Stocking Builder Punch Not Being Carried Over!

Be sure to scroll down for Christmas card posts!

In my almost 4 years as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I have never seen a punch be introduced in a mini catalogue and not carried over into the next, but I guess there is a first for everything! Stampin' Up! recently announced that the stocking builder punch from the Holiday Mini catalogue will not be carried over. If you were wanting this punch be sure to order it soon (and don't forget the fabulous coordinating Stitched Stockings stamp set)! The following statement was issued by Stampin' Up!

Stocking Builder Punch
December 20, 2011

Our occasion-specific mini catalogues allow us the opportunity to share the latest seasonal products with you and your customers, and we often carry over products from our mini catalogues into the following Idea Book & Catalogue. This time, however, we have decided not to carry over the Stocking Builder Punch (item 124095) from the 2011 Holiday Mini Catalogue into the next Idea Book & Catalogue. Instead we will offer other great designs in its place--not to mention a trendy, new design planned for next holiday season.

Once the current inventory of this punch has been depleted, it will no longer be available for purchase. We hope many Stampin' Up! stockings will adorn cards and brighten holiday projects this season and look forward to seeing what you create with the next seasonal design.

I am so sad this isn't carrying over because I love this punch and it was quickly becoming one of my favourites for Christmas cards!

Rudolph Christmas

It's the last post of my Christmas cards from class (I apparently forgot to photograph one of the cards - if I get a chance I'll try to get one - it uses the set Holiday Lineup and features the mica flakes from the holiday mini). Be sure to scroll down for two other posts from today of other cards from the class.

This final card was definitely the hardest of the cards to make, but is one of my favourites. It was inspired by Mary's card here and uses her tutorial for creating the punch template in the same post. Rudolph's nose is coloured in with a real red marker and covered with a dab of Crystal effects for dimension.

Stamp: SU Jolly Bingo Bits, Heard from the Heart
Ink: SU chocolate chip, real red
Paper: SU ww, real red, chocolate chip
Ribbon: SU 5/8" chocolate chip satin, 1/8" real red taffeta
Punch: SU 1 1/4" square punch
Misc: SU crystal effects, dimensionals, dotto adhesive

Snowflake Happy Holidays

Scroll down for other posts today of cards from my Christmas card class.

I always love the look of three panels down a card so I had to make one with snowflakes - you'll see a different take on the three panels in the upcoming post. It's hard to tell in the photo, but all the green snowflakes were coloured with my 2-way glue pen and covered with dazzling diamonds. The girls in class all chose various sentiments to use in place of the Happy Holidays from the Four the Holidays stamp set.

Stamps: SU Snow Swirled, Four the Holidays
Ink: SU real red, old olive
Paper: SU ww, real red, old olive dsp from brights stack
Punch: SU corner counder, scallop edge
Misc: SU dazzling diamonds, 2-way glue pen

In Colour Ornament Card

Here's another one of the Christmas cards from class.

This is a take on Jen's card here. I didn't change too much about it because I loved the colour combo and hints of silver!

Stamps: SU Delightful Decorations, Snow Swirled

Ink: SU basic gray, island indigo, pool party

Paper: SU ww, pool party, island indigo, silver glimmer

Punch: SU ornament punch

Brad: SU 3/8" jumbo silver brad

Embossing Folder: SU Snowburst

Misc: SU dimensionals

Festive Stitched Stockings

Last post for today! Scroll down for 3 other Christmas card posts! I'll hopefully get around to sharing the remainder of the cards sometime over the weekend.

The stitched stocking stamp set and punch were must-haves for me when the Holiday Mini catalogue came out so of course I had to make a card for the class using it! The girls loved it. Each person used a different stocking image and I have to admit I liked the look of snowflake and argyle stockings better than mine - I went with the polka dots since I thought it would compliment the old olive polka dotted paper!

Despite loving the jingle bells, this was the only card I made for class that used them because they do cost more to mail and I didn't want the girls to have to worry about all of their cards costing too much to send!
TIP: Use a floss threader to thread the baker's twine through the bell!

