In finances, "Triple-witching" day is the third Friday of the month that ends each quarter. It marks the simultaneous expiration, at the close, of stock options, index options and index futures.  What can result is volatility in the market.

     OK, stop!  What does this have to do with Stampin' Up!  What it means is that there is excitement on September 1, 2010, for three different reasons:

1. The Stampin' Up! 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog is here!!
2. It's Diva Coffee Break Design Team Wednesday!!
3. There's a Fantastic New Recruit Promotion!!

     So lots is happening in the world of Stampin' Up! today.  For here at Robin's Craft Room, I can tick off the first two items of excitement with one word: Merry!

     That's in "Merry" as in "Merry Christmas" or "Make Merry."  That's what we're going to be doing for the next four months as we start into the fall and winter holiday season in earnest.  My preference for today would have been to go for the fall holidays first to show off Holiday Mini products, and start with some of the fabulous new fall stamps and papers that Stampin' Up! has ready for us.  But the color challenge for the Diva Coffee Break Design Team just didn't seem to fit.  Herewith the colors:

     Now, I really like these colors – I like pretty much ALL of the Stampin' Up! colors (there are retired that I wish we had back, but that's another story).  But how to use these for a fall project just escaped me.  So directly on to Christmas I went with this one.  The first thing that came to mine while I was trying to come up with something is that I didn't want snow!  I moved to Hawaii to escape snow, and I'll wait just a teensy bit before bringing snow to my blog.  After that, absent any really Christmas-y colors, I decided on a gift wrapping.  I love to decorate the heck out of my Christmas packages, so decorate the heck out of this card I did.  Buttons and bows and pearls sure seemed to do this trick for this "package." 

     Where the Holiday Mini Catalog comes into play here is with the great new punch, the Decorative Label Punch, that's being introduced with this catalog.  Tomorrow I'll share with you a card that uses not only this punch, but also a new "Christmas" stamp set – in a definitely non-Christmas-y way.  Then it will be back to the fall holidays.  And do I have some tricks and treats for you!

     Meanwhile, please go visit the Diva Coffee Break Design Team blog for samples from all the other Divas.  Just in case you might not have guessed, there are a couple of cards over there with snowflakes!  Brrrrr!  (But they're fabulous designs!)  And try this color challenge yourself!  No need to use products from the holiday mini (you probably don't have them yet if you're one of my customers – but soon, huh?).  Just have fun with the colors!

     Oh, and check out the New Recruit Promotion link over to the right!!!  Great gift for new demonstrators this month and into October!

     I am so enjoying being on the Diva's Coffee Break Design Team!  I have found myself making cards that are SO different from what I might usually make.  For one thing, I really do have to make a card look like I paid attention to the sketch.  In some challenges, I take a lot of liberty with the sketches because I feel that they're really there to stimulate my design thought process.  I hope that you'll feel this same way when YOU make your own card for the Diva's Weekly Challenge (yes, that's what I'd like you to do – make a card that's inspired by the challenge and post a link to it on the Diva's web site!)

     This week's challenge was a sketch.  I have to tell you that this was a sketch I really had a tough time getting my brain around.  I didn't just want to cut rectangles of paper and plop them on a card.  But what to do?  I thought you might be interested in the steps that this card took.

