No, it's not "Easy Money"; it's an "Easy Card"!   Last week I showed off a Mini Accordion Fold Album that I made for our duplicate bridge club to give to one of our members who has a brand new baby.  I mentioned at the time that we were also going to present the group gift from the club members using a card that I made to hold a check.  I've used this quick and simple pattern several times, and it worked wonderfully for this occasion, too!

     These cute little owls are printed on paper from the Nursery Nest suite of Designer Series Papers featured in the latest Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog.

     For both the Belly Band on the outside of the card and the greeting label inside the card, I cut out two of those cute little owls and adhered them to Card Stock.  The card stock colors that I used for this project are Marina Mist and Pear Pizzazz.  The strip of paper at the bottom of the fold in the card is also from the Nursery Nest paper set.  The label on the top of the inside of the card is made with Whisper White Card Stock, cut with the Sizzix Two Tag Die, and a Scallop Circle Punched piece of Marina Mist Card Stock. 

     One feature of this card is one I always try to incorporate into any cards and as many gifts as I can – and that is that this will fit into a Stampin' Up! Envelope that can be mailed.

     In this case, the money card with the Belly Band around it (to keep it closed) fits into the Stampin' Up! Small Open End Envelope. 

     Now for my treat for this blog post – I have a template for this money card!  And it's FREE, with no strings attached (actually no ribbon attached to this project either).  Just click here to download a one-page tutorial for this card.  I used it last year for a Christmas project, but, just as with the Accordion Fold Album, it's great for many occasions!

     Have fun with this project – or with whatever you do this week!

     Last weekend one of my online Stampin' Up! groups – SU! STARS – hosted a Blog Tour, of which Robin's Craft Room was a part.  I showed off a Mini Accordion Fold Album that I'd made for some friends who have a brand new baby.  As a bonus for visiting my blog, I offered anyone who made a comment the opportunity to win an album of their own.  Actually, the comment challenge had a little twist.  I asked that those who commented make suggestions for how such an album could be used. 

     Well, did I ever get the comments!  I was amazed at all the suggestions, and I am posting the list following this blog post so that YOU can get some ideas for using this terrific little quick-and-easy album.  And, of course, I have a tutorial for it right here on my blog!

     The winner of the "Blog Candy" suggested that this would be a good album to use to show off pictures of Stampin' Up! projects to highlight classes that she's offering.  What a fabulous idea!  In fact, not only did I make an album for her, I made one for myself to do the very same thing!

     Making this project gave me the chance to use two of my favorite Stampin' Up! Stamp Sets that I rarely show of here on my blog!  One of them, however, is only available to Stampin' Up! demonstrators who attended the Stampin' Up! convention this year, and that's the set, Workshop Words, which includes the greeting, "I LOVE being your Stampin' Up! demonstrator."  But the other set – Tote-ally Tess – is available for everyone to purchase from the Stampin' Up! Catalog.  Even if you're not a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, if you're reading this blog post, you probably are a stamper, and that stamp set has lots of cute stamps for you to use especially when you're scrapbooking about yourself!  Of course, if you ARE a demonstrator, you probably use it for hostess gifts and customer thank you notes.  I just love the set. 

     Speaking of hostess gifts, the paper that I used for the cover of this album is ONLY available to hostesses or anyone who spends at least $150 on Stampin' Up! products in one order.  It's a whole set of Designer Series Paper called Cheerful Treat, and the colors from it that I featured in this album are Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade.

The Winner of the Blog Candy!

     Oh, and you'd like to know who the winner is!  She is Julie Camell, who has a delightful blog, Camell's Creative Cafe!  Thanks for the comment on my blog, Julie, and good luck with your craft fairs!

The List of Uses for the Album!

     Now here's the list of ideas for using this fun little album:  Christmas; Weddings and Engagement Parties; Senior Birthdays; "Firsts" such as Halloween, Day of School, Sporting Event; Adoption; Day Trips, for example to the Beach or Zoo; Pets; Anniversaries; Memory Books featuring special people; New House; Get Well, featuring pictures of tea, bandages, tissues, etc; Teacher Gift; Stampin' Up! Hostess Gift; and, of course, Stampin' Up! projects!

