Today I'm sharing something other than a card, which is something I do all too infrequently.  But I had a challenge on one of my Stampin' Up! online groups to make something as a Thank You for a Teacher as we're at the end (or nearing the end) of this school year.  I really didn't want just to make a Thank You Card.  And I wasn't up for little gift boxes.  What to do.

     Then this evening I sat down to read a book and set aside a bookmark that I'd made at a Stampin' Up! convention three years ago!  Yes, it's held up this long and I use it a lot!!  So I decided to make as close a copy of it as I could, and this is it! 

     I covered some chipboard with a piece of Designer Series Paper from the set, Elegant Soiree (retiring) and then cut it out using my Sizzix Big Shot and the largest oval on the Sizzix Ovals Die.  I cut another design from the paper set using the smallest oval on the same die to form a background for the flower, which is from the retiring set, Eastern Blooms.  I really like this set, and I'm so very sorry to see it no longer in Stampin' Up!'s catalog as of July 1st!

     The 1-1/4" Striped Ribbon is Marina Mist (NOT retiring!), as is the ink that I used for the flower and the brad in the center of the Filigree Flower (also NOT retiring!) in the center of the flower.  The color blue in the Designer Paper set is Baja Breeze.  But, with those teensy spots of blue in the background, even in person the Marina Mist color works just fine with it.

     At the other end of the ribbon, I pulled the ribbon end through the center of the larger of the Filigree flowers in that hardware set and tied a knot to which I pulled the filigree piece down close.  I started with a piece of ribbon 18" long.  With a bit trimmed off at the knot end and an inch or two attached to the back, the final length between the filigree end and the chipboard end is about 12".  Perfect for most books.  (This is a very small book, which I used intentionally so you could see more of the bookmark.)

     It's a lot of fun doing something different from a card or scrapbook page in my craft room!  If you ever get bored making those or just want a quick change to get your creative juices flowing, try a bookmark.  But whatever you do, have fun with it!

     Every Christmas season I read stories about children who make their own special Christmas gifts, among which are their own personal gift certificates that promise something special – like a night of babysitting, or taking a brother or sister's turn for doing the dishes.  Great gifts and the cost in terms of money is so small.

     Well, why not make gift certificates for something that YOU could do for someone special in your life!  With Stampin' Up! paper crafting products, you can make lovely gift certificates. 

     This gift coupon book is one of the projects that I demonstrated as part of last month's Royal Blog Tour.  As with all the projects in that blog post, it featured the stamp set, Punch Pals.  All of the stamps shown are from that set.  The paper that I used for this project is from the Designer Paper Set, Jolly Holiday.  Now, before I get into more information about the coupon book, I have to give you my insight to this Designer Paper Set.  It has 12 designs, all of which use various combinations of the colors Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive and Very Vanilla.  There are stripes and circles of various kinds, as well as some polka dot designs.  There is not a tree or ornament or Christmas design of any kind in this paper set.  So, if you're thinking that you might need some more paper for your Christmas projects, but aren't sure you could use a whole pack, THIS is the set to get – because you can use it for lots of projects AFTER Christmas.  Christmas does not have a lock on red and green color combinations!

     OK, so back to the project.  The frame and lines on the coupons themselves are not stamped.  I designed these using  Stampin' Up!'s graphic software program, My Digital Studio, AND I printed them on my own home printer.  I have two HP printers on my desk, and Very Vanilla Card Stock runs through those printers just fine.

     After I printed the coupons, I stamped some designs on them and punched the outside corners with the Ticket Corner Punch.  Then, before I adhered the coupons inside the coupon book cover, I used the Perforating Tool in the Stampin' Up! Cutter Kit to perforate them just to the left of the printed frame.

     Of course I have more detailed information for you about how to make this project!  It's right here in a one-page tutorial, that includes instructions on how to created the coupon design in My Digital Studio. 

     I hope you're having a great weekend as we get closer and closer to Christmas!  I had a fun day in the Craft Room on Saturday with a Christmas Card Stamp A Stack class and a few wonderful friends.  I hope whatever you're doing this weekend – and this week – that you'll have fun with it!

     As my children and niece and nephews have grown up, I've been sending fewer and fewer gifts and more and more checks and cash for special occasions – like Christmas, of course!  And now I have grandchildren, all of whom live far away, and whose interests change quite a bit more often than I see them.  So money works for them now, too!

     But as I slip a check or some money inside one of my handmade cards, it seems as if I should be more creative than just folding a piece of paper up and putting it in a card.   I looked around and found some money holder cards that people have made.  But all of them either require folding the money anyway or are too large to fit in one of Stampin' Up!'s envelopes.  So I finally decided last week to make my own special money card.  It was a bit on the tricky side, but it's worked wonderfully. 

