Goodbye, forever!

Every year Stampin' Up retires (discontinues) stamp sets to make way for new ones. This year over 230 are saying good-bye! The last day to buy these stamps is June 30. If you don't have the catalog you can see it online. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting cards made with some of the retiring sets.




Nice & Easy Notes stamp set, retiring forever on June 30, 2007. This card was inspired by my upline Brenda's card found here.








"Seaside Sketches" stamp set, page 128.

Inspiration for the Dad and Son card came from a beautiful card by Barbara Guinan




"Roses in Winter" stamp set, page 122

Inspiration for the Roses card came from this card by Sencie.








"Flower Filled" stamp set. page 130

Inspired by my upline, Brenda.

See all my cards and projects here.

Polka Dots, Paisleys & Petals!

These cards were made using Polka Dots & Paisleys and Polka Dots & Petals sets from the Spring Mini, 2007. I used detail white embossing powder and a heat gun for the sentiment on the bottom card. The Polka Dots & Paisleys stamp set was a free gift from Shelli Gardner, the founder of Stampin' Up - every demonstrator received a free one for Christmas! It's also available for anyone to purchase until June 30, 2007. Inspiration for these cards came from Splitcoaststampers. Enjoy!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!:-- Papers: Cool Carribean, apricot, teal, celery.

Office Accoutrement

Have you seen the Stampin' Up Spring Mini? It's just wonderful! There are 2 great paper punches in there -- a tab punch and a spiral punch. On this card I made my own school paper by stamping blue writing lines and a red margin line on thick white cardstock. Then I punched out the holes using the spiral punch, wrote a *to do list* in pencil and mounted it onto the card with foam pop-up dimensionals. I also used the tab punch to punch out the blue tab on the side and fastened it with a stapler. This set is in the Spring Mini and available until June 30, 2007.

Decorated Envelopes

With the postal rates having gone up again, it's time to fight back by spicing up our envelopes! At least if they're going to be 41 cents they may as well look fun and interesting. Here is a regular letter envelope that I stamped with a single image repeatedly on the bottom and up the right-hand side. (the recipient's name has been covered over). Isn't that so easy? You just need one stamp and one ink pad or marker to spruce up an envelope. Luckily, I was able to send this right before the new rates took effect.

In today's digital age most people have online banking and send e-cards. But if you're like me and still enjoy sending greeting cards in the mail, don't forget to buy the new *forever* stamps - you can still use them even if the prices go up again. Click here to see the new postal rate chart

Wild Rose of Summer

Wild Rose of Summer

This beautiful stamp set, Wild Rose can be found in the *All Natural* section of the catalog on page 98. Thankfully this set will not be retiring but the sentiment *refresh* will be. It's part of a set called "Handbill Headlines" which is written in a vintage shabby-chic style.

All materials Stampin' Up except where noted
Stamps: Wild Rose, Handbill Headlines
Paper: Mellow Moss, Really Rust
Inks: Mellow Moss, Artichoke, Really Rust, Pumpkin, Marigold
Accessories: Brads, ribbon, prima flowers

Watercolor Summer

Watercolor Effects

Watercoloring is a great match with summer scenes. This stamp set "Summer by the Sea" is staying but it's mate "Seaside Sketches" is retiring this year on June 30, 2007 . This is can be found on the 'Dormant List" and is still available until Dec 31, 2007.



All supplies by Stampin' Up
Stamps: Summer by the Sea, Season by Season
Paper: Bashful Blue, "Sarah" designer paper
Inks: StazOn Black, Bashful Blue
Markers: Celery, Brocade Blue, Sahara Sand
Accessories: slit punch, sponges, brads, twill tape