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My Sizzix Big Shot Has a Home!

Aloha, all!

My Sizzix Big Shot finally has permanent home all its own.  It’s been in temporary quarters on this table or that since it arrived on my doorstep right after Convention 2008.  So now every time I work on a card or scrapbook project, I don’t have to think about whether it’s worth it to drag it out from where ever I happened to stash it last.  It’s always at home on a sturdy shelf in my closet, with plenty of room for even the XL dies to go through it with ease.

And they have been going through the Big Shot often!  My current favorite die is the Box #2 die, which I’ve shown off here before.  This being March, though, I’ve been anxious to try out something that looks like a treat box for a St. Patrick’s Day party.  Now you know as well as I that there just aren’t the cute M&Ms and Hershey Kisses in St. Patty’s Day green as there are wonderful reds and pinks for Valentine’s Day and pretty pastels for Easter.  March 17th is just another in-between holiday (and it’s not really even that!).  But M&Ms do come in their "Premium" variety in a green mint.  Oh, those are SOOO delicious.  Unfortunately, the Box #2 die makes such a good, large, box that it holds more than 1/2 a pack of those tasty treats! 

Well, I guess I’m going to have to try out the little Pillow Box die and see how many that will hold.  Hopefully not as much so that I can make lots of treat boxes instead of just a few.

I made the box on the left using standard transparency plastic that you can buy at any office supply store.  But Stampin’ Up! is going to start selling its transparent Window Sheets again, beginning April 1st with the Occasions Mini Catalog.  It will come in both 7 mil and 20 mil thicknesses.  I’ve ordered up a preview of both and will report back here when I get them so you’ll know what to buy for your OWN Sizzix projects.

For the box on the right, I used one of the Stampin’ Up! Background I Sizzix Terturz plates to texturize the Certainly Celery Card stock before I put it through the Sizzix again to cut the Box #2 die.  Both boxes are tied with the Certainly Celery Poly twill ribbon featured in his month’s Sale-A-Bration catalog, and I got them FREE for ordering $50 worth of Stampin’ Up! projects.  You can, too, by just placing your OWN order of $50!  As always, you can order online 24/7, or call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me and I can place your order for you.

The Shamrocks on both boxes were made using Garden Green Card stock and one of the hearts from the Heart to Heart Punch.  To make the smaller of the two, I just placed a Mini Glue Dot in the center of the tag and attached the point of each of the three hearts and one end of the stem to the dot.

If you already have a Sizzix Big Shot, the Box #2 die is really a winner and I’d suggest that this be one of your next purchases!

Happy Stamping!

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Parisian Breeze in a Box!

Aloha, all from your card stock, paper and ribbon junkie (I’ve officially designated myself that as I can’t move around the craft room for all of the ribbon and paper all ove

My craft room is overflowing with little boxes I’ve made with the Sizzix Box #2 die.  I am just so fascinated with the idea that I can make a box without a pencil or computer to draw it and a pair of scissors to cut it out!  It’s a good thing that I’m a card stock and paper junkie, because otherwise I might run out of paper fairly quickly.

So, here is my latest take on the box, using some brand new Designer Series Specialty Paper, Parisian Breeze.  I just love the colors in this paper–Baja Breeze (I have all kinds of turquoise-y colors in my craft collection), Chocolate Chip and Kraft.  The Kraft is sort of an accent color; but it is just the right accent for the Baja Breeze/Chcolate Chip combo.

But as much as I like the colors, I just LOVE the texture!  And this designer paper is also card-stock weight, and make a great 3-D project such as a box. 

I made this as a gift for a member of my stamp club.  Marcie and I share the same birthday, and you just gotta love someone who has the same birthday as you!  The flower comes from the stamp set, Eastern Blooms, and the birthday greeting comes from the Crazy for Cupcakes set.  Even though the color in the paper is Chocolate Chip, I liked the look of Close to Cocoa with this design.  The band around the base of the box is Close to Cocoa and is the stamping on both the Baja Breeze and the Whisper White card stock. 

