RobinsCraftRoom.com

Dimensional Fun!

Aloha, all!

     It's time for another SUO Challenges project- actually we're a bit late because I'm just now returning from my travels and I'm the one who sends the final SUO Challenge blog post on its way!    

     Thankfully, I prepared my project for this week's challenge before I left! 

     On the other hand, I was limited in the Designer Series Papers I could use before I left because I'd not had the opportunity to see – let along order! – any of the new papers that you'll be seeing in a just a few weeks in the new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog!  I was limited to the other sneak peek preview paper we had available, Summer Smooches.  Yes, this delightful Lucky Limeade Paper is part of the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper.  I've been so "in love with" the papers with the graphic colors that I've ignored this sheet.  Until this project came along.

     But what a perfect background for a colorful bunch of flowers!  Oh, yes- the challenge was to make a project with 3-dimensional flowers!  On the other hand, the ribbon I've used for these flowers IS retiring soon!  This is one of the last projects involving retired products that I'm going to be showing off, and I thought I'd try to use up some of the retiring 5/8" Satin Ribbon.  ALL of that ribbon is retiring, and I'm going to be so sad to see it go because it makes beautiful ribbon rosettes.  I did sneak in a product from the 2012 Occasions Mini  - the large pearls. BUT they're still available! I hope that means they'll be in the new catalog. The final product (besides the Pretty in Pink, Real Red, and Bashful Blue Card Stock), is the set of leaves, all punched using the leaves from the Bird Builder Punch.

     I had so much fun making these ribbon rosettes that I made a quick video of how to make them and included it in my last newsletter.  If you're not on my newsletter list and sign up for it in the next week or so, I'll be glad to send you a copy.  I'm going to be making another video soon showing off a box for greeting cards – and I'm hoping to have some new products to show off as well – as I demonstrate it.  That will be something just for my newsletter, too!

    And as I rush off to get packed – two weeks before this posts! – here is a quick sketch for this card layout.  Hmmm.  I'm wondering what I'll be using for envelopes for my 5-1/4" square greeting cards now that the Medium Square Envelopes are retiring?  I may know soon! 

     I hope you're all having as much fun this week as I am now that I'm finally back home and enjoying my craft room again!

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Fun With Simply Sent!

Aloha, all!

     Simply Sent Card Kits provide just about the easiest way for anyone to make a quick card!  The only thing that you need beyond the kit itself is a couple of stamps and some ink. 

     One of the kits in the current (2011-2012) Stampin' Up Idea Book and Catalog has just about the prettiest cards that I can remember!

     The set about which I'm writing today is that very set, and it's called the Everyday Elegance kit.  I cannot believe the gorgeous laser cut design on the bottom front of this card!  And it's very effective whether the card is opened or closed.  This card features the Baja Breeze color, and already has the printed graphic design on the front.  The label on which the "Thanks" sentiment is stamped also comes with the kit, and it's a Self-Adhesive Die Cut Label.  That means no adhesive is needed!  Of course, I had to get fancy with this, so I added a piece of the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper that I had laying out on my table (have I mentioned that I have a hard time learning to put stuff away before I start on the next project??).  I also added two Basic Rhinestone Jewels to spiff the card up even more!  The stamp set from which the sentiment is taken is designed to go with this Simply Sent Kit; it's called Everyday Wishes, and will retire at the end of this month.

     Here is the other card that's in this Simply Sent Kit.  For this card, I stuck entirely with what's included in the kit and the complementary stamp set.  See – no additions, and it's still a lovely card!

     One additional note:  BOTH of these cards may be used in either Portrait or Landscape orientation.  I showed one of each so you could see how that works out!

Products in this project that are going to be retiring:

• Everyday Elegance Simply Sent Kit (available while supplies last)
• Everyday Wishes Stamp Set (available until the end of May)

Products in this project that are NOT going to retire:

• Tangerine Tango Classic Stamp Pad (though it will be undergoing a reconfiguration to a new stamp pad type)
• Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper (Available June 1st in the new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog)
• Cherry Cobbler Classic Stamp Pad (though it will be undergoing a reconfiguration to a new stamp pad type)
• Basic Rhinestone Jewels

     I hope that by the time this blog post goes live this kits is still available – because I know it will be something you'd love to have some fun with before it goes away!  I know I've been having fun with mine!  For one thing, while I'm on airplanes – and I've been on a lot of them this month! – I like to take the "down" time to write notes to my friends.  This is a perfect set of cards to use for this!

