RobinsCraftRoom.com

A Bright and Colorful ‘Happy Birthday’!

Aloha, all!

     I spent most of last week working on projects that really needed to have subtle colors for them to feel right to me.  So, this week when it was time for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge biweekly project, I decided that I just had to have some bright primary colors to work with!  And one of the newest stamp sets – in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog – gave me just the canvas on which to work with those bright colors!

     Does this wake you up when you look at it!  For sure "Celebrate" is definitely the word that comes to mind with all those wonderful Birthday Party images that are in the stamp, Packed for Birthday.  My favorite image is the Pinata and I started off coloring her in and then used the same colors to color in all the rest of the images.

     Can you tell that I couldn't make up my mind what color should be in the background?  So I just put them all together and used the Patterns Designer Series Papers in Real, Red, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, and Pumpkin Pie.  Oh, there is a bit of Garden Green and Pacific Point in the stamp colors.  But you can only put so many papers in the background of a card, no matter how colorful you want it to be!

     As most of you know, I really like tying up my greeting cards with a bit of ribbon to finish them off.  But, again, I couldn't decide on which color to use.  So I pulled out a bunch and wrapped them all around the card and used the Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon to tie the bunch together.  I didn't let any of the ribbon go to waste as I used the trimmings to accent the card when I took its picture!

     So finally I'm feeling like I'm over whatever it was that laid me up most of the month of February, and this card made me feel even perkier!  Even if you don't feel the need to be perked up by something as bright as I made, we'd still like to have you join in the challenge over at the SU Only Challenges Blog!  All you have to do is make a card, park it in a gallery online somewhere, and link it to the SUO Challenge Blog with the link tool at the end of the blog post.  I'd love to see some more of my regular readers join us!

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Thank You!

Aloha, all!

     And thank you all for your patience with my slow response to comments and e-mails over the last week and a half.  I'm a bit better today and even managed to make a card in my craft room!  I didn't have the energy to clean the craft room up before I did, so now I have an even bigger job!  But I finally feel up to it.  In fact, by the time you read this, I should be back with everything put away or thrown away and I'll be working on my last project for the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition!  I'm so sorry I'm not able to share these project with you because I think they're among the best I've ever done.  But you have to be a subscriber to get to them. 

     For this card, I used just two colors.  Two colors was the challenge for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Team this past week, and I missed that because I was sick.  And it was supposed to be a Valentine, so it's a bit late for that.  But I'm sure that, if you're working on a two-color project this week, we'd love to see it over at SUO Challenges anyway!

     The two colors that I used are Calypso Coral and Island Indigo, both a Stampin' Up! "In Color"" for this year.  Nice combo!  The Island Indigo colored Designer Series Paper is from the "Sweet Shop" Specialty Designer Series Paper set, from this year's Occasions Mini Catalog.

     I made this Z-fold card with the cut out using the Sizzix Movers and Shapers Die from the Punch Windows Die Set.  It's been awhile since I've made one of these, but I thought to use it because I had a customer ask me about this style card this past week.  Fun to make – and so easy with the Sizzix Big Shot!  The stamp is from the set Oval All and I stamped the little butterfly on a scrap of the DSP and cut it out to tie the stamp together with the background.  I forgot to take a photo of the other side – but I made a Calypso Coral butterfly there from stamping on a coordinating piece of the DSP.  Fun little thing to do!

     I always try to tie a card together with some ribbon, and this time I used some Calypso Coral 3/8 Ruffled Ribbon.  It makes such a nice knot or bow.  I kept it to a knot this time to keep the card simple. 

     If you've got a type of card that you'd like me to make, just let me know.  I'm starting to feel like being creative again, and I'm up for suggestions!

     It feels like I'm going to have a better week this week – and I hope you are, too!

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A Favorite?

Aloha, all!

     This week's challenge over at the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge blog is to make a project with my favorite product from the 2012 Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog.  My FAVORITE?  How do I pick a favorite????

     Well, as you can see by this card, I cheated a bit.  I started out thinking that the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper was my favorite.  But which sheet?  Ah – three of them.  OK, so I took the three, punched them with the 1" Square Punch and made a pieced design.  But that was kind of plain.  So off I went to find the new Labels Collection Sizzix Framelits to cut the pieced section.  Nice!  I also used the same label framelit to cut a piece of Riding Hood Red Card Stock to use as a mat.  Now that should make THIS my favorite, right? 

