With All My Heart Card

Good Monday morning stampers!

What a wonderful, busy weekend we had! We were in Lowell, MA for my daughter's skating competition. Her synchronized team, the National Blades, traveled to the 2011 Colonial Classic and skated an amazing program to finish with a 4th place medal! This is such an an awesome accomplishment considering not only the high level of competition that was there, but all the difficulties her team has had to overcome this year. They just did a fantastic job and I couldn't be prouder of them!

So, after our 10 hour drive home last night, I'm a bit draggy this morning - to say the least!
Good thing I had this card already loaded up to share with you!
It's a pretty simple one and I like that it can be for Valentine's Day or another occasion. You may not even guess right away that it uses the Jolly Holiday Designer Paper. It's not just for Christmas you know! :)

This card uses the With All My Heart stamp set and the Fine Flourish single stamp. My Big Shot and the Polka Dot embossing folder and a few punches add dimension and special touches to make it a card that anyone would love to receive.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today!
I'm looking at a busy, busy day as I do all my packing and prep to leave for Leadership Conference tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

Stamping Fun and a BIG Surprise!

I had such a fun, wonderful surprise last night!
It was already a great night because I got to go over to my friend Selene's house to just hang out and stamp. That may not seem like a big deal, but seeing as she lives 9 hours away from me, I think it's pretty cool! Not to mention the fact that I had enough down time while we are up here for Emma's competition to even have some "me" time - well, that's pretty amazing!
But my evening got even better when I found out that Gina McGinnis was going to be able to join us - she is Selene's team member and was my private nurse at convention 2 years ago when I got hit in the head with a beer sign. But that's a story for another day.......

But look, do you see a fourth stamper at this table?!!

Yep, I got such a shock as we were just sitting down to dinner when Kerin Sylvester showed up to surprise me! Kerin is my friend and fellow Stamping 411 Operator AND an amazing stamper too! Kerin lives about 2 hours from Selene and after e-mailing her earlier this week to see if we could get together - and it not seeming possible - I'd given up on the idea. So you know I was thrilled when she walked through the door last night! She, Gina and Selene had pulled off a wonderful surprise!

When Selene's husband Brian came home, he took a few photos for us and you can see that we really were having fun stamping! What a mess we made! :)
But do you know what? They didn't do any stamping for themselves, they helped me work on my swaps for Leadership because they knew that I had about ZERO time to get them done.
Now THAT's friendship!
Thanks so much girls!

Selene has a rockin' studio area - you should see her cardstock cabinet! I was in studio envy! :)
Anyway, it was a really fun evening - something that I don't get to do nearly often enough, and boy I needed it!
Thanks girls for such a great time and fun surprise!
~~Robin

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch - Granny's Butterflies

Howdy stamping friends!
You'll never guess where I am! Ok, yes, I did tell you yesterday that I'm in Lowell, MA for Emma's skating competition this weekend. That's true, but you'll never guess where I am tonight as I'm posting this!
I'm at my buddy Selene Kempton's house! You know, THE Selene Kempton that founded the Stamping 411 Blog?! Yep, that's the one! She lives within 20 minutes of where the skating team is staying - and since I had a few hours of down time tonight, she brought me over to her house so we could stamp! How fun, right?! I'm so lucky because Emma's team skates up here every January so we always get to meet Selene and her family at The Owl Diner for breakfast. Usually that's all the time we have, but this year we had to come a day early so we get play time!

So, now that you know all that stuff, would you like to see my card?
Ok, here you go!

I have to tell you that when I first saw this sketch, I was less than enthused. But when I started to get the vision for my card and began to build it, I just loved the result!

That's the beauty of making the sketch your own - it's all in how you interpret it, just like the inspiration challenge I do each week. I've found that some of my best work comes as a result of one of these sketch challenges - they are a great jumping off point to let your creativity run free.

For this week's card, I started with a base of Pear Pizazz and built up from there.
The Designer Paper is the new Springtime Vintage from the Occasions Mini. Let me tell you - that paper is drop-dead gorgeous! You HAVE to own it or you will regret it.
Anyway, both the lower portion of the main panel and the butterflies are made with it. I love how all the patterns work so beautifully together.

I used Very Vanilla for the panel base and ran it through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder. Then I rubbed Crumb Cake ink all over it - actually, it's rubbed all over everything to give it an aged look. The greeting is from the amazing Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and I used the Modern Label punch to punch it out.
The bow is some of that yummy new Pear Pizazz Seam Binding and I added a Rose Red Vintage Flower Adornment to the center. Just beautiful! You are going to LOVE those too!

