Blogger's Challenge #71 - Halloween

Happy Friday everyone! We are having just glorious fall weather here in Virginia - I love it when the air turns crisp and cool. Time to break out the sweaters and jackets again and enjoy the beauty of God's paintbrush all around us. The colors are truly amazing, I never tire of looking at them.

This week it was very hard to stamp as I not only have dear family friends visiting for a week, but I'm still trying to put the house back together from all the new floors! So, my Blogger's Challenge card is one that I designed for stamp camp earlier this month.

Today's theme is for Halloween. Well, because we don't celebrate this event in our home, (hey, I'm all for the chocolate, but not at all for the scary stuff) I made this card as a harvest card instead. At camp, anyone who wanted to turn it into a Halloween card was able to add the jack o' lantern face from the Autumn Harvest stamp set to the pumpkin and use the Happy Halloween greeting from the All Holidays stamp set.

For my card base, I started with Old Olive cardstock and overstamped it with the Canvas background. I purposely left it looking mottled and spotty so it would look worn. The next layer is More Mustard cardstock stamped with the leaf from the Autumn Harvest stamp set. I stamped it in Chocolate Chip using graduated stamping for a tri-tone effect. This layer was deliberately cut short on the sides so that gorgeous Chocolate Chip Stitched Ribbon would wrap around it nicely and not stick out.

For my focal point, I stamped the tall pumpkin, also from Autumn Harvest, in Chocolate Chip on to Very Vanilla Cardstock. I also stamped it again on the Tangerine paper from the Frosty Days Designer Series Paper. This was cut out and layered on the Vanilla piece. The stem and grass was colored in using my Aqua Painter and the Old Olive ink refill.

I layered the pumpkin onto Tangerine Tango cardstock and stamped, colored and cut out the little leaf accent. This was mounted on a dimensional and placed just so on the front of the card. Locating a rarely used stamp set in my studio, Loads of Love Accessories, I stamped the Happy Harvest greeting at the bottom right with Chocolate Chip ink.

This was a fun card for me to make and I hope fun for you to look at! Be sure to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge players by using the link on my sidebar. There are some really talented stampers there and I know they will wow you!
After you do that, go buy yourself a bag of chocolate and lock the front door - you need it worse than the kids do!
Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

Fabulous Fall - My Favorite Season!

Hello stampers! Just checking in real quick with a pretty fall card. I am enjoying the season with some good family friends who have come to visit us for the week from North Carolina. They will be here through Sunday, so I'll only be posting a couple of projects this week.

If you were at Just Cards camp this month, you will recognize this card as one of our projects. I actually wanted to do a version of my Blogger's Challenge card from earlier this month, but it ended up taking a whole different direction, well, mostly! LOL!

I stamped the large bloom from Fabulous Flowers in the corner of Naturals Ivory cardstock with Really Rust ink. The little flowers are stamped and graduated with More Mustard ink and then the little 'weeds' are stamped in Old Olive. The greeting, which is from the Fresh Cuts stamp set, is stamped in Old Olive as well, as are the flowers on the card base itself. That too is Old Olive cardstock. I even sponged the edges of the main panel with Old Olive ink! Nooooo, I didn't get carried away, did I?

The center of the main flower is done with More Mustard ink on a small piece of Naturals Ivory and trimmed out with my Paper Snips. I added the Old Olive center and a pretty Gold Brad then popped it up on dimensionals.

That whole front panel is mounted a square of Really Rust cardstock and it overlays two strips of More Mustard 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon. Simple, yet elegant. And very easy to create!

It's supposed to be gorgeous this weekend in Virginia, so if you are able, get out there and enjoy all the fall colors before they blow away this season. We'll be headed back up to the mountains to the orchard for apples, apple donuts and fresh cider! Yumm!
Happy Fall Ya'll!
~~Robin

Blogger's Challenge #70 - Gift Giving

Hey there stampers! I know I'm TWO days late with my Blogger's Challenge post. Don't worry, I've not been AWOL - I have been crazy with classes this weekend, not to mention the TWO birthday parties my daughter had to attend. I love being a work at home Mom, but somedays, I can't change hats fast enough, kwim? LOL!

Our Blogger's Challenge this week was to create something you'd give as a gift. At first I was going the Christmas route in my head, kind of thinking ahead, but I'd seen an example of this treat pouch on another blog last week (forgive me, but I really don't remember which one and I forgot to bookmark it. Just know that the original idea is not my own). Believe it or not, I actually made this bag on Tuesday, I was just so busy with classes, etc. I couldn't get the blog post done!

The Candy Corn Treat Pouch is created with the Big Shot Pennant Die, Basic Black cardstock and felt pieces in three colors.

I cut two large pennants from the die and used Sticky Strip to adhere them together. Then I cut the felt pieces in roughly 2 inch strips, folded them in half and ran them through the Big Shot with the same pennant die. I adhered the felt pieces to the cardstock with the Tombow Multi Adhesive.


