MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Obviously I am 7 months behind on blog posts...Life just seems to get in the way sometimes.  I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and many blessings!

Robyn

FATHER'S DAY CARD FOR MPS GIVEAWAY

Hi to all.

TGIF!  It has been a rat race to the end of the school year.  My DD's going to be a FRESHMAN next year.  I sorta got sick just typing that.  It has been crazy with Award Ceremonies, Band concerts, field trips etc....

Summer is here for us now, so hopefully things will slow down....hahaha...I won't hold my breath!

Here is my entry for the Father's Day Challenge-Giveaway over at My Pink Stamper's blog.  Provo Craft has donated a brand new Expression for her to give to one lucky winner.  Head on over to her blog for your chance to win!  http://www.mypinkstamper.com/ Good luck to all who enter.

I hope y'all have a great Memorial Day weekend.  If you get a chance, thank a service man/woman or a veteran for their service to our country.  There is no greater gift one can give.  I am grateful to all those who serve, have served or lost their life serving for this great country called America!

Robyn

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

Happy Monday Everyone,

I hope you all had a glorious weekend.  Our weekend was full of fun things.  My daughter had a band contest all day on Saturday.  This allowed me to get some crafting done.  On Sunday we went to church, and then to a friends daughters MDO graduation.  These little kiddo's put on great performances.  It is so nice to see these kids get up in front of many people and sing their little hearts out.  I don't have that kind of courage.  Anyway, here is a card that I made.

 I was wanting to think outside of the box a little bit.  Albert over at A.Go's Craftomonium always inspires me with his choices of color and his elegant cards.  In with the blog candy that I won, he included a handmade card with the most beautiful butterfly on it.  I asked him where he had gotten it and he told me that it was from a K&Company Grand Adhesions pack.  So, when I was at Joann's last weekend I was looking for these.  Well, they didn't have the exact butterflies that he purchased, but they did have some in a different shade.  I grabbed the last package off the rack. 

When I set out to make this card, I knew that I wanted it to be different than what I usually make.  Sometimes I get stuck in a "crafty rut" if you will.  My cards all tend to look the same.  So.....here is what I came up with.  What do you think?

I picked the blue/gray paper from a DCWV Latte Pack.  I had some gold scraps from the same pack that I just cut into these shapes.  I chose black and transparent prima flowers with silver brads to accent.  I inked the edges of my shaped gold paper in gold and in charcoal.  I stamped "hello" at the bottom and added the butterfly.  You can't really tell from the pic, but the butterfly has the same blue/gray coloring on the transparent overlay that is on top.  I still felt that is was missing something, so I added some pearls.  Did I mention that I am in love with these butterflies?  They are just so beautiful...

A funny side note....Since this is really out of my comfort zone, I was proudly showing my boyfriend (who is not into any type of crafting AT ALL!) this card.  He takes one look at it and asks me "what does the Z stand for?"  I said with total confusion "what do you mean the Z."  He says "the Z....right there....the Z that you made out of the gold weird shaped paper....what does it stand for?"  That is when I saw "the Z."  I had not realized it before, but I HAD placed the gold "weird" shaped paper into a Z.  Well, of course now that is all that I see when I look at this card.  And of course now that I have told you about the Z, that is all you will see too.  However, I had to share the story.  I am still glad that I am trying to think outside the box and push myself to try new things....but rest assured that next time I will not be placing "weird" shaped paper into any kind of letter!!

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to look.  I really do welcome comments and feedback from my fellow crafters.  Have a wonderful and blessed day.........Robyn

YUMMY!

Hi Guys,

I hope your Thursday is just great.  I have been cleaning my house most of the day, but I wanted to post a card that I worked on yesterday.  I got a retired stamp set off of e-bay that I have been wanting forrrrever.  It's the Tart and Tangy set from Stampin' Up.  I was so excited to finally get it that I had to make a card right away.  I was at Joann's this weekend and found some K&Company paper and rub-ons that work great with this set.  I had a lot of fun making this card.  I hope you all enjoy it.

This pic is a bit fuzzy.  I am irritated with my camera!!

