Blogger's Challenge #97 - Sketch Challenge!

Good morning stampers! I can't believe it's really been a week since I posted here. I promise you that I have been stamping, but honestly, this week just flew by! We have been doing a multitude of things around our house and we are still recovering from having houseguests for two weeks as well, so I'm going to give myself a little slack - but I am sorry I've been absent here. I'll make it up to you, ok?

Today's Blogger's Challenge was to be based on this sketch by our challenge Mom, Lisa S. Actually, I used this sketch by accident in this post here when I got back from Hawaii. I got my weeks confused and since I'd already made the card, I went ahead and posted it then. On that card, I turned the sketch on it's side, but here, I used it as produced.

I'd been playing around with my Big Shot and Texture plates (I know, insert surprised face here!) and had a piece of Mellow Moss cardstock that had been embossed with the diamond pattern laying on my countertop. This became my starting point for the card. I also had a piece of the Riding Hood Red gingham design from the Bella Rose Designer Series Paper laying on the counter and I thought that would be a cool, kind of retro combination - reminiscent of my Grandma's kitchen. So, I pulled out my much loved, never used Puns from the Past stamp set and selected the antique grater stamp for this project. This stamp set has super images and I love the tongue in cheek quips that go along with them.

I stamped the grater on to Very Vanilla cardstock with Basic Brown ink then layered it onto a piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock and again onto Close to Cocoa cardstock. There is a dimensional in each corner to make it pop up above the rest of the layers.

This was mounted on top of the gingham dsp which was matted with more Very Vanilla cardstock. I used a piece of Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon as my accent here.

The Mellow Moss piece was trimmed off at the bottom edge with my Paper Snips a la tablecloth style and formed the left side layer.

Now as you can see, I was channeling my inner Patti Chesky yesterday and EVERYTHING in sponged! (Love you Patti!) If you are not a regular reader of my blog or haven't checked out hers in my sidebar, you should know that the Stampin' Sponges are her BEST FRIEND!

I sponged the Mellow Moss piece all over the top to pop out the dimension in the texture pattern and all the other edges are sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. I think it just gives this card the old fashioned feel that it needed.

Lastly, I pulled out one of my all time favorite, now retired background stamps, Canvas. This was inked up in Riding Hood Red and stamped on to the card front, also Riding Hood Red. It may be a bit hard to see in the photo, but it's there, I promise!

Thanks for stopping by today, I'm so glad you did! Be sure to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge Players by clicking on the link in my sidebar. They will have some great ideas with this sketch as well!

I hope to be back again tomorrow with another post - I do have some things ready to show you - but Emma has her Spring Ice Skating Exhibition tomorrow afternoon and my Mom is coming to visit today, so just send up a prayer for me that I find some time to stamp and blog!

Stamped blessings,

~~Robin

Blogger's Challenge #96 - Alter It!

I have a confession to make - this project is 3 years old. I had zero time this week to make a new altered project - although I had many ideas floating in my brain - so I reverted to this piece of artwork that resides in my studio.

I created this in early 2006 with what was then new SU! product - Looks Like Spring stamp set (still one of my all time favs!, now retired), Spring Flowers Designer Series Paper (the first double sided paper - you would be amazed to know how much of this I hoarded, ok, am STILL hoarding!) and Hodgepodge Hardware in Pewter.

This piece has been on display in my studio ever since I made it and when I took it out to photograph, I realized that I love it even more now than when I created it. I began with a black wood framed picture from everyone's favorite store - Tar-jeay. (Target. Really, don't you read French!) I sanded down the $$ spot find with some fine grit sandpaper which brought out a brown undercoat and then painted it with some soft pink acrylic paint. After it dried I applied crackle medium to the surface and that created the aged look on the frame.

I think the original picture was of an elephant or something jungle themed, so I just covered it with a piece of my DSP and built the collage from there. I stamped the large flower twice on Naturals Ivory cardstock, once in So Saffron and once in Blush Blossom then trimmed them out. Yes, it was a pain - don't you remember doing that? But the results were SO worth it! I then curled my petals upward with my Bone Folder and tipped a few of the edges with a Stampin' Sponge and Always Artichoke ink. I added a punched out Artichoke flower to the middle and held this focal piece together with a Hodgepodge brad. It's mounted on another piece of the DSP and then again on Always Artichoke cardstock, also aged a bit with some more Artichoke ink.

All the other little flowers were punched out of the DSP or stamped and punched out of co-ordinating cardstock. A bunch of dimensionals were used to get the height differences there and then I added a couple of Hodgepodge pieces and some ribbon bits to finish it off.

So, yes, this is an oldy, but a goody! I hope you like it and will enjoy the look back at one of my all time favorite stamp sets and dsp combos. Maybe it will even inspire you to dust off your Looks Like Spring set ( I KNOW you kept it!) and cut out a few of those flowers again! Leave me a comment and tell me what you think - I love to hear from you! And thanks to those of you who have signed up to follow my blog - I really appreciate that you want to keep up with me!

