Cruisin' to Bermuda Special!

Happy Friday everyone!

If you are reading this post, then you know I am on my way to the Stampin' Up! Cruise to Bermuda! I'll be back in the studio on April 7th, but since I am cruising for FREE, I thought you deserved a chance at some FREE product while I am away. Here are the details:

For any orders e-mailed to me (princessforj@comcast.net) between Friday, March 28th and Saturday, April 5th,
you will receive the following based on the amount of your order:

Spend $25 and receive a FREE package of Stampin’ Dimensionals
OR
Spend $50 and receive any product in the Idea Book of $5.95 or less – FREE
OR
Spend $100 and receive any product in the Idea Book of $10.95 or less – FREE
OR
Spend $150 and receive a FREE Level One Hostess ONLY stamp set
AND $15 in FREE money to spend on more product!
PLUS a FREE SNAIL OR FREE Sticky Strip OR FREE Crystal Effects!

BONUS!
– If I receive 10 separate orders of $50 or more
– All of your names will go into a drawing to win YOUR CHOICE of these ocean themed stamp sets –

Boatloads of Love Pg. 38 $20.95
Whale Wishes Pg. 62 $19.95
Crab and Company Pg. 63 $27.95
Ahoy, Matey Pg. 75 $23.95
Life’s a Breeze Pg. 80 $29.95
Winds of Grace Pg. 102 $19.95
A Light unto My Pat Pg. 103 $18.95
Seaside Pg. 103 $23.95

I hope you LOVE the opportunity to earn FREE products! I LOVE giving them to you! Be sure to take advantage of this Special before Saturday, April 5th. It expires at Midnight that day!

Have a wonderful week everyone - I'll post photos of the trip when I return!
Robin

You put da lime in da coconut and shake it all up!

At least that's what my daughter said when she saw this card. (with an island lilt) :) Apparently that is the new "phrase" on the playground at school - go figure!

Anyway, this cute card was designed for me last week by my downline Lauren when I was too sick to do anything to prep for my stamp camps that are going on today. It was so cute, I had to share it with you - it helps me think about my upcoming cruise too! Oh, my, Bermuda is calling my name today!

The card is really simple, using the citrus slice from Tart and Tangy in the Occasions Mini catalog. Just random stamp it in Green Galore on Green Galore cardstock and once on Whisper White. Punch out the single lime and mount it on a circle punch of Pumpkin Pie. Lauren applied Crystal Effects to make it 'juicy' and dimensionaled it to the corner of the layered Whisper White and patterned paper. This is one of the designs from the Summer Picnic paper, also in the mini catalog.

The sentiment is from It's Your Birthday and is markered in Green Galore and Pumpkin Pie. She used the distressing tool from the Cutter kit on the edges. Very cute, but very simple!

Have you read the Bermuda Alert on my sidebar? Are you wondering what kind of special I'll have for you while I'm gone? You'll just have to check back on Thursday to see!.......

Nifty Gift Card holder

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your families and friends.

Today's project is a cool gift card holder - the pattern came from a recent swap I was in and I cased it from Natalie Travis' cute card. Because of the rules of that swap, I can't post a picture yet of her card, so I decided to make a completely different design using her pattern.

Start with a 4 1/4" x 11 piece of cardstock (here Soft Sky) and score it at 3" from each end, then score at 5 1/2". Fold the cardstock into the shape of a 'W'.

For this holder, I used the It's Beautiful Jumbo wheel to decorate the front and back covers, stamping Soft Sky ink on the cardstock.

I then used Sticky Strip and attached the bottom points of the 'W' together, so it looks like a little book with one page in the middle.

Take the Word Window punch and punch the divot across the front edge of the inside page of the book. This creats the slot for the gift card to rest inside. You will have to line up the punch and punch it twice across the cardstock. (My example shows a round cut out area - I was trying to add a finger hold and botched it, and then discovered that it wasn't necessary anyway! So just ignore that!)

The ribbon closure is 16" of Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon tied around the folder in a bow. I used a bit of snail on the backside to hold it in place.

The front decoration was stamped using Stitched Exotics and Short and Sweet. I used Rose Red ink for the flower and the eyelet is from Fresh Favorites I and attached using the Crop-A-Dile. I popped the flower up on dimensionals above some leaves stamped in Wild Wasabi. The layered front piece is attached with Snail adhesive.

