Retiring Series: Hip Notes and Flashback

The new catalog is coming... But before we get there, I'm highlighting some of my favorite retiring stamp sets and retiring DSP. Hip Notes is one of those great sentiment stamp sets that I find myself using a lot. I will miss the stamps, especially the large block "Thanks." This card features a ton of layers but is a great way to highlight the different patterns in the Flashback DSP pack. I stamped two of the Hip Notes sentiments onto a piece of Very Vanilla. However that piece still seemed a little plain. I added three candy dots in Pool Party, Crushed Curry, and Real Red and suddenly the card was perfect.

Stamps: Hip Notes
Inks: Real Red; Pool Party
Cardstock: Crushed Curry; Smokey Slate; Flashback DSP
Accessories: Candy dots
Tools:

Another Thank You Set

I have too many scraps of pattern paper. Solution... make a set of fun thank you cards for my friend's wedding. She has gotten so many great gifts already, she needs a ton of thank you cards to send out. I took a giant pile of pattern paper and started punching out hexagons. After amassing a huge pile, I started do random patterns on pieces of white paper.

Some the cards ended up being almost monochromatic. Some were varied colors.

I ended up loving all the different variations of cards and I used a ton of scrap paper pieces. Plus, my friend now has a ton of thank you cards to use.

Stamps: Simply Wonderful; Hip Notes; Wacky Wishes
Inks: Chocolate Chip; Staz-on black
Cardstock: 2012-2014 In Color DSP; Stack of random colors and scraps
Accessories:
Tools: Hexagon Punch; Labels framelits

Paisley Petals DSP Purge

Another attempt to get rid of my retired DSP. This post's pack comes from a few years back. I don't remember how old Paisley Petals is, but I do know that it's been sitting in my DSP box for at least a year. After making the cards featured, I had a few scraps and some full sheets leftover. I ended up putting the full sheets up for grabs to other crafting friends. They kindly took them away from me. One more pack down.

Card #1

Card Inspiration from Stampin Sunshine

My version

Loved the inspiration card. My version turned out okay, but not the best. I really need different layered framelits. I'm getting a bit sick of using my labels.

Stamps: Secret Garden (retired); Express Yourself (retired)
Inks: Old Olive; Night of Navy
Cardstock: Paisly Petals DSP (retired); Marina Mist (retired); Whisper White
Accessories: Random brown ribbon (non-SU)
Tools: Artisan Label Punch; 1 1/4" Circle Punch; Label Framelits (Spellbinders)

Card #2

Card Inspiration from Moxie Fab World

My version

Very cute inspiration card. Mine is a bit plain, but much nicer in person.

Stamps: Express Yourself (retired)
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Cajun Craze; Paisley Petals DSP (retired); Regals DSP
Accessories: Silver dots; Rhinestones; Old Olive button (retired)
Tools: Elegant Butterfly Punch; Hexagon Punch (banner ends)

Card #3

Card Inspiration from Creative Crafts by Lynn

My version

I rarely make no sentiment cards, but this one has so much going on that it seemed appropriate. I love the layering...

Stamps: Papillon Potpurri
Inks: Old Olive
Cardstock: Old Olive; Baked Brown Sugar; Paisley Petals DSP (retired)
Accessories: Silver dots
Tools: Elegant Butterfly Punch

Card #4

Card Inspiration from Handmade from Michelle

My version

Simple yet striking. I love the pattern play here.

Stamps: Best of Greetings (retired)
Inks: Night of Navy
Cardstock: Paisley Petals (retired); Night of Navy; Regals DSP
Accessories:
Tools: Artisan Label Punch; Scallop Edge Punch

Card #5

Card Inspiration from Handmade by Michelle

My version

I made this card, but something just seemed off... Then I added the ribbon and everything worked so much better.

Stamps: Work of Art; Morning Meadow (retired)
Inks: Night of Navy; Old Olive
Cardstock: Night of Navy; Whisper White; Paisley Petals DSP (retired)
Accessories: Baked Brown Sugar Ruffled Stretch Trim (retired)
Tools: Label Framelits (Spellbinders)

Card #6

Card Inspiration from Stamp-n-Paradise

My version

Love how simple this card is. I just find myself drawn to the negative space.

