RobinsCraftRoom.com

One of a Kind Flowers!

Aloha, all!

     In its 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, Stampin' Up! promotes its Blossom Builders Kit as one that will allow us to layer up one-of-a-kind flowers.  So, with today's card, that's just what I did! 

     I also made the card in response to the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition Sketch Challenge today.  While I rarely take a sketch challenge literally, this time there were two flowers in the sketch, and I used that as my opportunity to use the heretofore unused (at least in Robin's Craft Room) Blossom Builders kit!

     Besides the Blossom Builders Kit, I also used the Hat Pins, some of the Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, the Mixed Bunch Stamp Set, and the Blossom Punch – all from the Occasions Mini Catalog.  Oh, and I can't forget the Labels Framelit!  I can't stop using them!!!  The colors in this card are predominantly Poppy Parade and Lucky Limeade, so I decided to use the Poppy Parade Stitched Poly Ribbon for the ribbon accent.  Poppy Parade is a 2010 – 2012 Stampin' Up! In Color, so it won't be around for many more months.  I'm going to try to use as much of this as possible before it's retired the first of June this year.  Lucky Limeade will be around for another year, but I still used some of the Patterns Designer Series Paper in that color for the paper on the right side of the card.  Fun stuff, that Patterns paper!

     The addition of the Baker's Twine to this card is an idea that I got from looking at the samples in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  Using the samples in the catalogs is a great way to get your creative juices flowing when they seem to be stagnating a bit as mine have been this week.  Now I'm ready to go at some more projects – including my project for the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition Week 4 next week!  It's not too late to subscribe to this fantastic edition of Create with Connie and Mary!  You never miss a project – they're all there for you from day 1, no matter when you sign up! 

     So – off to finish up my blog post for Monday, my assigned day for the Occasions Edition.  You just don't know what you're missing if you haven't subscribed!

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A Bit Over the Top – and Blog Candy!

A special Aloha to all!

     Today is the day that I get to be featured on the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition blog!  And that means that today is the day I get to pick names for blog candy!  All you have to do is leave a comment aboutmy card for today and your name will be included in the drawing for a FREE subscription to the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition!

     But first my card – after all, you have to have something about which to comment, don't you!  

     As the title of my blog says, it's a little bit more "over the top" than I usually make.  But, as this is a special "occasion" for me, I thought, "More is better!"  And with all the fab products in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, that's easy to do!

     With this picture of my card, you are only beginning to see the "more."  But it's still a lot fussier that I usually make my cards, don't you think?  On the other hand, I had so much fun "fussing" with this, that I may just do more of that. There's that word, "more," again!

     I'm sure you can see that the whole card is cut with the largest of the hearts in the Hearts Collection Sizzix Framelits now offered by Stampin' Up!  I discovered in making this that the framelits will cut through two thicknesses of card stock.  That's a bonus if you're trying to make a card with as many panels as this one!

     From this photo of the front of the card you can see quite a few products from the Occasions Mini Catalog. 

• First and foremost is the Stamp Set, "P.S. I Love You."  The stamped heart in the very middle (which is actually on the back panel of the card), as well as the sentiment and the stamped frame around it, are all from the same stamp set, as are several sentiments inside the card.
• Then there are the delightful Twitterpated Designer Buttons (in Blushing Bride and Baja Breeze)
• And the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
• And finally the Blushing Bride Pleated Satin Ribbon.

     Now for the inside of the card – yes, there are FOUR panels to this card, with all of them including a stamped image or sentiment from the "P.S. I Love You" stamp set!  The final panel has a bit of an addition from another Occasions Mini, images from the Stamp Set, Take It To Heart.  All of the Designer Series Paper on the inside is also from the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper Set. 