Stamps: SU Stitched Stockings
Ink: SU real red, old olive
Paper: SU whisper white, real red, old olive, old olive dsp from brights pack
Ribbon: SU white baker's twine
Punch: SU stocking builder punch
Misc: SU mini jingle bell, dimensionals

Northern Frost Snowflake CASE

Be sure to scroll down to view other Christmas card posts!

As soon as I saw this stunning card by Mary, I knew I would have to CASE it. I swapped the striped embossing for polka dots and changed up the brads, but mostly left everything else the same! I love this shade of blue for Christmas! It was great to see such variety in the cards the girls made just by changing which snowflakes they cut and changing their placement!

Stamps: SU Petite Pairs
Ink: SU Versamark
Paper: SU whisper white, silver glimmer, pool party
Ribbon: SU 3/8" ruffled pool party
Embossing Folder: SU perfect polka dots
Die cut: SU Northern Frost
Embossing Powder: SU silver
Brads: SU silver mini brads, 5/16" silver jumbo brads

Silver Sparkle Dasher

Be sure to scroll down for other new Christmas card posts!

This photo really doesn't do this card justice, but I think it is one of my favourites that I made for this class. You really have to picture the contrast of the stark white against the shiny silver.

Stamp: SU Dasher

Ink: SU versamark

Paper: SU whisper white, brushed silver

Ribbon: SU silver elastic cord (retired)

Embossing Folder: SU Snow Burst
Misc: SU dimesionals

Joyful CASE

I've been totally ignoring my blog lately. First, I didn't want to share the Christmas cards I made because they were for a class, then I wasn't felt great, and then we've had Christmas parties, shopping, etc., the list goes on and on and as a result getting photos of the cards just got pushed further and further down the list. So here starts the posts of the cards we made in a Christmas card class for my husband's coworkers - you'll have to excuse the not so great photography!

This first card was a CASE of this card from Jill. I modified it ever so slightly and love both versions. The ladies at the class love to heat emboss so I added it to 3 of the 8 cards that we made!

Stamps: SU Sounding Joy
Ink: SU Crumb Cake, Versamark
Paper: SU crumb cake, very vanilla, cherry cobbler
Embossing Folder: SU Snow Burst
Ribbon: SU cherry cobbler seam binding
Embossing Powder: SU cherry cobbler

MDS Contest Thank You Card

I posted my scrapbook page I submitted for the MDS conest a couple days ago, and today I will show you the card I submitted as well.

Card Digital Supplies:
Papers: basic black cardstock, very vanilla cardstock, love letter dsp
Stamps: thank you kindly, fabulous florets, petal pizzazz
Embellishments: basic black brads and grosgrain ribbon
Punch: square punch

New Hostess Promotion

From November 1 - December 15, get an additional $45 in FREE Stampin' Up! merchandise when you host a $450 workshop (before shipping and taxes) in addition to all of the usual great benefits!

Schedule your workshop today to start creating in time for the holidays!

MDS Contest: Scrapbook Entry

Now that the finalists have been announced for the MDS contest, I thought I would share my entries. Seeing as it was just Halloween, I will start off with my Halloween scrapbook entry.

One of the requirements was to enter a scrapbook page along with journalling. This was the page I submitted and the hardest part for me was definitely the journalling as I typically do not journal in my scrapbooks - I think it turned out okay though.

Maggie actually wore this costume for Halloween and many of the kids who came to the door were more interested in her than in getting candy!

Digital Supplies:

Papers: pumpkine pie cardstock, night and day dsp
Stamps: man's best friend
Embellishments: pumpkin pie brads and grosgrain ribbon, pick your poison borders
Punch: square punch

Halloween SFYTT

Happy Halloween!

Here's my Halloween take on this months SFYTT.

This is a hybrid card - the image and sentiment were both printed on whisper white card stock after being created in MDS. The rest are actual materials I had on hand.

Stamps: Spooky Treats Designer Template (MDS), Piece of Poison (MDS)
Paper: SU ww, peach parfait, basic black designer series paper stack
Ribbon: SU basic black satin

More Halloween Decor

I posted my candles that I made for Halloween a couple days ago and here is some more Halloween decor I made for around the house.

These pumpkins were made using the Definitely Decorative vinyl "Spooky Expressions." I actually purchased these around when they first came out but I didn't have anywhere to put them since we were in the apartment. Now that we have a house, we have tons of places to put them! I have one in our kitchen, one in the dining room and one in the living room.

