My First Blog Hop!

Hi Stamping Friends!

I'm sooooo excited because today is the very first time I'm participating in a blog hop!  My demo friends over at my favorite online Stampin' Up! hangout, Stampin' Addicts, put together a fun little hop highlighting the just announced Dormant Retirement List from Stampin' Up!.  These stamp sets are on the Dormant List and did not appear in the current catalog, even though they are available for purchase.  They will be retired on January 4th, never to be seen again!  So have a great time hopping through our blogs.  And don't forget to order these fabulous sets before they are gone forever!

If you started the hop at the beginning, that means you came from the very talented Melissa's blog: STAMPING WITH MELISSA.  I love Melissa's clean, classic style.  She knows how to add just the right amount of "stuff" to a card to make it look spectacular!  If you just found the hop now, you can start here and continue on through.  There will be another link to the next blog, at the end of my post.  (If all the links are not working yet, please be patient.  This hop doesn't officially start until noon on Saturday.)

For my set I chose Grand Soiree.  It was on my must-have list when it first came out in the Fall-Winter 2008 Stampin' Up! catalog.  I love the chandelier image.  I needed a little help getting my mojo going, so I used a couple of challenges to bail me out.  The first two projects use the color combo from the Colour Create blog.  And the first card uses the Mojo Monday sketch.  Here are the challenge pics:

I knew I wanted to use this set for a New Year's Eve style invitation, and I thought these would be super fun colors to use for a New Year's theme.  So I created an invite and a little party gift to match.

Wouldn't this be just fabulous for New Year's?  It's difficult to see in the pic of the invite, but the Orchid Opulent layer is embossed with the Perfect Details Texturz Plate, just like the Matchbox is.  Both sentiments and the chandelier are embossed with black embossing powder.  Gives it so much fun texture and shine.  The Bermuda Bay tag on the Matchbox comes from the same die.  And a chandelier is not complete without a little bling!  So I HAD to add some Clear Rhinestone brads.

I love the "Ain't life Grand" sentiment so much, I made another card using it.  The chandelier looks great embossed in any color, but I love the striking look of black, so this one is black as well.

Don't you just love pink and black?!  So classic.  And that's what I love about this image, it's fun, yet sassy, yet classic.  This would be the perfect card to give to a friend who just had something special happen in her life, promotion, engagment, pregnancy, etc.  There are just so many "Grand" moments in life that should be celebrated!  I love how the Top Note die shape mimics the shape of the chandelier. 

I hope you enjoyed your stop here at my little stamping world.  Be sure to stop by again!  Plus be on the lookout for our next Stampin' Addicts blog hop, coming January 1st through 3rd, where we will be featuring lots of new goodies from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog.

To continue on this fun little Stampin' Up! Retirement journey, hop on over to the super creative Yapha's blog: RUBBER STAMPING AND CARDMAKING WITH YAPHA.  I know she'll have something adorable for you to see!

GRAND SOIREE  #111580  $24.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!