Turn Up The Music - It's My Birthday!

Hi there everyone! Welcome to Tuesday!
I am feeling overwhelmingly blessed today - it's my 46th birthday and already this morning, I've received so many wonderful wishes from my friends near and far! I've received cards, phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages and they all add up to one very BLESSED birthday girl!

I have a few things to share with you today and I'll begin with a creative project for you - how's that sound?!
When I spoke at Jan Wakeland's group meeting this month, I received a wonderful card from Beth Ann Wilson from WVA and I loved it so much I cased her idea for these cards I'm showing you today! Hers used Tempting Turquoise cardstock, but since Bermuda Bay is retiring at the end of June, I wanted to enjoy that color while I still could. So I simply substituted and here is the result:

If you were at card class in the studio this month you will sort of recognize these cards since you did a simplified version of them, but the first one here I made for my Mother-In-Law whose birthday was last Friday - Hi Mom!
And this next one went out to a client and friend whose birthday was also last Friday! Hi Laura!

Both cards were made with Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry and Whisper White. The Big Shot did most of the work, cutting the Daisies out and giving the main panel the Lattice background. Love that machine - it makes my stamping so easy and fun!
The greeting was added with Teeny Tiny Wishes and I stamped on the inside with Fifth Avenue Floral. As you can see, even the envelope was stamped to celebrate!

I loved Beth Ann's idea of using the Build-A-Brad for the Daisy center - I hadn't pulled out mine in forever and they were dying to be used! I think they add the perfect finishing touch!

Now, since it's my birthday, AND, my blog went over 100,000 hits last week-
(Can I get a big WOOHOO!!! for that?!)
I'm giving away a little blog candy!
Does that make you smile? I sure hope so because you make me smile every time you leave a comment on my blog. And that's what you'll need to do to be entered into the drawing for this Birthday/Celebration Blog Candy!

Simply comment on this post and tell me what you like best about my blog and/or why you visit me and on Friday morning, May 28th I'll pick a random winner from all the comments and post the winner here!

Thanks so much for sharing my special day with me! I truly love blogging and sharing from my heart with you. It is such a blessing to know that there are folks like you out there who actually read my ramblings about many things, stamping, family, faith and FUN! I'm truly doing what I love with Stampin' Up! and living my life with the music turned WAY Up!

Which brings me to something special I want to share with you today - hey, it's my birthday so I'm taking the privilege! :)

This morning, I got to take an extra long walk with our two dogs and as I did, I was listening to my iPod and one of my favorite groups, Point of Grace. They recorded a song a couple of years back that speaks to the heart of how I want to live life - arms wide open, taking it all in and holding nothing back! We have all been blessed with a certain number of days and each one is precious. This song is a reminder to live each one to the fullest and treasure what is truly important - for me that is my faith in Christ, my family and my friends.
Enjoy the video of this song and I hope it brings you joy today as you have brought me joy everyday!

Stamped blessings!
~~Robin

Style in Sage

Welcome to Monday stampers!

Before I get into my post, I want to say Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad! 52 years ago today, they joined their lives and hearts together in marriage. Through the years they have weathered many storms and experienced many joys - together! I am lucky to have such wonderful parents who have proved that a long and lasting marriage can be done. I'm also grateful for the heritage of faith they've shown me and for their unconditional love - Lord knows I needed it some days!
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad - I Love You!

Now, sadly, it's time to say Goodbye forever to Sage Shadow.
When I designed this card two weeks ago, I had no idea that it would be appearing on my blog on the day that the cardstock would be Sold Out. Yes, you read that right. Sage Shadow cardstock is gone. You can still get the ink pad, refill and marker, but the cardstock is no more.
For those of you who have been waiting to order the retiring colors you want, it's time folks. Don't wait past today - I'd hate for you to miss a color you really want to keep on hand.
The good news is that if you are a client of mine, you can take advantage of my Birthday Sale when placing your order! If you didn't get my e-mail last week - let me know and I'll send it out ASAP! The sale goes only until Saturday the 29th, so don't delay! It's a goodun'!

Today's card was created using the gorgeous Elements of Style stamp set. I just love this spray of flowers image - it is just stunning no matter how it's used. Here I've heat embossed it using Basic Black Craft ink and Clear Embossing Powder. It's stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock which is layered on Basic Black cardstock. Those layers are popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals and adhered to the folded Sage Shadow cardbase.

To color in the flowers, I've used my Aqua-Painter and Sage Shadow ink refill along with the Creamy Caramel Stampin' Write marker. It's such an easy way to watercolor - my favorite!

