RobinsCraftRoom.com

An Oldie But Goodie – Stamp Set, That Is!

Aloha, all!

     Last Saturday I had some free time just to play in the craft room and the SUDSOL (my favorite online group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators) challenge team had a challenge to use some old stamp set that ended up not retiring this year and that we hadn't used in a long time.

     Well, it's been a long time since I've made a greeting card with the REALLY old stamp set, Simply Said.  I went through my stash of old Stampin' Up! Catalogs, and it looks like this stamp set was new in the 2006-2007 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog!  Now this is a stamp set that has STAYING POWER!

     So, how does it look today, four years later?  Very nice, I think.  I especially like the addition of one of Stampin' Up!'s newest products, the Basic Pearls.  They accent the flowers on the heart motif beautifully, and coordinate oh so nicely with the Perfect Polka Dots Sizzix Embossing Folder.  The colors are two of my favorite pinks, Regal Rose (the darker color) and Pink Pirouette (brought back this year to the Stampin' Up! permanent color collection).  Whisper White is always a nice accent in a monochromatic type of greeting card. 

     Simply Said is a 2-Step Stampin' stamp set.  For these older stamp sets, still sold only as wood mounted sets, you really need to use the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to line up the stamps. When I first stamped the heart motif, I began by stamping the heart in Pink Pirouette; then stamping the floral inset using Regal Rose; and finally stamping the border, again using Regal Rose.  Once the card was all done, though, I thought it might be just a bit classier to have that heart "pop out" a bit.  So I 2-step stamped it again, cut it out, then adhered it over the original stamped image using Stampin' Dimensionals.  Nice touch, I think!

     Here is the layout for this card – there's one layer with a 1/16" increment to show just a hint of color around the edges of the stamped layer.  Have fun with this!

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Build-A-Bear-Workshop and Stampin’ Up!

Aloha, all!

By now everyone seems to know that our 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog is going to feature a TON of stuff related to the Build-A-Bear-Workshop (or BABW).  What fun!  And I have been having a TON of fun trying to figure out how to play with my new toys to show them off to you.  Because I just want to keep playing, and not bother with sending out newsletters and writing blog posts and writing tutorials!  Playing with the bears is just too much fun.

But work calls (not that I really think of any of this as "work"!)  And I’ll be sharing with you this week some of what I’ve been doing with many of the products.  Unfortunately, I cannot afford to buy EVERYTHING in the mini catalog.  For now, I have the basics, and I’m finding that that is just fine.

The first thing that caught my attention with the BABW products is that Stampin’ Up! has not only partnered with BABW for this line of products.  It’s also partnered with Sizzix!  There’s a Sizzix Bear and clothes and accessories and costumes, and oh my!  The minute I arrived home from convention and had time to play (a few days, as my husband was ill and required most of my attention), I first went for the Sizzix Big Shot and started making paper dolls, er, paper BEARS.  Here are come of the clothes I cut out, and here is one of my bears.  I used this Bear to make a greeting card. 

Later this week I’ll share how I’m working to make a magnet board for my granddaughters to have to play with the BABW bear cut-outs I’ll be giving them for a Birthday present.  I’ll also be showing off some of the stamp sets that have BABW images. 

If you’re interested in not waiting to see all of this in person, please feel free to call (808.854.6145) me and I’ll arrange a time you can come over to the Craft Room.  Or, if you’re not in East Hawaii, just call or e-mail me and let me know you’d like a sample, and I’ll be glad to send it out to you.

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Some More New and Old

Aloha, all!

I cannot believe it’s Wednesday already!!  DH and I are getting ready for a trip across the big pond next week, and there is SOOOO much to be done! 

But, as always, I have to have some time in the craft room!  I made today’s greeting card in response to a challenge on one of the Yahoo groups to which I belong:  Stampin’ Up! Late Night Stampers (StampinUpLNStampers. com).  The group was formed before last year’s Stampin’ Up! convention, and has continued and grown and now even has two groups–one for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators only.  While I belong to both, I shared this card in the open group (and yes, you can join the group, too!)  There are lots of ideas for cards floating around in that bunch of creative women (haven’t seen any men posting so far).

This card is, once again, a mix of the old and the new.  But none of the old products in this card are going to retire this year.  So you’ll still be able to purchase them for the next 12 months!

The background is one of the new Stampin’ Up! colors, Crushed Curry, and the ribbon is a matching 1/2" Polka Dot Ribbon.  The smaller strip of card stock is also a new color, Dusty Durango.  The Corduroy Buttons, however, are in one of Stampin’ Up!’s standard colors, Summer Sun.  But don’t you think they go together nicely?  The Crushed Curry is just a tad bit softer than Summer Sun, and I think that the corduroy texture of the buttons softens them up to make a pretty close match!  I’ve used two stamp sets here, again one old and one new.  The new is the "Thinking of You" stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set, and the old is the butterfly from the stamp set, Dreams du Jour.

