If you recall the boxes that we made in my class about which I posted this past Sunday, one of my ladies really wanted to focus on the Rich Razzleberry color that's in the Summer Smooches Product Suite.  So I made up a sample with Rich Razzleberry Card Stock AND I was sure when I punched the squares for this layout that each of them had at least one floral motif in the Razzleberry color.  Making that kind of effort can really make a difference in the overall look of a card.

     While I could have done a bit more with layering this card, I really did want to try to keep it simple so that we'd have plenty of time to make at least four cards to go with the box and not end up with an all-day class!  But to add just a bit of interest to the card, I added some complementary Tempting Turquoise Brads along the bottom left edge of the card.  And didn't they pick up the Turquoise elements in the paper well?!

     As with the card that I posted on Monday, one thing that makes constructing this card so simple is that all of the squares are either Designer Series Paper or card stock.  And those squares are all PUNCHED!!  The top layers made with the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper are punched with the 1-1/4" Square Punch, and the Rich Razzleberry mats are all punched with the 1-3/8" Square Punch.  Having all three of the squares lined up and going in the same direction is a very effective design, too, and I'm going to show you a layout with this design in one of my posts early next month.

     Speaking of next month, "retiring" is going to be this blog's theme for most of the month, actually starting this weekend (which is still April)! Yesterday, Stampin' Up! released the list of Accessories that are going to retire.  With that list, as well as with the list of retiring Stamp Sets that was released last week, I'm going to have a TON of stuff to show off before it goes away, and not nearly enough time to do it!  But I do want you to see some samples of my favorite retiring stamp sets and accessories just in case you don't have them.  I'm really hoping that you'll like the samples that I post well enough to want to purchase the retiring products before they go away for good!

    There's a link posted up at the top right of my blog home page that will take you to the list of Retired Accessories. 

     With all that's going on, I still had time to record the sketch that I used for this card, and here it is.  As with the first two cards and sketches, there are so many products that you can use – and you can use that Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set  (not retiring) to make a card that's perfect for any occasion whatsoever!  I hope you take the time to enjoy making a card or other paper-crafted project for someone special today.  It always makes me feel good, and I'm sure it will have the same effect on you!

   Today I'm sharing the second card that my class made as part of last week's card box project.

     As with the first card, the main color is Island Indigo, and the Designer Series Paper is part of the Summer Smooches Suite of Products. 
The floral stamps are from the Stamp Set, Bright Blossoms, also a part of the Summer Smooches Suite.  And, yes, there are two stamps in this image.  The first is the vase with the leaves and the second is the flower.  I inked both stamps up with Stampin' Write Markers (Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, and Tangerine Tango) and aligned them using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, which is a great stamp aligner.  The "just for you" stamp is from the very versatile – and definitely NOT retiring! – Teeny Tiny Wishes.

(Reminder:  Next Monday is the LAST day for you to order the preview of the Summer Smooches paper and other products.  After Monday, you won't l be able to order the products shown here until after the new Idea Book and Catalog is published on June 1st.)

     The layout for this card is also another simple layout, and those squares are made with the 1" Square Punch.  So there's no trying to make 1" cuts all around – very tedious and I never was very successful at it!

    The layout with which I started was a layout provided as a challenge on my online Stampin' Up! Demonstrator group, SUDSOL.  For their sketch challenge, they did not provide the exact measurements; sketch challenges rarely, if ever, do provide exact measurements.  The idea of a challenge is to make a project using the sketch provided as a guide, not to make a project using exact measurements.  The reason I provide measurements is to help you have at least a starting point if you'd like to try it out.

     But when I start a project, I like to have an idea about where I'm going, so I pretty much decide on the measurements up front.  I started with the idea of a 2" square for the stamped layer for this card.  But once I got my image stamped, I decided that I wanted the stamped layer to be just a scosh higher than 2".  So the true sketch for the above card is shown below.  But don't forget that you can alter measurements and still have a fantastic-looking card!  Another change you might want to make is to have that very small layer behind the squares be just a scosh (or a tad, whichever you prefer) larger.

