UDI Blog Inspiration Challenge - Buttons for Mom

I know when you guys see this week's inspiration photo, you are going to say that my card has nothing to do with the photo. I KNOW! But since it's about what I'm inspired to make then it has everything to do with it!
Here, take a look at my card:

I LOVE how it turned out!
Now here - this is the inspiration piece:

I am NOT into mushrooms, but I LOVED the colors and incorporated them into my card. And the buttons reminded me of the colored mushrooms and the buttons reminded me of my Mom. There you go - a look into the train of thought from my brain - scary, huh?

Ok, so the card itself is pretty simple, I used Real Red and Whisper White cardstock, Real Red, Wild Wasabi and Black Staz-On ink; a variety of SU! Buttons and Daffodil Delight 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon.

The new background stamp Pattern Pieces was stamped twice with Wild Wasabi ink on the White cardstock. The little button card was made by stamping the Buttons sign image from the Sew Suite stamp set on Whisper White with Real Red. I added the buttons to the card with Mini-Glue Dots. It's popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals over the fun stamped ribbon.

What? Stamped ribbon you say? OMGosh! I saw this idea on Diana Ball-Seitz' blog the other day and I just HAD to try it out! The tape measure image is the perfect size to stamp on the 5/8" or wider ribbons and using Black Staz-On ink on Daffodil Delight looks just like my Mom's tape measure. Love, love it!
I finshed the card with a greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes and a little Button Brad from the Vintage Trinkets. Simple and sincere - just the way I like it!

My Mom and Grandma both were amazing at the sewing machine. They tried to teach me, but I'm pretty hopeless in the domestic arts area. I do remember spending time with them at the fabric store, looking through pattern books and dreaming of all the wonderful things they would make. I remember how the fabric smelled and the feel of all the buttons on the cards. I remember the beauty of all the rows of spools of colored thread and cards of rik-rak and ribbon trim. Amazing, wonderful embellishments, that happily now, I can use in my art. I'm so thankful for the times spent with my Mom and Grandma with their sewing things. They gave me an appreciation for something handmade over store-bought. Appreciation for the love that came with each precious handmade thing. Appreciation for the women who so helped to shape and mold me. My Grandma went to heaven the same year that Emma was born, but my Mom is still with us and she is precious to me still. I hope she likes the card when I mail it to her - maybe it will bring back sweet memories for her too.

Have a great day everyone and be sure to visit the UDI Blog to see what the other design team members did with those mushrooms!

We are still in Lake Placid - lots of practice ice today for Emma's team - we are hoping to have some fun, free time to explore the town. I'll share photos if we do!

Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

Lake Placid or Bust!

Good evening friends~!
Just thought I'd pop in and share a few photos of our fun, snowy adventure today. If you read my blog regularly, you know that my daughter skates on the National Blades Synchronized Skating Team. Well, this week is the Eastern Sectional Championships to determine who competes at Nationals next month in California. Needless to say, it's a pretty important competition to get to.

So, with all the bad weather headed into the Northeast, we decided to set out early and left yesterday afternoon for our trip to Lake Placid, NY. We drove as far as Albany and just said "enough is enough", got a hotel room and slept VERY well!

But look what we were greeted with in the morning!

I took this from the hotel room window, but you can see Mark standing by the van after he almost has it cleaned off. What you really can't tell is that there is about 6" of fresh snow on the ground on top of what had already fallen. The plow at least had come through the parking lot! So, Mark, my hero, dug us out and off we went - north! Yet another skating adventure!

Here is a shot out the front windshield of our van on I-87 around Saratoga Springs.

That's actually about as good as it got, we saw almost no plows once we passed this area and the snow - as of right now - is still falling steadily.

But look, just seeing this sign got us excited about what is to come this week!
Just the idea of being able to skate on Olympic ice is thrilling! Such an awesome experience for all of us!
This sign just cracked me up - even if it is SERIOUS! We don't have moose in Virginia, so no need for moose crossing signs. It reminded me and Mark of being in Hawaii and seeing the duck crossing signs. They are for a native bird that looks like a duck, I just don't remember the name of it right now. It was just different!

I know the snow is dangerous, but the sheer beauty of these mountains is simply breathtaking! I can't fully capture how gorgeous the scenery is with my cell phone camera, but this photo is pretty good. Isn't God's creation amazing?!

