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Some Great Workshop Projects!
Aloha, all!
Dana's workshop was a great success, even though we may have had a few logistical glitches. The good news (for me) is that I didn't forget ANYTHING! I'm amazed because there's usually something critical that I leave at home (SNAIL, snips, the stamp set we're using for the make and takes).
In preparing the kits for the make and takes, using that wonderful Sweet Pea Paper Stack, I found that I had been so eager to make sure that the projects were designed just perfectly that I didn't have enough of the paper I'd chosen for the Note Pad Cover left for all of the kits. What to do, what to do. Well, it is a paper STACK! So there had to be something else in the stack that would still coordinate well with the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt and Flower Fusion embellishments that Dana and I had chosen to use. And, of course, there was. Here is the second of the two designs for this project. Um, well, actually there were 3 designs because (gasp!) I ran out of Old Olive card stock. How could that happen???? There weren't even some 12" x 12" pieces in the "greens" box in the craft room. So the last couple of kits had to be made with Certainly Celery card stock. Would you believe no one noticed??? Oh, and as I promised earlier in the month, here are the instructions for making this great gift project!
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It’s A Beautiful Thing!
Aloha, all!
Well, it's the stamp set, A Beautiful Thing! I have no idea how long it's been around, and I'm just a tad too tired to go researching that tonight.
BUT – I've never owned it until the last week, when I was looking for something to go with the new Extra Large Fancy Flower Punch featured in the Stampin' Up! 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog. Those flowers in A Beautiful Thing looked like they would be just PERFECT with that punch! Looking at today's card, I think I'm right.
This card is a 4" square card, and is the same Easel Card that I showed off last week using Sale-A-Bration stamp sets. I stamped the image with Pumpkin Pie Ink on a scrap of Whisper White Card Stock, and then punched it with the Extra Large Fancy Flower Punch. I finished it off with a bit of sponging around the edges using the Pumpkin Pie ink.
The Designer Series Paper is from the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, also featured in the 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog. The other accent color is Taken With Teal, and the front is finished off with one of the brads from the Flower Assortment Brads, which are in the current 2009 – 2010 Idea Book and Catalog.
The inside of the card also has a stamped image from A Beautiful Thing, the saying that gives the stamp set its name. It's a great little stamp set, and I'm sorry I've waited this long to get it!
Here are the layout measurements. Click here for the basic Easel Card Instructions – a one-page tutorial!
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An Oldie but Goodie Stamp Set
Aloha, all!
Some friends and I were looking through my stamp stash this week, looking for the "perfect" set for a project. Out popped the set, Priceless. I don't think I've shown off this set for quite some time, and I can't imagine why I've abandoned it to the part of my stash that collects dust!
I'll be making some projects today for my weekend workshops and Priceless will be included in one. But here's a card that I totally CASEd from a card that I received in a swap at last year's Stampin' Up Honolulu Regional Conference. I mean, except for the greeting, which was in a stamp set that's been retired, this is a duplicate of Jan Okino's card (though my compliments to her – she has a much more delicate touch with the sponging than I do!)
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The colors for this card are Perfect Plum and Pale Plum. I stamped and cut out the larger flowers, inserted a Silver Brad, and then attached them to the card with Pop Up Glue Dots. Gee, I haven't used them in awhile, either! But they were perfect for this card. I stamped the Butterfly on the card, then on a separate paper scrap. I cut out the image on the scrap and attached that (again with a Pop Up Glue Dot) over the stamped image on the card. That way I didn't have to fuss with cutting out the little antennae.
Measurements are in 1/4" increments: The basic card is covered with a 5-1/2" tall x 4-1/4" wide piece of Perfect Plum Card Stock. The next layer is 5-1/4" x 4" of Pale Plum, then the stamped layer at 5" x 3-3/4".
Let's see – who's birthday is next? If it's yours, I'll be glad to send you the card!
Flowers and Butterflies and Cake, Oh My!
Aloha, all!
Next week is granddaughter, Kiara's, birthday. Now she's just a little girl, and I usually try to make "cute" cards for the young kids. But today, with the beautiful Hawaii sunshine and the garden just loving the recent rains, my inspiration ran more into flowers and butterflies than to bears and monkeys.
