Charming in Orchid

Hey there everyone! As I look out my window this morning, I see the sun attempting to come out from behind the clouds - boy I sure do hope it succeeds! We need some light therapy around here! :) Come on SPRING!
Along that train of thought, I'm bringing you a springy card today - and more Orchid Opulence! Are you sick of this color yet? It's so funny, I have rarely used this color over the past 4 years, in fact, I've just finally used up my first full pack of 8.5 x 11" cardstock! But hey, color is cyclical and probably by the end of the summer, we will put this one back on the shelf and turn to the next gorgeous trend! That's fine with me - bring it on!

My card today was inspired by this card here that I found on my friend Dena's blog early in February. I haven't used my Charming stamp set nearly enough and I loved the simplicity of this layout! It is also one of the cards you'll be making at Just Cards today and tonight!

For my version, I ran the card base through the Big Shot with one of my Texturz plates (card front only) and then emphasized the embossing with some Orchid Opulence ink sponged over the top and edges. The cardstock layers are Very Vanilla, more Orchid Opulence and Elegant Eggplant. And that gorgeous ribbon is the Old Olive Satin that is in the Occasions Mini-Catalog! Love it sooo much!

The focal image is just simple stamping, I stamped the words first in Orchid Opulence and then used my Stampin' Write markers to color directly on flower spray stamp - Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive. But wait, don't clean the stamp after you've stamped your focal point! Look at what you can do on the inside!

Yep, I just added a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock to the inside and 'huffed' on the still inked stamp to remoisten the ink. That gave me a softer version of the cover image for the inside panel. Cool, huh? :)

All in all, a very simple card, but oh, so pretty and spring-like!
Have a wonderful day peeps - I'm off to set up for card class!
Blessings,
~~Robin

March Just Cards - Space Available!

Just in case you needed something FUN to do tomorrow (3/16)- I have room in both my 10 am and 7 pm Just Cards classes for YOU! Here is a sneak peek of the five fabulous cards you'll be creating and the best part is all you need to do is be here! All the supplies (and yummy snacks!) are provided for you!

You'll enjoy the five projects I've planned for you, I'll be sharing some great ideas from a few of my stamping friends and a couple of my own designs as well! The class is just $15 total and you either call, e-mail me or comment on this post to hold your spot!
Can't wait to stamp with you all!
~~Robin

Vintage Butterfly - More Creative Serendipity

Well, hello there stampin' friends - it's a rainy Monday here in NOVA - a perfect day to stay in and stamp! Which is exactly what I'm gonna do as soon as I finish posting this quick card share for you. You may recognize the layout from this post I showed you a while back, but what you may not realize is that I actually made today's card first and it came about because of a test card gone wrong! Not a mistake, but a decision to change the orientation of that particular card. Since I already had the center panel stamped and it was good, I just decided to make it into something pretty instead of throwing it away!
I was casing myself on this card here for a swap I was participating in and instead of stretching the center panel vertically, I went with horizontally for the swap. So, what to do with my leftover......

Not too shabby, eh? I loved that the butterfly from the Very Vintage Wheel was showing so prominently in the panel, so I pulled out my Simple Friendship stamp set and inked the butterfly image with Bordering Blue and stamped it on Naturals Ivory cardstock. Once I trimmed it out I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to it and curled the wings with my Bone Folder. I added more glitter to the center panel and finished it off with the polka dot ribbon and bow and a few pearls from my Pretties Kit.

The background is just dry embossed with my Big Shot and the Finial Press folder and sponging was done on all the layers with Soft Suede ink. Again, it's a pretty easy card to create, the layering makes it appear rich and elegant. Cards don't have to be over the top with techniques and fancy folds to be beautiful - a few simple layers, added ink in a contrasting color and simple embellishments can make it really something special. And something you'd love to give away to someone special!

Have a great Monday everyone and go stamp something beautiful today!
Blessings,
~~Robin

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge - A 2 Fer!!

