Fun Folds

Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

March 26, 2021 by Robin

Easter is a great occasion for sending cards to friends and family. It’s also a time of the year when I really and truly switch from the darker colors of the fall and winter holidays to the light and cheery colors of Spring. Even if this card didn’t say it out loud, you have to know that it’s welcoming us to the delights of the season of new beginnings.

Aloha, all!

Even here in Hawai’i I’m enjoying Spring already. The temperatures are finally climbing in to the high 70s and the sun has been shining almost all week. I certainly can hope that the winter rainy season finally is abating and I can enjoy the outdoor pleasures of the tropics.

But I’m also very aware that, in the part of my world that involves my favorite Stampin’ Up! products, some things that I love are going away. Yes, the Stampin’ Up! list of retiring products has been released, and some of my favorites have already sold out. While I typically do not buy retiring products, it’s only because I really need to save space for wonderful new products that will be coming our way in the next few months. Otherwise, how am I going to let you know how wonderful it all is if I don’t have the room for it?

Introducing the Retirement List

But those of you who like to have it all – and have the room for it! – can get lots of retiring products right now at a “last chance” sale price. I’ve taken Stampin’ Up!’s list and simplified it a bit for all of you and have a link to it right here on my blog. I will update it every few days so that you can see what’s already sold out. As always, if you have any questions about what’s retiring and what’s sticking around, just call or e-mail me!

What’s Retiring in Today’s Card?

As you may know, I’ve been working hard at creating some greeting card tutorial booklets that are available right now for you to buy. And there are more on the way. I’d like the tutorials to be good at any time and for anyone, even if they don’t use Stampin’ Up! products. So the basic tutorial for every card design is very generic. But of course I have to share samples using my wonderful Stampin’ Up! products. That’s where today’s card comes into play.

This card is one of the samples in my tutorial booklet, “Drapery Fold Cards.” Now that I look at it more closely, I should probably have entitled this section, “What’s NOT Retiring in Today’s Card?” What’s not retiring is that fun Just Jade gingham ribbon (part of the Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo); the Lovely Labels Pick a Punch; the Timeless Tulips Stamp Set which is where you’ll find the sentiment; and that beautiful floral embossing folder, Ornate Floral. What IS retiring is the great paper set, Flowers for Every Season Designer Series Paper. Really, it’s everything from poinsettias for Christmas, Tulips for Spring, all kinds of flowers for summer and sunflowers and such for the fall. Every season! Don’t let that one get away!!!

And About the Greeting Card Tutorials

There are already four sets of Greeting Card tutorials for sale. You can see them all by clicking here. Then you can pick one that you’d like to read more about. After that, a link for that specific tutorial with a more detailed description will appear on your screen. As I said before, each tutorial suggests the types of products you might want to use to complete your own project. That includes measurements for all papers, as well as ribbons if I suggest one.

Then I have at least two samples for each tutorial, each using a different set of Stampin’ Up! products. Each sample has its own page, along with a list of the exact products I used with their measurements. I’ve really tried to give you samples that will inspire you to look at what you already have to make the projects. But you have to know I’m always more than willing to help you order the Stampin’ Up! products you’ll need if you’d like.

As of the day I write this, ALL of the materials in this card are available for purchase. I’m thinking that luscious set of papers might not last long. But, believe me, there are papers in the upcoming catalog and the January – June Mini Catalog that will work wonderfully with this design.

Why not try it out?

Whatever you’re crafting this weekend, have fun with it!

Dragonfly Garden – A Positive Change

March 11, 2021 by Robin

A new blog design!

Aloha, all!

The dragonfly is a universal symbol of change, transformation and self-realization. With the introduction of my new blog design, I hope that I’m successfully beginning that process for Robin’s Craft Room. There are so many parts of this redesign. Some are right out front, with the new logo and graphics. Others are sitting in the background ready to be introduced soon. And yet others are in the background and only I, as I struggle to learn how to make the best of us them, have to deal with them. But now for the introduction!

My New Outlook On Card-Making

I probably could write an entire essay about how my outlook on my card-making and my writing about it has changed over the last dozen or so years. In fact, I started down that path as I started this paragraph. But I shall spare you that. Instead, I’ll tell you that, during the past year my outlook on so much has changed. The result was that, this past fall, I decided that I wanted the format of my blog to better reflect a change in the way I view creating card designs.

Stampin’ Up! provides us – me and you – with so much beauty in its stamps and papers, that I wanted to focus more on how to show off that beauty. Rather than saying, “I want to make a birthday card,” I’d say to myself, “What can I make to show off this stamp or this paper – or both!” And I’d go looking for just the right fold or layout or technique to do just that. Then I’d look at the card and think, “What do I want this card to say?”