• I decided that I wanted to use some of the Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack because I could use it in at least two of the layers without the card getting too "busy."
• I decided on the colors:  Daffodil Delight and Rich Razzleberry.
• I wanted to use a new stamp set that I hadn't used before.  I found the Friends Never Fade stamp set in its original package.  OK, had to stop to get the stamps all set up and ready for stamping.
• I envisioned stamping the stamp that you see in my sample on the top horizontal piece, which I decided would be one of the pieces of the Daffodil Delight patterns papers.  Problems: (1) the stamp doesn't stamp well on that kind of printed paper; and (2) to make that stamp fit would have meant making that horizontal layer a lot bigger than I wanted it.  It was at this point that I turned the design 90 degrees. Problem (2) solved, but there was still the matter of what to stamp on.  OK, Whisper White it was. 
• But the white flower really wasn't the effect that I wanted.  So I went digging through my waste basket and dug out one of the images I'd stamped on the Daffodil paper.  I cut out the flower and adhered it to the image stamped on the Whisper White.  Nice!
• When I started laying out the sections of the card, I realized that no matter how I laid them out, I was going to have some Razzleberry layered on Razzleberry.  I didn't like the look.  Needing another color, I found the Pear Pizzazz out on my work table from another project (you might recognize it from Monday's project?)
• Now we're cooking!  Got everything laid out, and it was STILL too plain.  Aha!  What about some scalloped edging.  Now, there are only a few greeting card sized measurements that work well to use both the Scallop Trim Corner Punch and the Scallop Trim Edge Punch.  Unfortunately, none of my current layout elements were that size.  So I resized the Daffodil layer and punched it – one layer done! 
• I laid everything out again and figured out how I was going to layer up the Pear Pizzazz and Daffodil for the central motif.  But now those three pieces of Razzleberry card stock in the background looked so, well, plain. That's when I realized that the 5/8" strips were the same width as 5/8" Rich Razzleberry Satin Ribbon.
• Now I was on a roll and found some Razzleberry brads to finish it off and DONE!!!

     Something else that I did as I was going along was to cut out the Razzleberry Designer Paper that's in the background so that it was symmetrical both vertically and horizontally.  I really think that taking the time to do something like that really adds some "class" to a project.  Especially when you're making a special card, it's well worth the effort and just the teensy bit of possibly wasted paper.

     Have fun stamping – and don't be afraid to be creative!

     How do you like all that alliteration in the topic today?  Perfect for this post! 

     The topic comes from all the "p" words that are appropriate for today's pretty project:  Punch Potpourri (as in the Level 1 Hostess set) and Peach Parfait (as in the orange-ish color that's featured as part of the presentation.  Hmmm.  Let's count the "p"s in this post so far!  Or not.

     I copied the overall design of this card from a project featured in a recent issue of the Stampin' Up! magazine, Stampin' Success.  (Great magazine with tons of ideas – but just for Stampin' Up! demonstrators.)  All of the images are from Punch Potpourri, and all coordinate with one of Stampin' Up!'s fabulous punches.

• The two flowers are part of the Boho Blossoms Extra-Large Punch, with the top one first stamped in Marina Mist and the bottom flower stamped with Peach Parfait.
• The butterfly, stamped in Peach Parfait is punched with the Butterfly Extra-Large Punch.
• The heart, which in this project is stamped directly onto the card stock and not punched out, could have been punched with the Full Heart Extra-Large Punch.
• Finally, the lovely Marina Mist Bird is punched with the Two-Step Bird Extra-Large Punch.

     Oh, and then there are the other embellishments:  I cut a strip of Peach Parfait card stock and ran it through Stampin' Up!'s Crimper (remember I said earlier this week that I was really into texture as an added element these days?).  And I added a Button and a Brad in the Marine Mist color.  Unfortunately, as Peach Parfait is just a temporary Stampin' Up! "In Color," there are no brads or buttons in that color.  But I think that the Pumpkin Pie Brad fits the bill for this card just fine.

     This is a stamp set that will get lots of use in Robin's Craft Room, and one that I think you'll love to have to use with all those punches.  In fact, I'm going to feature this stamp set and all those punches in one of my product classes this fall – we'll make several different cards and at least one 3-D project featuring this stamp set and these punches with colors of your choice in early November.  I've almost got my class schedule for the fall and early winter completed, and I'm going to be sending out my class schedule to people on my mailing list early next week.  If you'd like to get the brochure, just sign up for my newsletter and you'll be among the first to get the list and have first dibs on the limited class space!

     Here's the layout for today's card.  Have fun!   And wish my newest recruit, Dana, good luck on her first workshop on Friday night!!!  Go, Dana!

     Oh, no!  Stampin' Up!'s 2010 Summer Mini Catalog is almost at its end!!!  The good news is that there are a lot of products that will continue to be around until at least next summer!  Tons of great stamp sets and embellishments that are in the 2010 Summer Mini are already in the new 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.

