It’s that time again…..

The (now) annual Stampin’ Up!® Retirement list will be available tomorrow.  This time they are publishing not just the list of retiring STAMPS, but ACCESSORIES as well.  In the past we have had to wait until 2 weeks before the new catalog to know what accessories were retiring.  Before I joined SU, I’m told they didn’t get a retired accessory list AT ALL.  Which can be pretty brutal for those trying to plan Convention swaps.  LOL!

The amazing JanTInk has, for some time now, been publishing her prediction of what stamps will be on the retired list.  Here is a link to her blog from today with her predictions, and here is the list of what I have on that list and my comments on their possible retirement:

• Boatloads of Love (I like this set, but I won’t be too upset if it retires)
• Dreams du Jour (Like this set a lot, but used it for Convention swaps last year.  It can go.)
• Heartfelt Thanks  (Noooooo!!!!)
• True Friend  (another set I used for swaps- it can go)
• Boho Backgrounds (a very versatile set.  Hope they replace it with something similar)
• One of a Kind (I use the “for you” stamp in this set a LOT)
• Big Flowers (This and little flowers are so versatile.  I will miss them both)
• Little Flowers
• Sincere Salutations (Nooooo!  I *JUST* bought this set!)
  

From the Dormant List :

• Season of Joy  (A good holiday set.  Hoping for a better one in the new catalog)

We’ll see what retires tomorrow!

Right on schedule!

My goal was to get both the circle journals I received at the beginning of the month out by May 16th.  Didn’t happen.  I did get the first one out.  Gave myself a more realistic goal of having the second one out by the end of the month.  It will go out tomorrow.

Spammy Amy, if you’re reading this and want to be surprised, don’t look any further…..

I mean it!

OK – so Amy’s theme was “Spamily Pets”.  We had to do a tag in the front in our favorite color (purple!) answering some specific questions about ourselves and including a photo of our family on the back and a funny photo of ourselves.  I only have 2 “funny photos” of myself, so that was pretty easy.

Then we had a 2 page layout in 6x6 size to tell all about our pets.  Well, since we’ve only had Coco for 5 months, it didn’t seem right to do a two page layout all about her when we had Taz for over 15 years and Aspen for over 10.  Then that brought my other cat, Sandi into the equation….  So I ended up doing a full “pet resume”.  EIGHT pets.  Yeah.  EIGHT photos on two 6x6 pages.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but I’m actually kinda pleased with it.  (and if you are wondering, I was about nine when the photo in the layout was taken)

The base is from a DCWV pad called “Luxury Stack” and it’s shimmery.  Really pretty.  With that many photos, I really needed something subtle for a background!  To create a pocket for the journaling panels I mounted the background paper onto a 6x6 Whisper White piece, leaving the center of the top side open for the panel to slide in and out.  The gold brad keeps it from dropping in too far.  The photos are all matted on Chocolate Chip cardstock, as are the journaling panels, which are printed on Very Vanilla.  The name tags are printed on vellum paper and then adhered using Krylon spray adhesive to the same DCWV paper and then punched with the Small Oval punch.  To make them stand out, I ran the edges across my Bravo Burgundy Craft Ink spot and then popped them up with Dimensionals.  The mouse, heart and collar embellishments are Jolee’s.  Sorry about the flash reflections.  Between the glossy photo paper and the shimmery cardstock, this was the best I could do!

The layout:

The left page, with journaling panel:

And the right page:

Cherie – this will be on its way to you today…. Look for it Wednesday or Thursday!

Thanks so much for looking!       =^..^=

A quick little card….

Our 16th wedding anniversary was this month.  Here is the card I did for Russ:

Supplies used were all Stampin’ Up!:  Stamp set is Dreams du Jour; Whisper White, Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip cardstock; Chocolate Chip ink pad, Aqua Painter with Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red ink pads; Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon, gold brads and the Stampin’ Up! Exclusive Texturz Plate set for the Big Shot.  I’m really going to miss using Pink Pirouette.  It’s an awesome color.  Practically a neutral for me now.  This Riding Hood Red Taffeta is going to be missed as well.  I hope they replace it with another red taffeta.  It’s been nice to have a bold color in the taffeta.

