My Open House Sneak Peek is almost behind me!

Well, it's almost over.  I had part one of the Open House Sneak Peek on June 1st.  It just seemed like a good way to go since I could get the orders placed right away now that the brand new catalogue is active.  It was a good Open House.  I had two waves of customers and finally wound down around 6 p.m. which was an hour later than I planned.  But you know what Robbie Burns said about the best laid plans of  "meece and men".

As expected, everyone loved, loved, loved the new Simply Pressed Clay.  They were amazed at how light it was (featherweight) and how easily it coloured.  No, I didn't show them how to add drops of re-inker.  From all I've heard and read, that is just a mess waiting to happen, not to mention that too many drops of re-inker make the clay really hard to dry.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: I made the buttons and flowers we used ahead of time to ensure complete drying of the Simply Pressed Clay.)

We used the Simply Pressed Clay on two of the make-n-takes.  The first was a simple 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" card featuring the Gingham Garden Washi Tape.  I called that my "happy card" because the colours just made me smile.  Everyone loved it.

That cute button just off the centre is made using the Simply Pressed Clay which, once dry, was so easy to colour using the Daffodil Delight Stampin' Marker.  The tag is one of the six great sentiments that are part of the Hostess Stamp Set Banner Greetings.  I just love the way everything co-ordinates and is perfectly framed by the Whisper White cardstock which I embossed using the Chevron embossing folder.

The second card which we made for the make-n-takes was the standard 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" size and featured the brand new in-colors.  Again, I kept it simple, having the background embossed with the Modern Mosaic embossing folder and then lining up the butterflies, punched from each of the new in-colors with the Bitty Butterfly punch, along a piece of Whisper White stitched 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.  To finish it off, each butterfly has a little rhinestone in the centre of its body.  The sentiment was stamped with the new Baked Brown Sugar ink, using one of the sentiments from the Sweet Essentials stamp set which is currently on sale at 25% off.

The third make-n-take (yes, I decided to have three!!!) was a simple flower using one of my favourite dies, the Blossom Party Originals, along with the leaves from the Secret Garden framelits and the medium sized flower using the Simply Pressed Clay.  The only non-Stampin' Up! supplies I used were the glue gun and the floral wire.

Don't the Crisp Cantaloupe and the Pistachio Pudding cardstocks look great with a bit of the same colour ink sponged on them?  I sprayed the flower using an alcohol and Summer Starfruit ink mixture in my Stampin' Spritzer.

And there you have it---the basic play/work during the Open House.  Everyone ordered the Simply Pressed Clay and the Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds (wow!  That has to be one of the longest names of product in the catalogue!)  Especially after they got to try pushing the clay into the molds by themselves.  I think they were all amazed at the incredible flexibility of the clay as well.  No worries about anything being broken during the mailing process.

Why do I say it's almost over?  I am accommodating a couple of my customers by letting them come on Monday right after work.  This time of the year weekends get really busy.  I can relate to that.