My New Outlook on My Tutorials

With that thought driving my designing, I decided to share how I used Stampin’ Up!’s products to make stunning cards out of those designs. Over the past several months, I’ve worked hard to pair patterned papers or stamps – or both! – with designs that I’ve used in the past to make cards. In fact, I even developed a few new takes on some of my favorite designs.

With all the work I’ve put into these, I’ve chosen once again to put my design tutorials into booklets for sale. As I write this, I’m still not sure how it works, but you can see the booklets that I have for sale here. The tutorials for sale at this point are all fancy folds. But the one I’m working on right now is a card layout booklet. Let me tell you, I’m having a great time with it! I can hardly wait to do more.

Today’s project is one that I used to illustrate one of the tutorials in my Diamond Fold Tutorial Booklet. It features the Dragonfly Garden Stamp Set and the Dandy Garden Designer Series Paper set. I love making this fold – and it folds so nicely that it fits in an A2-sized envelope

My New Logo

With all the work that I’ve been doing to get to this point, I feel that I’ve personally changed a bit. I feel that I’ve changed from being a “rah-rah-rah, oh this is fun, you just have to join me in this fun” type of stamper/blogger. I now feel more like a person who truly enjoys the artistic side of card-making, but in a calm, structured way. I truly admire those who can joyfully slap stuff together into a montage of multi-media art that makes you say, “Wow!” But that’s not me. Calm and structured. That’s who I am, and I’m pleased with the way that my new logo portrays that part of me.

And There’s More

And it’s still a work in progress! Heck, I’m still a work in progress! A few things here and there will change over the next month or two. As I become sufficiently used to my new site, I’ll know better how I wish everything to look and work. As I educate myself about my new site, I hope that you’ll continue to enjoy my posts about what I’m doing.

While I’m exploring my new site, I have a request for you. Would you please explore it, too? And let me know if there’s something that doesn’t seem quite right. By all means, let me know if you have suggestions! Five people get a pack of Stampin’ Dimensionals for responding – random selection!

I can hardly wait for this to become my new normal – and yours, as well!

Happy Stamping!

Butterfly Jewels

February 22, 2021 by Robin

Butterfly Brilliance Stamp Set and Dies

Aloha, all!

While I know that Sale-a-bration still has a week to go, I still cannot wait to tell you about a brand new bundle coming your way! It’s Butterflies! I actually heard some of you say, “Oh, no! More butterflies?” Oh, yes. And they’re wonderfully different! Not only that, the products that you’ll be seeing are a perfect complement to other butterfly products already in Stampin’ Up!’s catalogs

A Sneak Peek at the Butterfly Bijou Designer Series Papers

Yes, I love the new Butterfly Brilliance stamp set and dies that are in this new suite of products. But most of all I love the papers. Do you see all those butterflies? I cut every single one from two sheets in the Designer Series Paper set. Did I hand cut them? No. You all know I have a Brother Scan ‘n Cut machine. I fed the sheets into it and, with a bit of finagling, out popped these beautiful critters.

As I made this card, I wondered which two or three butterflies I’d choose to accent this card. As I added them onto the die-cut circle I’d made for this fun-fold card, I kept thinking, “Maybe just one more over here.” And that’s how I ended up with such a beautiful cluster of color and size of butterflies. Did you see that I even added one last one to the paper that’s on the inside of the card?

The Sentiment is an Oldie-but-Goodie

The Butterfly Gala Stamp Set has been around for a bit. It’s the set that goes with the Butterfly Duet Punch. Stamp two butterflies/punch both at the same time. And it has a lovely collection of sentiments that are going to go beautifully with the new stamp set, as it does with this card. One of the “Good Things in Life” is definitely butterflies. And what a lovely sentiment to put on a card for a friend.

About the Fun Fold Card

Believe it or not, pandemic or not, I am terrifically busy! Yes, I made this fun fold card, but I generally followed someone else’s directions. I’ve decided that I’d like to make some adjustments to the directions that I was given, so I’m going to write my own tutorial with my own adjustments to the design. But I just do not have the time this week. But soon! And I really don’t think it’s going to be too long before you see one of the projects that’s taken up a lot of my time.

Get Ready for Some Blog Changes!

I’ve loved every minute of using its current design, which I’ve had for three years now. But I’ve been feeling that I’d like a change, and I’m so excited about the design that’s being developed for me. It’s really close, and I can hardly wait to see it myself. Stick around to check it out because I’ll be having some blog candy to celebrate once I get the new design on its feet!

