So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

May is the month for fond farewells for our Second Thursday Stampers.  This month is the last of our 2015-16 Stamp Club Year with the advent of a whole new ©Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog and a grand RETIREMENT of stamps and accessories to make room for the new ones.  We are also saying goodbye to several of our regular club members making some room for new ones.  (Anyone interested?  Give us a holler!)  It seems quite fitting, then, that our projects for this month feature stamp sets and colors that are retiring--alongside some returning favorites.

We are sad to see these go, but such is a day in the life of our avid stampers!

Most papers, inks, and accessories used in our projects are from ©Stampin’ Up!

Double Up Our Gratefulness

Goodbye 2014-16 In-Colors™.  We are sad to see you go, but you deserve a break.  To give our old faithfuls a proper farewell, we teamed up the retiring Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, and Hello Honey Card Stock, Inks, and Ribbon with a new kid on the block.  Welcome to our stamp room Grateful Bunch and Blossom Punch!  We love what you do for us already.

Grateful Bunch Double Front Fold Card

This very fancy fold came directly from a wonderful tutorial video shared by one of our talented Pinterest friends, Lisa Curcio.  We wish we had thought of this one!  This card is a sweet little book with a cover, a middle, and a back page.  The front Hello Honey with Whisper White Card Stock is perfectly aligned with the same size and shape on a Whisper White center page.  

 

When you get to end, the message from our brand new Grateful Bunch Stamp Set expresses exactly how we feel!

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!

 

A Serene Silhouette Silently Slipping Away

Some departures are sadder than others.  For us, Serene Silhouettes is one of those.  What better farewell than to frame an image from this set in a peaceful and artistic rendition of a quiet lake view.  Our card base of Pool Party and Always Artichoke Card Stock sets off a very nice framing with Old Olive and a couple of Pool Party photo corners thrown in for good measure.  We cut just a little from the card front so the inside color would show when we mounted our masterpiece over some Zig Zag embossing.

Serene Silhouettes Scenic Artwork Card

Move over Monet!  We took our art instruction from Stampin' Up Independent Demonstrator Michelle Zindorf at her wonderful tutorial, Zindorf's Blogs at Splitcoast and we were off!  We started by swiping our So Saffron Ink Pad across the top, and our Pool Party Ink Pad across the bottom of a square of Whisper White Card Stock.  Then came the fun.  We masked off the bottom of the square with a sticky note and sponged Lost Lagoon Ink, then added some contrast with a sponging of Marina Mist Ink on the right side of our "canvas" to create a hill in the distance.  We took the mask off and sponged Old Olive Ink across the bottom to create the foreground.  The image from our retiring Serene Silhouettes Stamp Set was stamped in Basic Black Ink and we used a sponge of the same to create depth at the base.  We all feel like artists when we make a card as beautiful as this!

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!

Bordering Blooms Goodbye

We were just getting acquainted friend of ours, and now you are gone.  Bordering Blooms has found its way to the ©Stampin’ Up! retired list.  This sweet and easy friendship card with Old Olive, Melon Mambo, and Rich Razzleberry says it all!

Bordering Blooms Friendship Card

Bend me, shape me, any way you want me could be a theme song for our ©Stampin’ Up! photopolymer style stamps.  We took advantage of that versatility and curved the floral border from our retiring Bordering Blooms Stamp Set.  The border is stamped on the top and bottom of our Whisper White Card Stock piece to form a pretty archway for our Rhinestone embellished "friend" message from Endless Thanks.  Thankfully these "thanks" are sticking around for awhile.  We have heard that coloring to reduce stress is the new rage, so we thought we might try to reduce the stress caused by all the change we are experiencing in our Second Thursday lives by coloring our way to a sweet repose.

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!