Simple Songbird Tile

If you're anything like me, you have a lot of pieces for unfinished projects laying around. I have all the best intentions when I order something or make an 'amazing' find in a store. You know what I mean - you get a brilliant flash of inspiration that compels you to 'Add to Cart' the very thing you need to make that project in your head a reality.
Yeah, if you're crafty at all I know it's happened to you at least once.
And then reality hits.

Your perfect idea, your recently purchased 'finishing touch', your blank canvas just sits there staring at you because you either don't have the time or don't make the time to even get started on that brilliant idea that caused you to separate your money from your wallet.
Yeah, you know.

So recently, I discovered a small item - just a drop in the bucket really - and determined to just do something with it.
It's this Chocolate Songbird Decor Element that oh, by the way, retired in the last catalog.

I had a few tiles left over from this project HERE and decided that I could simply rub the decor element piece on to one of them. I added about a yard of the Marina Mist Striped Grosgrain ribbon in a big floppy bow and called it done.

Now, won't this cute little 6" x 6" tile look lovely sitting on my mantel this spring? Yep, I think so too.

You know, there's a bunch of smaller sized Decor Elements in our catalog this year. A lot of them will fit on a 6" x 6" tile or even a bit larger size. I encourage you to check them out. You can create a similar quick and easy project for your mantel or bookshelf or even as a gift, in just a few minutes.

Promise me something though?
Don't buy it and then stick it on a shelf or in a cabinet or closet.
Just do it.

And hey, if you're looking for a solution to the TIME excuse, map out 4 hours on your calendar this Saturday (2/18 from 10 am - 2 pm) and head on over to my studio for some Open Studio Stamp Time.
You bring your unfinished projects, ideas and your consumable supplies and you can have full access to my tools, stamps, inks and what's left of my pea brain to pick.
I'll have some snacks, drinks and chocolate to keep you going and it's all for just $5. Or Free with a $30 order.
RSVP to let me know you're coming and I'll make sure you have table space especially for you!

Happy stampin!
~~Robin

Place your order for Stampin' Up! Supplies AND Decor Elements at this link here: Robin's Online Stampin' Store
Simply click the SHOP NOW button at the top right corner to get started!

Because You Asked......

Warning - this post contains NO stamping.
Unless you take into account that what I'm showing you today will have a special place in my Studio re-design plan. HeeHee!

When we were in Hershey, PA last month for Emma's skating competition, we had a little down time so Mark and I decided to check out a few of the local antique places. I'm in the process of re-decorating my studio into a vintage 50's kitchen theme, so I'm always looking for small pieces that can act as storage and decor.

A few of you asked to see some of the treasures I found, so here's a couple pics:

I found a BUNCH of old wooden bobbins that I'm going to use to wrap ribbon around. Not only will that make a beautiful display, but it will keep it front and center so I'll use it more!
You can see 5 new vintage flower frogs in the photo. I love them for card stands in the studio and for taking photos of cards for my blog. I found some oval shaped ones and even a little bitty one. One of the ovals is copper and even has a green oxidized place on it - love that!
The old Ecko muffin tin will be used to hold small embellishments out on my counter. I got this idea from my friend Kimberly VanDiepen who loves vintage as much as I do.

The second photo shows some vintage Pyrex and Fire King refrigerator boxes. The colors are perfect for my design scheme and I'm going to store embellishments in them as well. The vintage Ball Mason Jar has an original zinc lid with a white milk glass interior - so cool! Great for buttons, don't you think??
There's also a little peek at something else VERY fun that I picked up. And I'll show you exactly what it is hopefully by the end of the month! I'm chomping at the bit to be able to share some exciting news with you, but there's just a few more things that need to add up.........

On another note, our Valentine's Day was quiet - we took my Mom out to eat at Famous Dave's BBQ and had a delicious meal. But after watching the show Heat Seekers on Food Network last night, Emma thought she'd challenge her Dad to a Hot Sauce Contest before dinner. She prides herself on her ability to "take the heat" and her favorite food group is hot wings!

Here's the video - I let her off the hook (actually both of them) after the video stopped they both drank some milk to put out the fire!