     Now, with all those ideas, why don't you try one of these albums yourself!  I guarantee you'll have fun with it!

    This weekend, our Duplicate Bridge club is being introduced to the new baby of one of our members.  We're going to welcome Baby Luca with a gift from the club, including this fun pocket-sized Accordion Fold Album to use to show off baby pictures. 

     You've seen me show off this album style on a couple of occasions.  In fact, I was just looking over my introduction to the tutorial for the album and found that my husband had said last Valentine's Day that this was a great gift for just about any occasion.  And it's just perfect as a little baby gift!

     The nice thing about this album is that you can make what I'm showing off here with just one sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" card stock!  Of course, I added some Designer Series Paper and used a bit more card stock for the "photo corners," but it's still a very economical album to make – AND QUICK!

     For today's album, I used Marina Mist Card Stock, and paper from the Designer Series Paper set, Nursery Nest.  This paper set features some primarily blue (Marina Mist), pink (Blushing Bride) and green (Pear Pizzazz) prints, with a sprinkling of Perfect Plum for its colors.  About those photo corners:  As you know (if you use Stampin' Up! products exclusively, as I do) Stampin' Up! retired its Photo Corners punch this past year.  But they just added a 1" Square Punch, which is what I used as the basis for my photo corners.  I punched some Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, and Marina Mist 1" squares, cut them on the diagonal, snipped out a triangle on the diagonal, and voila!  I had photo corners!

     To decorate the front of the album, I tied on some Marina Mist Scallop Dots Ribbon, added some Marina Mist lettering which I cut using my Sizzix Big Shot and the Decorative Strip Die, Naturally Serif.  I added a strip of the ribbon on the back, too, to tie the whole look together.  I punched the little flower in the upper right corner of the front with the Boho Blossoms Punch and added a Pear Pizzazz Glimmer Brad as a fun accent.

     I have a one-page tutorial for this Simple Accordion Fold album right here on my blog!  I hope you'll enjoy using it the next time you need a quick and easy "occasion" gift!  Next week I'll show off the Money Card Holder that we're going to use to present the gift to Luca's mom and dad at next Sunday's bridge game.  I'll have a tutorial for that, too!  Be sure to keep an eye out for it!

     I am SOOO excited finally to be posting my very first project for the Create With Connie and Mary Holiday Edition.  This project, of course, is a preview project, and it's available to EVERYONE, not just subscribers.  We want to show off some of the work of all of the designers for this edition so you can get a taste of what you might expect when you subscribe to this edition and get fabulous ideas from Stampin' Up!'s 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog to use for your own 2011 Holiday craft and gift-giving projects.

Blog Candy!!

     And of course today on my blog, there's Create With Connie and Mary Blog Candy!  That's right – someone who comments on my blog today will receive a FREE SUBSCRIPTION to the Holiday edition.  Connie and Mary will be announcing the winners later this week.

     Now for my preview project.  You have to know that this is not a "normal" Robin's Craft Room project, most of which tend towards greeting cards.  But it will show you a taste of the kinds of projects that you'll find me doing with Create With Connie and Mary Holiday Edition!

     When I first saw the Holiday Mini Stamp Set, Gift Givers, I thought, "How cool is it that a whole stamp set goes with Stampin' Up!'s punches!"  But then I started looking at the images a little bit more closely and wondered how I could use them without the punches.  It just so happened that I had recently decided that I needed to make some fresh inserts for my Simply Adorned 1-1/2" x 2" Charm, and the light bulb flashed!  With one stamp set I could make myself inserts that would take me from now until Easter!  I did "cheat" a little bit and added an image from the Stamp Set, Pines and Poinsettias, to make an even 8 inserts.  But the rest of these little guys and gals are all Gift Givers.

     And what you have with this project for Create With Connie and Mary Holiday Edition is a set of instructions for making a box to hold everything you'll need for your Simply Adorned Charm – and it's a perfect box for giving this great set as a gift!

