Monday, December 31, 2012

Coverd Bridge in Switzerland

Covered Bridge in Switzerland
I've been working on new layouts for the website to help customers see how to use our papers. This one I chose for the Fleur paper line. This design is printed on Linen Cardstock, so has a wonderful feel and look to it.
On this Switzerland layout I used the Honeycomb Fleur CS. I also used the Vintage Travel Sticker, leaves, which you will start finding in our product line the end of this year, mini dew drops, gray and orange solid papers. There are a few other products on the page layout from other companies. I still need to journal on here, that will be done in the evenings when I have nothing else to do, HA.
Have a great day, and big hugs from snowy Utah,
Ciao,
Robin

Friday, December 28, 2012

Winter Whites for the Snow Queen

Did I ever tell you that I love white?  It really is my single most favorite color, or uncolor if you want to look at it in a bland way.  I love to wear white shirts and khaki pants, my single favorite outfit.  And after years, I just seem to draw myself to this single color. 

I don't really think there could be too much white, however, I have a husband who does.  I remember when we bought our first crib at a yard sale for our first baby, who turned out to be 2 babies, but anyway, I wanted to paint it white.  Dana said he absolutely would not have a white crib in his house.  I reminded him of this a few weeks ago, and we laughed!  And he said "your right, and I still would not have a white crib in my house!"  Well, there you go, so I have compromised many things in my home that I would have years ago painted white.  Now, years down the road, I am grateful to Dana for not letting me paint everything white.  Our kitchen walls are painted a cream color, and then I distressed them in a honeycomb color, which I absolutely love.  Dana has helped me bring color into my life, instead of just white! Even as I designed this blog, I used that honeycomb color.  He has helped me see and love other colors.

The month of January in my home has lots of white accents, because I love this color.  So today I share with you our white accents in the living room and the kitchen.  During other months of the year I bring white out too, but January is my favorite I think, there is snow outside, 10 inches of it, and I love it too.  After a year of being back home, and little snow last year, I am loving all of this snow this year for sure.  Though, I am not sure that Dana is loving it, I'm not sure our snow blower has been used this much in a week! So here we go, our white accents for January in our home.
Here we are at the island of our kitchen, I always set it with place settings for three, we have 3 chairs here, and it is the favorite place for visitors to sit in the kitchen while I am cooking, and my favorite place to sit and eat when I am alone.  I have been collecting and finding dishes with crowns on them.  I found many of the crowns last year when we were at the Christmas Markets in Germany.  It was so fun to bring them to life this year. 

I wonder is the Snow Queen coming to my house for dinner?  It just is so fun!

I used Martha napkins from long ago for the placemats for each place setting.  I love to accent my white with gold and silver, and then especially brown.  Did I tell you I love brown.  Well, you will see over time, that brown is a given in my house, I love to use it with almost everything.

Again a close up of the place setting.  I think the Snow Queen would love it here.

The counter tops are full of my fun dishes all in white.  Dana and Rachel found these dishes with white embossed snowflakes for me, a Christmas gift.  Love the size of the bowls too. Dana also gave me the cookie jar for Christmas one year.  Love my husband, he really does know what I love!  Throughout the year as I share my home with you, you will see that I use white dishes intermingled with my other dishes all year long.


I love these polar bears, they just bring joy to me and make me smile each time I pull them out in January.  They look like they are stretching to see those white glittered birds in the frosty tree.  This year I glittered these birds in the tree, just sprayed them with glue and sprinkled clear glitter all over them.  I also love the crown.  I found this in the cutest town in Germany last year.  The grand kids love it too, I find it in many different places, where they have worn it around the house.  This is for our imaginary Snow Queen coming to dinner.  I wonder when the little girls come to the house (Jake's girls), if they will swipe the crown from here,  I have been hiding it for the last few months.  They love it that much!

I also love candles made from beeswax.  I found these in Germany last year too at the Christmas Markets.  I have had the little snowman for many years, and the white candle holders I bring out each year at this time.  I found the glittered bird cage this year, I placed it inside a clear glass candle holder on top of the rusted crown.  I also found the mini chandelier at the same store.  I attached the chandelier to the bottom of the lamp.  It really is a Christmas ornament, but I think I will be able to use it throughout the year.  Who says it is only for Christmas!

