Retiring Favorites with my Blogging Friends

Happy May!  Welcome to another awesome Blog Hop with my Blogging friends!  This month we are all showcasing our favorites from the list of retiring stamp sets while you can still get them.  This time of the year for us is always bittersweet.  So many of our favorites are going away but that also means we are making room for all the awesome new goodies in the new annual catalog. Yeah!  

I have 2 cards for you today using two different retiring sets, both from the Occasions catalog. The first is one of my favorites but a much under-used set.  The first part of the year did not leave much time for stamping so unfortunately this set has been a little neglected. However, it remains one of my favorites and this one will always have a place in my permanent stash.  

This card using the Perfect Mix stamp set was a Pinterest CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of a card made by Canadian SU Demo Sandi MacIver.  I loved Sandi's clean and simple card that perfectly highlighted multiple images in the stamp set.  I just switched up the Designer Series Paper and the color scheme.  I love the gingham background and if you look closely I think you can see some clear Wink of Stella over the top of the mixer. Because every household appliance should have glitter in my opinion.

Have you ever purchased a stamp set that you fell in love with only to struggle every time you ink it up? The Carousel Birthday set was that way for me.  I love the images but my stampin' mojo seemed to fly right out the window every time I broke out this set.  

 After several failed attempts with coloring the carousel horse I decided the best way to go was with a clean and simple gold heat emboss instead.  The Stitched Framelits oval and gold foil scallop helped to showcase the detail of the horse and the gold flecks in the Falling in Love Designer Series Paper (also retiring) ties it all together beautifully.

Thank you for joining us along our Hop today!  I hope you will take the time to continue on the Hop and see what my fellow Blogging Friends have in store for you.  

If you have come full circle, thanks for joining us today!  If you jumped in somewhere in the middle, please head on over to our fearless leader Crystal at Super Stamp Girl!  

Thanks for stoppin' by!  

Crystal Komara	Super Stamp Girl
Libby Fens	Libby Stamps
Mary Blocher	Mary Blocher Stamping
Danica Ferrante	My Beauty Scraps
Jodi Skrip Horsley	A Mom Having Fun
Leanne Dillon Johnson	Literally My Joy
Michele Clarke	Stampin’ Up!
Lorene Yoshimura-Tanigawa	Stampin' Up!
Mary Ann Kay Rossiter	Stampin Mak
Tammy Hibbit Gill	Stamp Inkspired
Rick Adkins	Rickinsmon Studio
Lisa Harvey-Reber	GulfcoastStamper