Here is the view from our hotel - yes, we are just across the street from history! The Lake Placid Olympic Center was the scene of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. It was here that the famous 'Miracle on Ice' took place and USA Hockey beat the Russians! Can't you still hear Al Michaels shouting "Do you believe in miracles?"!!!!
Oh, what a moment that was for me - and then to have that team win the Gold Medal and beat Czechoslovakia was just over the top. Just amazing! If you don't remember it, or want to relive it, you NEED to see the movie that Disney made with Kurt Russell. It's called 'Miracle' and is truly one of the most inspiring movies ever made!
And just think, Emma and her team get to compete on that SAME ice! Wow. Pretty cool!

So, that's the report from today - as you can see the snow is still falling, but we are here and tomorrow is going to be a great day!

Thanks for stopping by and GO NATIONAL BLADES!!!
~~Robin

Way Cool Textured Metal Valentine

Hey there! It's me! Another pre-scheduled post for you - and today, I'm really not here! We are currently on the road, headed north to Lake Placid, NY. Hopefully the snow storm I think we are going to be driving into is in actuality not so bad - but if it is, and you are reading this, say a prayer for safe travels for us, ok? Thanks my friends!

Today's card share is showcasing a fun new technique I found on the uber talented Jackie Topa's Blog. She shared this idea for making a Textured Metal Background and if you click HERE, you can print out her free tutorial.

I thought this would be a fabulous technique to use on a MAN valentine card - so here is my version:

I kept it clean and simple, using Basic Black, Real Red and Whisper White cardstock along with the fun new Real Red Glimmer Paper for the punched heart. This was a great chance to pull out my Totally Tool stamp set - don't get to use it often, but it's GREAT for masculine cards of all kinds. The tape measure stamp was inked with both Black Staz-On and a Real Red Stampin' Write Marker. Very easy to do. I layered all the pieces together for the focal image and then added the heart element with the 'Genuine' brad from my Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware - something else that's been ignored in my studio for a while! That whole section was popped up Stampin' Dimensionals on the Metal background piece.

At the bottom, I simply added three Silver Jumbo Brads through the Red cardstock layer. I used my guide from the Mat Pack to punch my holes with the Paper Piercer, skipping two holes between punches to leave enough space for the brads.

The inside of the card has a simple Whisper White panel that's stamped with a valentine sentiment and a heart image.

That's it for today! Hope you liked this fun, masculine card! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another great Valentine's project!

Stamped blessings!
~~Robin

Do you 'LIKE' me here? Awesome! Now you can 'LIKE' me on Facebook too! You can find my Trinity Design Studio - Paper Crafting and Fun page on Facebook now! I have lots of fun things planned for my new page and followers! You won't want to miss a thing!

Valentine Gift Card Holder

Howdy stamping friends!
So, what's the weather like where YOU are?! Since I'm scheduling this post and writing it on Monday night, I'm taking a guess that the weather man was right and that here it is Sleet and Freezing Rain. Nice. But wait, it gets better!
We are probably also deciding when exactly to leave for our trip to Lake Placid. Yes, that's right, we'll be driving right into the "massive storm" that is being forecast for Northeastern NY state. Crazy you say? Well, maybe. But this week is Emma's synchro skating team's Eastern Sectional Championship and there is no missing this one! The top 5 teams in her division advance to Nationals next month in California. Can I just pause and say "GO NATIONAL BLADES!"
Thank you for that - and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

So, you stopped by for a creative project, eh? Ok, how about a fun gift card holder for your special sweetie? Take a look:

I KNOW! Isn't it purty?! Really, this one just makes me smile! I love using unusual materials in my stamping and this little mini lunch sack was the perfect piece to build my project around. We made this in my stamp classes last month and all the stampers loved it!
Now, I know you guys are going to ask me where I got my bags - they are GASP! non-SU! - and honestly, I've had the package of them for so long it's hard to remember. I got them in bulk from one of those club places, I think there were 500 in the package for cheap. You should still be able to find them. Just buy a pack and split them up with a bunch of your stamping friends!