This pic is better.  Like I said, I used the Tart and Tangy SU set, K&Company paper and embellies.  I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities and Cuttlebug to cut out the top layers.  I used LePlume markers to ink the strawberry.  This is the first time that I have used them.  They seem to work well, but I will have to use them a bit more before I decide if I really like them.  I used my craft knife to cut a pocket for the sentiment layer to fit into. I inked the edges with Lipstick Red cat eye chalk ink and stamped a coordinating envelope as well.  Here is the inside of the card...

Again, a little fuzzy...Oh well.  I just used a scrap of the strawberry paper that was left over and a cute little rub on strawberry from the K&Company pack called Berry-licious.  I inked the edges with Lipstick Red cat-eye chalk ink and called it done.  Thank you for stopping by.  Have a fantastic day........Robyn

Ladybug Card from Walk In My Garden

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend.  We had fun.  I had a wedding rehersal to host on Friday and the wedding to host on Saturday.  Our church was rented for the wedding and the lady that usually does it is on vacation, so they asked me.  It pays well (which means craft money) so I said sure! :o)

Then after the rehersal on Friday my daughter and I went and worked the concession stand at Relay for Life.  I have to say that these people...all of them...from family members who have lost someone to those battling cancer are amazing!  What an inspiration they all are.  We had a nice time and made some new friends.

I wanted to post a ladybug card that I made using the WIMG cart.  I don't own this cartridge, but my neighbor was nice enough to let me borrow it.  I LOVE IT!!!  It has the cutest little bugs and beautiful flowers.  If you don't own it, I would recommend it highly.  Here is one of the cards I made with it.

I used bright pink for the cardstock base.  Black cardstock that I ran thru my Cuttlebug using D'Vine Swirls, I cut the ladybug from WIMG, added stickles to her and added ribbon that I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  Then I just added dots with my white gel pen and stamped it with "a smile."  I know I'm goofy...sorry.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Thanks so much for spending a little time with me today.  I really appreciate it.  I am off to get ready for a church meeting....and to figure out something quick to make for dinner...UUHHGG!  Happy Crafting.....Robyn

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share a couple of cards and a project.  If you read my blog, then you know I had a booth at a local Garden Expo.  I made several of these types of cards to sell there.  I have really been into birds lately.  I wonder what a therapist would say that means???  Anyway, I also made my daughter a bag with some candy in it.  She was having a rough week and I wanted to cheer her up.  I hope you all enjoy.  Thank you guys so much for taking time out of your day to stop in and look at my creations.  It really does mean a lot! 

Before I end this post, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Albert from A.Go's Craftomonium.  Albert's Poppy giveaway is the first giveaway that I have ever won.  I was soooo excited to win this.  I have to say that Albert does AMAZING work.  On top of that, he is just a sweet genuine person.  Please go to his blog and check him out.  You won't be disappointed at all!  http://www.agoscraftimonium.com/  Or click on his link under my blog roll.

Thanks again for stopping by,
Robyn

I just love this paper and these embellies.  They are from the K&Company Handmade collection.  All I did was ink the edges a bit and add ribbon.  The products really do speak for themselves.

This paper is so pretty.  It is from a DCWV Cafe Mediterranean Stack.  I am really loving this stack too.  (I think I may need a 12 step program for paper purchasing. )  The bird and love are cut from the Cricut Home Decor Cartridge (I think.)  I added some ink and stickles to the edges of the bird.

 

This is the little bag that I made for my daughter.  I used the Cricut PS Cartridge for the bag (or box) and cut the bird from the Home Decor Cartridge.  I stamped "smile" using a Stampendous set that I got at M's.  The paper is from a DCWV Garden Party stack.  I added the Prima flowers with a letter brad.  I punched holes on the sides of the box and tied the ribbon to make a handle.  I then stuffed it with her favorite candy.  I sure hope it brightened her day as much as she does mine...

Finally Back

Hi All,

I am finally back to blogging.....Hopefully all 2 of you are still reading!

The past month has been a whirlwind.  I had a craft booth that I had to get ready for (it went great.)  We are nearing the end of school, which is always a crazy time for my daughter (and her very underpaid driver.)  My volunteer work always picks up this time of year....and on and on...

Anyway, I have tons of things that I made for my booth that I will be posting.  First, here is a quick birthday card that I had to put together on the spot.  I am trying to use up all of my scraps.  Not the greatest, but I think it turned out pretty cute. 

As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by, and stay tuned! 

Robyn

All supplies are from my stash of scraps.  Stamp set is from a birthday set from Joann's.  I don't recall the name...sorry :o)

Music Is A Gift From God!