     Don't forget that you can order any of these products any time of the day or night, any day of the year, on my Stampin' Up! Website.  Just click HERE!

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Missing Our Hibiscus! – and a Favorite Stamp Set!

Aloha, all!

     Have I mentioned that I've been traveling on the U. S. Mainland for the last week?  And we'll not be home again for yet another week, and I'm missing our Hawaiian Garden!  I especially miss that gorgeous Pink Hibiscus that you see lying on the table in front of today's greeting card share.

     This Hibiscus is in a large bush just outside my kitchen window, and it blooms up a storm every day of the year!  Oh, occasionally some little bug will get after it and we have to prune it pretty severely.  But that's rare, and it comes back as big and seemingly more beautiful every time.

     And it's because of this Hibiscus that I'm so very fond of the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, Greenhouse Garden.  Of course, here in Hawaii, we don't grow these lovelies in a greenhouse – they're all outdoors!  But do you see how close in color our Hibiscus is to the Regal Rose that I've used in the stamp on the left of the card – and to the Regal Rose Card Stock that forms the background for the central stamped squares? 

     But the stamp set is retiring.  Oh, my.  This may be one of those sets that I decide I have to keep just because of our Hawaii Garden.  It's perfect for scrap pages featuring the garden, and it will be hard to give it up. 

     We also have Hibiscus of other colors in our garden, including a Daffodil Delight-colored flower in the front garden, which is placed very close to the Real Red flower that is the most popular Hibiscus in our area of Hawaii.  The yellow Hibiscus in our garden is the State Flower of Hawaii, and its center – or Stybus – is an orange not a red color.  And our red Hibiscus has a red Stybus, which would not show up really well on a stamped image.  So this is where artistic license comes in!  But don't those flowers look lovely anyway? 

     The layout for this card is just a bit different from how I first envisioned it.  I'd wanted to punch the stamped images with the 1-1/4" Square Punch.  But the flowers were just a hair too large for them to be shown off nicely punched at 1-1/4."  So I punched them with the 1-3/8" Square Punch, which meant that I had to cut the 1-1/2 squares for the mats by hand (well, by paper cutter!).  I decided to leave the background rectangles (which I'd already cut) the same size and just squeeze those squares in there.  When all was said and done, I decided I liked it just the way it came out!

     Oh, and there's another retiring stamp set that I used for this card – the Heard from the Heart Stamp Set will retire at the end of this month, along with Green house Garden.

     I still have almost another 4 weeks to use these beautiful stamps here on my blog – and you have that same amount of time to buy these stamp sets.  And then they retire for good!

     Here's a layout for this card.  And don't forget that, if you have an image that's small enough, use that 1-1/4" Square Punch for the stamped image and the 1-3/8" Square Punch for the mat – it makes the card a LOT easier to make.  And a lot more fun to make, too!

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A Bookmark for Our Book Club Leader!

Aloha, all!

     I am still showing off retiring Stampin' Up! products, and there's only one product in today's bookmark that's not retiring – and that's the Whisper White Card Stock on which some of the images are stamped.

     But first let me tell you about the book club to which I belong.  It is the best – and biggest! – book club to which I've ever belonged.  There are no rules – heck, you don't even have to read the book!  You just have to be an active, fun member of the group and suggest a book now and then.  I think that there were 15 or 16 people at last week's monthly meeting, and we had a great pot luck lunch at the Hilo Zoo and Rainforest Garden.  Was that a treat for all of us!!

     And I truly believe that the reason we are so successful is that my friend who started it is someone everyone likes and whose ideas people enjoy experiencing.  So when I noticed that Maureen had changed her e-mail tag line to the sentiment that was on one of the stamps in the Stamp Set, Flight of the Butterfly, I knew that I had to use this stamp in a project for her.  And what better project for a book club leader than a bookmark!

So – what's retiring?

• Flight of the Butterfly Stamp Set (available until the end of May)
• Butterfly Punch (available while supplies last)
• Concord Crush Classic Ink (available while supplies last)
• Concord Crush Card Stock (it's on the back of the bookmark – available while supplies last)
• Blushing Bride Classic Ink (available while supplies last)
• Blushing Bride Card Stock (available while supplies last)

What's not retiring?  Just the Whisper White Card Stock!