This is a totally non-SU project, but I wanted to share the wreath I made for our front door for Halloween. It was super cheap to create and fairly easy too (except for the second degree burn I got on my finger from the hot glue gun)!

I purchased a wire wreath frame from Michael's and wrapped it with 8 feather boas I got at the dollar store. Then I pulled the leaves off the stems of the skulls (you may have noticed that they are placed underneath the candles I posted a couple days ago) that I got at Michaels and wrapped them around the frame. Finally, I tied on some orange Christmas balls to the frame as well. There are actually quite a few more than you can see in the photo, but the wind made the feathers cover them up when I was photographing it.

Hope you enjoy some of my Halloween projects!

Halloween Candles

I had been playing with MDS a lot earlier in the month to be able to enter the MDS contest to win downloads and came up with this idea as well.

I created the bands in MDS, printed them, mounted them on black cardstock and wrapped them around the candles. I left them loose enough so that I could slide them off and save them for next year! There are a couple of additional candles that aren't in the photo because they sit up on top of the fireplace mantle.

October 2011 Stampin' Up! Promotions

Stampin' Up! has introduced two fabulous new promotions for the month of October.

Buy any 2 Simply Sent Kits and get a coordinating stamp set for free!

Buy any two of the following Simply Sent Kits:

• Simply Sent Great Day ($15.95) - page 192
• Simply Sent Everyday Elegance ($14.95) - page 193
• Simply Sent Sweet Moments ($16.95) - page 193

And get a free coordinating stamp set:

• It's Your Day (french available) ($10.95) - page 192
• Everyday Wishes ($11.95) - page 193
• You're Cherished (french available) ($10.95) - page 193

Join the Stampin' Up! Family and Get a FREE Big Shot

This is definitely the best time to become a demonstrator if you have ever considered it. Stampin' Up! is offering a free Big Shot to any new recruit during the month of October. Not interested in, or already own the Big Shot - no problem. Stampin' Up! is offering an alternative up to $125 in free merchandise.

There are two $215 starter kits to choose from if you decide to become a demonstrator: the Standard Starter Kit (valued at $425) and the Digital+ Starter Kit (valued at $415). Either starter kit has free shipping.

This promo is on top of the usual demonstrator benefits including:

• 20% off product discount
• Extra 10% off first demonstrator order (for a total of 30%)
• Free subscription to exclusive demonstrator magazine
• 20% instant income on workshop/customer purchases
• Earning cash, trips and other incentives
• Ability to work as little or as much as you want
• And many more!

Click on the link here to view the flyer.

Contact me using the email link in my sidebar if you are interested in any of these promotions or have any questions.

SFYTT Button Buddies

Once again, I'm a terrible blogger. Even if I make projects, I don't seem to be very good at getting pictures and posting them any time soon! Unfortunately, I wouldn't expect that to change any time soon - I've been quite busy between work, getting stuff done around the house and now to top it off, my Grandma just passed away, so I'll be going away for her funeral in the near future. I'm having a hard time managing and processing this as my Grandma and I were quite close and she is the only grandparent I had.

Anyways, here's the card I made for this months SFYTT.

Since buttons don't come in the "in colours", I simply used the stamp and covered it in Crystal effects for some added dimension. I love the way this card turned out. I like the sentiment for this card to because it really could be used for just about anything.

Stamps: SU Button Buddies, Bring on the Cake
Paper: SU lucky limeade, ww, Berry Blossoms dsp
Ink: SU lucky limeade, calypso coral
Punch: SU corner rounder
Misc: SU crystal effects, circle cutter

SSSC132 Baby Boy

Again, I have not been a very good blogger and despite making cards, I have not been good at posting them!

Here is one I made over a week ago for the SSSC132.

I love this new "I Dig You" stamp set - it's so cute and versatile! The sentiment is from another adorable new baby set called "Little Additions." I stamped the truck several times in each of the colours and cut out the separate parts so that I could layer them up on dimensionals to create added dimension to each part of the truck - unfortunately it's not the easiest to see in the photo. The animals were all coloured using my Stampin' write markers and stamped write on the main panel.

