Retiring Stamps

I thought it was time to drag out a few old favourites that have been ignored for far too long - and now that they're retiring why not give them one last look?

This one was released in a Mini catalogue a couple of years ago, and I had to have it as soon as I saw it. As well as the little single flower and phrase shown here, it also has an outline to stamp over the flower, another word ("happy"), a stylised paisley and a little dotty background. I called this my "happy stamp set" because just looking at them made me smile.

What happened? One day I just started using something else and put these aside - now I feel bad for ignoring them LOL.

So this is a quick card using some colours I wouldn't normally put together but it just seemed to be the right thing to do.

By the way, this stamp set is one of those that Stampin' Up! has chosen to assist in raising money for the Bushfire Appeal here in Victoria. This means that if you buy this set (it costs $35.95 plus postage), half that amount will be donated to the fund.

Just saying, that's all ... *g*

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Polka Dots & Paisley
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla
Other: Certainly Celery 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Mat Pack, 1-1/4" Square Punch, 1-3/8" Square Punch

Embrace Life

No, I still haven't bought this set *sigh* ... I really want to but can't justify it at the moment - with a bunch of bills sitting on the kitchen bench and yelling at me every time I go past, I am having to be strong *g*.

So Embrace Life, currently available in the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini might end up being one of those sets I never buy. Unless (and I have my fingers and toes crossed here) it makes it into our next catalogue - due out on April 1. I might even be able to afford it in a few months' time LOL.

In the meantime, I have borrowed my friend's set again and made these.

I was playing with reinkers the other day (see my previous post) and was showing a friend the kinds of things you can do with them. If you don't have any rubbing alcohol and metallic reinkers, you can still make a stunning background with a damp cotton wool ball (or makeup sponge, or baby wipe) and a few drops of ink, dabbed randomly onto a piece of white glossy cardstock.

The first card here was created using exactly that method. I liked it so much I didn't want to cover it up so just stamped the single flower over the top in Stazon, trimmed and there it is. You might just be able to make out the stamped images on the Rose Red cardstock as well, just for a bit of texture.

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Embrace Life
Ink: Black Stazon, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Basic Black, Rose Red, Glossy White
Other: Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Classic Ink Reinkers in Pretty in Pink and Rose Red

The second card was a quick experiment to see what it would look like if I stamped the flower onto the prepared glossy cardstock and cut it out.

Turned out it looked good!

I borrowed the layout from the cards at Stamping with Hulda; I was really taken with the simple elegance of the design and knew it would work with this stamp as well.

I've popped the flower up on a dimensional just to separate it a bit from the rest of the card.

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Embrace Life
Ink: Black Stazon, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Whisper White, Glossy White
Other: Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Classic Ink Reinkers in Pretty in Pink and Rose Red, Stampin Dimensionals

Playing with Fish again

I have quite taken to Ocean Commotion. At first I knew I had to have it, but didn't know what to do with it once it was here. I am now finding that there are things that I can do with it, and the Polished Stone technique background was one of them.

Have you seen this technique? Basically you put on a pair of disposables gloves (trust me on this), saturate a cotton ball or makeup sponge with rubbing alcohol, drop a couple of drops of dye reinkers in coordinating colours onto it and a drop or two of metallic (Encore in this case) reinker and dab all over a piece of glossy white cardstock.

The alcohol makes the metallic ink sort of run around the cardstock in a random fashion and the effect is quite pretty and not a little like a quartz stone with a vein of metal running through it.

Anyway, after reading a discussion about Polished Stone on a mailing list I'm on, I realised it had been a long time since I did this myself, and voila, here it is.

You can't actually see the silver streaks running through the fishy background in this photo, and it really is incredibly subtle even in real life.

An idea that I have borrowed from a blog I was visiting the other day (Karen Thomas' Luv To Stamp - lovely work there!) was to use my Crop-A-Dile to emboss dots for the bubbles, then I used a little Two Way Glue to stick some Dazzling Diamonds glitter onto them.

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Ocean Commotion
Ink: Black Stazon
Cardstock: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Glossy White
Other: Scallop Edge Punch, Crop-A-Dile, Two Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Classic Stampin' reinkers in Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy

And an update: A few days ago (well, maybe a week or so) I posted this card, which was a little unfinished at the time. I have since had another look at it and used some advice from Pauline to finish it a off bit better.