Have a spectacular day! I'm off to Weight Watchers to weigh in and see how bad the damage is today!
~~Robin

Hey Valentine! Be Mine!

Call it what you will - "The sweetest day of the year."; "In love with love day"; "Chocolate Enthusiasts day", "National Singles Awareness day"; or my personal favorite - "Oh my gosh! It's Valentine's Day and I NEED a card! day".
Yep, how many of you have been there, done that?!

Well, I'm here to help!
Check out this card -

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you - it's not stamped! This card front is a Stampin' Up! My Digital Studio exclusive printable. How cool is that?!
Stampin' Up! had done all the work for us on this one - lots of "love" words, coordinating colors, cool fonts. All on one easy card.
This printable is called the Be Mine Frameable and can be downloaded from my Online Stampin' Store at this link HERE.
Simply click the SHOP NOW button at the top right corner.
Then, go to Digital Designing in the left column.
Next, click on Designer Templates. It's on page 2 of that section.
It's $1.95 to download and comes in an 8 1/2" x 11" size. You can use this in any digital publishing software and resize it to whatever size you need.
There are also many other pre-designed Templates that you can download and print on cardstock right there at home.
While you're there - you can also download a FREE 30 Day Trial of our awesome My Digital Studio design program. Doesn't get much better than that!

For my card, I used Microsoft Publisher and chose to print four postcard size card fronts on one piece of 8 1/2" x 11" Whisper White cardstock. I simply saved the frameable download as a .jpg file and was able to drop it into the program as a photo.
I then cut them into 4 card fronts measuring 3 3/4" x 5" so I could layer them nicely on the Riding Hood Red and Basic Gray cardstock to make my card.

The only embellishing I did to this was to add some Riding Hood Red Pleated Satin Ribbon across the front; a Basic Rhinestone jewel to the dot between the 2 and 14 and adding a Silver Glimmer Large Heart Punch over the ribbon with Stampin' Dimensionals.
The Riding Hood Red cardstock layer is mounted to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Here's the inside:
I stamped the greeting from the Sweetly Said stamp set in Basic Gray ink and added the open heart image from the I Heart Hearts stamp set in Riding Hood Red ink.
So easy!
And since my husband really loved this card - it's gonna be his valentine this year! Shhh - don't tell!

Now, take a look at what I did with the actual 8 1/2" x 11" size:

I just printed it again at full size on a piece of Whisper White cardstock and set to work adding my embellishments.
The frame is a simple metal document frame that I found on clearance at a local store. I removed the glass so the embellishments would be able to pop out.

I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Basic Rhinestones, Silver Glimmer Paper, Riding Hood Red Pleated Satin Ribbon, an Antique Brad, a Candy Cane Lane button and some Baker's Twine. Such a fun and easy project!

So, there you go - a simple valentine card and gift that's STILL hand made! All you need is the Be Mine Frameable download to get started and you'll have Valentine's Day all wrapped up by the time your honey walks in the door tonight!

Now, I'm off to finish my special valentines for my special Valentines!
Have a great day and be sure to eat some Chocolate!
~~Robin

A Relaxing Weekend

So, what do you do when there is unexpectedly absolutely NOTHING to do on any calendar of any member of your household for two days??
Relax and enjoy it.
And that's exactly what we did.

The serenity of this picture epitomizes my weekend:

I took this outside of an antique store in Lucketts, VA on Saturday. Just beautiful and so serene. I love how quiet the woods are after it snows.

We spent the better part of Saturday nosing around some antiques stores that I'd been wanting to go in for a while now. A couple of treasures were found - I'll share them later after I get them photographed - but mostly, it was a wonderful day to just be together.
We don't get that very often, especially a whole weekend, and it was great just to enjoy the time with my family.

We found a quaint coffee shop in Leesburg where we had warm drinks and some bakery yummies. It overlooked the town square and the courthouse where my Dad used to play with his family when he was a boy. Very cool. So we sat in the window and enjoyed our cocoa and coffee and the view and each other.

Our day ended with some homemade Baked Potato Soup and cuddling by the fireplace watching 'Sherlock' on Netflix.
Can't think of a better way to spend my time.