Be sure to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge players by clicking on the link in my sidebar - they are a great source of inspiration!

Happy Friday, ya'll! I'll try and be back with a new post tomorrow. My hubby gave me an idea to try and if it works out, I'll be posting that! Now you're really curious, eh? :)
~~Robin

A Little Spring

That's all we need, just a little spring today. As I write this, the sun is trying to come out between the clouds and oh, my I hope it succeeds! I get to spend the day out today and sunshine is always a lift for me.

This sweet little card was inspired by a photo of four Gerbera Daisies in my daily devotional journal magazine. I immediately knew I wanted to turn it into a card and since my friend Andrea's baby shower was on Sunday, I made it into her card.

The Whisper White card base is 4 1/4" square and is sponged on the edges with Pixie Pink ink. I stamped the greeting on the lower right corner in Pixie Pink as well using the baby greeting from the Short and Sweet stamp set - another must own set! SU!, if you are listening, please don't retire this workhorse stamp set - it rocks!

The four daisies are cut using my Big Shot and the Flower, Daisies #2 Die, just like the purse box from yesterday (yes, I'm a bit obsessed at the moment!). I cut them with Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Gable Green and Orchid Opulence. The centers are punched with the 1/2" Circle punch in Chocolate Chip. All the flowers are mounted on Stampin' Dimensionals so they pop up above the one layer card front - I know, that's unusual for me, but I loved the simplicity of it this time.
To finish the card, I stamped the baby sentiment from the God's Blessings stamp set on the inside in Pixie Pink.

I really loved how this turned out and we will probably be doing this card in my Just Cards camps next Tuesday. Oh, what is that? You haven't registered yet? Well, whatcha waitin' for? It's just $15 for 5 projects, all supplies included. You can RSVP with your $5 deposit by Saturday, 4/25.

Have a sunny, stampin' day!
~~Robin

I'm Late, But It's Worth the Wait!

At least I hope you think so! Hello everyone - I know I promised to post this on Saturday, and I did manage to get the photo uploaded, but it has just been crazy busy here. We have a two week Revival Summit going on at our church right now - check out http://www.lifeaction.org/ to see what that's all about - AND two of their ministry team are staying with us, AND Emma's synchro skating season is winding down so she's had extra practices for the Spring Show coming up on May 2nd! Whew! It makes me dizzy just reading all that!

Anyway, here is the super cute purse box that I created ALL by myself! No Casing was done here! Amazing, eh? I had so much fun using the color assignment from Friday's Blogger's Challenge that I took a piece of the "To The Nines" Designer Series Paper and created this little beauty!

I cut a piece of DSP at 5 3/4" x 12 and ran it through my Big Shot with the Box #2 Die. I used my new Extended Crease Pad to make sure the score lines remained that way - kwim? no cut through - and assembled the box using just a tiny bit of Sticky Strip on one side.

The front flap of the box is supposed to tuck inside, but I cut an additional piece of the DSP and flipped it over to the opposite side and added it to the box front with some more Sticky Strip to create the purse flap. It was trimmed with the Corner Rounder. The embellishment was made with the Scalloped Oval Punch and a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock, sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. The pretty flowers are from the Big Shot Flower, Daisies #2 Die and just layered with a bit of SNAIL. The large Chocolate Chip brad is from the new Jumbo Neutrals Assortment 5/8". I love how it makes the flower look like a sunflower!

For my purse handle, I trimmed a piece of Chocolate Chip Double Stitched Grosgrain ribbon to 13" and adhered it to the box with Sticky Strip. To add the Jumbo Neutrals White Brads 5/16" to the side, I punctured a hole through the ribbon and box with my Paper Piercing Tool from the Crafter's Tool Kit. The final touch was just adding a piece of DSP to the purse bottom to hide the ribbon ends and finish it nicely!

I hope you like my happy little purse! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I LOVE to hear from you - it's like getting a smile and it makes my day brighter!

Stampingly,
~~Robin

Blogger's Challenge #95 - Color Challenge

Happy Friday everyone! Finally we have sunshine in Virginia and I'm headed out to enjoy lunch with my friend Christina! But, I wanted to post my creation for you first, so here goes......

Our challenge this week was to use the colors Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke and Sage Shadow in a project. Well, when I pulled out the colors on Wednesday to start on my project, it was so dreary outside that these colors just didn't speak to me at all! My mojo was drowning in the rain! But, yesterday the sun was out and it was gorgeous, so I had a whole different outlook. These colors are the ones in the new Designer Series Paper called "To the Nines" and are very masculine and a bit somber, IMHO.

So I tried to take lighter approach to them and started with the Sahara Sand as my card base. It's a piece of 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 cardstock folded in half, then I trimmed off about 1 1/4" from the top edge. I took my Bone Folder and rubbed it against the edge, creating a distressed look. Then I layered a piece of To the Nines DSP on the inside flap. I went with a Sage Shadow piece. Next, I placed a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock to the inside right edge of the card, so it looks like graduated layers from the front. I hope that description makes sense to you!