     I hope you have as much fun with this as I did!  And don't hesitate to ask any questions about any of my designs.  I do frequently receive e-mails about my cards, and enjoy responding to all of them!  Or, even better, write a comment below.  I get notified pretty quickly about comments and can respond to them here.  Who knows, maybe someone else has the same comment!!

     I hope you enjoyed this past weekend's blog hop!  It was just the right size for me – I got through it and made comments in under half an hour.  And I'm so inspired to get out my scrapbooking materials and get started on some long overdue projects!

     But today I'd like to share one of the greeting cards that were made to go into yesterday's box, this one made with the Island Indigo color scheme which Lucy particularly liked for her box – and, of course, with the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper.

     This is such a simple design to make as all but one of the layers is cut from Designer Series Paper or card stock!  The flower on the stamped layer is from the Stamp Set, Bright Blossoms, which is also a part of the Summer Smooches suite of products – available for purchase this month, then not again until June 1st with the 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  The "vase" for these flowers is a piece of the Island Indigo Card Stock, punched with the 3/4" Circle Punch, with a bit of the end cut off to make the flat side.  Or you could also (as I did for this card) slip your punch over the edge of the paper you're punching, but not all the way so the edge of the paper doesn't get punched.  

     And the circular layers are all punched, too!  We used the 1-1/4 Circle Punch for the Designer Series Paper circles and the 1-3/8" Circle Punch for the Island Indigo Card Stock mats.  So simple – and a fun project to make!  I've even done up a sketch for you to use if you'd like to duplicate this card.  And there are so many Designer Series Paper sets and coordinating stamps throughout Stampin' Up!'s catalog that I'm sure you'll find something in your stash to make a gorgeous card!  Or, even better, order some of the Summer Smooches products from me – just click here, and then on the Summer Smooches display under the word, "Promotions."

     I've had several people ask me about a pattern for the box in yesterday's post.  This is a pattern that I found in a library of the online group, SUDSOL.  SUDSOL is a website for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators only, and we are all able to use patterns we demonstrators have posted to the site.  That's what I did with yesterday's project and for the ladies in my class on Friday – I used a pattern posted by Sandi McIver.  If you're a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, it's easy to gain access to all the patterns – just join SUDSOL!  There is a subscription fee, but there is also a 2-week FREE TRIAL available to all demonstrators.  If you'd like to try it out, just click on the SUDSOL Link Here!  And, once you get into your free trial, let me know if you have any questions about the group.  If I don't have the answers, I can get them pretty quickly from Coleen or Patti, the SUDSOL "moms."

     As many of you know, last Sunday Stampin' Up announced over 200 stamp sets that will retire when the current Idea Book and Catalog expires at the end of next month!  The good news is that the stamp set that I'm using on today's card will NOT retire!  Hooray for that, as this is one of my favorite sets to color with markers and blender pens!  But the paper that I'm using today WILL retire, so I enjoyed using it and its colors to make a card with a Spring feeling to it!

     Oh, and there's the little issue of a challenge!  Yes, this card is one I made for a Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group's color challenge.  For this one, we were to use Pink, Green, and Yellow.  Now, no one defined what "Pink" meant, so I took some liberties with the use of a pale version of Tangerine Tango, which is not actually a pink – more of a coral.  But if I showed this to any of the men in my life and asked them what color it was, I can guarantee that a majority would say, "Pink"!  My "out" for this is that the Melon Mambo in the center of the flowers really is a "pink." 

     The yellow – Daffodil Delight – and the green – Wild Wasabi – are definitely what the colors are supposed to be!

     The stamp set for today is called Fabulous Florets, and it really is a fabulous stamp set to use!  For this card, I stamped the flower on the left, and then "masked" it before stamping the second flower.  To make the mask, I stamped the flower image on the top of a Post-It note and then very carefully cut it out before attaching it to the top of the first flower.  Then I stamped the second flower.  Then I said to myself, "Self, you'll certainly be masking this flower again, so why not put the mask away in the stamp set's box."  I did that – and laid it right on top of another such mask that I'd made who knows how long ago!  I have got to use my stamp sets more often!