Marcie has recently purchased two of the Stampin’ Up! Classy Brass Templates, along with the Empressor Stylus to do some dry embossing.  So I’m showing off some of what she can do with her dry embossing materials by using the Floral Frenzy template, which coordinates with all of the designs in the Eastern Blooms stamp set.  The textured dots on the Whisper White card stock are from the dry embossing, as is the outline of the flower itself.  And, of course, the Scallop Circle Punch sets everything off nicely.  (Oooh, do I have a sneak peak for you–there’s going to be an Scallop Oval punch in Stampin’ Up!’s future–come back next week and I’ll tell you more!)

The finishing touch is (what else!) ribbon!  This is the striped 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in the Baja Breeze Color.

Happy Birthday, Marcie (well, just a couple of days late!)

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“Wild Mind” Stamping!

Aloha, all!

OK, it’s not all stamping.  But believe me it’s all of the "Wild Mind" variety.  I’ll not take up much of my crafting space to explain.  Here is a quote from notes about Natalie Goldberg’s book, "Wild Mind." 

"Here is compassionate, practical, and often humorous advice about how to find time to write, how to discover your personal style, how to make sentences come alive, and how to overcome procrastination and writer’s block–including more than thirty provocative "Try This" exercises to get your pen moving."

At this point, I’m not so into "writing" as I am into "style."  I spend a lot of time looking at how other people use the Stampin’ Up! products that I represent, and I base a lot of what I do on that.  So "my" style has been more the style of others.  Understand that I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  I am crazy about the style that Stampin’ Up! is presenting in its latest catalogs, and the style that some of the most amazing SU demonstrators are using amazingly creatively.

After the writing class last night, though, I decided to break away from what’s "out there" in the paper crafting world, and just create–with some restraints that I placed on myself.  Tonight, the restraints were: 

• I have to have something easy to create for my friends who are coming to my Stampin’ Up! Open House tomorrow–and I promised them a Valentine project!
• I have to use ONLY the Sizzix and Designer Series Paper that came in the box that arrived on my doorstep today. 
• Beyond that, I can use plain colored card stock and any stamps and other accessories that I already have.

OK–there were 6 packs of Designer Paper that arrived.  Only one had any kind of vague resemblance to what might be considered "Valentine" value.  The DSP is called, "Sweet Slumber."  The colors are Rose Red, Baja Blue, So Saffron, and a background color (Sahara Sand).

Of the Sizzix materials that arrived, I had the Box #2 die as well as the Naturally Serif Sizzlits Alphabet.  

So, where to start–the box of course!  And, some of the Sweet Slumber dotted paper.  The nice thing about the Sweet Slumber is that it’s cover weight paper.  It’s of the same basic thickness as Stampin’ Up! card stock.  So it can be the framework for a card as well as for anything that the Sizzix Big Shot has to offer.  This is a lot different from the Designer Paper Stampin’ Up! has been making.  The little box will hold some nice treasures, and is the item on the left in the photo above.

OK, now some cards.  Hmmm.  Well, the number of papers in the DSP pack is limited–2 of each design.  So I had to be judicious in case several of those who are coming on Saturday want to make the same project.  So I decided on one 4" x 4" card and one 3" x 3" card.  Neither of these is mailable in the U.S.  But, hey, my ladies are going to be making these ON Valentine’s Day.  So they’re probably going to be handing them out.  So no problem!  The 4" card is in the middle and the 3" "Love Note" is on the right.  OK, now who would have thought that I’d be making Valentine’s gifts and cards using Baja Blue and So Saffron?!  Not I, for sure!!!

Tomorrow I’ll show a close up of that box that I made with the Sizzix Big Shot and the Box #2 die.  That was amazing (not my particular design, but what the Sizzix could do!) because I made that box in less than 10 minutes!!  If I hadn’t had to think about how to decorate it, it would have been even less than that!  The Sizzix cuts and scores the box, and there’s only one little spot where you have to glue it!

