Butterflies On Sale!

Stampin' Up! announced a fun new special offer the other day -

#135311 - Butterfly Bundle (Clear-Mount)
Papillion Potpourri Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Bitty Butterfly Punch - $26.27 (You SAVE $4.63!)

#135312 - Butterfly Bundle (Wood-Mount)
Papillion Potpourri Wood-Mount Stamp Set
Bitty Butterfly Punch - $29.67 (You SAVE $5.23!)

This combo is so sweet - I love adding butterflies to my projects, they just make me smile! 

Here a a couple of projects by some stampin' friends that I really loved - and I know you will too:

Original Art by Kandi Phillips

Original Art by Lizy Bartaby

And those are only a couple of the endless possibilities this bundle has to offer. 
Be sure to visit my Online Store so you can purchase yours. The special is only available until September 30th! 

Robin's Online Stampin' Up! Store

Happy Stampin'!
~~Robin

Sweet Altered Frame Project

I really enjoy doing altered art projects. 
Everywhere I go, I'm always on the lookout for things that can be enhanced with a little Stampin' Up! love. 
This little frame was a find in a bin at the craft store and joy! - it was in our Coastal Cabana color!
You know I had to buy it! 
 

For this little frame, I stamped a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock with the Daydream Medallions stamp set in Blushing Bride ink and used it for a background. 
The outside of the frame was decorated with some retired Flower Trim (love that stuff!) and pearls. 

I added a bit of lace, a brass button and pearl from the Artisan Embellishment kit (also retired, but so fun!) to the outside of the frames' glass. The ribbon bow is the stitched In Color ribbon in Raspberry Ripple. 

But my favorite part is the stamped image. Check it out:

There's a new stamp set called Spread the Joy which was designed by a Stampin' Up! employee - Emily Montoya. I love all the stamps in it, but I would have bought it just for this stamp alone. 
You are my Bucket List. 
Awesome. 
And I couldn't wait to use it! 

I markered the image and stamped it on Very Vanilla cardstock, trimming it out with my Paper Snips. It's simply added to the front of the frame with a couple of dimensionals. 

This project turned out better than I'd imagined it and I can't wait to give it to my daughter for her bedroom - if she ever gets it clean.... :)

Here's a look at the entire stamp set:

#134784 - Spread the Joy  $18.95 (clear)

Aren't these fabulous images?? 
Love, love them! 

As always, you can shop 24/7 from my Online Store. Here's the link: 
Robin's Online Stampin' Up! Store

Thanks for stopping by today, I'd love to know what you think of this sweet project. 
Happy Stampin'!
~~Robin

Emboss Resist Thank You Card

The other day, I was playing around in the studio, working on upcoming projects for a class. 
Sometimes, like that day, the idea I have just doesn't work out for some reason, but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea, so the stamped piece goes in my "serendipity pile".

That's what happened with the embossed resist card front on this card:

And since it was on the TOP of my serendipity pile, when I needed a quick thank you card the next day, it's what I pulled out to work with. 

For this card, I only inked up one side of the Pleasant Poppies background stamp with Versamark ink. It's  heat embossed with Clear Embossing powder and then I used my sponge daubers to add Rich Razzleberry and Pear Pizzazz ink to bring up the image. 
I really adore this technique - it's always so gorgeous and a delightful surprise when you are inking over the embossing.

My color palette is Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla and Pear Pizzazz. I used Blushing Bride retired designer paper for the banner layer and for the Bitty Butterfly punch out. The greeting is from the new Four You stamp set. 
All in all, a very simple card, yet lovely just the same. 

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to shop in my Stampin' Up! Online Store for all your crafting supplies. Here's the link: 
Robin's Online Stampin' Up! Store

Happy stampin'!
~~Robin

Glitter, Chevron and Stars

Happy Thursday! 

Just stopping by to add a little sparkle to your day with this fun card. 
I created this one for my Best of 25 Years class series last month. It was the Best of Greetings stamp set and the Happy Day stamp on this card was from that set. 
Here's the card:

I love this color combo of Whisper White, Basic Black, Pool Party and Real Red - very fresh and fun. 

The supporting stamp sets are Chevron background and Simply Stars. I used the Ovals Framelits, the Large Oval Punch and the 1/1/4" Circle Punch. 
There's lots of glitter going on here, it was applied with my 2 Way Glue Pen - easy peasy! 
A little 1/8" Basic Black Taffeta Bow was added with a Glue Dot and you've got a great card for any special occasion. 

As always, you can find all these creative supplies and much more on my Stampin' Up! website. Here's the link to my Online Store: 
Robin's Online Crafting Store

Have a great day everyone and I hope you get time to create something fun! 
~~Robin

Masculine Mash-Up Card

What's a girl to do when she needs a birthday card - pronto?!

Well, this girl grabs two UFO's (unfinished objects) from her Serendipity pile and combines them with two pieces of a card from this week's card classes, mixes in a few other elements and Voila! She's got THE perfect card! 

Here's how it turned out:

My UFO's were the stamped Filmstrip image and the Island Indigo layer underneath. The pieces from my classes were the Smoky Slate cardstock card base and the Whisper White layer that was stamped with the Tape It stamp set. 

