Passionate About Petals

It's officially May which means it's time to say goodbye to all the retiring stamp sets. In total, I'm losing 18 stamp sets from my collection (although a few of those will be kept because I love them so much). Many of these stamp sets are still available, but they are no longer guaranteed. If you want any of the sets features, buy now before they are gone!

The Petal Passion DSP is perfect for adding color. I took the time one day to completely color in the entire 12x12" piece of Petal Passion paper with the Stampin' Blends. It took awhile, but I think you will agree that the result is just gorgeous. From there, I cut it up into card size pieces and tried to find a way to not cover it up too much. For the card below, I added a simple sentiment with a layering scalloped circle and a piece of Night of Navy Crinkled Ribbon.

Another fun card featuring the Petal Passion paper.

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms, Better Together
• Inks: Night of Navy, Calypso Coral, Stampin' Blends
• Cardstock: Petal Passion DSP, Real Red, Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Whisper White
• Accessories: Night of Navy Crinkled Ribbon, Rhinestones
• Tools: Layering Circles Framelits

Favorite Retiring Products

I'm always sad to see certain things get retired, so today is all about celebrating my Top 10 Favorite Retiring Products.

1. 5/8" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon -- This gorgeous ribbon comes in Berry Burst (my favorite), Night of Navy, Emerald Envy, and Peekaboo Peach. I love the crinkly texture and ease at tying bows. Thankfully I have a good chunk of Night of Navy ribbon left in my stash.

$8.00

• Berry Burst 144191
• Night of Navy 144189
• Peekaboo Peach 144192
• Emerald Envy 144190

2. Tutti Frutti DSP $10.00 145606-- Usually I'm okay with losing the current year's DSP. I love see the new designs and frankly after using the same patterns for an entire year, I am over them. The exception this year is the Tutti Frutti DSP. This 6x6" paper stack is just so much fun! One side had great fruit patterns while the opposite has great single color graphic patterns. 

3. Birthday Blooms Stamp Set $19.00 140658 (Clear Mount) -- Hands down the stamp set I will miss the most! This set had become my go-to set for fun techniques and great beautiful cards. I have used it so much in the past few years. Now I have to decided if I am going to keep it or sell it during my yard sale...

4. 2016-2018 In Colors (Ink Pad Collection $27.50 141818) -- This retiring In Color Collection has me more upset than usual. Included in this collection are two amazing colors that I keep going back to: Sweet Sugarplum and Emerald Envy. I'm so incredibly sad to be losing these. You know I will keeping both and using them on a variety of projects. At least we get to keep Flirty Flamingo as it is a part of the new Color Revamp. Good thing I stocked up on reinkers for this collection! And I have cardstock for all five of the colors. I should be okay for awhile...

5. Pieces and Patterns Stamp Set $19.00 143843 (Clear Mount) -- Such a cute stamp set! I love the different items and the little embellishment stamps. I think my favorite and most used piece is the little T-Rex. How cute is he? Perfect to make kids's birthday cards! 

6. Island Indigo (Ink Pad $6.50 126986) -- I'm going to miss this color the most. Island Indigo is my go-to blue if I want to something lighter than Navy. I love how rich the color is. It acts almost as a neutral when combine with other colors. I will miss you Island Indigo. We'll have to see if one of the new ink colors can take it's place...

7. Metallic Enamel Shapes $7.00 141678 -- These cute little silver and gold enamel shapes are one of my go-to embellishments. They add the perfect amount of shine to any card. And the fact that they are neutrals means they can go on almost any card. I'll be sad to lose these ones, but at least the faceted gems are carrying over. And we're getting some new pretty pearls and gems.

8. Magical Day Stamp Set $22.00 145857 (Clear Mount) -- I thought this set was cute when I first saw the Occasions catalog, but I didn't necessarily want it immediately. But then I started seeing cards being made with the set and knew I needed to buy it. I've been having so much fun making whimsical cards featuring these images. I think my favorite might be the mermaid. I'm sure another whimsical set is on the horizon, but I might just have to keep this set for awhile.

9. Brick Wall Embossing Folder $8.50 138288 -- I just bought this one in March and haven't used it that much, but know that it's a great texture. In the time that it took me to put together this post, the folder is completely sold out! 

10. Frozen Treats Dies $27.00 142756 -- And lastly, I love the Frozen Treats Dies. These are perfect for making cute ice cream cones, popsicles, and sundaes. I love the combinations you can make and just look at those texture pieces! I'll be sad to lose this one.

A Bevy of Birthday Blooms

It's officially May which means it's time to say goodbye to all the retiring stamp sets. In total, I'm losing 18 stamp sets from my collection (although a few of those will be kept because I love them so much). Many of these stamp sets are still available, but they are no longer guaranteed. If you want any of the sets features, buy now before they are gone!

The first stamp set I'm featuring in my retiring series is Birthday Blooms. All of my stamp club ladies can attest that this set has become one of my go-to sets for cards. I love how versatile the stamps are. We've stamped the outline, colored them in, created stained glass effect, heat embossed the image, and many more techniques. For this card, I created one to feature at April's stamp club and then found myself making an entire set. I love how different these cards look. Change out some colors and paper, and voila!, you have a completely different card!

