Going, going, almost gone!

Happy sunny (so far...) Sunday! It's been a weekend of stamping fun here. I thought I would post a couple of the cards that we made at this weekend's Stamp-A-Stack that use retiring products. If you haven't had a peak at the current list of retiring accessories yet, it would be a good idea to look now as things are flying off the shelves at Stampin' Up! Lots of the items are already sold out or are becoming endangered! If the item is red, it's no longer available... however, I do have a few items on hand so if there's something you do want, please email me (bevennis@shaw.ca) to see if I might have it.

The first card is made with the retiring set Petal Prints (pg 118). This has grown to be my favourite set this year... It can be used in so many ways and is the perfect set to reach for when you need a quick card. This card does take a little more time because of the cutting, but the end result is fantastic! The greeting set, Curvy Verses, is not retiring so we will see it along with lots of great new greeting sets in the Fall-Winter Collection 2007 which will be arriving very soon!

This card is made with Nice & Narrow (pg 64), another set that will be gone at the end of this month along with the Little Hellos (pg 67) that were used for the greeting. This card has lots of little details created with punches - the Oval Punches at the bottom, the Ticket Corner Punch and the 1/4" Circle Punch... The background was stamped with one of the flowers from Little Pieces. And, the Celery Organdy Ribbon adds the finishing touch to this card. All of the Organdy Ribbon is being retired and it is one of the items that is selling out quickly. If you haven't already stocked up on this, now is the time! Although I know we have lots and lots of exciting new ribbons coming in July, I am truly going to miss the Organdy Ribbon.

This next card is my own design! Although I'm never shy to sneak ideas from other creative stampers, I'm always very proud when I am able to create my own card. This one was not pre-planned other than having decided that I wanted to use some of the ribbon from the retiring Seaside Ribbon Originals package and I wanted a card made with the Favourite Teddy Bear (pg 70). The ribbon helped me decide on the colours to use for the card and I pulled out scraps of card stock which is what helped me figure out the layout... I stamped and coloured the bear and then just started laying out the pieces of card stock that I had until I settled on this. It was looking a bit flat still to I roughed up two of the edges of the Sage Shadow card stock and put the gift on with a Dimensional. It's a fun card!

And, this card was inspired by a layout I had seen previously. Sometimes, it's difficult to use smaller stamps on the front of a card, like the cute little images in the retiring Baby Firsts (pg 97) stamp set. I've always found these babies to be so adorable... Since I already had the Seaside Ribbon Originals out on my stamping table, I thought I would create a card to use the beautiful Bashful Blue Stitched Grosgrain that comes in this package. I liked how Certainly Celery looked with the Bashful Blue. I added the Flannel Background stamp to the main card for a nice soft look and then stamped a little greeting - "happy new baby" from the retiring Tiny Talk set (pg 190). The baby image is on Dimensionals to lift it off the card a bit. This is a quick and easy card and oh so cute!

Well, I'm off to stamp now... I hope you are having a great weekend! And, I also hope that you have July 7th marked on your calendar for my Open House... it will be a great day to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s new Fall-Winter Collection 2007!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)