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Archive for April, 2009:
New Catalog Sneak Peek at 20% off!
Aloha, all!
Stampin’ Up! has a new alphabet set–Jumble Alphabet–that they’ve released just in time for National Scrapbooking Month! It will be featured in the new Idea Book & Catalog that will be released July 1, 2009. But you can buy it now and IT’S ON SALE FOR 20% OFF!
I am looking forward to the delivery of my own copy of this alphabet, and I know you will too when you order yours. This sale will be going on until the end of May, and will coincide with yet another special that begins May 1st.
Throughout the month of May, when you order any 3 packs of Designer Series Paper, you can order a 4TH SET OF DESIGNER SERIES PAPER FREE! I’ll post all the details on Saturday. Just think of all that you can do with your scrapbooking (and card making, of course) with all that wonderful paper!
To order these items–or anything in any of Stampin’ Up!’s catalogues–by going to my website and clicking, "Shop Now" button in the upper right corner!
Subscribe to the comments for this postBears Pop Up in Hawai’i
Aloha, all!
Last month I shared one of the cards that I made based on a demonstration at the Stampin’ Up! Honolulu Regional. Now here’s the other one of the two that were made with the stamp set, "Under the Stars," which is definitely not a Hawaiian set.
I’ve been putting off making this card because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to put on the front. Then I finally purchased the set, "Just Beachy," and there was my card front. Just imagine who might be driving those three island-style cars with their surfboards perched on top, on the way to Pohoiki (po-ho-EE-kee – a surfing spot near where I live)!
Yup, The Three Bears! And these aren’t Goldilocks’ Three Bears! They’re SURFIN‘!!! 
At the Honolulu regional, I thought Shelli Gardner was going to fall over backwards when she saw this! All of us at our table just about did, for sure!
Of course, you’re not limited to surfin’ cars and surfin’ bears for this card! There are lots of Stampin’ Up! stamps that lend themselves to this Tri-Pop-Up design!
I’ve posted a set of instructions for making a Tri-Pop-Up here on my blog, and would love to see your take on this. In fact, I’d love to see your take on this so much that I’m hereby offering some BLOG CANDY!
Make a card using this technique and e-mail me a copy by May 9, 2009, and I’ll put your name in a drawing for $15 worth of Stampin’ Up! products of your choice! Include with your e-mail permission for me to reproduce your image on my blog.
I can hardly wait to see what you come up with!!
Oh, and the Bears are watercolored using Stampin’ Up!’s watercolor paper and an Aqua Painter. I added a bit of white Gel Pen to the tips of the waves to get a bit of that surf feeling (though the surf’s REALLY up here in Hawaii today, and there’s more white than blue!!)
If you need any Stampin’ Up! products to complete your project, you can order online 24/7 from my website. Or call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me if you’d like me to place the order for you!
Siimple Flower for Springtime
Aloha, all!
I know you’re not going to believe it, but it’s still winter here in East Hawaii. Not that that’s a bad thing. The palm trees and flowers and topical plants just love the rain. "We are in a rainforest, after all," is a sentence oft spoken and heard around here.
Nonetheless, this morning I felt like I needed a bit of spring to brighten my day before I begin my chores. I have been thinking about making a card based on one shown in the March 2009 issue of "CardMaker" magazine, and today seemed to be the day to try it out.
My take on the card uses the Sizzix "Simple Flower" Embosslit. The embosslits not only cut the flower out, but emboss the floral image on the paper. For today’s card, I used Card Stock Vellum. I took each cut/embossed flower and placed it face down on an embossing surface. Then I used an embossing stylus to gently press dots into the flowers. Finally, using a blender pen and stamp pads, I placed some color lightly on the back of the flower. I used the side of the blender pen rather than the tip to try to avoid coloring in any of the embossed lines and dots.
I finished the card with some Certainly Celery leaves cut from the Stampin’ Up! Sizzix exclusive "Birds and Blooms" Sizzlits, and a greeting from the stamp set, "Heard from the Heart."
I’ll be teaching this technique with all of the Embosslit flower dies the first week in May. If you’re interested in joining one of my classes, just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me, and we’ll get you all set up!
Meanwhile, you can order any of the Stampin’ Up! products shown in this card any day, any time, by visiting my website, www.RobinStamps.StampinUp.net!
A Belated Birthday Card
Aloha, all!