Now check out the other side of the card:

That oval is cut with my Big Shot and the Scalloped Oval Frame Die. I simply cut it to make my layer and then added the little Pearl Jewels. The butterflies were curled with my Bone Folder - kind of like how you curl that thin ribbon for a package. I mounted them with Mini Glue Dots and baby, this card was done! :)

So, another Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge - too fun! Be sure to check out the other operators creations by visiting Stamping 411 - and while you are there, play along with us this week! We love to see your creations!

In the meantime, I'm going to go enjoy my stamping time and skating time this weekend! Have a great one and come back on Monday - I'll have a new post for you!

Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

UDI Inspiration Challenge - Tuxedo Buttons

Folks, I have a VERY Clean and Simple card for you today.
But, I can pretty much guarantee that after you take a gander at the wild inspiration piece that our UDI Challenge mom chose for us you'll come running back to this very simple card if for no other reason than to rest your eyes!
Ready?
Ok, here is my card:

And here is the inspiration piece that I started with:

Ummm, yeah, that's pretty much what I said too - but maybe not as colorfully as you just did! :)
This is actually why I LOVE doing this weekly challenge - it truly does present a challenge to me each week to design based on what I see. I can pretty much guarantee that I wouldn't have given that picture a second glance unless I had to, and since I had to, I thought I'd just apply my style to it and see what I could come up with.


I kept it VERY, very simple, just stayed with the Black and White. I mounted four of the stamps from Button, Button on one clear block and stamped them with Basic Black Craft ink in a border of sorts. I heat embossed them with Clear Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool.
The greeting is from the Three Little Words stamp set and I stamped it with Black Staz-On.

The bow was very simple, just Basic Black Satin Ribbon wrapped with a large Clear Rhinestone Brad to mimic the starbursts in the inspiration piece. I popped up the main panel with Stampin' Dimensionals and that was pretty much it. When it was all done, it reminded me a bit of a tuxedo, hence the title of today's post. I think it's an appropriate card for anyone really, but I will say that if it weren't for the challenge, I probably would have added at least one color to it. Maybe done one of the buttons in Real Red or something. Let me know what you think? Would you like to make this at card class this month?

Be sure to visit the UDI Blog and see what the other designers came up with this week. I, for one, am very interested in their perspectives on this one!

On a personal note, we are headed up to Lowell, MA today for Emma's Synchronized Skating competition. Her team, the National Blades, is competing in the Colonial Classic at the Tsongas Arena this weekend. I'll still be posting creative projects for you and hope to be able to post updates from the competition here as well. Definitely check Facebook for updates from my phone!
Go National Blades! WooHoo!!!!

Happy Stamping,
~~Robin

Cupcake Time!!

I was so excited on Christmas morning this year!
First of all, I wasn't expecting any gifts under the tree - we had to have both of our cars repaired and our hot water heater blew up all in one week right before Christmas, so needless to say, if it hadn't been bought yet, it wasn't going to get bought!
Mark and I got new Wheel Hubs and a Transmission Flush (among other car repairs) for Christmas! And yes, that was a blessing - so glad to have our cars still running!

Now here's the fun part! Mark's Mom came up a day early this year for the holiday and Emma wanted to go shopping so she could buy gifts for the family, so off they went to Kohl's.
Emma was especially excited for me to open my gift, so I went first. And I was completely mystified as to what she had purchased for me that she was so excited about. And that box was heavy too!
Here's a photo of us on Christmas morning with my wonderful gift:

Several months ago, we were out shopping and I'd seen this super cute, but totally un-practical Babycakes Cupcake Maker. And it came in Pink!

Well, my precious daughter remembered how much I'd loved it (the idea of it) and decided that practical or not, she was buying me one for Christmas! Have I mentioned that I have the best daughter in the world? Yep, I do, no question!
So, needless to say, I was a happy cupcake maker on Christmas day! :)

I just have to tell you, this baby makes 8 mini cupcakes in under 8 minutes and they are moist, yummy and delightful! We made a batch of Devil's Food ones last night and I'm ashamed - I mean - proud, to say that I ate 6 of them! With Vanilla icing! Yumm!!
It also makes brownies, tarts, muffins and mini savory appetizers too. I can't wait to try out all the recipes!

So, I know you didn't come here to hear all that, but it seemed like the perfect time to share the cute little cupcake picks that I made last summer with you!