     I had so much fun with this card that I'll be making several for really good friends (and my very own sweetheart) for Valentine's Day this year!   In fact, I've been having a lot of fun with ALL my projects for the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition, and I'd love to share them all with you!  But I can only do that if you're a subscriber to the Occasions Edition.  The Occasions Edition is now in Preview and there's an Early Bird Special price if you sign up this week!  And of course you can always try to win a FREE subscription by commenting on this blog post today!

     I'm not the only one offering blog candy this week.  Keep an eye out for others who are offering it by checking the Create with Connie and Mary blog the rest of the week.  Did you see that gorgeous card that Artisan Award Winner Elizabeth Price showed off yesterday?  Was that not the most fabulous card??  I can hardly wait to see her projects for the Occasions Edition – or to see what the rest of the team has to offer.  You don't want to miss the projects either.  So leave a comment and then head over to Create with Connie and Mary!

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Fun and Quick!

Aloha, all!

     With all that I'm doing the next few weeks, I decided I had to take some time this morning to show off some of the products from the brand new Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog.  On the other hand, it had to be quick because I'm already behind on so many new year's projects and it's only the 4th!!!

     Believe me, this was quick – and it was fun on top of it!  The basic card design was one that was featured in this month's magazine for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators as something we could easily demonstrate at a workshop.  They were right, even though I had to think for a few minutes because I wanted the colors and design just a tad different from those in the magazine.

     What really makes this easy are the two brand new products from the Occasions Mini Catalog that I used:  the stamp set, Mixed Bunch, and the brand new punch made just for the stamp set (or is it the other way around??), the Blossom Punch.  There are three big flowers in the stamp set, and this shows off just one of them.  I'll be getting to the other two before long, I hope!

     The card base is Sahara Sand, and the colors that I used to stamp the flowers were (left to right) Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, and Tangerine Tango.  I stamped the Peach Parfait and Tangerine Tango flowers on So Saffron Card Stock, and the Poppy Parade flower on Peach Parfait Card Stock.  The center image on each flower is also from the Mixed Bunch Stamp Set and cuts perfectly with the 1" Circle Punch. 

     To finish this quick and easy card off, I punched some Whisper White Card Stock with the Scallop Edge Border Punch, then quickly colored in some circles using Poppy Parade Stampin' Write Marker, the Paper Piercing Template from Stampin' Up!'s Mat Pack.  I trimmed the Whisper White Card stock and mounted it on a strip of Poppy Parade Card Stock.  The sentiment is from the stamp set, Petite Pairs, and I just had to punch it with the Postage Stamp Punch.  I've been dying to do that to a sentiment with the word, "Sending," in it!  I tied on a little bow with Linen Thread.

     The one thing that's not quite evident from the photo is that I made my card base 5-1/4" wide rather than 5-1/2" so that I could let the flowers hang off the edges a bit, yet still allow the card to fit in a standard A2 envelope (Stampin' Up!'s Medium Envelope). 

     OK – I've had my fun for the day, now back to work.  Hmmm.  Actually, my "work" IS fun!  How many people get to say that?  It's easy when you're a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!  Hope you're having fun today, too!

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It’s Time for Thank You Notes!

Aloha, all!

     Aaaaahhhh!  While I do love Christmas, it is SOOO good to have it over and be able to relax a bit.  Actually, I did a lot of relaxing over the weekend.  I put away the last of my Christmas Card making supplies and tools on Friday night, and did not touch a thing related to paper crafting until this morning.  In fact, I was so relaxed about everything that I forgot to give my husband the very special card I'd made for him weeks ago!  If I had gone into the craft room I would have seen it lying there.  But at least I remembered before Christmas Day was over.

     And of course now that Christmas is over, it's time for Thank You notes!  This is also the day for the bi-weekly Stampin' Up! Only Challenge, and this is the card I made for the challenge to make a punch the center of attraction on a project.  I looked at all those fancy punches that Stampin' Up! has been putting out lately, but then decided on a really simple one – the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch. 

