Retirement Blues --- A Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

We have the Retirement Blues over at the Wacky Watercooler Stampers Blog Hop and there's no better way to express them than by using some of our very favourite products that made it onto the Stampin' Up! retiring list.  For myself, there are so many wonderful tools, papers, inks and embellishments that I will miss.  Not to mention all the great stamp sets.  Let me know what you think of my favourites.  Are they similar to yours?

As you will remember, if you've wandered through our blog hops before, our blog hop is presented in a circular fashion.  What does that mean?  Wherever you begin in our blog hop, whether you go forwards or backwards through the participants, eventually you will wind up precisely where you began.  I hope you'll take time to visit all the participatings blogs and, perhaps, leave a short message letting us know  what you've thought of our posts.

If you've been moving forwards through the blog hop, you'll have arrived here from the fabulous Marie Green's blog.

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My first project is a nod to the grads.  The Chalkboard Paper is from the Occasions Catalogue but will be gone when that ends.  I had hoped it would be included in the Specialty Papers in our new Annual Catalogue, but it wasn't meant to be.  The Chalkboard Paper is profoundly black and has a wonderful matte finish.  I love to use it with my white embossing powder to get a real "pop" and the feel of a chalk message.

My background paper makes me think of an old brick schoolhouse.  The realism of the images from the Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack is another thing I will miss.  I've used the various designs very effectively for some of my cards.

I love the way the card opens from the centre and, even with the added graduation cap, there is lots of room left to write.

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My next project uses several products that I will miss: the wonderful Argyle embossing folder, the Starburst Framelits, the Feathers Framelits, the Four Feathers stamp set, the Lots of Thanks stamp set and, of course, the beautiful 2013-15 In-Colors.  

For the feathers, I've used Coastal Cabana on the tall one and Baked Brown Sugar on the lighter of the short ones, both stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock.  The darker of the shorter feathers is stamped with Early Espresso on Baked Brown Sugar cardstock (I've used my Chalk Marker to add a bit of white to the feather).  The sentiment, from the retiring Lots of Thanks stamp set, is heat embossed on Sahara Sand using the retiring Early Espresso embossing powder.  

I've cut out three circles using the retiring Starburst framelits, one in Very Vanilla, one in Baked Brown Sugar and the smallest in Early Espresso.  For the largest I used the starburst mask from the Hooray It's Your Day Simply Created kit and sponged it using Crisp Cantaloupe.  I also sponged a bit of Crisp Cantaloupe at the base of each feather.

I went a bit wild taking apart some Burlap Ribbon and blued on strands following the rays  on the largest starburst die cut.  To hold the circles together, I used one of the beautiful Antique Brads.  The background paper is the retired Early Espresso Core'dinations which I've embossed using the retiring Argyle embossing folder and then sanded to expose more of the wonderful pattern.

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My first two projects had a bit of a masculine flair.  For my final project I'm taking a giant leap in the other direction.  My Hearts Double Easel card is decidedly feminine.  I chose to use Naturals White as my base and then added Strawberry Slush and Baked Brown Sugar cardstocks.  I also used some of the retiring Champagne Glimmer Paper because it works so beautifully with the tones of the Baked Brown Sugar.  The stamp sets that I used are Good Greetings, Yippee-Skippee, and Build a Bouquet.  I used several sizes of the Hearts Framelits as well as the Hearts a Flutter Framelits.  For my stamping, I used the gorgeous Shimmery White specialty cardstock.  I'm so glad it didn't retire.

The inside of the card with the double portion of the easel closed.

The little double portion of the easel open.

The front of the closed card.

The double easel card standing with both easels open.

My embellishments include the Pearl Jewel Basics, the Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers and two flowers cut from the Natural Filter Paper with the Spiral Flower Bigz Original die and then sponged lightly with Strawberry Slush ink.  It's a soft, elegant and wildly romantic card.  I hope you love it as much as I do.

I've also included this card in the SUO Challenge as well as the Inspirational Challenge.

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Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed creating them.  If you get a moment, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

Your next stop will be with another very talented and creative member of our group, Priscilla Ivler.  I'm sure you'll be amazed with her wonderful projects.