If you are coming to Stamp Camp tomorrow, you will get to make this beauty along with four other projects! Enjoy!

Trinity Designs Group Meeting!

Just a few photos to share with you all from my downline meeting today! We had so much fun stamping and sharing together - I'd love to have you on my team of demos, have you ever thought about joining us?

The first photo shows swap cards made by Jen Rodgers (l), Nancy Clark (m) and Lindsay Garnder (r). Jen used sticky strip and the new red bead duos for her corner accents. Nancy's card utilizes the slit punch and I think would make a great gift card holder. Lindsay used the luscious new Silver hodgepodge hardware with her gorgeous watercoloring. Love, love them ladies!

The second photo shows swap cards made by Linda Shortt (l) and Wendy Groszkiewicz (r). In Linda's card she stamped the right panel with Canvas and then with the swirls from Priceless. Wendy colored her flower, coated it with Crystal Effects (Wow) and added the rhinestone brad center. Beautiful work from both of you.

Please be kind and don't case these cards for any contests, each stamper has given me one to submit to SU! for the WOW art file and they gave me permission to share with you. Thanks so much!

Happy Easter!

Blogger's Challenge - Color Combo - Week 39

Hi everyone! I hope you've had a great week - it's been fun having my dd home this week on Spring Break, even if we were both sick! I'm really looking forward to Easter Sunday. I especially love being in church on Easter, celebrating our Risen Lord and Saviour! This year, my family will travel to my parents after church to have a nice relaxing Easter meal that neither me or my dh have to cook - hence the "relaxing" part! :)

Here is my post for this week's Blogger's Challenge. We had to create a project combining the colors of Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Real Red and Chocolate Chip. A while ago, I saw a card on Mercy Kerin's wonderful blog and knew immediately that I wanted to case it for this challenge. This is Mercy's original card here. (http://lordhavemercy-mercykerin.blogspot.com/2008/03/technique-lovers-challenge-158-sketch.html)

I started with a Chocolate Chip card base and stamped the large flower image from One of A Kind randomly in Choc. Chip ink for a background. Then I layered Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Real Red, stamping the small flower image from One of A Kind in Real Red for some contrast. It shows up much better in real life.

The next layers are Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip and Summer Picnic Designer paper tied off with Chocolate Chip Twill ribbon.

The sentiment is from All Holidays and was markered in Chocolate Chip and Real Red. I then layered it on Blue Bayou, added the Red rhinestone brad for bling and popped it up on dimensionals.

Yes, it's lots of layers, but so beautiful in person - well worth the weight of the cardstock. I hope you like it!

Happy Easter to everyone and remember - He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

Oh, Baby - it's a Card!

Recently, I was asked to be one of four Featured Artist Stampers for my upline's demonstrator website. What an honor and priviledge to be asked - it sure puts me in the company of some great stampers who are an inspiration to me!

Anyway, my upline is allowing me to share my work with my clients and downline via this blog. Over the next few weeks, I'll posting some of the samples here for you to see.

This baby card was really very easy to put together - the key is that I mounted the 1 1/4" squares onto Very Vanilla cardstock which was then mounted onto the 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" card base. This allowed me to trim any uneven edges from piecing the "quilt".
I used one of my new favorite stamp sets from the Spring Idea Book - "Just B" and the Pretty in Pink and Bashful Blue prints paper from the Level 1 hostess pack. All the edges were sponged in Creamy Caramel for an antiqued look and I attached the Soft Subtles buttons with mini glue dots. The letter "B" is cut out and mounted up on dimensionals. I finished it off with some Caramel Gingham ribbon. The Key Tag punch finished up the sentiment and I added the button and caramel sponging as well.

The envelope is a Medium Square which is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". I just added some of the paper, ribbon and a button for accents and sponged it as well. Not too practical for the US Mail, but would look great on a special baby gift!

This card is one of my favorites from all that I created for my upline and I'm so glad I was able to share it with you. Leave me a comment if you like it! I'd love to hear from you.

Stamp Camp Sneak Peek!

Good morning everyone! Just a quick post today to let you sneak a peek at some of the projects for stamp camp next Tuesday!
I do still have room for you if you want to attend either session - this is my ONLY stamp camp this month, so don't miss our fun stamping time together!

Pick your time to attend: Tuesday, March 25th @ 10 am OR Tuesday, March 25th @ 7 pm
Cost is $15 inclusive. RSVP to me via e-mail at princessforj@comcast.net $5 deposit required to hold your spot!
Can't wait to see you all here!