     Ah, not so quick.  I just had to spruce up the little squares, and what better embellishment to use than the Twitterpated Designer Buttons.  Hmmm.  Maybe that's my favorite.  But then I realized that this card didn't have an appropriate sentiment.  So off I went to find the sentiment from the Loving Thoughts Stamp Set.  Nice!  But what to use to stamp on?  Ah, I went off to yet another favorite, that label stamp in the Take It To Heart Stamp Set!  Another possibility for a favorite.

     But then I realized that the card base of Blushing Bride Card Stock looked much too plain.  Embossing is always in style, and we have that fab new Adorning Accents Embossing Folder with all the hearts on it!  Wow, what a difference that made – times two!  But still too plain in the middle of the card.  Ah – maybe it's the Pleated Satin Ribbon that's my favorite!  It even sits so nicely without having to be tucked under anything when you snip off a piece of the back of a pleat – even better when you use TWO pieces of the ribbon and have them facing in opposite directions behind the central motif!

     Update to answer a question:  When snipping off a piece of the back of the ribbon isn't an option – for example, when that would make the ribbon too short – I cut the ribbon a bit longer than I want it to be.  Then I use my paper snips to cut the thread holding the last pleat in place.  Finally, I tuck the flat piece that I just made under the strip of ribbon, keeping the ribbon the length that I want it, and trimming the piece on the back down to about 1/4."  I adhere the ribbon to the card with Sticky Strip.  In some cases (a project I’m working on right now needed this) I use a mini glue dot to keep that tucked piece in place.

     OK – how many "favorites" is that?  SEVEN!  I give up – I can't name my favorite!  Oh, the shame of it being so indecisive!  I just may have to go make something with Bordering on Romance to get my spirits up.   Hmmm.  Maybe I should have made that……  No; we'll just leave this whole thing where it sits now!

     I hope you're better at figuring out YOUR favorite than I am.  And then go post a link to your card on SUO Challenges!

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Something New!

Aloha, all!

     One of my hobbies used to be painting with watercolors.  I took several years of lessons, but that was ages ago, and I probably have forgotten more about how to use watercolor than I remember.  Nonetheless, I have had the Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons in my craft room since back when you could buy all the colors at once in a big tin (awhile ago!).  And even though I hadn't used them in a long time, when the new Stampin' Up! color families came out in 2010, I went ahead and ordered the updated colors of the crayons.

     Yesterday, for the first time since I ordered them, I opened them up.  In fact, when I went to the drawer in which I keep the crayons and the Watercolor Pencils, I was surprised to have to remove the paper from the packaging and then find that there were only 3 or 4 crayons in the boxes I opened!  It took awhile to remember that that's how they came back when we were able just to purchase updates for our collections.  So I think that I'm comfortable with my Stampin' Up! Only Challenge entry for the week!  The challenge was to use a new technique – or one that you've not used in a long while.  Using Watercolor Wonder Crayons with an Aquapainter certainly meets that criterion!

     The stamp set that I used for my card is one that cries out to be watercolored!  It's the set, Bordering on Romance from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, and its line art is perfect for this.  For my stamped image, I combined two of the stamps to make an L-shaped image and then went after the watercolors.  I started the pink flowers with Pretty in Pink and then started adding in a big of Riding Hood Red.  I let the Riding Hood Red bleed into the Pretty in Pink for the start, and then added just a bit more at the centers when the paint had dried.  For the leaves, I laid down a base of Wild Wasabi and then some darker accents with Always Artichoke.  For the blue, I started with Baja Breeze and, just in the larger flowers, accented that color with Night of Navy. 

     It's a lot of fun making card fronts with the new Sizzix Framelits with their wonderful curves and overall shapes!  For this card, I used two of the shapes from the Labels Collection Framelits.  They cut into the Watercolor Paper beautifully – just in case you were wondering!  I accented the card with the larger lable framelit and Riding Hood Red (nice touch to bring out the Riding Hood Red in the coloring). 

     I tied the whole thing together with ribbon (what a surprise), this time Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, and accented that with one of the Trinket Hearts, also from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

     Fun card!  I hope whatever you do with your crafting today, you have just as much fun!  And maybe you can even share a project with the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Team!

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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 Hanukkah Card for Janet!

Aloha, all!

     Every year at this time I make dozens of Christmas cards, but only one Hanukkah Card – for my close friend, Janet.  I was so glad when Stampin' Up! included a Hanukkah stamp in their 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog – and as an A la Carte stamp, so I didn't have to buy a whole set.  Janet's friendship is definitely worth spending the money for a whole set, but it was nice that I could get just one.  Today's card also fits well with the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge theme:  Merry and Happy and Joyous!