Stamps: SU I Dig you, Little Additions
Ink: SU pear pizzazz, marina mist, basic gray, Versamark
Paper: SU ww, pear pizzazz, marina mist, nursery nest dsp
Brads: SU basic gray
Powder: SU whisper white embossing powder
Misc: SU dimensionals, heat tool, paper snips

Holiday Mini Catalogue Now Available

Today marks the start of the new Holiday Mini Catalogue. It has some fabulous new items in there for the holidays, including the adorable Stitched Stockings stamp set and Stocking builder punch I previewed here.

Click here to view the entire catalogue!
Items in this catalogue are available for purchase today through January 3, 2012.

Array of Sunshine CASE

I loved this card by Jen as soon as I saw it. As soon as my Stampin' Up! shipment arrived I knew I had to CASE it.

I had to make some modifications to the arrangements of the colours since lucky limeade is the only colour I didn't order ribbon in! I think it works well though - it makes the coral flower really pop. The flower was stamped twice and cut out using my paper snips to be able to raise the center up on dimensionals. To give extra texture to the card, I stamped my woodgrain background stamp on the lime cardstock, heat embossed the sentiment in white, and dry embossed the pooly party background.

Stamps: SU Array of Sunshine (hostess), Woodgrain, Delightful Dozen
Ink: SU pool party, lucky limeade, calypso coral, Versamark
Paper: SU ww, pooly party, lucky limeade
Ribbon: SU pooly party 3/8" ruffled ribbon
Brad: SU lucky limeade designer printed brad
Powder: SU white heat emboss powder
Punch: SU scallop edge punch
Misc: SU dimensionals, paper snips, swiss dots embossing folder

Holiday Mini Sneak Peek

As Stampin' Up demo's we are allowed to preorder merchandise from upcoming catalogues. The set that I used for this card is form the upcoming Holiday Mini that will be released September 1. It's called Stitched Stockings and has a coordinating punch!

For this card, I went back to one of my favourite layouts that I use quite frequently. I coloured my favourite stocking image from this set using my cherry cobbler and old olive markers, then stamped it on very vanilla cardstock and punched it out using the coordinating punch. Finally, it was adhered to the card base using dimensionals.

I also have to admit that I am not a huge fan of this years Christmas papers so you will probably see me mostly using this jolly holiday designer paper from last year.

Stamps: SU Stitched Stockings
Ink: SU cherry cobbler, old olive
Paper: SU very vanilla, cherry cobbler, jolly holiday dsp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 1/2" cherry cobbler seam binding
Punch: SU Stocking builder punch
Misc: SU dimensionals

SC345 Elebration

When the new catalogue came in July, I was sad to see the stamp set Baby Steps go, until I found my new favourite replacement for it: Elebration. It's not specific to babies, but the image is just so cute! This card was actually created for last weeks sketch challenge, SC345, but I never got around to posting it until now.

I stamped the image once in StazOn on watercolour paper (and used my aquapainter to colour it in) and once on whisper white cardstock. Once it was coloured, I cut out the elephant and adhered them on top of the image on the whisper white cardstock. It's hard to tell in this photo, but I also used my white gel pen to colour the nails really white! I wish that watercolour paper was white like whisper white. Because it isn't, I thought it looked funny since the background colour of the dsp is white, which is why I decided to cut it out and glue it.

Unfortunately, I realized after colouring, cutting all my cardstock and designer paper that I didn't ahve the correct colour of ribbon, so I substituted the colour I wanted, perfect plum, with wisteria wonder. I think it matches well with the papers, I just wished I had realized it when I coloured the balloon so in wisteria wonder too!

The background paper was created using the stamp set Dot Dot Dot and my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the image since it doesn't actually span the width or length of the paper.

Stamps: Elebration, Dot Dot Dot, Petite Pairs
Ink: StazOn jet black, Versamark, SU basic gray, blushing bride, marina mist, so saffron, perfect plum
Paper: SU watercolour, ww, blushing bride, nursery nest dsp
Ribbon: SU wisteria wonder 3/8" ruffled
Punch: SU 1" circle
Powder: SU white embossing powder
Misc: SU dimensionals, aquapainter, stamp-a-ma-jig, uniball signo gel pen

New Blog Design and SFYTT

It's been a long time again since I last posted but this summer is just going by so quickly! I'm sure you all can relate.

