Just Believe...

...and everything will be just fine!  

This is a great week for stampers everywhere, because the Stampin' Up retiring lists are here.  This means that stampers everywhere are either celebrating, "'Lovely as a Tree' made it again!", or commiserating, "Really?!?  You are taking away 'Elements of Style' and 'Tea Shoppe'?"  

My personal thoughts?  This is one of my favorite times of the stamping year because I get the chance to say goodbye to some of my favorites, like Just Believe, by making something I love with them a few more times.  And, really, let's be honest...we get to keep the stamps!  I think sometimes people forget that retiring a stamp set isn't like retiring from something like the mob.  They don't just "disappear" one night while we are all out for dinner.  We still get to play with them whenever we want, for as long as we want.  

So I took the sketch from Stamping Challenges this week:  

...and made this:

Stampy Stuff:  Stamps:  Just Believe, Cardstock:  Summer Starfruit, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Print Poetry DSP, Ink:  Island Indigo, Whisper White Craft ink, Accessories:  Linen Thread, Designer Natural buttons, Bitty Banners Framelits, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Big Shot

Believe it or not, this is card you can make in under 10 minutes, start to finish.  

I hope that you will take the time to check out the retiring list at my online store, and if you order be sure to enter the hostess code 2RTKV69E to get a chance to win the hostess benefits for all online orders that are placed using this code.  The beauty of it?  Your order ships straight to you!  No waiting for everyone else, so you can get those great retiring papers, accessories, and other goodies you want and not have to hope they aren't all gone before the order closes.  I am going to keep this event open until May 6th, and once I close it I will notify the winner of the amount of free hostess dollars they have to shop with.  

Thanks for stopping by this week!  I hope that you will take the time to make something that makes you happy this week, then share the happiness with someone around you.  And, if you feel so inclined, leave me a comment here on the blog.  I love knowing that real live people (other than my mom and husband) take the time to pop in and see what I am saying about them...er...cards.  

Be sure to stay tuned here for information regarding my big open house at the end of the month!  I would love to see you here to pick up your new catalog and enjoy a fun evening with some great people.  

Until next time, Happy Stamping!  

Kim