RobinsCraftRoom.com

A Touch of Vintage!

Aloha, all!

     Most of you know that "vintage" is not really my strength when it comes to greeting cards.  Scrapbook pages, maybe.  But my brain has trouble wrapping itself around taking beautiful papers and making them look old.  So when Stampin' Up! comes up with some papers that are basically vintage in their style, I can do a bit better with coming up with a more vintage look than I'm used to!

     The brand new Designer Series Paper set, Attic Boutique, is one of those sets.  I have to tell you that my first – yes, even my second – Occasions Mini Catalog order did NOT include this set.  I kind of danced around it until I had no choice but to spring for a set of the papers.  The "no choice" part was that this week at Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition was the week for the vintage designs.  That's how they work their subscription programs – every week we designers have a theme with which to work, and Connie and Mary suggest the stamp sets and embellishments we should use.  I loved the project I made for them this week, and I kept the Attic Boutique paper out for this week's sketch challenge, too.  I even used the same stamp set that I used for my Occasions Edition project – Tea Shoppe! 

     That large tea cup on the card is the largest stamp in the Tea Shoppe Set, and I've only used it once before, and that was with a darker color than I used in today's card.  For today, I inked up the stamp with Daffodil Delight, and then used a Blender Pen to wipe the Daffodil Delight ink off the flowers.  Then I used my Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker to color in the flowers on the tea cup, adding in a bit of Soft Suede to accent the flower stems. 

     And I sponged the heck out of everything in the card – every edge got some Soft Suede ink sponged on it!  I may just have to buy more sponges if I'm going to do too much more of this!

     So, yes, I can have fun with the vintage look – and I hope that you can, too.  If you haven't tried it, just pick up some plain card stock and start stamping and sponging on it.  I'll bet you'll have fun with it and may even learn a look you haven't tried before (like I did!)

———-

     And now for one last pitch for the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition!  The Occasions Mini Catalog still has more than two months to go!  So, even though the Occasions Edition is now officially completed, it's definitely not over!  The projects that we've all designed for this edition are the best ever, and I know you'll love getting the 36 tutorials that are all completed and online – just waiting for you to subscribe!  And even when the Occasions Mini Catalog is finished, the projects are still going to be totally useful because you can use all kinds of stamp sets and papers and fabrics and embellishments for ALL of them!  So, as we get ready for Easter, just hop like a bunny over to Create with Connie and Mary and subscribe today!  It really is worth every single penny!

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Fun with a Color Challenge!

Aloha, all!

     Oh, no!  Another color challenge!  Create with Connie and Mary has another color challenge for those of us participating as designers in their Occasions Edition.  You have to know that color challenges in which I am required to participate are my worst fear.  It's like the feat that I had as a kid, worried about coming home with an "F" on my report card!

     And that's what it's felt like all week as I've tried to work the colors Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, and Soft Suede into this week's "Summertime" theme at the Occasions Edition.  I almost had it all pulled together with some ice cream cones on the top of this card – envisioning the lacy bottom as a table cloth.  But at 10 one night I said, "The heck with it," and left it until the next morning.  Then when I got up the next morning and eased myself over to my craft table with cup of coffee in hand, I realized that I had my design all done – because there sitting right next to it was the stamp set, Loving Thoughts, and I could instantly see Wonderful You stamped in Soft Suede as a simple greeting on this card with the paper from the Designer Series Paper Set, Sweet Shop, in the background.

     I whipped out the Wisteria Wonder ribbon and brads and a few more mats and, Voila!  My challenge card was done!  Whew!  The best part was that my husband walked past my desk as I was finishing up the card and said, "Wow – those colors look great together!"  No "F" on this report card!!!

     The most fun I had with this card was with the scallops.  The stamp is from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog set, Bordering on Romance, which was cut with the Sizzix Edgelits Die, Adorning Accents.  There is a Textured Impressions Embossing Folder that goes with this Edgelit die, also.  But, when I tried to add that it to this design, it just seemed to be too cluttered.  I'll try to get that out and play with it a bit later in the month and show it off a bit, too.

