Blogger's Challenge #84 - Birthday Theme

I really love the Blogger's Challenge each week! It's great because it forces me to be creative each week even when I have very little time to stamp something. I especially love the weeks when the challenge theme matches something that I've already created and not posted! Ok, some would call that cheating a bit, but cut me a little slack here - between the new puppy, the ice storm and snow, and traveling here to New Jersey for Emma's skating championships - I've been a litle busy!


The card today was inspired by a card I'd seen on Laurie Schmidlin's blog about a year ago, but had never gotten around to doing my own version. Actually, my version doesn't look much like the original after all was finished, but I wanted to credit her for inspiring me.


My card starts with a card base of Basic Gray Cardstock folded lengthwise to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". It's layered with Basic Black, Rose Red and Whisper White. The Whisper White layer is stamped with the Tres Chic background stamp in Basic Black Craft ink. Then I heat embossed with my Heat Tool and Black Embossing Powder to give it a really rich glossy look.


I layered all three pieces of cardstock and then wrapped a piece of Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon around the left side. The hat pin design element was created with clear jewel beads and pearls from the Pretties Kit and tied to the ribbon piece with another piece of ribbon.


To stamp the greeting, I used my Basic Black Stampin' Marker and colored directly on part of a stamp from the set "On Your Birthday". I didn't want the whole sentiment on the front of the card, so this method worked wonderfully.


We did this card at my stamp camp in December and the ladies loved it! I hope you do too! Please check out the other talented stampers in the Blogger's Challenge group by clicking on the icon in my sidebar. Your comments really make us smile!

Today Emma's team skates in the Eastern Sectional Synchronized Skating Championships. It's the semi-final round and the top 6 teams from each flight will advance to the medal round on Saturday. Our hopes are very high for the girls, they are looking really good!
Go National Blades!
Go Emma!

Happy Weekend everyone~
Robin

Pun Fun Bird-Day Card

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time coming up with cute cards for kids. I love bright, fun colors in all parts of my life, but they are the hardest color palette for me to work with creatively.

This month for my Just Cards stamp camp, I had a request for a kids birthday card, so I pulled out the Pun Fun stamp set and found a color combination from the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog. I took it straight from the Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin' Kit - Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise and Kiwi Kiss.
I love how easy the Idea Book makes color co-ordinating. That is truly not my stamping strong point, but all I have to do is just look through the pages of this great resource and there we go.

The card base is Pumpkin Pie folded to make a 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" card. The next layer is Whisper White stamped with the balloon from the Sock Monkey stamp set in Tempting Turquoise.

I then took a strip of Real Red cardstock cut at 2" x 5 1/4" and punched the left edge with the Scallop Border punch. This is layered with some Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain Ribbon. For my focal point, I started with the top piece of Whisper White cut to match the bird stamp block size at 2" x 2 1/4". That made it easy to measure the Tempting Turquoise layer and the Pumpkin Pie layer at 1/4" larger on both sides for each.

The cute little bird is stamped in Basic Black and colored in with co-ordinating markers (didn't I say it was easy!?). I had to add the little cupcake stamp from the Short and Sweet stamp set, the little bird looked hungry!

All the layers are angled for a fun feel and then popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals to add depth. I hope you like it and find it easy to CASE. We'll find out next Tuesday if my stamp campers like it! I do still have room in the evening class at 7 pm since I had to reschedule. Class is $15 for 5 projects - all supplies included. Just send me an e-mail to RSVP.

Remember, all the products I mentioned here today are available for order on my website 24/7 at www.robinstamps4u.stampinup.net Just click on the Shop Now button in the top right corner and you are there!

Happy Stamping~
Robin

Quick Valentine Candy Treat

Just a quick creative post today. Emma and I are headed to Morristown, NJ for her USFSA Eastern Sectionals Championships! Since her team's level can go no further than this, it's really her "nationals". Kwim? Can you say "Go National Blades"?

This cute little candy treat bag took no time at all and was actually completed by my friend Nancy! She came over last week to help me finish up getting ready for my Valentine's class and I said "Hey, Nancy. See what you can do with this. I want x and x." Well, I just love the result, don't you? She is so fab!

The small cello bag is filled with valentine candy corn (very sweet in a yukky kind of way, but just the right colors!) The topper was made with Real Red, Pixie Pink and Whisper White.

The label comes from the Cute and Curly stamp set, punched out with the Curly Label punch. It's stamped in Real red and the greeting inside - from Short and Sweet stamp set - is stamped in Chocolate Chip. It's popped up on dimensionals over a piece of Chocolate Chip narrow grosgrain ribbon.

The three little hearts are punched out of Pixie Pink cardstock with the Heart to Heart punch - part of the Love You Much Bundle Special good til Jan. 31st!
These would make great favors for a classroom party or Sunday School class. Very quick and easy to assemble too!

Remember, all the products used for creating this project - and all my projects can be ordered 24/7 by shopping on my website - www.robinstamps4u.stampinup.net
Just click the Shop Now button in the upper right corner and there you go!

Enjoy!
~~Robin

Suzie Finds a Home

Yes, this is our sweet little Suzie. Acutally, "little" does not really describe her - she is 30 pounds and is about 6-9 months old. LOL!

Isn't she sweet? How could we just NOT adopt her? She was an abandoned stray in our neighborhood a couple of days before Christmas and had made a home under our neighbors deck. They were feeding her but had called Animal Control because they just can't have a dog right now. Long story short, we left for our trip to Mark's family for the holiday and when we got back, she was gone. I assumed that she had been picked up and taken to the pound. BUT, our other neighbor had noticed that Suzie was limping badly and was able to get her to our vet (Buster, our other dog goes there too) for evaluation.