It's a rainy Friday evening here in Virginia. My hubby and daughter are making homemade popcorn on the stove and we are getting ready to watch Planet 51 on dvd - a perfect family evening! But, I needed to get this post done first so you all could see the super fun sketch that Selene gave us to work with at Stamping 411 this week! I officially LOVE this sketch! In fact, I loved it so much that I did two cards with it, so you get a 2 FER! :)
Here is the sketch:

And here is my first card:

I KNOW! It's so different! But isn't it cool?! Honestly, I'd been trying to figure out what to do with this sketch all week and after I'd watched Semi-Homemade on Food Network today, my inspiration hit me! Yeah, crazy, but true, ya'll know I don't cook! Sandra Lee used a vibrant blue/white Asian theme for her decor today and it made me think of Brilliant Blue - which I NEVER use! But I thought how fun it would be to use three vibrant cool colors together on a simple white background. Then I thought about how I hadn't used Upsy Daisy in like, forever, so voila - a card was born! :)
My cardstock is Shimmer White for all the pieces and I used not only Brilliant Blue, but Glorious Green and Tempting Turquoise as well. I stamped the image in all three colors separately on pieces of cardstock cut at 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" - the same size as the wood block on the stamp. Once I had my images stamped, I trimmed them to overlap each other like the layout and used SNAIL and Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere them together and mount them to the card front.

The ribbon is 1/4" White Grosgrain and I added a piece of Silver Hodgepodge Hardware to fill that spot. The greeting is from Wow Flowers and is stamped in Brilliant Blue. I so wish you could see this in person - it has such a WOW factor with the bold colors on that shimmery cardstock! So Cool!

Now, for my second card, I'd been wanting to use my Thoroughly Modern DSP for a while now - love that color combo - and I thought this sketch would be great for using up little scraps of dsp that I just can't bear to throw away. Here is that card:

I used Bermuda Bay cardstock for my cardbase and added the textured text background with my Big Shot and the Texturz Plates. A little sponging with Bermuda Bay ink was added to bring out the raised background a bit more.
Again, I used a combination of SNAIL and Stampin' dimensionals to add the dsp pieces to the card.

The ribbon accent is just more of the 1/4" Grosgrain Whisper White and I added a little clip with a tie of the ribbon to accent it.
The greeting is from Wow Flowers once again and was markered in Rose Red and Bermuda Bay. I added one of the large Chocolate Chip brads to the "o" to make it stand out and this piece was then popped up on a dimensional.

So, that's it! Easy, peasy! Don't you just love this sketch? Doesn't it just make you want to go stamp something right now?! Well, ok - let's get to it! But be sure to share your pretty projects with us at Stamping 411! You can use the Mr. Linky widget provided to upload your art and who knows - you might just get picked to be in the showcase next Friday! Come on out and PLAY with us!
Happy Weekend everyone,
~~Robin

Bold Bright Happy Birthday!

Not only is it Friday, it's time for our weekly Blogger's Challenge AND I've also decided to play along with the Color Inspiration Challenge over at Stamping 411! Ya'll know that we operators do the Saturday Sketch Challenge each week, but one of our gang - Patti Chesky - is the color guru and posts a Color Inspiration each Thursday. This is a just for fun challenge, we don't pick a showcase or have Mr. Linky for it, but it's always cool to try out a combo that you normally wouldn't gravitate towards. That was the case with me for this week. Here is the color combo:

Now, I took one look at that and said "Man, that's Bold!" and immediately thought it would be great for a 'fun' card. Since today's Blogger's Challenge is all about Birthdays, that seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out! And our challenge Mom, Lisa has a birthday on Monday, so "Happy Birthday Lisa!"

Here is my card creation:

If you guys follow my blog or come to my classes, you know that the fun, cute, bright style is not normally my strength, but my daughter liked this card a lot and she is all over that style so I figured it was ok to show you!
I used the color combo of Real Red, Basic Black and Green Galore combined with Whisper White for this card. The stamp set is Happy Moments which is one of the great FREEBIES with Sale-A-Bration through the end of March! The dsp I used is retired Real Red from one of the great Hostess Paper Packs that are available in each catalog. The punched border at the bottom was done with the Scallop Edge Border punch that is also a FREEBIE during Sale-A-Bration!

I like layering texture on texture and the pattern in the paper is a nice foil for the polka dot texture I added with my Big Shot. The two different ribbons added even more texture and I love the layered look so much!

