AWH Favourite Retiring Products Blog Hop

Hi there

Today I am participating in a blog hop along with the talented ladies in the Art With Heart Team. We thought it would be fun to share some projects using our favourite retiring products from both the 2016-2017 Annual Catalogue and 2017 Occasions Catalogue.

Select retiring products have discounts of up to 50% off but are only available until sold out. Be sure to place orders before the sun sets on these items on 31 May. You don’t want to miss out – ask me how!

Blog Hops are full circles, so you can start hopping here and then at the end of each post is a link to the next one. There is also a full list of participants at the end in case of any broken links. 

There are so many favourite stamp sets retiring. However, as it is my husband's birthday next week, I thought I would get double value by making him a card with one of my favourite masculine stamp sets - 'Wetlands'. This stamp set (shown below) has 3 fabulous greetings in a lovely font and 3 very flexible images to use singly or together. 

 

  

This set is still available in wood mount, but of course you can always mount the rubber onto EZ Mount foam  to use it with your acrylic blocks. In this card, I've combined both the goose and the sandpiper images in a scene on a sponged background. I cut a rectangular frame using the Layering Squares framelits  (move the square along and cut a second time to create your rectangle) and used it as a mask for my sponged background.  The goose was stamped first, slightly outside of the frame and a mask placed over it before progressing to the sponged background. I started at the bottom and worked upwards to the sky.

 

 

 

 

I stamped the goose a second time in Early Espresso ink and used my Copic markers to colour him. You can see in this close-up that I have fussy cut and popped him up on foam pads for extra dimension. The finished art piece was layered on Early Espresso card stock and I wrapped some Linen Thread around it and finished it with a retired metal button. I'm sad that buttons are out of vogue at the moment, but I hope they make a reappearance in the future. I debated about using one of the greetings from 'Wetlands', but opted for the more low-key 'happy birthday' from the 'Teeny Tiny Sentiments' stamp set. I stamped it in Early Espresso ink and punched it out with the Classic Label punch and sponged the edges in Soft Sky ink for definition. I coloured a pearl with a grey Copic marker to give it a metallic look. The whole panel was popped up onto the Soft Sky base card.

 

 

 

 

For the inside, I did some light sponging at the bottom and stamped my favourite sandpiper image over the top. 

 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Wetlands, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Card stock & Papers	Soft Sky, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Ink	Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Linen Thread, Pearls Basic Jewels, Basic Metal Buttons (retired)
Tools	Layering Squares Framelits, Up & Away Thinlits, Big Shot, Classic Label punch, Sponge daubers, Dimensionals, Glue dots, Copic Markers

 Now it's time to hop over to see what the lovely and talented Rachel Woollard has to inspire you. Click on the button below.

 

Here is the full list of participants in today's blog hop, so make sure you hop around to everyone and leave them some blog love.

1. Catherine Proctor
2. Ros Davidson
3. Tina Gillespie
4. Monika O'Neill
5. Rebecca Jacovou
6. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
7. Rachel Palmieri
8. Kate Morgan
9. Judy May ---------------------> You are here!
10. Rachel Woollard
11. Claire Daly
12. Andrea Roberts

 Thanks for visiting!

Comments

[Rosemarie Cowit]

Absolutely LOVE this card. The sponging is magnificent. May I ask how you got the clouds to look so realistic?

[Kathryn Mangelsdorf]

Judy, fantastic colour and sponging, you always make it look so easy and it blends so well together.

[monika o'neill]

Judy beautiful work as always, just so perfectly pretty, your colouring is perfection. Such a great stamp set xx

[Andrea Roberts]

What a stunning card. I especially love the subtle look inside the card too.

[Rebecca Jacovou]

Lovely cards.

[Sharon Davern]

Judy, such a lovely, lovely card and such gorgeous colouring.

[ClaireDaly]

Pretty card Judy - that is such a fabulous stamp set isn't it. I love your sponged sand and beach scene.

[Tina Gillespie]

Your card is stunning, Judy! I love the way the goose is offset a little, and your sponging is just perfect!

[Christine Blain]

Beautiful card, Judy! I love your sponged background, and the great white space "frame" around the stamped images.

[Kate Morgan]

Gorgeous colouring Judy, love it!

[Catherine Proctor]

What a beautiful card!