The finishing touch was so simple as well. Some layered ribbon - Kraft Taffeta and Black Gingham, with two pieces in a single knot around the wrapped pieces. The greeting is from the Tiny Tags stamp set and they were punched out with the Medium Jewelry Tag punch. I tied them on to the ribbons with a bit of Linen Thread and Voila - the card was done!
I did stamp a Very Vanilla panel for the inside as well, but forgot to take a photo of it! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to come back tomorrow - I'll be celebrating my Birthday and my 100,000 Blog Hits Milestone with some Blog Candy that will run through the week! Lots of excitement around here this week!

If you don't currently have a local demonstrator - I'd love to fill that role for you and you can still take advantage of my Birthday Sale this week. Just e-mail me at stampwithrobin@yahoo.com to have me add you to my client list!

Stamped blessings,
Robin

Happy Anniversary Stamping 411!

Yes, it REALLY has been ONE WHOLE YEAR since we began this grand stamping adventure!
ONE WHOLE YEAR since six (now eight) slightly crazy, slightly creative but super fun Stampin' Up! demonstrators decided to try and bring you a great stamping resource. Something new each week. Something you can return to time and time again. And something FUN to stretch your creativity - and ours - and to truly SHARE what we love to do with you!

In keeping with that FUN atmosphere we love to maintain, this week - our 1st Anniversary - will be a bit different than most. Each Stamping 411 Operator created a card and snail mailed it to our Sketch Queen, Selene. She in turn photographed each one, e-mailed us photos of a card that is not our own to post on our blogs and then snail mailed a different card back to us.
The best part?
Even WE don't know whose card is whose except our own! We even have a little guessing game ourselves on the side to see if we can figure it out! I'll give you my guess as to who made the card I have here later in this post, but for now, here is this great sketch!

And here is this fantabulous card!:

I LOVE this card - simply everything about it - and I think that Patti Chesky made this one. She loves to sponge things you know and she is also in LOVE with the new Smooch Spray lately too - and I think I spy some Vanilla Smooch on there! :)

BUT - I could be wrong too! I'm just goin' with my gut on this one!

Whoever made this card did a fantastic job - I love the Bermuda Bay and will be so sad to say goodbye to it on July 1st, but hey, that just means we will have new colors to play with!

So, you ask, what's in it for ME this week? What special surprises do the Stamping 411 Operators have up their sleeves for ME?

Well, WE are giving away MEGA Blog Candy!
Yeeeaahh!

Just hop on over to the Stamping 411 blog to play along. There are 3 ways to get an entry into the blog candy:
1) Create a card using the sketch this week and post it to the 411 blog using the linking widget provided there.
2) Make a guess as to which operator made which card this week and leave it in a comment on the 411 blog. (All the cards are there too!)
3) Do BOTH! You know we love to see your creativity in action - so have at it! This sketch has endless possibilities, so show us whatcha got!

This has been an amazing year with the 411 team. I love these gals like sisters and I love seeing your creativity from week to week and watching all of us grow as stampers and friends.
You, our loyal 411 followers make us what we are each week and give us purpose.
Thank you so much for your support and the fun you bring to us - in short -
YOU ROCK!!

Stamped Blessings,
~~Robin

Oh, I can't forget to thank Selene for the AWESOME Blog Post header she sketched! Isn't it amazing?! I can't draw a stick figure (which is why I stamp!) and I am in awe of her talent!
The operators pictured are left to right: Gretchen Barron, Selene Kempton, Lee Conrey, Connie Babbert, Me, Patti Chesky, Kerin Sylvester and Tiffany Bauer.
I really love that she drew me thin! :)

Color My World

Do any of you remember that song by Chicago? I guess I am dating myself but "Color My World" was one of my favorite songs in high school. I think it came out a few years earlier than that, but I dated a guy for a while who played the trumpet and he loved Chicago, so you know the deal.....I loved Chicago and this song was just always one of my favorites. Fortunately, I don't always think of him when I hear it played. HA! Some choices are better off forgotten! :)

Anyway, enough about me today - oh, wait!
Last night my blog officially went over 100,000 hits!
WooHoo!!!!
Do you know how awesome it was to wake up this morning and see that?! Well, it was! Actually, I went over 100,000 hits some time ago - but while I was at convention last year, my counter re-set itself when it was at 60,000 and I wasn't able to fix it back. You know I'm not that great on the computer! So, I figured I'd just wait until this day happened and we'd have a big ol' celebration!
Since Stamping 411 is celebrating our 1st Anniversary beginning tonight with some fun and surprises, I'll do my celebration next week in conjunction with my birthday. How does that sound? :)
And if you are a regular client and subscriber to my newsletter, you received the announcement in your inbox last night about my Rockin' Birthday Special!