I added a stamped and embossed image from the Clockworks stamp set, trimmed out with Paper Snips and then added a stamped and punched greeting from the Blue Ribbon stamp set. 
The final touch was a bit of spritzing with my (retired) Color Spritzer tool - SU! really needs to bring this tool back!! 

Here's a close up:

Those two elements are popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals - of course, right? 
I was pretty jazzed about how this one turned out, especially since masculine cards aren't usually my strong suit. 
What's really cool is that the card I'd done for my classes this month was decidedly feminine in style. I'll show you that one tomorrow! :)

Have a great day stampers! 
Go make something fun!
~~Robin

More Digital Art!

Yes, I am quite the digital hero in my home lately! 

Remember this post on Saturday?
Well, Emma needed a card to go with the birthday gift she was giving, so I returned to the computer and the My Digital Studio program and created a card front that matched the DVD case cover. 

Here's my project:

I used many of the same elements in the card front as I did with the DVD cover, but added a few new things too. The greeting was created with the Collage Alphabet and Numbers stamp brush set. I used the Sentimental Journey stamp brush set for the compass image and the "wings" and dots came from the Extreme Elements stamp brush set. 

The stitching images came from the Downtown Grunge Digital Kit Embellishments and my background design is a paper from the Grad Party Digital Kit. 

Once I had my design finished, I simply saved it as a .jpg file in my photos and printed it out on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock on my home printer. 
So great that we can do that when we are in a pinch! 

It's layered on a piece of Soft Suede cardstock and then again on a Very Vanilla card base. 
Super easy-peasy and again, the best part was that Emma loved it! 

Have a happy Monday everyone! 
Go stamp something fun!
~~Robin

RemARKables 25th Anniversary Blog Tour - Best of Shelli

Hi everyone!
Thanks for stopping by my blog on your trip through the Best of 25 Years Tour with the RemARKable Stampers. You've just come from Anne Matasci's blog - Maui Stamper. 
I know she had some great ideas for you with this month's stamp set - the Best of Shelli. (Shelli Gardner's favorites)
Here are my samples for you:

I took a bit of a different direction with this card, going for something more masculine with the very vintage flourish image. This one is my favorite in the stamp set. 
My color scheme is Very Vanilla, Island Indigo, Basic Black and Gold. 
Black and Gold are coming back into vogue big time, so get ready to see lots of golden accents in the months ahead. 

To get the gold glitter stripes on my background paper, I used my 2 Way Glue Pen and drew on the stripes I wanted to highlight then added the Gold Glitter from the Holiday Catalog. 
The gold paper behind the stamped layer is a piece of the Gold Foil Paper also from the Holiday Catalog. 

The flourish is stamped in Versamark ink then heat embossed with Black Embossing Powder. I used an Antique Brad on the black circle accent and added a few pieces of burlap string to give some added texture. 
The new Burlap Ribbon from the Holiday Catalog is so easy to work with and unravel so you can take just a few strings to use as ribbon. 
Here's a photo of what I did:

I cut a 6" length of the ribbon then trimmed off the sewn edge of it, exposing the frayed edge. I simply removed 3 strands of the twine that makes up the burlap and used them to tie around the brad. 
Pretty cool, eh?
This ribbon has a TON of possibilities! 

On to my next project:

With this cute image of stacked gifts, I wanted to go for a more whimsical look, so I drew my color scheme from the Polka Dot Designer Paper and punched out circles in Real Red, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Marina Mist. 
The circles were attached to a layer of Whisper White cardstock then run through the Big Shot with the Chevron Embossing Folder to add some texture. I <3 span="" this="">

My focal image was stamped in Black Staz-On ink then colored in with Stampin' Write Markers. It's punched out with a circle punch then layered on a piece of Basic Black cardstock that was cut out with one of the Circle Framelits. 

The inside was decorated with the Birthday Candle Wheel. I had unmounted it from the roller and used our Cling Foam to be able to mount it on a clear block for flat stamping. I just used Stampin' Write Markers to color in the candles then stamped them on the inside for an accent. 
The greeting is from the Yippee-Skippee stamp set that we all got FREE at Convention last month!

I hope you've enjoyed your stop here at my blog on the tour, you've still got lots of great ideas ahead of you so be sure to keep going! Just click on this icon to go to the next blog, you're headed for Andi Potler's blog next.

Here's a complete line up of all the stops on the tour in case there is a problem with any of the links:

Nancy Amato           http://stampinallnight.blogspot.com 
Melissa Bolinger       http://www.stampinup.net/blog/2089191 
Jackie Bottomley      http://www.jackiebottomley.blogspot.com 
Susan Carlson          http://www.stampinmomoffour.blogspot.com 
Tamra Davis            http://www.thecardladies.com 
Lynn Embrey           http://www.possibilitiestamperstudio.com 
Kathy Hamrick         http://www.countryroads.typepad.com 
Crystal Kondo          http://www.card-ed.com 
Deb Lehigh              http://thestampinhut.typepad.com 
Anne Matasci           http://www.MauiStamper.wordpress.com 
Robin Merriman       http://www.trinitydesignstudio.blogspot.com 
Andi Potler              http://www.absolutekreations.com 
Michele Reynolds     http://www.inspirationink.typepad.com 
Sharon Tisdale         http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/coveredbridgesstamper/blog 
Janet Wakeland        http://www.remarkablycreated.com


Have a wonderful Sunday and Happy Stampin'!
~~Robin