Brushed Silver Wedding

Did you know that there is a fantastic Valentine/Love themed stamp set in the Holiday Mini Catalog?
Did you know that the Holiday Mini Catalog expires in just 5 days?!!
Yep, it's true. Which means that you only have 5 days left to purchase the You Are Loved stamp set OR most anything else you need from that awesome collection!

Here's a card we did at my December card classes using the You Are Loved stamp set for a wedding theme.

We used Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush cardstock - love that purple combo! And the main heart image is stamped with Versamark then heat embossed with Pewter Embossing Powder. Instead of cutting it out, we tore around the image, giving a texture contrast to the layer underneath. It's adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

For the next layer, we ran the cardstock through the Big Shot with the Stripes embossing folder. To give it the silvery sheen, we took a sponge brush and lightly brushed on some Platinum Shimmer Paint. It dries to the touch within a minute since it's formulated for paper.
The card front was finished off with some Whisper White Organza Ribbon and the bow was attached with Mini Glue Dots.

Here's a peek at the inside:

The flowering vine image from You Are Loved was stamped in Wisteria Wonder ink on Whisper White cardstock. The greeting, from Word Play, was stamped with Concord Crush ink.

Here's a look at the stamp set:
It's item # 123779 and is only $23.95 in Clear Mount.
The Sweet Friend greeting fits perfectly in the Modern Label Punch, and of course, the "Love" image was made for the Decorative Label Punch. I love when stamps and punches coordinate - it makes our stamping that much easier!

You can order this stamp set and everything else I used for this card from my Online Stampin' Store. Just visit my website: http://robinstamps4u.stampinup.net and click the SHOP NOW button at the top right corner.
Don't forget about my Robin's Rewards Program! It applies for all online merchandise orders of $40 or more! You could be on your way to earning FREE Stampin' Up! product!

Have a great New Year's Eve Eve!
Hope it includes some stampin'!
~~Robin

An Empty Spot at the Christmas Table

Please forgive me for not posting for the last few days like I'd promised.
We traveled to visit Mark's family this year for Christmas, taking my Mom along with us.
It was a very different kind of Christmas, one with a great big hole in the middle.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel this year. We got through Thanksgiving pretty well so I thought I'd be good. But I really wasn't prepared for how much I'd miss my Dad on my favorite holiday of the year.

December is usually a crazy, joyful month for our family. Mark and I celebrate our wedding anniversary - this year was our 20th - Emma has her birthday and of course Christmas, the wonderful anniversary of Christ's birth. So, two major life events and a great holiday combined with skating, work and celebrations usually keep us moving pretty well. This year was no exception, but my Dad was missing from all of it.
Like I've said before, I wouldn't wish him back at all to suffer the effects of cancer. He's whole and healed in Heaven with Jesus now - how awesome for him! But I felt the loss of his presence so keenly, it hurt physically.

I'm indulging myself today with some pictures from Christmases past. There's no stamping on this post, but I needed to share and hope it helps heal my heart.

This was last Christmas - Mom, Emma and Dad. It's the last photo I have of the three of them together. Emma was the apple of his eye.

One that always makes me laugh is this one of my Dad trying to convince Emma to let him eat one of Santa's cookies. Santa couldn't possibly eat them all, he explains. You can see that Emma is not buying it at all.

When she was little, Dad used to sit with Emma and read to her or share popcorn or just watch tv. She used to love sitting with her Grandpa.

All of us at our Christmas table one year. I remember we had a heck of a time with the camera delay, but we finally managed to get this shot and I treasure it. Mark's Mom is on the far left.

Just a shot of my Dad last Christmas opening his gifts. He loved anything to do with WWII and this is a book that Mark found for him.

Emma got one of those jumbo pillows for Christmas one year and she and Dad were doing a bit of clowning around with it.

Christmas Eve meal after church. We always went to the same restaurant in Manassas for our dinner. And he always got the Prime Rib, his favorite.

I don't have many photos of me with my Mom and Dad and Emma. I'm usually manning the camera, so I treasure this one as well.

A different year at our Christmas Eve meal.

And Mom and Dad at our Christmas table.
You were missed this year Dad. There was a big empty spot at our table and a big hole in my heart.
I love you.

