Tour de Freaks Blog Hop

Welcome to the monthly Tour de Freaks Blog Hop!  You may have just come from Lisa Martz over at Get Your Stamp On Blog…hope you enjoyed her projects!  We have 12 stops for you today, each of the wonderful Control Freak Swappers are featuring projects from retiring stamp sets.  Click at the bottom of my post to go to the next person, Mary Brown at Stampercampers Blog!  When you go thru all the stops in the loop, you will end up back here.

My first card uses the stamp set, To You and Yours, that will be retiring at the end of June.  You won’t see it in the current catalog either…that’s because it has been sitting on the Dormant List.  BUT…it is still available to purchase!  (#111706, $18.95).

I started with a base of Night of Navy and layered Riding Hood Red on top.  I stamped the dove with White Craft and heat embossed with White Embossing Powder on Night of Navy and layered that on Brushed Silver.  I added about an extra inch in length to that Brushed Silver layer so I could use the Eyelet Border Punch across the bottom, then wrapped the Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon around the entire element.  I used a piece of Riding Hood Red Patterns Designer Paper as an additional layer before adding the Dove Layer on top.  Seasons Greetings is from To You and Yours, too, and I stamped it with Night of Navy on Whisper White, then punched with the 1 1/4 circle and layered on a Brushed Silver 1 3/8 circle.  Finally, I stamped the snowflake from Holiday Blitz stamp set with White Craft on Night of Navy and embossed with White Embossing Powder, then punched with my 3/4 circle punch and placed above the Dove layer.  The Red, Blue and Silver make it almost a Patriotic looking card, although that wasn’t my intent!

My next card uses the same stamp set, To You and Yours and the Mojo Monday #90 sketch!  But I used a couple of the other stamps in the set!  Again I started with a base card of Night of Navy.  I stamped the house with Night of Navy Craft ink on Whisper White and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  I added some piercing decorations with my Piercing Mat and Tool in each upper corner.  I layered the Whisper White on Night of Navy.  Then I cut a square of print pattern from Walk in the Park Designer Paper, and  layered it on another Night of Navy cardstock.  Both these pieces were placed on a Baja Breeze layer that I stamped randomly with the snowflake from Holiday Blitz in Baja Breeze ink.  I used the Ticket Corner Punch on each corner and layered it on Whisper White.  I wrapped some Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon around the entire layers and added a piece of White Taffeta on top of the knot.  Finally, I stamped the greeting with Night of Navy Craft ink on Whisper White and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  I punched with the 1 1/4 circle, the punched the 1 3/8 circle from Baja Breeze and double punched the Night of Navy Scallop Circle so I’d get a pinking edge to my scallop circle.  I added a Clear Rhinestone brad on top.  That entire element was popped up with dimensionals and placed above the house!

 My next card uses Stitched Exotics stamp set.  This was one of the sets I received to make the display samples at Leadership a couple years ago!  I kind of burned myself out on using it, so I felt it was time to give it a proper send off since it will be retiring.  (#115080, $34.95)

I find I get better coverage with solid stamps when I stamped them with Classic Ink on Glossy cardstock.  Works fine as long as you don’t mind them being shiny!  I love this sketch!  Mary Brown and I did a fun challenge using it.  It starts with a Whisper White base card.  Then I added a piece of Regal Rose Pattern paper from Raspberry Tart Designer Paper in the lower right part of the base.  I cut a strip of the Kiwi Kiss print from the same Raspberry Tart DSP and layered it on Real Red…made it POP, didn’t it?  I also added a strip of Regal Rose over the Green print and three mini brads as accents.  The large flower I stamped with Regal Rose on Glossy White cardstock and the leaves with Kiwi Kiss.  I cut each of them out and layered with dimensionals on a Whisper White piece of cardstock, layered on Regal Rose.  Before I placed the flower, I used a Build A Brad and the center flower from Stitched Exotics in Real Red.  The Ticket Corner Punch was used on each corner.  Finally, I stamped Thank You from Short & Sweet stamp set in the upper right.  I love how this turned out and will be using this sketch and designer paper for more cards!  (Raspberry Tart DSP is STILL available on the Last Chance list!)

And my last project uses It’s A Sign.  I’m really sad this set is going…although it will stay in my collection.  I think it is great for teenagers or fun invitations.  I made a little box from two Scallop Envelopes cut with the Big Shot out of Bashful Blue cardstock.  Then I added an extra piece of cardstock around the sides.  I went with a monochromatic color theme with the Pacific Point print from Good Morning Sunshine Designer Paper on the front of the box and wrapped the White Taffeta around the box.  The base of each 3×3 card is Bashful Blue with a Whisper White layer on top and the Pacific Point print as an accent.  Then I used four different signs, stamped them with Pacific Point on Whisper White and cut the to shape or as a square for the front.  Each was layered on Bashful Blue and popped up with Dimensionals.  I think this would make a fun little gift for a teenager…maybe with a gift card tucked inside the box, too!

 Thanks for stopping by my Blog today.  Make sure to continue on the Tour de Freaks by clicking on the button below to take you to Mary at Stampercamper ‘s Blog!