Thanks for looking!

They’re DONE!

My friend’s daughter is turning 16 next month.  She asked back in late April if I would help her do invitations again for her party this year.  Last year, we did about 15 of these:

Cute cross-over pocket card, mostly using up some CTMH supplies I (still) have. 

So, I gladly agreed to do invites again this year and sent over 4 samples.  She said she wanted “blue and brown”.  Mmmmmm… Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip!  And what a great way to use up the soon-to-retire Baja Breeze I had left!  Well, when I agreed to do this, we figured that Russ would be relocated by Mid May, leaving me PLENTY of time free to get the parts all cut and schedule a day to go over and put them together with Megan.  Yeah.  Didn’t work that way.  And I have jury duty next week, so I just did them myself.  Did I mention that this year there were 33 invitations to be made in two designs?  She is inviting 14 girls to the slumber party and then an additional 19 people to the BBQ party the next day.  So, here are the invites:

The Slumber Party Invite:

And the BBQ party invite:

Supplies used were almost all Stampin’ Up! with the exception of the cuttlebug texture folder for the dots (she REALLY liked the little bumpy dots better than the subtle ones that the Sizzix plates make), the stick on rhinestone and the Krylon spray adhesive I used on the vellum.  I love how spray adhesive works on vellum…. totally invisible!  The cardstock used was Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Vellum and whisper white inside to print the party details on (those were all cut out with the Top Note die).  Chocolate chip ink was used to stamp “You’re Invited” from Sincere Salutations and the flower from Big Flowers.  Punches used were the 1 3/8” circle and the Scallop Circle punches.  Silver brads and Organza ribbon round out the supplies.  I’ll be delivering these tomorrow.  Then begins CONVENTION SWAP MAKING SEASON.  Yep, I’ll be creating like a mad woman from now until August 3rd, but I won’t be able to share much until after Convention.  I do have a few events in between, birthdays and such, and a couple cards I haven’t posted yet that I will try and upload and share.

Thanks for reading, and happy creating!

Drop dead GORGEOUS!

I have LOTS of talented stamping friends.  There are a few however whose stuff just makes my jaw drop.  Like EVERY TIME THEY MAKE SOMETHING.  You know who you are.

Cherie is one of them.  Check out the cards I got from her last week…..

I’m willing to bet this is one she did for one of her classes.  It’s the very popular Flower Pot (pocket) card.  The flowers have a vanilla note area matted on Chocolate chip that pulls out of the pot.  The centers of the flowers are coated with Crystal Effects. 

This card just takes my breath away.  The details are incredible from the paper piercing around the edges of the 3 main focal layers to the dyed ribbon, the little pearls and the FIVE LAYER ROSE! 

Here’s a side view of the rose so you can see the layering involved.  ALL the layers are coated with Crystal Effects.

Pretty incredible stuff…..  And even though the paper and the color (baja breeze) are about to retire, I think I need to order a package of this paper.  I had managed to resist up till recently when SO MUCH GORGEOUS STUFF has been done with it.  *sigh*  So much for holding out till June 1 to place another order.  If I’m ordering DSP, I’m going to get in on the buy three get one free deal that Stampin’ Up! is running until the end of the month!

THANKS, CHERIE!  YOU ROCK!

Birthday Cards

Our adorable niece and nephew turned two on Friday.  Their party was Saturday.  It was over 90 degrees.

Here are their cards – Gregory’s:

and Abigail’s:

Mostly Stampin’ Up! stuff was used.  The bases are Confetti White with either Bashful Blue or Pink Pirouette that was stamped with the balloon from Crazy For Cupcakes.  The cupcakes were stamped on whisper white and the cups were colored with markers (Bashful Blue and CTMH’s Baby Pink) and the tops were frosted with Stickles Frosted Lace and the sprinkles are assorted colors of Stickles (yes, I have a LOT of colors).  The candles were colored with SU markers and then accented with Crystal Effects.  They were cut out and layered on Barely Banana and then matted with Chocolate Chip and punched on the corners with the Ticket Corner Punch.  Not that the birthday kids cared.  Or even SAW them.  Once they opened See N Say Elmo, they paid no attention to anything else.  LOL!

