Designer Series Paper

April Showers – Under My Umbrella!

March 31, 2021 by Robin

The Under My Umbrella Stamp Set is one of my favorite kind of outline stamps. It has several stamps that are just perfect for stamping on patterned paper to give them a pretty patterned color. No markers, or brushes, or colored pencils needed! It’s also the perfect stamp for this time of year. Tomorrow is April and in many parts of the United States it’s a very rainy month, leading to the old saying, “April Showers Bring May Flowers.” And what could be better for April Showers than a lovely umbrella?!

Aloha, all!

The area where I live, as well as the area where my friend, Cheryl Hamilton, lives are pretty much the middle of a rain forest. So we get some good rains all year. In fact, we measure annual rainfall in feet, not inches, though I do think that Hilo, Hawai’i, has Haiku, Maui beat by about 4 feet. So both of us can pretty much relate to the need for umbrellas. That’s why we decided to make the Under My Umbrella Stamp Set the featured set for today’s session of Island Hopping.

But It’s Retiring!

When we chose this set earlier this month, we knew that we’d hear by now if this set was going to retire and not carry over to the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. Sadly, this set and its accompanying Umbrella Builder Punch will be retiring at the end of the current Annual Catalog. The good news is that I still have another 5 weeks to have fun using it for my cards. And you still have those same 5 weeks to think about buying both of these fun products!

Having Fun With the Hydrangea Hill Paper Set

While I’m very sad not to have this stamp set around after May 3rd, I was happy to have the beautiful Hydrangea Hill Designer Series Paper set to use with these stamps. I loved trying to make up my mind about which the papers in that set would be the best for my umbrella. You can see that I couldn’t choose just one. So I ended up using three different prints from the paper set to make not one but three umbrellas. Right now I’m working on a set of tutorials that will be ready to be published soon and the Hydrangea Hill papers are featured in one of the 16 samples in the set. Oh, and I should point out that the Hydrangea Hill paper and all of the products that coordinate with it will be around in the January – June Mini Catalog until June 30th!

A Stamping Tip

Often when I’m stamping on Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Series Papers, the ink does not settle into the paper evenly. That happened this time when I was using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink on the Hydrangea Hill prints. One way to fix that would be to stamp the image twice. But you and I both know that doesn’t work well unless you use a stamp positioning tool. In this case, the stamp positioning tool was Stampin’ Up!’s Stamparatus.

If you read yesterday’s post, I used the Stamparatus for stamping on those Easter Cards. But the purpose was different – I wanted to make multiples of a card quickly. For this card, I held the paper in place with one of the Stamparatus’ magnets and stamped the image with the Stamparatus twice (three times in one case). Because both the paper and the stamp stay in the very same spot, you don’t get thick lines or “ghost” lines.

Those Stamped Images are Everywhere!

Not only did I stamp and punch some umbrellas for the front of the card, I also added one to the front of the envelope that I made to go with this card. I don’t always make matching envelopes, but I thought this would be a fun envelope to arrive at someone’s house during an “April Shower.”

While on was on a roll with this, I kept going and added a different umbrella image to the inside of the card. It’s peeking out in the photo at the top of this article. But I wanted you to see one other stamp from this set – the garden boots! For the inside of the card I punched a handle for the umbrella. There wasn’t enough space on the envelop for that, though I may go back and draw a little bit of one before I send it out next week.

I especially love the boots. I’d love to have a set of rubber boots with this fun print on them. As I no longer have a garden, I’ll just have to watch other people wear them. Hmmm. Maybe I can go visit Cheryl and wear some in HER garden!

The Bottom Line

This stamp set and it’s coordinating punch are going to retire as of May 3, 2021. The good news is that the punch is on sale for 60% off! It’s now only $7.20, down from $18. And the stamp set, with its 15 stamps is only $16. Besides the 4 umbrella/boots stamps, there are 4 floral stamps and 6 sentiments. Oh, the the raindrops! Do you see that rain on those umbrellas? That’s a stamp that I applied repetitively on the background of the umbrella layer on the card!

