It’s Stamp-Off Friday! This week’s challenge is to use our favorite retiring stamp set.

This was a tough one for me. There are quite a few retiring sets that I liked a lot, especially in the Occasions catalog. But after a few weeks with new products (and the ones I’m looking forward to that weren’t available for preorder), I’m not feeling the sense of loss. Sad, right? How fickle am I that the sets I couldn’t do without are now just sitting in a box waiting until they will be given away or sold?

Ok, I’m really not that fickle. Because many of my retired sets are not going into the “sell or give away” box. I’m keeping them. Like this one.

I love this set – because it’s really fun to watercolor, because I love flowers, and because you can split it up and use just the flowers, just the sentiment, or just a few of the vases. It’s just so simple and pretty, don’t you think?

I stamped in Basic Gray Archival Ink, simply because my Basic Black was packed for class and I can never get a good image with StazOn. The Basic Gray looks really nice with the Bermuda Bay – and it’s not as harsh as black would be, so – YAY! Happy circumstance.

There’s not much else to tell you about this one that isn’t obvious. I watercolored the vases with Bermuda Bay and an aqua painter. The flowers leaves and stems were colored with Stampin’ Write Markers – Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Watermelon Wonder, Wisteria Wonder, and Melon Mambo. (Yes, really Melon Mambo. The tulip on the left looks like the new Sweet Sugarplum, but it’s not. Maybe I didn’t clean my Aqua Painter well enough after the Wisteria Wonder flower. So there’s a tip for you. Want some Sweet Sugarplum? Mix a little Wisteria Wonder with Melon Mambo.)

I added a few Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight flowers (from the Tree Builder Punch) and pearls, then covered the vases with glue from the Fine-Tip Glue Pen. This is very like Crystal Effects. In fact, it may be the same product, but because the tip is so fine, you have a little more control. Finally, I added a bit of Clear Wink of Stella to the flowers. So fun – and some of my favorite colors and products – not to mention my favorite retiring set.

Now check out Jackie’s and Susan’s blogs to see what their favorites are.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a wonderful day!

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