Wacky Watercooler April Blog Hop

Welcome to our April "Retirement Means Goodbye" Blog Hop. Today's hop is all about what is retiring at the end of May.  It's always sad to say goodbye.  So, if you've not gotten everything on your wish list, now is the time to do so.

Each month, on the third Thursday of the month, a group of us get together to hop and share projects from Stampin' Up!'s current catalogs.  It's always a lot of fun.

You should be coming to my blog from Sheri Lee.  After your visit with me, you'll head on over to Penny Hanuszak.  And, as always, our Hop runs in a circle.  Whether you start at the top and go forward or start at the bottom and go backward, you will always wind up where you started.

My first project highlights the retiring 2015-2017 In Colors.  I made a set of note cards using the Sheltering Tree stamp set.  I first stamped the tree using Tip Top Taupe.  Then, I stamped the leaves in Cucumber Crush, Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron and Watermelon Wonder.  The sentiment was stamped using Tip Top Taupe as is the tiny leaves image in the lower left corner of each envelope.

One of the retiring stamp sets Oh So Succulent.  I'm sorry to see it go as succulents are quite popular at this time.  For this project, I continued using the 2015-0017 In Colors.  I started with a card base of Whisper White Thick to which I added a combined layer of Mint Macaron and Whisper White.  I didn't use the die-cuts to make a succulent, just some nice looking flowers.  They were cut out of Delightful Dijon and Watermelon Wonder using the Succulent Framelits Dies.  The leaves are cut from Cucumber Crush again using the Succulent Framelits Dies.  I stamped the sentiment using Tip Top Taupe.  I added a bow of Whisper White Baker's Twine around the layer and that was that.  I'm always amazed that all of these colors work so well together.

The inspiration for this card came from Peggy Noe.   

My final project is another Mother's Day card.  I can now boast that I have all of mine done and can get them ready to put in the mail at the appropriate time.  I love being ahead of the game.

Another set that is retiring and one that I will most definitely miss is the Botanical Blooms stamp set and the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies.  For this card, I used the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies to cut the flowers out of Peekaboo Peach and the fronds out of Cucumber Crush.  The flower centers are cut from the same set of dies.  I added a bow of Early Espresso Baker's Twine to the top and the sentiment is from the Oh So Succulent stamp set and stamped using Early Espresso ink.

And that, as they say, is that from me.  The next stop on your tour is Penny Hanuszak.  She always has such great projects.  To see her wonderful projects, click the image below.

If you'd like to revisit Sheri Lee and see her wonderful projects again, click the image below.

To start at the beginning you can click the image below to go back to the Wacky Watercooler Stamping Blog.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha