I hope you enjoy the following article from SUDSOL (a demonstrator only website) as much as I did:
For over 15 years I was in the retail business, and after the first couple of years, you come to the understanding that retailers 'live' with Christmas, month to month for the entire year.
As soon as one Christmas season is over, the retailer then heads to markets in the months of January and February to do the purchasing for the next season and the rest of the year is spent receiving and planning your huge assault for that upcoming season. It never changes, you just live thru it, year after year and in your personal life, it changes how you see the season.
So when I retired from retail, it took me by surprise as to how slow things had become. After all, we are just now, as in the months of September and October, making plans for and talking about Christmas Stamp~a~Stacks and different Christmas projects on SUDSOL.
But the one thing that hasn't changed is how the majority of people, stampers and scrappers included, are dyed~in~the~wool traditionalists. Christmas must be in traditional colors, reds and greens, heaven forbid if you should throw a color like Chocolate Chip in the mix! What is in the drinking water in Utah?
I stalk a very large number of stamping groups and I laughed for hours over the very sentiments I am about to quote. What was Stampin' Up thinking? How could we ever go down this road? I would be willing to bet there were a hundred if not just one, comments about Chocolate Chip not being a Christmas color.
All of this brings me to our guest demonstrator, Cheryl Powers. She is one I personally like to watch for great ideas and adaptations of our products. But like hundreds of others, Cheryl too, voiced a concern of mixing a 'non' traditional color with the sacred duo of red and green.
On her October 15th entry on her blog, Cheryl Powers wrote,
"I wasn't sure how I was going to like brown in my Christmas papers, but I absolutely love the color combinations together. They are very rich."
and then the project that follows couldn't be cuter. Take a look at this scrapbook, a perfect gift for someone special, like yourself?
On a side note, Cheryl also brought to my attention that in using the DSP and the kit together, you will encounter two different shades of red, Real Red and Riding Hood Red and that it really does work together beautifully.
Who knew our beloved Chocolate Chip could look so festive and holiday appropriate? I will always encourage you to get out there on that limb and try something new and exciting. We have over 34 non traditional Christmas colors to play with. Start a new trend yourself with your next scrapping project, maybe a single page or a great little book for this year's keepsakes.
After all, that holiday is less than 70 days from today. Better get started on those scrapping projects and remember . . . you have an additional 34 colors to play with.
Susan
Scrap 101 Coordinator for SUDSOL
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This sorta gets you thinking of some 'unconventional colors' to use instead of the same ole' red and green. Get out those designer papers, ink pads, markers and stamps and use something more creative for Christmas this year. I double dog dare you!!!!
And so do Angel and Sir Bentley!!
