Week before last as I was going through my stamp sets to mark those that are retiring, I found three retiring sets that I had never used!  What?  Well, then, why did I have them?  It's possible that I received them as "freebies" somewhere along the way.  But in any case, I decided that as long as I owned them and they're still current, I might as well use them – at least once!

     The stamp set that I used for this card is called, Best Friends Forever.  Hmmm, I wonder what gave that name away?  The colors that I used for this card are also going to be retiring, and I'm trying to make as much use of them as I can before I have to say, "Goodbye," to them at the end of the month.  The colors are:  Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz.  I have to tell you that I never realized what a lovely combination they make all by themselves until I made this card.  It's definitely not a color combo, or even a color feel, that you find here often.  But I did really enjoy the look once I finished with it.

     I think what really sets this off is the set of Labels Framelits that I used to cut out the BFF stamped image as well as the two mats behind it.  As I lined them up to see how they looked on the front of the card, I thought that a bit of texture might be a real complement to the stamped background images.  So I adhered the Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz layers together, then ran them through the Sizzix Big Shot with the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder.  Now that gave it some character that I really liked!  Then I adhered the stamped layer to this group, and attached the group to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals just to give it a final bit of shadow to complete the soft look of the card.

    Not much of a layout here.  But lots of products!

Here are the products in this card that are retiring:

• Best Friends Forever Stamp Set (available until the end of May)
• Pear Pizzazz Classic Ink (available while supplies last)
• Pear Pizzazz Card Stock (available while supplies last)
• Blushing Bride Classic Ink (available while supplies last)
• Blushing Bride Card Stock (available while supplies last)
• Confetti White Card Stock (the card base – available while supplies last)

And the one product that for sure is not retiring:

• Elegant Lines Embossing Folder for the Sizzix Big Shot

Still Available!

• Labels Framelits Collections.  This was in the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog that has expired.  BUT Stampin' Up! has continued it! We are all thinking this means that it will be in the new annual catalog next month!

     While I'm sure that I'm having a good time seeing old friends and family this week, I do know that I'm missing my craft room time!  I hope you're having enough good crafting time for the both of us – and having fun doing it!

     It seems like just last week that we greeted the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog!  But that was back in January, and here we are nearing the end of April and also the end of the Occasions Mini.  Sniff!   And many of us are hoping that some of the stamp sets and embellishments in this mini catalog are carried over into the new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  It's hard to predict, though, as Stampin' Up! introduces its new type of Annual Catalog as well as a new type of Mini Catalog later this summer.

     So the Design Team at the Stampin' Up! Only Challenges blog decided to give one last shout of Hurrah! for this Mini Catalog by sharing some of their favorites products that may only be available for two more weeks!  In my case, while I've considered the stamp set, Apothecary Art, a "favorite," I'm almost ashamed to say that I've been admiring it from afar.  Until yesterday morning, I'd not even broken the rubber out of its pack! 

     But now it's all mounted and ready to use!  Oh, I hope it stays in the new catalog (wish, wish, wish!)   But even if it doesn't, it will remain a favorite.  And I used another favorite Occasions Mini Stamp Set – Loving Thoughts – for a greeting to set off the Apothecary Art stamp.

     Along with these Occasions Mini Stamp sets, I broke out my last few sheets of the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper (the Baja Breeze and Blushing Bride sheets are truly a favorite), some of the Large Basic Pearl Jewels, and a strip of the Riding Hood Red 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon.   Oh, and I can't forget the Labels Collection Framelits!!!  Surely they will stay in the catalog (wish, wish, wish!)

     There are a couple of techniques that I used in my design of today's card.  After I'd stamped and colored in the flowers on the Apothecary Art stamp, and then cut it out with the 3rd smallest size of the Labels Collection Framelits, I colored in the white space between the stamp and the cut edge with a Baja Breeze Stampin' Write Marker.  I thought that this helped coordinate the stamped layer with the Baja Breeze Designer Series Paper Sheet.  While I stamped the flower image using Basic Gray Classic Ink, I wanted the edge of the stamp to be a bit darker than the rest.  So I used the small end of my Basic Gray Stampin' Write Marker to trace the edge – but after I colored with the Baja Breeze marker.  I had no idea if there would be any bleeding.  There wasn't, but I didn't want to chance it.