Stamps: Work of Art
Inks: Night of Navy
Cardstock: Baja Breeze (retired); Marina Mist (retired); Paisley Petals DSP (retired)
Accessories: Rhinestones
Tools:

Card #7

Card Inspiration from Scrappin' and Stampin' in GJ

My version

Not my favorite card, but interesting visual draw.

Stamps: A Word for You (retired)
Inks: Night of Navy
Cardstock: Marina Mist (retired); Whisper White; Regals DSP; Paisley Petals DSP (retired)
Accessories: Rhinestones
Tools: 1" Circle Punch

Card #8

Card Inspiration from ...Confessions of a Stamping Addict

My version

I didn't think I would like this card in the end, but something pulls me in. I'm loving the added butterfly on the side.

Stamps: Sweet Essentials (retired)
Inks: Old Olive
Cardstock: Old Olive; Whisper White; Paisley Petals DSP (retired)
Accessories: Old Olive buttons (retired)
Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch; Hexagon Punch (banner ends); Blossom Punch; Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder; Patterned scissors

Card #9

Card Inspiration from Paper Suite

My version

I played with the hexagon punch to ultimately create 5 different cards. My favorite is the all over hexagon card. Very striking!

Stamps: Best of Greetings (retired); Hip Notes
Inks: Night of Navy
Cardstock: Marina Mist (retired); Whisper White; Paisley Petals DSP (retired)
Accessories:
Tools: Hexagon Punch; Label Framelits (Spellbinders)

Thanksgiving Circles

Yet another simple design to help me finish my twelve sets of twelve cards.

My Interpretation: I decided against the flower and stuck with three simple circles, a sentiment, and a ribbon. I started with just the circles and sentiment, but realized that the card was just too plain. The ribbon goes a long way to adding to the card. I didn't take pictures of the others, but ended up running out of this green plaid ribbon and substituted orange and brown solid ribbon for the rest.

Tip: The orange circles looked too plain as just solid orange, so I made my own patterned paper. I took SU's Magnificent Maple stamp (sadly retired), and stamped all over a 8.5x11 sheet of pumpkin pie paper in pumpkin pie, wild wasabi, early espresso, and more mustard ink. The overlapping leaves created a nice neutral pattern paper to then cut into circles. It definitely adds a bit more homemade touch to card. Plus, I now have some leftover homemade pattern paper to play with.

Supply List:

Stamps: Magnificent Maple (retired)
Inks: More Mustard (retired)
Cardstock: Fall themed scraps
Accessories: Ribbon scraps
Tools: 2" Circle Punch

Chocolate Chip 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$6.95

Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$8.50

Pumpkin Pie 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$6.95

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Hip Notes

$11.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

May PL Swaps

I joined a Project Life Swap group on Facebook a few months back and have really been inspired. Basically every month, the admins post swap themes (8-10 usually). You sign up for how ever many you want and commit to making usually 10 cards making the theme. Before the due date, you send your cards to the swap host. She collect everyone's cards, sorts them, and sends you back a packet of card. This month, I joined four swaps:

Yellow -- I used SU's Hip Notes and Petal Parade stamp sets and the Bitty Butterfly punch. The base cardstock and yellow patterned paper were from my scraps pile. Very simple card, but lovely.

PL Card Revamp -- The goal was to take existing PL cards and revamp them with embellishments, stamps, paper, etc. I chose some random 4x6 cards (mostly from Studio Calico kits) and the Vintage Collection Paper stack and started layered. I also added some pink chevron washi tape and stamps from SU's new PL collection.

Children's Book -- I joined the children's book swap because I immediately thought of my favorite children's book: Alice in Wonderland. I took a simple quote on a black background and layered some paper that reminds me of Wonderland. I used American Craft's Galaxy Marker in medium, DCWV's Bewitched paper stack, and SU's Pocketful of Posies DSP (retired).

Butterflies and Ribbons -- For this swap, I challenged myself to use all non-SU stamps, accessories, and papers. I'm use really trying to use as much non-SU stuff as I can to make room for my growing SU side business. I took a sentiment stamp from a forgotten set (with peacocks) and combined it with some punched out butterflies and ribbon tassels. I was going for a fluttering look and they do flutter if you wave the paper around a bit. I also tried to use paper scraps for the butterflies (a few are slightly different papers because I ran out) and leftover ribbon. And it change it up a bit, I made five purple and five red cards, just for the variety. I like how these came out: clean but with a bit of flair.