Saturday 16 May 2015

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.





26 comments:

  1. Wow - the heart card is just fabulous! And it's amazing how many elements you used on the feather card - and made them work so well. Love the Grad card too.

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    1. Thanks so much, Gail. I had so many products that I will miss and couldn't fit them all into my cards---but I tried. The heart easel card was last minute but I threw my "heart" into it.

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  2. Your grad card Heidi is truly inspiring. It's simple but meaningful and well done inside and out. Love the brick background paper. I'm really impressed with your Four Feathers and want to CAS it, it really blends the DSP and colours perfectly with such an awesome stamped image. Thanks Heidi for sharing your retirement favourites.

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    1. Thanks, Penny. I love that Adventure Bound paper stack and will miss it a lot. We've never had anything like it, at least since I've joined SU! It provided an awesome background. Have fun CASEing the feathers card.

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  3. I love your four feathers card! Thanks for keeping our hop up and running.

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    1. Thanks, Kath. I loved making that four feathers card. I love our blog hop. We all work together so beautifully.

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  4. Great grad card - I'm sure every graduate thinks the last day of school really IS the 'best.day.ever.'! I love the effect with the Argyle embossing folder; I originally thought you had sponged gold over the black, until I read that it was Co'redinations cardstock! Fabulous projects as always, Heidi! Thanks for keeping our hop on track!

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    1. Thanks, Deb. The Co'redinations cardstock really didn't get a good run in my humble opinion. It's such fun to use and looks awesome sanded. I still wind up using it for personal cards frequently. Since we were "singing the retirement blues", I thought it was all right to use it.

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  5. You've done it again. Such awesome creations. That easel card is to die for.
    Love, love the feather card. That is something I will be casing.

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    1. Thank you very much, Christine. I wound up doing that easel card on the last morning. I couldn't commit. It was killing me. The night before (Wednesday), I glanced at my wall of framelits and saw the Hearts collection. Suddenly the idea of the easel card came to me. Better late than never, right? But the stress---brutal.

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  6. Heidi, wonderful projects. I don't think that I can pick a favorite as I really like the concepts and execution involved with each project. They are all special!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jackie. What a lovely thing to say.

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  7. On no!! How did I not notice that the four feathers was retiring? Your card is fabulous!!! I love that set.

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    1. Thanks, Gerri. I didn't realize that the Four Feathers was retiring because SU! didn't have it on the retiring list. Since it was just carried over from the Holiday Catalogue, it wouldn't have made that list. It was only for items from the Annual Catalogue. I wish they had given the bundle a longer run.

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  8. As always, Heidi - WOW! I love your grad card, and the Four Feathers card. I think I used the hearts framelits once or twice, so I was kind of like, "meh," when I saw it on the retiring list. Now that I've seen your double easel card, I'm saying, "Waaah!!!" Gorgeous!

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    1. Thanks, Buffy. There were so many awesome retiring products that it was difficult to choose which ones to showcase. I don't use the hearts framelits often but have made a single easel with it before. I like the look of double easels and with the heart shape I think it's even nicer. I'll miss having it as a current tool, but I won't be selling it.

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  9. The background paper does remind me of an old school house too! I have another graduation card to make so CASing is in order! The feather card is fantastic and I love the way you used the burlap. Then there is the double heart easel card - simply beautiful!

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    1. Thanks, Marie. There was an old brick schoolhouse where my husband grew up---pulled down now and the bricks re-used elsewhere. I always thought it was so picturesque. Schools aren't any more. I enjoyed making the cards but will miss all the wonderful retired products. Using them brought their retirement "home" to me.

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  10. Beautiful projects, as always, Heidi! But I stole your grad card, using the brick wall as a backdrop for "graffiti" words for a graduation card I needed--thanks for the idea! And I will SO miss the Four Feathers set...that one is definitely a keeper in my stash...great work!

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    1. Thanks so much, Priscilla. I had thought of doing graffiti words and then decided on the chalkboard since it's not coming back either. I'll miss its profound black matte finish.

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  11. Wow! So many details and a lot of skill shown here. :) Thanks for joining us at Inkspirational!

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  12. All of your cards are fantastic!! Love the use of the retiring sets- thanks for playing along with us at SUO Challenges :-)

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    1. Thanks so much, Julie. We wanted to feature all that we loved and lost in retirement. It was a great blog hop.

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  13. Wow...wonderful set of cards using the "sniff" retiring sets! I especially love the heart easel card! Thanks for playing along with the SUO Challenge this time!

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    1. Thanks, Connie. I'm bummed as well that all these wonderful products (and stamps) are retiring. The double easel Heart is my favourite, too.

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