     The paper that I used for the yellow layer as well as the floral layer is Beyond the Garden.  Yes, it has the same images as the stamp set, and you might wonder why Stampin' Up! would retire it and not the stamp set.  One thing that's happened in the past is that we get the same design in a new set of papers but with different colors.  Wouldn't that be great.  Oh, I can hardly wait to see that new catalog!!! 

     Oh, and the ribbon – I'm always tying cards up with a bow!  It's Daffodil Delight 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, and I've had it since last summer's Stampin' Up! Convention.  You'd think after I spent two years bemoaning the fact that Stampin' Up! didn't have enough yellow ribbon that I'd be on my third or fourth spool of this ribbon.  But no; it's still spool number 1. 

     This uses a simple sketch, but I think it's really effective with the multiple mats of the Wild Wasabi!  So I thought I'd share it with you and hope you can use it for something that YOU make!

     Over the weekend, I mentioned that there was one of the eight stamps in the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, Everybunny, that wasn't necessarily related to Easter.  And here it is!

     Are those little mushrooms cute or what?  While I'm hoping that the Everybunny set will stick around in the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog (so I can use it NEXT Easter, too!), I'm going to try to make the most of it while I can – just in case….

     For this card, I used the same set of Designer Series Papers – Just Add Cake – that I used for my personal Easter 2012 Stamp-a-Stack.  I really like the colors in that set, and it's one of the zillion products that will likely be retiring with the 2011-2012 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  The colors in this set include one of the 2010-2012 In Colors that will definitely be retiring, and I have absolutely no reason to believe that this set of papers won't retire, either.  In fact, most of the Designer Series Paper sets do retire each year.  There's one or two that have carried over from one year to the next, but that's all I can recall.

     Oh, and the colors – I used Wild Wasabi (the card base and some ink), So Saffron, Peach Parfait (retiring this year), and Baja Breeze.  And the stamp set – one of my all-time favorite stamp sets is Sincere Salutations, and most people are guessing that this is its last year on the Stampin' Up! stock shelves.  It may also be one of the (very few) stamp sets that I keep around after they retire.

     Of course now that I'm more at leisure to get things done, I've gone back to tying my card up with a ribbon!  I love Stampin' Up!'s coordinating embellishments, and this So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon is just perfect for this card. 

     AND I have a sketch!  Lots of 1-3/4" measurements in this one!  I hope you enjoy it and have fun doing some paper crafting this week.  I'm going to be relaxing for the week because Stampin' Up! will be shaking things up come April 15th.  It may not be tax day this year, but it's the day that Stampin' Up! announces the stamp sets that are going to be retiring.  Your last chance for some of those stamp sets you've been thinking about buying but haven't!

     Have a great week!

     I was bound and determined that Easter was not going to get by without my having made – AND SENT OUT! – Easter cards!  Yes, I made lots of Valentine and St. Patty's Day cards.  But most of them are still sitting in my stash of unsent greeting cards.  I am very pleased to say that every Easter card I made this year has been put into the mail!  Yay!!!!

     And, of course, most of my cards this Easter were made with the Stamp Set, Everybunny, and/or its companion Stampin' Around Wheel, Every Egg.  This little Girl Bunny is just one of the cards that I made this week, and it's on its way to one of my granddaughters in North Carolina.  I made another card with the same layout, and both of them used the Designer Series Paper set, Just Add Cake.  I love the colors in that set, and it's got some designs that are so flexible that you can use them for any brightly-colored card you might want to make.

     I colored in the little Girl Bunny with her Easter Basket using Poppy Parade, Wild Wasabi, Peach Parfait, and So Saffron Stampin' Write Markers.  For her dress, I stamped the image on some of the Just Add Cake paper and then cut out the dress – hey, paper dolls!!  Ooooh, I loved those when I was a little girl.  I guess I still do!

     Since I was on a mission to make a lot of cards AND get them mailed in a fairly short period of time, I basically set myself up for what we demonstrators call a "Stamp a Stack."  Lots of cards with the same materials and basic design.  Tomorrow I'll show off some of the others that I made. 

