Stamp ‘N Hop – Favorite Retiring Products

Welcome to this month’s Stamp ‘N Hop blog hop!  We are a global group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who are addicted to ink, stamps, and amazing tools that we use to make beautiful cards and other paper projects.  This month, we are all featuring favorite SU! products that will be retiring from the SU! catalogs.

If you’ve just come from Susan Simpson’s post, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that her project was fantastic (as usual!).  Thank so much for stopping by to see my tribute to some of my favorite retiring products.

My husband, Bruce, and I live in the beautiful state of North Carolina.  Last week, we had family visiting from New York.  Our youngest granddaughter, Angie, and I had time to craft together!  It was so much fun.  She and I designed the inspiration for the project that I’m sharing today.  Take a look at Angie’s cards, pictured below.  I’m sure you’ll agree that she is a talented stamper.  [By the way, Angie and I will be Skyping every month to put our Paper Pumpkin kits together.  How much fun is that??  There is an amazing Paper Pumpkin special that is going on.  Click here to get more information.]

Here are Angie’s cards!  And, as a bonus, a picture of Angie, her brother (Johnny), and my mom is shown below.

You’ll notice some similarities between Angie’s cards and the card I am featuring this month.  It is an easel card and shown below.

No matter how many times I use a heat embossing technique, I never get tired of the magic!  To add a little twist to my typical heat embossing colors, I decided to use White Embossing powder on a Rich Razzleberry cardstock background as the focal point.  The flower cart stamp from the (retiring) Friendship’s Sweetest Thoughts stamp set was perfect for the central image.  When you heat emboss, remember to prep your cardstock with the Embossing Buddy.  It helps eliminate stray embossing powder on your project.

I used the amazing Watercolor Pencils to add hints of color to the stamped flower cart.  In some areas, I colored the open spaces with the Whisper White Watercolor Pencil first.  Then, I added color over the Whisper White.  The intensity of the colors were more vibrant when I used this technique.

The card style is an easel card.  It definitely has a “WOW” factor for the recipient.  The base for the easel card is a top-folding Whisper White card, cut to 4 1/4″ x 11″ and scored at 5 1/2″ on the 11″ side.  There is an additional score line on the “front” of the base.  The score is at the 2 3/4″ measurement.  When the card base is folded, it looks like the picture below.  Then, the card front (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) is adhered to the folded card base.  See the picture below for a visual explanation of how the card comes together.

To finish the card front, I used a piece of one of the Crushed Curry DSP papers from the (retiring) Color Theory DSP Paper Stack as the background.  This piece is cut to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and corner rounded on the bottom corners.  “Hearts bloom where you are” from the Friendship’s Sweetest Thoughts stamp set is stamped on the bottom right corner with Rich Razzleberry ink.  The bottom corners are rounded.

The flower cart piece is die cut using the rectangle die in the Sliding Door framelits set.  The frame for the flower cart piece is made from the gorgeous Wood Textures DSP Stack.  The framed flower cart piece is adhered to the front of the card with Dimensionals.

A second piece of the Crushed Curry DSP (2″ x 4″) is adhered to the bottom of the inside of the card.  The bottom corners are rounded.  The “door stop” for the easel design is made from three small hearts made from the Wood Textures DSP Stack.  Mini Dimensionals are used to adhere the hearts to the inside of the card.

There are so many ways to make this card your own design.  Change the color of the cardstock you use to heat emboss the flower cart.  Use a different color from the Color Theory DSP Paper Stack as the main color of the card’s background.  Stamp a different sentiment on the card front.  Use a different shape for your “door stop”.  Yes, you got it!  There are endless possibilities.  Enjoy!

Now, be sure to go visit Christina Walker’s post.  You are going to love her project!  She is an amazing artist.

Below are pictures of the main products I used to make the easel card.  Click on any picture to go to my on-line store.

Also, listed below are all participants in this month’s Stamp ‘N Hop blog hop.  Continue through the blog hop to make sure you get inspiration from all our wonderful artists.

Happy stamping!
Laurie

April Stamp ‘N Hop Hoppers!!