But more of that tomorrow.  I also have another hint to make this box a bit better (in my humble opinion!)  And, while Valentine’s Day will be over, don’t forget that there’s Easter and Graduations and Weddings and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and summer parties–this box die is going to be a treasure that you’ll definitely want to have all year long!

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Stationery is a Great Holiday Gift!

Aloha, all!

I just finished completing an order for a customer who wishes to give one-of-a-kind, handmade gifts, but just doesn’t have the time to make them herself.  She wanted to give the gift of a Stationery Set.   I can’t believe how much fun I had selecting the papers and the stamps that I would use.  It took awhile because I had to consider some guidelines that the customer gave me as well as stock I had on hand (she wanted them as soon as possible).  Among the guidelines was that there had to be two of each card; there had to be a birthday card, a thank you card, and a general note card.  While she didn’t specifically say that they should be coordinated, I felt that I needed to make the cards look like a set and not like 3 different cards just haphazardly put together into a set.

This is what I came up with.  There is an interesting mix of colors.  The greens are either Old Olive or Kiwi Kiss; the reds are either Real Red or Robin Hood Red.  The pink is Pink Pirouette and the blue is Baja Breeze.  The striped ribbons are all "In Color" colors (Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, and Robin Hood Red).  The stripes in the papers made mixing and matching the various colors very, very easy!

Two of the papers are from the Level 3 Hostess Set, Holiday Happenings Bundle.  I may just have to see if I can put together another order this month to grab some more of that luscious paper!!  The other stripe is from the Ski Slope Designer Series Paper set (112994).  The stamp set throughout is Pocket Silhouettes (111672).  I used the Wide Oval and Large Oval Punches (112082 and 107305) for the cards

When the cards were finished, I realized that the folio that I had wanted to make to hold the cards wouldn’t work as I had that nice knot in the ribbons that took up a lot more space than the folio provided.

Canadian Demonstrator Extraordinaire, Andrea Walford, to the rescue!  Last Spring I had purchased a class planner from her, and the box for the stationery set in that planner was just the ticket!  So a big Mahalo (Thank You) to Andrea!    For decorating the box, I used the 1-3/8 Circle Punch (104401), Scallop Circle Punch (109043) and Scallop Edge Punch (112091), along with the stripe paper and some  Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (109054).   Hmmm.  Now that I look at the picture, I think I’m going to put a knot in that ribbon!.  That should tie it all together, don’t you think!

If you’d be interested in my making some gift cards for you, it’s not too late to get an order in!  I have most of my own Christmas Cards and gift already made (though I seem to keep making them up to Christmas Day itself!).  So my time could be yours!  Visit the "Cards" tab to download my Cards by Robin brochure.

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Christmas Gift Cards

Aloha, all!

Gift Cards are a great way to give a gift to someone when you don’t know specifically what he or she would like for a gift.  Think iTunes gift cards when your taste runs to classical and his taste runs to heavy metal.

Especially in this economy, when I need to buy a gift for someone who (1) wouldn’t necessarily appreciate a set of hand made stationery and (2) is not someone I know really well, I certainly don’t want to risk spending money on something that will not be used or, worse, thrown away! 

In this case, there are three elementary school students (5th and 6th graders) who serve with me and a half dozen other adults on our local school’s Community Council (a state-mandated group).  These three young ladies have been very conscientious about their attendance at and participation in the Council’s meetings.  (Note that, at their age, I would have been bored to tears and would probably have used the time to catch up on my sleep!)  So the adults on the Council have purchased gift cards to a store where they can stock up on school supplies.

Here are the cards that I made to hold the three gift cards. The cards can be made as simple or as fancy as you’d like.  For these, I used Glorious Green Card Stock as the base for the card, with Real Red Patterns Paper from the Level 1 Hostess set in the Fall/Winter 2008 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  I added Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (109034) and a greeting from another Level 1 Hostess Set, Best Yet (can you tell I’ve been doing my job for the economy by buying lots of Stampin’ Up! supplies???).  The two ovals are punched using the Large Oval Punch (107305) and the Wide Oval Punch (112082).  