     Meanwhile – don't forget that the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition is still available!  The Occasions Mini Catalog will be active for over 2 more months – until the end of April!  There's plenty of time to use the wonderful designs from this subscription using the Occasions Mini products – and even more time to use with with all other kinds of Stampin' Up! products.  For all of the 6 weeks of the program, there are 6 fabulous projects with fully illustrated tutorials to go along with them!  That's 36 great projects in all.  And these aren't just greeting card layouts.  Oh, no!  These are a fantastic variety of 3-D projects and gifts using all of the products in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I'm just amazed at the creativity of all of the designers.  Even if you start today, you'll still get access to the entire subscription blog, and you'll continue to have access to all the projects for a full year!  I highly recommend it as a great resource for your spring and summer projects!

     I hope you're having a great weekend – as am I as I'm getting ready to post my final project for the Occasions Edition!

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Starting to Feel Alive Again!

Aloha, all!

     Have you noticed a distinct lack of activity around Robin's Craft Room this week?  So has my dog, who has been able to lie anywhere he likes in there without my tripping over him several times an hour.  Yes, I was slammed to the ground by a nasty virus, and I'm wondering if it's ever going to give up!

     There was a little bit of a break yesterday when I pulled out a few Stampin' Up! tools to make my weekly challenge card for Create With Connie and Mary.  The break was that I looked at a piece of chocolate and actually considered eating it! 

************************************************************

A Really Quick Commercial Break!

I've only been involved in three sessions of Create With Connie and Mary – and I have to tell you that

this is the BEST ONE EVER!

I certainly hope you'll visit Create With Connie and Mary and subscribe – and it's not too late!  Every project in the whole 6-week series AND the preview week is available to subscribers for a FULL YEAR!  I can't think of any one of the projects that could only be made with the current mini catalog's products, and you will just love so many of them for classes, stamp camps, or just for your own fabulous gifts!  And they all come with fully-detailed tutorials!

************************************************************

     The pieces of chocolate in question are this year's Valentine M&Ms, which are cherry flavored – and actually Cherry Cobbler and Riding Hood Red in color!  How perfect is that for a Stampin' Up! Card.  Well, as you can see, I never did get up the strength to pull out the Cherry Cobbler for this project.  But there's plenty of Riding Hood Red, along with some Blushing Bride and Whisper White.

     Of course any treat card I made this season just HAD to be made with the Hearts Framelits featured in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog.   And then there was also that oh-so-pretty Paper Doily Large Sizzlit Die and the darling stamps from P.S. I Love You.  A true Occasions Mini Treat Holder!

     To make this, I first cut the doily and got all of the little pieces out of it.  How, you might ask, did I manage that whilst not feeling well!  Easy to sit with a pin and some paper snips to get the last bit of the pieces out when you don't have the energy to get up and do something else!  Then I cut the Doily and a piece of Whisper White Card Stock using the 2nd to the largest Heart Framelit, and then the some Blushing Bride card stock using the largest of the Heart Framelits.

     I mounted the white heart on the pink one, and then set about fitting a 3" x 5" Cellophane Bag with not too many M&Ms in it behind the Doily Heart.  I attached the heart to the bag using Mini Glue Dots, and also use the Mini Glue Dots to hold the corners of the bag back behind it to fit the heart shape.  Before I attached the heart covered bag of candy, I cut a long piece of Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, knotted it at the top to form a loop for hanging and then made a bow at the bottom.  I added the greeting, and then used Sticky Strip to attach the candy to the background heart.

     Now it's ready to give to a good friend on Valentine's Day!  I'm hoping that I'm going to be well enough to go out and take some Valentine greetings to neighbors on Tuesday.  For now, I'm going to take a rest!  You'd think I'd been logging instead of Blogging!

     I hope you'll have a great weekend – and send some good thoughts my way!

Subscribe to the comments for this post

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!

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Happy Birthday, Morgan!

Aloha, all!