Thanks Pauline!

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Ocean Commotion
Ink: Real Red, Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Basic Black, Old Olive, Whisper White
Other: 1-1/4" Square Punch, 1-3/8" Square Punch

Continual Retirement List Updates

Rather than posting updates on the availability of retiring items on this blog, I have set up StampStuffNotes ... take a look to see the latest in what's gone and what's still available for now.

I hope to update this list daily, or as often as new information is available.

There is also a permanent link to StampStuffNotes on the sidebar to the right for your convenience.

So long, farewell ...

It's that time of year again when we find out what stamp sets and accessories from the current Ideas Book & Catalogue are retiring to make way for new goodies. While this is a sad occasion for many of us, as we have grown to love certain stamps and colours, it is a time to look forward to April to see what new things are in store for us.

So, the retirement list has been released. Click on the picture to the left, take a look at it and see if any of the stamps on your wish list are on there. If so, please contact me as soon as possible to arrange your purchase, because once these are sold out they are gone, gone, gone.

Note that some stamps and accessories are marked with asterisks - a single asterisk means that the price has been discounted by 25% from the catalogue price. Two asterisks mark items that were inadvertantly left out of the 2008-09 catalogue, and are being sold out for 50% of the original price. Three asterisks mark those stamp sets which are on the Bushfire Appeal list (ie. 50% of the retail price is being donated to the Red Cross).

Some items are already sold out - the reinkers for many of the In Colors have already been selling fast and are no longer available (sorry). A reminder to us all to buy the reinker at the same time as the inkpad! Something I learnt the hard way last year.

I have also heard that some prices are going up in the next catalogue, particular ink pads (from $9.95 to $11.95) and reinkers (from $4.95 to $5.95), so you might want to stock up on these this month as well (I will be *g*).

Contact me by email or phone to place your order, but remember that any or all of the items you select may no longer be available. I will let you know before placing the order, based on the list which is available to demonstrators (hopefully updated each weekday during March), what is no longer in stock.

And to refresh your memory, here are links to my blog posts featuring some of the retiring stamp sets ...

Bodacious Bouquet, Bud Basics, Bundle of Joy, Carte Postale, Circle of Friendship, Eat Cake, Happiness, Polka Dots & Paisley, Time Well Spent.

STOP PRESS:

Editted to add: In the past hour the "unavailable" list has been updated, and I can tell you that the following items are no longer available for order:

Flip Flops wheel, Classic Ink Refills in Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava and River Rock, eyelets in Earth Elements, Basic and Soft Subtles, Best Friends Numbers and Mateys Map wheel.

Brightening things up

I have had this colour scheme in my head for the past few days and finally last night found time to play with it. I can't even remember what I saw that made me think of it. So far three out of three people that I showed it to (ie. my family) said "well ... um ... it's bright". That's the point!

It looks a little "unfinished" on the left hand side, but that's because I haven't decided what message to put there to balance the fish.

The hardest part was cutting out those little fins ... I wouldn't be making these in bulk!

Remember that this set is only available in the Summer Mini, and only until the end of March; contact me if you would like to buy it for your own.

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Ocean Commotion
Ink: Real Red, Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Basic Black, Old Olive, Whisper White
Other: 1-1/4" Square Punch, 1-3/8" Square Punch

Sale--A-Bration Swap

I generally don't "do" swaps. Since becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I have been known to make swaps for convention and regional training, but aside from that it's not something I've really been into.

However ...

When your upline proposes a small swap somehow it seems like a great idea - and it actually was fun to create my contribution! Once I had the idea (which came to me after a Girls' Nite, I think) I had a quick production line evening and whipped them all up.

The challenge was to create a card using any or all of the current Sale-A-Bration stamp sets. I only had the one at the time so that's what I worked with. Very happy with the result.

Note the use of the (soon to be retired) In Color ... River Rock might just be my all time favourite colour *sigh*

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Botanical Blooms
Ink: Rose Red, River Rock
Cardstock: River Rock, Basic Black, Rose Red, Whisper White
Other: Vintage Brads, Scallop Edge Punch, Small Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

And here are the cards I received in return ... they were created by (clockwise from top) Karen, Gail, Felicity and Coral.

Thank you ladies!