Goodbye Best Bots Forever

I have to admit that this is one of the sets I've purchased that I had the best of intentions of using but never got around to even using it until now that it is retiring! Grant and I had picked it out to use for Valentine's for his class, but for several reasons I never got around to making them so I bought the similar boxes (seen in this post) for him to use instead. This is what I would have liked the cards to have looked like if I had made them!

The images were stamped using my stamp-a-ma-jig and Jet Black StazOn ink on watercolour paper. They were all then coloured using my stampin' write markers and an aquapainter. I created a little shadow underneath the robots using crumb cake ink to match the main cardstock. The designer paper is from the Nursery Suite set that is also retiring and, as seen above, is not limited to baby crafts!

Stamps: SU Best Bots Forever
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, SU regal rose, baja breeze, basic gray, crumb cake, real red, early espresso, pear pizzazz
Paper: SU crumb cake, baja breeze, regal rose, early espresso, nursery suite dsp, watercolour
Misc: SU aquapainter, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

Goodbye Sparkly & Bright

I know it's a bit early for Christmas cards, but it is exactly 6 months away now! Plus, the super cute Sparkly & Bright stamp set is retiring.

I decided to CASE this beautiful card by Stacey - I've had it in my favourites folder forever! I wanted to make it a standard size card instead of square because I don't have any satin red ribbon and I thought having a large card with skinny ribbon would look kind of funny. I was so annoyed because after the card was all assembled and all I had left to do was adhere the bow, I smudged the middle reindeer! If you are as picky as me, then you know this means I will probably never give this card to anyone but I was too annoyed with myself to make another! Maybe later!

It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but the one nose is coloured red,then  covered with crystal effects and dazzling diamond glitter.

Stamps: SU Sparkly & Bright
Ink: SU chocolate chip, real red
Paper: SU chocolate chip, real red, ww
Ribbon: SU 1/8" real red taffeta
Misc: SU crystal effects, dazzling diamond glitter

Goodbye Lots of Bots

Here's a card to send of the retiring set Lots of Bots. The ribbon and celebrations dsp are also retiring.

The robots were first stamped in black ink on whisper white paper and coloured using the various ink colours and blender pens. The middle part of the robot was then stamped again but this time in StazOn ink on watercolour paper, then wartercoloured with my stampin' write markers and aquapainter. Once coloured, they were cut out with my paper snips and glued on to the original stamped images.

The sentiment on the stamp was initially not coloured when I stamped the robots. Instead, I inked it up alone afterwards and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up at the top where I wanted it!

Check out the little rhinestones on the bags too!

Stamps: SU Lots of Bots
Ink: SU basic black, pear pizzazz, bashful blue, real red, basic gray, StazOn jet black
Paper: SU ww, real red, watercolour, celebrations dsp
Ribbon: SU 5/8" real red grosgrain
Misc: SU aquapainter, blender pens, paper snips, rhinestones

Tart & Tangy Teacher Thanks

Seeing as there are only a few days left of school, I thought I would use the apple image from the retiring set Tart & Tangy to create a thank you card for a teacher.

The sentiment is from Upsy Daisy and actually has another line to it, but I just inked up the thank you with my Stampin' write markers.

Stamps: SU Tart & Tangy, Upsy Daisy
Ink: SU poppy parade, old olive, chocolate chip
Paper: SU ww, poppy parade
Punch: SU 1 1/4" square

Goodbye Earthling

Time to say goodbye to the super cute set Greetings, Earthling before it retires.

This card is made using this months SFYTT. I stamped the aliens/monsters in Jet Black StazOn ink on watercolour paper, then used my aquapainter to paint them using the main colours in the also retiring celebrations dsp. I really enjoy watercolouring and have just started trying it out on stamped images that are not just flowers. I think it turned out quite well! The grass line was just made freehand using my basic black Stampin' write marker.

For my sentiment, I used a retired set from Sale-A-Bration several years ago, called Birthday Whimsy. For all the birthday stamp sets I have, none of the fonts seemed to suit this image, they were all too "pretty" looking! Guess I know what I'll have to buy from the upcoming catalogue!

Stamps: SU Greetings Earthling, Birthday Whimsy (retired)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, SU real red, pear pizzazz, pacific point, bashful blue, basic black
Paper: SU watercolour, real red, ww, pacific point, celebrations dsp, in colour patterns pack (hostess)
Misc: SU circle cutter, dimensionals, aquapainter

Goodbye Great Friend

Great Friend is another retiring set that I own that I will be sad to see go. I originally had to have it just because I loved the butterfly image.

Not much to say about this card! It's pretty self explanatory! Again, this designer paper is being retired as well.

Stamps: SU Great Friend, Thoughts & Prayers

Ink: SU soft suede, baja breeze
Paper: SU soft suede, baja breeze, very vanilla, elegant soiree dp
Ribbon: SU 3/8" very vanilla taffeta
Brad: SU very vanilla
Misc: SU pearls

Goodbye Eastern Blooms

Eastern Blooms has definitely been one of my favourite sets since I got it in 2008 so I will be sad to see it go. I recently posted this paradise card set that I modified from the original inspiration piece that had been made using the eastern blooms set (as seen here). Well, I liked it so much I made the eastern blooms version again but swapped out the colours, designer papers (to feature the retiring elegant soiree dsp) and sentiments.

Here's a closer look at each of the individual cards. You can again click on any of the images to enlarge them.

My favourite is definitely the last card in all versions I've made of it! I just love that layout!

Stamps: SU Eastern Blooms, Thank You Kindly
Ink: SU soft suede, baja breeze
Paper: SU crumb cake, baja breeze, very vanilla, elegant soiree dsp
Ribbon: SU very vanilla 3/8" taffeta
Misc: SU piercing tool, mat pack, dimensionals, paper snips