     And because this was such an easy card to make and since there are tons of Stampin' Up! rubber stamps that would fit in that little square, I've drawn the sketch out for you to use, too!  Have some fun with it!!

     Here it is another Tuesday and time for the biweekly Stampin' Up! Only Challenge on SUOChallenges.com.  But this just isn't any old challenge week.  Nope, it's a week when we on the SUO Challenge Design Team are congratulating one of our own – Michelle Laycock – on reaching her 10th Anniversary as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

     Congratulations, Michelle!

     And, of course, we were to make a Card of Congratulations for the occasion!  There are going to be lots of opportunities for needing Congratulations cards as the Spring progresses, so we challenge those who like to participate in challenges to make such a card and enter it in the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge this week.  What fun for all of us!

     For my card today, I wanted to use bright and cheery colors.  And I also wanted to try to use up some of the Designer Series Papers I have hoarded since the beginning of the current Stampin' Up! year because I'm going to have one less month to use them this year.  Stampin' Up!s new annual Idea Book and Catalog is going to be starting on June 1st this year instead of July 1st!  So the rush is on!!  The paper that I ended up choosing for this was the Hostess set of Designer Series Papers, Cheerful Treats.  The colors that I used to highlight the Designer Series Papers are Melon Mambo (the bright pink), Concord Crush (the gorgeous grape color – which will retire as an "In Color" with this catalog), and Lucky Limeade (the fab green, which will be staying with us for another year).

     I used two stamp sets for this card.  The strip on the top is from the set that coordinates with the Designer Series Paper and it's called Borderlines.  There are three stamps in this set and each of them is replicated in one color or another on the Designer Series Paper.  The Congratulations greeting is from the set called Curly Cute.  Love all the curls in the five greetings in this set! 

     As is so often the case, I tied this card together with some ribbon, in this case some Concord Crush Stitched Poly Ribbon.  I'm almost out of the ribbon, but was really glad to have enough for Michelle's card!  Oh, and there are some of those twinkly little Basic Rhinestones  top and bottom, too.  Gotta have some glitz for a Congratulations card!

     I also (at long last) have a sketch for this card!  I had to measure the heck out of those strips to make the design work as I had envisioned it when I first started.  But I had a blast making this card for Michelle, and I hope you'll have fun with the sketch making a fun card for a friend or family member of yours!  One thing you might note is that the ribbon covers the bottom of the square on the left and the top of the square on the right.  You could certainly make those squares shorter if you wanted to use a different size ribbon.

     Earlier in the week, I shared a sample of a Thank You card that I'd made with all NEW products – from the 2012 Sale-a-Bration catalog.  But today I'm taking a hint from fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator (and my 2nd upline) Sandy Hancock, and using up some of my left over Christmas paper to make those Thank You notes!

     This was a quick card that I made last night with scraps from the Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper that is featured in the 2012 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  While you and I know it came from Christmas paper, there's no design that requires it to be used on a Christmas card (no santas or ornaments).  But sending it out this time of the year, with red and green as the main color, still feels holiday-ish to me!

     The red here is Riding Hood Red and the green is Old Olive.  The Taffeta Ribbon is also Riding Hood Red.  My first go round with this card had the background Riding Hood Red Card Stock looking awfully plain, so I pulled out the Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder to give it a bit more interest.  Good News – this Embossing Folder will still be available after the Holiday Mini expires next week!

     Here is the sketch that I used for this card.  It's not a new sketch, but it's been awhile since I used it.  I just love having sketches around and this one was on page 43 of my 2010 Greeting Card Layout eBook, which is still available on a CD.  Just check over on the right for more information about both of my Card Layout eBooks!  Of course, the sketch in the eBook has all the measurements included!

     I hope you're having fun making your own Thank You cards after a fun holiday season!  I still have a couple more to make and hope to be able to share them before the year is out!