     Wow, have I enjoyed getting away from cards a bit more than usual these days!  This may become a habit – well, maybe not – but certainly I should do this more often!  I hope you're a bit better than I am at doing different kinds of projects – and I'll bet you have lots of fun doing it! 

(Fun note:  The book that's in the photo is one written by one of the members of our book club – "The Road to Hana Maui" by Lynn Nakkim.  Look it up sometime.  It's one of the book club books I've actually read!)

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A CASE for Mother’s Day!

Aloha, all! 

     And an early "Happy Mother's Day" to those of you who are mothers of one kind or another!  This is the day for the biweekly Stampin' Up! Only Challenges and the theme this week is Mother's Day.  Now you who come here often know that it's not that often that I have something other than a card to show off.  But here is my second 3-D project is as many weeks!

     And it's also once again a project that I have CASEd from another Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.  This time the design for this project is the brainchild of demonstrator Kirsteen Gill, who is a member of some online groups to which I belong.  I just could not imagine going for even a day before trying this out!  While I may not duplicate her instructions online, I will be including this in one of the classes in my Craft Room in the next few weeks. 

     The fun thing for me about this project is that I got to use up some of my stash of the Designer Series Paper set, Just Add Cake, which will retire in just 5 more weeks!  I've really enjoyed not only the paper, but also the coordinating Peach Parfait Card Stock, which is a 2010-2012 "In Color" and will also retire at the end of May 2012.  There's also a bit of Wild Wasabi Card Stock in this project, but that color is NOT retiring as it's one of the current groups of core colors in the Stampin' Up! catalog.

     This photo shows the box opened up to display four little boxes that are perfect for earrings or small jewelry, or even paper clips for a desktop!  I decorated the lid with some matching ribbon – some of the Peach Parfait Stitched Poly Ribbon that will also retire at the end of May.

     For the little 3" square greeting card to go with this gift, I stamped the "Packed for Mom" stamp on some Whisper White Card stock using Black Classic Ink.  Then I stamped it again on a piece of scrap card stock and colored in a small area of the stamp with coordinating Stampin' Write Markers.  Finally, I punched it with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch and matted it with a piece of Wild Wasabi Card Stock punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch, and then adhered it very carefully onto the black and while image.  This technique is called "Spotlighting," and it's especially fun for a large stamp such as this one.  By the way, the Packed For Mom and the other Packed For… stamps that are in the Occasions Mini Catalog were only guaranteed to be a part of the Stampin' Up! catalog until yesterday.  As I'm actually traveling as this is being posted live, I won't have a chance to update my post to let you know if it's actually no longer a currently available Stampin' Up! product.  But I'll update this as soon as I can.

     Just for a recap:

Items in this project that are retiring or possibly not being continued into the 2012-2013 Idea Book and Catalog:

• Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper (available while supplies last)
• Stitched Poly Ribbon (available while supplies last)
• Peach Parfait Card Stock (available while supplies last)
• Packed for Mom Stamp Set (in the 2012 Occasions Mini catalog which expired yesterday; status unknown as of this writing)

Items in this project NOT retiring:

• Whisper White Card Stock
• Pumpkin Pie Button (part of the Brights Collection of Buttons)
• Wild Wasabi Card Stock
• Markers used to color in the Packed for Mom Stamp (though some may no longer be available for individual purchase)
• The Simply Scored Tool and Diagonal Plate used to score the card stock for the little white boxes.

     As I look at the blog posts that I have planned for the next couple of weeks, I believe that there are no more CASEs involved.  So I'll be able to share my layouts and instuctions with you!  Meanwhile, if you have any question or comments, please leave them here on the blog where I'm most likely to see them while I'm traveling!

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Aloha to My Favorites!

Aloha, all!

     Aloha mean many things, including the "Hello" greeting I give you each time I write a post on this blog, and often including a "fond farewell and good wishes" as we say, "Goodbye."  So then, I send an Aloha along with a goodbye to my absolute favorite Stampin' Up! Stamp Sets ever.  The two sets are my favorite Two-Step Stamping set, Flower Fancy, and my favorite "go-to" greeting stamp set, Sincere Salutations. 

     My recollection is that Flower Fancy was the very first Two-Step Stamping set that I ever had.  Yes, it's that old!  And I just loved that it looked like I'd skillfully watercolored in the deftly sketched flowers.  I'm still amazed at how much I like the whole effect of the casual elegance of the set.  These are but two of the flowers in the set.  As the next month goes on, perhaps I'll have a chance to use the set again.  But there are so many retiring sets that I love, I really want to share as many of them as possible with you!

