"Summer Picnic"

Thursday, September 4, 2008
7:00 pm
@ Kimberly’s House
8902 Drayton Heights
San Antonio, TX 78254
Cost: $30

With this adorable class that screams “Party” and “Fun”, you will receive a pack of the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper, a roll of the red striped grosgrain ribbon, and all of the other supplies needed to make these projects. There is a gift bag with matching tag, a CD case, a chocolate holder, and a super cute container. You will have paper and ribbon left to take home to recreate these projects.

Please RSVP by Thursday, August 28, @ 10:00 pm so that I can order your supplies and have them here for the class!

Feel free to share this invite with friends!!
Prizes for those who bring NEW friends!!

RSVP to Robin at rclarksudemo@sbcglobal.net or 912-3778

Visit my Stampin' Up! website, Events calendar, to see my other upcoming classes!

Fresh Cuts Note Tote & Cards eScape Class!

Don’t you just love summer? It seems like the time of year when we tend to kick back and relax, and get together more often with friends and family. Now you can freshen up your summer-gift giving with this adorable set of 4 thank you cards in a custom-designed 5” x 5” note tote. Make a bunch of them, and you’ll never be caught without a cute hostess gift to give, or a thank you card to send. In this class you will make 1 note tote & 4 fresh cuts note cards.

Date: Wednesday, June 25th
Time: 7:00 - 10:00 pm
Cost: $21
Location: 8902 Drayton Heights



Please email me to purchase the stamp set & note cards to be waiting for you at the class: rclarksudemo@sbcglobal.net

Optional Supply List: If you have these things, feel free to bring them to help you complete your projects a little quicker, but the supplies are not mandatory!
Inks: Whisper White Craft Ink Pad; Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Blush Blossom, and Groovy Guava Classic inks
Adhesive: Snail adhesive, or adhesive of your choice.
Accessories: Paper trimmer with scoring blade, paper snips, paper piercer with foam mat, Crop-a-Dile (or 1/8” handheld circle punch), Stamp-a-ma-jig

Shower Invitations

I know it's strange that I can go for weeks, or even a couple of months and not post at all, and now here I am posting twice in one day, but I'm on a roll! I've been stamping a lot, just haven't had time to post! Plus, my computer is so slow these days. I have it too full, I know, and I need to clean off the hard drive to speed it up. One of these days...

Anyway, my oldest daughter is getting married next month, and I made some shower invitations for the family shower that we are having tomorrow night. I thought I'd share what I made. This card uses Stampin' Up! stamp set To Have and To Hold from the Spring & Summer Collection. I used Cool Caribbean (my favorite color from last year's In Colors) because it is an almost-perfect match with the color of her bridesmaids' dresses. I did use a few things that are not Stampin' Up! -- I hate to admit it! But they were perfect for this project. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Swiss Dot, on the large white layer, and I did use some square Nestability dies. Then I also used some little bitty pearls on the bouquet and one in the bride's hair. The story on that is that I had ordered some sticky-backed pearls thinking they would be large enough to use on the black tin flower pots that we will be using as table centerpieces for the reception. Well, it's the story of my life that I didn't pay attention to the size of the pearls and ordered about a thousand of them (slight exaggeration), and when they got here had a great laugh at myself because they were so tiny. So I had to use them somewhere! It was a big of a pain, but I only made 15 invitations, so it was okay.

Hope you enjoy my card, and my story!

Robin

Cute Chipboard Frame

I made this cute little frame as one of the projects a couple of weeks ago for a chipboard class that I taught. I used the outside piece after I punched out the flower, covered it with Afternoon Tea designer paper, then embellished it with a couple of other pieces of chipboard covered in coordinating paper from that same Afternoon Tea collection. I then used some hardware from the Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, a piece of Groovy Guava double-stitched grosgrain ribbon, and a flower and half-pearl from the Pretties kit. The funny thing is, I didn't know what picture I was going to use in the frame, but after I chose the picture of my granddaughter and slid it in, the bow on her hat slid right underneath the flower that I had previously put onto the frame! It was so perfect, I couldn't have planned it any better!