     It is truly hard for me to believe that a week has gone by since I checked in with you to let you know what's going on in Robin's Craft Room.  I can tell you this – a LOT has been going on!  Let's see what I can tick off quickly:

• Orders for my CD are coming in and CDs are going out in the mail!
• We had the last of the Stamp-a-Stack of Christmas cards class (whew – 21 cards took some work!)
• I received my pre-order products from the Occasions Mini Catalog and just could not resist trying some of the fabulous new products Stampin' Up! will be offering!  I can hardly wait to show them to you, too!
• I spent a whole morning with one of my downline members just having fun learning about a lot of new and old Stampin' Up! products.
• I'm planning my projects for the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Mini Edition (I'm so excited to be back designing for them again!)
• I've been planning for next week's final Christmas Card class in Robin's Craft Room!
• And I finished the tutorial that I promised in my last blog post!  If you're on my newsletter mailing list, it's probably already in your e-mail box!  If you're not on my newsletter mailing list, if you sign up this week or next, I'll be sure to get the newsletter out to you, too!

     One of the cards in next week's class will be this one!  I've seen so many versions of this great card design around the Internet that I don't know who's idea it was originally.  But, while I can't take credit for the design, I can take credit for my own interpretation of it!  For my card, I used Very Vanilla Card Stock for the door panels and Cherry Cobbler Card Stock for the card base.  I used some Cherry Cobbler ink to sponge the edges of all the Very Vanilla pieces as well as to stamp the greeting. 

     The Wreath on the "door" is one of the pieces from the Winter Wishes Stitched Felt packet featured in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog.  There are four of the wreaths in the packet and I bought two packets – so there's plenty for whoever signs up for my class!  Over the next couple of weeks I'll be sharing projects with the rest of the pieces in the packet.

     I added a medium size Clear Rhinestone Brad for a door knob and, as I frequently do, I tied this all together with Stampin' Up! ribbon – this time with some of the luscious Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding.

     And here's the sketch for today's card (or should I say, "This week's card"?).  I have just got to make more time to share with you – and that's what I'm going to work on THIS week!  Ah, a New Year's resolution early.

     Wow, have I been busy this week!  Not only have I just about completed my new 2011 Card Layout CD, I'm also on the verge of having a real eBook ready to publish on Amazon.com.  I still have a couple days of work to finalize everything and proof both "books."  But I'm almost there!

     And there I was last night looking forward to a productive morning with my editing when I realized that I had a challenge to work on for my online group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators, SUDSOL.  Like I had time to come up with a sketch and card on that short notice (my fault, not SUDSOL's for sure)!  But I did what I'm encouraging you who buy my eBooks to do – I went looking for a sketch I'd done before and then quickly made up a card with the products that were out on my work table!

     Getting ready for Thanksgiving, I'd been using a lot of the Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper, Spice Cake.  It's really grown on me as the fall season has developed.  But today I used a winter figure to "spice" it up – one of the stamps in the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, Gift Givers.  That set has seven (7!) stamps in it all of which can be punched out with one of Stampin' Up!'s punches.  This little lady, all wrapped up for the snow that some of you have seen lately, can be punched out with the smaller of the two Scallop Circle Punches.  I stamped her on Very Vanilla Card Stock with Soft Suede Classic Ink, and then colored her in with More Mustard and Pool Party Stampin' Write Markers.  Voila!  There are four of the colors in the Spice Cake papers!

     One of the fun parts of this project are the two Spice Cake Designer Buttons on which the scallop circle punched element sits.  I used Stampin' Up!'s 1-1/4" Circle Punch to punch out two pieces of the Spice Cake paper to glue into the centers of the buttons.  A fun use for the buttons!

     As I frequently do, I tied this card together with Stampin' Up! ribbon, in this case some More Mustard Scallop Dots 1/2" Ribbon.  A fun way to finish this card off!

     You may have seen this sketch before – I haven't had time to search my blog archives to see if I've ever used it.  But even if I did, it bears repeating because it turned out to be so easy to use! The layers are the basic 5-1/2" w  x 4-1/4" h card, folded at the top, with a bottom layer 5-3/8" w  x 4-1/8" w and the top layer consisting of two pieces of 5-1/4" w x 2" h Designer Series Paper.  I hope you have as much fun with it as I did!