I took the little lunch sack and folded it in half with the open end on the back side.
To create the cover, I took a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and used Tombow Multi Adhesive to adhere it to the front. The Crumb Cake piece was stamped with Bella Toile in Crumb Cake ink and edged with Cherry Cobbler ink sponged on.
The focal image, Be My Valentine, was stamped twice onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I cut them both out with Paper Snips (the second one only used the banner piece) and then glued them together, finally mounting the whole thing to the front of the cover with Stampin' Dimensionals. They are hard to see, but there are 3 little Pearl Jewels attached to the heart. Yes, they are there, I need my readers to see them too.......

Now for the inside:

Using the lacy heart from the I {heart} Hearts stamp set, I stamped it randomly in a zig-zag pattern across two pieces of Crumb Cake cardstock with Crumb Cake ink. The left piece was overstamped with the XOXO from Define Your Life in Cherry Cobbler. The right piece has the greeting from Something to Celebrate stamped on Very Vanilla in Cherry Cobbler with the little heart accent from Tiny Tags. I used the Modern Label Punch and the Small Heart Punch for those and mounted them with Stampin' Dimensionals. Both Crumb Cake panels were sponged with Cherry Cobbler ink.

The insert piece is simply an additional piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, also sponged with Cherry Cobbler. I punched out a pull tab with the Round Tab Punch from a scrap of Cherry Cobbler. It's adhered with more Tombow. In fact, everything is adhered with Tombow on this project! Imagine that!
I think this insert piece would be perfect for a gift card, or a small photo, or even a special love note! You decide!

So as I sign off this post, please remember us in your prayers today for safe travels and smooth going. We plan to go halfway today - depending on when we actually are able to leave - and do the rest of the trip on Wednesday, taking all day to travel. It's normally a 10 hour trip total, but we are anticipating a lot more this go around.
I am pre-posting several projects for you here this week, so be sure to stop back by and visit me, ok?

Also, I've created a Facebook Fan Page for Trinity Design Studio - Paper Crafting and Fun, so if you want to 'Like' me on Facebook, that's the place! I'm still setting it all up and getting the hang of it, but I plan to do some fun things on there so stay tuned!

Have a great day stampers!
~~Robin

Bella Butterfly

Good morning stampers!
I think I promised to post this card for you all last Friday - it's another Letterpress plate card. So sorry about that! I've had a busy, busy weekend and my Friday really got away from me! Emma was off school for the third day in a row and my bff Lissa and I took our girls to the mall to get all of us out of the house for a while. Needless to say, not much work was accomplished that day!

So, here is the card - of course it's hard to see the Letterpress background in the photo:

I had seen a similar card on Barb Mullikin's blog a while back and loved it so much that I decided to make my own version. She tells me that her card was a case as well, so that just goes to show that a good idea, is a good idea, period!

For my card, I took a piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock, cut lenthwise and folded in the center. After unfolding it (just wanted to find the middle) I laid it on the Letterpress plate and ran it through my Big Shot. Next, I sponged Pink Pirouette ink on the edges and rubbed it a bit over the surface of the card front.

I used the Lattice Die next and cut a piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock for that element. The butterfly came next, Very Vanilla with the Beautiful Butterflies die. After the Butterfly was cut out, I stamped it with the Bella Toile background stamp and Pink Pirouette ink. Those edges were sponged as well. I also used the background stamp on the inside edge of the card for a little interest there. My ribbon bow was made with Very Vanilla Taffeta and attached with Mini Glue Dots. Actually, there is no SNAIL at all on this card - it's all adhered with Glue Dots. :)

You can see the Letterpress a little better in this photo, not great, but better!
The final touches on this card are the Pearl Jewel on the Butterfly, which I curled with my Bone Folder, and the little banner stamped with the greeting from the New Level 2 Hostess stamp set in the Occasions Mini Catalog. It's called Something to Celebrate and has some fantastic greetings in it!

