Handmade Cards

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!

Enjoy the Moment Stamp Set – Even Brighter!

January 25, 2021 by Robin

Aloha, all!

This will be just a quick update on a post from last week about the new Enjoy the Moment Stamp Set. At the time that I wrote that post I’d not yet received one of the cards I was supposed to have received from the swap a few friends and I did. Now I have it and I just had to share it.

The Colors Don’t Have to be Earth Tones!

Every single card that I’ve seen made with this set, including mine, have shown off Stampin’ Up!’s brown colors or at least earth tones – as in the greens I used in one of my cards. As the images in the set are all seed pods, which typically are brown, earth tones seemed to be the way to go. But that’s not what my friend, Shari did. She went full out the other way – to a pastel rainbow of sorts. There’s not the least bit of brown in this card!

What a Nice Job of Emboss Resist!

You probably haven’t read anything from me about emboss resist in years. In fact I can’t remember if I’ve ever shared an emboss resist sample in the dozen or more years that I’ve been been writing the Robin’s Craft Room blog. It’s a technique in which you stamp an image using VersaMark (colorless) ink, emboss the image using White or Clear Embossing Powder (usually), and then sponge color over the image. The color stays on the cardstock but does not stick to the embossed area. It’s such a cool technique, and Shari did a lovely job showing off all those seed pods.

And Why Don’t I Do This?

Emboss resist – in fact, emboss anything, is really easy. You may have to practice a time or two. But there’s not much of a learning curve. But even when I lived in our house and had a large craft room, I had a cat. So getting out a heat tool and embossing powder was a bit of a project in terms of paying attention to where the cat was. As the best view of our garden was from my craft room, that’s where she was. Now that I’m in a small apartment, with my cat over the Rainbow Bridge, it’s a project to get everything out and onto a work table. Something has to be put away for that to happen. But I’m going to have to do it sooner than later if I’m ever going to use the Gold Leaf that’s in the Stampin’ Up! January – June Mini Catalog! Then maybe when it’s out I’ll try some emboss resist before I put everything away. I’ll be sure to let you know.

The Bottom Line

Stamping is art work. Remember that there are 50 Stampin’ Up! colors. Any image can be any one of those colors. Take out one of your stamp sets and imagine it in a color it’s probably never seen before. Then go for it!

Happy Stamping!

Inspiration from the Stampin’ Up! Catalog!

January 24, 2021 by Robin

Aloha, all!

When I’ve been in a creative slump one of the first places I go is to a Stampin’ Up! catalog. That’s really easy this time of year as we not only have the new January – June Mini Catalog, but the always wonderful Annual Catalog and, until the end of next month, the Sale-a-bration Brochure. If I know what stamp set I want to use, I go right to the page that features that set. Otherwise I just start flipping pages. That’s what I did with today’s project. And I only had to get to page 23 of the Mini Catalog before a card that looks like this caught my eye. The Stamp Set featured is Quite Curvy. But what really caught my eye was the lovely use of the new Hydrangea Hill Designer Series Paper.

Quite Curvy Wasn’t Just for Christmas!

I was thrilled last fall when all of us had the chance to pre-order the Quite Curvy Bundle that was going to be in the new Mini Catalog. There was also a fun Christmas-themed stamp set AND fun printed papers to go with the Christmas theme. And I loved it all and used it all. But once the holidays were over and we got to see all the goodies in the new catalog, I simply forgot about it. Until now.

This Card Could be For Any Occasion

The actual event that had me stumped about what to make was our oldest granddaughter’s 18th Birthday. Up until now, I’ve made her and her younger sister and brother cards that are more on the cutesy side. But 18 seems to be an age where something a bit more elegant. But not too serious. This card seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The card in the catalog is a “Thinking of You” card. But with the Quite Curvy stamp set, I easily made this into a Birthday card.

As I said back when I was first using this set, you can shape the sentiment stamps go along the same curve as you’ve cut out using the Curvy Dies. I usually don’t get it done perfectly. But close enough. I find using the Stampin’ Up! Stamparatus positioning tool makes it a bit easier. Once you apply the stamp to the acrylic cover of the Stamparatus, it’s staying put. That is, unless you want to move it a bit. So, to make the curve, I try to get it as good as I can on the paper I’m using, pick it up with the Stamparatus acrylic cover and then adjust it until it seems to be just about right. then I stamp.