     Today's featured stamp set WON'T be around, though!  I just love this set, and haven't used it nearly enough.  The set is called Bouquet Bunch and makes such a nice greeting card and is perfect for accents for small scrapbook page elements. 

     Now you may be interested in how I came to use this stamp set with this delicious set of colors!  Of course it's Wednesday, and that means it's time for a Diva Coffee Break Design Team challenge!  This week the challenge was a color challenge:

     I have to tell you that, when I saw this color grouping, I thought "Autumn."  Nope, I'm not doing Autumn yet!!  Too early for that, even though we're getting an evening chill in the air here on Hawaii's Big Island.  Nope, it's still summer, gosh durn it!!!  So where do I turn?  To the Stampin' Up 2010 Summer Mini Catalog, of course!  And that's how I chose this stamp set with which to work, and it was a blast to put together!

     Not everything in this card is from the Summer Mini, though.  A favorite product from this year's new 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog is the Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack.  With each paper stack you get an assortment of ALL the colors in a particular family in four different patterns on two 2-sided papers.  How cool is that?  All four of these colors are in the Brights Collection of colors, and I almost ended up making a card showing off just the Designer Series Papers.  But rubber and ink called out to me, so I relented.

     There are so many different elements to this card that I thought I'd just make a set of bullet points so you can check them out:

• I stamped the flower pots on Rich Razzleberry Textured Card Stock using Rich Razzleberry Ink, then cut them out for adhering to the Very Vanilla Card Stock.
• Before I adhered each flower pot, I tied some Linen Thread around each of them.
• I stamped three flower images on Very Vanilla Card Stock, then colored each in (Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive) before cutting them out loosely around the end of the flowers.
• I added a Razzleberry center to each flower in the Daffodil and Tangerine bunches.  For the Olive bunch, I colored in the flowers in Old Olive, then used a blender pen to add a lighter color of the Old Olive for the background.
• I'm having a 3 x 3 brad fit this week!  In Monday's post , I added three brads in a vertical row in the upper left corner, and in a horizontal row in the lower right corner.  No explanation – I just felt like it.  Then today I added these new Basic Rhinestones in the same layout.  Hey, that's what creativity's all about, isn't it!  Artistic license gives us all the right to do stuff like this!  Then I added just a little touch of rhinestones in the center bouquet.
• And knots are in in Robin's Craft Room this week, too!  For this card, as well as for Monday's, I took a length of ribbon a bit larger than the width of the card and tied a knot in the middle.  Remember that this is a textile, and you can twist and turn it within an inch of its little life until it looks JUST like you want it to.  Perfect knots if I say so myself – that ribbon behaved itself quite nicely, thank you!  And then I just taped the ends of the ribbon behind the layers it covers before adhering the group to the greeting card base.
• The final touch with this card is the border punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch.

     And here's the sketch for today's card:  This is a very versatile layout and I'll probably use it again before long!

     Today I am officially a new member of the Diva Coffee Break Design Team!  I have been playing with their designs off and on for awhile, and was thrilled to be accepted as a new member of the official team!  Of course, this now means that you'll be seeing at least one design from each week's challenge here – and I hope that you'll go visit their website to see how all of the other Design Team Members worked the challenge.

     Why is this good for you?  Because you'll be reminded about how different we all are in the way that we approach the same project.  Once you see all the different tastes and techniques on display on a site such as Diva Coffee Break, you might just have that "ah ha!" moment where you realize that you, too, have a unique idea on how to create using the sketch or color combo on display.

     OK – what do you do then?  Well, you go create your own take on the challenge AND you pop your card up on the Internet somewhere and post a link to it using the link system at the end of each week's challenge post.  Don't have a public place to "park" your creation?  Oh, yes, you do!  It's on Split Coast Stampers!  Call me (808.854.6145) or e-mail me if you need help with this.  I'd LOVE to see YOUR creations posted on the Diva Coffee Break website!

     OK – now onto my very first official card for the group!