Finally, don’t forget to visit Cheryl Hamilton’s blog today. Guess what stamp set she’s using. (Oh, did I already tell you?)

And have fun with whatever is keeping you busy with your crafting these days!

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!

A Dragonfly Garden Birthday Wish

February 13, 2021 by Robin

For a garden lover

Aloha, all!

A favorite stamp set in the current Stampin’ Up! Mini Catalog is called, Dragonfly Garden. And my favorite image in the stamp set is a group of flowers, growing in a garden, which is exactly what I think of when I want to attract Dragonflies to my garden. Of course, in my perfect Dragonfly Garden, there has to be a pond. But I can make believe there’s one there somewhere.

From One Set of Papers to Another

I began the design for this card with the idea that I was going to use the Dandy Garden Designer Series Paper for he background. And that’s where the planning for this card stopped. I couldn’t quite figure out how I was going to construct the card front with any of the papers in that set. Of course the first thing I started doing was flipping through Pinterest and other online sources for ideas. I saw a card made with one of the beautiful Ornate Layers Dies on not one but three occasions. I’m sure I saw other great ideas, but this die-cut frame was what grabbed me each time I saw it.

The problem with this die and the Dandy Garden papers was that the only designs in the paper that worked with the frame were not a color that I had in mind for this card. But a brand new set of papers was going to work beautifully. The paper set is Butterfly Bijou, and will be available for everyone to see – and purchase! – at the beginning of March.

The sheet of paper that I chose featured three colors that were going to go perfectly with the floral stamp from the Dragonfly Garden Stamp Set: So Saffron, Blushing Bride, and Mint Macaron. This sheet from the Butterfly Bijoy paper set looks just as if someone had done a watercolor wash over a piece of watercolor paper to create the most gorgeous background!

There’s Still a Piece of Dandy Garden Paper In the Card!

Before I put the Dandy Garden Paper away, though, I had to snatch a dragonfly from one of the dragonfly prints. And, no, I did not fussy cut this little cutie. The Dragonflies Punch punched it out of the Designer Series Paper perfectly! Both the large and small dragonflies printed on one of the sheets work with the punch. Unfortunately you can’t punch both dragonflies out at the same time because of the way they are printed. But it’s still easier that cutting those critters by hand!

A Special Happy Birthday

I made this card for a special person, my husband’s aunt. Her birthday is coming up in just a few days. One of her favorite things to do is to walk in a wilderness-type area on the property on which she lives. Certainly there are flowers and birds. But there’s also a large pond and it attracts some beautiful insects including – you guessed it! – dragonflies. I can just see this scene out where she walks.

I found a birthday greeting that I thought would go perfectly with the other elements of this card in the Timeless Tulips Stamp Set. Because I organize my stamps by name, it seems that my two favorite birthday greetings sit right next to one another. One is in Timeless Tropical and the other is the Timeless Tulips. Works for me! I especially like this particular sentiment because of its size. It fits nicely on a 1/2″ strip of cardstock. And I can mat it with a 3/4″ strip of a coordinating color cardstock. In this case I used Mint Macaron, the cardstock I used for the card base for the card. I added two Rhinestone Basic Jewels to give the card a little bling.

The Bottom Line

I love that Stampin’ Up! seems to have been doing more in the way of “natural” designs. That includes its Designer Series Papers as well as its stamp set. I was thrilled with the Dragonfly Garden set with its coordinating Dandy Garden paper set. Then there is the Enjoy the Moment Set featuring seed pods. You’ve seen some work I’ve done with that set here. And now there’s the upcoming Butterfly Bouquet suite. Of all of them right now, the Dragonfly Garden is my favorite. You can click on its picture in the slideshow below and learn more about it and coordinating product in my personal Stampin’ Up! store right now! You will love all the products that go with it.

Whatever you are doing this week with your stamping, I hope you’re having fun with it!