     Usually I have an item punched with that as the background for something else.  This time, though, I was inspired by the fan-style design in the new set of paper, EverydayEnchantment Designer Series Paper, that Stampin' Up! will be giving away as part of the 2012 Sale-a-Bration Event, which begins a month from now.  So, since that paper inspired me, I decided to use it, as well as the coordinating Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack.  I thought that the brad with the scallop shape on it was perfect for the center of the punch feature.  To help it stand out a bit more, I used a second punch, the Boho Blossoms Punch, to make the little flower behind the brad.

     The colors in the Designer Series Paper – and the colors of Card Stock that I used to accent it – are Lucky Limeade, Peach Parfait, and Pool Party.  Oh, and Very Vanilla is in there, too!

     To make the Scalloped Punch element, I drew lines on the back of all three colors that I punched out and then snipped along the lines from the indentations to the center point (where the lines all crossed).  To find the center of the Very Vanilla piece, I drew a couple of lines on the back of it, too, and used the Paper Piercer to punch through a pinpoint hole which is there the points of the cut pieces all met.  Once I glued on all the cut pieces, I enlarged the hole to allow the brad to fit through easily.

     The scallop circle in the background is a die-cut image from the Sizzix Scallop Circles #2 die, which I also texturized with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.

     The Thank You Stamp is also from the Sale-a-Bration catalog – one of the 6 stamps in the Outlined Occasions Stamp Set.  Love those outline-style designs that I can color in!  I wrapped each end of the greeting element with the ribbon from the ribbon pack.  I adhered both the greeting and the punched scallop to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals to give the card just a bit more, well, dimension!

     I hope you had a lot of fun during your holiday celebrations!  And I hope you'll have as much fun as I'm having now that I'm back in my Craft Room again!

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A Glimmery Christmas Card!

Aloha, all!

     I told you that I'd share some samples made with some of the fab new products to be offered in Stampin' Up!'s Occasions Mini Catalog, and here's another:  A gorgeous Sizzlit Die called "Paper Doily."  This die is 4" in diameter and so beautifully fills up the center of a 5-1/4" Greeting card (which fits perfectly into Stampin' Up!'s Medium Square Envelope).

     The big trick with this is removing all those little pieces from the doily.  But it didn't take me too long and it really felt very peaceful just sitting and relaxing while I used my paper piercer and piercing mat to free up the little critters.  I reminded myself that not everything that I do has to be easy.  Some beauty requires a bit more work to make it happen!

     To make this into a card that feels like a Christmas Card, I used some of Stampin' Up!'s Jingle Bells and stamped "Merry" from the stamp set, Tiny Tags, and punched them all out with the Jewelry Tag Punch.  The colors I used were Real Red and Night of Navy (the same colors as I used in the card and mats).  I stamped one with VersaMark and heat embossed it using Silver Embossing Powder.  I tied them to the center Red Glimmer Brad with some Wisteria Wonder Baker's Twine (another new product from the Occasions Mini!), which seemed to accent the Night of Navy background pretty well for its being more purple than blue.  The corner pieces are each 1/4th of a circle of Silver Glimmer Paper punched with both Scallop Circle Punches (first the 1-3/4" then the 2-3/8").

     Today in the Craft Room I'm working with some more of the new products, but I won't be sharing them with you until after the first of the year.  I'm working on some designs for the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition and I have to get at least one or two completed before I get back into my last-minute Christmas projects.

     I hope you're having as much fun paper crafting this Christmas season as I am!

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It’s All About Blue!

Aloha, all!

     And welcome to my stop on the "It's All About Blue" Blog Hop!  This is a small blog hop sponsored by a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators who get together online just to do blog hops, and you may have come from Cynthia Ferenz's blog, Stampin' Dragon.  I've been a member since this group started several months ago, and this is the first chance I've had to be able to take part in a tour.  If you can say the word, "Busy," then you know how I've been. 