As many of you are already aware - because I see you all the time at classes and parties, Stampin' Up! is doing a Color Renovation beginning on July 1st. I am personally so excited to see this and my regular stampers have heard me wish for this to happen for quite some time!
Here is a chart so you can see the new color families:

I am so very excited about several things - SU! is bringing back several of our retired In Colors, several of which I cried a river over having to put on the shelf. AND, there is a new color called Crumb Cake in the Neutrals collection which is actually not NEW at all - it's what we now call Kraft. But we will be getting an ink pad and a marker to go with it now! Can't wait to get that in my hot little hands! :)
There are also going to be 5 entirely new colors that you will just be drooling over: Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Cajun Craze and Early Espresso. Yeah, they do look as good as they sound!
We will also be getting 5 new In Colors in July that will last for two full years! 5 more will be introduced next year to give us 10 In Colors all the time and there will always be an overlap so Stampin' Up! will always be bringing you the most current color palette in the industry!

Now, with any renovation, some things have to go and that brings me to the list of Retiring Colors.

In all honesty, there are a few of these colors that I love and use a lot, but when the rubber hits the paper, they are not my favorite, go to colors. When the Color Renovation was first announced, I even went through my existing cardstock supply and discovered that with several of the Bold Brights colors I was still working out of my original pack of cardstock that I'd purchased as a new demonstrator almost 5 years ago. Yeah, it's true!
But, like you there are some that I really don't want to live without and I'm making sure that I have what I need of the cardstock and re-inkers to get me through.

Here's the bottom line: Stampin' Up! has guaranteed that stock will be available for the Retiring Colors through May 31st - for Ink Pads, Re-Inkers and Stampin' Write Markers Only! Some backorders may be experienced, but you will be guaranteed to get your items.
Cardstock presents a different kind of issue and as of right now, it's While Supplies Last. The Only Orange 8 1/2 x 11 and Sage Shadow 12 x 12 have actually sold out and are no longer available.

Folks, if there are colors you need, please, please order them now before it's too late. I don't want you to be sad because you couldn't get enough cardstock to complete your album or make the invitations or announcements you need or whatever project you have in mind.
If you only own the ink pads in your favorite colors, be sure you have the re-inkers you need to keep you stamping with them for a long time. If you use a particular marker all the time, purchase an extra for when the tip goes soft - you won't regret having it on hand if it's a favorite.

I have seen retired colors in the past selling for exhorbitant prices in online auctions and it's really a shame - you are my clients and friends and I don't want this to happen to you.
For those of you who were privy to my Birthday Special, this is a great opportunity for you - so be in touch, ok? I want to make sure you are taken care of.
If you are a blog reader and have a local demonstrator in your area that you work with, please contact them. I'm happy to provide you service if you like, but I believe in supporting your local demo who provides you service with a smile!
And lastly, if you don't have a demo and want one, I'll take good care of you! :)

Have a great day everyone! Thanks for being you and thanks for visiting my blog and making me smile each day!
I'll be back later with a creative project for you!
~~Robin

UDI Inspiration Challenge - A Plaid Dilemna

Welcome to Thursday stampers! It's that time again - the UDI Blog Inspiration Challenge. Ya'll remember last week and the difficulty I had figuring out just what to do with the inspiration piece, well this week was more of the same, but for different reasons.
This week, I had so MANY ideas and directions to go in, I just didn't know which way to turn.

Here is the inspiration piece that we were given to work with, what do you see in it?

Yep, I thought about a picnic blanket, a party invitation, a table cloth, a Father's Day theme, yep, yep, yep - all of the above and then some. But did I go with any of those?!
Noooooo!!!

I sat down to start creating and ended up with this:

At least it has a plaid background and the right colors! LOL!

Actually, I'm really happy with the finished card, it may look nothing like the inspiration piece, but it's what I was inspired to make, so it's all good, right? :)

To make the card base, I folded my Whisper white cardstock in half lengthwise and ran the front panel through my Big Shot with one of the Texturz Plates to give it the plaid-like background. I then pulled out cardstock in Real Red, Basic Black and more Whisper White for the panels. The stamp set, The Things I Love, was one that I'd only used once since I'd received it at convention last year and I thought it was high time to get it out!

I stamped all the images with Basic Black Craft ink and heat embossed them with Clear Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool. They look so cool, all raised and shiny - very chic!

For the bow, I got out some of my very fave ribbon, the Real Red Polka Dot and wrapped one piece around all the stacked layers, securing it to the back. I took another piece and folded it in on itself to make a faux bow and laid it on the wrapped ribbon. After fully opening up the prongs of a large Clear Rhinestone Brad, I then wrapped the prongs around all the ribbon layers and folded them behind the ribbon, securing it all together.
Once I had the ribbon done, I added Stampin' Dimensionals to the panel and added it to the card front.

Now for the inside:

I actually added an additional panel inside for the stamped greeting and another piece of that yummy ribbon! It added more stability to the card since the front was so heavy.