I got so busy this week that I forgot the birthday of my friend, Lucy. I was going to make a card with the new Stampin’ Up! Pop Up Cake Sizzix Die. But this morning I happened upon an e-mail that showed off a card made using what is called a "Tri-Shutter" fold. I just had to go make one right away, and there was the note to make Lucy’s card on my craft room table. So the Pop Up Cake blog entry will have to wait for another day (not too long, though!).
I read an e-mail yesterday morning from fellow Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, Sharon Field, who had a picture of this card on her blog and a link to instructions. While I went ahead and made the card according to instructions, they were all in centimeters, and I’m an "inch" person. So I quickly adjusted the measurements for my non-metric brain to better comprehend. You can find the U.S. measurements and instructions for making this card right here!
For this card, I used Baja Breeze Textured Card Stock, with a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Simply Scrappin’ Kit, Sunshine Garden. I embellished two of the panels with butterflies from the Stampin’ Up! Exclusive Sizzix Die, Beautiful Butterflies, and some matching mini-brads.
If you have any questions about this card, or you’d like to buy the materials to make it, just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me!
Happy Anniversary, Harry!
Aloha, all–and especially my darling husband, Harry!
Today is our wedding anniversary and I’m looking forward to a nice dinner out. We rarely eat out because we have such a lovely garden and lanai (covered patio) and can eat dinner every night in one of the most beautiful settings we know of! So it’s really a treat for us to drive into Hilo and enjoy being waited on.
Of course, I couldn’t let our anniversary go by without a card that is hand made by the resident Stampin’ Up! demonstrator (that would be me). I made this card with the "Manchester" Designer Series Paper pack. I think that Manchester has a nice masculine feel to it, and love that it includes outdoorsy colors, such as Always Artichoke and Kraft, as Harry’s avocation these days is his wonderful Hawaiian garden (seen in the background).
To accent the card, I used some brass colored brads from the Vintage Brad set, as well as some Kraft satin ribbon. The word, "Love" stamped on the heart (punched with the Full Heart Punch) is from one of the stamps in the All Holidays stamp set.
Happy Anniversary, Harry!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s introduction to a card fold that is just TOO CUTE!! I made a belated birthday card for my friend, Lucy, and I’ll show it off then.
A Butterfly “Case”
Aloha, all!
Last October I received a thank you note in a card that really piqued my interest. For one thing, I’d received a stamp set at convention–"Flight of the Butterfly" – that I wasn’t really sure was something I’d use. When I received this card, I connected it with the stamp set and decided to save it — still "not really sure."
And there the card sat–on my dresser–for months! Really–this is April 2009 and that was October 2008. So, yes, months.
Today I was getting ready for a workshop, and I really wanted to show off the Beautiful Butterflies Sizzix Die that I just got in my latest Stampin’ Up! shipment. I had to walk into my bedroom for something, and there I spotted THE CARD!
And here, not perfect, but just what I envisioned, is the resulting CASE (that’s "Copy And Share with Everyone") of the American Greetings card. And I used only Stampin’ Up! products! The card stock and inks are Pink Passion and Tempting Turquoise, and the DSP is some of the So Saffron paper from the brand new "Walk in the Park" designer papers featured in the Occasions Mini Catalog. The stamped Butterflies and Flowers are from the "Flight of the Butterfly" set, with antennae added with some Basic Black marker. The 3-D butterflies are made with the Beautiful Butterflies Sizzix Bigz Die using Tempting Turquoise and Pink Passion card stock. The finishing touches are Circle Ice Rhinestone brads.
Two messages here: (1) If you see a card in a store that you really like, I’m sure that you can duplicate it (or get pretty close) with Stampin’ Up! products. (2) I sell said Stampin’ Up! products, and can certainly help you figure out how to make that card you’re just dying to duplicate. Just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me, and I’ll get to work figuring it out!
A Fun Weekend!
Aloha, all!
This weekend my Toastmasters Club participated in the Hilo Merrie Monarch festival. We had a blast! There’s nothing in this video about paper crafting or Stampin’ Up! But you still might enjoy seeing how we decorate parade "floats" in Hawaii!
Tomorrow I’ll be back to my paper crafting!
A 1940 Memory Book – Part I
Aloha, all!
