How I shall miss thee! Retiring List Stamps Review

As promised…here is my review of stamps on this years Retired List that I shall sorely miss using…. click on the product picture to go straight to my store or click on the project picture to go to the relevant earlier blog post…

So not in any particular order…..

Around The World. Gosh this has had a lot of use for mini books & Project Life. Think this will probably be a keeper… Still available in wood and clear.

Apothecary Art. Used this set so much over the years…really sad to see it go… still available in Wood & Clear. Ooh… Wood only £2 more than clear. Though the co-ordinating Labels Collection Framelits now out of stock so gone forever… Can’t believe I didn’t blog these Diorama cards before…

Memorable Moments. Really great Numbers and Words set. Hope there is a good “replacement” for me in the new catty…… or these will have to be another keeper! Still available in both wood and clear – again wood mount less than £2 more than the clear now….

@So Social. Just really really surprised to see this go so soon… We have had great fun using this is in our Project Life sessions and on quite a few cards too… Think this may have to be a keeper for me actually!! Still available in both Wood & Clear.

Sorry no projects to share as I can’t find them in my Pictures folder… but I can share one of the cards in its previous form… and note that the Make Note Rotary stamp in that one has also retired… and now I have just realised why all my customers have rushed to buy this little stamp at just £2.75!! I think there may be a few of you that will need the Word Window punch now too!!

 

Embellished Events. Many of you will be surprised to see this on here… but I use this stamp set for my “Beginners” classes…as there are great images and words too… so one stamp set, a couple of inks and a bit of card mean ladies go away with a simple kit they can make cards etc with for so many occasions straightaway….and then forever more… Only left in Wood…

It really is a great little set… and used for some of my favourite cards – whether the very very simple ones or the easy but fancier… none of which I appear to have blogged before…..

 

Label Love – still available in Wood & Clear. Artisan Label punch retiring too…. but punch has already gone forever…

Petite Pairs… EDITED TO ADD… Appears this has had a reprieve – I can definitely see it in the new catty!!
I used this one SO much over the years. Though I am sure SU! will give me a good replacement in the new catty….. Still available in Wood and Clear mount. But no reduction on this one!

Wildflower Meadow So Sad! Still available in wood , clear and the embossing folder is still there too…

And lastly my one definite keeper – Dictionary – gone for good in stamp form – though still available as a MDS download… I really hope that there is a great new alternative to this stamp….

Remember my Convention swap card… which I naughtily nicknamed the car tax disc card!

And  the Too Kind stamps used here are also on the Retiring List… still available in Wood only… Definitely one I will miss…

And here was a CAS Christmas Santa’s List card that I don’t appear to have shared on here before…

So another bit of a trip down Memory Lane here… and as a result - unfortunately for me - now a few more stamp sets moving over to the Keep Box… Maybe Memory Lane is not such a good idea for me after all!!!

Team Training Retro Fresh Briefcase Mini Book & Cards

Just a very quick share today.

As mentioned in my last post…. I was asked by Julie to do a project for the Team to make at our Quarterly Team Training session.

The theme of the day was MALES.

The products to be used were the Retro Fresh Suite (Designer Series papers, Journalling Tags, Make Note rotary stamp, Washi Tape, Essentials Wooden Elements) & On Film Framelits.

I created a briefcase mini album (aka Man Bag… or Book of Awesome!) for everyone to make (more of that on another day!) and a collection of 8 cards for display using some of the Journalling Tags they didn’t need in the mini book (more of those on another day too!)

So here they are! A quick preview…..

I will share much more on these at the weekend….. but I have quite a lot more Easter projects to share first!! Including a tutorial for the Easter Basket as requested…  And the 2nd lot of Weekly Deals that will be released tomorrow…..

iPhone 5 Card–Team Training swap card Tutorial

 
This is a stepped up version of the card that I am swapping with my fellow Team demonstrators today. The swap brief is Men – so I was thinking Teen Boys- always hard to make for!!