FREE Tutorial!

     Are you ready for the Tutorial and Template?  Then all you have to do is hop on over to the Create With Connie and Mary blog and download your FREE TUTORIAL AND TEMPLATE!  While you're there, check out all the other preview projects that the rest of the design team members have for you.  Create With Connie and Mary Holiday Edition is truly going to be one of the best subscription programs out there this holiday season!

Supplies

Simply Adorned:  1-1/2" x 2" Charm; Black Crystal, Clear Crystal, Pink Crystal and Vanilla Pearl Simply Adorned Baubles; Simply Adorned 24" Chain

For the Basic Box: 
Card Stock: Lucky Limeade textured (this is in the Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin' Kit)
Accessories:  Bone Folder; Sticky Strip

For decorating the Box Top
Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Tiny Tags
Inks: Cherry Cobbler
Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade
Card Stock: Early Espresso, Soft Suede and Lucky Limeade (textured card stock) and Designer Series Paper – all from the Simply Scrappin' Kit)
Accessories: Jewelry Tag, Extra-Large Tag, and Large Tag Punches; Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon; Sticky Sheet, Crystal Effects, SNAIL Adhesive and Mini Glue Dots; Cherry/White Baker's Twine; needle with a large eye for Baker's Twine (non-Stampin' Up!)

For the Simply Adorned Inserts (One part of the tutorial lists what I used for each of the inserts)
Stamps: Gift Givers, Pines and Poinsettias
Inks: Basic Black
Markers:  Your choice for coloring in the images
Card Stock: Scraps to coordinate with the colors you choose
Accessories: SNAIL Adhesive; Stampin' Dimensionals; Basic Pearls; Basic Rhinestones; Signo White Gel Pen; Dazzling Diamonds/Heat & Stick Powder

     It's Tuesday morning here in Hawaii (already afternoon on the east coast!) and it's time for another biweekly edition of the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge blog!  Today's challenge is to make something with my favorite new stamp set.  Oh my, how do I choose?  I have over a dozen from which to make that choice, and believe me I wouldn't have bought any of them if I didn't just have to have them!  But I'm a member of the SU-Only Challenge Design Team, so I had to choose.

     Actually, I cheated.  There's not just one, but TWO new stamp sets featured in today's card:  Raining Flowers and Petite Pairs.  On top of that, there's a new color – Wisteria Wonder – and some new ribbon – 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon.

     Those of you who've been following my blog over the past few years know that Two-Step Stamping ismy favorite stamping technique.  Raining Flowers is just the latest of Stampin' Up!'s great two-step stamping sets, and it already has almost a permanent spot out on my craft table. 

     Two-Step Stamping works this way – for each image, there are two stamps.  One stamp is the outline of the image and the other is the filler or colored-in part of the image.  There are no rules about how to play with these two stamps, and you can use them effectively no matter how closely you align the two stamps.  In this card you'll notice that the flower on the right has the images almost perfectly aligned, so the image is completely colored in.  But the leaves off to the left have the outline offset from the filler stamp.  If I were a child, you'd say I colored outside the lines.  But what's wrong with that?  This is art, not real life!  It's not like I stamped one part at the top of the card and the other on the bottom!  (Hmmm, might have to try that some day.)  I just like the overall effect of the two-step no matter how perfectly it's done.

     There are a few other techniques in this card (can you believe "Ms. Measure-the-pieces-and-layer-them-up" has used the word technique more than once in a blog post???)  I added some texture to the two round flowers by stamping the larger stamp several times and cutting sections out of two of them, sponging around the cut part, and then adhering it to the middle of a larger flower with glue dots. I also added some visual interest to the layering by cutting the rectangle inside of my stamped image allowing the flower on the right and the leaf in the upper left corner to hang over the edge.  This is why I'll never give up my Fiskars Paper Cutter.  This is not something you can do with the Table Top Cutter.