     Yes, this paper and this stamp set are still available to Stampin' Up! customers, because they're in the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog, and it's still Summer 2010!  If you love all things Hawaiian (as I definitely do), then you won't want to miss out on the opportunity to order this before the catalog expires at the end of August. 

     But enough of the commercial.  Let's get down to the design.  Here's the sketch provided to the design team members, so you can see that I pretty much followed it to the letter (well, that's what newbies in any venture are supposed to do, isn't it?)

     Oooh, that color combo (not the challenge, believe me!) made me wince.  So I had to squint a bit and try to see what in my stash of current Stampin' Up! stuff would work.  The first thing that I thought was that the small rectangle at the top should have the sentiment or greeting.  Easy that one because the Level 3 Hostess Set, Occasional Quotes, has several that would work.  That left all that other space for images of one kind or another.  Maybe some Designer Series Paper with a large print – ooooh, Island Oasis (now who would have thought that someone from Hawaii would have that pop into her head?)  Now we're getting somewhere!  There is that "party" quote in Occasional Quotes and there is a stamp set that coordinates with the paper that's called Tropical Party.  How coincidental is that?  And that diagonal?  Screams for ribbon – and I just happen to have a large stash of Pumpkin Pie 5/8" Satin Ribbon that would fit the bill perfectly.  And the design was done.

     Actually, the design was NOT done.  This is the FIRST card that I decided on.  Do you see my "problem"?  There was this very uninteresting spot towards the lower left corner of the quote element that just looked too, well, too much like a corner out in the middle of nowhere.  Yes, I had the picture all ready to post, and I just couldn't do it.  So back to the craft table (much more interesting than a drawing board) for the little flower that I popped onto that corner.  And, just for good measure, another flower in the lower right corner of the card.  Now THAT made a difference.

     Lessons from today:  Use a challenge to get your creative juices going.  And if you don't quite like the end result, well then it isn't the end result!  Spiff it up a bit!

     Challenge for today:  Make a card and link it to the Diva Coffee Break Design Team web page!  Don't forget to call/e-mail me if you need help with the technical stuff.

     Oh, and here are the exact measurements for the various layers on my card.  Have fun with it!!

     Last Saturday I had some free time just to play in the craft room and the SUDSOL (my favorite online group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators) challenge team had a challenge to use some old stamp set that ended up not retiring this year and that we hadn't used in a long time.

     Well, it's been a long time since I've made a greeting card with the REALLY old stamp set, Simply Said.  I went through my stash of old Stampin' Up! Catalogs, and it looks like this stamp set was new in the 2006-2007 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog!  Now this is a stamp set that has STAYING POWER!

     So, how does it look today, four years later?  Very nice, I think.  I especially like the addition of one of Stampin' Up!'s newest products, the Basic Pearls.  They accent the flowers on the heart motif beautifully, and coordinate oh so nicely with the Perfect Polka Dots Sizzix Embossing Folder.  The colors are two of my favorite pinks, Regal Rose (the darker color) and Pink Pirouette (brought back this year to the Stampin' Up! permanent color collection).  Whisper White is always a nice accent in a monochromatic type of greeting card. 

     Simply Said is a 2-Step Stampin' stamp set.  For these older stamp sets, still sold only as wood mounted sets, you really need to use the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to line up the stamps. When I first stamped the heart motif, I began by stamping the heart in Pink Pirouette; then stamping the floral inset using Regal Rose; and finally stamping the border, again using Regal Rose.  Once the card was all done, though, I thought it might be just a bit classier to have that heart "pop out" a bit.  So I 2-step stamped it again, cut it out, then adhered it over the original stamped image using Stampin' Dimensionals.  Nice touch, I think!

     Here is the layout for this card – there's one layer with a 1/16" increment to show just a hint of color around the edges of the stamped layer.  Have fun with this!

     As those of you on my newsletter list know, I've been hip deep in boxes in the Craft Room getting all my retired "stuff" ready for my New Catalog Open House a week from Saturday.

     But this morning, there was a Chat & Challenge on my SUDSOL (Stampin' Up! Demo) group, so I took a break to make a card. 