     And if you can say the word, "Blue," you'll be correctly describing my project for the day!  You might remember my last blog post where the challenge was to use my favorite Christmas Colors, and I chose Blue and Silver.  Well, as happens a lot of the time, that blue and silver was still out on my craft room work table, so it was easy to conjure up some blue.  But conjuring up the design was a bit harder. 

     Earlier this week, I saw a photo of one of the tables in the White House.  It was delightfully decorated with paper-crafted Christmas Trees.  I was sure I could duplicate them, but then I ran up against my own limitations, especially in terms of my creativity.  As you can imagine, the White House has only the BEST decorators, and somehow my invitation got lost in the mail this time around.  You need not wonder why that happened!  What I ended up with every time I tried to put this tree together was something that looked like a bunch of lamp shades stacked on top of one another.  I finally got the height and width and colors organized the way that I wanted them and I like the way it turned out.

     I made the Star with some of the Silver Glimmer Paper, featured in the Stampin' Up! 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog, cutting it with the Sizzix Stars #2 Die. The next problem was decorating the tree.  I tried wrapping various kinds of ribbons around it – rats, we don't have that lovely silver trim from last year from Stampin' Up! – then I tried hanging some bells on the bottoms of the layers.  It was just too much – so I decided to leave it alone, except for some circles of the Silver Glimmer Paper that I hope look like ornaments.  Oh, and some of those delightfully sparkle-y Basic Rhinestone Brads.  The circles were punched with the Owl Builder Punch (those "eyes" are SOOO useful!) and the bottoms of the three layers of the tree were punched with the Eyelet Border Punch.  Oh, and the blue colors that are in the tree are Marina Mist (my "go to" blue for this Christmas season) and some Bashful Blue for an accent.

   I designed the whole tree as I went along so there's no tutorial yet.  But I will have one done by the end of next week which, coincidentally, is just about the time I'm going to be sending out my next Newsletter.  So, if you'd like a copy of the instructions – including a template for making the top "layer" of the tree, sign up for my Newsletter today!  The link is at the top of the column on the left.  I'll be including several different kinds and sizes of paper Christmas trees!  I can't let the White House outdo Robin's Craft Room, can I??

     And speaking of being outdone – you have just GOT to go check out Angela Walters' Blog, Life With a Weiner Dog.  I'm sure that Angela and Frank have something wonderful to share with you today.

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Whew! A busy holiday weekend!

Aloha, all!

     I am definitely taking a big breath after these last few days of madly working to get my 2011 Greeting Layout eBook done.  And I'M DONE!!

     So why am I showing you a Christmas Card?!  It's because this is one of the NEW cards I made from one of the layouts that's included in the eBooks.  I promised to make new samples for at least a dozen of the layouts/sketches from 2011 – that would be exclusive to the eBooks – and so far I've made 15.  So I've decided to share a couple of them here with you as something of a teaser.  And actually, this card is in the center of the photo collage that I made for the eBook cover, so you'll see it in other places, too. 

     You may have noticed that I've used the plural – eBooks.  That's because there are two different versions of the 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook available.  The first is in the same form as last year's collection – it's a .pdf file that I send to you on a CD.  The second is an actual eBook that you can download from Amazon.com for any of your Kindle applications, whether they're on an actual Kindle or a Kindle application for a PC, tablet computer, or even your smart phone (I tried it on mine, and I prefer something a little larger!).  You can click here or on the picture/link up at the top of the column on the right to find out more about the difference in these two products and how you can order either one – or both!

     One big benefit to buying the CD is that you can buy it as a gift.  I had several people who purchased last year's layout book who ordered second and third copies just for that!  In fact, I'll be giving it as a gift to several people, including my best customers!  If you're not already one of those (and you know who you are!) you can become an instant "best customer," if even for a short while, if you place at least a $50 online order of Stampin' Up! products from my website by December 3rd.  That should be easy if you're getting ready for that big Christmas Card-making push as December begins!  And I'll send a CD right off to you.