     As a quick aside, those of you who may have seen the picture of the stamp in the catalog and are familiar with Hanukkah may have wondered about the accuracy of the symbols on the driedels pictured.  If you thought they were wrong, you were absolutely correct!  But Stampin' Up! corrected the actual stamp; so what you get when you order the stamp will be correct.  I learned this by researching this stamp on the internet while trying to figure out my own design for a greeting card.  The letters are in the correct order to say, "A great miracle happened there."  Thank you fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator Yapha Mason for that.

     Now for the design – if you think that I've gone off the wagon and am no longer using Stampin' Up! Only products in my projects, you'd be wrong!  There are exciting new products coming in Stampin' Up!'s 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog on January 3rd.  One of them is Stampin' Up!'s own line of the new Sizzix Framelits!  I can hardly wait to show them to you come January 3rd.  But for the next couple of weeks, I hope you'll enjoy some of the projects that I'll be making using them.

     Looking back at the Hanukkah Stamp, as I said it's an A la Carte stamp, which means you can purchase it as a single stamp.  The stamp itself has the stars and driedels hanging from the word "Hanukkah" as if they were ornaments.  I decided to leave the strings out of the stamped image also based on comments by Yapha Mason, who seems to know what she's talking about!  I inked the stamp using a Night of Navy Stampin' Write Marker and just didn't ink the strings.  It helped that this was the first time I used this stamp so there was no lingering ink anywhere. 

     For the colored driedels, I first just tried coloring the driedels in with Daffodil Delight Markers but decided they weren't bright enough.  So I restamped just the driedels onto Daffodil Delight Textured Card Stock and added them to the stamped image with Mini Glue Dots.

     The other colors in this card are Whisper White (not a color, I know – but it's there!) and Marina Mist.  Of course, I had to use some Stampin' Up! ribbon to tie the card together – this time some Daffodil Delight 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon.

     I'm almost done with my Christmas cards – just about a half dozen to go, and I'll be sharing them with you as the month goes on!  I hope you're having as much fun with this holiday season as I am!!

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My Favorite Holiday Colors

Aloha, all!

     The Stampin' Up! Only Challenge theme this time around is as the title of this blog post states – I'm supposed to have created a card or other project using my favorite December holiday colors!  Every year I go through this same argument with myself:  Is it Red/Green or Blue/Silver?  If you look around at what I've been making over the past couple of months since the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog was released, you'll see a lot of Red and Green.  So this time around, I decided that, at least for today, my favorite color combo is Blue and Silver!

    And it's not the dark blue that I've used in the past – Stampin' Up!'s Night of Navy.  No, this time around I wanted something a bit brighter, so I decided on Marina Mist.  Actually, in the Stampin' Up! color galaxy, Marina Mist is one of the "Subtle" colors.  But it surely did look bright enough for me to pair with the silver. 

     And I wanted this card to SPARKLE!  So I needed lots of glitter.  The Silver Star was easy because I could just cut that out of Stampin' Up!'s new Silver Glimmer Paper.  No muss, no fuss with that star!  But the Marina Mist star was going to be slightly more work.  I covered a square of Marina Mist Card Stock with VersaMark ink and Heat and Stick Powder and, after the heating part of the routine, sprinkled it liberally with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  I used my heat tool again to set the dazzling diamonds into the heat and stick powder and then ran the square through the Sizzix Big Shot with the Stars #2 Die, as I had with the Silver Star.  There was a bit of the sparkling blue card stock left, so I cut a small star out, too.

     I decided to try to use the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set with the poinsettias and rose, even though I wasn't sure how it would work in blue.  I think it came out lovely!  I actually stamped it twice, once on some Whisper White Card Stock using VersaMark and then Silver Embossing Powder, and once with the Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad, from which I cut out just the flowers.  I then adhered the flowers on top of the silver part of the first image.

     I cut the circle with the Circle Scissors, so I'm not sure what the final measurement is.  I put the stamped image under the Circle Scissors and adjusted the center and diameter of the circle until it was just where I wanted it. 

     To give the white circle a bit of texture, I stamped some snowflakes using the snowflake stamp in the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set, and then sponged the edges.

     No ribbon this time around – but I did add some of the Marina Mist and Silver Glimmer Brads and a few Basic Rhinestones to finish the glittery look off!

     Now I'm seriously into my Christmas crafting.  I hope you're getting into the holiday spirit with your crafting, too – and having fun with it!

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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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Thinking of You

Aloha, all!

