A Little Stamped Love

One of the things I've enjoyed most about being a demo with Stampin' Up! is all the wonderful friendships that I've formed with fellow demos from all over the globe! I love my peeps and love to keep in touch with them via e-mail, phone and sending RAK's. (random acts of kindness cards)
Lately, I've been the recipient of many RAK's from my gal pals and wanted to share them with you here today.
Please know that I DID NOT create these cards, even though my watermark is on them - it is simply there to protect the artwork of the artist. (To tell you the truth, my pal Selene created my watermark for me and I don't know how to adjust it or recreate it with someone else's name on it! Hey, my skills are in paper crafting - not computers! LOL!)

Here are the gorgeous cards I've received lately, I've linked the artist's blog (if they have one) with their name so you can go check them out!

Easter Card by Tiffany Bauer

Friend card by Tiffany Bauer

Embossed Metal Flower card by Tara Bazata

Vintage Butterfly Friend card by Selene Kempton

Contemporary Butterfly Friend card by Selene Kempton

Embossed White Butterfly card by Karen Duke

Vintage Friend CD Folder by Jan McClurg

Aren't these just the most wonderful projects? You can see why I treasure them and the friends that made them!
Have a wonderful day everyone! I'll be back tomorrow with some wonderful news and this week's UDI Inspiration Challenge project!
~~Robin

AWOL.....Not Really!

I hope you weren't wondering where I was yesterday! I had planned to get some stamping done, but there has been a little buzz in Stampin' Up! land about this waaay cool Color Renovation and I was a little busy Monday and Tuesday........ :) More great info for you about THAT later!

So, no, I didn't stamp a THING the past two days and it about killed me, but I do have some fabulous RAK's that I've received lately that I'm going to post in a little bit just so you have some eye candy, ok?

For now, let me leave you with a funny, but oh, too true story that happened to me yesterday - if you are a busy Mom, or have been, you will sooooo relate:

This just proves that I am losing my mind:

(Picking up Emma at the bus stop to go to the ice rink in Fairfax)
Me: "Hey Em, I've got your snack and skating stuff, how was school?"

Em: "Great Mom, thanks! School was good." (puts in ipod earphones and tunes me out)

Now we drive 50 minutes to the rink.......
Pulling up at the front door with minutes to spare

Me: "Ok, hop out and go change while I park."

Em: "Ok Mom. Hey, where are my skates?".... ........ ..

Yeah, that's what I said too! LOL !

Back later with some great cards to show you!
~~Robin

Elegant Wedding Card

Happy Monday Stampers!
Is today your last day of spring break too? I am missing the slower pace of last week already - but the Stampin' Up! cruise is less than 20 days away now, so there is that to look forward to!

Today's card for you is short, sweet and simple! With wedding season approaching I thought I'd share a card you can literally make in less than 10 minutes! AND it uses heat embossing AND glitter! Yeah!

I started with a piece of 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Shimmer White cardstock - love this cardstock for making more elegant cards - and folded it in half to create a standard A2 card. These fit in the Medium Stampin' Up! envelopes.

For the main image, I stamped the large flower from the Wedding Sweet stamp set using Versamark ink. I then added Heat and Stick Embossing Powder to it and with my Heat Tool, warmed it until it melted. The trick to this powder is to not overheat it or it loses it's stickiness.

Then, I took out my Fine Cosmo glitter and sprinkled it liberally all over the heated image, tapping off the excess into my Powder Pal tray. I then reheated it with the Heat Tool, setting the glitter into the image.

The greeting (from Teeny Tiny Wishes) was stamped with Black Staz-On ink onto a scrap of Shimmer White then punched out with the Modern Label punch. It is popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals. Lastly, my ribbon knot is simply a piece of White Organza ribbon tied around the front of the card and knotted by the greeting.
Clean, simple and elegant!
(Note: the only thing I added after the photo was taken was to round the four corners of the card with my Corner Rounder punch. I thought it looked better with the flowy image.)

I'll be filming another video this week and was thinking about showing you how to cover Chipboard, but maybe I'll do it on using Heat and Stick powder instead. Let me know what you would like to see!
Have a great Easter Monday everyone - stamped blessings!
~~Robin

The Miracle of Easter Sunday

"In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song.
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease.
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain.....

Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again.
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me.
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand,
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

Wishing you and yours a blessed, Glorious Easter!
He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

~~Robin

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge - More Vintage!

Hi again stamping friends! It's time for the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch challenge and no surprise, I've gone back to my vintage leanings for this one! I'm just lovin' this style these days and this time I wanted to use a color that I've been neglecting for a long time - Mellow Moss. It's one of my friend Martha Armstrong's favorite colors and I thought of her when I was making this card. (Hi Martha!)

Here is the sketch for this week (you may recognize it from my Thursday post here):

And here is today's card:

I'll put the supply list along with measurements at the bottom of this post so it's all in one place for you, okey-dokey? :) I used the Mellow Moss for my card base and after I folded it, I stamped the vine from Vintage Vogue in Mellow Moss ink for a tone on tone effect. I trimmed off 1 3/4" of the card front and added the piece of punched Naturals White. It's attached to the inside flap with a line of Tombow Adhesive. The edge was punched with Eyelet Border punch and then sponged with Chocolate Chip ink (as are all the cardstock pieces on this one).
I wrapped a piece of Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon around the entire card front and secured the ends under the focal image pieces. That ribbon hides the cardstock seam quite nicely. I don't like leaving something that looks unfinished - just a quirk of mine!
The focal image was stamped in Pale Plum ink and I wiped the 'friend' word clean before stamping. Then I cleaned my stamp and used my Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker to ink up just the word and added to the bottom center of the piece.