Here are the instructions for making the gift card holders, along with some ideas for decorating them.  I hope that you enjoy making and using them this Christmas!  And if you need some of the supplies for making and decorating them, you can order them from Stampin’ Up! any time, 24/7.  Just click on the"Shop Now" button!  Or call (808.854.6145) or e-mail and I’ll be glad to help you with ordering supplies or with making the Gift Card Holders!

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More Personalizing!

 Aloha, all!

We had a totally busy day in paradise today–starting with a visit from an electrician who fixed that smoke alarm that has been going off at 4 in the morning more than I’d care to have it go off (um, actually, one time would be more than I’d care; but I’ve been patient).  I’m truly looking forward to a full night’s sleep tonight!

After a few other social engagements, I finally had a chance to play in the Craft Room, and finished the second of the two ornaments that I wanted to make this year for the wreath being built by my son (Gus) and grandson (Quin).  Yesterday I featured the "Q" ornament.  Today the "G."  Actually, Gus is not the name that I gave him at birth.  His given name is Andrew.  How he ended up a "Gus" is a story for another time.

But Gus he is, so a "G" is called for.  I wanted the two ornaments to be similar but not the same colors.  So today I reverted to one of my favorite of the Stampin’ Up! 2008 embellishments, the "Little Felt Flurries" (113697).  No, I have not used them up!!!  In fact, I can’t imagine you could use all those wonderful embellishments up unless you were mass-producing cards and ornaments.  I rarely mass produce as I like to think about each and every card and ornament I make, so I tend to be slower than many of my fellow Stampin’ Up! demonstrators.  In fact, I’m thinking of saving some of the red snowflakes for Valentine’s cards.  Hey, it still snows in February somewhere in our wonderful country!  Maybe even in Hawaii (I’ll let you know when I first see snow this season).

The "G" is from the same Serif Essentials Sizzix alphabet set  (113464) as the "Q" of yesterday’s blog entry.  For the "G" I used white self-adhesive felt, added some Little Felt Flurries, and mounted it all on Glorious Green card stock.  This was cut using the Scallop Circle #2 Sizzix Die (113469) (as was yesterday’s gold scallop circle).

I’ll be punching a small hole in both ornaments (to make them easy to attach to the wreath) and mailing them off to Oregon tomorrow.

Happy Stamping!

Robin

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Personalize Your Gifts With Sizzix!

Aloha, all!

My favorite toy this weekend is the Sizzix Big Shot with the wonderful Serif Essentials alphabet (113464).

The first project was to make 2008 decorations for the wreath that my son, Gus, and grandson, Quin, started decorating last year.  For Quin’s decoration, I used the large Q (I’m probably one of the very few people who may actually wear out the Q in the alphabet set!).  I used some self-adhesive red felt and attached it to a piece of the cardboard that somes with Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Series Paper (never throw that stuff away–it’s free gold!).  I hand cut two pieces of Glorious Green card stock into the shape of holly leaves, and added a Circle Fire Rhinestone Brad (109110).  To finish it off, I mounted the decoration on Brushed Gold card stock, using Stampin’ Dimensionals to make it "pop" out a bit.

Tomorrow, the G!

Happy Stamping!

Robin

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Diagonal Double Pocket Card – Part 2

Aloha, all!

Here is another version of the Diagonal Double Pocket Card.

Most of my dearest friends and I are at the point where we don’t feel that we have to shop for each other for holiday gifts, whether they be for Christmas or Hannukah.  But we do like to exchange gifts of things that we have made to commerate at this joyous time that we do, indeed, treasure and are thankful for our friendships.  My friend, Janet, for example, has bene making us a Christmas tree ornament for as long as I can remember.  She celebrates Hannukah, so I don’t reciprocate with a handmade ornament.  However, I do like to make her something special.

As I mentioned yesterday, this year, I have been having lots of fun making diagonal double pocket cards with bookmarks for my friends.  Janet is definitely a book lover, even volunteering at her local library.