     The tricky part is one that I solved, so you won't have to struggle with it.  To keep this card short enough lengthwise to fit in a Stampin' Up! envelope, I had to use just a sliver of adhesive on either side of the slit where the bill/check fits in.  For the card shown, I cut a piece of Sticky Strip in half lengthwise. 

     The important thing is that this card, including its "belly band" closer, fits just perfectly inside one of Stampin' Up!'s Small Open End envelopes.  And that envelope meets the length and width requirements for mailing in the United States.  Important if you live in the U. S.!

     Of course I've written a one-page tutorial for this gem of a gift card and it's on my blog as of today!   I quickly whipped out a half dozen of these for a craft fair I did today, and they looked lovely on the display table.  The ones I have left will look even more lovely when someone in my family opens them on Christmas Day!

     I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do.  Whatever you end up doing this weekend, I hope you have a lot of fun with it!

     Back around Halloween, a lot of my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators and I had a fun time making boxes to hold the purse-sized bottles of Bath and Body Works' seasonal hand sanitizers.  Well, I just could not wait until I could get my hands on some Christmas versions.   And I did – I ordered up 50 of the bottles, not having a clue about what I was going to do with them. 

     Then came the opportunity to participate in a local craft fair (which is today, by the way!).  But with 50 of them, I didn't want to make as large a box as I'd made for the very few Halloween bottles I'd bought.  So I fussed a bit with the original pattern that I shared in my Halloween tutorial and came up with the smaller version I needed.  The tutorial is right here for you to enjoy!

     I used stamps from the oh-so-much-fun Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set in the Stampin' Up! 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog.  Stampin' Up! has said that this stamp set is going to be around for awhile, and I can hardly wait to see what they do with stamps for other holidays!  But for now, I'm really enjoying using this set THIS holiday season.  And you'll be seeing some more of it over the next few days as I share more of what we did with the Craft Fair!  I also used the last of my dwindling supply of the Candy Cane Lane Designer Papers.  Boo – Stampin' Up! has run out of it!!  But I have enough for my Stampin-A-Stack session next weekend in Robin's Craft Room.  There's still room for 1 more person in the class (well, I might be able to squeeze one more in after that). So, if you're on the East Side of Hawaii's Big Island, and you'd like to come, just give me a call (808.854.6145) or send an e-mail and I'll sign you up!

     Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a LOT of fun with it!

     Early last month, I was featured in a blog tour sponsored by my Stampin' Up! Demonstrators group, SUDSOL (Simply Unique Demonstrators Sharing On.Line).  The project on my blog for the tour was a Greeting Card with an Attached Bookmark.  Just to remind you, here's one picture of the card I displayed on that tour.

      The flap at the right is a second fold in this card, and the fold has been perforated with the perforation tool in the Stampin' Up! Cutter Kit.  Once Christmas is over and cards are (at the best) put away for reminiscing later or (at worst) just tossed, part of it can remain around as a useful, hopefully, treasured bookmark!

     Since I really do like to share something new with each of my blog posts, I've made another card using the same template as the one above. 

     Here is what the card looks like, all folded up, from the front.  Notice how the knot in the Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon almost looks like it's a continuation of the ribbon on the front of the card.  But it's not as you'll see in the next photo.

     It's the ribbon at the top of the bookmark!  All it takes is some careful positioning to get the ribbon in the bookmark lined up with the ribbon on the card front.  And instructions about how to do that are right here in a one-page tutorial for constructing the card.   I just know you are going to love having this new kind of folded card to give to a special person – and not just at Christmas!  Imagine a Birthday Bookmark that your friend can keep around all year! 

     I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the papers and stamp set that I used for this card.  The paper is from the Stampin' Up! 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog, and is called Deck the Halls.  The word, "Noel," is on one sheet, along with the holly beside it.  I just cut the paper to fit, but didn't cut through the holly, but cut around it.  I used the Stampin' Up! Fiskars Cutter and stopped the blade just before the holly and then started it up again just past the holly.  I think the result looks pretty cool!

    The stamp set is one that I've used a lot this year – Punch Pals.  It's so versatile.  It can make a cute card or one that's very elegant.  I'm really hoping it will be around for at least another year!

     I hope you have fun with this tutorial – or with whatever you're working on this Christmas season!

     That's "blue" as in that wonderful new Stampin' Up! color, Marina Mist, and the fantastic Designer Series Papers included with the Simply Scrappin' Kit, Christmas Cheer.   NOTE:  This post was originally part of the November 2010 SUDSOL blog tour.  For more information about this online group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators only, click here!

     One theme that you'll find in many of my 2010 Holiday Season greeting card projects is that I like them to have some kind of gift or keepsake as part of the project.  Part of today's card is a bookmark.  No, there's not a bookmark enclosed – a bookmark is actually part of the card!  Do you see that knot at the top of the ribbon?  It's "knot" tied to the card front – it's tied to the top of a third section of the card that can be detached and used as a bookmark!