~~Robin

The Gnomes

I have a confession to make.
I really dislike gnomes.
I do not think they are cute. I do not think they are funny and they do not make me smile.
Well, the Travelocity gnome on tv makes me smile, but HE is not cute and someone else is doing his voice, so it really doesn't count.

So when I expressed my dislike of gnomes at a recent team event (after discovering a new gnome stamp set in the Occasions Mini) I was heckled pretty good. Apparently the rest of the world likes gnomes and I'm the oddball.
So be it, I just don't like them.
And if SU! had just come out with a stamp set of gnome images, I wouldn't have looked twice. BUT, they came out with a companion set of greetings that makes me laugh out loud.
You know I like offbeat humor and sadly, I needed the gnome images to make the greetings work. Sigh. I did not want to spend my hard earned $$ or even my freebies on this gnome stamp set.
BUT, along comes SU! with an incentive to earn them for FREE. Now I'm all over that, so I did it.
I earned them and gladly plunked down my $$ for the greeting set just so I could tell someone that I was "hanging with my gnomies".
Yeah, it had to be done.

Anyway, the card I'm sharing today is a pretty simple one - I included it with a gift of gnome salt and pepper shakers that I sent to my heckler in chief for Christmas.
Check out that greeting:

Cute, huh?
My card is made with Lucky Limeade cardstock and I stamped it partially with the Woodgrain background stamp in Early Espresso.
Some of that way cool polka-dot Chocolate Chip ribbon was wrapped around the card front and tied off in a knot. Had to make it cute somehow! Sheesh!
For the greeting, I stamped it in Early Espresso on Whisper White cardstock and punched it out with the Decorative Label Punch. It was trimmed in half and adhered just under the ribbon band.

Keeping the woodland color scheme, I stamped the gnome image (cute frog!) with Basic Black on more Whisper White. I colored him in with Stampin' Write Markers - Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip. The froggie is Lucky Limeade.
It's mounted on a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock and popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I added a piece of Whisper White cardstock to the inside to write my greeting so I stamped a bit of the gnome on the inside left corner and colored him in too.

So there you have it. I'd love to know what you think about gnomes. Am I the only non-gnomer?

Hey, if you come over to my Open House tomorrow from 10 am - Noon, you'll get to see Mr. Gnome in person. Now that wouldn't be a draw for me, but I will have the other Occasions Mini products out for you to see and you'll make a couple of projects too! On me! There might be a few prizes too AND I'll be letting you get first dibs on signing up for January Product Shares and a New round of In Color Clubs.
Let me know if you're coming! I'm doing the prep work today, k?

Happy Stampin',
~~Robin

Best Friends Forever Birthday Invite

Being a stamper, there's kind of an unwritten rule that for any card giving, occasion inviting event, that I have to make the cards or invitations.
Ok, I know I don't HAVE to, but it sure is more fun to hear " Oh, you MADE these? They're fantastic!" than "Wait, I thought you MADE cards......."

Yeah, you know what I mean.

So, for Emma's birthday last week I made the invitations and of course, Stampin' Up! had all the colors and stamps I needed (that SHE liked!) to make them.
Here's a photo:

It's a one panel design sized at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". I used the colors we used to create Emma's bonus room this summer, Calypso Coral and Basic Black.

I used the Inviting stamp set for the basic lines of the invitation and the rest of the stamping was done with the Best Friends Forever stamp set. I stamped the heart image first in Calypso Coral, then stamped over them with the vine image inked in Versamark. They were heat embossed with Black embossing powder to give the invitation a raised and shiny, elegant effect.

Emma was thrilled with how they turned out and I was thrilled that they only took about 45 minutes to make!
A Win/Win in my book!

Well, I'm headed out to pick up my Mom and bring her back home so we can all leave tonight to visit Mark's family for Christmas. Lots on the to-do list still but I'll be back with another post tomorrow - promise!

Have a wonderful, low-stress day!
~~Robin

Sweet Silhouette Valentine - A Sneak Peek!

Well, I survived Fair Oaks mall yesterday.

Actually, Fair Oaks mall and Potomac Mills mall and Wal-Mart.
And a near rear-end accident (again!) on a wet road.
(note to other drivers - I do NOT need yet another new bumper for Christmas!)
And driving to skating practice and a Christmas Party.
And sorting and wrapping presents.