Choosing My Embellishments

The card in the catalog used some other die cuts from the Curvy Dies. But I wanted either a butterfly or a dragonfly. After cutting and punching a few things, I decided on the small dragonfly that can be made using the new Dragonflies Punch. I chose some Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape Cardstock for the dragonflies, and some Old Olive Cardstock for the leaves, which I die cut using one of the Curvy Dies.

I did take the suggestion in the catalog to use my Dark Highland Heather Stampin’ Blends to color some White Baker’s Twine (from the Snail Mail Twine Combo Pack, also in the Mini Catalog. I adhered the leaves to the top part of the card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue except near the stems. Then I wrapped the colored twine around the stems before adhering the punched dragonflies.

I have to admit that I made another one of these cards after I made Morgan’s card. It’s so pretty and I have a friend who I know would love that for her birthday this month, too.

The Bottom Line

Simple. When you’re looking for some ideas, check out the Stampin’ Up! Catalogs. You might even find something that inspires you enough to want to buy it! And of course you know I’ll help you with that. Just call or e-mail me and I’ll help you place your order. Or you can place it yourself online at my Stampin’ Up! Website – robinstamps.stampinup.net. Click “Shop Now” and you’ll be on your way!

Happy stamping! And Happy Shopping!!!!

A Surprisingly Versatile New Stamp Set!

January 18, 2021 by Robin

Aloha, all!

As part of last Fall’s Stampin’ Up! OnStage@Home virtual conference, we were provided with some Mini Catalog stamp sets in advance of their release. One of them was Enjoy the Moment. When I first saw the stamp set, I was less than thrilled that I was going to have this stamp set in my collection. I thought of it as simply not the kind of a stamp set that I enjoy working with. I know that lots of people do – probably many of you! But it just didn’t call out to me.

About the Stamp Set

This set is a Cling Stamp Set (rubber stamp with a layer that clings to acrylic blocks) that includes 8 images and 5 sentiments, for a total of 13 rubber stamps. ALL of the images are seed pods. Seed pods! What am I going to do with seed pods?! Well, it turned out that I’ve done a lot with them. The truth of the matter is that I don’t like having a stamp set in my stash unless I use it. And use it I have.

The First Card

I have to tell you that I simply don’t remember making my first card with this stamp set. I’m thinking that it was part of the OnStage@Home event. But that just doesn’t ring a bell with me. I’m sure I wouldn’t have thought of using the group of 3 small seeds that look like coffee beans as a background layer. Nonetheless, using these dark and mostly brown colors really did seems to evoke the feeling of late fall, which is the time for Thanksgiving. With a Thanksgiving sentiment, I was quite happy to send this off as a Thanksgiving card in 2020.

So I was happy that I had used this stamp set. But I was puzzled about what I was going to do with it in the future.

And Then A Swap Came Up!

I belong to quite a few groups on Facebook where lovers of Stampin’ Up! projects share what they love, issue challenges and offer swaps. In this particular swap several of us wanted to swap cards made with this set. We were all stuck with it and we wanted ideas to make this a useful product to promote to our customers. So off I went to make not one, but two cards with the set.

Using a Traditional (for me) Layout

In studying the stamp set, I realized that several of the images were small enough that I might be able to group them into sets of 3 or 4 to create a card front. That’s something that I do a lot as I love layering different shapes and groups of shapes on a card front. And so I designed the card on the right. The seed pods on the right and left are seed pods of the Bottle Tree from Australia. Three of the images in the stamp set are based on that seed pod. The image in the middle is a Sweetgum Tree seed pod.

For the background I used one of the sheets of paper from the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper set and then a layer of Gray Granite Cardstock. I stamped the three pods using Basic Gray, Soft Suede, and Gray Granite Inks, and the sentiment (from the stamp set) in Soft Suede.

But Enough With the Browns and Grays!

The card at the top of this post is where I finally saw the real potential of this stamp set. The images, all from nature, are a great accent for any card where the sentiment is the main focus on the set. Now I can see that they are very likely a “go to” set when I just want to send a “Thinking of You” or “Just a Note” card. I looked back at the top card – I made that one first – and realized that’s just what I’d done.