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms
• Inks: Basic Black, Stampin' Blends, various markers
• Cardstock: Tutti-Frutti DSP, Peekaboo Peach, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum, Basic Gray, Emerald Envy, Garden Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Rose Red, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
• Accessories: Tangerine Tango Ribbon (retired), Peekaboo Peach Ribbon (retired), Rich Razzleberry Ribbon (retired), Sweet Sugarplum Ribbon (retired), Island Indigo Ribbon (retired), Basic Gray Shimmer Ribbon (retired), Lost Lagoon Ribbon (retired), White ribbon (retired)
• Tools: 

Daisy Quartet

Today’s cards were half of the featured Make N Takes at my Spring Bingo event. Each Bingo participant received a goody bag with four variously colored cardstock bases, six 6x6 pieces of Delightful Daisy DSP, ten gold faceted gems, two yards of Old Olive Sheer Ribbon, and two yards of Daffodil Delight Double Stitched Ribbon. From those supplies, the ladies made two cards at the Bingo event leaving plenty of supplies to take home and use later. For inspiration, I made four different cards using the same supplies. 

And here's the collection of cards from the Bingo ladies!

• Stamps: Daisy Delight; Birthday Blooms; Sunshine & Rainbows
• Inks: Tranquil Tide; Calypso Coral; Night of Navy; Daffodil Delight; Pool Party; Wisteria Wonder
• Cardstock: Delightful Daisy DSP; Calypso Coral; Night of Navy; Old Olive; Pool Party; Whisper White
• Accessories: Gold Faceted Gems; Sheer Old Olive Ribbon; Daffodil Delight Double Stitched Ribbon
• Tools: Daisy Punch

Powder and Gray

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using the sketch below.

I decided to use a very simple color palette for my card. I pulled three different patterns of Powder Pink DSP from the Fresh Florals stack and played around with layering them. I realized that I didn't want to use one of the patterns to stamp on, so I made my own! I stamped the single flower image from Birthday Blooms (one of my MVP stamp sets), die cut it, and stamped on a sentiment from a different stamp set (Sharing Sweet Thought). For embellishment, I simply added a bitty bow.

• Stamps: Sharing Sweet Thoughts; Birthday Blooms
• Inks: Basic Gray
• Cardstock: Fresh Florals DSP; Smoky Slate
• Accessories: Itty Bitty Bows
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Floating Bees

Today's card is being featured at my Birthday Cards class. I stamped the bee and sentiment onto a piece of vellum using Basic Black Ink. From there, I layered the vellum on top of a piece of pretty pattern paper. For the final touch, I added some gorgeous crinkly ribbon. A simple but striking card!

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms; Dragonfly Dreams
• Inks: Basic Black
• Cardstock: Delightful Daisy DSP; Vellum; Night of Navy
• Accessories: Night of Navy Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon
• Tools: 

Berry Burst Floral Butterfly

A simply in color butterfly card for August's die cuts class. I love the inset butterflies allowing for the DSP to shine through. After assembling the basic card, I went back in and added a bit of Wink of Stella to the Berry Burst butterfly. (Can't see in the picture, but it's nice and shiny in person.) I also added a matching Bitty Bow as a last touch. 

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms
• Inks: Berry Burst
• Cardstock: Fresh Florals DSP, Berry Burst, Whisper White
• Accessories: 2017-2019 In Color Bitty Bows
• Tools: Bold Butterfly Framelits, Wink of Stella

Bokeh Butterfly

Today's challenge was to revisit a technique in preparation for August stamp club (was August 19). I hadn't revisited the bokeh technique for awhile, so I decided to focus on that. I also haven't featured it at stamp club for at least a year... For this card, I sponged on my colored ink to a piece of Whisper White. I then die cut a acetate overlay with multiple different sized circles. I then sponged on white craft ink using the die cut piece as a mask. I blended the white to create varying degrees of opacity. After letting that piece dry, I added the rest of the elements of the card. 

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms
• Inks: Fresh Fig, Pool Party, Old Olive, White Craft Ink
• Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Pool Party, Silver Foil, Whisper White
• Accessories: Pool Party Ribbon (retired)
• Tools: Bold Butterfly Thinlits

A Figgy Bow

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using my favorite new accessory. These Bitty Bows are just too cute! I had to feature them on a few cards. For this card, I made my own background using these fun swatches from the Playful Backgrounds stamp set. From there, I stamped, colored, and cut out this fun flower. Final touch: The Fresh Fig Bitty Bow!

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms; Playful Backgrounds
• Inks: Fresh Fig; Early Espresso; Old Olive
• Cardstock: Fresh Fig; Whisper White
• Accessories: 20172-109 In Color Bitty Bows
• Tools: Layering Circles Framelits

A Card for Mom

Today'’s card theme is Mother's Day. When I think of Mother's Day, I always think of flowers. Of course I had to use my favorite floral stamp set, Birthday Blooms, to create this card! I did something a little different in coloring only the layered piece. And no flower is complete without a bumblebee! Overall, I'm really digging the style of this card. 

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms
• Inks: Chocolate Chip; Wisteria Wonder; Elegant Eggplant; Delightful Dijon; Pear Pizzazz
• Cardstock: Chocolate Chip; Wisteria Wonder; Elegant Eggplant; Very Vanilla
• Accessories:
• Tools: Detailed Dragonfly Framelits