Author Archives: mauistamper

Inspiration in unlikely places

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I was standing in line in the post office, of all places, when I saw a card that inspired this:

Bliss Birthday Wishes

  • Bliss (Sale-a-bration) and Sincere Salutations stamp sets
  • Naturals White, Always Artichoke and River Rock card stock
  • Always Artichoke and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pads
  • Always Artichoke seam binding; Sponge Daubers
  • Sticky Strip and Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Pearl Jewels and large Oval punch

That fluorish from the Bliss set is GORGEOUS.  It lines up well with itself to create a repeating pattern, but it’s also strong enough to stand alone.  The seam binding has been gathered with needle and thread and pressed onto some Sticky Strip, but you could skip that step – I prefer the evenness of hand-gathering.

I surprised myself when I added Rich Razzleberry.  I didn’t think I would like it, but there it sat on my messy table, looking hopefully at me, so I gave it a chance.  It pays to take a risk when colors beg to be used like that!

Be My Valentine

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Stampin’ Up! has begun tempting us with the prospects of Convention 2011.  These are three very short but very full days, andthe thing that every demonstrator look forward to is swapping.  It’s crazy, it’s frantic, and you never know what you’ll come home with – but you always come home with loads of great ideas.

Today’s card is cased from a card I received last year, and I have regretably lost the original stamper’s name.  I’ve cased this cards so many times, in so many different ways, and every time I see something new.

I {Heart} Hearts

  • I {Heart} Hearts and Filled with Love (retired) stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake card stock
  • Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Regal Rose classic ink pads
  • Piercing tool, mat and template
  • Cherry Cobbler seam binding; Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Full Heart and Heart to Heart punches

Happy Valentines’ Day!

Some Super Fun

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Last weekend we went to a Super Bowl party at Cheryl’s.  She’s finished with her renovations (lucky girl), and her big ol’ Big Screen TV is already installed, so it made sense to drive out to Haiku for the game.

We all watched until about half time, and then the ladies started migrating into Cheryl’s stamp studio.  She has a great space set up, with lots of gorgeous light and room for both crafting and working from home.  She even had a project all set up for us:

Cheryl's cupcake bookmark

  • Create a Cupcake stamp set
  • Pretty in Pink, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White card stock
  • Pretty in Pink, Crumb Cake, and Early Espresso classic ink pads
  • Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker
  • Build a Cupcake punch; Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Retired 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon – I’m not even sure what color it is!  Maybe Close to Cocoa?
  • Big Shot and Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing folder

These cupcakes are charming and just the right sized, and I love how easy it is to use the punch.  Why stress about lining up the stamps when you can just punch them out and put ’em where you want ’em?  That’s my idea of brilliant.

We didn’t quite make it back for the 3rd quarter, but we all gathered around to see the end of the game.   Great party, Pat and Cheryl – let’s do it again next year!

 

Ah, Saturday

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Saturday is always a welcome sight on the calendar.  With a little bit of luck, there’s nothing pressing to do first thing in the morning and we can sleep in a little.  It means a more leisurely breakfast sharing the newspaper and coffee, and talking about what the day holds.  Lately, it also means the absence of hammers, saws and power tools.  Captain Stupidhead likes Saturday too, because he can lounge around in the few spots downstairs that aren’t either torn up or covered with the stuff that used to be in the room that is now torn up.  We love Builder Dan and all of his crew, but after 5 days it’s nice to have a little respite.

I’ve hardly had time to cruise through my favorite blogs this week, but I did spot this little gem at Inking Idaho a while back.  Becky saw this at Leadership and created her version, and I fell in love as soon as I saw it:

Petal Cone Bigz die

  • Thank You Kindly stamp set
  • Rose Red, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight cardstock; Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper
  • Rose Red Classic ink pad
  • Springtime Vintage Designer Buttons; Linen thread; Scallop border punch
  • Big Shot, Petal Cone Bigz die, Fun Flowers Bigz die

I made some 3×3 gift cards to fit inside the pocket:

Same supplies as above plus:

  • Punch Bunch, Button Button and A to Z stamp sets
  • Peach Parfait, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock
  • 2 Step XL Owl, Scallop Circle, and various circle punches
  • Crystal Effects and Daffodil Delight 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon

These were very simple to assemble and I made quite a few in an afternoon.  Love those Sale-a-bration products!

Here’s the renovation update – the family room is being prepped for new lighting and the electrical foundation for TV, stereo etc:

There was a day last week when they put something on the floor and it had to dry overnight.  Not such a big deal, except that I’ve had to move the computer into the laundry room and the only way into the laundry room is through the family room – or from the garage.  Psssht.

Here’s the update for upstairs:

There’s room for my file cabine on the left, and you can see Builder Dan is making sure I won’t have to crawl underneath the counter every time I want to plug something in.  The adjacent wall looks like this:

I’m excited about this!  My middle daughter is perhaps not so excited, as this used to be her bedroom.  Her older sister has known that feeling for quite a while, as I took over her room for a craft room after she left for university.  We’ve decided to switch the two rooms, so there will be a place for the girls – ALWAYS – no matter what.  But there will also be a little slice of heaven upstairs for Mama’s creative projects.   This will be worth the wait and the disruption.