     This card is a mix of new and continuing products.  The "new" is the Pear Pizzazz Card Stock, the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder that I used for the card front, and the Early Espresso color of the background card stock and the ink.  Continuing from the last catalog are the Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon and Card Stock, the Scallop Circle Punch (though now it's being offered in the new punch style) and the Lovely Letters Alphabet Stamp Set.  Nice combo, I think!

     Here are a couple of the techniques that I used to put this card together:

• I measured and cut the top (Pretty in Pink) and bottom (Pear Pizzazz) card stock so that, together, they made up the 5-1/4" x 4" central layer.  Then I used standard transparent tape to hold them together at the back.  Then I took this entire piece and ran it through the Sizzix Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossoing folder.  So everything is nicely lined up.
• Rather than use Stampin' Dimensionals to raise the scalloped motif up from the background paper, I cut 4 pieces of Pretty in Pink Card stock and glued them all together with Crystal Effects to make a thick element to apply to the background.  With that raised embossing on the card, I didn't think that the dimensionals permitted the motif to stay on so that it looked even.
• I used a sponge and some Early Espresso ink around the edges of the monogram motif and around the Pink/Pear layer.  I think it gives it a nice "vintage" look.  Next time I may try inking the ribbon, too.  But it's so pretty by itself!
• I embossed the monogram letter.  I first stamped the letter in Early Espresso.  Then, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped over it with VersaMark, then applied clear embossing powder and heated it to a shine. 

     Now I have the beginning of some stationery – and one of the projects for my techniques classes that will be starting in the fall!

     Here are the layout measurements for this card.  Have fun making your own!  As always, if you make a card using one of my sketches, I'll be happy to feature it in one of my blog posts!

     By golly, I got to play in my craft room TWICE today!  Well, it's pretty late in most places on the mainland.  But I'm still posting here on June 30th.  Not to worry, though – everything that's in this fun project is also in the brand new Stampin' Up! 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog.  It's still not "out there" for me to link to; but check back later on July 1st, and I'm sure you'll find a link to it right over on the left of this blog post!

     One of our FCE club's fund raisers every year is a rummage sale.  BIG rummage sale!  As I was helping set up and, of course, browsing through the goodies, I came across a stack of Card Maker magazines from a couple of years ago. Score!  No one else had a chance at those babies.

     A project that caught my eye as I leafed through them this past weekend used one of the Sizzix Big Shot dies to make a wreath.  The die they used was the Stars #2 die (guess what just got added to my July 1st order list!).  Not having that die, I worked through some of the other dies trying to make a similar wreath.  The Stampin' Up! Beautiful Butterflies die makes one that's to die for!  But it's more scrapbook page size than greeting card size.  While I'm sure that I'll show that off before long (think some new designer series paper with some round pages!) I really wanted to show off a card.  So the Flower Daisies #2 die it was!

     I took some more time out today (yes, I did get some chores done, but I was really not that into housework today as you can tell) and made this card.  My Stampin' Up! demos group, SUDSOL, had a great sketch challenge this week, and this fit right in.

     New colors:  Pear Pizzazz and Daffodil Delight.  New Designer Series Paper:  Greenhouse Gala.  New Ribbon:  1/8" Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon.  Not new but still fun stamp from the set On a Pedestal.

     Here is a set of instructions for making the Daisy Wreath!  As soon as I get my hands on the Stars #2 Die, I'll make a sample using that and update the instructions!

     Have fun with this!

     Oh, my, am I tired!  But today I managed to squeeze in enough time in the craft room to actually design and make a whole greeting card!  Where did I get my energy?  From reading the Stampin' Up! website and realizing that tomorrow is the brand new Stampin' Up! year.  And I've managed to lose the last two months of the last year.  I'm really hoping that it won't be too long and I'll be back in the craft room on a daily basis, especially as I'll have all kinds of new toys with which to play!

     Among the new toys are the new Designer Series Papers for which Stampin' Up! is deservedly famous.  We had a few from the new catalog that we were able to pre-order to show off as teasers.  Well, I sure haven't been showing off much.  But today I really needed a break and broke open the pack of paper called Newsprint.  There was a design challenge today that called for a project using some of the Stampin' Up! Decor Stencils.  Like many of you, I was a young homemaker when stenciling was all the rage.  We stenciled walls, dressers, cabinets, chairs – if it was in the house and didn't walk, it got stenciled!