Free Wheelin' Promotion Starts Today!

Here it is gals, hot off the presses - a new Freebie promo from Stampin' Up! (I just love FREE, don't you!)

Just click on the picture of the flyer for all the juicy details!

I'll have more to post later, I've been a bit under the weather the past two days and I'm trying to get my stampin' mojo back.........

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Birthday Card Challenge - Card #2!

Well, I just realized that this post will appear before the 1st one for the challenge, so read them in whatever order, but the pink and black card was supposed to go first! Haha, I told you I'm not computer literate! :)

This card is one I actually designed last year but I didn't get to show it much, so I'm bringing it back over the next two weeks in my workshops for new clients.
It starts with a 6 x 6 piece of Certainly Celery cardstock folded into 3 x 6. I then stamped one of the circles from Pick a Petal in Certainly Celery ink for an easy background. (I sure do use that stamp set a lot, hmmm.....)
I then stamped the greeting on the bottom right corner in Basic Black. It's from the "It's Your Birthday" stamp set.
The White Taffeta ribbon was tied around the front of the card by cutting a slit in the fold with the Craft Knife and threading it thru and knotting on the front.

I stamped the 'Smile' petal 5 times onto Almost Amethyst Designer Prints paper and cut out the petals with paper snips. They were adhered onto the card with SNAIL. The center was stamped in Summer Sun on Whisper white and punched out with the 1" Circle Punch. I used the 1/8" hole punch to create the hole for the Fire Rhinestone Brad and then adhered the whole center with a dimensional to the flower.
This is a really fun, easy card to make and could be re-done in so many color combos for any occasion. The Pick-a-Petal stamp set is really one of my favorites because you really can use the components in so many ways. It's definitely one worth owning!

Don't forget - Sale-A-Bration ends Monday! Contact me asap to place your order and get FREE stamps!
I hope you all have a great weekend! See you again on Monday.........

Blogger's Challenge - Birthday Cards

This challenge was hard! I can't decide between 2 different cards, so I'm going to post them both! The first one is a card I designed for classes and camps last month - and it was such a big hit, I knew when I saw the challenge this week that I had to share it.

If you hadn't noticed by now, I just love bling! Anything to make a project sparkle just a bit or any way to add just a bit of unexpected color or fun makes me smile and I hope you too!

This card started with a base of Basic Black cut at 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, folded and layered with a piece of Pink Passion cut at 4 x 5 1/4. I then took a piece of Whisper White and stamped "celebrate" from Celebrate Everything in Pink Passion across the bottom. I then used scrap paper and masked off the greeting and used the circles from Pick A Petal to create the bouncy polka dots! Using the NEW Black Chunky Essentials glitter (love it!) I adhered a piece of Sticky Strip to the white cardstock and covered it with the glitter. White layer was then adhered to another layer of Basic Black and hole punched with the 1/8" punch in one of the open circles. I used one of the clear rhinestone brads from the Pretties Kit for the finishing touch and popped the whole thing up on dimensionals and adhered it to the card base. Fun, bright and simple! Enjoy!

Black and White Layout

Here is another photo of a project from last spring. I've been finding a lot of pictures that I never published for my clients before and some of them are worth seeing, I think!

This is a 6 x 6 layout I did when Doodle This was brand new to us. I simply embossed the images on black cardstock and cut around one of the flowers with my craft knife to create the photo corner. I then embossed two small flowers on white cardstock, colored them with markers, cut them out and used them as accents. The photo is mounted on Regal Rose cardstock.

The sentiment is from a retired stamp set, but you could easily substitute another one. This is probably one of my all time favorite layouts and I just love this picture of my family together. Have a great Wednesday everyone. We are off to skating rehearsal and then more rehearsal for our church Easter Pageant. What a fun, family evening! :)

Blast from the past

Hi everyone. It's been a crazy, drama filled day around
here. It was picture day at school and when you have a
10 year old daughter, the hair and the outfit have to be
just right.....
Anyway, she looked beautiful and waaay too grown up
for me, but what do you do? Just love them while you
have them! It's going by all too quickly.

The project I pulled out for you today is actually a teacher gift I made for dd's 3rd grade teacher last spring. I'd forgotten all about it until I came across the photo today so I thought I'd share it with you all.