I added even more to the tactile experience of this card by placing the brads on the ribbon - love those polka dot Epoxy Brads! My favorite part of this card didn't photograph very well, but maybe you can spot it....it's the paper pieced gift in the stack! I not only used dsp for one of the gifts, I painted Crystal Effects on it to make the wrapping paper shiny! Take my word for it, it's very cool up close!

So that's it! My fun birthday card with a super color combination! Be sure to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge birthday projects by clicking on the icon in my sidebar. Lots of inspiration for you there!
I'll be back tomorrow with this week's Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge card, so ya'll come back now, y'hear? Oh, man, don't know where that came from....I was watching Andy Griffith reruns last night so my ya'll's are a little more pronounced than normal! LOL!
Love and stamped hugs to you all!
~~Robin

UDI Inspiration Challenge - A Field of Green

It's a GREEN Thursday on the ol' blog today - thanks to this Inspiration photo from our UDI Design Team Mom, Maria:

Now, I'm not a St. Patrick's Day kind of girl. Yeah, sad, but true. I'm not Irish, I don't drink beer and I don't like corned beef and cabbage (bleech!). Now, I do like those little gold wrapped chocolate coins and I love Lucky Charms cereal - "they're magically delicious!" and I love the color green - that's gotta count for something doesn't it? Well, I hope so because green is the direction I took my card today - not much choice based on the photo, eh? :)
So, here is what I was inspired to make after looking at all that gorgeous clover in the photo:

Yep, it's GREEN! But I really like it! And if you really like it too, we will be making this card next Tuesday at both of my Just Cards classes! Be sure to RSVP so I know you are coming!

For this card, I pulled out a stamp set that hadn't seen daylight in oh, so long, Pocket Silhouettes. I was originally going to use Glorious Green cardstock and ink, but the color match in the photo was very close to Garden Green, so I went with that and accented with Certainly Celery and Whisper White.

The card base is a folded piece of 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Certainly Celery cardstock, creating an A2 size card 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". I sponged this lightly with Certainly Celery ink on the edges. Next came a layer of Garden Green cardstock cut at 4" x 5 1/4". I ran this through my Big Shot with the Polka-Dot Texture Plate, spritzing it with a bit of water to make the impression deeper. I then sponged some Garden Green ink on the edges and across the front to really highlight the texture.

Next came a layer of Whisper White cardstock cut at 2 1/2" x 5 1/4", sponged lightly with Certainly Celery on the edges and it was layered with a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock cut at 2 1/4" x 5 1/4". I ran that piece through the Big Shot as well with the Perfect Details Texture Plate, repeating the spritzing and sponging to bring out the detail on that piece too.

Three of the foliage images were stamped on Whisper White and then punched out with the Large Oval Punch. I layered them on Garden Green cardstock that had been punched out with the Scalloped Oval Punch.

My stamped and layered ovals were mounted on Stampin' Dimensionals and popped up above a piece of Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon. I added a simple bow with Mini-Glue Dots to the right of the images. For the greeting, I stamped it with Garden Green on a scrap of Whisper White, shadow stamped one of the foliage images in Certainly Celery and sponged the edges once I'd punched it out with the Word Window Punch. This was layered on a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock punched out with the Modern Label punch. I added a Gold Brad accent - thinking of those gold chocolate coins! - and popped it up on more dimensionals.

So, that's my card - be sure to pop over to the UDI Blog and follow the links to the other designers projects, you'll surely find something to inspire you to play along with us!
I hope your Thursday is fabulous and full of warm, sunny skies! I'll be out most of the day getting my sunshine therapy!
Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

My Heart Album Project

Good morning everyone - I am glad to be back to sharing with you all today. As some of you may have read, last week was a difficult one for my family as we dealt with two deaths, on top of that we were experiencing an emotionally draining situation at our church and I also discovered someone plagarizing my photos and text from this blog. But I do have to give glory and praise to our faithful God who saw us through it all, provided perspective and resolved the tough situations. I am truly blessed!
Thanks to all of you (you know who you are!) who prayed, e-mailed and called - God knows what we need right when we need it most!