I am a tad tired today.
I have also decided that if it's not bought by now, it's not gonna be. Things were going so well when I "thought" I had 99.9% of my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. There I go thinking again! Ha!

So, to take my mind off Christmas - at least for the moment, you should see the pile of gifts still to wrap - I'm sharing a little sneak peek of some new Occasions Mini catalog products with you today!
It's a sweet, simple card, but I LOVE it! And I hope you will too!



I started with Whisper White cardstock and embossed it with my Big Shot and the hearts from the NEW Adorning Accents Embossing Folders. They are 5 1/2" long so they will cover a whole card front! Isn't that cool? And there are 3 designs in one pack - awesome!

The greeting is stamped with Real Red ink and comes from the NEW Sweet Cake stamp set. I loved how the retro feel of this greeting complimented the silhouette image so well. Speaking of the silhouette image - it's NEW too! It's from the Take It to Heart stamp set which has 4 different heart images and a sweet banner image.
And if you're wondering how I cut out that heart shape, well..........
Stampin' Up! has NEW Framelits! They are wafer thin dies that work with our Big Shot to perfectly cut out a stamped image. The Hearts Collection has 6 different sizes in one package! You simply stamp your image then lay it on the Big Shot with the platform and cutting pads. Select the size die you need and lay it in place over the area you want to cut out. Awesome and EASY!

For this card, I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the edge of the heart before mounting it on Stampin' Dimensionals over a wrapped piece of Real Red Satin Ribbon.
Don't you love it?!!

I know, you are dying to see the new products I've used and talked about here. Has your Mini Catalog come in the mail yet? If not, and you don't already have a local demonstrator, please let me know and I'll send you one in the mail! You NEED it! Trust me.
And if you'd like to try out some of these new products for FREE - just RSVP for either of my Thank You Open Houses on Thursday, December 29th. Choose 10 am - Noon OR 7 pm - 9 pm. Come see the new products, make a couple of projects and enjoy some special treats and offers too! All the details are on my Events Page on my Stampin' Up! Website. I'd love to have you in the studio and say Thank YOU in person for supporting me and my business.

So, I know that things are a bit crazy being just 3 days before Christmas and all, I know they are here for me too. BUT, in all the craziness, all the rushing and madness and losing my mindness remember, God is still God. He is still on His throne. He is holding us tight and loving us every minute of every day. His son Jesus is who we celebrate during this special season and He came not only to bring us salvation, but peace and joy!

I have a fantastic, pick-me-up song video to share with you today. It's not a Christmas song - I'll have one of those for you on Christmas Day - but it's one of my favorites when I seem to lose sight of the TRUTH in my life that I've just shared with you.
It's upbeat, jazzy and will have you dancing around a little bit as you get on with your wrapping or shopping or baking or whatever still needs to be done. What I really hope is that it will BLESS you.
Have a beautiful day my friends!
~~Robin

Easy Gift Tiles!

Guess what I'm doing today?

Going Christmas shopping!!
Yes, I'm venturing out into the madness with my friend Lissa, buoyed only by the promise of Chick-fil-A Chick'n-minis for breakfast and the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Aiyiyi, are we crazy or what?!!

But, it has to be done.
We both have returns - yes, already! And I still have two, count em' TWO things on my list that must be bought AND I discovered last night that I desperately need shirt boxes. Why oh why, do we always throw away the boxes on Christmas morning when we KNOW we're gonna need them next year? Why not just store them in the Christmas Closet with all the other Christmas paraphernalia? They don't take up THAT much room. Sigh....

Anyway, I had a wonderful, quiet day here at home yesterday and I managed to get 7 Christmas gifts made! WooHoo!! I made two sets of boxed cards for two of Emma's coaches and 5 of these fancy, schmancy Decor Elements Tiles.
Here, take a look:

Yeah, I know you wanna say it - Oooh. Aaah! Fancy!!
Yep, and you can't really even see the glittery spray all over them. Oh yeah - glitter!!

Look, these were so super easy!
I used tiles that we had bought at the big blue home improvement store (not the orange one!). They are called Rialto tiles. Simply wash them off and dry them thoroughly.
The design is one section of the Holiday Damask Decor Elements from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I trimmed one out with my Paper Snips and applied it to the clean tile.

