Hello! We’re having a bit of a rainy spell here in central Minnesota, but it’s spring! The frogs are singing, the robins are hopping around looking for worms and I think the frost is mostly out in my horses pen because I can finally walk out there without hip boots on, YAY! Life is good!

All throughout the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite retiring items. My hope is that when I post the cards, the items will still be available for you to purchase but due to the fact that retiring items are only available while supplies last, I can’t guarantee they will be available.

The pretty floral sprig and butterfly are stamped onto a 3″ x 4″ piece of Basic White with Tuxedo Black ink. They are colored using the 2019 -2021 In Color Stampin’ Write Markers. I first stamped the ‘thanks’ greeting directly onto the card, but, whoops, it was crooked. My quick fix was to stamp the greeting again, using Balmy Blue ink onto a scrap of Basic White card stock and then cut it out with the smallest die from the Layering Ovals Die set and adhered it over my mistake. I’m very sad to say that the Layering Ovals Die set is retiring. If you don’t have a set of Oval Dies, I highly recommend purchasing the Layering Ovals Dies before they are retired. They can be purchased from other companies but the quality of the Stampin’ Up! dies is superior. I also added a single pink Pastel Pearl.

The image is then matted with a 3 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ piece of Rococo Rose card stock. Chances are good that this card stock is no longer available as the In Color papers are usually the first items to be depleted. If it isn’t available Balmy Blue or Highland Heather would make nice alternatives.

The pretty 4″ x 5 1/4″ pink floral paper is from the Hydrangea Hill Designer Paper, which is from the January to June Mini Catalog and will still be available for quite awhile. I wanted to break the design of the Hydrangea Hill Paper up a bit, so I added a 1/4″ x 4″ strip of Rococo Rose just a bit below center. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the main image and chose to place it off center, closer to the right. I often like to place things in unexpected ways to create interest. It’s also a proven fact that I can’t do straight!

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I’ve added links to both the Butterfly Beauty Dies and the Beauty Abounds Bundle, although I did not use the Dies on this card. They are awesome though and you may want them as well.