     The green color used in the stamped image is Pear Pizzazz.  Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz are colors that will retire this year from the Idea Book and Catalog, leaving space for more colors to be added as 2012-2014 "In Colors."  Can hardly wait to see what they are!

     I hope that you'll find something that you really love from the Occasions Mini to use on a project this week!  If you're anything like me, look around to see if there's something you bought "way back when" and haven't yet used!  And if there's something you still need from the Occasions Mini, well you have another two weeks to buy it!

     I had a blast yesterday with the project I'm showing off today.  I'm a member of a Toastmasters club where one of our members is expecting a baby soon, and she made the point that this baby is going to be born in the Year of the Dragon, "the mightiest of the signs in the Chinese Zodiac!"

     Well, a baby is hardly a "mighty" being, babies being more on the "cute" side.  Nonetheless, the members of the club asked that I make a card for a party that they had today that somehow featured a dragon to go with the club's gift.  Not being the punch-art creative type, I went off looking for a dragon to CASE.  It didn't take long to find a video by Tami White and the cutest dragon you EVER saw!  I knew immediately that this would be my inspiration, and all I had to do was figure out my colors and how to deal with a few punches that had retired since the video was made over a year ago.

     When I was making the card, I had no idea (still don't have) whether the baby is a girl or a boy.  I thought a combination of Pink and Blue would work just fine and started punching.  You'll find the complete instructions on Tami's video, but I'll include some supplemental information about changes that I made.

     The first change that I had to make was to use the Sizzix Stars #2 die (sold by Stampin' Up!) instead of the Star Punch (now retired) for the "horns" and back scales.  Tami had used the smallest oval die (retired) for the teeth or fangs, and I substituted the smallest image from the Boho Blossoms Punch. Otherwise, I used her instructions.  OK, so mine's not put together quite as perfectly as hers; but he's still "stinkin' cute."

     The colors for this cute guy are Marina Mist and Regal Rose, along with some Basic Black accents.  My card is also an unusual size – we needed plenty of room for lots of people to sign their best wishes, so I made a card that's 5-1/2" wide by 8-1/2" high.  For the sentiment, I used a stamp from the stamp set, Curly Cute.  Aha, there's that word – "cute"!  I knew I'd find that in the Stampin' Up! product line somewhere!!  I also used the last of my stash of Marina Mist Brads from the Subtles collection of brads. 

     And as I love to do, I tied everything together with some fab Stampin' Up! ribbon, this time the Marina Mist 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon.

     I can't imagine that you could have as much fun with what you're doing as I did making this little guy.  But be sure to try to have lots of fun anyway with whatever you're doing!

     As I shared with you yesterday, I held a Stamp-a-Stack just for myself earlier this week in an effort to make AND send out a nice number of Easter Cards.  In a Stamp-a-Stack, at least the way I do them, I have two or three basic layouts and papers and card stock cut to the size of a sketch that I've made for myself.  Then I stamp and mix and match the colors of the papers and card stock with Stampin' Up! inks.

     Here are three of the ten cards that I made with today's layout.  All of them use stamps from the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, Everybunny.  I just love this little bunny up in his Hot Egg Balloon throwing Easter flowers down to us all.  Fun image!  The basic idea for this layout came from a much more detailed and carefully constructed card by fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Mary Jo Price-Williams.  I would love to have CASEd her card completely, but I just didn't have the time – or the energy! – to get that detailed!

     As you can see, each card, though it has the same layout, has different colors highlighted.  The only thing that's the same throughout is the Poppy Parade that I used for the mats for all three of the layered sections.  The other colors are the same colors as I showed off in yesterday's card – Peach Parfait, So Saffron and Wild Wasabi.  And all of the Designer Series Papers are from the same paper set that I used yesterday, Just Add Cake.  The result of using different colors and papers for the same basic layout keeps the whole project from being too boring (and I get bored easily!).

     The only "embellishment" that I used for these cards is the texturizing with the Perfect Polka Dots Sizzix Embossing Folder.  These slip right into Stampin' Up!'s Medium Envelopes, and definitely require NO extra postage, as might a card with too many brads and ribbons.

     A good friend of a neighbor and customer of mine passed away this week, and she asked me to make a special card for his family.  As we went through the stamps that I thought might be appropriate, she decided that she needed two cards rather than one – that's easy to do because there are so many beautiful Stampin' Up! stamp sets and colors that I can use to make lovely sympathy cards. 

