Retiring Stamp Sets Flashback

With just a couple of days left in my holidays, I wanted to bring you some posts with some of my favourite stamp sets that are going to be retired at the beginning of June, ones that I will really miss!

First up is one of my go-to stamp sets that I've loved and used since I became a demonstrator over a year ago - Elements of Style!  I love everything about it, the flowers, the flourishes, the sentiment and, of course, the hummingbird!   It makes you look like a pro!  Here are a couple of favourite cards from the archives:

Elements of Style (w118611; c120045)

Another favourite is Nature Walk!  Such gorgeous natural images.  All three of these stamp sets work well with the vintage style as well!

Nature Walk (w121925; c121997)

And speaking of vintage, I am really going to miss the flourishes and antique images from Established Elegance!

Established Elegance (w122530; c122532)

If you are dying to have any of these stamp sets or any of the other beautiful sets being retired, be sure to get them before June 3!  After that they will be gone for good!  Email me or call after Friday and I can order them for you, or go to my online store and order them for yourself.

Elements of Style

Established Elegance

Nature Walk

Framed!

I've just recently become enamoured with frames - old frames, weathered and ornate frames, repainted and distressed frames.  Keep your eyes open for me because I have lots of plans for them especially now that I finally was able to buy the Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies!  So excited about all I'm going to be able to do with the letters.  Keep tuned for some great classes ahead!

We returned from visiting my daughter in Fort St. James today - brutal drive!  Eleven hours of sitting in the car!  Not my idea of fun, in fact I can hardly bear to be sitting here typing this blog post!  But it was worth it to spend some time with her and her family, including my grandson, Kesten!

I needed a creative fix when I got home, so I worked on a card idea I formulated in the car during those eleven interminable hours!  It involves a frame!  Guess where it's from:

Give up?  Okay, I'll tell you.  It's from the Papaya Collage stamp set.  It was one of the first stamp sets I purchased when the 2012/13 Catalogue came out, but after using it a few times, decided I didn't really like it, especially the frame, mostly because I always just stamped the frame, usually in black.  

But recently, I realized that it would perfectly frame some of the newer sentiments, like Feel Goods, shown here, and it would be great embossed in white or some other colour. ( It would work well with the Chalkboard Technique as well!)  So I decided to resurrect it and use it on a vintage-designed card like this one. 

I stamped some designs from the Established Elegance stamp set in StazOn Black on First Edition Specialty Designer Series paper.  I then punched out the bird, wing and branch shapes using the Bird Builder punch, and the large and small butterflies using the Elegant Butterfly and the Bitty Butterfly punches.  Then I sponged all the edges using Soft Suede Ink.  The card base and sentiment panel are Soft Suede, and the Very Vanilla back panel is embossed using the Lacy Brocade Embossing folder, held over from the Holiday Mini Catalogue, and available until May 31.  I used this method to tie a bow using Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon.  Then I added another bow, tying it onto the first one and trimming the ends.  The addition of a few Pearl Basic Jewels completed the look.

And MORE news from Stampin' Up:  They are changing the packaging for the wood mount stamps in a way I think you are all going to like!  Check it out here:

Did you catch some of those sneak peeks of the new catalogue as well?  No?  Better watch it again.

By the way, if some of you ordered Not Quite Navy card stock on the weekend, it is now completely out of stock, and they may not have been able to fill your order.  If this applies to you, Stampin' Up will be issuing refunds starting in a couple of weeks.  Boy, when they say "while supplies last", they mean it.  It's important to act quickly!

Have a great weekend, and we'll see you on Monday!

Stamps:  Papaya Collage (w126610; c126612); Established Elegance (w122530; c122532); Feel Goods (w129681; c129684)
Paper: First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (121878); Soft Suede (115318) and Very Vanilla (101650) card stock
Ink:  StazOn Jet Black (101406); VersaMark (102283)
Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss Powder in White (109132); 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Crumb Cake (122332); Pearl Basic Jewels (119247); Large Pearl Basic Jewels (125577)
Tools:  Lacy Brocade Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (127819); Big Shot (113439); Bird Builder Punch (117191); Elegant Butterfly Punch (127526); Bitty Butterfly Punch (129406)

Established Elegance

Papaya Collage

Feel Goods

Bitty Butterfly Punch

Bird Builder Punch

Lacy Brocade TIEF

Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon

First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper

Craft Room Reorganizing and Leadership Swaps

Whew!  I had so many stampin' plans this weekend, but I really only accomplished one of them and that was cleaning up and organizing my overcrowded and messy craft room!  I vastly underestimated how long it would take.  I got my DH to do some renovating of my shelves - basic IKEA wood shelving units with ridiculously large spaces between the shelves.  He added some shelves to make the space more usable.  So my clear mount stamps are all organized and accessible in alphabetical order.  Now I just have to get him to do the same renos on my wood mount shelves.  I also was able to get my growing punch collection out of the plastic drawers in a rolling cabinet and onto a shelf where I can see them and they don't tip the whole cabinet over if I open the drawer too far.  After this, my long-suffering hubby has promised to make me some ribbon holders out of PVC drain pipe cut in half.  Once that is done, my crafting space should be much less frustrating.  Of course, I'd like to have the resources and time to install custom cabinets and work spaces, but that will remain a future goal for the time being!  Here's some photos:

My clear mount stamps, newly organized.  

My DSP and specialty papers organized alphabetically.

My punches newly liberated from their drawer!

The "Before" picture of my wood mount stamps, waiting for some shelf renos!

I will definitely post the "After" photo when it is done!  I'm actually looking forward to stamping tomorrow in my more organized room!  

I wanted to share another swap card I made for Leadership 2013 in Orlando.  This was by far the most time intensive of the 4 swaps I made.  But it was well worth the time and trouble as I received some amazing cards back.  Thanks to Barbara Welch for organizing the Wow Vintage Swap.  Here was my entry in Group 4: 

I used muted colours such as River Rock and Baja Breeze along with some DSP from the Sycamore Street collection, which you can earn free for every $60 of product you purchase during Sale-A-Bration!  This particular Summer Starfruit pattern is perfect for a vintage themed card!  The sentiment is from another Sale-A-Bration product - Vintage Verses - one of my favourite products of Sale-A-Bration!  The dress form image is from Established Elegance, a stamp set from the big catalogue.  

 To complete the vintage theme, I added some Paper Daisies, some of which I dyed using reinker and water,  some sponged and crumpled ribbon, water stains courtesy of French Foliage stamp set, and some curls on the Happiest Birthday flag (stamped with Loving Thoughts).

I stitched on the eyelet edging created with Finishing Touches Edgelits, and added the requisite pearls and it was finished!  Then I had to make 16 more!  I don't mind saying that I had some panicky moments wondering if I would get it done in time, but thanks to my wonderful downline, Doreen, who came over to help and stayed long past her bedtime, we got the task completed.

Stamps:  Vintage Verses (w129633; c129636); Established Elegance (w122530; c122532); French Foliage (w120845; c121166); Loving Thoughts (w125843; c125845)

Paper:  River Rock (108640), Baja Breeze (111352) and Very Vanilla (101650) card stock; Sycamore Street DSP (127540)

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Crumb Cake (126975), Soft Suede (126978) and StazOn Jet Black (101406)

Accessories:  Pearl Basic Jewels (119247); Baja Breeze 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon (122331); Paper Daisies (119243)

Tools:  Finishing Touches Edgelits (127010); Stampin' Distress Tool (127562); Labels Collection Framelits (125598)

Baja Breeze 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon

Stampin' Distress Tool

Established Elegance Stamp Set