Out On A Whim Wednesday: Playing With Retired Stamps

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Just Because It's Retired Doesn't Mean It's Over :)

Retiring stamp sets.  I always have mixed feelings about retiring stamp sets.  As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, it is no secret that I try to make money by attracting people to exciting and wonderful new products.  Also, as a demonstrator, I am not supposed to use retired product when I host workshops.  The logic makes sense - after all, if you are demonstrating product that people can no longer buy, how is that going to help you build a business?  I realize though, that my Stampin' Up! business is as much if not more about inspiring people to "let their art out" as it is about being a profit-generating enterprise.  Maybe something I do with a retired stamp set will motivate you to dig up some old rubber stamps you have hiding in a closet and actually ink them up or apply some acrylic paint to them and get creative!  I am also a firm advocate of trying to use what you have and resisting the all-too-easy urge to just go out and buy the next best thing - the latest and greatest new item.  So, in this spirit, I am going out on a whim today and sharing a card that a friend commissioned me to make.  He has a friend who recently received tenure at DePauw University and he wanted to send a card to congratulate her.  I asked him what else she likes and when he mentioned that she had a golden doodle dog, this retired stamp set popped into my head (at least it looks pretty close to a golden doodle...don't you think?).  The set was called Bow Wow and the dog house, dog and paw print are just a few of the adorable images in the set.  (I do have to admit to being curious what Stampin' Up! will come up with for us dog-loving stampers...Friends Fur-ever and D is for Dog are both retiring so I'm anticipating they will be offering something to fill the void!  I know, I know...I'm not supposed to get too excited about the latest and greatest :)
I stamped the dog and dog house with Staz-On and did a bit of watercoloring with ink and my aqua painter.  I added a touch of dazzling diamonds to the house and created some grass with a strip of card stock and my paper snips.  The sign was created with the Calendar & Alphabet stamp set (also retiring and another set I am curious about...will there be a small alphabet replacement set????  I use this set ALL the time!).  The greeting is from Curly Cute.  I hope you like it :) While I had the Bow Wow and Curly Cute stamp sets out I also created this cute little thank you note (it is for my wonderful neighbor who drove all the way out to the airport for me to retrieve my laptop that I left at the security check point - how sweet was that!!!!)