Hope from a "Special Reason"

Hello stampers! 

I must say that when the retirement list was announced, I was so surprised that the fabulous Special Reason set with coordinating thinlits was on the list. I have seen so many stunning cards made with this bundle of products, I am saddened that it did not make the cut. It did however make my list and it is a keeper for sure. For my card today I used the thinlits and cut out some of the stencil like flower images on watercolour paper. 

I added a bunch of colours to make a fun blended background. I used Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Sweet Sugarplum, Rose Red and Blushing Bride (pink I know!). I just kept adding colour until I was happy... the great thing about watercolour backgrounds it tends to look cool either way. 

I coloured the flowers with the Gold Wink of Stella, another of my favourites that is on the retiring list. I layered it onto some Basic Black cardstock, added some gold thread and the diecut sentiment from the Sunshine Sayings Thinlits with Delightful Dijon (love this colour..sniff, sniff). With all that has been going on in my life - hope is something I definitely have. I hope you all have a beautiful day! 

Window Shopping ... Thanks Friend!

So sorry I've been MIA... a couple of months ago my Dad became ill and was hospitalized and has since come to live with  me. Needless to say my craft time has diminished. I have a couple of cards to share with you today, I hope you are inspired.

My focus for these two cards was the {Window Shopping} stamp set... which has been carried over to the annual catalogue - yay! This set coordinates with the Window Box Thinlits. I chose to use the floral image, which is a square stamp. I stamped four using two of my favourite colours Mint Macaron and Emerald Envy. I altered the sentiment to have my greeting say from Thanks for being a great friend to Thanks for being great.

Next, I kept it very similar but again editing the sentiment to just say Thanks Friend. Instead of designer series paper in the background I opted for an embossed panel using the {Petal Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder}. My colour combo is Pool Party and Bermuda Bay..love!

This is my Dad's dog Lily. She has now joined our fur-family. Isn't she adorable? This picture reminded me about how sad I am that I still have my pre-order goodies in the packaging... Hopefully soon I will have some time to break them in! 

Lift Me UP + Cupcakes & Carousels

Hello stampers! 

Stampin' Up! released their 2017 retiring product lists today. I'll admit that I am really sad to see so many of my favourites leaving. I think I will miss Mint Macaron inks... cardstock... well everything. 

One of the items that I absolutely love is the [Cupcakes & Carousels Designer Series Paper Stack]. This paper is one of my all-time favouites, I love every design and the colours are perfectly suited to each other. I have a card to share today that I created with this stunning paper stack. 

The background really pops with these designs. I added a diecut hot air balloon and a few clouds. I hope you like my card.