Blessings,
~~Robin

Mixed Bunch - Bright Bouquet

Here I go again - another card with that awesome Mixed Bunch stamp set.
I finally had to put it at the bottom of my stack of stamps from the Occasions Mini because I kept wanting to use it only!
There are other stamps that need love too dontcha know!

Anyway, this is one more of the cards I designed for my January Card Classes. The bright color combo just makes me smile so big - it's a happy card for sure.

I started with Melon Mambo for my card base and layered it with a piece of stamped Whisper White. The stamping was done with Pumpkin Pie, Pacfic Point and Melon Mambo. I started with the largest stamp first, going across the cardstock in a random fashion.
Then I added the medium flower near the large ones, and lastly, the small flowers near the medium ones. It's an easy way to do collage stamping without going overboard.

The focal point was done with the Blossom Punch. I punched out two flowers from the Brights Collection Designer Series Paper in two different colors and patterns. I curled the edges with my Bone Folder - one up, one down - and then used my 2 Way Glue Pen to add some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the edges.
The third flower was stamped in Melon Mambo on Whisper White cardstock, then punched, curled and glittered as well. I stamped the small flower once again on a white scrap and punched it out with my 3/4" Circle Punch. It got a little glitter too and was popped up on a Stampin' Dimensionals to the center of the flower.

I used yet another white scrap to stamp my greeting from the Short and Sweet stamp set. (Listen, I've had that stamp set for years and it's a fantastic GO-TO set. The greetings fit most any occasion, they have little icons to go with them and best of all, they fit several of our punches which makes it easy to add to any project. It's a MUST OWN in my book!)
For this card, I punched it out with the Large Oval Punch and yes, added glitter to it as well. My friend Betty would say that you can never have too much glitter and I think she is right! :)

To finish it all up, I used several Stampin' Dimensionals to put all the flowers and the greeting together in kind of a bouquet - where would we be without Stampin' Dimensionals???
And that's it - a bright, fun card that would make anyone happy!

Here's a few things I used to create this baby:

#125537 - Mixed Bunch Stamp Set - $21.95 clear mount

#125603 - Blossom Punch $16.95

#117155 - Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack - Brights Collection - $21.95

Don't forget - when you place your order in my Online Stampin' Store, if it's over $50 in products, you earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product! It's only until the end of MARCH though, so be sure to take advantage of this cool offer!

Have a great weekend stampin' friends. I'm not sure if I'll be back until Monday - we have a family weekend planned and I'm looking forward to some down time with just my honey and my baby girl!
See you soon!
~~Robin

Place your order for Stampin' Up! products at this link here: Robin's Online Stampin' Store
Simply click the SHOP NOW button at the top right corner to get started!

Typeset Valentine - A Vintage Treasure

It's no secret that I love antiques.
Vintage treasures that have a story. Everyday items that have been useful and loved. Special pieces that held meaning and memories for the owner.
I think about the things we use everyday and the special things we treasure and wonder if someday, someone like me will wonder about their story. Imagine how they helped us complete a task or what memories they held for us.
That's probably why I love this typewriter image so much.
It looks like one of those vintage pieces that has so many stories to tell - and because of what it is, told stories of it's own.

I created this card for my Very Valentine's class last month and I think it's my favorite of the projects we did.

It's a pretty simple card really, but I love the alphabet background that makes it fun. This would be a good one for any valentine, guy or gal.

The card base is Basic Black and the first layer is Very Vanilla with Crumb Cake ink sponged on the edges. To create the background, I used the largest Clear Block (F) and the Broadsheet Alphabet stamp set. I randomly added the letters to the block in a collage and then inked the whole thing with Baja Breeze ink, stamping it on the Vanilla cardstock.

The focal point was easy. I stamped the typewriter with Basic Black ink onto more Very Vanilla cardstock and then added the greeting in the open "paper" space. A glittery red heart was punched out of Red Glimmer Paper with the Small Heart Punch and added it to the image. That layer was sponged with more Crumb Cake ink and was then matted with Basic Black cardstock. I used my Scalloped Edge Border Punch to make the small strip of scalloped Red Glimmer Paper then added it to the bottom of the black cardstock.
This whole layer was popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals and added to the card front.
Simple, right?