     I also love the the font that is used in the Sincere Salutations stamp set, and the unique way that the words are arranged – and how they fit on my greeting cards so well!  Sigh, I truly will miss having that set available for so many occasions!

     Now that I look closely at this card, I find that everything in it – except for the Basic Black stamp set used for the words and outlines and the Whisper White Card Stock – will retire at the end of May also!  The two colors that I used for this card – Pear Pizzazz and Poppy Parade are in the 2010-2012 set of "In Colors" and they'll be replaced by new colors in June.  We'll find out all about those new colors fairly soon, but I'm going to miss these lovely colors for sure.  (Did you notice that two of the flowers are a lighter color?  It's still Poppy Parade, but I stamped the image off on a piece of scrap paper before I then stamped it on the card!) Oh, and the Pear Pizzazz Stitched Poly Ribbon - so easy to use in greeting cards! – is also on the retired list. 

     If you see anything in this card that you might want to buy, you would do well to purchase it as soon as possible, especially the accessories.  While the stamps will be available until the 2011-2012 Catalog expires on May 31st, accessories are only available while supplies last!  You can shop any time day or night on my website.  So just click here if there's something you'd like to order while there's still time!

     I don't have a sketch for today's card because it uses the same sketch as the one I used last Tuesday.  But I did as I suggested you might do, and made the background card stock for the 1" squares just slightly bigger, and also adjusted the size of the layers of the larger motif to fit the stamp set I used.  It really is a lot of fun fussing around with all these measurements!  But if you'd like the exact measurements for this card, just let me know in a comment below and I'll take care of it!

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CASEing Pinterest!

Aloha, all!

     Have you at all paid attention to the fab new online collection of photos of just about everything called, "Pinterest"?  I certainly have, BUT I have to tell you I simply do not have the time to be an active participant in the group.  So you won't find much of me on there.  My time is filled so much with my current online groups, my own paper crafting and classes, and volunteer work not involving stamping (oops – as I write this I'm late for a meeting.  Eeek!!  BRB!).

     And speaking of my online groups, one group for which I've been a Design Team member for quite awhile is the Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers.  This week the Design Team challenge was to find a card on Pinterest to CASE (Copy And Share with Everyone is my version of the acronym). So I made a quick pass over a few pages of cards (you can do that even if you don't join Pinterest) and picked the one that struck my fancy the most.  Of course it had to be the card of someone who is very active and popular on Split Coast Stampers.  This is another group on which I don't spend nearly enough time, and I'd never run across Jen del Muro because she's not a part of the Stampin' Up! community there.  But she is a fab designer for sure.  What I had to do was copy her card but use only Stampin' Up! products. 

     And that was quite easy, thank you very much (the original from which I copied this is at the end of the blog post).  Since I'm starting to focus on retiring products, as well as on the end of the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, I chose the 2010-2012 "In Colors" for my triangles, and the Stamp Set, Loving Thoughts (from the mini catalog) for this card.  So the triangles are Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Concord Crush, and Poppy Parade.  I punched the triangles with the Petite Pennants Builder Punch – which makes triangles SO very easy!

     I stamped the "Happiness" sentiment using Concord Crush classic ink on Whisper White card stock and hand cut the notch on the left side.  For the background colors, I used Crumb Cake (formerly "Kraft") and Basic Black Card Stock.  Had I been thinking a bit more clearly, I would have used Concord Crush for the dark background color.  But it was already glued down, and this wasn't a big enough deal to start tearing things apart!  I punched the right corners of the card stock, as well as the basic card, with the Corner Rounder Punch.  As the In Colors didn't have buttons to go with them, I used a Pumpkin Pie Button from the Brights Collection of Buttons.  I finished the card off with a piece of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine (also from the Occasions Mini!).

     Oh, and the most fun products on this card – and also from the Occasions Mini – are the Adorning Accents Edgelit Die and Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  I know most all of us in Stampin' Up! land are really hoping that these products will continue forward into the 2012-2013 Idea Book & Catalog.  Crossing my fingers!

     Here's the card on which this CASE is based.  It really is a great design that Jen del Muro made, and I wish I'd thought of it myself!!

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Razzleberry Smooch

Aloha, all!

     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!

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Smooches Just For You!

Aloha, all!

   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!!

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Thank You With a Smooch

Aloha, all!

     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."

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