     I'm getting a bit of a late start this week!  Here it is almost half way through the day on Tuesday (well, first thing in the morning for me here in Hawai'i) and not a peep out of me!  The reason is that I decided that yesterday was going to be a day off for the most part.  I actually spent a good deal of the day crocheting – after all, this is Robin's CRAFT Room, and "craft" covers a lot of ground.  One of these days I'll finish the custom afghan I'm making and I'll show it off here. 

     But all the while I was doing my needlework, I was thinking of you!  So "Thinking of You" is my theme for the day.  Actually it's also the theme of the week for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenges!

     When I started planning for this card, I decided that I wanted to use some papers that I hadn't used in a long time.  I bought these papers – the Flirtatious Specialty Designer Series Paper – as soon as they were available for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, and I think I've used them twice!  So out they came. 

     If you look in the Stampin' Up! catalog and read about this paper set, you will not find Daffodil Delight named as one of the colors featured in the set.  But Stampin' Up! has issued a catalog correction that confirms that this delightful yellow is, indeed, Daffodil Delight!  So out came the Daffodil Delight Card Stock to feature in this card.  After trying out every other color in the set to find my accent color, I decided on Pumpkin Pie.  For one thing, the Laser-Cut Doilies in this Specialty set of papers are either Pumpkin Pie or Melon Mambo (well, there's Whisper White on the back of both, so that's a third "color"!).  Once I had that set, I found a piece of the Designer Series Paper that I thought would make a nice square card.  But once I cut the 5" square, I couldn't decide which side was "up."  I'm surprised that the printed paper doesn't look worn out with all the turning around and layering in and out with the two colors and the doily.  But now it's done and I'm really happy with the result. 

     There are a couple of other features on this card that I had fun making.  One was drawing some straight lines with Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker on either side of the Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon.  The ribbon looked a bit washed out when I first wrapped it around the central layers, and I think that the lines bring it more into focus.  The other is the small (3/4") circle of Daffodil Delight under the Whisper White Bow.  I tried attaching the bow just to the doily, but it seemed to be fragile – and the Pumpkin Pie Flower Brad didn't stand out all that well.  So out came the 3/4" Circle Punch which adds a nice accent for the card.

     This particular Thinking of You card has already been given to a friend who is facing some medical procedures this week.  A "Thinking of You" card is just perfect for this!

     Here's a sketch for this project, and I'm thinking that this would be a good sketch for some holiday cards!  I may just have to try this (among the dozens of projects I'm promising myself to try this week!).  Whatever you do with it, certainly have fun doing it!

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Sweet Treats!

Aloha, all!

     I'm back from my traveling and over with the cold that I brought home from the U. S. mainland.  So I've actually had some time in the Craft Room the past couple of days!

     While my big project for the weekend was a Create with Connie and Mary project, I also had to get a project done for the biweekly Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Design Team.  This was a very different project than what I'm used to doing.  In fact, I think that most of us on the Design Team were a bit nonplussed about having to make something that we ended up not spending much time on to make it a cute finished project.  Heck, I usually spend at least an hour or two coming up with my card design, then another hour putting it together, making design modifications as I go along.  That's not what happened with this week's project!

     For one thing, making that bag is a piece of cake (or candy, which is what's in it).  All I had to do was pick a piece of Designer Series Paper (Pick Your Poison from the Holiday Mini Catalog), cut it out with the Sizzix Fancy Favor Die, add some ribbon for a handle and it seemed like it was done.  But wait.  I only spent 10 minutes doing that.  How can that be a finished project?!  OK, so I went hunting for the Pick Your Poison Quick Accents, wrapped one of the designer stripes around the top of the bag and added a label to the front.  Done!  But wait.  That was only another 3 minutes.  Hmmm.  OK, make a ribbon fleurette to attach to the base of the handle.  Now that was more like it – it took 15 minutes to do that.  Then I decided that the two packages of chocolate covered macadamia nuts (yes, I live in Hawaii so what else would I put in a treat bag!?) needed some company.  I just happened to have some chocolate flavored Twizzlers on hand and wondered how they'd fit in one of the new 1" cellophane bags.  Turns out they fit fine, though they needed a little coaxing to get that last inch or two into the bag – they're a bit on the sticky side!  I added two self-adhesive die cuts from the Quick Accents pack to the tops, added them to the bag and, finally, I called this project, "Done!" 

     I'm having a card-making class in the craft room this weekend, so I may just have to make one of these for everyone who comes!  It really is that simple to make this little treat bag!

     As you're getting ready for treat season, remember that Stampin' Up! has so many products for us to use to make QUICK AND EASY treat holders.  Just look through your catalog and you'll see dozens and dozens of ideas!  Don't have a catalog?  Just let me know and I'll get one out to you!

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