So, there you have it - do you likey?! :)
I sure hope so and I'd love to hear from you - at Jan's meeting on Saturday, so many of the gals attending said that they read my blog, but they don't comment. I invited them to do so because it's kind of like saying "Hi!" and I love to know that you've visited me!

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone - the sun is shining bright here and I have new energy today which I'll share with you soon. Stampin' Up! has made it possible for me to possibly earn the Alaska cruise this year by announcing Double Points yesterday, but I'm going to need help from my clients and friends to get there. There is nothing I'd like more than to be able to gift my husband with this Alaska trip - his dream trip - after the very difficult year that God has led us through. So, we will see. Perhaps that is the blessing that is waiting for us!

Stamped blessings, everyone!
~~Robin

Contempo Father's Day Card

Wow! Is it Wednesday already? This week is just flyin' by - I'm still thinking about my weekend. That could have something to do with the awful weather that rolled in here on Monday - rain, clouds and cold! It should NOT be 52 degrees in the middle of May! There oughta be a law! Or at least a rule or something.....
Maybe today will be better, I did see a bit of blue sky for a few minutes yesterday so I'm holding out hope! :)

Today's card is a little different - I was trying another mix of contemporary and traditional, this time for a Father's Day card.

One of the retiring colors is Close to Cocoa and it's always been a favorite of mine, so I'm playing around with it while I still can.
By the way, if you are looking to purchase any of the retiring colors, you need to contact me ASAP. SU! is only able to guarantee orders on retiring colors through the end of May - that's the 31st - and that doesn't include cardstock which presents a bit of a problem for them to produce. What they are doing for cardstock is to substitute textured for smooth as long as they have stock on hand, but as of right now, once it's gone, it's gone. So please don't wait any longer, contact me or your local demonstrator to stock up on the colors you need.

Now, back to the card. I used a piece of Close to Cocoa cardstock for the card base and stamped the evergreen tree from Lovely as a Tree in the same color ink over on the left side. I then added a piece of mid size Twill Tape around the card front, securing it behind the Sage Shadow panel. The patterned squares are from the To the Nines Specialty Paper and are punched out with the 1 1/4" Square punch. I added a Silver Brad to each square in the lower right corner for an accent. This whole Sage Shadow panel was popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals and the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes was added just below it on the right. All the cardstock was sponged lightly with Close to Cocoa ink to give it texture, but that's it folks!
Clean, simple and manly!

Thanks for stopping by today - be sure to come back tomorrow for the UDI Inspiration Challenge - I don't know what is in store for that one this week, guess I should look at the inspiration piece today, eh? :)

Blessings,
~~Robin

A RemARKable Day!

Hey everyone! Sorry about not getting these photos up yesterday like I said I would. I spent the better part of the day prepping for my Just Cards class this morning and then I went to see my doctor about my little incident last Monday. I'm having an MRI this afternoon after class, so if you think of it, say a little prayer for me, ok? Thanks!

Now, let's talk about Saturday!
I had a fabulous time hanging out with Jan Wakeland and her RemARKable Stampers group. They are so much fun and gave me the warmest welcome!
Here is a photo of me with Jan:

And here are all my tablemates holding their way cool beach scene centerpiece:

Now look at this, will ya?!
Jan challenged two of her team members to recreate the cover of the May Stampin' Success and they just blew it out of the water!

Deb Lehigh and Linda Nagle were responsible for all these tasty treats - they look good enough to eat, but don't try it, they'd taste like cardstock and glue! LOL!

Here are a few close ups for you -
the petit fours:

Amazing cupcakes and Dot Candy -

LOVED this one!

And look at one of the little gifts I received -

How cute is that?! The dessert was yummy and I was so happy to be able to bring home the rest to display in my studio!

Here I am with the ladies responsible for that gift -

They won the centerpiece contest - click on the photo to make it larger so you can see all their fabulous details! Even each of their hats were decorated - so fun!

All of these great projects were made by the uber talented Sherry Schodt. They were amazing in all their detail - LOVED them!

This gorgeous Tea display was done by Debbie Lever - she even put butterflies on the tea bags - so cute! You have to enlarge this to see the detail!

And I think these REAL cupcakes were made by Karen Long - aren't those picks in the tops just fab?! She brought them all the way from New York!

This is me with Sharon Burkert - what a sweet lady - she even reads my blog! Hi Sharon! :)

And last but not least - me with my downline and great friend, Nancy Clark. She always manages to make things fun! Love ya, gf!

So, that's a little bit of the fun and creativity that I experienced on Saturday - wish you could have been there with us and if you were I'm SO Glad!

Have a great day everyone and thanks in advance for your prayers!
Blessings,
~~Robin