The Bottom Line

And don’t forget to check back here next week to find out more about the new Butterfly Brilliance Stamp Set and all that goes with it! I’m almost as excited about that as about my blog redesign!

Another Valentine Fun Fold!

January 29, 2021 by Robin

Easel Fold for Valentine’s Day

Aloha, all!

On Wednesday I showed you a fun variation on the traditional easel card. And, yes, if you haven’t seen a “traditional” easel card, I’ll be sharing one in a few days. Anyway, after I’d had so much fun making Wednesday’s Vertical Easel Card, I managed to come across yet another twist on the easel card idea. It’s a Diagonal Easel Card. I just saw the card and figured I could come up with a sample myself without instructions. And I did!

A Square Card That’s Simple to Make!

My vertical easel card started as a 5″ square card. I enjoyed looking at that square card so much that I decided to make today’s card square also. It’s another 5″ square, and that creates lots of room for decorating. Not only that, the diagonal design allows you to adhere the center element right onto the card front. There’s no need to create a base on which that element rests, which is what I had to do with the vertical easel.

Snail Mail – What Fun!

Do you see all the snails on this card?! I love that the snail stamp from the Snailed It Stamp Set is carrying an envelope with a heart – perfect for Valentine’s Day! There are even versions of that cute stamp printed on the Snail Mail Designer Series Paper set. I did managed to hide those two on this sheet of paper. But you can still see a bit of the heart-sealed envelopes in a couple of places.

I Couldn’t Resist Using Paper Pumpkin Elements

I have two thoughts when it comes to using Paper Pumpkin elements on projects I share here. One thought is, “Why share it when your readers can’t buy it?” That’s because, once a Paper Pumpkin kit is shipped, you can’t say, “Ooooh, I want this” and then go order it. It’s no longer for sale. The other thought is, “Maybe if they see how much fun these kits are they’ll subscribe!” It’s that thought I like best. I have been having so much fun with Paper Pumpkin kits lately, and I’d like you to have the same kind of fun. Of course occasionally I’ll see the promotional e-mails that all Paper Pumpkin subscribers get and think, “That’s not for me.” So I pause getting the kit for that month. I’ve only really regretted that move once.

There are three elements on this card that are from the January 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit. The first is the smaller of the snails on the heart. January’s Paper Pumpkin kit was Valentine Cards, and that snail was in the stamp set that shipped with the kit. So cute! She’s facing towards the right in the stamp, but I used a Silicone Craft Sheet to create a mirror image of the stamp.

The second element from the Paper Pumpkin kit is the “hi, valentine!” sentiment. I stamped that using Real Red Ink and then punched it out using the Classic Label Punch. Finally, I added some of the Blushing Bride Resin Hearts that I had left over from the kit. You can see one of them up in the right corner of this picture.

The Many Hearts Die Set

I’d loved the way that the hearts in my last easel card layered up to make a very nice center element. So back I went to the Many Hearts Dies set for this card as well. I die-cut the scalloped heart in Real Red Cardstock, and then added another print from the Snail Mail Designer Series Paper set. The snails were going to make the layer busy enough that I didn’t think I needed another layer.

I frequently forget to stamp the inside of my cards. By the time I finish a card front, I already have an idea for the next card and that’s where my attention goes. But, with the Easel-style cards, something has to go inside for the card front to rest against to keep it popped up, making an easel. So while I’m there, I might as well decorate.

For today’s card, I repeated the Heart-printed paper that’s in the background on the large center heart. But I wanted something a little bit frillier to go with this cute card. So back to the Many Hearts Die set I went. I cut out the very dainty string of outlined hearts to add to the printed paper. I found that the best way to attach the heart strip to the paper was to apply a strip of transparent tape to the bottom of the strip and then attach that to the back of the paper. The tape helps keep the heart strip steady as you’re attaching it. Then it keeps it in place on the paper – as transparent tape is supposed to do!

Finally the Stopper

You want something that’s solid and thick to act as a stopper for the easel card front. Those flimsy little hearts were not going to work. Then I found a little heart die in, yes, the Many Hearts Dies. It fit almost perfectly over one of the outline hearts. I added a Stampin’ Dimensional to the back of the heart and, voilà! A stopper that did the trick. Oh, and there’s another of those Paper Pumpkin resin hearts.

The Bottom Line

So much of what Stampin’ Up! makes for you to buy coordinates with other Stampin’ Up! products. Usually those products are all featured in a “suite” of products. But Paper Pumpkin is starting to do more and more to coordinate with current catalog products. In fact, the latest from the Paper Pumpkin creative crew is that they’re going to be doing more of this. It makes so much sense to me.