     And now here I am stenciling cards.  Lots more fun and lots less work for sure.  "Vintage" is the word around Stampin' Up! these days, and this cards has lots of it.  The stencil is from the set, Vintage Ornaments I; the stamp set that accents the card is Vintage Vogue; and the old style Newsprint paper and the distressing all around contributes to the "vintage" look.  Oh, and one last thing:  I used the Color Spritzer Tool to blow a bit of Cherry Cobbler ink onto the Newsprint, also.

     The colors that I used for this card are both brand new colors:  the red is Cherry Cobbler, which is one of the newest colors in the Stampin' Up! permanent collection.  The other is Pear Pizzazz for just a touch of accent color.  This color is one of the newest In Colors for 2010-2012 (yes colors will last for two years from now on!).  I would love to have accented the Hodgepodge Hardware frame with some Cherry Cobbler brads.  But those won't be available for us to order until July 1st (oooh, that's tomorrow!)

     Overall, this is a very simple layout for a card.  It's great for highlighting Designer Series Papers of all kinds.  You may see it more as the summer goes on and I try out all the new papers from the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog!

     Finally – here I am back in my Craft Room and feeling as if I have a little bit of time to really play.  I've decided that today the lunch dishes can wait until I've made a card or two.

     Thanks to all of you who have sent good wishes, thoughts and prayers our way as my husband has been dealing with his illness.  Thankfully, he came through his very extensive surgery well, and is now at home recuperating.  I hope you never have the experience of having to be away from home to be with a loved one who is in the hospital as long as I had.  Instead of going home each night  for a month to rest and recuperate among familiar surroundings to be able to face the next day, I had to go to a hotel room.  I realized then how much value there is in one of Stampin' Up!'s programs, which is to support Ronald McDonald houses around the country.  So many parents have to travel away from home to be with their children in such a situation.  I wish there was something like that for us dealing with an adult. 

     Meanwhile, I really was "Thinking of You…."  I really like sharing what I do with you, and it would have helped if I could have been able to do something creative and then spend some time in the late evening sharing it.  Even now, though we've been back home for almost week, it's been a very tiring one as I try to get all the household chores done myself.  Yup, those lunch dishes are still there.  But today I really got into my craft room and set some crafting goals for myself.  Over the next few days, I'll share some of what I've done and really make an effort to get back into my groove.

     As always, I look to my SUDSOL online demonstrator group for some inspiration.  Yesterday, I had a challenge to make a card with 8 separate steps.  It involved the number of colors of card stock and ink that we had to use, the number of layers to be included, the number of stamp sets to be used and the number of embellishments to finish it all off.

     And this is a sneak peek of sorts, too!  One of the three colors I used is Stampin' Up!'s newest yellow in the core collection – Daffodil Delight.  Such a pretty yellow for summer!  and the coordinating Daffodil Delight Ribbon is one of thirteen new 1/8" Taffeta Ribbons.  What a nice size for an accent.  Finally, I textured the Daffodil Delight layer using Stampin' Up!'s newest Sizzix Textured Impression Embossing Folder, Vintage Wallpaper.

     A special thanks to fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Amy Celona, who help me out by getting the list of retiring products posted over to the right.  Nothing in this card is going to retire except for the Not Quite Navy brads – part of the Earth Elements collection of brads.  This set of brands is still available, but there are other items that are selling out already even though June is just half over! 

     One thing you may have noticed in the list of retiring accessories is an asterisk in the column "Being Reconfigured."  What this means is that some or all of what's being retired is still going to be around.  For example, those Earth Elements Brads are going to be "reconfigured."  Some of the colors of brads will still be around, just in different groupings.  And the brad groupings going forward will be in sets of 6, not just 4.  If a color is a retiring color, the brad will definitely be retiring.  If you have any other questions about any of these lists, please be sure to let me know!

     More creativity tomorrow!