Oh, I used Sticky Strip to attach a piece of cardstock on 3 sides to the square of chipboard so that my frame had a back, and then I just slid the picture in. It was tight enough that I didn't have to tape the picture in. It stays all on its own!

Hope you like it!

Robin

Bloomin' Beautiful Portfolio of Cards!

This Thursday is my class using this gorgeous set, "Bloomin' Beautiful," from Stampin' Up!'s Occasions Mini. This portfolio box is super adorable! I can say that because I didn't design it. It was designed by a fellow demonstrator, Andrea Walford, who lives in Ontario, CA. She is an amazing artist who just designs the neatest boxes for cards.





The class includes all the supplies to make the portfolio box and 4 lovely cards using the stamp set, as well as a complete set of full-color instructions (about 9-10 pages) that will be ring-bound for ease of use. And all for the low, low price of $20! Isn't that great? To register and pay for the class, click on the link below, and it will take you to the website to register. You must register on that website to be included -- that's where I get my final count.



So what are you waiting for?! (smile)

See ya Thursday!

Robin

Tart & Tangy Cards & Box

This Thursday night, April 10th, is the Tart & Tangy Cards-in-a-Box class. We will be making these 5 cards (above), 2 cards of each design; as well as this adorable box (below) in which to put them! These will make a cute gift to give away to just to give yourself! They are so bright and sunny, they will remind you that spring is here and summer is on the way! While you are stamping, you will be supplied with yummy Strawberry Smoothies! It's a fruity kind of theme we have going on! LOL.

If I have talked you into coming, go here: http://tartandtangykr.eventbrite.com/ - to register for the event. The deadline to sign up is Tuesday night. I look forward to seeing lots of you there!

One of a Kind

If anyone has checked my blog lately, you might have wondered where I disappeared to! It's just been hectic this last 5 or 6 months with my family life and my work life. One daughter got married, then two weeks later my father suffered a life-threatening brain event from which he is still recovering. Praises to God, he is doing great now, just continues to need therapy and still has a few ongoing issues, but overall he is a walking miracle.

Now I feel like I can think about my stamping and my stamping business again, and I'm ready to get to it! I finally sat down and made myself stamp a card with a couple of my new stamp sets from the new Spring & Summer Idea Book & Catalog. I used "One of a Kind" and "Boho Backgrounds," both brand new sets from the new catalog. I used the "dotted" background to stamp across the lower part of the Purely Pomegranate cardstock in Close to Cocoa ink. I used Close to Cocoa Designer Paper across the top portion of the card. Then I stamped the circle stamp from Boho Backgrounds in Purely Pomegranate ink on Whisper White cardstock and punched it out with the scallop punch. Then I stamped the 3-flower stamp from One of a Kind in Purely Pomegranate ink and used the new coordinating punch, Boho Blooms, to punch out the flowers. In the largest flower, I punched a hole and placed an Ice brad, new to the last catalog. Then I just stamped the greeting and used glue dots to adhere the other 2 flowers from the bloom punch. I used the Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon to finish it all off. Hope you enjoy it!

Playing with Palette O' Prints

Did you get the news today? The Stampin' Up! retired list came out this morning, and it's a long list! They retired more sets than ever this time! I know it's to make room for the new sets that will be coming out in the Fall & Winter Idea Book, but wow, it's hard to say goodbye to so many sets! If any of my customers reading this would like the retiring list sent to them, please send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

This past Saturday we (my upline and I, and a few sidelines) held our spring stamp camp, and while everyone was working on their projects, I got out my brand-new Palette O' Prints. If you haven't heard, it's a pad of new background papers that will be in the 2007-08 Fall & Winter Stampin' Up! Idea Book that comes out in July. The pad is a preview and it has 4 colors of papers -- Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Rose Red & So Saffron. The papers are beautiful!

I didn't take a lot of supplies with me, just the coordinating cardstocks plus Whisper White cardstock, a few ribbons, and that's pretty much it! So I guess you could say this was a "limited supply" design! It doesn't have any extras, but I like the way it turned out anyway. Sometimes, it's just very relaxing to make simple cards without a lot of embellishments. You don't have to think too hard about it.

I then decided to make a card with all 4 colors in it. I think the colors look great all together like this. They really work! Hmm, you'd think Stampin' Up! had planned it that way... Anyway, this is what I came up with:

What do you think? Let me hear from you!