This is a card that I made for my piano teacher.  My daughter has been taking piano lessons for 4 years.  I decided about 2 years ago that I wanted to attempt to learn piano.  I had never played an instrument before, and had no clue how to read music.  I just wanted to do something for myself.  It has gone very well.  My piano teacher has been very patient and kind.  I wanted to tell her thank you!

The yellow paper is from DCWV Citrus Stack.  I found an old hymnal at a second hand book store and used a page out of it to make the flower and used it for the strip at the top of the card.  I inked the edges of the yellow paper with charcoal cat eye chalk ink.  I distressed the sheet music with Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink.  I used a stamp that I found at a resale shop in my area for the music notes.  I couldn't get a good pic of the inside of the card, but it has musical notes and says The gift of music is a gift from God.  I added a yellow button with twine to the flower and ribbon.

As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit my blog.  Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Robyn :o)

Butteryfly's--Snails--and--Flowers....Oh My!

Hi Everyone!

Happy Tuesday...Well, it is snowing here in Texas.  Living in central Texas, we do not see snow very often.  However, people here just FREAK OUT when it gets cold and icy.  I stopped to get gas this morning and you should have seen these people carrying water jugs, milk and things out of the store in bulk.  It was crazy.  It's not like we are going to be snowed in for days people :o).

Anyway, it's good weather to get some major crafting done.  I have been so busy lately that I haven't been able to get into my craft room.  I finally sat down last night and made some cards for my Garden Expo booth next month.  Tell me what you guys think.  I always love hearing from you. 

This first card is one that I made with my scraps.  I am trying to use up all of the scraps in my drawer(sss.)  I have become over run with them.

The butterfly and love are cut from Home Decor cartridge.  The black & white paper is from a K&Company pack.  I inked the edges, added bling and ribbon

I'm not too sure about this card.  I decided to go ahead and post it, but it didn't turn out like I had pictured it in my head.  I got two of these really cute bottle cap embellies as a gift and wanted to use them.  I used my Paisley cutllebug folder on the top layer.  I inked the edges in purple, added a flower, ribbon and the bottlecap.  I got a cute chat-im-text stamp at M's that I stamped it with.

 I just LOVE this little guy!  My friend let me use her Walk In My Garden cart.  This cart has some of the cutest cuts on it, and is just perfect for the Garden Expo booth.  This snail was cut at 2 inches.  his shell is from a DCVW paper pack called Pink Armadillo.  I added some orange buttons to his antenaes (is that what you call them on snails? and did I spell it correctly :o)  I added ribbon, a strip of pink and a Stampology stamp.  I stickled a little eye on him...or her...  Did I mention that I love this cartridge!

This last card is also from the Walk In My Garden cartridge.  The background paper (top layer) is from a stack that I received as a gift.  I'm not sure where it is from, but I love it.  I cut the flower pot at 2" and the tulips at 2" (I think.)  I used a strip of green and cut it with my shredding scissors to make grass.  I ran the pot thru my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder.  I added the pink top layer to the tulips and inked them, and my edges.  I zig 2 way glued the tulips and then pop dotted the flower pot.  I used the hello stamp from a Stampology set and added pink ribbon.  When I was done, I realized that my flower pot wasn't centered on the card.  Now, a normal person wouldn't worry about it...but because I am a bit freaky, it was bothering me.  I'm sure I need therapy or something.  I found a little snail (I am into snails now) and added him to the flower pot.  I think that helped my flower pot look a bit more centered.  I think it looks like he is crawling up the pot??  What do you think?

Thanks so much for atking the time to visit my blog.  I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday! - Robyn-

Valentine Lollipop Flower Tutorial

Hi everyone!

I hope you are having a fantastic week.  I am so glad it is Friday...Just a quick post to show you some projects that I made for our church MDO kids and teachers.  I made the Lollipop Flowers for the teachers.  For the kiddo's, I wanted something simple because all of these kids are under 5.  I wanted them to be cute, but I knew that whatever I made was going to be thrown away.  Here is what I decided on.  What do you think?

I punched a pink scallop and then punched 2 holes in it.  I used my CM heart punch and put it on top of the scallop.  I wrote Love on the heart with a white gel pen.  I stuck the Tootsie Roll Pop in the holes and this is the end result.  I was going to tie some ribbon on, but I figured that the little fingers might have a hard time getting it undone.  I know this is super simple, but I think they are cute.