Here's a few things you'll need to recreate this project:

#125650 - You're My Type - $13.95 clear mount

#120585 - Broadsheet Alphabet - $29.95

#121790 - Red Glimmer Paper - $4.95 (2 sheets 12" x 12")

#118483 - Clear Block F - $16.95

As always, you can find all these products and more in my Online Stampin' Store. (Hey, that rhymes!)

Have a wonderful Thursday stampers - I'll be stampin' at the firehouse tonight with some fun ladies. You're welcome to join us!
Happy Stampin',
~~Robin

Place your order for all your Stampin' Up! Supplies at this link here: Robin's Online Stampin' Store
Simply click the SHOP NOW button at the top right corner to get started!

Sweethearts Topiary - Evidence of Pinterest Addiction!

First, one of my downline (who dropped to have a baby of all things!) encouraged me to start a blog to share my artwork. I thought "why not"? and have been blogging ever since.
Then, someone dragged me kicking and screaming onto Facebook - and now I really enjoy posting to it.
Next, at a friends encouragement, I got a Twitter account - and sadly, I still don't really get it. Does that make me a 'Twit'? A social media 'fail'?

But NOW, there's this new, addictive time waster called Pinterest! Aiyiyi!
I'm not sure, but this could turn out to be the biggest hit to my time management skills in my entire life! Don't know if you've discovered the joys of pinning and repinning on Pinterest yet, but lemme tell ya - think long and hard before you take the plunge. Like a friend on Facebook said she's "found the rabbit hole called Pinterest."

All that being said, I have found some REALLY cool stuff on Pinterest and one of them was an awesome Sweethearts Candy Heart Topiary Tree. It's probably the best thing you can do with that candy - hot glue it all over something instead of eating it - and it sure looks pretty when you do.
I knew as soon as I saw - and Repinned the photo, I'd be making one of my own. Are you ready for it?
Ok, here goes:

Now honestly, how FUN is that??
I bought a white styrofoam cone at a local craft store and got busy hot glueing those little hearts in neat rows all over it.
The ceramic pot came from the same store - they were on clearance 3 for $1! Score! And the best part is that when I glued the bottom row of hearts on, I was able to drop them down a bit to cover the edge of the cone meeting the pot.

I purchased three regular sized bags of the candy and ended up opening all of them to get the colors and decent word prints I needed. There's probably a full bag worth left over, so I'm gonna try something else with them.
The entire project took about 3 hours from start to finish - yes, really! It's not rocket science people, just some tedious gluing. There's a couple of spots - 3 I think - that I had to use a kitchen knife to trim a heart to make it fit in place, but it's almost impossible to tell where they are. Just know that in advance if you do this with your kids.

Here's the topper I created for my topiary:

I used the Large Scallop Punch for the base and glued two of them back to back around an extra long toothpick. They were edged with Dazzling Diamonds glitter before I added the hearts. The large heart was punched out of the Sweet Shop Designer Series Paper with my Large Heart punch and glittered before gluing down. All the rest of the hearts were cut out with my Fashionable Hearts Embosslit Die and my Big Shot. I used Wisteria Wonder, Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight and Pretty in Pink.
After attaching all of the hearts, I tied some Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon and Pretty in Pink Scalloped Polka Dot Ribbon around the toothpick at the base of the scallops and inserted the whole thing into the top of the topiary.

Here's a look at the little banner:

I just used the Candy Conversations A La' Carte stamp with Stampin' Write Markers in the same colors I'd used for the hearts and stamped it on Whisper White. It's cut at 1" wide and I used the 1" Square Punch to trim the ends. After curling it a bit, I added some Dazzling Diamonds around the edges, a small piece of Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon and some hearts, then hot glued it to the topiary.

This was really a fun project to make and not so hard that I wouldn't make another one someday. And for me, the lazy crafter, that's sayin' something!

Hope you enjoy my topiary - let me know if you make one too and if you make it different!
Stamped joy,
~~Robin