For the hanger, I simply used my Crop-a-Dile and added two Jumbo Eyelets in Pewter to the top. The ribbon hanger is Basic Black Narrow Grosgrain, threaded through and double knotted.

Inside the pouch, I added some Candy Corn flavored Hershey's Kisses (yuk, really! Way too sweet for me and GASP-NO Chocolate!). They are in a Medium Cello Bag and tied up pretty with some Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain ribbon.

I thought this would be a cute gift for Emma's teacher - she has been great and Emma loves her - just hope she likes those candy kisses - I may have to make it up to her! haha

Even though it's Sunday - please take a minute to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge players creations. I've been itching to see them all weekend, so I'll be doing that tomorrow during office time.
Ciao for now - happy Sunday!
~~Robin

Top Note Cardinal - Easy and Elegant

Hi everyone! Yes, I know I've been neglecting you this week, but I promise, I have good reasons. Not only have we had new carpet installed this week in our bedroom, stairs and hallway, but yesterday, we had wood floors and tile installed on the entire main level of our house.

So, my house looks like we are just moving in (my refrigerator is still sitting in my foyer and my half-bath toilet is sitting on the deck! LOL, I wonder what the neighbors think!), I have not one, but TWO big classes this weekend, but Emma stayed home with the flu yesterday! We were both miserable locked up in the basement together - not a pretty picture is it?

Since that is not pretty to think about, I've given you a pretty card to look at instead. In a twist on using my Big Shot Top Note die for this card, I folded my Real Red cardstock first and then opened it up, laid it on the die and ran it thru the machine, effectively creating a window card.

The cardinal from "A Cardinal Christmas" is stamped on a Very Vanilla panel and watercolored with re-inkers and my Aqua-Painter. It's attached to the inside cover of the card. Before I attached the panel, I did two things to jazz up this card.

First, I used the berries stamp from that stamp set and embossed it in Clear EP with Versamark ink. Second, I cut an oval paper mask with my Coluzzle, placed it over the bird image and sponged around it with Creamy Caramel ink.

The beautiful ribbon is from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I used the striped grosgrain from the Alpine Ribbon set. It is tied around the front of the card by punching a tiny slit in the fold edge with my Horizontal Slot punch. The ribbon slips through and then knots on the front. Cool, huh?

Lastly, the sentiment is also from A Cardinal Christmas. It's stamped in Creamy Caramel and edged with the same ink. I punched it out with the Wide Oval Punch and created a background for it by using the same punch twice more with Old Olive cardstock. The three pieces are layered together and attached with dimensionals!

So, there ya go! I hope you like it enough to forgive me for slacking on my posts this week! See ya soon!
Inky hugs,
~~Robin

Baja Breeze Snowflakes!

Happy Monday everyone! It seems like an appropriate day to show you a snowflake card. Here in Virginia this morning it is below 40 degrees and to me that is COLD!

When I was at Founder's Circle last month, I recieved a really pretty swap card from fellow Demo Laurie Krauss. Hers was done in shades of green - Handsome Hunter and Sage Shadow with Whisper White embossing and a white card base.

I knew I had to CASE her card for one of my 30 card classes this season, but I wanted to put my own spin on it, so I changed the color scheme to Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Basic Gray with Whisper White embossing. AND, I got to use that fun, NEW striped grosgrain ribbon in Baja Breeze too.

The stamp set we used for the card is Snow Swirled and I have to say, it's been one of the MOST popular stamp sets of this season. So easy to work with and it really makes beautiful cards effortlessly. The gals at my 1st 30 card class created 10 of these beauties along with 20 others in 2 different designs. They used the Seasons Greetings stamp that comes in the Snow Swirled stamp set for their card front.

Now, if you follow my blog, you know that I always go behind and make up the leftover cards from classes and camps so I have cards to fill my card box. So, when I sat down to make these, I substituted the Warm Wishes stamp from the Hugs and Wishes stamp set for my greeting. I wanted to have wintry cards that I could send for any occasion, not just for Christmas. Don't you just love that as a stamper, we can customize any card we make for any occasion? We don't have to depend on Hallm*** to send the very best! :)

Here's a quick shout out to my Trinity Design Stampers group! We had our meeting last night and it was so fun! Did you know that our group welcomed 9 new stampers to our team during the $99 Starter Kit special? That is so cool! More friends to stamp with! Love you gals!

Chat with you again tomorrow!
~~Robin

Blogger's Challenge #69 - Color Combo

Well, stampers, here we are at another Blogger's Challenge Friday. Our challenge mom, Lisa, had us work with the color combination of Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Really Rust and a neutral if needed.

Here's how I usually approach a color challenge - I pull out one sheet each of the colors, plus a couple of different neutrals. Then I pull out the matching ink pads and lay it all out on the table in front of me. I shuffle the cardstock, trying different colors on top, middle and bottom until I see what I like best.