When I purchased this cute chair with the little children reading, I thought it fit our home perfect.  I love to read books, and so do some of our kids.  Each time I look at this, it brings back so many memories of the kids living at home years ago reading, talking, and just bringing joy to our home.

My living room has an entire wall of rock.  This is one of the walls I wanted to paint white.  It makes Dana cringe when I say this, Paint Rock!!!!  Well, I still to this day think it would be cool, but he loves the natural look of rock and nature for that matter. So as a result it is still the natural color, maybe this is one of the reasons I love brown.  There is alot of brown in nature.  There are lots of things we do just for those men we love.   I have had those logs in the fireplace for years tied with raffia. Dana still teases me for doing this, but I love them for sure.  I looked for years for brass fireplace sticks for the inside of the fireplace.  I finally found these in an antique store, sitting there looking at me saying "We belong in your home."  They have lived here ever since.  Nothing brings greater joy to me than to have a statue of the Savior in my living room.  He helps set the mood of our home.  I honor him every day.

This statue of 2 angels sits on the mantle proudly,  They are my girls in heaven.  I know I keep telling you I will someday write about them, and I will.  Not today, but these beautiful faces with their loving wings intertwined with each other are my reminder of these two wonderful girls of mine.

Here they are again, with PEACE in a pale gold glitter sitting next to them.  Peace could be right there all year long.  Some years it sits there until June, because we so need Peace on the Earth.

I have these dried arrangements in the living room, white larkspur and white ribbon in a white pot.  I have loved these for years, and I wonder if I will ever tire of them.  My temples are here too.  One framed, it is in Manti, Utah, where Dana and I were married, the other one is made of china, it is the Vernal Temple, right here where we live.  A beautiful building right here at home in Vernal.

Again, an angel, and glitter bird in a fun vase.  The woman statue has an etched brass plate at the bottom of it, with Naomi's name and her birth and death dates.  This was given to me by my Aunt and her daughter after Naomi died.  She has a lot of meaning for me and stays in the kitchen to keep me company every day.
 
Well, there is more to come in a few days.  I love white for January, but you can see that lots of these white accents stay out all year long, as part of our home.  Love them for sure, and the look and feel that it gives our home.


Well for now, Hugs to you all,

Robin

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

"O" Beaded with Dew Drops

                        The "O" Beaded with Dew Drops

 

 I so love to create with dew drops. They are always at my right hand as I design with paper, and other media. The wall above my scrapbook table has 4 shelves full of dew drop bottles in every color and shape available. Today I want to share with you a project done with a metal "O" I purchased some time ago at Hobby Lobby.
The Metal "O" came just as you see it, swirls and O cut from the center.
I just glued pearl dew drops around the entire edge with "The Best Glue Ever", then down the center, and some spots on the swirls to accent the swirls.


I cut out a brown swirl leaf from and old out of stock Robin's Nest paper, and in this photo you can see the pearl dew drops up close.

This shows the dew drops glued around the edge, and at sections of the swirls.

I punched a bird from the Gold Glitter Chipboard and glued it on top of the leaf cut out. I then used an "O" from an old danglie earring made from rhinestones.
I used some treasures that I have found over the last year in 50-75% off sale shelves, the glitter bird, the glitter nest words, and the star. These are just hung from the back of the "O" where on the back of the "O" it is made to hang this on the the wall. I could have covered the bird with paper too, but I love this look the way it is. The oval box next to the "O" is covered with Silver glitter Fleur, now sold out but available in Gold, and I cut out the Fleur glued on top of the oval box is from the Honeycomb Fleur Linen CS.
This "O" has turned out to be a fun Multi media project, which I love, and sits on a book shelf at the top of our staircase.
Hope this inspires you to dew drop all sorts of fun things in your home!
Ciao,
Robin