Getting away from the browns and grays of the first two cards, I went to a paper set that says in its name and it’s not brown – it’s Forever Greenery. Yes, these may be seed pods, and brown is their natural color. But they can be nicely accented with greens and blues. For this arrangement in the jar from the Jar of Flowers Stamp Set I used two of the colors in the Forever Greenery set – Pretty Peacock and Soft Seafoam – as the main colors, which really accented the Soft Suede of the Poppy Seed Pod that forms the center of the card. The sentiment is from the Enjoy the Moment Stamp Set, and is one I plan to use as long as this stamp set is in a Stampin’ Up! catalog!

The Bottom Line

As I said in my title for this post, this is a very versatile stamp set. I’d encourage you to look around at other sites to see what people have done with it. And then I’ll be happy to help you buy it from my Stampin’ Up! shop. You definitely won’t regret having bought this set.

Happy Stamping!

The New Sand & Sea Suite from Stampin’ Up!

January 11, 2021 by Robin

Aloha, all!

Several posts ago I shared with you some cards I made using the new FREE Berry Blessings Bundle from this year’s Sale-a-bration Brochure. Two of those cards were fun fold pocket cards. At the time I promised that I would write a tutorial for both of the cards I demonstrated. And I finally have them done. Life has just gotten in the way, but things are settling down a bit. So now I can once again start using all those wonderful new products I’ve been neglecting. One of the product lines that’s getting my attention first is the Sand & Sea Suite from Stampin’ Up!’s new 2021 January to June Mini Catalog.

Stamps, Dies and an Embossing Folder – and all match!

It’s often the case that a Stamp Set has a set of Dies with shapes that cut out the stamps. But in the case of the Sand & Sea Suite, there’s an embossing folder – the Seashells 3D Embossing Folder – that matches the largest die. I made the card above using all three. And, no, I do NOT have to write a tutorial about how to make this. Here are the steps:

1. Die cut Basic White AND Soft Seafoam cardstock using the largest (full card-front size) die in the Seaside Seashells 3D Die Set. Set the Soft Seafoam die-cut aside.
2. Stamp the shell shapes on the Basic White die-cut using the stamps from the Friends Are Like Seashells Stamp Set. For this card, I used Flirty Flamingo, Balmy Blue, and So Saffron Ink.
3. Lay the stamped die-cut cardstock inside the front of the Seashells 3D Embossing Folder, lining up the shells with the embossing folder depressions. Close the embossing folder and run it through the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.
4. Line up the Soft Seafoam die-cut in the embossing folder and emboss it with the Cut & Emboss Machine.
5. Cut around the seashells that have been stamped on the Basic White Cardstock wherever a seashell is connected to another image.
6. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue, adhere each stamped/embossed seashell over the same image on the Soft Seafoam

That’s all there is to making the die-cut, stamped, and embossed image on the front of the card above!

Finishing This Card

To make this a complete card, all I had to do was to cut a piece of the Sand & Sea Designer Series Paper 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ high and adhere it to a Basic White Thick card base. I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue top adhere the finished image to the card front and added a sentiment from the same stamp set, stamped in Night of Navy Classic Ink.

And You Can use the Shells by Themselves!

Thinking back to the two pocket cards I showed off before I thought I’d try them out with the Sand & Sea Suite products. This is a remake of the Landscape Fold Pocket Card. I created the element on the front of the card using two seashells that I cut out of a completed die-cut/stamped/embossed piece. On the inside I simply stamped some shells. These are all Flirty Flamingo and Balmy Blue stamped.

The card on the right is the Double Triangle Pocket Card. I added a shell on the triangle on the left side, cut from the same piece as the shells on the other card. I still have a few shells left for yet another card (or two!).

The Bottom Line

I have to say that there really isn’t YET a bottom line for this suite of products. It has such endless possibilities, and today I’ve just scratched the surface. For many of you, there’s snow on the ground and seashells are not exactly on your mind right now. But once things warm up, you’re going to find a LOT of use for this beautiful set of products.

Happy Stamping!