TOOTSIE POP FLOWER TUTORIAL

Cut two flowers of your choice.  The petals all need to be the same size for this to work well.
I cut mine from PS at 2 1/2 in. using the shadow feature.

Take one of your flowers and cut a petal off.  This is so that you will be able to make a cone with it, as shown below.

Next you use either adhesive, or a hot glue gun ( I found that this works best)  and fold one petal over the other to create this cone shape.

You will have 4 petals as shown.

Turn the 4 petal flower over and snip off the bottom....appx. 1/8 to 1/2 an inch.  This will allow you to slide your flower onto the lollipop.

Slide the flower up onto your lollipop.  As you get to the top, you may need to turn it so that you can get it above the lollipop paper.  Make sure it fits snug up to the top.

Now you take your other flower and fold it in half.  Cut a small slit in the bottom.  Then fold it in half the other way and cut another small slit.  (This creates the hole.)  Before I slide this flower on my lollipop, I ink my edges.  This would be the time to run it through your Cuttlebug or like machine.

Slide the 2nd flower up and repeat what you did for the first flower.  I take my hot glue gun and place a small amount of hot glue around where I cut the slits in the second flower.  This helps the second flower stick to the first one and stay in place.

 

Next take a ribbon, or your embellishment of choice and attach it at the base.  If you choose to add ribbon, you will want to tie it as close to your bottom flower as possible.  This is another measure to secure it.

Here is the finished product!!  I stickled the edges of this flower.  I have also used glitter.  As I was hot gluing these yesterday, it occured to me that you could drop some beads of hot glue on your petals and let it dry.  This looks like dew on your flower.  Just a thought.  I'm sure all of you have realized this already, but just a thought.

Thanks so much for taking your time to look.  As always your comments are welcome.  Oh, one last pic for you.  I covered a Hershey bar for a friend.  Here is a pic of the finished product.  Thanks,  I hope all of you have a lovely Valentine's Day!

Robyn

 

Valentine's Day Goodie Bags

Hi everyone,

I hope your Tuesday is going well.  Here is what I have been working on.  I wanted to make some Valentine's Day goodie bags for my Sunday school kiddo's.  I just purchased some red, clear and pink cello bags at Wal-Mart.  I also picked up a bag of various sized raised foam glittered sticker hearts.  (say that fast 3 times!) 

I filled the bags with 5 Hershey Kisses and a Tootsie Roll sucker.  I felt that they looked plain so I punched some hearts in various colors, creased them a bit and added them.  I didn't make all of the bags the same because I didn't have enough of the heart paper that I really wanted to use.  Oh well, I still think that they turned out really cute.  It's too bad that the kids will rip into them in a milli-second to get to the candy.  That is what it's about though.  They will have fun.   As always, thanks for taking the time to look.  Your comments are always welcome.  P.S.  Don't pay any attention to my scribbled on work surface.  I guess I should have put a clean sheet down :o)..

Robyn

Here are some close ups of the tops.

BIRTHDAY CARD AND ALTERED TIN!

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope you have exciting plans for Superbowl weekend.  Today I am posting a birthday card and an altered Valentine's Day tin.

I needed a masculine birthday card.  I am not typically drawn to making those.  They tend to be less exciting for me to make.  I started rummaging through my stash an found this beautiful map paper.  I just started putting things together and came up with this.  What do you guys think?

I used brown cardstock for the base.  The map paper (from M's) as the top layer and a strip of paper from my scraps.  I cut the globe from Graphically Speaking.  I embellished with ribbon, bling, a brad and inked all of the edges of the paper with Tim Holtz Distressed Tea Dye ink.  I also distressed the map paper a little bit.  Then I stamped Happy Birthday with a stamp from a Stampology set I have.

THINGS YOU LEARN WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR FIRST ALTERED TIN!

The next photos are of a tin that I altered to give my 13 yr. old DD for Valentine's Day.  Her favorite color is turquoise so I decided to use these bright papers that I got in a kit.  I covered the tin with the turquoise paper (and ran into a problem.)  My 12X12 paper wouldn't fit all the way around the tin.  Now, since this is the first tin I have altered, I didn't think about the diameter......Silly me!  So I went ahead and covered it, and added cute strips of paper at the top and bottom.  Now I was left with a gap where the red from the tin was showing through.  So, out of sheer frustration, and lack of any creative solution I just cut another strip of coordinating paper and added that on.

