Introducing: Raisin Boat!

"So what's a Raisin Boat?" you ask. Well, it's another stamp company with unique stamp themes and designs - but with a twist! While you can purchase exclusive stamp sets from Raisin Boat, their main focus is on stamp set rentals. For a reasonable monthly fee, they will release a certain number of stamp sets of your choice for you to use as long as you want. When you are done, you return the stamps in a prepaid envelope, and they will send the next stamp set on your pick list. It's like Netflix for stamps!

I started out with an introductory plan that allows me up to two stamp sets per month. As it turns out, I enjoyed the first sets that I picked so much that I bought most of them. Each time I bought a set, I received the next set on my pick list to take its place as a rented set. Pretty slick, eh?

The first set I worked with is called Cattitude, a cat-themed set. I made one card and one ATC with the set, and by then was so in love with it and had so many ideas for it that it just made sense to purchase and add it to my own collection. I wouldn't say these are my very best work, but I think I did pretty good with limited supplies and embellishments.

I'm not crazy about the colors, so I'm considering a do-over. I do like the paws embossed on the front of the card, though, and the use of the Top Note die. I had fun stamping and then fussy cutting the cat and the bowl of milk, then layering those on top of the image stamped directly on the card. I made the milk stand out with a white gel pen. Simple but sweet!

Here's the artist trading card I made using the same cat stamp:

I'm not convinced that it's finished, but I haven't decided what more it needs. The cat is colored with Derwent Inktense pencils, and you can tell that I need to work on my technique. I'm sure it will come in time... practice, practice, practice!

If you're curious to see the whole Cattitude set, you can view it on the Raisin Boat website here. You can also learn more about how the program works and view their other stamp sets on the website.

I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and plan to be for a good, long time. My core supplies - ink, cardstock, and stamps - are and will remain mostly Stampin' Up!, so if you're here to see SU! stuff, I don't think you'll see a huge difference in my blogging other than that I'll be using Raisin Boat stamps from time to time. If you have any concerns about this, leave me a comment or contact me privately.

I have two more Raisin Boat posts to make, and then I'll be featuring some NEW Stampin' Up! sets. Just wait til you see these Works of Art! (That's a not-so-subtle hint about which set I'm working with today!)

Smiles,
Joyce Spear / StamperJoyce