     Quick tutorial:

1. Lay the edge that has the image you want to leave hanging over the edge over the cutting line on the Paper Cutter. 
2. While holding the paper/card stock firmly, fold the clear ruler down over it. 
3. Note the point on the ruler where you want the cutting blade to stop so you don't cut through the image.  If it's not exactly on a measurement line, you may want to adjust the placement of your paper so that it is.
4. Start cutting from the top of the paper, stopping when the arrow in the middle of the cutting blade reaches the mark you've chosen.  In this case, I wanted the cut to stop at the 3" mark.
5. Then note the ruler mark where you want to start cutting again.  Lift the clear ruler and slide the blade down until the arrow on the blade points to that mark. 
6. Lay the ruler down and continue cutting to the end of the paper.

7.  Once you've finished with the paper cutter, trim the part of the flower that's outside your cut.

As a final note, look at the stamped image that I used for this tutorial.  It's just ONE stamp that's part of this set.  Notice how it's been designed with the filler offset a bit from the outline.

     I'm finally back to having some fun in my craft room.  Lots of work still to do to catch up with what I didn't get done during my July travels.  BUT I'm now using card-making as an excuse to procrastinate.  Gotta love having fun!  I hope you'll have fun with some paper crafting today, too!

     I've been spending some time this Spring and Summer re-teaching myself some paper crafting techniques that I used to use years ago.  I haven't used them in a long time probably because there are so many other new and exciting techniques to try out!  But, to keep the older techniques going, one must practice with them to keep them fresh! 

     Today I'm going to share a recent project using the "Lattice Fold" technique.  In the case of this particular technique, to really make it fresh I decided that I no longer wished to use the original way I learned it, which was to use a paper pattern.  So I made this design just using some measurements easily made with a ruler! 

     The Lattice Fold design on the left side of this card shows off both sides of Stampin' Up!'s double-sided Designer Series Paper designs very nicely, and I particularly like the way the design from the paper used for the main element of the card is carried over into the lattice.  The whole card seems especially fresh because it uses so many new Stampin' Up! products: the papers ("Just Add Cake" Designer Series Paper from the 2011-2012 Catalog), stamp set ("Touch of Kindness" from the 2011 Summer Mini Catalog), and ribbon ("So Saffron" is a new color for the 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon used on this card) all combine to make this a really fun card!

     As I've mentioned in earlier posts, as this is being posted on my blog, I'm in Salt Lake City.  The Stampin' Up! annual Convention ended yesterday, for me with the chance to demonstrate this very lattice fold technique to a group called Late Night Stampers, who hosted a post-convention get together.  What fun that was – and so many people still in Salt Lake after the closing ceremonies! 

     To prepare for the demonstration, I wrote a tutorial for the group to put in a CD that featured all the presentations.  For now the tutorial is not in the format that I usually use for my tutorials; the group asked for a particular layout so that all the designs would be presented in the same way.  So there are two pages to this particular tutorial instead of the one I usually prepare. And it's available to you right here and now if you'd like to try this technique for yourself!

     Here's the sketch for the entire card.  That lattice fold design fits very nicely into the area at the left. Just slip the 3/8 uncut section on the right of the lattice folded paper and affix with adhesive or brads.  I hope you have fun trying this technique out!

     Ah, the first of June and all the Stampin' Up! world is abuzz with everything that's going to be retiring come the first of July.  But we still have a month to go with all the gorgeous papers that are in the current Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog!  So, along with some sneak peeks at what you'll be seeing in the new catalog, I'm going to be spending quite a bit of June time showing off the papers that I've really liked this past year.

     The pattern that I've used in this card – a Tulip Quilt Block – is formed mostly using papers from the Designer Series Paper Set, Blueberry Crisp.  As with the other "quilt" square projects that I've shown off here, the basic block is a 3/4" square.  Tough to use with fabric, but a lot easier to use with paper!  I hope you've noticed that I don't use card stock with these patterns.  There are several reasons for this.  The two primary reasons are (1) that Designer Series Paper seems to look more like fabric, as in the kind of fabric used for fabric quilt blocks; and (2) it's so much easier to work with if the square manages to be just a bit too large.  I find it easy either to trim just a skosh off one edge or corner and/or to allow the edges of two pieces of paper overlap.  If you trim card stock you can really see any variations in the straight line you're trying to cut.  And, if you overlap card stock, you really get a bump in your card.  So Designer Series Paper it is for me!