Some of you may have already noticed that I changed up my blog design again! I thought I would change it to showcase items that are available in the catalogue too and not just in digital form. I love this new designer paper Domestic Goddess and it has my two favourite in colours: pool party and calypso coral. Hope you guys like it!

This months SFYTT was quite a challenge for me because it contains a panel that is just off kilter. Normally I always straighten these panels but I thought I should really try to stick to the sketch and keep it on the diagonal. I did decide though to use the flower image from the new set Button Buddies because I didn't know how to stamp the image if it actually had a true direction (should I stamp it straight or on the diagonal too).

I think this card actually turned out pretty well. If nothing else, I am at least pleased I managed to not straighten the panel and it didn't look awful!

Stamps: SU Button Buddies, Delightful Dozen
Ink: SU melon mambo, old olive
Paper: SU ww, melon mambo, old olive, old olive dsp
Button: SU old olive designer button from brights pack
Brads: SU old olive brads from brights pack
Ribbon: SU white bakers twine
Misc: SU dimensionals

Another Fabulous Promotion!

For the month of August, Stampin' Up! has introduced a fabulous new promotion: buy 3 designer series papers, get one free!

Click here to view the complete flyer.

Last Chance for July's SFYTT

Submitting this card for this months SFYTT just under the wire!

I really struggled with this sketch, mostly because of the three circles but I think it turned out okay. I don't love it but I don't hate it either. I wanted to use the new in colours but I couldn't think of what I would use in place of the buttons since there aren't any in those colours, but as soon as I was done I realized I could have used butterflies there instead.

Stamps: SU awash with flowers, fabulous phrases
Ink: SU basic black, wild wasabi, perfect plum, versamark
Paper: SU ww, basic black, perfect plum
Ribbon: SU 3/8" ww tafetta
Powder: SU ww embossing powder
Punch: SU 1" circle, corner rounder
Buttons: SU perfect plum designer buttons (subtles collection)
Misc: SU heat tool, sticky strip, glue dots

Embossed Wedding CASE and off to Haiti

I saw this beautiful wedding card that Lisa made and I knew right away that I would want to CASE it, so I put it in my favourites folder and finally got around to making it. Unfortunately, this is one of those cards that I just could not get a good photo of to do it justice - you'll just have to take my word for it that it is really beautiful in real life!

For my version, I stamped the background panel on using the outlined fabulous floret images in Versamark ink on whisper white cardstock and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. You can't tell in the photo but while the embossing powder was still wet, I sprinkled dazzling diamonds on it so that they sparkle as well. I did the same for the main image panel and the sentiment.

The whole card ends up with a white on white glitter effect that looks quite pretty and actually not difficult to read!

This will be the last of my posts for a while this summer. I'm off to Haiti tomorrow to volunteer nurse there for 8 days plus a few more for travel and I didn't have time to make cards to post while I'm away! If you are interested, you can read a bit more about my nursing trip here. I'm not really nervous about going at all, but this will be the first time in several years that Grant and I have spent this long apart. At least I'll have access to email to see how he and our puppy Maggie are doing!

Stamps: SU Fabulous Florets, Occasional Quotes (retired hostess)
Ink: Versamark
Paper: SU whisper white
Misc: SU white embossing powder, dazzling diamonds glitter, heat tool

SC340 Get Well Embossed

Fabulous Florets is one of my favourite new stamps and it's perfect for embossing. This card was inspired by the sketch challenge SC340 and the ways to use it challenge WT329 to combine something old and something new.

In terms of something old, the challenge suggested something older than 6 months. So, I used retired ribbon from when melon mambo was an "in colour" and not yet in the brights collection. I also used the Thoughts & Prayers stamp set that I have owned since it was released at least a couple years ago.

In terms of something newer than 6 months old, I used my new stamp set Fabulous Florets, and two new embossing powders (melon mambo and wild wasabi).

There are four different heat embossed elements on this card:

• the larger flower is heat embossed on whisper white paper with melon mambo embossing powder
• the small flower is heat embossed with white embossing powder on melon mambo paper
• the stem is heat embossed using wild wasabi embossing powder
• the sentiment is heat embossed using black embossing powder.

