It’s now only 9 days until Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators get their first look at the new 2023/2024 Annual Catalogue. Although they haven’t told us that the Retiring List will also be revealed on that day, we’ll be able to work out for ourselves which items are being discontinued. One of the safest bets for retiring products is Designer Series Paper (DSP) like the Rain or Shine Specialty Paper used on today’s card. DSP very rarely gets carried over so don’t count on any of it being available for much longer.

COUNT ON ME
I love the Rain Or Shine 12″ x 12″ Specialty DSP for it’s fun background sheets as well as the cute animal images. The paper is called ‘specialty’ because parts of it have a UV coating that gives it a raised glossy effect like heat embossing. I also love the fact that this paper coordinates with the Playing In The Rain Dies making it easy to cut out the animals.
But my project didn’t start there, it started with a sentiment from the Count Me In Stamp Set, “we can make it through anything if we do it together. So I began by using Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the sentiment onto a 1″ x 4-7/8″ strip of Basic White Card. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted it onto a 1-1/8″ x 4-7/8” strip of Basic Black Card.
For my card base I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Basic Black Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.
RAIN OR SHINE
Now I was ready for the Rain or Shine Specialty DSP and I started by cutting a 6″ x 6″ piece of the raindrop pattern. Then, making sure the raindrops were falling down, I cut a 2-1/4″ high strip across the piece. Using liquid glue I fixed this to the flap of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then I trimmed off the excess DSP with Paper Snips, using the edge of the flap as a guide.
Next from the raindrop paper I cut a 3/4″ x 6″ strip across and trimmed that down to 5-1/4″ wide. I glued this narrow strip along the top edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ layer of Basic White Card. Then I fixed the assembled layer inside my card base.
Finally I trimmed the remaining 3″ high piece of raindrop paper to 5-1/2″ wide and glued that up against the crease on the front of the card base.

Going back to the Rain or Shine DSP pack I found the sheet with the individual animals on a white background and roughly cut around one of each of the foxes and rabbits. Then I finished cutting them out using the coordinating dies from the Playing In The Rain Dies.
With that done I rested the sentiment strip on the card base while I fixed the animals around the sentiment with a little liquid glue. Once they were attached I flipped the assembled piece over and added Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back of everything. Finally I attached the completed piece to the card front and my card was complete.
You have to admit these animals are cute. Fingers crossed the coordinating stamp set and dies appear in the new catalogue. However having been around for a couple of years already I fear the Count On Me Stamp Set won’t make the cut.
For more projects using the Count On Me Stamp Set see these earler blog posts:
PRODUCT LIST
BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Playing In The Rain Dies with the coordinating Playing In The Rain Stamp Set (not used today) using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included links for both options so you can explore these further if you wish. These might be retiring soon, but even if the individual items are carried over, the discounted bundle may not. I’ll let you know its fate once the new Annual Catalogue is revealed to me next week.
RETIRING PREDICTION – As I said in my introduction it’s a pretty safe bet that all DSP in the annual and Mini Catalogues will be retiring. This means that the Rain Or Shine paper could sell out at any time. Over the weekend the Subtles 6″ x 6″ paper pack sold out and is now considered discontinued. Other DSP packs on the Low Inventory list this morning are Sun Prints, Hues Of Happiness, Perfectly Pencilled and Brights 6″ x 6″. So if you want these (or any other) paper packs please order right away to avoid disappointment.
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