I then took my Sahara Sand ink pad and dragged it across the front of my card, giving it the weathered look you see. The stamped tree image is from a cute new stamp set in the Occasions Mini called "Forest Friends" and I inked it up with my Stampin' Write Markers using Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow and Always Artichoke. It's stamped on a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock cut at 2 x 2 1/4" - the same size as the wood block the stamp is mounted on. I often use that guide to decide how big to cut my cardstock. Each layer underneath is cut just 1/4" larger than the stamped image so it creates a 1/8" border around it. It's easy to remember this method and you know I like EASY! My layers here are Always Artichoke and Sage Shadow. Each of these layers is also distressed with the Bone Folder all around.

I mounted this focal image on Stampin' Dimensionals so it would stand out over top of the Chocolate Chip Double Stitched Grosgrain ribbon I placed across the card front. Notice the right edge is frayed for texture. Lastly, the greeting is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink in the lower right corner. I used the "for you" from the stamp set "Great Friend" also in the Occasions Mini.

All in all, I'm really pleased with this card, not somber at all, but very appropriate for anyone. Let me know what you think, ok?

And be sure to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge Creations by clicking on the link in my sidebar - I know they will inspire you with these colors.

If you check back with me tomorrow, I'll have a 3-D project for you along a similar color scheme. What can I say? Once I got started yesterday, I was just having fun and kept going. Welcome back Mojo!

Stamped Blessings,

~~Robin

More Hawaii Pics!

Wow! It's such a dreary, rainy day here in Virginia, it's a good thing I had planned to post more Hawaii pics for you today. I needed to see some sunshine!

The first photo is of the sunrise one morning from our balcony. Mark did not see this because he was still sleeping. And as one friend put it "A sunrise is just a sunset backwards!" But, I thought it was beautiful and am so glad I got up to see it!

This next picture is of us on the catamaran we were on for the Whale Watching trip. It was the perfect day to be out on the water, sunny, breezy, perfect temperature (everything today is NOT!) We didn't see many whales, actually, we saw more from the shore at our resort than on this trip, but this was one of the highlights for me. I simply love being out on the water and it couldn't have been better!

Here is a picture of me and two of my best buds (L to R) Selene Kempton, Tiffany Bauer and Me. I think we were on our way to dinner at Merriman's Restaurant Cafe. Yes, that was really the name of the restaurant! No family discount though! LOL!~

Here I am with two of my Blogger's Challenge buddies, Jeanette Swain and Claudia Perry. We were at the fabulous private breakfast that Stampin' Up! had for us on the patio overlooking the lagoon at the resort. Great friends, great food and gorgeous scenery!

Lastly for today is me with my friend from Iowa, Susie Wood. We met at my first Founder's Trip in 2007 and just hit it off right away. She is so sweet and I love getting to see her at SU! events!

That's all the pictures Blogger will let me upload again today, so I'll be back with more later this week! Enjoy this look at the sunshine if you are stuck in the gray clouds today!

~~Robin

A Quilt for Julie

I have been seeing these fun cards all over the place and even have a few of them from swaps I've done. I just love how you can take a bunch of scraps and make something beautiful from them. So, when my hostess last Saturday, Julie, fell in love with the red gingham pattern from the Bella Rose Designer Series Paper, I knew I had to demonstrate a card with it. The only problem was that I only had a few scraps of that particular pattern in my stash. Thanks to the inspiration of my stamping friends, I knew I could make this fun, homespunny card with what I did have.

I took my scraps in 4 different patterns and punched out 3 squares each with my 1 1/4" Square Punch. I laid out my pattern on a piece of Whisper White cardstock, using SNAIL adhesive to stick the squares down. I did begin in the lower left corner of a piece of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece and moved across towards the right, repeating the pattern for three rows. This made a nice rectangle on my cardstock and when I went to cut the Top Note with my Big Shot, I had two straight edges to line up over the die so it would cut properly.

After cutting out the Top Note, I took a piece of Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon and adhered it the front of the card, wrapping the ends around the back and adhering with SNAIL. I then took a smaller piece of ribbon and tied it around the front in a single knot, making it appear to be wrapped all the way around the quilt piece. That's a nice little ribbon saver!

The greeting comes from the Oval All stamp set in the Occasions Mini Catalog. I colored the rubber with Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red Stampin' Write Markers then stamped it onto Whisper White cardstock. It is punched out with the new Scalloped Oval Punch, also in the Mini Catalog. After sponging the edges with Kiwi Kiss ink, I mounted it on Stampin' Dimensionals and adhered it to the card front.

The cardbase is made with Chocolate Chip cardstock and layered with a piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock. I used the paper distressing tool in the Cutter Kit to fray the edges of the pink and then ran my Chocolate Chip marker around it a bit to dirty it up. The quilted Top Note is adhered to the Pink Pirouette and after attaching a piece of Whisper White cardstock to the inside, I was done!

Julie loved her card and I hope you love it too! Thanks for stopping in today to visit - let me know you were here by leaving a comment! I love to hear from you!

~~Robin