Now, let's get back to CREATIVITY! :)
The project I'm sharing with you all today is a Mini-Album that I designed for a special class last month. It's the "My Heart" Mini-Album and was designed especially for holding cherished photos, quotes and memorabilia. I haven't yet added to mine as this is meant to be a deeply personal book and I wanted the class attendees to be led by what meant the most to them.

Here is the front cover with the pages all stacked up:

For this project, we used the On-Board Heart Chipboard albums from the Occasions Mini Catalog and the Welcome Neighbor DSP pack that is FREE in the Sale-A-Bration brochure. That paper has some great neutral patterns that were perfect for this project!
My cover design is done with the Sticky Cuts Letters - "r" for Robin, and covered with the Chunky Glitter. I used the Sweet Pea Felt Pieces for an accent. The ribbon tie is a piece of Old Olive Wide Striped Grosgrain trimmed at the ends in a flag. I knotted it twice around the bead chain connector.

Here is a photo of the pages all fanned out from front side:

and the flip side:

The only stamping in the entire project is the Dot, Dot, Dot stamp on the chipboard butterfly!
The pages were done by spreading Tombow Multi Adhesive (the green one!) on the blank chipboard, then placing the 6" x 6" squares of dsp overtop, smoothing them out with our hands and a Bone Folder. Then we used Paper Snips to trim around the shape and smoothed out the cut edges with a Sanding Block. That gave it a pretty edge and a little vintage look at the same time.

These next photos are of the pages, two by two:
this set uses Crushed Curry Polka-Dot Ribbon and Old Olive Satin Ribbon. The satin ribbon was attached with a length of Sticky Strip and just pleated along the exposed adhesive.

On these two pages, I used a heart shape from the Sticky Cuts Letters and coated it with the Galaxy Fine Cosmo Glitter. The two little hearts are actually from some retired chipboard that I had a ton of in my stash! We covered them with scraps of the Welcome Neighbor dsp and added them with Mini-Glue Dots. You could substitute any chipboard shape here or even a punched shape.

Next, comes more ribbon scrunching with the Pretty in Pink Satin ribbon and Sticky Strip, then the facing page used more scrap dsp from this pack punched out with the Five Petal Flower Punch. I added a Rhinestone Ice Circle Brad to the center then curled the petals with my Bone Folder before attaching it with Stampin' Dimensionals.

To make the Butterfly here, I used the chipboard packaging that came with the Mini-Album and cut a piece to use with the Beautiful Butterflies die and my Big-Shot. Yes, it cuts through chipboard like buttah! It was then stamped on with Melon Mambo ink, sponged around the edges and I added a small piece of Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon for the antennae. It's attached with Mini-Glue Dots. A double Chocolate Chip Ribbon bow was added to the bottom of the opposite page to connect the two.

For these two pages, I used my Floral Fusion Felt Flowers (say THAT 5 times fast!) along with Silver Brads. Everyone had different flower shapes and combinations but they were all equally lovely! These were attached with more Mini-Glue Dots.

Here I used a piece of Bermuda Bay Polka-Dot Ribbon for the bow and made some paper lace with Whisper White cardstock for the opposite page. The paper lace has Bermuda Bay ink brushed lightly over it after I attached it using more Sticky Strip. How Fancy!

The last two pages utilized more Sweet Pea Felt accents on one side, and the other had more ruffled ribbon, this time with Old Olive Wide Grosgrain. I added a corduroy brad and button accent made with Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink pieces and this was attached with more Mini-Glue Dots.

Now, for the final touch!
I added Clear Rhinestone brads to the edge of each chipboard page in a graduated fashion. The brad acts as a page turner of sorts, but adds some special interest to the edges too!
To do this, I first used my Paper Piercer to start a hole in the page edge. Then, I inserted the brads into the hole with the flat side horizontal with the edge. Once I had made the space for the brad to rest, I removed the brad, dipped the end in Crystal Effects and re-inserted it into the hole. After letting it dry for several hours, they were there to stay!

So, that's it! The project was time consuming - about 3 hours start to finish, but really worth the end result, don't you think? I am excited to now get my personal thoughts and photos in it to finish mine up. I was so happy to be able to share it with you all today - let me know what you think by leaving me some comment love, ok? I really enjoy hearing from you all!

Stamped Blessings,
~~Robin