     As in the other projects that I've completed, I highlighted the cut edges of each piece by tracing along them using a straight edge (a ruler works if it's pretty straight) and a Basic Black Journaler marker.  For this particular project, I carried that black forward (or backward?) a bit, and used a square of Basic Black Card Stock as a mat, along with a layer of Pear Pizzazz (to pick up the green in the "leaves" made with Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper) and Pacific Point (to pick up the little Pacific Point swirls in some of the tulip's squares.  It's all layered up on a 5-1/4" card made of Sahara Sand Card Stock.

    Just below I'm including two sketches. The first sketch is for the quilt block, including measurements.  The second is for the card – there are enough layers that you might want to know what to cut without having to do all that much work (doing the work is the job of a demonstrator so YOU can have fun with this!)  I've also prepared a tutorial sheet to give you the measurements for the various pieces you'll have to cut.

     And I hope you DO have fun with this!  I certainly have had fun making and showing it off.

     Last week I published a video tutorial demonstrating how to make my Mini Flip Fold Album.  (The video is on my Facebook page.  Just click here and you'll see it in my February 25, 2011, post.)  Those of you who have had a chance to view it may have noticed that I started out using lots of adhesive as I would with a "real" project.  Then I realized  that this was just a demo album which I had printed with the letters A, B, C and D to show you how I was putting the album together.  So it was a demo project; no need for all that adhesive!

     This afternoon I proved myself wrong in the latter thought.  I was cleaning up my table to make another video and was about to toss the sample project.  But wait – that was a piece of Confetti Cream Card Stock I'd used to make that sample!  And, yes, it had stuff printed on it.  But I could cover up the printing with some Designer Papers!  And so I did, and here is the final project.  The stamps on the cover element are from the Level 2 Hostess Stamp Set Apple Blossoms.  Love this layout – I used it in the first batch of thank you notes to those who bought my Card Layout eBook.

     But I digress.  On the inside, I didn't need to add any papers to the small flaps (that I like to use for journaling) because the paper is a nice light color.  But I did add a stamp from the Stamp Set, Artistic Etchings, to decorate the flaps a bit.  And I decorated the remaining pages of the album with some more of the Jolly Holiday Designer Series Papers – the paper is nice and thick and hides those printed letters beautifully!

     Those of you who might have paid really close attention to my video may have noticed that the last few "scenes" showed the pieces of card stock with the circled letters, but without the dashed lines that I had originally shown as the locations for scoring.  The story behind that is that I put the first set of papers together – adhesives and all – without remembering to turn on the camera.  Stupid, stupid.  Those pages I DID throw away.  They weren't going anywhere but in the trash, especially as I crushed them when I realized I done all that demo for nothing!  And it was a better job, too!  OK, take a deep breath, Robin.

     So – no dashed lines here that I had to cover up.  And I have yet another lovely album to give away as a gift!  Just need to add some photos.

     I hope you had a great weekend with lots of crafting time!  I'm about to get very busy with all the challenge projects that I have to get done before I leave on a trip next week.  But I'm going to have fun with them all – as I hope you do with all of YOUR craft projects!

     And Happy Birthday to my good friend, Marcie, whose birthday is today!  And for Marcie, I have a very special card.  It's called a "Never-Ending" or "Endless" card (different people call it by different names).  I also gave one of these cards to my sister-in-law, Deb, for her birthday earlier in the month.  But at that time I didn't have a tutorial to share with you.  Now not only do I have a tutorial, but I have a video.  It's been awhile since I've recorded a video, but I had so much fun doing this one that I may start doing them again regularly.

     What happens with a Never-Ending card is that you can fold and unfold it and you will always have a beautifully stamped and decorated page to see.  There is no back or "end" to this card!