I created these when I presented at a special event in Salt Lake City last July and actually displayed them in cupcakes we purchased at the Sweet Tooth Fairy, a local bake shop. If you live out in the Salt Lake City area, those cupcakes are da' bomb!
Anyway, I used the Homemade A La Carte stamp with Early Espresso ink. I punched out the center with the 1 3/4" Circle Punch and mounted them with Stampin' Dimensionals on cardstock scallops punched out with the 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch. I used extra long toothpicks for this project, but regular ones would be my choice for mini cupcakes.
The ribbon is the Early Espresso 1/8" Taffeta and I used a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter on each one as well. The icing on the cupcakes is colored with Stampin' Write markers to match the color of the background cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a SWEET day today!
Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

A Friend Indeed........

TODAY is the THE day!
Yippee!!!

What's that, you ask?
Well, today is the day that the NEW Occasions Mini Catalog goes live for YOU!!!
And now you can own the stamp set that was designed especially for ME!

Ok, not really, I mean, it wasn't designed especially for me, but you KNOW how much I love Chocolate. And I know that my friends at SU! know how much I love chocolate and I choose to believe that the Eat Chocolate stamp set was designed with yours truly in mind! HA!

Here, look at this card I designed with it:

Don't you just LOVE that quote? "All you need in life is a friend who has chocolate.....I'm that friend."
Yep, that pretty much sums it up!

I created this card for my friend Diana Gibbs swap last month - it has to be one of my all time favorite cards. Really peeps, I know this one's pretty clean and simple, but when there's chocolate involved and add a little pink, that's just all you need right there.

I used all Very Vanilla cardstock on this one - just two pieces - one for the card base and one for the panel. The card base was run through my Big Shot with the new Framed Tulips Embossing Folder. I love the elegant look of this folder and you're going to see me use it quite a bit, I'm sure! I used my stamping sponge and added a touch of Pretty in Pink ink to the raised embossing to make it stand out.

The panel has pink sponging on it as well and the Pretty in Pink Striped Grosgrain Ribbon bow really pops with that extra touch of pink. I stamped the image/greeting with Early Espresso ink and then for this swap, I stamped the candy again with Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder. Each candy was trimmed out with my Paper Snips and I adhered it over the stamped one on the card panel.
The bow was simply attached to the front with Mini Glue Dots.

Here's the best part:

See, I TOLD you that I'm THAT friend! :)
Real friends and chocolate lovers SHARE!

So, I hope you like the card today - If you are a demonstrator and are attending Leadership Conference, I'm going to be making some more of these as my swap and if you are a client of mine, you can look forward to making this one yourself at our January Just Cards Classes!

For now, I've included the links to the stamp set and the embossing folder so you can check them out and place your order on my website.
Every Online Order placed this month will go into a drawing for a roll of the Pretty In Pink Striped Grosgrain Ribbon and your choice of Embossing Folder! So don't miss your chance to win!

Have a wonderful day everyone!
Stamped blessings,
~~Robin

Hearts of Love Card

Happy Monday stampers!
So, are you ready to get back to work this week?
I can tell you that the Merriman household is having a difficult time getting started! HA!
Mark and I had made a plan to start working out with our Wii Active 3 days a week starting this morning - well, that didn't actually happen (imagine that) so we are going to try again on Wednesday. Here's crossing my fingers for success!

Anyway, I've got a pretty simple card share for you today - it uses the Filled With Love stamp set that is part of that special product bundle this month. For all my clients who purchase the bundle ( which includes the stamp set, a special package of Designer Paper and FREE Bitty Buttons) I'll be doing a FREE Valentine's Class so you can put your fun new supplies to work! Check my class schedule later today for all the details, I'm still in the process of updating all my January and February classes!

This card is really very basic, lots of cardstock layering to add richness and that beautiful Early Espresso Satin Ribbon bow. I used Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White for my layering - what a great combination!

Here's the fun detail on this one though, look at the little hearts here:

To do that, I simply used an Early Espresso Stampin' Write marker to ink up the LOVE stamp. I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to make the space between the L and V a bit wider to accomodate the stamped hearts. Four of those were stamped in the spot where the letter O would have been, then I stamped a separate one on a scrap and punched it out with the Small Heart Punch. It's popped up on a Stampin' Dimensional as is the entire focal point panel.

It was a pretty straightforward card to stamp, but like everything else we do, the little details make all the difference!

Have a great day stampers!
~~Robin