The fun part of this card was cutting the Dusty Durango strip with the Stampin’ Up! Exclusive Movers and Shapers Curly Label die.  Then I punched the butterfly (stamped on Very Vanilla in Dusty Durango ink) with the Curly Label punch.  I assembled all and placed it on a Very Vanilla card.

This is just a nice, simple card, and I think that I’m going to enjoy sending it out to someone special.  I’ll have plenty of time to write letters and notes to friends while I’m on vacation, and I’ll be packing lots of cards!

If you’d like more information about how to design and assemble a card–or even how you might go about trying to respond to a design challenge!–just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me!

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Something New and Something Old

Aloha, all!

No, it’s not anything to do with a wedding.  But it does have to do with what is about to become an "old" Stampin’ Up! product, along with a few things that are definitely "New!" products!

First the old–I just love the Designer Series Paper, Walk in the Park, which is in the 2009 Occasions Mini Catalog, which has only two more weeks in its short little life!  So, if you’ve been thinking that this would be wonderful paper to have, now’s the time to buy it.  It has so many wonderful colors in it that are part of the 48 standard Stampin’ Up! colors.  For this card, I used some Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue and Regal Rose.  Isn’t that a great combination? 

Then in the card is a sneak peek at three NEW products that will appear in the Stampin’ Up! 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog, which will make its first appearance online on July 1st. 

• One of the products is one of the newest Stampin’ Up! punches, Modern Label.  I used it to cut the Very Vanilla label that’s stamped with
• A new stamp set, Teeny Tiny Wishes.  This set has 24 greetings that cover most holidays and special occasions, and a few simple greetings, such as "just for you."
• And behind that Very Vanilla Label is a larger label in Regal Rose cut with the new Sizzix Stampin’ Up! exclusive Punch Windows, which are part of the Movers and Shapers set offered by Stampin’ Up exclusively.

The card is all set off with some Very Vanilla Tafetta Ribbon and three Pretty In Pink brads from the Soft Subtles collection of brads.  These products, as well as the Very Vanila card stock, continue into the new catalog from the current one.

Unfortunately, this is a sympathy card that’s not just for the card stash.  I made this card for a neighbor who’s mother passed away last month.  And, while I was posting to this blog, I learned that the mother of another good friend just passed away last Friday.  So I’ll be making another card, too.

I personally feel that a handmade card, such as this, is so much more meaningful than one purchased at a store.  Each card is unique, and each is an expression of your own feeling for the person and event involved.  As always, I can help you figure out what you might want to purchase in the way of Stampin’ Up! products to make YOUR own very special handmade cards.  Just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me and let me know how I can help.

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Now Back to Crafting!

Aloha, all!

Now after all that cleaning and tossing of clutter, I can get back to my crafting!!! 

While I have quite a few of the new products from the soon-to-be-released 2009-2010 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog, today I’m focusing on a set–one of my favorites!–that’s in the Occasions Mini Catalog, which still has a couple of weeks to go before it’s history.  The stamp set that I used here is called, Soft Summer.  You may recall that I used it once before and wondered why a set with a spring flower such as Dogwood would be in a set with the name of "summer."  Now only that, I had forgotten what a real Dogwood looked like, being here in Hawaii where there aren’t any. 

On my trip to the mainland last month, I found myself on a walk with my son in Portland, Oregon, and there were Dogwoods all around!  I snapped a few shots, and feature one of those pictures here, along with the Dogwood Stamp from Soft Summer.  The color of the Dogwood almost perfectly matched Stampin’ Up! cardstock in the color, Regal Rose. 

But the first thing I had to do was to figure out how to use the photograph.  I finally settled on using the Circle Scissors Plus to cut the photograph and then two circle mats behind it.  The Circle Scissors is GREAT!!

Soft Summer is a two-step stampin’ set, and I used Regal Rose on the under color, along with Garden Green for the leaves and stems.  Then I used Handsome Hunter (almost said Forest Foliage–showing how long I’ve been using Stampin’ Up! products!) and Rose Red for the outline stamp.  I also used Rose Red for the "Thanks" stamp.  THAT is a sneak peek at a new hostess set, Kind and Caring Thoughts, in the 2009-2010 catalog!

The final touch is a bit of the lovely 1" Rose Red Grosgrain Ribbon.  I’m so glad that this ribbon will be continued in the new catalog!  I haven’t used it nearly enough!

If you haven’t placed an order from the Occasions Mini Catalog yet, or there’s something else that you really want from that catalog, there’s only two more weeks to do it!   So call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me if you’d like to place an order–of if you have any questions about any of the products in the mini.  I’ve bought most of the products (except for the Easter stamp sets) so can probably answer any questions that you have.

Later this week, I’ll be showing off some more of the Sneak Peeks at our newest catalog!!

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