I love the look and feel that heat embossing gives to cards and I used to do it much more so now that Stampin' Up! has some great colours of powders, I plan on trying to use it more often again.

Stamps: SU Fabulous Florets, Thoughts & Prayers
Ink: Versamark
Paper: SU ww, basic black, malon mambo
Embossing Powders: whisper white, basic black, wild wasabi, melon mambo
Ribbon: SU 1/2" polka dot melon mambo grosgrain (retired), white bakers twine
Button: SU basic black from neutral designer buttons
Misc: SU heat gun, dimensionals

New Simply Soft CASE

I never even got around to finishing up making cards with all of my retiring stamp sets last month - I still had three more. Oh well, on to newer things!

As a demonstrator, we get a sneak peek of the new hostess sets in the new catalogue and are able to purchase a couple if we choose. I know it's another flower set, but I knew I wanted the simply soft set and I've had it in my possession for quite a while now but only just got around to stamping with it.

This is a CASE of this beautiful card by Karen. She always creates the most beautiful scenes like this using various techniques. This one involved what she calls "marker layering." It takes several shades of the same colour and layering them over one another leaving a little of each colour showing at the top. For this card I used pink pirouette, pretty in pink, regal rose and melon mambo. Karen also added a dot of white at the top of her flowers but it didn't look quite as nice without the dark contrast of her flowers so I opted to just leave it out.

Stamps: SU Simply Soft (hostess)
Ink: StazOn jet black, SU pink pirouette, pretty in pink, regal rose, melon mambo, certainly celery, lucky limeade
Paper: SU ww, pretty in pink, melon mambo
Ribbon: SU 5/8" pretty in pink satin
Misc: embossing folder

July $119 Starter Kit Promotion

Along with the new catalogue comes a great new promotion to become a Stampin' Up demonstrator. For the month of July, become a demonstrator for only $119. This limited time starter kit, a value of $205, comes with:

• Easy Events clear-mount set*
• Pennant Parade wood-mount set*
• Old Olive classic stampin' pad
• Pumpkin Pie classic stampin' pad
• Real Red classic stampin' pad
• Brights 8-1/2" x 11" assorted card stock
• Basic Black classic stampin' pad
• Whisper White note cards (20)
• Just Add Cake designer series paper*
• Chocolate Chip 1/2" scallop dots ribbon*
• Blender pen (1)
• Clear-mount block C
• SNAIL adhesive
• Business supplies
• Getting Started DVD
• Getting Started Guide
• Guest Invitation Postcards (100)
• 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue (8)
• 2011 Summer Mini Catalogue (8)
• Stampin' Up! logo vinyl
• Décor Elements applicator
• To My Hostess Envelopes (10)
• My Digital Studio Marketing DVD
• Recruit Folders (5)
• Recruit Brochures (20)
• Customer Order Forms (50)

* new to the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue.

Note that you can still purchase the standard or digital starter kits. Just like the standard and digital starter kits, you can change the $119 starter kit to an alternate stamp set of equal or lesser value, alternate card stock of equal or lesser value and alternate classic stampin' pads of equal or lesser value.

PLUS, if you join the Stampin' Up family in July, you will earn an exclusive Christmas Keepsake Project kit, a $50 value, that includes additional Stampin' Up products!

It's Here! 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue

The new 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue is here. Click here to view the catalogue.

Goodbye Best Bots Forever

I have to admit that this is one of the sets I've purchased that I had the best of intentions of using but never got around to even using it until now that it is retiring! Grant and I had picked it out to use for Valentine's for his class, but for several reasons I never got around to making them so I bought the similar boxes (seen in this post) for him to use instead. This is what I would have liked the cards to have looked like if I had made them!

The images were stamped using my stamp-a-ma-jig and Jet Black StazOn ink on watercolour paper. They were all then coloured using my stampin' write markers and an aquapainter. I created a little shadow underneath the robots using crumb cake ink to match the main cardstock. The designer paper is from the Nursery Suite set that is also retiring and, as seen above, is not limited to baby crafts!