     Some instructions are required, though.  And it took me quite awhile to get them straight.  For those of you who like to print and read instructions, there is a one-page tutorial now in Robin's Craft Room library.  But I highly recommend the video, too.  I did manage to have an incorrect reference to the location of the tutorial as I made the video – the location is RobinsCraftRoom.com/techniques NOT /tutorials.  Oh, well – I've never pretended to be perfect – just creative, and I was certainly creative in that reference!

     Here is the card that I made for Marcie.  One thing that this card shows is that you can do some nice embellishment with this card, though not much heavy embellishment because the card is always folded up.  So those gorgeous new flowers in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog would NOT work!

     The other views of this card, as you fold and unfold it, are in the Tutorial's introduction page here.  The entire card is decorated with Stampin' Up!'s Specialty Designer Paper Set, Sweet and Sour.  This is the same paper as I used in yesterday's Blog Post for the Diva Coffee Break Design Team challenge for the week.  I'm not sure why I haven't had it out much – could be there was too much Christmas and Valentine's Day stuff going on.  No longer for sure! 

     All of the large flowers are die cut with the brand new (in the 2011 Occasions Mini Catalog) Stampin' Up! Exclusive Sizzix Bigz Die, Fun Flowers.  I punched the smaller flowers in the centers with the Boho Blossoms Punch.  The cover greeting is from the brand new (in the 2011 Occasions Mini Catalog) Stamp Set, Bring on the Cake.   This layer is also embellished with some Rose Red Seam Binding, with the ends tucked under the large flowers.  The other layer is embellished with Pumpkin Pie 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon.

     And here's the video!  I hope you enjoy it and that you have a fun time making your OWN Never-Ending cards!

     Those of you who are on my newsletter mailing list or who attended my Valentine class last week have already seen this card.  But, for those of you who haven't, this card is made using what some call (and I prefer to call) inlaid embossing.  The "inlaid" part really is NOT inlaid.  Those hearts in this photo just look like they're inlaid because of the way that the card front is embossed.

     What I've actually done here is just to adhere some punched hearts to the top layer (a piece of Real Red Cardstock) and then just run the entire layer through the Sizzix Big Shot with one of Stampin' Up!'s embossing folders, in this case the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  Here is a summary of the process for this project, though I have prepared a one-page tutorial with more photographs.

1. Punch some hearts of varying sizes with a variety of Designer Series Papers.  For this project, I used some Pretty in Pink and Real Red Patterns Papers and the Heart to Heart and Full Heart Punches.
2. Arrange the hearts on the Real Red Layer (which for this card is 5" wide x 3-3/4" high.  Be sure to have some hanging over the edges to give the whole picture a bit of an artistic look to it.
3. Once you have the hearts laid out as you'd like them, adhere them to the Real Red layer with the adhesive of your choice.  For this project, I chose to use Stampin' Up!'s Anywhere Glue Stick, because I could apply the adhesive up to all the edges and points.  However, my class participants used SNAIL adhesive, and their projects turned out just fine. 
4. Once your adhesive has dried, use your paper trimmer to even up the edges of this layer by trimming off the pieces of the overlapping hearts.
5. Place the card front into the Embossing Folder of your choice.  One of my class participants used the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, and that was very lovely.
6. Layer up your card and trim with embellishments of your choice.  For this card, I tied a piece of Pretty in Pink 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon around the embossed layer that had been adhered to a 5-1/4" x 4" Pretty in Pink Cardstock layer, before adhering the whole element to a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card made with Real Red Cardstock.

A quick note:  Steps 4 and 5 can easily be reversed.

     Here is a close up of one of those embossed hearts and the bow that I made using fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Mary Brown's, tutorial, all held in place with a Stampin' Up! Antique Brad.

     And here's a shot of the ladies in my class concentrating really, really hard on getting those hearts laid out the way they wanted them!

     Overall, this is a really simple technique that looks oh so pretty.  Think about using other punches or images cut with Sizzix or Sizzlit dies.  Flowers, butterflies – even just circles and squares!  All it takes is your own taste to make a card that is uniquely yours!

     Whatever you decide to use on YOUR card, have fun with it!