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So flowers and butterflies it is! The flowers are those beautiful orchid and white flowers on the sheet of Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper. The printed paper with the small dots is also from the Cottage Wall pack of paper. I love every single piece of paper in this set! The butterflies are all punched with the Stampin' Up! Exclusive Sizzix Embosslit, Beautiful Wings. There are 5 butterflies in this one little die, and they are gorgeous. There's a front and a back to each punched and embossed design and I think that both sides of each butterfly are equally lovely. So basically you get 10 designs from this one die! Great deal for sure. (QUICK NOTE! The picture of the die in the Occasions Mini Catalog shows only 4 butterflies. But the actual die that you'll get will have 5 butterflies.)
The cake with the "Happy Birthday" greeting looks just like a single stamp, doesn't it? But it's not! It's two separate stamps, but I stamped them both at one time. Both are part of a set of stamps that don't get mounted on wood, but cling to clear acrylic blocks. This is a great new Stampin' Up! stamp set design feature that combines the fabulous rubber stamp with the see-through features of a clear acrylic block. Both of these stamps are from the set, Happy Moments that is part of this year's Sale-A-Bration offering of FREE STAMP SETS!! Of course, you can still purchase any stamp set from Stampin' Up! mounted on wood blocks, too. Lots of stampers really like that kind of stamp, and Stampin' Up! will keep all of you happy, too! I, however, am so ready to get rid of all that wood that's taking up so much space in my craft room! Bring on the clear mounts!!!!
The colors in this design are Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Orchid Opulence and Whisper White. Great combination!
Getting Ready for Dana’s Workshop
Aloha, all!
My friend, Dana, has asked me to do a Stampin' Up! workshop for her next week, and I've been having lots of fun coming up with the projects. She almost swooned over the wonderful stitched felt pieces from the Sweet Pea set featured in the current 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog. I've added in some felt pieces from Flower Fusion and pulled out some of the wonderful papers from the Sweet Pea Paper Stack (another Occasions Mini offering), and there's a kit all ready for a Make 'N Take for Friday night!
This is the project we'll be making, and here are the instructions for making it! The two printed squares are from one sheet from the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, as is the Rose Red print paper. The Pretty in Pink/Chocolate Chip flower and the little piece in the lower right square, are from the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt collection, and the other flower is from Felt Fusion. The flowers are backed with squares of Take With Teal Card Stock to match the trees in the prints. I ran a length of the Fast Flowers Wheel on the Old Olive Card Stock cover for the pad. We're definitely going to have fun with this project!
A Sale-A-Bration Easel Card
Aloha, all!
We are still right in the middle of Stampin' Up!'s great annual FREEBIE promotion, Sale-A-Bration! (Quick note: to save a bit of typing time, I'm going to refer to this promotion in the rest of this post as SAB.)
For today's project, I've made an Easel Card (one of my one-page instructions sheets here!). The best thing about this card is that there are THREE SAB FREE PRODUCTS that I've used in constructing it!
- The Bouquet is made with a stamp from the set, Happy Moments.
- The greeting inside the card is made with a stamp from Wonderful Words
- The sides of the scalloped layer (made with So Saffron Card Stock) is punched with the Scallop Edge Border Punch. Yes, you can get a PUNCH, in Stampin' Up!'s new style, FOR FREE!
And do you recognize the Designer Series Paper? I've only used it here a few times in the last week or so – it's Tea Party, still my favorite of Stampin' Up!'s luscious papers. Peeking out through the scalloped border is a layer of Pretty in Pink Card Stock, and some Soft Subtles Brads set everything off so nicely. For the "stop" inside the card – which helps that easel front stand up and be notices – I punches some small flowers with the Trio Flower Punch.
Here is the layout if you'd like to try this cute little all-occasion card!
Wow! It’s a Brand New Look for Robin’s Craft Room!!
Aloha, all!
You would be hard put to find any similarity between that wonderfully neat new desk in my new blog header and the rat's nest that is currently in the real craft room. But I LOVE IT!!! Thanks so much to Michelle Laycock who took my ideas about what I wanted and came up with something totally unexpected, and totally delightful! Now I want to get out the Greenhouse Garden Stamps and make some Hibiscus cards to celebrate! But that will have to wait until I finish up this week's (ugh) chores.