I took a small craft slate with a wood frame and using the 2 way glue stick, attached the patterned paper from (retired) Petals and Paisleys. I just put the glue on the frame. Then I used my craft knife and carefully cut out the inside of the paper along the inside of the edge of the frame. I flipped the paper over and glued it to the interior of the slate. Easy - peasy!

The title was stamped with Letterpress Alphabet (also retired) and Polka Dots and Petals. It's layered onto Taken with Teal cardstock and popped up on dimensionals. I edged the title with Teal ink as well and color spritzed So Saffron on for a background.

The post-it-note cover was just Teal cardstock wrapped around a post-it-note pad and adhered with sticky strip. The flower was from Big Blooms (also retired, sorry!). I curled the petals with my bone folder and stamped and punched the center with Polka Dots and Petals also.

The ribbon is Apricot grosgrain, stapled onto the back and tied to a pen from my favorite store, Target that just happened to coordinate with the colors! Yay - just love it when that happens! I finished it off with a clip from Hodgepodge Hardware tied with Apricot and Celery grosgrain ribbon.

I just love altering things to make them PRETTY! It's so fun to play and turn something plain into something that makes someone smile.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Leave me a comment if you like it!

Only 7 Days Left!!

Yes, you heard me! Just 7 days left for FREE STAMPS for EVERYONE!
Monday, March 17th is the last of Sale-A-Bration for this year! Here are the details:

Customers: For every $50 purchase you make, you will receive a FREE Sale-A-Bration product. There are 5 stamps sets to choose from and 1 coordinating package of NEW Rub-ons!

Hostesses: In addition to our regular hostess benefits, YOU will receive a FREE Sale-A-Bration stamp set or Rub-ons for each $300 in sales at your party!

Recruits: Anyone who joins as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration receives
· $50 off the Starter Kit (pay just $159 for over $330 value!)
· Also choose any stamp set--a value of up to $47.95--from the current catalog
· AND as MY gift to you, receive either the fabulous Craft and Paper Scissors (aka Ribbon scissors) OR the Crop-A-Dile! (Both a $30 value!)

Here is the link to my website that allows you to download the special Sale-A-Bration Brochure
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/robinstamps4u/promotions
or follow the link on the sidebar by clicking on the picture of the Yellow Sale-A-Bration Brochure.
Time is running out this year - don't miss your chance to get these limited release stamps before they are gone forever!

It's Scrappy Monday!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend - ours was busy, but fun. I was carried back to ancient Israel all day yesterday as we had our big dress rehearsal at church for the Easter Pageant presentation this coming weekend. It's always fun to act and sing in the production, but boy I had a hard time getting up this morning. Maybe it's the time change - since it was really 5:30 when I got up and not 6:30 like my alarm clock said! HaHa, I'm just not a morning person! Daylight Savings time is for the birds!

Today's posting is another layout that I did for my last month's Scrappin' Simplified class. I found the color scheme in a magazine and thought it would be perfect for pictures of my daughter ice skating in our backyard last winter. Yes, I said backyard! It was an amazing ice storm we had here then and she was even able to go over to the park and skate on the basketball court and tennis court. We took video of her and sent it into the local news and she was on the highlight reel that day! Very exciting.

I still hadn't finished the journaling when I took the photos, but it goes in the open space on the Basic Gray block.

This layout allowed me to use Brilliant Blue which typically I HATE - but it just works here. I guess we will be seeing a lot more of that color this season, since brights are hot, hot, hot right now. Maybe it's time for me to get over my BB phobia! :)

Here's the supply list:

Stamps: Well Worn Alphabet, Short Order Alphabet, Snowfall, Bold Snowflakes Jumbo wheel

Cardstock: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Basic Gray

Inks: Whisper White Craft, Elegant Eggplant (craft and classic), Basic Gray

Accessories: Chunky Glitter, Heat and Stick Powder, Clear EP, Pretties Kit, dimensionals, corner rounder, heat tool

Enjoy the layout! And have a great week! - Robin

My 1st Blogger's Challenge!

Wow, what a week! First I decide to start this blog thing and now before even a week has passed, I am doing my first challenge with a group of stampin' rock stars! Oh my goodness, I hope I can keep up with them.