Last month when my cousin, Sherry, was here visiting us in Hawaii, we started rummaging through a box full of old photographs. Now I know that the readers of the Robin’s Craft Room blog are far too sophisticated about such items as photographs to have them stashed in boxes in closets. You all have them neatly arranged in wonderful scrapbooks, don’t you? No?? Hmmm. I may have a scrapbooking class for you this summer!
Anyway, there in the middle of the box was a book I probably had seen before but had never really noticed.
It was my mother’s scrapbook from her Senior Year in High School. She graduated in 1940, and here in my hands was a book that contained what was important to her all those years ago. My mother passed away several years ago. Looking through this book, though, made me feel almost as connected to her as if she were still alive. Except that I couldn’t ask her questions about it.
Here’s the cover, and over the next month or so, I’ll be sharing with you some of the wonderful little tidbits that I found behind this cover. Some of the sharing will be excepts from an article that I’m going to write about what to consider as you’re preparing a scrapbook in terms of what’s really important to preserve your memories. Think you know all the answers? I may have some new insights for you, based on my own personal experience.
May is National Scrapbooking Month. For most of the month I’ll be traveling away from Hawaii, so I haven’t scheduled any scrapbook classes. But Scrapbooks aren’t going to go away, and I’ll probably schedule something for June–just in time for Wedding Scrapbooks, of course!
Feline Help With My Orders
Aloha, all!
My cat, Cholla (pronounced Choy-a–she was originally a New Mexico cat), knows something’s up when I receive not one but TWO Stampin’ Up! boxes in the mail on one day. Successive days she’s used to. But late last week I sent one workshop order in and, within 3 hours, two of my friends/customers were visiting my Craft Room and ordered up enough for a SECOND workshop order! The supplies are all divided up, and the boxes are stacked ready for people to come get them. And a stack of two boxes is just too much for one cat to resist.
My big personal project last week and this week and probably well into next week is working on taking apart and putting back together again my mother’s High School Graduation memory book. But first I have to get my newsletter done and get some class time in for a couple of new customers who’ve bought Stampin’ Up! products and need to learn a bit more about how to use them.
So–I’ll be sending my Newsletter out later this week! A bit late this month, but it will be worth it. If you’re not signed up for my Newsletter, be sure to do so in the next day or two to be sure of getting my post-Income Tax Day 2009 News from Robin’s Craft Room! Just type your e-mail address into the box at the top of the column just to the right of my latest blog post. You’ll be added to my mailing list right away!
And, if you’re interested in what young women who graduated from High School in 1940 may have put in their memory books, stay tuned right here as I share some of that with you over the next month.
Down to the Wire on Easter Gifts
Aloha, all!
Actually this little box could just be any kind of Spring gift–but for this week it’s going to be an Easter Gift for one of my friends. Hopefully I’ll have time tomorrow and Friday to get a few more made!
Of course I made the box using the Sizzix Big Shot XL Die, Box #2, one of my favorite among those that Stampin’ Up! carries. I used the luscious new card-stock weight Designer Series Paper, Parisian Breeze for this sample. At this afternoon’s Stamp Club, we’ll use another sheet from this paper pack as I’ve taken all of this cute floral design for myself.
I used the new Scallop Oval Punch from the Occasions Mini Catalog, first punching a "window" with the smaller of Stampin’ Up!’s oval punches in the Chocolate Chip card stock. I used the new medium weight Window Sheet to glaze this little peep hole, then tied the box off with 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon. This little box is filled with some Easter Egg M&M candies. Yum!
As I said, my stamp club will be making this box, along with two other projects, this afternoon. This is the last "meeting" of this club, and I hope to start a New Stamp Club beginning the 2nd Wednesday in May. I am available in the afternoon as well as the evening, and don’t mind having two sessions of the club so that everyone can fit this into her schedule. And I have a special offer for anyone who signs up for the club by April 25th: At our first club meeting, I’ll give you your own SNAIL adhesive and one refill. That should take you through several of the classes that we’ll have throughout the summer and fall.
The dates for the Stamp Club are: May 13, June 10 (you’ll have some sneak previews of the new catalog!), (no meeting in July), August 12 (lots of stuff to show off from the Stampin’ Up! convention I’ll have attended the week before!), September 9, October 14, and November 11. For December I’ll be hosting some early in the month Stamp a Stack sessions where we can all get the last minute "special" holiday cards made.
If you’d like more information about my stamp club, just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me and I’ll tell you all about it!
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