Stamps: SU Best Bots Forever
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, SU regal rose, baja breeze, basic gray, crumb cake, real red, early espresso, pear pizzazz
Paper: SU crumb cake, baja breeze, regal rose, early espresso, nursery suite dsp, watercolour
Misc: SU aquapainter, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

Goodbye Sparkly & Bright

I know it's a bit early for Christmas cards, but it is exactly 6 months away now! Plus, the super cute Sparkly & Bright stamp set is retiring.

I decided to CASE this beautiful card by Stacey - I've had it in my favourites folder forever! I wanted to make it a standard size card instead of square because I don't have any satin red ribbon and I thought having a large card with skinny ribbon would look kind of funny. I was so annoyed because after the card was all assembled and all I had left to do was adhere the bow, I smudged the middle reindeer! If you are as picky as me, then you know this means I will probably never give this card to anyone but I was too annoyed with myself to make another! Maybe later!

It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but the one nose is coloured red,then  covered with crystal effects and dazzling diamond glitter.

Stamps: SU Sparkly & Bright
Ink: SU chocolate chip, real red
Paper: SU chocolate chip, real red, ww
Ribbon: SU 1/8" real red taffeta
Misc: SU crystal effects, dazzling diamond glitter

Goodbye Lots of Bots

Here's a card to send of the retiring set Lots of Bots. The ribbon and celebrations dsp are also retiring.

The robots were first stamped in black ink on whisper white paper and coloured using the various ink colours and blender pens. The middle part of the robot was then stamped again but this time in StazOn ink on watercolour paper, then wartercoloured with my stampin' write markers and aquapainter. Once coloured, they were cut out with my paper snips and glued on to the original stamped images.

The sentiment on the stamp was initially not coloured when I stamped the robots. Instead, I inked it up alone afterwards and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up at the top where I wanted it!

Check out the little rhinestones on the bags too!

Stamps: SU Lots of Bots
Ink: SU basic black, pear pizzazz, bashful blue, real red, basic gray, StazOn jet black
Paper: SU ww, real red, watercolour, celebrations dsp
Ribbon: SU 5/8" real red grosgrain
Misc: SU aquapainter, blender pens, paper snips, rhinestones

Tart & Tangy Teacher Thanks

Seeing as there are only a few days left of school, I thought I would use the apple image from the retiring set Tart & Tangy to create a thank you card for a teacher.

The sentiment is from Upsy Daisy and actually has another line to it, but I just inked up the thank you with my Stampin' write markers.

Stamps: SU Tart & Tangy, Upsy Daisy
Ink: SU poppy parade, old olive, chocolate chip
Paper: SU ww, poppy parade
Punch: SU 1 1/4" square

Goodbye Earthling

Time to say goodbye to the super cute set Greetings, Earthling before it retires.

This card is made using this months SFYTT. I stamped the aliens/monsters in Jet Black StazOn ink on watercolour paper, then used my aquapainter to paint them using the main colours in the also retiring celebrations dsp. I really enjoy watercolouring and have just started trying it out on stamped images that are not just flowers. I think it turned out quite well! The grass line was just made freehand using my basic black Stampin' write marker.

For my sentiment, I used a retired set from Sale-A-Bration several years ago, called Birthday Whimsy. For all the birthday stamp sets I have, none of the fonts seemed to suit this image, they were all too "pretty" looking! Guess I know what I'll have to buy from the upcoming catalogue!

Stamps: SU Greetings Earthling, Birthday Whimsy (retired)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, SU real red, pear pizzazz, pacific point, bashful blue, basic black
Paper: SU watercolour, real red, ww, pacific point, celebrations dsp, in colour patterns pack (hostess)
Misc: SU circle cutter, dimensionals, aquapainter

Goodbye Great Friend

Great Friend is another retiring set that I own that I will be sad to see go. I originally had to have it just because I loved the butterfly image.

Not much to say about this card! It's pretty self explanatory! Again, this designer paper is being retired as well.

Stamps: SU Great Friend, Thoughts & Prayers

Ink: SU soft suede, baja breeze
Paper: SU soft suede, baja breeze, very vanilla, elegant soiree dp
Ribbon: SU 3/8" very vanilla taffeta
Brad: SU very vanilla
Misc: SU pearls

Goodbye Eastern Blooms

Eastern Blooms has definitely been one of my favourite sets since I got it in 2008 so I will be sad to see it go. I recently posted this paradise card set that I modified from the original inspiration piece that had been made using the eastern blooms set (as seen here). Well, I liked it so much I made the eastern blooms version again but swapped out the colours, designer papers (to feature the retiring elegant soiree dsp) and sentiments.