Polka Dots and Petals Stamp Camp

These are the projects we are making at stamp camp this Saturday using Polka Dots 'n Petals stamp set, as well as the pretty papers from the Spring Mini catalog!

This first project is a Post-It Note holder using chipboard coasters and Au Chocolat background paper. The calendar is also made from a chipboard coaster and has a magnet on the back so you can put it on the fridge.

The huge clothespin is coveed with stamped paper, labeled with the Designer Label punch, and it's ready to display a cute picture or recipe!

The clipboard is 4 x 4 and we made a little scrapbook "page" to display a picture. You can hang it on the wall, or next to your office door for messages, or you could also put a magnet on it and hang it on the fridge.

This last project is the only card we are making, but it's a pretty fun one! It's a file folder card!
If you have questions about anything, send me an email and I'll be happy to answer you!

Big Blooms Resisted!

Well, not really. I mean, I didn't resist buying the set, at least. I used a resist technique for this card! Versamark Resist, to be exact. I saw a similar card that camsmom (SCS) stamped using these colors and the Big Blooms set, and I knew I had to stamp something similar. I love pink and orange together! I used the Petals jumbo wheel from the Spring Mini catalog, inked it up on a Versamark pad, and wheeled it onto Glossy White cardstock. Then I stamped some flower stamps from the set using Pink Passion and Only Orange Classic ink pads. To finish up the background, I inked up my brayer on the Cotton Candy Spectrum pad and rolled it over the whole thing. It looks really cool, doesn't it? We made this card at our Technique class in March. Be looking for information about the April Technique class! Have a great Sunday!

Petal Pushers

I don't know about you, but when I need a stack of cards, like thank-you notes or birthday cards, I tend to fall back on simple layouts with clean lines and very few frills, like punches, embellishments, all of that stuff. This is one of those cards. I needed some thank-you cards, and I used an "old stand-by" type of layout. I used this cute set, Petal Pushers, from the catalog, and some pretty Soft Subtles colors -- they are almost candy-like colors, or maybe sherbert? Well, except for the Bashful Blue. Anyway, I think the colors are "sweet" -- besides Bashful Blue there's Apricot Appeal and Pretty in Pink -- and the little bit of black layers & words kind of accentuates the soft colors. I used the blue gingham ribbon as my only "frill." I have to say, when it's all said and done, I always like the simple elegant cards the best!

April Customer Special

April has brought not just 1 but 2 great specials from Stampin' Up! (R)

First, a discount on 6 really great "word" sets! Click here for details!

Second, if you sign up to be a demonstrator between April 1 and May 31st you will get 2 hostess sets FREE from the new 2007-2008 Idea Book & Catalog that comes out in July! Click here for full details!

Brag Book, Color Themed

Cover - "All Through the Year"
January - "Little Pieces"
February - "All About U"

March - "Simply Circles"
April - "You Make Me Smile"
May - "In the Wild" & "Spot On" jumbo wheel
June - "Bugs & Kisses"
July - "Sparkling Summer"

August - "Wild About You"
September - "Simple Shapes"
October - "Tag Time"
November - "Fall Whimsy"
December - "Merry"

For about 6 months now I've had a color combination in my head that I wanted to use for my next brag book. I had seen a sample in the Stampin' Up! 2006-07 catalog with a similar combination, and it's been brewing in my head for a while. In the last couple of weeks myself and my good friend, Kimberly, who also happens to be my upline, have worked on these pages, and we're very happy with the results. I am sharing some pictures of it with you here!
The first picture above is a picture of the cover page. After the cover page, we did 12 2-page layouts, one for every month, so there are a total of 25 pages. The colors we chose were Real Red, Brocade Blue, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip, with Marigold Morning used for an accent color on some of the pages. When I was trying to come up with the cover page, I thought I should look at Inspiration Sheets (R) for, well, inspiration! The Inspiration Sheet for All Through the Year stamp set used almost exactly the colors we wanted to use. So I totally CASE'd it! It is just so cute in person, and with each season represented, made the perfect cover page.
After that, we went through our IS's and used layouts we really liked, but with our colors and a lot of times with different stamp sets than what SU! used. We really liked our results. As you can see, the January layout was stamped using Little Pieces, and for the February pages we used All About U.
For March, we used Simply Circles, and for April we used a stamp set from the current Spring Mini, You Make Me Happy.
If you'd like to come to the second session, there is still time to RSVP! Click here for more info!