I was so excited to be able to use products from this month’s kit that went perfectly with a suite in the January – June Mini Catalog. Maybe you might think about signing up for a subscription. And don’t forget that the price of a subscription counts towards Sale-a-bration FREE products! I’ve added the various Paper Pumpkin Subscription kits in the slide show of products below. If you click a link it will take you right to my Stampin’ Up! store if you’re interested!

Happy Stamping!

A Fun Fold Valentine – For Island Hopping!

January 27, 2021 by Robin

Aloha, all!

And welcome to the first session of Island Hopping for 2021! My friend, Cheryl Hamilton, and I decided that this would be a perfect time to show off a Valentine card with a fun fold. So we’ll hop from where I live on Hawai’i’s Big Island over to our neighbor, the Island of Maui, where Cheryl lives showing off Fun Fold Valentines!

This is a New Fold For Me

The fold that you see in the picture at the top of this article is called a Vertical Easel Card. I stumbled across a tutorial for it while I was looking for something else a few days ago. I bookmarked it not quite knowing what I was going to do with it. But when Cheryl and I decided on our theme for January, I was glad I’d bookmarked it. Because here it is! I may write my own tutorial in the future as I did make a few modifications. But the tutorial I used is a great start.

Traditional Valentine Colors?

For the most part, I like to use bright red and pinks for Valentine’s cards. But I also wanted to use some of the beautiful new Love You Always Specialty Designer Series Paper for the printed paper layer on the front of this card.

My color choices (the colors in the paper set) were Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, and Sahara Sand. OK, the Blushing Bride sheet, which included Copper Foil accents got me to the “pink” part of my color preferences. But I had the worst time trying to match it with either of the bright reds (Real Red or Poppy Parade) in the Stampin’ Up! collection. None of the other, darker, pinks worked either (for me at least). So I went in the other direction – dark but not bright.

I think that Cherry Cobbler turned out to be a really good choice. The photo just above shows the closed card. I just love how the large, scalloped heart, cut with a die from the Many Hearts Die set, and the card base made with Cherry Cobbler Cardstock provide a sharp contrast to the muted Blushing Bride and Copper patterned paper.

Not Just a Fun Fold – A Fun Shape!

Earlier this month I participated in a challenge to make a square card. To make a square card that would fit into one of my stash of A2-sized envelopes, the card would have had to be 4″ square. That just felt too small for what I like to do with a card. So I made my card 5″ square, which was just right – and ordered some A7-sized (5-1/4″ x 7-1/4″) envelopes for my stash. They arrived last Saturday, just in time for this card.

Here’s how I decorated the envelop for this project. I’ve been much better at decorating envelops WHEN I make a card.

An Aside About Envelopes

The United States Postal Service has a couple of requirements that come into play when it comes to the shape of an envelope. The one that affects square cards is that, if you use a square envelope, you have to pay extra postage. Now doing this every once in a while isn’t that expensive. In fact, I have quite a few stamps for “Non-Machinable” envelopes (which is what square is). But, when a card will fit inside a rectangular envelope, why not use something that will cost less to mail? So 5″ square card = A7 envelope.

All Those Hearts!

All of the hearts in the card’s center element are die-cut using the Many Hearts Dies. They all layer so beautifully. What’s even better is that there’s a set of sentiments in an older – but still current – Valentine-themed stamp set – Heartfelt. What’s not to like about an old-fashioned “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…” poem! It fits perfectly in the smaller heart in the die set. I added some Champagne Rhinestones to fill out the heart a bit.

To continue on with the poem, I added another of the smaller die-cut hearts to the inside of the card. Besides completing the poem, it serves as the “stopper” for the card front when it’s slightly folded open for display. Even thought it didn’t really need it, I added a rhinestone to this heart, too.

Speaking of hearts – do you see that strip of hearts down the right edge of the Blushing Bride cardstock layer inside the card? That’s a stamp from the Lots of Heart Stamp Set. I bought the stamp set to show off some of the other images in the set and just gave the heart strip a passing glance. Hah! Now I know where it really works! You’ll be seeing it again for sure.

The Bottom Line

Making Valentine’s Day Cards is always lots of fun. But it’s even more fun when you have some beautifully coordinating Stamp Set/Cutting Tool combinations. The Heartfelt Stamp Set/Heart Punch Pack Bundle and the Lots of Heart Stamp Set/Many Hearts Bundle are totally winning combinations for Valentine’s Day Cards. If you buy a bundle, you save 10%. I put a link to the bundles in the slide show of products at the end of this post.

And finally be sure to visit Cheryl Hamilton’s blog post for today. She does amazing folds and I can hardly wait to see what she’s done for this hop!