Ok.  So every month the demonstrators in my downline group and I swap cards among ourselves. We generally have a theme of some type, and in September our theme was "showcasing products from the Holiday Mini Catalog".  Seems logical enough, right?

Well I knew right away that I was going to use the stencil on page 22, figuring that most of the other swappers would stick with stamps, Designer Papers, and Big Shot dies to feature.

So I ordered the stencil early on and then began formulating an idea – in my head, confident that I was really ahead of the game because I had things pretty much laid out – in my head.

So a week or so before the cards were due, I sat down to stamp.  First I made what was in my head…...

….. and was completely unimpressed – and couldn't go any farther.

Then I tried switching to a colored image on a neutral background.

Hmmmm…… I liked the effect much better, but still couldn't figure out where to go from there.

Maybe something more subtle….. like for a background……

Yes!  Now THAT was real pretty.  (Especially since somehow I'd gotten some glittery stuff on the sponge I was using, so even though it doesn't show in the picture, it's not only tone-on-tone, but glittery as well.)   But pretty as it was, I STILL couldn't figure out where to go from there!

So I thought about it for a couple of days…… knowing I like the looks of the tone on tone….. but it still needed a focal point…… a reason for being, if you will. 

Ok, then.  About that time I was starting to gear up into Christmas card mode because of the Stamping for the Troops event I'm planning for this upcoming weekend, and so maybe if I just made ONE card to contribute to the cause, I could at least use this idea for one of the layers and not feel like I'd wasted all this effort and time.  So I tinkered and fiddled some more – and eventually came up with this ONE card……

……. which I think is perfectly acceptable to contribute to the Stamping for the Troops project – and so into the pile  for THAT it went.  It still wasn't appropriate for this particular swap theme, though - and definitely not worth making 10 of, but at least I'd succeeded in making a card from start to finish.

WHEW!

And then I went back to thinking about my swap cards.  I had a case of Stamper's Block something fierce!  WhatEVER was I going to do with that darn stencil?!?

FINALLY I figured out what to do with it!  I packaged it back up, and carefully slipped it into the Craft Keeper in which I keep the rest of my stencils…… and carried it in and put it on the shelf in my studio.

Resolved. 

Then I got out all kinds of glittery "fun" stuff – including this new waffle paper that I just adore……

and my aquapainters (always a good "fall-back" idea),

and watercolored a bunch of bells from Bells & Boughs…….

….. and then put my head down…….

…… and with a final push of determination succeeded in designing my REAL swap cards!

Here's what it looks like close-up……

So what do you think?  Can you see the similarities?

Got any great stories of your own stamper's block you'd care to share?  Leave me a comment; I'd love to hear 'em!