Yep – I got a Stampin' Up! box today, filled with goodies from the new catalog.  I got the new circle cutter and glass mat, three new stamp sets, lots of new glitter, paper, hardware, punches…..just too much to play with all at once — but I tried!

Here are some of my thoughts. 
Circle Cutter – Do I love it?  Not yet.  But the first few times I used my Big Shot, I thought, "Hmmmm.  Was this a waste of money?"  And now it's my favorite tool.  I cut a bunch of circles today, and each time, I liked it a little better.  (Not that I don't like it, mind you.)  So I'm sure once my room is better organized and it's easier to get it in and out, I'll love it.  I can tell you now we'll be creating a lot of circle projects!  It is extremely easy to use and very fast.
Glitter – The new colors are fabulous.  The aqua and olive in the Supernova set look very close to the turquoise and celery in the original cosmo set – at least, in the bottles, but the chocolate, orange and pink more than make up for that!  And they're not exactly the same color, so on a project, they will probably look much different.
Designer Hardware – They're kind of pricey (6/$4.95), but, oh my!  They are so nice, and really make a card or gift special.  They set very easily with the Crop-a-dile.
You have to see Taste of Textiles!  These papers are gorgeous; I'll try not to hoard them, because they're too pretty to keep hidden away.
Rockabilly Specialty DSP – It's shiny!  It's a printed gloss design.  Nice!
The Eyelet Border Punch is a little more finicky than the Scallop Edge punch (you can't overlap the eyelet scallops), but easy to use and very pretty.
Texturz Plates – Oh, well, what can I say?  I used them on everything I made today.
This isn't all I ordered, but it's a start. 

Here's what I made with some of it –

After I sent in my order, I had second thoughts about this set.  I bought it to have a current "coffee" set, but it's very like a set from several years ago that I only inked once!  But after using it, I think I'm really going to really like it.

As always, it's much nicer IRL.  The colors are really bright and the glitter is, well, glittery!  I made this for my friend Karen, who is always giving me beautiful plants (and a Sizzix die at Christmas!).  She also is a coffee drinker, so this reminded me of her.  She's, in her own words, "not a glitter girl."  She always skips that step!  So I had to sparkle it up a little.  Not that I'm trying to convert her or anything.

Supplies: 
Stamp set:  Sip by Sip
Ink:  Chocolate Chip classic; Markers – Going Gray, Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal; VersaMark
Paper:  Kraft, Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom card stock
Accessories:  Heat & Stick Powder, Supernova glitter, Textures plates kit #4, Big Shot, Stampin' Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, corner rounder punch, Circle Cutter, Glass Mat, heat tool

The coffee rings at the bottom of the card are stamped.  I have seen a card, though, that the designer accidentally set her coffee on.  When she saw the ring, she added more and incorporated it into her design.  Clever!

This set works really well with the Taste of Textiles – especially the Chocolate Bronze!  But I didn't want to use it all up right away (uh, oh!  Sounds like hoarding to me.)

The Baja Breeze flower is the Simple Flower embosslit.  I inked it with a little Baja Breeze classic, then added a Soho hardware piece with a Circle Ice rhinestone brad in the center. 

I wrapped the DSP with ribbon, but wouldn't the next time, since it's mostly hidden by the rest of the layers.

The Baja Breeze layer and the DSP were run through the Big Shot with a Stampin' Up! Backgrounds 1 Texture plate.  (Bet it took a long time to come up with these original names:  Backgrounds 1, Kit #4….The good news is, "Backgrounds 1" gives us room for "Backgrounds more!!")

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Fifth Avenue Floral
Ink:  Not Quite Navy craft; Classic – Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze card stock, Urban Garden DSP
Accessories:  Designer Hardware – Soho; Punches:  Wide Oval, Key Tag, Eyelet Border; Big Shot; Stampin' Up! Backgrounds 1 Texture plate set; Circle Ice rhinestone brads; Stampin' Dimensionals; Stampin' Sponges; clear embossing powder; Simple Flower embosslit; heat tool; 5/8" grosgrain ribbon – celery

Tomorrow I'll play with "Branch Out" and use a few more of my goodies.