Friday, December 21, 2012

Decorating for Christmas

Did I tell you that this is the first year I have decorated for Christmas in 3 years in my own home.  Living in Africa for 2 years makes all of this seem so frivolous.  Do we need all of this?  Mmmm, it really had made me think deeper about what we do for Christmas in the United States.  So I spent many hours going through all of the totes in the large Man Shed out back, and deciding what we really want to use and keep for Christmas decorations. 
I had 2 yard sales this summer to clean out all the extra's we had around our house, garage, and storage sheds.  It was time to let go of so many things I was simply holding on to and never use.  I still have plenty of extras that are stored in closets and sheds that I really still don't use.  But with 3 pick-up loads to the local second had store, and 3 loads to the dump plus all that we sold at the yard sales!  So when I was going through the Christmas totes I still had 2 large boxes to give away! 
I still wanted to decorate for my grandkids, and so my decorating is 100 times simpler than it ever has been, but the change is well needed.  There is little greenery with lights, just green, but after 3 years the little girls came through the door, and into the kitchen and said, Grandma your house is beautiful.  That is who it is for, to have a fun celebration of Christ's birth with them.
I have nativity's from many different countries that we brought back from Africa and Germany last year.  I still look for one in each country we visit, and that is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  For His Birth. 






Enjoy!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Jolly Old St. Nicholas Journaling Mini Book

Jolly Old St. Nicholas Journaling Mini Book

 
  Wow, Christmas is around the corner, and I am just pulling out my journaling book. I intended to have it all filled in before I put it on the blog, but alas, I am putting together page kits instead this week, so maybe next week it will be journaled! Is that a word?
I love this book, and I love this black, white, and red Christmas paper line that I used to create this book.

It is kind of jumbled the way the pages lay out, and it's supposed to be. Not like a book where each page sits on top of each other in a neat pile. My intent was that you could see all the elements of the of Santa as you look at the book, without having to turn the pages.
The title to the book is a ribbon cut from the Glitter Christmas Words linen paper. Then I put pop dots behind it so it would look like ribbon flowing. I used the North Pole Christmas line, all in black and white and red. I also used the red and the black journaling tags.
You can see Santa's belt made from Glitter Black Chipboard, and the back page of the book is cut out in a parenithes shape in Red Glitter Classic Swirl backed with Red Chipboard.
The pages shown below are each page by itself, then tied together with red ribbon and twine. I cut shapes out of the Glitter Black/White Holly and put it on the back of each journaling tag. I also used the rest of the words from the Christmas Words linen paper, and the Christmas Canvas Prints. The feeling of Santa is throughout the book, All products are Robin's Nest. Dew Drops and Diamond Drops are throughout the book. (Ace of Diamonds, dd132) Other printed cardstock used Glitter Christmas Trees, Glitter Black/White Pine tree.

It turned out so cute!

I hope you are enjoying your Christmas Season!

Happy Holidays,

Robin

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Beautiful Covered Wooden Frames

Beautiful Covered Wood Frames


Hi All,
  I started this project because Rachel bought the frames from the Wood Connection in SLC, Utah and wanted me to do a project with them. Well that was about 8 months ago, and I brought the frames home, hung them on the wall of my Scrapbook Room, and there they have been until I finally decided it was time!


They started out in just plain unpainted wood.
 
 
I then painted them with burnt umber, red, and gold Delta paints, using a distress technique so they would look older and worn.

I then traced the shape of the frame on the back of my paper/cardstock and cut it out, the frames are larger than 12x12 so I had to be a little creative with the corners. The paper/cardstock is cut in 4 pieces, one for each side.


I had 2 matboards cut to fit the frames, 8x10, and covered both of them with paper, then I distressed them with brown ink.


Here are the 2 papers used for the matboard. Cathedral and Brown Glitter Leopard.


I used Glitter Mocha Trail (left), and Red Glitter Paisley (right) to cover the wood frames with.
I then created flowers using punches and water all with Robin's Nest papers. Papers used for flowers are: Glitter Red Sorbet, Glitter Red Chipboard, Hunter Glitter dot, Honeycomb Fleur, Honeycomb watercolor.
Dew Drops and Tear drops were added to complete the flowers, and swirls on the frames.
Dew Drops used: Chocolate 6mm, Red mini, Forrest Fun Tear Drops, Goldenberry, Amber Diamond Drops. I also die cut a bird with Spellbinders die and Glitter Brown Chipboard and added 3 tear drops for her wings.
Here are some close ups of the flowers.
 




And Voila, 2 beautiful frames!


So Rachel, here are your frames!
Have a great week!

Ciao,

Robin

Monday, December 3, 2012

December Already!

