Flower Shop Birthday

Happy Wednesday.  I hope you're enjoying a day filled with sunshine.  We finally have a Spring day here in the Mid-Atlantic.  And while much of the country is still digging out from more snow, I thought a flash of Flowers might be just the thing to help. 
This cheerful birthday card uses a number of products we will be saying "Good-bye" to at the end of May.  It's so easy to make, however, that I think I'll make several sets changing up the flower and the sentiment.  The Stylized Birthday stamp (p. 80 in the Annual Catalog) is one that I've used often.  It makes such a quick card.  Here I stamped it in Dapper Denim, one of the 2016-2018 In-Colors that will also be retiring.  Another old favorite, Flower Shop (p. 28 AC), along with it's coordinating Pansy Punch (p. 207 AC), will also be retiring.  Here I stamped the flower image in both Pink Pirouette (retiring core color!) and Rose Red (another long-time color that will be going away, as well.)  I had the card all assembled when I thought, "I really need some green!"  The set, sadly, has no leaf.  Luckily, I remembered that the Painted Harvest Stamp Set and it's matching Leaf Punch (See p. 55 of the Occasions Catalog!)  So, I stamped two leaves in Wild Wasabi (yes, another retiring color,) punched them out, and had the perfect amount of leafy green.  I added a few of the Glitter Enamel Dots (p. 196 in the AC) for a bit of sparkle.
Yes, Spring is on its way!  I need to keep reminding myself.  Hope this card helps you remember, as well.  Thanks for the visit!
Stamps: Stylized Birthday (retiring), Flower Shop (retiring), Painted Harvest
Ink: Dapper Denim (retiring), Rose Red (retiring), Pink Pirouette (retiring), Wild Wasabi (retiring)
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red (retiring)
Accessories: Pansy Punch (retiring), Leaf Punch, Glitter Enamel Dots (retiring), Stampin' Dimensionals

More colors we will miss...

...and a stamp set, too.  So along with Chocolate Chip, there are 13 "Core Colors" that are retiring.  Three of them are featured here.  Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant and Perfect Plum are all currently in the Regal Collection of colors.  I think Perfect Plum as been around since I started as a Stampin'  Up! customer 20 years ago.  That was before I  signed up as a demonstrator in 2002.  (Yes, it's been That long...)  Any of you out there interested in moving from customer to demonstrator and want to chat about it, please let me know.  I'll gladly answer any questions you may have. 
   Back to this card...in keeping with the "saying goodbye" theme, I decided to feature the Remarkable You stamp set (found on p 142 in the Annual Catalog).  The lovely images in this set make very elegant cards.  They're also really easy to fussy-cut.  I know, dies are the big thing, but every so often it's kind of therapeutic to sit and trim around an image.  Anyone else think so?  The background is stamped with the leaves in Always Artichoke on Always Artichoke card stock (tone-on-tone is one of my favorite looks.)  I then stamped one flower in Perfect Plum, one in the Elegant Eggplant, and the leaves in Always Artichoke on Very Vanilla card stock.  I added the color with a blender pen.  When it came to a sentiment, I needed a Thank You card so I decided to give some love to the Occasions Catalog as well and used the Petal Palette Bundle (Petal Palette Stamp Set and Petals & More Thinlits Dies, p. 23 in the OC.)  This bundle only will be retiring so if you want to save 10% on the products you should do so before May 31!   Once again, thanks for visiting.  Here are the product details:
Stamps: Remarkable You (retiring), Petal Palette
Ink: Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Big Shot, Layering Ovals Framelits Dies, Petals & More Thinlits Dies, Blender Pens, Paper Snips, Stampin' Dimensionals

More with Chocolate Chip

Here's another card featuring the retiring color Chocolate Chip.  It also features some of the products from the 2018 Occasions Catalog (OC).  This card would also make a great Birthday Card or a nice Thank You note, too.  I used the Tailored Tag Punch from p. 45 of the OC.  Also from the True Gentleman Suite are the Night of Navy 3/8" Corduroy Ribbon and the True Gentleman Designer Series Paper (same page as the punch.)  The ribbon has great texture.  The four dots were made with the 1/8" Hand Held Circle Punch and the Clear Epoxy Shapes (p. 33 in the OC).  I glued the four Chocolate Chip Circles on with the Fine Tip Glue Pen and then added the adhesive-backed epoxy dots right on top.  Here's the rest of the list.  Thanks for stopping by again!

Stamps: Apron of Love (p. 47, OC)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (retiring!), Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide
Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip (retiring!), Very Vanilla,  True Gentleman Designer Series Paper (also retiring)
Accessories: Tailored Tag Punch, Glitter and Clear Epoxy Shapes, Night of Navy 3/8" Corduroy Ribbon, 1/8" Hand Held Punch, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Saying Hello with the Goodbyes...

Hello Blog Friends.  I know, it's been WAY too long.  And just when I get ready to say "Hello" again to blogging, it's time to say "Goodbye" to some favorites from the Stampin' Up! 2017-2018 Catalog.  So that's what I will try to focus on as I get back into the Blog-swing, some of the things that will be retiring this year.  First of all, if you haven't seen what's retiring, you can find it here on my Stampin' Up! website and click on the Last Chance banner to view these products.  I hope that the next few posts will inspire appreciation for the care and artistry that Stampin' Up! takes with their products.  And in a few short months, we'll be seeing a lot of fresh new ideas to move us into the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog.  So sit back, relax and (hopefully) be excited to create!

First up, some bright colors and Cool Treats and a retiring color favorite.  Yes, after all these years, we say farewell to Chocolate Chip.  Lots of folks like Chocolate, especially on a Birthday Card!  So the Cool Treats Stamp set (also retiring on p. 82 in the 2017-2018 AC) always goes with chocolate.  The matching Frozen Treats Framelits Dies (p. 213) are also retiring.  So let's create while we can!   I was inspired by the colors in the Picture Perfect Party 6x6 Designer Series Paper from the Occasions Catalog (p, 4-5) for this card.  I used one of the pieces for the wider banner. The Simple Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder is also from the same Suite of products.  I also added some bright and cheerful Tutti-fruiti Adhesive backed Sequins (p. 29, OC) to the mix for fun. 

Thank you so much for visiting.  It's good to be getting slowly back...

Stamps: Cool Treats
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip, Bermuda Bay, Berry Burst, Peekaboo Peach, Silver Foil Paper, Picture Perfect Party 6x6 Designer Series Paper.
Accessories: Big Shot, Simple Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Layering Circles Framelits Dies, Frozen Treats Framelits Dies, Triple Banner Punch, Tutti-fruiti Adhesive Backed Sequins