     For the first card, I used the appropriately named stamp set, Love and Sympathy.  I particularly like the flower in this stamp set as it makes a beautiful watercolor-style image and all I have to do is color the stems and flower with different colored Stampin' Write Markers.  For this card, I used Lucky Limeade and Wisteria Wonder for the flower, and carried the Wisteria Wonder color through the rest of the card.  The ribbon is the Wisteria Wonder 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon, and I used Wisteria Wonder Card Stock for the card front, texturizing it with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  To mat and accent both the stamped layer and the main card front layer, I used Concord Crush Card Stock.  The light colored card stock is Confetti White, which adds a natural look to the card overall.  Before I put the card together, I printed a personal message from my neighbor to her friends on the inside.  (You might recall that I made a lovely Sympathy Card not too long ago, and that might have been a perfect card for this occasion – except that my neighbor wanted to have that personal message printed on the inside of the card and there was already a message on the inside of the other card.)

     The second card has several of the same features of the first card, but an entirely different feeling to it.  It's a bit less subdued than the first card, and I think that's because of the large amount of white space on the stamped layer.  I fussed around with this a bit, using some stamps on a vellum overlay to give me an idea of how the finished product might look if I added a stamp or some embellishments in that empty space.  But when it was all over, I decided I just liked the little sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes out there all by itself.  The flowers from the stamp set, Bordering on Romance, and using Bashful Blue and Pretty in Pink, with a bit of Certainly Celery for the leaves, seemed to be a nice bouquet of solace under the sentiment.

     The features that I repeated from the first card were the dark mat, in this case Night of Navy, and the main layer texturized with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  I stamped this card on the inside with a sentiment from Petite Pairs and the smallest flower from this stamp set to carry the design from the card front to the inside.

     I hope that, for the rest of this week leading up to Easter, I'll be making cards that are much more cheerful!

     Do you remember that riddle from when you were a kid?  If you're as ancient as I am, I'm sure you do.  Today's younger generation might not get it because newspapers are no longer the primary source of news and current event articles as they were back in my younger years!

     It wasn't until I finished today's card that the "B&W and Read All Over" line came to mind.  It was happenstance that had me using Poppy Parade from this year's Sale-a-bration Catalog along with the white (well, Very Vanilla) and Black (Basic Black in Stampin' Up! terminology).

     And there's another piece of antiquity shown on this card – who among us still has a typewriter lying around the house or office.  Oh, I'm sure there are some, but a MANUAL typewriter??!!  My fingers ache just thinking about how hard I had to press on those keys to make the type make an acceptable image on the paper.  And heaven help me if I ever made a mistake.  It was erasers – or typing a big "X" over the mistake – yuk!  How spoiled I am being able to back space and delete with the lightest of taps on the computer or tablet keyboard!

     But enough of reminiscences about the "good old days" (not!).  Here today I have a card made with lots of Stampin' Up! products from three different Catalogs:

• There's the First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (the newsprint), the Basic Black Satin Ribbon, some Basic Black Card Stock, Antique Brads, Sizzix 3" Circle Die, and the Circle Scissors Plus (which made that 3-1/4" Basic Black mat behind the Very Vanilla 3" circle), along with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, Very Vanilla Card Stock and assorted inks and adhesives from the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog.
• Then there's the Stamp Set, You're My Type and the new Blossom Punch from the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog.
• And finally the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper from the 2012 Sale-a-bration Catalog.

    I did have a lot of fun making this card while still trying to stick with the sketch that started this whole project off.  The sketch originated with the blog, DeconstructingJen and this week's Deconstructed Sketch.  Then we were encouraged to use it as part of a challenge on one of my groups for Stampin' Up! demonstrators, SUDSOL.  So here I am killing two birds (poor birds!) with one card!!

     The one part of this card that deserves a "tip hint" is the newsprint (First Edition Specialty DSP) paper in the typewriter. 

• I first die-cut the 3" circle out of Very Vanilla Card Stock with the Sizzix Big Shot.  
• Then I stamped the typewriter on the circle using the Stamp-a-ma-jig (because that typewriter just barely fits on a 3" circle). 
• Finally, I again stamped the typewriter on the First Edition Specialty Paper and cut out along the straight edges around the paper image before glueing it onto the typewriter stamped on the Very Vanilla Card Stock.

