will have a clear mount option.  These will be available starting January 5 and will retail for on average of about $6-$8 cheaper than the wood mounted option.  I think its great that both options will be available so no matter your preference, you can have the great SU! artwork.

I was able to pre-order some of the sets and wanted to show you how great they are

These stamps will store in DVD sized cases so they take up a lot less space than their wood mount counterparts.

I love that they have the image on the back of the stamp ...

... and the assembly method (if you follow the one or two simple straightforward directions :\) is so simple and results in perfect alignment of the sticker on the back and the image on the front.  It's not quite the same as clear photopolymer, but its really, really, really close (this coming from a clear stamp addict!)

SU! is also offering a line of acrylic blocks that mimic their wood block styling with the curved edges for easier gripping.  They are thick, like a wood block and really pretty - not that it should matter, but they are.

They also come in a variety of sizes, including longer rectangles for sentiments - there is less "block" around the edges so less chance of a stray ink splotch from the block getting on your card (unless I'm the only one who suffers from that problem :)

I'll have more samples over the next few weeks. 

So until next time ... Happy Stampin'