For now, I'm going to recycle a card I made last fall. I just love the Hibiscus flowers that I can make with this stamp set! And a fitting "Thank You" to Michelle for her fabulous job for me!
My Latest Accordion Album
Aloha, all!
When I said "accordion album" to three different people, they each described a different album to me – and I’ve made all three! Today’s album is sometimes called an "explosion album." Explosion albums can be large or small, and today’s is a very small album that I will demonstrate to a group of Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) later this month. They each will have a kit of papers from the Patterns Pack III which is currently a Level 1 Hostess Set, along with some coordinating ribbons and punched card stock for decorations. I’m going to encourage them to mix and match their kits if they’d like – more fun for everyone!
But they have to have a sample so they can see the possibilities for this easy little album, and here’s what I’ve prepared. I have my brand new pack of Tea Party Designer Series Paper and I’m having a blast with it already. I’d used up most of the first couple of packs that I bought when it first came out, and now that it’s Spring, I need MORE!
Above is the cover of the album, made with light cardboard (the stuff that comes with those packs of wonderful Designer Series Paper!) covered with some of the Tea Party papers. I punched a Scallop Circle topped with a circle punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch, all sealed together with one of the Pretty in Pink Corduroy Buttons featured in the current 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog. The ribbon I used is a So Saffron Ribbon from the ribbon set Elementary.
Now for the inside of the album. I made this one with three squares of 6" paper, and it holds 4 square photographs inside. I decorated the triangles formed by the diagonal folds with punched imaged using the Boho Blossoms Punch and the Heart to Heart Punch, using So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Pretty In Pink Card Stock. I cut the photos at 2-3/4" square, and the So Saffron Mats at 2-7/8" square.
I also put two photographs on the outside of the album – after all, there are two blank square pages there – why waste them!? Here’s the outside of the album.
Note that I "captured" the ribbon on the back cover of the album under a Pretty in Pink Scallop Circle Punch image, layered with a So Saffron Boho Blossom Punch image. I actually used transparent ("Scotch") tape to anchor the ribbon, then I used Sticky Strip to adhere the Scallop Circle elements to make sure that the ribbon was safely in place. Oh, and that tape was covered nicely by the punched elements, thank you!
Of course, I have one of my "One-Page Tutorials" for this project! Click here for the latest version – updated from years ago when I first made this project.
Have fun with this – and, of course, if you need any of these fabulous papers, ribbons, punches or card stock, you know where you can order 24/7! Right here!!!
Home Decoration with Stampin’ Up!
Aloha, all!
You’ve all heard about my next door neighbor, Deme, who is the one who made that great quilted bag using the Sizzix Stampin’ Up! Scallop Square Die.
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Now Deme is at it again, but this time with Switch Plates! She is just so creative, and loves to try out all different kinds of crafts. Today I’m featuring swtich plates that she made using Stampin’ Up! Wheels and Sculpey Polymer Clay. I found some basic instructions for making the switch plates here.
To make these switch plates, Deme used a pasta machine (as cheap as you can get one, she says) and set it to the thickest setting to make the best thickness for using the wheels. She colored the basic clay a bit with Classic Ink Pads, then applied various colored inks to the wheels and ran them across the switch plates multiple times. Finally, she sprinkled some Iridiscent Ice over everything and baked according to the product instructions. Are these not wonderful?! (Hmmm. I’ve been using "wonderful" a lot lately. I must be having a good time 
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Here are the products for each of the switch plates shown here:
- On the left: Fast Flower Wheel, More Mustard Stamp Pad (for the background), Really Rust and Taken With Teal for the wheel.
- On the right: Retro Remix Wheel, Bravo Burgundy Stamp Pad (background), Taken With Teal and Ballet Blue.
I think I may try these myself!! How about you? If you need any wheels, or some of that fabulous Iridiscent Ice embossing powder, just let me know. Or you can order online 24/7 by clicking here and then the Shop Now button in the upper right.!