     Not only is this my card for the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition Challenge, it's a birthday card for my granddaughter, Morgan, who will turn 9 tomorrow!  She is such the little lady now, and I just know that she'll love all the fun stuff from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Sale-a-bration Catalog!  I can remember being so excited when the Build-a-Bear Workshop images came out and I was excited to be using those.  Somehow I figured that they would be good for her for years.  Not so!  She's into the feminine, now!

     And are these colors not just perfect for that "Celebrate" greeting?!  The stamp set is called Outlined Occasions, and I just love outlined stamps so that I can color them in.  Can you tell that I'm really a 9-year old at heart myself?  Give me markers, and I'll use them just like I used my crayons back in grammar school (oh, can you tell my real age?  It's "elementary" school these days, isn't it?).  I'm even critical of myself when I color outside the lines!  Oh, for heaven's sake, I can't just let go of Mrs. Matson's pointing out when I did that in 3rd grade! 

     But enough of the reminiscences.  The colors in the Sale-a-brations products this year are just fabulous!  And the Create with Connie and Mary challenge picked up my favorites among them for this color challenge:  Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Peach Parfait and Calypso Coral. The Limeade and Coral Colors are featured in the ribbons – they're 1/8" wide Organdy Ribbon, and they tie like a dream.  And they're oh so frilly, perfect for this card for a little girl! 

     Now my little "secret" about this card.  It's been put together and pulled apart again. (Boy, have I learned to do that well!)  I originally had the layers with the greetings down a little bit on the card.  But when I stood back and looked at it, I realized that the Poppy Parade brad (also from the Sale-a-bration Catalog) would look oh so much better if I placed it as if it were the center of the flower.  So I broke out the bone folder and pried that layer off (it was adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals, so not much to pry off) and moved it up a skosh. Much better.

     Kind of like coloring outside the lines – gotta have those layers lined up just right.  I have GOT to get a life!  

     Speaking of getting a life – I have been ooohing and aaahing over all the projects at the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition, and I have just got to make the time go DO something with them!  They are truly fabulous, from simple to complex and with so many styles.  It's not to late for you, too, to register!  We're only just finishing Week 2 and you'll have access to everything since the beginning – and all the rest of the next 4 weeks of projects – for a full year!  Plenty of time to have fun with all those projects yourself!

     But no matter what you do this week, have fun with it – and don't worry about coloring outside the lines.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Bringing Back Memories

Aloha, all!

     Do you ever start a crafting project and find that making it takes you back to something in your childhood?  That's what happened to me with this card, and I thought I'd quickly take you through a few of those memories.

     A good part of my childhood was spent at the home of my aunt who was also my Godmother.  Aunt Agnes collected many things, and among them were her teacups.  So I was immediately drawn to this stamp of an elegant teacup, though most of her teacups were white or cream with flowers painted on them.  At some point, I think I'll try to stamp this cup with a lighter color embossed on a base of a darker color.  But by the time I had this idea, I was way too far into this project and I really wanted to finish it.

     A beautiful part of my aunt's household was an amazing collection of African Violets – of every color imaginable; but my favorite were the pale violet flowers that seemed to be (and probably were) so fragile that a touch would turn them into dust.  I could almost see right through them!  The little African Violets that adorn this teacup reminded me of those flowers, and that's why I decided to stamp the cup again in a lighter color and cut out the flowers to adorn this one.

     And then there were the doilies!  Doilies were EVERYWHERE around her house – on the tables, on the chairs, on the piano, on the bookcases.  While the teacups and African Violets from her home are long since gone, I still have a few of her doilies – much more delicate than this doily made of paper, but this doily nonetheless reminded me of them.