     For now, I'm going to go read a good book on my Kindle – no, not my Card Layout eBook – no more crafting tonight!  But I'll be back at it tomorrow and having a lot of fun with it!  I hope you have some fun crafting time this week, too!

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Hello!

Aloha, all!

     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!  

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Thanksgiving Spice Cake

Aloha, all!

     Do you ever think of having cake for dessert on Thanksgiving?  Not me, either.  Dessert is definitely pie:  Pumpkin, Mince Meat, Pecan – any kind of pie at all.  But not cake!

     Except that this year Stampin' Up! has decided to name its fall Designer Series Paper in their Holiday Mini Catalog "Spice Cake."  So Spice Cake it is this Thanksgiving – for my greeting cards, that is!

     I am crazy about this color combination!  It really does look elegant when I think of decorating my holiday tables with something other than traditional fall colors, even if the names of the colors don't have a traditional Fall ring to them – Early Espresso,  More Mustard, Pear Pizzazz, River Rock, and Pool Party. 

     One of the papers in this set has a design in it that is reminiscent of the Triple Treat Flower Stamp that I used to accent the front of this card.  But using that paper was going to make this card a bit too "busy."  So I decided on the three papers that show off three of the main colors in the paper set (Espresso, Mustard and Pool Party) along with the Very Vanilla in the Victoria Lace Ribbon and the paper on which I stamped both images.

     The Triple Treat Flower stamp (an "a la carte" stamp because you can buy just this one stamp by itself) is called "Triple" because there are three different Stampin' Up! Punches that you can use to punch out pieces of the flower:  the Fancy Flower Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, and the 1/2" Circle Punch.  To make my flower, I stamped the image three times in the three colors in my card and then punched a different part of the flower for each of the three layers.  The final bit of accent for this card is a bow pulled together with one of the new Designer Printed Brads – the "Pool Party" color.

     This paper really is fun to use, and I hope you've had some fun playing with it this fall.  I know I have and probably will continue to play with this for as long as the holiday mini catalog is active.  Yes, there will be Christmas Cards using Spice Cake!

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Punch Pals for One More Year?

Aloha, all!

     You might recall that, last year, I did quite a few of my Christmas cards for this blog – including a big blog hop – using the stamp set Punch Pals.  It's a favorite of mine, and I was so sure that it would be retiring this past summer because of its age.  But no!!! Punch Pals did not retire and it's lived for at least one more Christmas season, and I'm going to take advantage of it while it lasts.

     Actually I made the card for today based on a layout that's going to be featured in my upcoming 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook.  I'm still plugging away at it and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, very likely before Thanksgiving – cross my fingers and toes for that one!

     The Punch Pals set has quite a few stamps that can be punched out with Stampin' Up!'s fun punches.  But those penguins do NOT have a punch so I just stamped them on the horizontal strip.  The colors that I used for these little guys – after I colored in their little black feathers – were Marina Mist and Pumpkin Pie.  Orange and blue make a classic color combination because they're complementary colors – opposite to each other on the basic color wheel.  If you get into details, Marina Mist is off to the side a bit, but this is paper crafting, not high-powered art!

     Back to my 2011 eBook – I said that I would have a dozen cards in the book this year that are EXCLUSIVE to my eBook, all of them remakes of layouts that I shared earlier in the year.  This is not one of the dozen; but it and its layout will definitely be in the book, along with the original card.  I just know you're going to like this year's book as much as you liked last years!

     Also, I'm going to be offering an early-bird special (an appropriate announcement when I'm showing off penguins!) for those of you who bought my 2010 eBook or are on my Newsletter mailing list.  If you'd like to be one of the first to know when I'm ready to mail them out, be sure to sign up for my Newsletter (up on the left column of this blog) – or better still, buy a copy of last year's book while it's still available!  More information about that at the top of the right column!

     Now back to work so I can get my writing done!  I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I hope you're having as much fun with something in your craft room this weekend!

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