I needed to create a card using products from the new Occasions Mini (if you haven't seen it yet, click on the link here on my blog to view the gorgeous stamps and papers!) for a swap I'm in. So if you are in my swap group, this is the card you'll be receiving. Sorry for the spoiler, but a gal's gotta make the most of her time! :)

In this description, all the NEW products from the mini are highlighted in blue.

Having never made one of those cute Tent Topper cards, I wanted to use that layout, so I started with a piece of Elegant Eggplant cut at 4 1/4" x 8 1/2". I stamped the clock image from Time for You in Whisper White Craft ink and heat embossed it with Whisper White EP. Next, I stamped the main image with the saying from Garden Whimsy in eggplant and mounted it onto Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue and Elegant Eggplant layers. I added one of the gorgeous rhinestone brads before layering it onto a piece of Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper and more Wild Wasabi cardstock. Using my Horizontal Slot punch I added slots on the front of the large layers for the Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain ribbon to slide through and then tied a knot in the center. The ribbon goes all the way around the inside of the card. I hate cut off ribbon - it just looks unfinished to me.

For the final touch, I used one of the On Board chipboard hearts coated in Certainly Celery Craft ink and embossed with Heat and Stick powder. I then covered it in the new Chunky Sprinkles glitter in green. It is attached to the center with some Mini Glue Dots and Voila!, it's finished!

Have a great weekend everyone - I'll be back on Monday!

It's "Fabulous"!

Those of you who recieve my Stampin' Up!dates and Card of the week e-mail may remember that I recently did some design work for my upline's website. Well, she has given me permission to share that work with you all in my e-mails and blog postings! Today's card is just one of the 20 projects I created for her.

My inpsiration for the colors came from a Pottery Barn Teen catalog page. The original quilt had multi-size polka dots on it in a color combo so close to Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink and Pink Passion, you would have sworn they took the colors straight from the Stampin' Up! Idea Book. Here is the card I created from that combo - keep in mind that I never would have thought to use Cameo Coral in combination with those two pinks, but they really just work great together!

So, what do you think - is it "Fabulous"?

Supplies used:

Stamps: Stitched Exotics, Just B

Paper: Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink, Pink Passion, Whisper White

Inks: S/A except for White

Accessories: Large and Small Tag Punches, 1/8" handheld punch, Rhinestone Brads Fire Round

Be sure to leave a comment if you like this project or have something nice to say about the new blog!

Merci!

Yes, that's "Thank You" in French and I thought it was appropriate for me to say to you all today for stopping by my new blog on your trip around the big world wide web!

The card I'm sharing today is one I created in February about 2 hours before I had to do the first of 3 workshops scheduled for one weekend! Whew - talk about last minute planning! Oh, well, everyone seemed to like it and most of all, I like it!

It uses the "Merci" stamp set that is FREE with your Sale-A-Bration order of $50, but only until March 17th! Here's the supply list so you can recreate it!
Stamps: Merci
Inks: Basic Brown, Certainly Celery
Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Celery Designer Series Prints
Accessories: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery and So Saffron Stampin' Write markers; Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, Round Tab punch, Gold Brads, 1/16" hole punch, snail adhesive

Enjoy the card! I'm off to eat yummy ravioli (homemade by my dh!) and watch American Idol. Have a great night everyone!

Taking the Plunge!

Hello out there in bloggerland! Yes, it's me, the computer-phobic stamper/scrapbooker, finally starting my own Blog. I've been lurking on so many of my stampin' friends' blogs for the longest time now. After much prodding and encouragement from them and some of the gals in my rocking' Stampin' Up! group I've decided to "just do it" and see what happens! So, for better or worse, here we go!

It's my hope to share with you the view from my little corner of the world. Hopefully, my postings and hand-stamped creations will inspire you and challenge you. Feel free to leave comments and let me know how I'm doing!

Here's a picture of a recent 12 x 12 scrapbook page I created for my Scrappin' Simplified class in February. I used the following Stampin' Up! supplies to create this one:

Stamp sets: Polka Dots and Petals, So Many Scallops, Best Friends Alpha lower

Inks: Taken with Teal, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Old Olive

Paper: Taken with Teal, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White, Old Olive Designer Series paper

Accessories: Circle punches, Scallop punch, eyelets, Crop-a-dile, dimensionals, buttons

Scrapbooking is my first love as a paper crafter, but I don't get to do nearly enough of it for my taste. Hope you like this first posting! I'll be back soon with more and hopefully I'll have figured out all the bells and whistles on this blog thing too!