Here's a closer look at each of the individual cards. You can again click on any of the images to enlarge them.

My favourite is definitely the last card in all versions I've made of it! I just love that layout!

Stamps: SU Eastern Blooms, Thank You Kindly
Ink: SU soft suede, baja breeze
Paper: SU crumb cake, baja breeze, very vanilla, elegant soiree dsp
Ribbon: SU very vanilla 3/8" taffeta
Misc: SU piercing tool, mat pack, dimensionals, paper snips

Goodbye to Everything Nice and Bugs & Kisses

Today, I'm sharing the retiring sets Everything Nice and Bugs & Kisses as well as the retiring dsp nursery suite.

This first card is for a baby girl and inspired by the sketch Mojo194. Finally, I found a great use for some of my buttons!

This card is for a baby boy, I wish I had a little dog set to go with it too!

Supplies

Baby Girl Card

Stamps: SU Everything Nice

Ink: SU chocolate chip, regal rose

Paper: SU ww, chocolate chip, so saffron, regal rose, nursery suite dsp

Button: SU so saffron from subtles designer buttons

Ribbon: SU 3/8" whisper white taffeta

Misc: circle cutter

Baby Boy Card

Stamps: SU Everything Nice, Bugs & Kisses

Ink: SU chocolate chip, baja breeze, pear pizzazz

Paper: SU ww, chocolate chip, baja breeze, pear pizzazz, nursery suite dsp

Misc: SU dimensionals, paper snips

Goodbye Baby Steps

Today I thought I would share cards made with the retiring stamp set Baby Steps. It was definitely my go to baby set this year because those elephants are too cute!

Here's the baby boy version

And the baby girl version

I really wanted the attention to be on the image so I didn't even use any designer paper. For the same reason, I kept the embellishments to a minimum. I still had to stick to quite a few layers though! I substituted the bow for a button in the second because I just couldn't get the 5/8" satin ribbon to make a bow that was both small enough for the space and pretty!

Baby Boy Card

Stamp: SU Baby Steps

Ink: SU baja breeze

Paper: SU ww, baja breeze

Ribbon: SU 1/2" baja breeze seam binding

Brad: SU whisper white

Misc: swiss dots embossing folder (similar to perfect polka dots)

Baby Girl Card
Stamp: SU Baby Steps
Ink: SU pretty in pink
Paper: SU ww, pretty in pink
Ribbon: SU 5/8" pretty in pink satin
Button: SU pretty in pink from subtles collection
Misc: swiss dots embossing folder (similar to perfect polka dots)

Goodbye Paradise

Since posting the last chance lists on June 1, I have decided to make cards for this month that feature retiring items that are some of my favourites! Today, I'm sharing items made with the Paradise stamp set and Woodland Walk dsp. I also recently discovered The Paper Players challenge blog and found that this weeks challenge #50 coincides perfectly with my need to make thank you cards for people who have donated towards my volunteer nursing trip to Haiti! Click on the photo to enlarge it for clarity!

Some of you may recognize the layouts and designs here as I used them previously in this post (which also features the soon to retire set Eastern Blooms).

Here's a closer look at each of the cards individually. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them (they appear a bit fuzzy until they are blown up).

I'm sad to see this leaf set go - it was one of my go to sets for masculine cards, but at least I will still have the Autumn Splendor leaf set to use!

The background stamp on the main panels is the grassy image from the set Inspired by Nature. I also used the linen thread for a more natural look to go along with the leaves, grass and woodgrain (plus it keeps them a bit more masculine than ribbon).

It's also hard to tell but these cards have a lot of dimension. All of the leaves are raised up on dimensionals and all of the sentiment panels are raised as well.

Stamps: SU Thank You Kindly, Inspired by Nature, Paradise
Ink: SU chocolate chip, garden green, wild wasabi
Paper: SU crumb cake, garden green, wild wasabi, very vanilla, Woodland Walk dsp
Ribbon: SU linen thread
Punch: SU scallop border punch
Misc: SU dimensionals, paper snips