Homage to Retiring Favorites--#tgifc262

This week's color challenge at TGIF Challenges is Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana and Daffodil Delight.  It makes me think of the beach and when I think of the beach, I think of the Adirondack chair die in the Seasonal Layers die set(#143751).  It is retiring as is the coordinating Colorful Seasons stamp set (#143726)--two of my most used and well-loved favorites.  My card today is a homage to both:

I did a color wash of Coastal Cabana on one piece of Shimmery White card stock and an ombre wash of Calypso Coral on another.  The bottom of the Coastal Cabana piece was stamped numerous times with the texture image from Sea of Textures stamp set (#146488--another retiring favorite).  I used second and third generation Sahara Sand to create the beach.  I used the Stamparatus to stamp the "Just Breathe" several times in Sahara Sand to get a darker shade over the sand. 

I die cut the Adirondack chairs from the Calypso Coral piece.  Honestly, I do not think I would have even purchased this stamp and die bundle if it had not been for that chair.  I would have missed out on making all my favorite leaf and snowflake cards as well as the Spring and Summer ones if not for that chair.  So, it's fitting that I pay homage to this set with these chairs!

For the glasses of lemonade, I used the Sahara Sand Stampin' Write marker to outline the glass image and the Coastal Cabana one to color the straw.  Then I used an Aqua Painter to color in the Daffodil Delight lemonade.  I cut a little wedge out of the Daffodil Delight lemons to adhere them to the top of the glass.

You can't see the shimmer of the card stock that makes the whole card shimmer like the beach in the sun, so here is a close-up so you can get a sense of it:

Check out all the fun projects made with this bright and fun color combination over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

It is hard for me to lament the retirement of my favorite Stampin' Up! stamps and dies, because I know wonderful new products are on the way in the upcoming Annual Catalog.

Old favorites will give way to new ones.  

Have a great week!

--Sara Nell

A Label Me Bold Birthday Note--#tgifc259

Today I have a 3-1/2" X 5" note card for the TGIF Challenges sketch challenge.  I just received the Label Me Bold stamp set (#151631) and I thought it would work well with the sketch and with a smaller card size.  This stamp set was inspired by Stampin' Up! Million Dollar sale achiever, Jasmin Schultze.  I love the label style greetings and the texture images in this set.

For the background circles in the sketch, I used the cloud-like texture stamp stamped in Soft Sea Foam with first and second generation stamping.  I stamped the dotted texture image over these images using Balmy Blue stamped off once.  The greeting is also stamped in Balmy Blue.  It is layered over a Gray Granite circle that was embossed with the Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder.  I stamped and die cut the Flirty Flamingo flowers (with Gray Granite centers) using the Colorful Seasons stamp set (#143726) and Seasonal Layers dies (#143751).  A bow of Whisper White baker's twine and Basic Pearls colored with the Flirty Flamingo Dark Stampin' Blends marker complete the card. 

There are some really terrific interpretations of this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Happy Stampin'--Sara Nell 

Leaf Cluster--#tgifc232

It's October and leaves are falling.  Which means I spend time while walking Roxie collecting the pretty, colorful leaves that catch my eye.  I place them in my seagrass basket in the entrance hall for part of my Fall decor.  When they shrivel up and turn brown, I toss them and collect more. I love this season!  

But what does this have to do with my post? The TGIF Challenges color challenge this week is Pretty Peacock, Grapefruit Grove and Crumb Cake.  When I saw the colors I got excited because I had a leaf in my basket with those colors--one of my prettier ones:

Okay, not exactly those colors when I looked at it.  But it shared the brightness of the colors in the challenge and inspired my card for today. 

I learned several years ago that the best way to recreate the leaves I find is to use the baby wipe technique (and, yes, every Fall I stamp loads of leaves!).  The baby wipe technique of creating your own multicolored ink pad on a baby wipe creates a mottled effect on the leaves and no two are the same.  For this card I created a baby wipe pad with drops of Grapefruit Grove ink and fewer drops of Pretty Peacock ink.   I used my "ink pad" with the solid leaf image in the Colorful Seasons stamp set.  I used the veined leaf image from the same stamp set to stamp the leaf outline in Crumb Cake on each of the leaves. I die cut these leaves and the Crumb Cake openwork leaves with two dies in the Seasonal Layers die set. I coated the Crumb Cake leaves and the bottom of the greeting layers with Shimmery Crystal Effects.  The greeting is from the Country Home stamp set and was stamped in Pretty Peacock.

I have layers of Crumb Cake and Grapefruit Grove card stock and a Pretty Peacock pattern from the Woven Threads designer series paper pack.

Check out other projects made with this color combo on the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

--Sara Nell