On my card, I replaced the small square element with the hand cut flowers. One is stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink and the other is in Pale Plum. They were curled with the Bone Folder and stacked with Mini-Glue Dots. I added a tiny Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon bow to the center with another glue dot. I did tie it using my Bow Tying method in this video here, but used only 8" of ribbon - more difficult, but do-able!
I also added two Vintage Brads to the bottom left of the focal image to give it some balance.

Two more little hand cut flowers for the lower right corner of the focal image, both with Vintage Brad centers and that part was finished. They were also attached with Mini Glue Dots.
On this card, I needed to do an inside piece as well:

It's simply a piece of Naturals White with some Mellow Moss vine stamped in the corner.
Easy peasy card and a different way to use the sketch too!
Be sure to check out the other operators projects by visiting the Stamping 411 blog - and why not play along with us this week? We love to see your creations!

Happy Stamping everyone!
~~Robin

Supply List:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Naturals White, Pale Plum

Inks: Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Pale Plum, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Vintage Brads, Mini Glue Dots, Stamping Sponges

By His Wounds (Blogger's challenge - Easter theme)

Hello stamping friends -
Today is Good Friday and for many of us it is one of THE most important days in regards to our faith. This is the anniversary of the day that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for the sins of the world - all because of His great, unfathomable love for us.
It rocks my world to know that the spotless Lamb of God would be willing to suffer and die in order that I (and you) might be saved.

So today, I once again share artwork from my heart with you - in order to honor the Lord and Saviour that I love so very much. It is my prayer that you will be blessed by what you read and see here today - I mean no offense to anyone - this is truly from my heart and the best part of all is that today isn't the end of the story of Easter. If you visit me again here on Sunday I will be sharing His Resurrection with you and celebrating the great hope we have in Christ!

There is a beautiful song by Third Day called "By His Wounds" and I am sharing some of the lyrics from that song (one of my favorites) with you today. At the bottom of my post is a beautiful video set to this amazing song that I know will touch your heart.
May God bless you all richly today and always.

"He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our sins.
The punishment that brought us peace
was upon Him.
By His wounds, by His wounds
we are healed."

"We are healed by Your sacrifice
and the life that You gave.
We are healed for You paid the price,
By Your grace we are saved,
We are saved."

"What can wash a way my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
By His wounds,
by His wounds we are healed."

Thank you so much for being my guest here today and I hope you were blessed.
I've included the information for my project here for you as well if you would like it. If you have questions on it's construction or technique, please feel free to contact me.

Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

Stamps: Refuge and Strength, Things I Love, Sanded background, Crown of Thorns (non-SU!)
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Real Red
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Crystal Effects, Real Red Re-inker, Stamping Sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals, Bone Folder

UDI Inspiration Challenge - One Cute Chick!

Ok, take just one look at this picture.........

Now, all together now.........AWWWW, that's SO CUTE!
That was exactly my reaction when I viewed this week's UDI Inspiration Challenge photo - what an adorable image! Our Challenge Mom, Maria chooses some wonderful inspiration pieces and as soon as I saw this one, I knew which stamp set I'd use - the hostess set Country Morning.
Mine had yet to see ink and I was happy to have a reason to take it out and mount it!
So here is my card:

I used the upcoming sketch for this week's Stamping 411 sketch challenge - so I guess you are getting a sneak peek at that - and my colors were dictated by the inspiration photo, as were the images.
My folded card base is Garden Green and I layered it with a piece of Barely Banana which I ran through my Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. This layer was then sponged with Barely Banana ink to make the embossing stand out and give it depth.
I used Garden Green for the mats under the stamped images which were stamped on Naturals White cardstock.

The daffodils are from the Abundant Hope stamp set and the greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes - probably my most used stamp set - and I punched it out with the Modern Label punch.
Everything was colored in with ink pads and Aqua Painters. I used Barely Banana and a little Crushed Curry to give the yellows two tones. The green is more Garden Green and the beak and feet of the little chick were colored in with the Dusty Durango Stampin' Write Marker. All images were stamped with Black Staz-On ink before coloring in.
I sponged all the edges of the Naturals White cardstock with Barely Banana ink to make them stand out a bit.

The ribbon wrapped around the Banana cardstock layer is a small piece of Twill Tape and then I added the little bow with a piece of Linen Thread that is threaded through two small punched holes on the daffodil layers. I simply frayed the ends a bit once it was tied to make it look more rustic.
It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but if you look real close at the eggshell, I painted a small bit of Crystal Effects on the inside of the shell to make it look shiny in contrast to the matte outside of the shell. A small touch, but I think it's the little things that make something extra special!
Speaking of little things, check out this view of the card:

I was trying to capture how much dimension it has in real life. I used 9 Stampin' Dimensionals on this baby; 5 behind the Banana layer and 4 behind the large Garden Green layer. The little chick is adhered with SNAIL. Oh, yes, almost forgot, I punched him out with the 1 1/4" Square punch and punched the layer with the 1 3/8" Square punch.

So there you go - that's pretty much it for this one - I did add a panel inside of Naturals White cardstock sponged with more Barely Banana ink for writing a message on, but I try and do that whenever the cardstock base is a darker color.
Be sure to check out all the other design team members by clicking over to the UDI Blog. You'll find their links on today's post and I know they will have such cute things to share!
Have a wonderful day today - we will be going into DC for a family day and enjoying the Cherry Blossoms before they are gone for this year!
Stamped blessings,
~~Robin