     When it came time to pick the sentiment for this card, how could I not choose, "A Cup of Thanks."  Thanks to Aunt Agnes who meant so much to me – and for the wonderful memories she made for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Back to the here and now and a quick reminder that much of what is on this card is from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog.  And another reminder that there are going to be dozens of fabulous projects using these products – and many, many more! – in the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition, which is now in preview.  I hope you'll take the time to visit the Create With Connie and Mary blog to learn more about preview week, their early bird pricing AND the blog candy that will be available throughout the week – in various places around the blogosphere,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An addendum.  I just heard from my sister-in-law and downline, Deb, who said that she has some of Aunt Agnes' teacups and that my niece, Margie, will have them one day.  Margie is my goddaughter, so it's wonderful that these will be passed from generation to generation – as will the memories of Aunt Agnes.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

The Start of a Busy Week!

Aloha, all!

     Well, this is the week I've been working towards since before Christmas – the week when I have to have my first Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition projects done AND my sister-in-law and her husband are coming for a 10-day visit.  Can you imagine all the different directions my mind will be traveling this week?!

     For today, the direction is towards the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog and all the scraps of paper that have been flying all over the place as I've been trying to finish projects and challenge cards!  Among the flying papers are the insides of a bunch of windows I've been making with the Sizzix Hearts Framelits (in the Occasions Mini Catalog, of course).  You'll see the fab card I made with those right here on Wednesday.  But today I'm featuring the "leftovers."

     This card has four of the hearts left over from making windows – all of them from the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper – which is my favorite paper set from the Occasions Mini.  The sentiment is one of the 11 in the Occasions Mini Stamp Set, Loving Thoughts, and it's stamped on the banner from another Occasions Mini Stamp Set, Take it to Heart. 

     The final touch to go with all those hearts is one of the Trinket Hearts from the mini.  I bought them to use with my Simply Adorned Jewelry, but decided this one would be perfect for this card.  I hope you think so, too!

     And speaking of the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition, today is the start of Preview Week!  There will be projects all week on the Create With Connie and Mary Blog and they're available to EVERYONE!  The whole idea is to show you just how wonderful this Occasions Edition will be so that you'll sign up – with the Early Bird Discount!  Besides that great offer, every day this week someone with the Create team will be offering Blog Candy – a free subscription to the Occasions Edition.  So hop on over to the Create With Connie and Mary Blog to see who's offering the Blog Candy today and get in on the action!

Subscribe to the comments for this post

A Sketch Saved the Day!

Aloha, all!

     I'm hostessing my last Christmas Card making class today and last night realized that I definitely needed a card for a younger person.  So I pulled out Forest Festivities, with the cute little animals, and was stopped dead in my tracks.  It was late and I couldn't figure out what to do with it! 

     Create With Connie and Mary to the rescue!!  I was going to go to my own Card Layout Sketchbook, but then I remembered that Create With Connie and Mary is giving away FREE Occasions Edition subscriptions to one person who enters their sketch challenge each week this month.  Now, I don't count for this as I already have an "in" for the Occasions Edition.  But YOU might want to try this sketch out!

     And here's the card I made using the sketch.  I managed to change the shapes around a bit, but it still accomplished what I wanted!

     Besides the sketch, I didn't want to recreate the wheel on the coloring of the picture (who has time for that when you're getting ready for a class??!!).  So I went to Split Coast Stampers and found this picture colored by Marilyn SanClemente. I tweaked it a bit, but this is what I wanted it to look like.  The colors are Real Red, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron and Blush Blossom.  Marilyn used watercolor pencils, but I used Blender Pens and Classic Ink Pads – except for the Blush Blossom, where I used the Stampin' Write Marker, the only way you can get that color these days.  The greeting is from the same stamp set.

     The Snowflake is from the Winter Wishes Stitched Felt set that's in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog (as is the Forest Festivities Stamp Set).  I decided to add a So Saffron Button from the Subtles Collection to pick up the color from the stamped image.  I glued both the felt and the button on with Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue.  It takes awhile for it to dry; but once it dries, it's on there!

     Thanks to Create With Connie and Mary and Marilyn SanClemente for saving the day for me!  And don't forget to go over to Create With Connie and Mary and enter your card in their challenge!  You could win a subscription to their fabulous 6-week, project-every-day, Occasions Edition!

Subscribe to the comments for this post