Next, I peruse (that's a 50 cent word for you today) my stamp sets and choose one that will display the colors to their best advantage - or I just pick the one I like best, whichever comes first! Anyway, today, I chose to work with Fabulous Flowers, one of my all time favs - "Dare to be Fabulous" is the sentiment in that set - love it!

My top layer is Naturals Ivory cardstock and I stamped it with that gorgeous Mum like flower first in Really Rust ink. Then I chose the two smaller flowers and stamped them also in Really Rust, but stamping off first on my Grid Paper to dilute the color. The little weed flower is stamped in Old Olive ink. This layer was just screaming to be distressed, so I complied and really beat it up with my Bone Folder. It still needed something, so I added Old Olive ink to all the edges with my Stampin' Sponge.

Well, as you can see, once I had the sponge in my hand, I just couldn't stop at one layer, so A La Patti Chesky (may she live forever) I sponged EVERYTHING! You are so in my head this week Patti - can you now convince me to stop eating junk food?

Oh, you want to know how I finished this card, ok, let's get back to it.

I stamped some more flowers on the Riding Hood Red cardstock layer in Riding Hood Red ink, but just in two of the corners - didn't want to overdo it! Then came the three Gold Brads in the bottom left corner which I added with my Mat Pack and Paper Piercer so I could line them up correctly.

Then, I stamped one more flower in Riding Hood Red on Naturals Ivory Cardstock and trimmed it out with my Paper Snips. I curled the petals with the side of my Bone Folder and added a Gold Brad to the center. To really make it pop, I took a page from Selene Kempton's book and painted the flower with Crystal Effects. Yeah, really! It was attached to the center of the Big flower with a dimensional.

The greeting is from Best Yet (Level 1 hostess set) stamped in Riding Hood Red, sponged in Old Olive, punched out with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch and layered on a Really Rust 1 3/8" Circle. Yes, you guessed it, I popped it up on dimensionals. Now, I intended to place the greeting higher on the card, but truth be told, I got it too close to the cardstock while I was talking to my daughter and it stuck where it is. Thank goodness it's straight! And actually, I kind of like it there.

I really hope you like this card and I really hope you like reading my blog. Some of you have told me how much you laugh as you read my posts - thanks for that! I just hope you are laughing at my crazy life and not my cards - because then I would cry, and that would get my all cardstock wet, and then I couldn't stamp anything, and then you would be sad too. So you see, you need to like my card so I can keep stamping for you! I don't want you to be sad!

Love you guys! Be sure to check out the other Blogger's Challenge players artwork too - just click on the link in my sidebar.
Happy Friday,
~~Robin

Monkey See - Monkey Do!

As you can see, this post has NOTHING to do with Monkeys! Well, not really. You see, I was cruising my favorite blogs yesterday when I saw this post here on Patti Chesky's blog. And when Patti posts something this cute, I just have to eat a banana and climb a tree! LOL! I just loved the idea of her little purse and it inspired me to create this box.

The 2, 5, 7, 10 box is the basis for this project and a tutorial can be found here for the basic box. My box is done with Kiwi Kiss cardstock and I covered all four panels with smaller pieces of Frosty Day Designer Series Paper from the Holiday Mini catalog. I used Sticky Strip to form the box so it would be sturdy and I used the Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive to glue on the paper panels. This is actually the first time I've used that adhesive for paper on cardstock and it worked great! There is definitely a learning curve, but I was very pleased with the results.

I took Patti's idea of using the Top Note Die from the Big Shot to jazz up my top flap a bit. The Top Note was cut twice once in Kiwi Kiss and once in the Frosty Day paper. I just used the opposite side of the same piece this time then I trimmed off the perforated edge so the Kiwi Kiss would outline it.

After folding the Top Note pieces in half and adhering them with more Tombow, I used Sticky Strip to attach the Top Note to the box flap. I cut a piece of Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain ribbon and used Sticky Strip to attach that as well.

As you can see from the photos (I hope) I used a velcro dot as my fastener but gave it some extra security with two Gold Brads.

The little medallion/greeting was created with the 1 3/4" Circle punch on Chocolate Chip, the Scallop Circle punch on Kiwi Kiss and the 1 3/8" Circle punch on Very Vanilla.

I stamped the sentiment from the Best Yet stamp set (Level 1 hostess set) and stamped two flowers from the Live Like You Mean It stamp set (also Level 1 hostess) in Tangerine Tango ink. The flowers were inked up and stamped off one time on Grid Paper.

Lastly, I edged the Vanilla piece in Tangerine Tango ink and snailed them all together and attached the whole thing to the box with Sticky Strip.

I was so pleased with how this turned out that we will be making these boxes at my Trinity Design Stampers group meeting this Sunday! Maybe, just maybe, if you are really nice to me and leave lots of comments, we will do this at a Stamp Camp this fall as well........

Happy Stamping everyone!
~~Robin