Next, I sprayed the whole thing with my own homemade shimmer spritz made with spray hand sanitizer and Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. Let it dry and it stays put!

Here's a close up:

You can see the shimmer on the tile in the background pretty well here.
To decorate the tile, I wrapped about a yard or so of Old Olive Satin Ribbon around the left edge and tied it up in a pretty bow.
The tag was made with the Merry and Type stamp set. I stamped the greeting in Real Red on Naturals White cardstock and punched it out with the Decorative Label Punch. The edges were sponged with some Old Olive ink and I spritzed it with shimmer mist too.
I punched a small hole in the corner of the tag and threaded it with some Early Espresso Baker's Twine and added a Mini Jingle Bell before tying it off in a bow.

I didn't take a photo of the back, but to hang it, I attached a small sawtooth hanger with Hot Glue.

Super cute and SO easy!!
The best part? This whole project cost less than $3.00 total!
Shhhh! Don't tell on me, ok?

The Holiday Damask Decor Elements are still available in the Holiday Mini Catalog and you get 27 of them for just $29.99!
But, they are only around until January 3rd, so be sure to get them before they are gone.

Also, be sure to get the Stocking Builder Punch if you are still needing it. SU! told us yesterday that it WILL NOT carry over into the next big Idea Book and Catalog and is available now on a While Supplies Last basis! Guess that means that the Stitched Stockings stamp set won't carry over either - just a guess on my part, but it stands to reason, don't ya' think?

Ok, enough chatter - I'm headed out to the craziness that is the Mall. Wish me luck!
You on the other hand can stay home and shop from my Stampin' Up! Website! It won't get here by Christmas, but you're shopping for YOU anyway, right? Ha!
Don't forget, my rewards program applies to any orders of $40 in merchandise from my Online Store!
The punch and the decor elements would earn you more points towards Stampin' rewards!

Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

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

A Snowy Hello

My title may be a bit confusing so let me clear that up for you - yes, I am saying Hello!, but no, it is NOT snowing here. Thank goodness!!
My friend Lissa thinks I'm a scrooge or something because I told her last week that I could really do without snow this year. We've been bombarded the past two years here in Virginia, plus with all our skating travel up north, we see PLENTY of snow.
She grew up in Michigan, so she's used to it, but listen, I grew up here - in the South - we always got some snow, some years, but my Winter does not include a prerequisite for snow. 'Nuff said!
And I'm not a scrooge! :)

So now that I've gotten that off my chest, how 'bout a card?
Here you go:

It's a another quick and easy design for you. I made it for my card classes this month and I think they loved it!
I used the Gift Givers stamp set from the Holiday Mini catalog for my image - isn't she just the cutest thing??
That stamp set is great because you can punch out every image in it! Love that!
Here, I stamped the little girl image in Basic Black on Whisper White and used my Stampin' Write Markers to color her in. Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride and Blush Blossom. A little Bashful Blue for the snowy hill and flakes and a little glitter too for some sparkle. (I forgot to put it on this card, but it was on my sample!)

It's punched out with the Scallop Circle Punch and layered on a punched piece of Pear Pizzazz cardstock, punched with the Large Scallop Circle Punch. I used my Paper Piercer to add pinholes to the scallops to give it a lacy effect. It was popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals over the Early Espresso Quilted Ribbon. The little knot of ribbon was attached with Mini Glue Dots.

The card front is a piece of Letters to Santa Designer Paper - you really should check out this paper - it's so much more than Christmas designs! Just sayin'!
I layered it over a piece of Blushing Bride cardstock on a card base of Pear Pizzazz. What could be easier?

Here's a peek at the inside:

Just a simple panel of Whisper White stamped with the sweet snowball/bird image from the Snow Much Fun stamp set. I colored it a bit with Bashful Blue. The greeting from the same set finishes it off nicely.

So, there you have it, my snowy hello!
I'm off to get some major stamping done today - yes, I'm still working on Christmas cards, plus thank you notes, plus In Color Club projects, plus gift wrapping! Aiyiyi! Good thing I opted not to bake this year......
But, man, I sure would love some gingerbread cookies. Sigh.
I can make them in January, right?

Happy day!
~~Robin