 I used coordinating stickers to decorate it.  I decorated the top with chipboard Valentine's Day stickers.  Then I cut strips of red paper and ran them through my crimper and put them inside the tin.  I took a deep sigh of relief that the project was done......UNTIL....I went to put the lid on!  Because I added the paper all the way to the top, the lid won't fit on properly without ripping the paper.  So, I just decided that she will have to deal with a lopsided lid.  Since I am filling it up with some candy and MAC makeup, I don't think that she will really care if the lid doesn't fit...  So the lessons that I learned from this project are:

Make sure you either buy a tin that will fit the paper you want to use...or buy paper to fit your tin.
Do not cover your tin all the way to the top.  If you do, your lid won't fit.
I need a bendable ruler.
I need more patience.
If I can't find more patience, I may need to invest in a blender to make margarita's.

Here are the pics.....finally.  If anyone has any suggestions for next time...PLEASE share.  As always, thanks for taking the time to look.  Your comments are always welcome.

Robyn

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  I have been itching to get in my craft room, but I had to do all of my "chores" first.  Can someone please tell me how 2 people can have so much laundry and trash??  Either we are the dirtiest people or the cleanest people on the planet.  It seems like laundry is a never ending process.  Well, enough of that...I will be back in my craft room today working on Valentines Day projects.  YEAH!! 

Here is a cute simple card that I made for a friend.  Have a terriffic day.  Come back soon as I will be posting my V-Day crafts.  As always, thanks for taking time out of your day to visit.  Your comments are always welcome.

Robyn

It is obvious that I was in a pink mood.  I embossed with the Stylized Flowers cuttlebug folder, put ribbon, bling and a flower on and stamped the thank you sentiment. 

The flower is from a K&Company pack, the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby (they run 1/2 off sales a lot) and the sentiment is from a Stampology set that I got at M's.  I used a scrap that was in my drawer for the top paper layer.

Thanks for looking. 

Easel Card

                                                                                 

I saw the concept for this card at http://www.southernbellescrapper.blogspot.com/  She has a link for instructions.  Go check her out.  She has some wonderful things on her blog.  It really is simple to make and her instructions are a breeze to follow.  I used DCVW Citrus cardstock (my new favorite as of late,) Home Accents Cricut cartridge, bling, brads, flowers, ribbon and a stamp that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

Here is a side view of what the finished card looks like.  The lighting isn't great, but you get the idea.  I hope you all have a Happy Friday!  As always, your comments and feedback are welcome.  I would like to thank those who have signed up to follow my blog.  Your support really means a lot to me.

Thanks,

Robyn

More Archivers Pics

This is a Travel kit by Making Memories.  It is a large kit whereas the LOVE kit was a small one.  My DD got this.  She is going to use these things to do a chipboard travel album.  I will post pics when she is done. 

This is a pic of the back of the package.  It contains quite a bit of stuff.  I like the stamps.  They are too cute.  It was a bit more expensive than the small love kit.

A DRAGON THAT FLY'S

I know, I know....the title is goofy, but sometimes goofy is just called for.  Here is a card that I made for a friend of mine that is in love with dragonfly's.  I used DCVW Latte Stack paper for the purple base and the blue/gray glitter dragonfly.  I cut the dragonfly from the Home Accent cartridge on my Cricut.  I used cream cardstock for the second layer and ran it thru the Cuttlebug.  I can't remember the name of the folder (I'm getting old...sorry I think it's Distressed "something," but I could be wrong.) 

 I used charcoal and brown cat eye chalk ink to color the raised areas on the cream cardstock.  I just use a Q-tip to do this...dab the Q-tip in the ink and apply.  I'm sue there is some fancy tool to use, but I don't own it......YET.  I also used yellow ochre to ink the edges of the dragonfly.  I pop dotted the dragonfly on, and bent his wings a bit.  I used some brown rickrack ribbon and then stamped my message.  After looking at it, I should have stamped the message somewhere else, but since it was already completed I let it go.  I added the transparent gray flowers to the ribbon and called it done!

Thanks for looking.  As always your comments and feedback are wanted and welcome.  Have a great day.

Thanks,

Robyn