Well, can you believe it is December already?  The year is nearly finished, Christmas around the corner, and I haven't gotten everything done that I intended to do this year.  There is a lot on our plate these days, but I guess being older adds up to not getting as much done.  I'm thinking, really?  Or maybe, leaving home for 2 weeks at a time takes its toll on the home projects, you think? (the dust is collecting everywhere, and keeping up after being gone each time we arrive home is all I do)  At any case, there will be some roll overs into next year, like cleaning and organizing my fabric closet, the extra bedroom, which is the catch all, and the pantry reorganization.  I think, however, that I can get the room next to the kitchen painted and ready for a bed this month, at least that is my thinking, we will see with the holiday season here if I get that done before January and we leave to visit Jer and Tara in Colorado for a week.

We had so much fun with Josh and Robyn and the kids in Alaska.  I have to say that if my mother-in-law came to visit for 2 weeks, it would have taken a huge toll on me, but with Josh and Robyn, they just say, next time plan a month, 2 weeks just isn't enough!  I love my kids and grand kids, they are so fun to watch, intermingle with, and just love. 




We brought 2 sling shots with us for the boys, in our discussion before we left, we decided that to keep from hurting each other and the house in the middle of the winter, we needed something soft to shoot.  Dana bought marshmallows, and the war was on.  There was even several times when we thought we should have bought 5 sling shots, one for each member of the family.  They had so much fun with those sling shots!  And yes, as Robyn said on facebook, they are becoming a Duck Dynasty of their own.  When the dogs don't behave, she is shooting the bb gun at them, her shot is pretty darn good, even down the stairs, through the doorway into the dog kennel. Dana captured her standing on the kitchen counters shooting the boys with the sling shot.  Is this FFT? (forced family time?} Gabe broke his arm while we were there, he is a trooper.  Ali kept up with her homework, and lots of dishes, and Mr Lucas, is so cute with his glasses, he looks like Clark Kent!  He says they helps him with his math.


Josh spends his home time creating knives with matching sheaths, which the workmanship is incredible.  He has taught himself how to create the knives by reading books, the Internet, and simply just trial and error.  Such a great gift he has.  When the evening came, he would bring the sheaths up and sew them by hand while we visited, always working.  The kids get their time out in the garage with him, and they come in so cute with grease smeared on their faces and hands.  So fun to see the family working together and the bonds they are creating.

I wonder if they will live in Alaska forever, I must visit there in the summer, cause I'm pretty sure that it is simply too cold for me in the winter.  When we arrived back in Salt Lake City, I was feeling like we were in a heat wave in December.  Funny huh, how cold can be warm.  Of course we missed the moose in the backyard by 2 hours.  Didn't see any again this trip. 



They had stake conference while we were there, and the wards were all divided creating 3 new wards, not 1 but 3!  Alaska is growing in the church, and it shows, with these new wards.  It was fun to be there and see this too, what great blessings the Temple has given to the area.  Such a wonderful spirit there for sure.

I almost forgot, we went on a plane ride with a member of Josh's ward, Brian and saw Alaska from the sky in a little 6 seater Cesna (really am not sure if that is spelled right!)



I'm happy to be back home again, sleeping in my own bed.  There really is nothing like home.  We all have our comfort zone, and I have to say that 2 years in Ethiopia has made me appreciate home more and more.  Not that those 2 years weren't good, they were, home is just so comfy.

Rachel had a list of things for me to do when we arrived back, so did the first list by last Friday, and will start working on the second list tomorrow, mmmm, that may have something to do with why those closets haven't gotten clean too.  I really do love doing the lists she gives me, creativity is just one of those things that makes me happy.

Grand kids this weekend, so not much accomplished but them and decorating the house for Christmas.  That was another clean out session yesterday.  All the Christmas totes have been gone through, cleaned out, and a huge box ready for DI on Monday.  Many neighbor gifts pulled out and ready too.  Will report on how many totes will be refilled for next year.  I need to cut back, certainly not doing the decorating I used to.  However, this year I decorate for the little girls.  It probably will be that last Christmas they are close in Vernal.  That is a discussion for another day.

Last to share is Becca Ann.  Britney told me that she decided when she turns 18 she is moving out and living with grandma!  So funny, but great to be so loved.  I do feel loved by those so close to me, a month in Alaska next time, not sure, but I love that we get along so well, enjoy and love each other so much that these things can be said and meant.

Ciao for now.

Robin