25th Anniversary Blog Tour - September

Hello stampin' friends! 
Thanks for stopping by my blog today on the tour - you've just come from Anne Matasci's blog, Maui Stamper
I know Anne had some great samples for you. 

This month's Anniversary stamp set is the Best of halloween. 
If you've visited my blog before, you may know that the only thing my family and I celebrate about halloween is the candy - preferably chocolate. 
So, I knew that this stamp set would pose a challenge for me since I don't "do" this observance. 

Take a look at my two projects and tell me - did I meet the challenge?
 

My first card uses the witch's hat image as the hat for a scarecrow. 
I colored it with Early Espresso, Basic Gray and Soft Suede Stampin' Write markers and stamped it on Very Vanilla cardstock, then trimmed it up with my Paper Snips. I rounded off the top of the hat to make it look more like a farmer's hat.

The scarecrow head itself was cut out of a piece of our Burlap Ribbon from the Holiday Catalog. I used the next to smallest Circles Framelit piece to get the circle and frayed it a bit once it was cut. I used multiple strings from another piece of Burlap Ribbon to create the pseudo-scarecrow body, tying them up into a Naturals Button.

The rest of the card's stamped elements came from the Truly Grateful stamp set, also in the Holiday Mini. I used a color palette of Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit, Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip and Early Espresso. 
The Designer Paper is from the Witches' Brew package and the textured cardstock was done with the Woodgrain Embossing Folder with the Core'dinations cardstock. I used my Modern Label Punch for the greeting. 

I have to say, this card made me do the stampers happy dance just a little bit....
Well, maybe a lot a bit. :)

So, about that candy. 
We don't go trick or treating anymore, but we do sit outside and give out candy, at least, what we don't eat ourselves, so it wasn't a stretch for me to create a more whimsical card with that in mind. 

My color scheme for this one was Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White and Basic Black. 
I used another piece of the Witches' Brew Designer paper for my background and with a clean Sponge Dauber, added polka-dots of Versamark ink. 
I added Heat and Stick Embossing Powder to them and after heating, I added some Black Glitter from the Holiday Catalog. 
I loved how this turned out!

The two stamps I used from this month's set were the barren tree and the Trick or Treat greeting. I stamped the tree in Black Staz-On ink and then added a harvest moon in Summer Starfruit with a press of another Sponge Dauber. 
The greeting was colored with Stampin' Write Markers - Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray and Summer Starfruit. After I punched it out with the Modern Label Punch, I added some 2 Way Glue to the edges and dragged it through the Black Glitter. 
The inside of the card was finished off with a piece of Witches Brew Washi Tape - the skull and crossbones a tip of the hat to all the pirate costumes we see every year. 

Thanks again for stopping by my blog today - I'd love to hear your comments on my projects! 

Click the Blog Tour Logo below to visit the next blog on the tour - it's Andi Potler at Absolute Kreations.

Have a wonderful day!
~~Robin

Nancy Amato          http://stampinallnight.blogspot.com
Melissa Bolinger      http://www.stampinup.net/blog/2089191
Jackie Bottomley     http://www.jackiebottomley.blogspot.com
Susan Carlson         http://www.stampinmomoffour.blogspot.com
Tamra Davis             http://www.thecardladies.com
Sherri Eddleblute      http://www.sweetestdesigns.blogspot.com
Lynn Embrey            http://www.possibilitiestamperstudio.com
Kathy Hamrick          http://www.countryroads.typepad.com
Crystal Kondo           http://www.card-ed.com
Deb Lehigh               http://thestampinhut.typepad.com
Anne Matasci            http://www.MauiStamper.wordpress.com
Robin Merriman        http://www.trinitydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Andi Potler                 http://www.absolutekreations.com
Michele Reynolds      http://www.inspirationink.typepad.com
Sharon Tisdale          http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/coveredbridgesstamper/blog
Janet Wakeland        http://www.remarkablycreated.com

September Stamp of the Month Blog Tour

Good morning and welcome to my blog!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my project today. 

I'm having some technical issues with my photos of the project, so I hope you can view it while I work to get this resolved. 

I've used the Magnificent Maple stamp for my card, love this stamp!

Here (hopefully) is at least one photo of it:

My colors are Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry and a piece of the Specialty Designer Series Paper - Naturals Composition. 

I stamped my leaf image with Versamark ink, then embossed it with Heat and Stick Powder. I was then able to add some Orange Glitter from the Holiday Catalog. It was reheated to make the glitter adhere well. 

I added a Naturals Button tied with a piece of Burlap that was frayed from our Burlap Ribbon. 

The accent ribbon is a piece of Chocolate Chip Chevron ribbon. 

I hope you liked my project, now just click the Blog Tour Icon below to visit the next stop! 

Happy Stamping!

~~Robin

Truly Grateful Card

A couple of weekends ago, I had a few hours to just sit and play in my stamp studio. Those hours are few and far between these days and I treasure them a lot. 
On this particular Sunday evening, I decided to play around with some things that were in my 'serendipity' pile. That fun pile of discarded pieces that are way too good to actually throw away. I usually just pull one out of the stack and use it as my starting point. The project kind of evolves from there. 

This card began with the folded piece of Soft Suede cardstock. 
Yep, it was the wrong brown for a project I'd already created, but I knew I could use it for something. 

I added a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock, then stamped the Post Card background stamp in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla cardstock. It's cut down to the stamped edges and then crumpled up really good. This is a great technique when you need to work out your frustrations over something. 
Ask me how I know....

 

Once it was nice and crumpled up, I sponged over it lightly with Crumb Cake ink then added some 2 Way Glue and a touch of Gold Glitter. It's mounted on the card front with about 6 Stampin' Dimensionals. 

Here's a close up of the focal image:

I used the Circles Framelits for both circle pieces. The Cherry Cobbler one was also embossed with the Styled Script Embossing Folder, then sponged with Crumb Cake ink. 
The flourish image is from the Best of Shelli 25th Anniversary stamp set. I stamped it with Versamark, heat embossed it with the Heat and Stick powder then added Gold Glitter, reheating it to adhere it to the image. 

The greeting is from the Truly Grateful stamp set out of the Holiday Catalog. I stamped it in Cherry Cobbler ink on Very Vanilla and punched it out with the Modern Label punch. It's sponged with more Crumb Cake ink like the circles, then glued in between them. 
The burlap piece behind the greeting is just a piece of the Burlap ribbon cut open and frayed, then folded in half. I added some 2 Way Glue to it as well then finishing up with some Gold Glitter. 
That's kind of my favorite part of this card. :)

So glad you stopped by today to check out my project. 
As always, you can find all the supplies I used in my Online Stampin' Store: 
Robin's Online Stampin' Up! Store

Have fun creating your own projects - I'll see you here again soon!
~~Robin