The Wacky Watercooler April 2017 Blog Hop - Retirement Means Goodbye

This is a difficult time of the year for me.  Since I buy products which I love, having them retire is upsetting and brings my spirits down.  This blog hop is our "last hurrah" for those products which we are losing and which we have loved most.  Choosing what I was going to use took more time than creating my projects.  But finally I narrowed down the list of what I planned  to use.  I wonder if my choices of the retired products which I'll miss most is in line with your own.

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 participating blogs and, perhaps, leave a short message letting us know  what you've thought of our posts.

If you've been moving forward in this blog hop, you'll have arrived here from Penny Hanuszak's blog, which is a very hard act to follow.

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For my first project I turned to the Wetlands, Gorgeous Grunge and Picture Perfect stamp sets.  After almost going through shock, realizing that they were being retired, I calmed down by reminding myself that I can, after all, keep them.   I can see many more personal projects being made using them in the future.

I grew up at the coast and the image of the Sandpipers in the Wetlands set is one of my favourites.  Coupled with the Starfish image from the Picture Perfect set, the resulting card could easily be used for a man or for any occasion.  I decided to make this card a real "Ode to retirement" by sticking to the retiring 2015-17 In-Colors.  My base is, therefore, Mint Macaron and then I've topped it with a layer of the Tip Top Taupe onto which I've stamped the splatter image from the Gorgeous Grunge set using Tip Top Taupe and Whisper White inks.  

As you can see, I've also used the retiring In-Colors for the background scene with the Sandpipers and for my Starfish.  The inks used were Tip Top Taupe for the sand and then Watermelon Wonder and Delightful Dijon for the sunset colours.  There is a little strip of Mint Macaron as well to show the water.  For the Starfish I first stamped it using Tip Top Taupe followed by the Watermelon Wonder ink.  To give it more dimension, I also sponged along the legs using the Tip Top Taupe.

I'll miss these colours and the stamp sets.  They were so versatile.  But then, as I mentioned, I can always keep them in my personal stash.

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For my second project I simply had to use the two stamp sets which coordinate with the Baby's First framelits:  Something for Baby and Made With Love.   Since I don't know anyone who is expecting a baby at the moment, I chose to create a little boy's card.  I have a lot of boys in my extended family so it felt just right.

I also decided to make this a special fold.  Those "Z" folds have been such fun and the design also lets me show off a lot of the images from both sets.  I began with a Heavy Whisper White base and then added Soft Sky and a layer of the beautiful Falling In Love Designer Series Paper.  I took the colours from the Designer Series Paper when I stamped and coloured the various images.

Partway through I found myself wondering why there were no framelits to cut out the little critters in the Made With Love set.  But I persevered with fussy-cutting them all.  

At first I thought I would add balloons but then I decided that the swirly flower image from the Sunshine Wishes thinlets would be even better.  I'm not sure if you can see the shimmer of the Wink of Stella but it sure dazzles nicely in real life.

I just love the way this turned out.  There is lots of room on the back to write a message, of course.

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For my final project, I turned to one of my favourite set of framelits, the Curvy Keepsake Box.  I've had such fun creating "critters", elves and boxes using this set of framelits.  It's surprising how much candy that little box can hold.

I thought it would be fun to create something a bit more feminine this time around, incorporating the also-retiring Special Reason bundle and Papillon Potpourri with its coordinating punches.   I had an idea in my head and then it totally changed.

So, the idea was to use the Sale-a-bration Inside the Lines Designer Paper and, after cutting out the pieces for the Curvy Keepsake Box, hand colour them using primarily the retiring 2015-17 In-Colors.  Well, that went down the tube when I suddenly had the inspiration to combine the little box with a matching card and envelope.  You see, the Crumb Cake Note Cards & Envelopes are retiring.  Oh, yes, we're keeping the Whisper White, don't worry.  But I thought that I'd call attention to the Crumb Cake ones since I happen to have some on hand.  And so I decided to colour the background of the Inside the Lines paper using my Crumb Cake Stampin' Marker.  

When I finished, I realized that I didn't want to add a lot of colours.  I loved the elegance of the Whisper White with its Basic Black images and the Crumb Cake background.  And so I left it at that, only adding a touch of the retiring Gold Wink of Stella to the centres of the flowers.  I finished it up by adding a bow using the retiring Whisper White Organza Ribbon and two tiny butterflies from the retiring Papillon Potpourri (one in Crumb Cake ink stamped on Whisper White and the other in White embossing powder on Crumb Cake cardstock) cut with the retiring Bitty Butterfly punch.

Don't you agree that the simplicity of colours is absolutely elegant?

For the Crumb Cake Note Card I kept it nice and simple as well.  First I cut a piece of the same In the Lines Designer Paper using a stitched square framelit and coloured the background using my Crumb Cake Stampin' Marker.  Then I cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock using the next size up of square stitched framelits as a matte.  I used a Stylish Stems framelit die to first cut a flower from Whisper White cardstock and then cut another flower from Crumb Cake cardstock.  I used the negative bits from the Crumb Cake flower to fill in the spaces of the white flower except for the centre.  The Whisper White centre of the flower was completely and thickly covered using the gold Wink of Stella.  I also cut two leaves from the Crumb Cake cardstock and then added the flower and leaves to the bottom of the square.  Finally I added a Whisper White banner with the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Special Reason set stamped in Crumb Cake ink.

You can see I also stamped the envelope with images from the Special Reason set.  The flower and leaves are heat embossed using White embossing powder and then the centre of the flower is heavily covered in gold Wink of Stella.  I think the set turned out really well, don't you?

The little box with the matching Note Card & Envelope will be a nice little treat for someone's birthday.

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And that's it for my projects.  I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed creating them.  Remember, if any of the retired products appeal to you, there is a limited time period before they become unavailable.  

From here you'll be visiting another wonderfully creative stamper, Marie Green.