Well, they just fell in love with her at the vet's office and took her in as an Angel Adoption. They discovered that she had a fractured hip - unknown cause - and rehabbed her. After advertising her widely the whole month of January, there was no one claiming her - just so hard to believe - but I digress. This whole time, I just felt like we should try and adopt her but my hubby wasn't so sure - guess we know who won that round! LOL! So, last week, I took Emma and Buster up to the vet everyday to spend time with Suzie and on Friday, she came home!

She is definitely a rambunctious puppy, plays hard and sleeps hard, but she is keeping Buster on his toes and has endeared herself to all of us. She's pretty scared of any strangers, but we are sure she will warm up in time when she realizes that this is home and no one will ever hurt her again.

Puppy love, what can be better?
Happy Wednesday everyone!
~~Robin

Stamp Camp Snow Day!

Just a quick FYI - if you are registered for either of my stamp camps that were scheduled for today - they have been rescheduled due to SNOW (Uggh!) for next Tuesday, February 3rd.
So, enjoy your day and stamp something anyway! I'll see you next Tuesday!
~~Robin

Priceless in Pink and Brown

Wow, what a weekend! Our new puppy, Suzie is just a sweet, sweet girl; but she is keeping us on our toes! I'll post a picture later today or tomorrow so you can see her and tell you the story too.

The card today is actually one I'd done back in December for Just Cards class. I'd forgotten that it had never been on the blog, and since Valentine's day is just around the corner, I thought it might inspire some of you to break out your "Priceless" stamp set and make one of these for yourself!

I started with a card base of Close to Cocoa 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" folded. It's layered with Pretty in Pink then Whisper White and a piece of Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. The focal piece of Whisper White is matted on Chocolate Chip and both of these layers are accented with the Ticket Corner punch.

The Bella Rose layer is sponged with Pretty in Pink ink and along with the Whisper White it's on is wrapped with a piece of Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon.

I stamped my focal image in Close to Cocoa using the large swirl from the stamp set. The flower is stamped in Pink Pirouette on a scrap of Whisper White, trimmed out with my Paper Snips and mounted on a Stampin' Dimensional. The center is created with my fav - Rhinestone Brads in Circle Fire! For the greeting, I turned to my trusty, well loved stamp set - Small Script. The "Love You" is stamped in Riding Hood Red on Whisper White and punched out with the Small Oval Punch. It's edged in Pretty in Pink ink and mounted on Chocolate Chip punched out with the Large Oval Punch. I used another dimensional to mount the greeting to the card front.

It's actually a pretty simple card - the layers and sponging make it feel more luxurious which is the goal, right?

Have a happy Monday everyone. I have a very busy week here. Two card classes tomorrow; we leave for Emma's USFSA Eastern Sectionals Championships in New Jersey on Wednesday (Go National Blades!) and Suzie the puppy to make it all FUN! Whew!
~~Robin

Blogger's Challenge #83 - Color Combination

I just love it when a plan comes together! This week's Blogger's Challenge was the Color Combination of Red, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black and a neutral - I chose Whisper White. A FANTASTIC challenge! What makes it even better is that it worked with my downline team's Image Challenge that is going on right now.

I've started a new, fun activity for my team of stampers. Each month, they receive a set of two stamped images from me. Their challenge is to create two identical projects with the images, one to keep and one to send me. The ones they send in will be posted to our team Yahoo group for inspiration and I'll be posting a few of them here on the blog as well. Plus, all the projects will be posted on one of my display boards in the studio and my clients will choose which one they like the best. The winner, gets a prize from me!

So, I want to play along as well (not for the prize of course!) and I used the image this month on my card today.

I started with the Thanks a Bunch image from "A Little Somethin'" hostess stamp set (in the NEW Idea Book!) it's stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White. It's punched out with the 1 3/4" Circle punch, sponged with Kiwi Kiss ink and layered on a Real Red circle cut with the Coluzzle. I don't have my amazing NEW Circle Scissor yet from the NEW Idea Book, but it's coming!

Then I popped it up on Dimensionals and layered it on another circle cut with the Coluzzle out of the NEW Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper. This Kiwi patterned layer was perfect! That paper is very versatile - I used it with Perfect Plum last night for Big Shots class and it was YUMMY!

Anyway, this layered medallion was layered onto a Whisper White Scalloped Circle cut with the Big Shot and Scallop #2 Die. It's also sponged with Kiwi Kiss ink. The floral images are stamped with a NEW Sale-A-Bration Stamp set called "Botanical Blooms". You'll be able to get this FREE beginning February 1st!

I stamped the outlines in Kiwi Kiss and the flowers were filled in with Real Red stamped off to tone them down a bit. The leaves were also filled in with Kiwi Kiss stamped off once as well.

This layer is on a Basic Black Circle also cut with the Coluzzle and then layered on a Real Red piece cut with the Big Shot and the Scallop Circle Die. The card base is a 4 3/4" square of Whisper White which was sponged with Kiwi Kiss as well. I then stamped some of the outline flowers and leaves in Kiwi Kiss along the bottom and only filled in the leaves with Kiwi Kiss ink stamped off once.

I love the contemporary feel of this color combination and I especially love the mix of the vintage greeting and designer paper with the color combo. Eclectic, like me! I hope you like it too!

Please be sure to check out all the other Blogger's Challenge Players this week by clicking on the link in my sidebar. These wonderful stampers are sure to inspire you!

P.S. We are getting a new puppy today - another rescue dog! Oh, my. Please say a prayer that all goes well - Emma has her heart set on her. Her name is Susie and she is so sweet! I'll share some photos next week and her story too.

Happy Stamping!

~~Robin