     I've been working on lots of challenges this week, but I'm also doing some of my own designing again, which is really the MOST fun!  For the rest of the day today, I'll be working on some 3-D projects and I'm hoping to get some new video tutorials done to share with you this week.  It should definitely be a good week!  I hope it's the same for you, too!

     I can't believe that St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner!  And this year I'm going to make LOTS of St. Patty's Day cards because I completely missed Valentine's Day with being sick.  Not happening with the Green!

     For my first card of this "season," I CASEd (Copy And Share Everything) a card by fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Phyllis Strickland.  Her card was a Valentine's card, and I could just see the shamrock in the shape of the hearts that she made for her central motif.

     The whole layout of the card caught my eye, with the heart layer seeming at first to be off center.  Actually, it's centered between the folded edge of the card and the embossed scallops made with the new Stampin' Up! Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders from Sizzix.  The scallop isn't just a plain scallop, either; there's some texture throughout the line of scallops – hard to see on this dark color, but it really looks wonderful up close!

     The lighter green in this card is Pear Pizzazz, and the Designer Series Paper that I used for the hearts is from the Twitterpated Papers, featured in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog.  With the way the paper is displayed in the catalog, all I saw at first were all the pinks and blues.  But there are two papers that are made completely with the Pear Pizzazz color.  On Tuesday, for another challenge, I'll be showing off the other Pear Pizzazz sheet.  Nice to spot that before St. Patrick's Day got past me!

     To make the hearts that form the shamrock shape, I cut the Designer Series Paper with the smallest of the Heart Framelits (also in the Occasions Mini Catalog).  I cut two of the hearts for each overall heart shape, and adhered them to the background squares with the folded edges up against each other.  At first I didn't want the darker blue and red patterned paper to show; but then I realized that it really did a nice job of providing a shadow for the shamrock!  So I didn't glue the hearts shut as I was going to do (good choice, Robin!).  The darker green in the card is Garden Green, and I love how it provides an accent for the Pear Pizzazz color!

     The greeting is from the stamp set, Teeny Tiny Wishes, punched with the Modern Label Punch, and accented with Garden Green Brads.  And here I go again tying a card together with a ribbon – this time with a ribbon I haven't been using much, the Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon.

     Now off to finish up that card for Tuesday.  It will be for the SUO Challenge (that's Stampin' Up! Only).  I'm having so much fun having a crafting weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if I get half a dozen cards done today!  I hope you have as much fun this weekend as I plan to have.

     Boy, did I have a great time in my Craft Room today!  There's been so much to catch up on in terms of household chores that didn't get done while I was out of commission for a couple of weeks that I've just not given myself much play time.  But the chores are done and I'm in for a weekend of playing!

     One of my fun projects today was a challenge from SUDSOL, the online Stampin' Up! Demonstrators group to which I belong.  The challenge was to CASE (copy and share everything) something of my own.  Now, I do have a stash of cards in a box on my work table, so it was no problem to go through the box and find something that I wish I'd done a bit better the first time around.

     The little card at the left was one I made back during the Thanksgiving season using products from the Stampin' Up! 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog.  I actually made it as part of a challenge program that I was running back in November.  What I ended up not liking so much about this card was that there were those big pieces of card stock with absolutely nothing stamped on them and no texturizing.  So, for today's card, I worked at fixing that.

     The layout for the new card is identical to the original card.  The big difference was that I texturized both pieces of card stock on the front of the card.  The Peach Parfait vertical layer was texturized with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, and the So Saffron horizontal layer was texturized with the Stripes Embossing Folder.  Of course, I had to change the greeting, too.  For this card, I used two different stamps from the Hostess Set, Tagtastic.  The frame – sized for and punched with the Curly Label Punch – is a stamp in itself.  The greeting is part of another stamp in the same set.  I just used my Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write Marker to color in the greeting, and I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to center it on the other stamp.

     The Designer Series Paper in the background is Just Add Cake, and I just love this particular design for a background.  And here I am again tying a project together with some ribbon – this time with the Peach Parfait 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon.

     I hope you're going to have as much fun this weekend with your crafting as I'm planning to do!  I already have a couple of other cards made to show off this weekend and into the next week.  So I may be blogging away all week – for a delightful change!

     Oh, and a quick aside – no sketch layout for this card because I've done one before!  And you'll find it in my 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook, available on CD and on Amazon for Kindle!  Just click up on the right for more information about the eBook!