     As with most of my projects like this, I have written a one-page tutorial to show you just how to cut, fold and perforate this card and get that ribbon positioned perfectly for both the card front and the bookmark.  BUT – this is a special blog post, and there are special ways to get this tutorial!  If you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, you can find the tutorial on the SUDSOL website by clicking here.  Even if you're not a member of SUDSOL, you can sign up for a free two-week membership that will give you plenty of time to learn all about us and starting enjoying our great group, as well as all the other patterns and projects on file in the SUDSOL Collection – including 245 of my own cards, gifts, sketches, scrap layouts and much much more!.  My other blog readers can receive a copy of this tutorial as part of my December Newsletter by subscribing to my e-mail Newsletter – just enter your e-mail address in the box just beneath the SUDSOL icon at the upper left. 

     Now a little about the colors and embellishments that are on this card.  I have to tell you that my focus is more on making cards and gifts than on making scrapbooks right now.  So I was reluctant to purchase the Simply Scrappin' Kit.  But that wonderful Marina Mist Designer Series Paper in the kit just kept calling to me.  So I gave in and bought the kit and used some of Marina Mist/ Very Vanilla sheet for this card.  Now that I see the other sheets in that set, I am so glad I bought it.  And of course there's plenty of beautiful textured 12" x 12" card stock:  Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and Marina Mist.  The self-adhesive die cuts will also not go to waste as I will be taking them with me to a visit with my gorgeous little granddaughters – that's where we'll do some scrapbooking!

     The little snowflakes are new this season!  They are all from the Sizzix Decorative Strip Die Northern Frost from the Stampin' Up! 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog.  My first thought was to add Basic Pearls or Basic Rhinestones to them; but then I decided I really wanted to keep to the Marina Mist/Very Vanilla color theme.  The 5/16" Very Vanilla Jumbo Brads fit that bill perfectly!  The ribbon is the luscious Marina Mist 5/8" Satin Ribbon – it's really hard for me to keep my hands off that stuff!

     I decorated the bookmark itself as I did the card front.  But I tucked some of the edges of the little snowflakes behind the sentiment layer to protect them a bit.  I also used Sticky Strip on the bookmark layer throughout as I hope it will be getting a lot more use than the card!

     Have fun with your holiday paper crafting!

     Fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Melissa Stout, has a great new take on making covers for Note Pads (or Jr. Legal Pads as they are sometimes called).  I've been making covers for these note pads for years, and have shared some of them with you along the way.  The basic tutorial is here on my blog.

     What Melissa has added is a place to store a pen – what a great idea!  But one problem I've had with her pattern is that I end up with a 1/2" deep cover for a note pad that's only 1/4" deep.  Believe me I used up a LOT of retired card stock trying to modify her pattern so that it was only 1/4" deep.  But the pens that I'm using (and they're my favorite for this kind of project – more later) just wouldn't fit.  So I've taken a different approach to getting a pen attached – just add some ribbon loops to the open side of the note pad cover that I usually make!

     "Aha," you might well add!  "Where's the Christmas paper – we thought you were in Christmas mode these days!"  Well, indeed I am.  But I'm also greedily saving my Christmas papers and embellishments for projects that I KNOW will turn out all right.  I still wasn't sure about this one, so I went for papers that I wouldn't need for awhile – like Spring stuff!  And I absolutely copied the layout on one of Melissa's note pad covers – she's so talented! 

     Here's a picture that shows the ribbon loops more clearly.  I cut about 4-1/2" of ribbon, folded it in half, then let the loop end extend from the back of the note pad cover just shy of 3/4".  I adhered the ribbon with Sticky Strip inside the back cover BEFORE I attached the note pad itself.  This pen is an 'RSVP" pen by Pentel, from which you can remove the end and insert paper that matches the rest of your project!  Is that cool or what?  One adjustment that I may make in future versions of this is to make the bottom loop just a bit smaller.

     Oh, and the Spring colors that I used are Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, and Poppy Parade.  All of these colors are featured in the Designer Series Paper Set, Cottage Garden.  The flowers are stamped with two images from the Stamp Set, Sunny Garden.  Doesn't that all just shout, "Spring!!!"?  For sure.

     I'll be making an adjustment to the note pad cover tutorial when I return from some well-deserved vacation time!

     Meanwhile, have fun stamping!

     As some of you have already noticed, I've been trying to update my blog's tutorials to show off current Stampin' Up! products, including papers, stamps, embellishments, and even the tools that we have available.  I had all good intentions of getting them ALL done by now.  But November is right around the corner and I have hardly made a dent!

