Stampin' Up!® Retired List

Just letting you know that Stampin' Up!® have released their Retired List, as we await the release of a NEW Catalogue on June 2nd.

To see the retiring stamps you just need to click on the highlighted words or to go straight over to retired accessories click on those. The online stores have been VERY busy because everyone in the know, demonstrators included, jump straight onto these retiring and reduced items. Some aren't reduced in price, possibly indicating lower numbers at the warehouse, and other items are up to 50% off - it is certainly well worth taking a look.
If you choose to make a small order in my online store, (Australian addresses only please) I'd be very pleased if you used the Hostess code 6MGVWWGH.

Just a couple of the retiring stamp sets.

There's only just over 5 weeks left to order from the current annual catalogue and Occasions Catalogue. Not sure yet which items from the Occasions Catalogue will be included in the next annual catalogue.

Little Buddy Birthday has been retired, and reduced in price. The clear mount is $21.71 and the wood mount costs $28.46.

Postage Due is another stamp set I'll be sad to see retire. I love using the collage-style image, especially with other stamps. The clear mount one is $25.46 but the wood mount is only another $3 more.

I didn't think that Itty Bitty Banners would be on the retiring list, but since the banner Framelits haven't retired, I suspect we will get something new to use with the Framelits. Regarding Dahlias was another surprise retiree, it's such a dramatic, but simple large bloom.

Anyway, I'm sure you have your favourites too
Cheers
Rachel

Butterflies In My Garden CTC#21

Each week at CASE-ing The Catty we turn to our Stampin' Up! Catalogues for inspiration. We'd love it if you joined us in CASE-ing The Catty too!

This week we are seeking inspiration from the Everyday section of the Occasions Catalogue. That's the one in the picture above. You can copy exactly, use a sketch or layout as an inspiration starter, or maybe a colour combination to create a card, scrapbook page or 3D item. Then just share which sketch or colour combination inspired you.

Our challenges close at 5pm Thursday (AEDT)

• Create a new project for the challenge
• Mention CTC in your blog post and link back so others can join us
• Mainly SUO products (retired or current) to be used for these challenges

I turned to the Everyday section, marked with a green half-circle at the top right of the page. Most of my favourite stamp sets are in this section, which could make it very hard. Or... I could choose a sketch, step it up and use THREE favourite stamp sets!!!!

At the top of page 20 is a sweet little card, featuring From The Garden. This stamp set was one of three on my must-have list because I do like to potter in my garden, pull a few weeds, strike cuttings and pick a flower or two. This afternoon I picked a huge crop of tomatoes in fact, and nothing on earth tastes better than home-grown tomatoes.

My first CASE of the card was a single layer card. I'm never very comfortable with single layer cards, because smudges are difficult to camouflage, but I used sequins and one of the flowers placed strategically to achieve that! I absolutely love the Framelits to cut little plant labels to hold the greeting, and this sentiment came from Little Buddy Birthdays. I borrowed some of the pink-toned sequins from the Perpetual Calendar Kit, as they come in lovely shades of pink. Flowers are punched using Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack with a candy dot popped into the centre.

Next, I tried another version using two layers. Because it could be discarded if it didn't work, I was brave enough to try spritzing this layer too! The linen thread didn't make it onto this card but the sequins did, along with a sentiment and pair of butterflies from Butterfly Basics. Again, you gotta love those framelits.

For this card, I really went to town with the new Chalkboard paper for the label, stamped with Whisper White Craft Ink. The background is one of the stamps from Butterfly Basics, using Pink Pirouette, Strawberry Slush stamped off once and Pear Pizzazz. The fern leaf, small butterfly and sentiment are also from Butterfly Basics.

Never being satisfied with a one-layer card, the stamped panel is mounted on black and then four of the largest bloom from Crazy About You have been stamped, punched, trimmed and layered. I guess you can still see where my card originated, since there's a multi-coloured background and a plant label with twine, but it's very stepped-up from the inspiration sketch.

NOW, what can you do using the Everyday section of the Occasions catalogue for inspiration? Don't forget to share it with us at CASE-ing The Catty.

Have a great weekend, we celebrate Labour Day here, so Monday is a day off work. 

Rachel

This month's Hostess Code is B3M6SRH7. If you choose to use it when you make an online order, and you allow me to contact you, I will post you a small gift to say thank you. Don't forget, SALE-A-BRATION continues till March 31st - one free item for every $90 ordered, and four more items have been added.
Check them out here.

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Little Buddy's Birthday FMS174 cQc#280

I organised my Saturday so that I did my shopping early, and was home by 10.30, mainly to avoid the heat (and crowds). Then I did my tidying up and by lunchtime I had free time to craft. February/March are very heavy on birthdays in our family, and now there's another one, with a brand new nephew arriving last Wednesday. His safe arrival has been a long process for my sister-in-law and her partner and we wish them much joy with their precious son.

It might be a good idea to build my stock of children's cards, and so I pulled out this often-ignored stamp set Little Buddy Birthday to make a card using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I always like the sketches the design team challenge with at FMS and this week is no exception. What about the interesting colour combination at ColourQ? These shades are so rich and regal, but I like the way they balance each other.
Perfectly Rustics have a challenge to use wings, and this little guy has the teeniest wings, so I'll pop it into that challenge too.

The other stamp sets are the retired Up Up And Away for the chirpy sentiment, and Perpetual Birthday Calendar for the spots in different sizes. Those little stamps come in so handy for adding little details. I decided to use some of the gold foil punched into circles to make the gold spots and match up with the starburst circle of gold.

I still have some Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack left and it seemed like this spotty piece really suited the card front, and actually, there is enough white space to write a greeting.

We have an early start on Sunday morning to head out of town and spend the day with a 7 year-old birthday boy. How quickly the years pass!

Have fun
Rachel

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