Today’s card is made with card stock (Taken with Teal).  You’ll see on the instructions for the card, there is a variation from the design I used yesterday.  With card stock, that last fold creates just two too many layers of card stock for my taste.  So this card is actually more like a traditional greeting card, with an inside for a greeting.  There are still two diagonal pockets on the front, though!

I created some difference between the front and the back of the card stock by embossing small snowflakes (from the Level 3 Hostess set, Holiday Happenings Bundle, using VersaMark (102283) and White Stampin’ Emboss Powder (109132).  I made the two bookmarks with Whisper White and Taken With Teal card stock, and finally affixed two small snowflakes, also made out of Whisper White and cut with the Sizzix Big Shot and two Sizzlits from the Snowflakes Set #2 (113449).

The stamped greeting is from the Heritage Holiday Stamp Set (111646).

Ready to make some of these cards!  Just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me, and I can help you pick out papers and stamp sets to get you started!

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Diagonal Double Pocket Card – Part I

Aloha, all!

I’m back on the Big Island of Hawaii after having spent a day in the Big City of Honolulu yesterday.  I am truly amazed by all the shopping opportunities that abound in a large city, compared with what we have here near Hilo, Hawaii.  But then my dear husband, Harry, reminded me that I don’t even like to shop!  That brought me back down to earth, and back to thinking about how I’m going to spend my week making gifts for this holiday season.

As I’m having a Stamp Club meeting this week, I decided to show them how to make a card that can also be a gift.  It’s a Diagonal Double Pocket Card, and you can insert many different kinds of gifts (flat, of course).   I made two bookmarks to put in this card.  They feel colorful and Christmas-y to me!

The Designer Series Paper is from the Frosty Day set (113057), with coordinating Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss card stock (two of this year’s In Colors–111347 for a sampler of all six colors) to form the back of the bookmarks.  For the front of the bookmarks, I stamped two images from the stamp set, Punch Pals, (109489) on the Whisper White Card Stock (100730).

I finished off the front of the card with a felt snowflake cut with the Sizzix Big Shot and the Snowflake #2 Die (113460).

I like to make a one-page set of instructions for my Stamp Club projects, and have made one for the basic Double Diagonal Pocket Card.  Try using it with some of Stampin’ Up!’s great Designer Series Paper!  I have samples of all the papers in the Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog.  I’ll be happy to help you select the perfect paper to make your OWN Double Diagonal Pocket Card!

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More Christmas Ornament Fun!

Aloha, all!

Throughout December I’ll be featuring classes and workshops featuring handmade Christmas ornaments and gifts.  Of course, I’ll be working on Christmas cards (and the occasional greeting and gift for Hanukkah).  But with economic times as they are this year, I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to show everyone how to make the most of Stampin’ Up!’s products and promotions to make beautiful, thoughtful, gifts for everyone on our lists!

One class that will be lots of fun features Stampin’ Up!’s Star Bright Kit (113681), and will take place the evening of Wednesday, December 10th.  To make sure that I have enough kits for everyone who wishes to participate, I’ll need registrations by November 30th.  The class fee of $30, which includes the entire kit, must be made with your registration.  Click here to download the class flyer!

If you can’t make it to Pahoa, Hawaii, for the class, you can still order the Star Bright Kit, which is featured in Stampin’ Up!’s 2008 Holiday Mini Catalog.  Here are some of the ornaments that can be made from the kit, photograph compliments of Stampin’ Up!.

The kit features twelve 12" x 12" sheets of die-cut Designer Series Paper, in 6 different patterns.  All of the paper is double-sided, for maximum flexibility in making the ornaments just the way you want!  There is enough paper to make 54 stars, 6 paper-strip globes, and 5 to 25 paper circle globes (depending on how large you make the globes).  There are also 12 Styled Silver brads (to help in making those paper-strip globes, and ten yards of Silver elastic cord for hanging these beauties.

Call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me to register for the class.  Or order the Star Bright Kit any time of the day or night on my Stampin’ Up! website!

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