More Polka Dot & Paisley

These are the other 4 cards we will be making next Monday night using the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set that comes in the March Bundle special. The pink card is CASEd from another demonstrator, Debbie Olsen, whose work I admire so much, she is so, so talented. The Gable Green & Orchid Opulence card is CASEd from a sample found on SCS, as is the Pink Passion & Black card.

The Brocade Blue and Marigold Morning card was a joint effort between me and my upline, Kimberly. We had fun designing this card, and especially doing our own "doodling" with the Signo Gel pen.

It's been a long week, so I'm going to call it a night! Have a good day tomorrow, and a great weekend!

Bundle Cards

These are 2 of the 6 cards we will be making to for the "Bundle of Cards" party for the Polka Dots & Paisley Bundle special that Stampin' Up! is having in the month of March. Everyone who attends will make these plus 4 other cards using their stamp set. I will provide the background paper and everything else you need to complete your 6 cards -- you will not have to use the background paper that comes in your bundle! The second card was inspired by a card on Splitcoaststampers (sorry, I don't remember who!), I just changed a few things but I kept the color scheme because I loved the color combination!

Stay tuned for more cards for the class to be posted in the next few days! :)

New Card from an Existing Sample

One of the tasks assigned to me last week in my new stamping endeavors was to copy a card from the Stampin' Up! IB&C (Idea Book & Catalog) exactly, and then to duplicate it using a different stamp set and different colors.

I copied this Living Large card from page 86 of the IB&C. It uses Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Cameo Coral, Brocade Blue & Confetti White cardstock, along with Celery grosgrain ribbon, silver brads and watercolor crayons with a watercolor brush. Also, Fontastic background stamp was used on the Cameo Coral layer.

Then I used the sample layout but substituted the stamp set "Because of You" on page 139 of the IB&C. I used Gable Green, Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal, Lovely Lilac and Confetti White cardstock, along with Rose grosgrain ribbon, silver brads and a blender pen and inks to match the cardstock. I also used Aida Cloth on the Apricot Appeal layer.

So in case you are stumped trying to come up with a card, open up that IB&C, then take an idea and make it your own using the stamps and cardstocks you have available!

Happy Stamping!

March Stampin' Up! Special

We all like a great sale, or a super bargain, and this month's special from Stampin' Up! is both! You simply purchase 3 items from the Spring Mini Catalog in a "bundle:" 'Polka Dots & Paisley' stamp set + Petals & Paisleys designer paper + 'Petals' the jumbo wheel for $34.95; then you can purchase any other single item in the Spring Mini Catalog for HALF PRICE!! Pretty good deal, right? I had some new customers take advantage of this special last week, and they purchased one of the Simply Sent kits that are in the Spring Mini. It was an excellent deal for them! The Simply Sent kits each contain a stamp set that is die-cut -- all you do is pop them out and put them onto the wood block, then put the sticker on, and you're ready to stamp! -- along with cardstock pre-cut for 12 cards, and all the accessories you need to make your cards. Easy breezy! It's a super deal for new stampers, no measuring, no designing, no cutting cardstock, just the fun part of stamping and accessorizing. Of course, there are a ton of other stamps and accessories to choose from in the Spring Mini, so don't miss this opportunity! Please call or email me today to order, or to request a Spring Mini should you not have one. You can also go to the website to look at the mini catalog, but we all like a catalog in our hot little hands, I know, so feel free to request one from me.

Have a great evening!

Birthday Cards

I realized last night that I have a serious lack of masculine birthday cards! So, I will be posting a couple of those tonight, for those of you who are wanting to have some "guy" cards handy. After all, they have birthdays, too!! What was I thinking??!

Have a great day!

p.s. You can post comments to each blog posting if you want to. Comment on the cards, or just comment on stamping in general, or ask a question! Thanks!

Birthday Card Bash!

