Merry Monday #17

Happy Friday!  The Merry Monday Challenge #17 is a really fun one this week as I love circles and I love things in 3's.  I had a really hard time narrowing down what I wanted to do for this challenge.  I did decide to flip the sketch though once I had made up my mind on the sentiment to use.

As you might be aware, Stampin Up is retiring a large number of products from its current catalog to make way for the new products coming up soon. It's sort of sad to lose some of my favorite stamps but it's also so exciting to be able to use new, fun stuff too (you will have the opportunity to purchase the new products starting June 1st!).   As I was cleaning out my stamp area to make room for the new stuff that I just know I will have to have, I came across a set that had been retired for quite some time.  I had really liked that set so I decided to dust it off a little and use the flower from it to make a new and somewhat unusual poinsetta for this card.  I'm also using another of my favorite "soon to retire sets" for the sentiment. This is another reason I love to participate in the Merry Monday challenges - my Christmas stamps don't have to sit in a drawer for a whole year before they get taken out and inked up again.     

With this card I'm using something old to make something new - and I like how that opportunity turned into a nice card that I can share with someone at Christmas (and you now through this blog).
The Stampin Up retiring list is now available on my demonstrator website (link is at the top of my blog). If you have a favorite set that you have been holding off on getting, now might be the time to snatch it up before its gone.

Thanks so much for stopping by - I sure do appreciate it, and I hope that you saw something that inspired you too.  Hugs!

Supplies (all from Stampin Up!): Cardstock - Real Red, Whisper White and Crushed Curry (retired).  Stamps - Flowers from "God's Beauty" (retired) and sentiment from "Welcome Christmas".  Ink - Real Red and More Mustard (colored on the flower stamp with my Stampin Write markers). I stamped 6 flowers and snipped them out to layer using a mini brad in the center of each flower.  Patterned paper is the 2010-2012 In-Color collection (retiring in May).  I used the Petals A Plenty textured embossing folder on the background DSP and then sanded it very lightly.