I just thought this was a sweet, simple card and the ladies at my January card classes loved it too!
Thanks for stopping by today - hope you get time to stamp something fun!
Blessings,
~~Robin

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch - Sympathy in Saffron

Welcome back to my blog stamping friends!
Have you had a good week? Things have been a little odd here this week, but all good - really! With the snow we had, Emma had 3 days off school so we've spent a lot of time in our pj's the past few days - it's kinda nice to be honest. But I have a feeling that if I do that too often then one day Mark will come home from work to find me right where he left me - probably not a pretty sight! Good thing I have the lure of stamping to get me up and moving! :)

This week's Stamping 411 Sketch turned out to be perfect for me. I needed to make a sympathy card for an old friend who lost her Father a few days ago - always hate to have to make these cards - and the focal panel was the perfect size for the image I wanted to use.
Here's a look at the front of my card:

I hadn't used So Saffron in like, forever, and I thought it would be a nice color for this card - sending my message, but in a soft, feminine way. I started with a card base of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" which is a standard A2 sized card. I layered it with another piece of So Saffron cardstock that I ran through the Big Shot with my Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. It's sized at 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". After I texturized it, I sponged it all over with So Saffron ink to give some depth to the embossing. Using the sketch as my guide, I added a thin strip of Wild Wasabi across the bottom of the embossed piece, the added a scalloped border piece of Vellum Cardstock. I used the Scalloped Border punch on the Vellum.
Here's a look at the sketch:

I followed it pretty closely this week, just adding the ribbon and bow under the focal panel.
The focal image came from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, actually all the stamps I used are from that set, and I used my Stampin' Write Markers to color it in on the block before stamping. Wild Wasabi and So Saffron - soft and lovely for a sympathy card. The focal panel was popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals over the ribbon, and I added 3 Gold Brads across the top left. The greeting was punched out with the Scalloped Oval Punch and adhered to the front of the panel with Tombow adhesive.
Here's a look at the inside:

For the floral image, I simply huffed on the already colored stamp to re-moisten the ink and stamped it on a piece of Naturals Ivory cardstock. It lends a softer image for the inside of the card and doesn't distract from the greeting. I sponged this piece around the edges as well as the front focal panel. To me, sponging in a light color just adds softness and makes it more inviting.

So that's it for this card - it was lovely to work with these soft, pretty colors again, I sure hope the card and it's message let my friend know that she is loved.
Be sure to stop over at the Stamping 411 Blog and see what the other Operators created for you. We love it when you visit us!

Happy stamping everyone!
~~Robin

UDI Blog Inspiration Challenge - It's Pretty Pink...!

Today's post opens with two disclaimers -
1) I'm working off a very old camera that I found in a drawer - it's so old even Photoshop won't recognize the software to download the pictures. So they are darker than normal.
That being said
2) You may still need sunglasses to view this project and the Inspiration piece - it's really Pink!

Ready?
Ok, here you go:

Don't be distracted by the chocolate - it doesn't exist anymore anyway, it was very tasty!
It's pretty pink isn't it?

Well, what do you expect when this is your inspiration piece:

Yeah, baby! Now THAT's pink!
I really, really wanted to go to the store and buy some pink bunny peeps and design my own marshmallow sculpture, but since this is a PAPER crafting blog, I controlled myself. That and the fact that it was snowing like crazy outside kept me home. So, I did the next best thing - a pink box with a sparkly daisy containing equally, but not marshmallowey good chocolate!

Do you likey?
I actually likey VERY much!
I used the Bitty Box die and my Big Shot to cut out the box from Melon Mambo Cardstock.

The layered daisy, was cut out with my Daisies Die on the Big Shot using Melon Mambo Designer Paper - the polka dots pattern. I then inked them all up with Versamark and embossed them with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. I thought it mimiced the sugary Peeps bunnies very nicely!

I attached the daisies to the lid of the box with Mini Glue Dots and then added the Early Espresso Button from the Sweet Stitches Big Designer Buttons. See the blingy center? Yep - that's a Neutrals Glimmer Brad. I added that because my bff Tiffany was in my head saying "I don't like naked buttons!" Thanks for THAT mental picture Tiff!

Now let's move on to the yummy goodness inside the box -

I have a huge bag of Hershey Nuggets in the studio - it was new until I opened it for this project and now it's not so huge..... :)
So, I took out four of the silver wrapped ones and covered them with a piece of the Ice Cream Parlor Designer paper from the Sale-A-Bration brochure. You know, the FREE paper you can get with a $50 order! I also wrapped a 1/2" strip of it all around the box edge, just for pretty.

I was - help me, I can't resist - TICKLED PINK when I finished this project! heehee! Really, I liked how it turned out - what do YOU think?!

Be sure to stop by the UDI Blog to see what the rest of the Design Team pinked up for you!
Stamped, snowy blessings everyone!
~~Robin