Ta-Da! I promised to share my new blogspot with you on Tuesday evening, and here it is! Although, it is slightly past the evening... it is actually more like early Wednesday morning. I started this blogspot so that I could share what's going on in the Stampin' Up! world with you, my friends. This will be a fun way to post the latest Stampin' Up! specials, and samples using the newest Stampin' Up! stamp sets and accessories.

If you have not been visiting blogs, you may not know how to work them. The main thing is to notice at the top of your browser (if you're using IE 7.0) an orange square with white curving lines -- that is a "feed" button. If you click on it, it will change the blog page and there will be a link to click if you want to subscribe. The web site will be saved in your Favorites under "Feeds", a sub-directory in your Favorites. Thereafter, when you click on Favorites, then Feeds, the title of my blog (and any others you subscribe to) will be bolded if anything new has been added to that blog. I hope you'll subscribe to my blog! You can also look for a link on my page (and a lot of other blogs) that says "Subscribe to this Blog." You can click on that and add your email address, and you will be notified every time my blog is updated. Once on the blog page, to see the latest additions, just make sure you click on the blog name.

This first time, I am sharing the birthday cards that we will be stamping this Saturday at my Birthday Card Bash. I realized that I really needed birthday cards, and I thought what better way to get to make myself some cards than having a major card-making session! So I'm inviting all my friends!

As I mentioned in my email this past weekend, I am posting the cards we will be making, and you can choose which cards you would like to make, and how many of each. You can make 2 or you can make 20, it's up to you! The cards cost $1.25 each to make, but there are ways to get to make some cards for FREE!

• Bring a friend, or two, or three... (you get the idea! ). You and your friend(s) can make 2 free cards each if your friend has never been to one of my classes or a workshop that I demonstrated!



• Purchase from the Stampin' Up! catalog and/or Spring Mini Catalog at least $35, and you can make 5 cards for free!



• Finally, if you book a workshop to be held in the next 6 weeks, you can make 10 cards for free!! That's a pretty good deal, I think.

Card 1: I love this card! For this one, I used the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set that Shelli Gardner, founder and COO of Stampin' Up!, sent to all demonstrators free as a Christmas gift. She treats us demonstrators so great! I got the idea for this card from another demonstrator, just changed it up a bit to meet my needs, but I kept the color combination -- it's one of my favorite combinations! I used Whisper White, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss and Apricot Appeal.

Card 2: This uses the Doodle That set from the Spring Mini catalog, using Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and Vintage Violet colors.

Card 3: This card also uses the Doodle This set. I used Sage Shadow, So Saffron and Pixie Pink cardstock, as well as watercolor paper. I guess it's obvious that I like the square cards -- they're just so nice and big, they give me plenty of canvas to be creative!

Card 4: For this card, I used the Big Blooms and Polka Dots & Petals stamp sets from the Spring Mini. I made the card in the size of a business envelope, 9-1/4" x 4", with Cool Caribbean cardstock (my current favorite color!), So Saffron, Regal Rose and Whisper White cardstock. You'll get to learn how to make a scalloped border out of a slit punch when you make this card!

Card 5: I used the stamp set Doodle This from the Stampin' Up! Spring Mini catalog. I got this set free when I went to the SU! Leadership Conference in Houston back in January. I used Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy and Vellum cardstock. Did you notice the greeting seems to be missing? I am waiting for an order with more word stamps, so don't worry, your card will have words!

That's all for tonight, ladies (I mean this morning!). I'm going to get some sleep now! Please email me with your choice of cards, along with how many of each. You can click on "Contact Me" on the right side of my blog, or you have my email address in the invitation.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end! I hope to see many of you this Saturday for our Mystery Hostess workshop!

Be Happy

I still haven't gotten to stamp anything new this week! It's frustrating because I have lots of ideas in my head. But while I'm still working on getting those ideas onto actual cardstock, I thought I would post this card I stamped last fall. It's one of my favorites that I've done this year. I stamped this for a Splitcoaststampers color challenge using Cool Caribbean and Certainly Celery colors, as well as Pixie Pink, Basic Black and Whisper White. I used the stamp sets Be Happy and Well-Worn Words. I hope you like it!