You can certainly tell that I have a teenager and avid Apple products fan (or two!) in the house – as you can see a few iPhone & iPod creations around this blog!! They always go down well – so I always make a few for stock when I come up with a new design….. So this is a variant of a iPhone 3 card I first made 3 years ago…. which we did in classes but unbelievably I didn’t share on my blog at the time…. probably because all my samples and “stock” all flew out of the door.


So a recipe & a tutorial today…. firstly for the base IPhone below that I swapped with everyone.

I carefully measured the boys’ iPhone 5 and sized everything to suit!! So apologies to my US counterparts…. this kind of preciseness is where the metric/European system proves dividends!!
So the cardstock dimensions are as follows….

• Basic Grey  58 x 123mm
• Basic Black 55 x 120mm
• Smoky Slate 50 x 90mm
• Whisper White 50 x 70mm

And for stamping & punching – Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Gumball Green
And  I also used…
Stamps  - Make Note rotary stamp, Peachy Keen & Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Punches – Word Window, Corner Rounder, 1/2” Circle Punch, Scalloped Tag Topper Punch
Inks – Staz On Black, Whisper White Craft, Versamark & White embossing powder


Now I can hear a few of you wondering where I used a Peachy Keen stamp & the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch…….
The slot waste from the Tag punch was used to created the grey slit at the top…I just cut off the top circular part! I could also have used either of the slots from the Chalk Talk framelits… but I had a lot to make... so punching was much quicker!! Edited to add... I have now realised that you don't need to cut off that circular section at the top after all...some iPhone 5s look exactly like that Tag punch waste part!! Wish I had realised that before!!!


And the cubes stamp from Peachy Keen was a complete Eureka moment….. it was used to create the rounded square within the circular black button at the bottom… just perfect…. I was SO glad that I had that stamp!!


And secondly a tutorial for the centre step card that I just added the base iPhone card onto….. and voila… iPhone 5 plus speakers….

1. Cut Smoky Slate cardstock  to 105 x 280mm for the card base
2. With panel PORTRAIT on your trimmer, line up on 2cm on Top Bar and cut down the cutting bar from 2.5cm to 16.5cm
3. Turn around 180 degrees, line up on 2cm again and cut from 11.5 to 25.5cm
4. With the panel LANDSCAPE and the cuts to the left hand side… Score across 2 narrow outside sections at 2.5, 5 & 16,5 cm
5. Score across centre section at 14cm
6. Fold centre score line as Mountain
7. Corner round top section (trickier than it sounds!!) 
8. Fold outside score lines as Mountain; Valley and Mountain
9. Cut Basic Black card to  17 x 111mm (x2) for the speakers
10. Emboss using Square Lattice embossing folder
11. Adhere embossed speakers & iPhone

And I can also easily share the Imperial measurements for the card base – as my original centre step card for the iPhone 3 version was all sized in inches….

1. Cut Smoky Slate cardstock to 4 1/8” x 11”
2. With panel PORTRAIT on your trimmer, line up on ¾” on Top Bar and cut down the cutting bar from 1 “ to 6 ½”
3. Turn around 180 degrees, line up on ¾” again and cut from 4 ½” to 10”
4. With the panel LANDSCAPE and the cuts to the left hand side - Score across 2 narrow outside sections at 1”; 2” and 6 ½”
5. Score across centre section at 5 ½”
6. Fold centre score line as Mountain
7. Fold outside score lines as Mountain; Valley and Mountain
8. Corner round top section (trickier than it sounds!!) 

And there you have it….. I have also made some more colourful versions of the card… but I missed daylight and I am posting this at speed as I on my way to or at Team Training as you read this!!


I cannot be late – as  I have designed and I am running the morning project session ( bites all my nails off!!!)……. so more to share on that another day….I REALLY hope they all like the project…..  Needless to say I am REALLY looking forward to the afternoon session!! Sure to be more relaxing for me!!!