     Oh, no!  Another color challenge!  Create with Connie and Mary has another color challenge for those of us participating as designers in their Occasions Edition.  You have to know that color challenges in which I am required to participate are my worst fear.  It's like the feat that I had as a kid, worried about coming home with an "F" on my report card!

     And that's what it's felt like all week as I've tried to work the colors Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, and Soft Suede into this week's "Summertime" theme at the Occasions Edition.  I almost had it all pulled together with some ice cream cones on the top of this card – envisioning the lacy bottom as a table cloth.  But at 10 one night I said, "The heck with it," and left it until the next morning.  Then when I got up the next morning and eased myself over to my craft table with cup of coffee in hand, I realized that I had my design all done – because there sitting right next to it was the stamp set, Loving Thoughts, and I could instantly see Wonderful You stamped in Soft Suede as a simple greeting on this card with the paper from the Designer Series Paper Set, Sweet Shop, in the background.

     I whipped out the Wisteria Wonder ribbon and brads and a few more mats and, Voila!  My challenge card was done!  Whew!  The best part was that my husband walked past my desk as I was finishing up the card and said, "Wow – those colors look great together!"  No "F" on this report card!!!

     The most fun I had with this card was with the scallops.  The stamp is from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog set, Bordering on Romance, which was cut with the Sizzix Edgelits Die, Adorning Accents.  There is a Textured Impressions Embossing Folder that goes with this Edgelit die, also.  But, when I tried to add that it to this design, it just seemed to be too cluttered.  I'll try to get that out and play with it a bit later in the month and show it off a bit, too.

     Meanwhile – don't forget that the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition is still available!  The Occasions Mini Catalog will be active for over 2 more months – until the end of April!  There's plenty of time to use the wonderful designs from this subscription using the Occasions Mini products – and even more time to use with with all other kinds of Stampin' Up! products.  For all of the 6 weeks of the program, there are 6 fabulous projects with fully illustrated tutorials to go along with them!  That's 36 great projects in all.  And these aren't just greeting card layouts.  Oh, no!  These are a fantastic variety of 3-D projects and gifts using all of the products in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I'm just amazed at the creativity of all of the designers.  Even if you start today, you'll still get access to the entire subscription blog, and you'll continue to have access to all the projects for a full year!  I highly recommend it as a great resource for your spring and summer projects!

     I hope you're having a great weekend – as am I as I'm getting ready to post my final project for the Occasions Edition!

     And thank you all for your patience with my slow response to comments and e-mails over the last week and a half.  I'm a bit better today and even managed to make a card in my craft room!  I didn't have the energy to clean the craft room up before I did, so now I have an even bigger job!  But I finally feel up to it.  In fact, by the time you read this, I should be back with everything put away or thrown away and I'll be working on my last project for the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition!  I'm so sorry I'm not able to share these project with you because I think they're among the best I've ever done.  But you have to be a subscriber to get to them. 

     For this card, I used just two colors.  Two colors was the challenge for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Team this past week, and I missed that because I was sick.  And it was supposed to be a Valentine, so it's a bit late for that.  But I'm sure that, if you're working on a two-color project this week, we'd love to see it over at SUO Challenges anyway!

     The two colors that I used are Calypso Coral and Island Indigo, both a Stampin' Up! "In Color"" for this year.  Nice combo!  The Island Indigo colored Designer Series Paper is from the "Sweet Shop" Specialty Designer Series Paper set, from this year's Occasions Mini Catalog.

     I made this Z-fold card with the cut out using the Sizzix Movers and Shapers Die from the Punch Windows Die Set.  It's been awhile since I've made one of these, but I thought to use it because I had a customer ask me about this style card this past week.  Fun to make – and so easy with the Sizzix Big Shot!  The stamp is from the set Oval All and I stamped the little butterfly on a scrap of the DSP and cut it out to tie the stamp together with the background.  I forgot to take a photo of the other side – but I made a Calypso Coral butterfly there from stamping on a coordinating piece of the DSP.  Fun little thing to do!

     I always try to tie a card together with some ribbon, and this time I used some Calypso Coral 3/8 Ruffled Ribbon.  It makes such a nice knot or bow.  I kept it to a knot this time to keep the card simple. 

     If you've got a type of card that you'd like me to make, just let me know.  I'm starting to feel like being creative again, and I'm up for suggestions!

     It feels like I'm going to have a better week this week – and I hope you are, too!