     One project that I have updated is the set of instructions for making a quick and easy gift card holder.  Really, cut a sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" card stock in half lengthwise, make three folds, adhere the middle sections together, use the Word Window Punch to make a slit, decorate as you want – and you're done!  I made a dozen of them yesterday afternoon, finishing all the decorations (well, I went overboard on a couple) and packaging them up with envelopes for a craft show later this season this morning.  I'm ready to make some more, but I have other projects for the craft fair, so I'll have to wait.

     The cards that I'm showing off today all use the Designer Series Specialty Paper set, Candy Cane Christmas.  One of the things that I really like about this paper set is that there is such a diversity of look and feel.  There are several sheets that can only be called cute (like the one in the middle above), some elegant papers including the one on the left above, which has a red strip that is so very glittery, and some fun all-occasions papers, like the multi-colored polka dot paper on the right. 

     I hope you'll enjoy the updated tutorial that I've posted under "Tutorials," above.  Have fun making your OWN gift card holders for the holidays – or for birthdays or any other gift-giving occasion!

     Not everything in Robin's Craft Room is paper crafting.  Otherwise I'd probably be calling it Robin's Stamping Room or Robin's Stamping Spot or some such.  While most of what's in there is, indeed, Stampin' Up! products and supporting materials, there is also yarn and thread and fabric. 

     It was when I was stuck in a hospital room on another island that the yarn part became really useful.  Yarn and my crochet hooks travel very well.  Much better than packs of paper, ink pad, adhesives, paper cutter, ribbons, brads – well, you get the picture.  Yes, I can travel to workshops with all of that stuff.  But with the price of extra luggage on planes these days – well.

     So crochet it was!  And not the big projects where those afghans get heavier and heavier.  And not the complicated ones, like sweaters where you have to pay close attention to every increase and decrease stitch or you end up with sleeves for an adult and body for a baby.  No, for me the projects were cotton dishcloths and/or doilies (depending on what you like to use them for). 

     And I decided that white and ecru were not to be the colors with which I would be working in a hospital room.  I needed COLOR!  OK, so there were a few plain ones.  But, as you can see from this collage of the projects I completed, I was not a shrinking violet.  In fact, I left all that violet yarn from previous projects at home.  Oranges, greens, turquoises, bright pinks, reds, yellows – all kinds of colors!  In all, I ended up with 18 completed projects.  Now I have to decide what to do with them.  Any ideas?

     You know the best part of all of this?  I crocheted the heck out of my right arm and I have no residual "tennis elbow" at all!  The last time I crocheted for days on end, I had to stop on doctor's orders.  Maybe I've learned to relax a bit?  Hmmmm.  I think that this is a subject for another kind of blog. 

     Tomorrow back to the paper crafting.

Of the many groups to which I belong, one in which I have the longest membership is Toastmasters International.  Right now, I’m a member of Hilo Toastmasters Club, which is one of the oldest in the world, with the low 3-digit number of 248.  My last Toastmasters Club – Albuquerque Toastmasters Club in New Mexico – also has a long history with the club number 122.  With more than 12,000 clubs in the world right now, you can imagine how high the club numbers go!

But I digress.  This week, Toastmasters is celebrating its 85th Anniversary, and the theme of our meeting yesterday was "Happy Birthday," with gifts and some cake.  The "gifts" for all our members were bookmarks, made by yours truly.  Every Toastmaster has at least two manuals in play at any given time, so we can always use bookmarks.

For this project I used the Designer Series Paper Set, Autumn Traditions.  Now I’m sure some of you may be wondering why I would buy some autumn papers when I live in Hawaii.  Well, many of my friends, family and business acquaintances–many of YOU!–live where there is a colorful autumn each year.  And I love to share projects that relate to fall with you.  The coordinating card stock colors for these bookmarks are Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, and More Mustard, with appropriate coordinating 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.  (For those of you who are sticklers about such things, my apologies for sneaking in some retired More Mustard ribbon.  I just can’t imagine what Stampin’ Up! was thinking when they retired that color ribbon!!!  And I haven’t been able to talk myself into just putting it away where I won’t see it and use it by mistake.  But the bookmarks are done, so the ribbon’s staying!)

On the bottom of each bookmark is a stamped definition from the stamp set, Define Your Life.  I occasionally use one definition stamp from this set.  But this time I was able to use more than half of those in the set and still have the bookmarks be appropriate for Toastmasters. 

And I have to make a point here about My Digital Studio.  Remember when I mentioned the question about whether having My Digital Studio would mean no more paper and ink?  Well, you can’t make a bookmark like this with My Digital Studio.  In fact, there’s not a whole lot in the way of handmade papercrafted gifts that you can make with MDS besides photo albums, cards, calendars and multi-media digital projects.  So, no, I won’t be giving up paper and ink!