A very rare occurrence

Yes, boys and girls, I SCRAPPED SOMETHING.  I truly am NOT a scrapbooker.  Not even a little bit.  Well, maybe a LITTLE bit, but when I do, it’s usually digital or very minimalist.  Well, I lost my mind a while back and joined a group of my friends in a “Circle Journal” project.  For those who don’t know what that is; each member of the group has a scrapbook.  They do the welcome and instruction page and the page(s) for the members’ tags and then they do the first layout and mail it on to the next gal.  Our group left the themes of the books open to the individual who owned it.  When it’s all done, you get your own book back with a layout in it from each member. 

My theme was about our “stamping”.  I have another circle journal here that is due out by the end of this month.  Her theme is about our pets.  I have several hundred pictures to choose from for that one!  LOL!  The ones I’ve already done include a dream vacation, another one about pets, one about dreams/goals and one about a family recipe.

Julie’s theme is “Collecting Joy”.  Our pages were supposed to be about things that bring us joy.  So here is what I did:

The base pages are Almost Amethyst and the mats are Basic Black.  The brads and ribbon slides are from the Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware.  The ribbon is White Taffeta and the rest of the embellishments are whatever was in my drawer.  The wine bottle and glass are from a Hanna Stamps set called “Kiss the Cook”.  The little pull tab was made with the SU Scallop Circle punch (Shimmery White) and layered onto Almost Amethyst that was punched with the 2” Scallop Circle punch by EK Success.  It’s a PERFECT mat for our punch!  The text is printed on Shimmery White.

Thanks for looking!

Welcome to Parade of Papers!

As detailed in my post on Wednesday, the Parade of Papers Blog Hop is now on!  Check it out!  Here is a link to the first blog in the Hop, Stamping Addiction, by Carmen in Arizona.  The papers featured in the hop will go in the order they appear in the catalog, starting with Rockabilly and ending with Juntos and Walk in the Park from the supplemental catalogs.  And don’t forget to check out Stampin Addicts too!  (shameless plug for my new internet hangout!)

Parade of Papers Blog Hop!

Coming this weekend to a computer near you!

Beginning Friday morning (May 8th) and running thru Sunday night (May 10th), a group of talented stampers from Stampin Addicts will be hosting a “Blog Hop”.  The link to the first blog in the Hop, can be found here at Stampin Addicts.  I will have another post on Friday with a link directly to the first blog in the Hop as well.

The blog hop will be featuring  Stampin’ Up!'s May special; Buy 3 Designer Papers or Textured card stock & get 1 free!   There is nothing you need to buy during the blog hop.  There are 24 Stampin' Up! Demos participating in the blog hop that will run Friday May 8th-Sunday May 10th. Starting at 8am EST Friday and ending at midnight PST Sunday.  The official hours that the link “hop” will be live is 8AM EDT Friday morning to 11:59:59PM EDT Sunday night.  Some links may be live a little before and after these times, but some may not. 

Each blog will feature a different designer paper, including Walk in the Park from the Occasions Mini and Juntos from our Spanish language catalog, Celebrando Creatividad.  Two of the artists will be showing some of the 19 colors of Patterns Designer Series Paper that are available as well (14 colors can be ordered individually, the other 5 are available only as a Level 1 Hostess reward).  Some stops will also be offering blog candy. Each blog links to the next, taking you in a circle to see all the projects, but the links will only be active for this one weekend!  Don’t miss the fun!

A Blast From the Past…..

In (soon to be) 16 years of marriage, Russ has made a card for me ONCE.  It was near the beginning of our marriage, I’m guessing 1995 – 1997.  He stamped a birthday card for me.  I don’t remember whose stamps the background, fireworks or the Happy Birthday sentiment were, but the tiger on the inside was from a circus set by DOTS (now CTMH).  Note the use of scallop edge scissors (two different pair!) and the specturm style ink pad.  Just a wee bit dated, huh?  Purple being my favorite color explains the color of the tiger, but I still wonder about his/her grey tail….

Here is the front of the card:

 

And here is the inside:

And now that I have published this, he will either consider it a challenge to do another card or he will certainly never stamp a card for me again…..  Love you, Sweetie!