Thanks, cupcake!

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Despite the chaos and the noise, I’ve found a little time to craft:

Cupcake Notes

  • Thank You Kindly and Create a Cupcake stamp sets
  • Cupcake standard wheel
  • Whisper White, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette and Early Espresso card stock
  • Rose Red and Early Espresso Classic ink pads; Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker
  • Rose Red Seam binding
  • Build a Cupcake punch
  • Big Shot and Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing folder

These were quick and fun – I did about 20 of them in about an hour and a half.  The cupcake bases are textured with the Lattice folder and the top is cut from Pink Pirouette – I only used Create a Cupcake for the sprinkles on the frosting.   I punched the cupcake pieces from narrow strips of cardstock that I fed through the punch to minimize waste and I glued all the pieces down with Tombo the Wonder Adhesive.  The cherry is punched out of Rose Red cardstock and the stem is quickly brushed with the marker.

If I was feeling like an over-achiever I would watercolor those cupcakes along the bottom, but I’m not so I won’t.  Who’ll know?

In case you’ve been wondering…

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We’ve begun our remodel.  It began pretty simply with exterior painting.  The poor cat has been beside himself as the yard has been full of men and scaffolding and noise; the day they power-washed the exterior was a tough one for the poor Captain.  The painting process has become routine, though, and now he is adjusting to yet another change:

Day 1

This isn’t a true before picture, as the desk is completely empty.  I am VERY proud of myself, as Mr. Maui Stamper was off island on business and I moved the computer – including printer, cable, router and enough cable to tie up a rodeo – into the adjacent room and installed EVERYTHING.  I was terrified there wouldn’t be wi-fi and we would be back in the stone age, but apparently I’m more brilliant than I give myself credit for.

Poor Captain Stupidhead likes to relax here first thing in the morning after Breakfast #1.  Unfortunately, it’s not really a relaxing place to be anymore:

Day 2

This part was only moderately noisy , but the disruption factor was high.  Remember those cabinets, though, as you are going to see them again!

Day 3

Ah, now we’re down to serious business!  I wish I’d taken a photo of that poor cat sticking his nose into the doorway (out of the photo on the left) when Builder Dan and I stood here to talk about progress.  You’ve heard the expression “nose out of joint” ?  The disruption has become unbearable.

As a result, the poor Captain has a new routine.  After he eats Breakfasts #1, 2 and 3 in rapid succession, he high-tails it upstairs to Mr. Maui Stamper’s closet.  He doesn’t reappear until all the painters, hammers, noisy machines, and Builder Dan himself have exited the premises.  When he does reappear, I get an earful – apparently it is very stressful to sleep in the sock basket all day:

Leave me alone

His expression says “What??  Leave me alone!  And close the closet door while you’re at it.”  At least he’s sleeping on top of the tan socks instead of the navy and black socks.

Upstairs

Here are some of the cabinets…waiting for Builder Dan to finish downstairs.  You’ll see more of this, too!

Bee mine

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I can only work with pink and red exclusively for so long:

January Club Valentine

  • Sweet Summer (SAB) and I {Heart} Hearts stamp sets
  • So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery card stock
  • So Saffron, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery Classic ink pads and ink refills
  • Aquapainter, Victoria lace trim, Subtles brads

It’s nice to do a simple card once in a while.  Tone on tone stamping is an easy, inexpensive way to add texture to a card and the variety of hearts in the I {Heart} Hearts set give plenty of options.  I’m fond of that silly little bee, too.

Are your Valentines ready?

Adding my own Ink and Stamps

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It’s been wild and crazy around the Maui Stamper household.  What we lack in snow to shovel, we create for ourselves with renovations.  The end result will be a fabulous new family room where we can watch Life Size NFL players crack heads (I swear, that’s what’s going on with Mr. Maui Stamper’s new TV).  The bonus result will be that the cabinets where our dinosaur TV has been living will be re-installed upstairs, creating Maui Stamper Heaven.  I can live with the chaos when I’m looking at that kind of reward!

It’s been a little tricky to find time and space for paper crafts, but when I saw Lisa Young’s Valentine Box there could be no more excuses.  Here is what she inspired:

Petal Cone Heart box

  • Fabulous Phrases, Baroque Motif and Build-a-Roo stamp sets
  • Real Red, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink and Early Espresso card stock
  • Designer Series Papers Prints Pack; Glimmer Paper
  • Real Red and Pirouette Pink Classic ink pads
  • Pretty in Pink 3/8 inch taffeta and Real Red 1 inch stitched grosgrain ribbon
  • XL 2 step Bird Punch; Crop-a-dile; Stamp-a-ma-jig
  • Big Shot;  Scallops #2 Bigz die; Petal Cone Bigz die; Elegant Lines embossing folder
  • Flowers Designer Brad; Stampin’ Dimensionals

Doesn’t that Glimmer paper wing make you want to SHOUT!??!  Actually, the whole thing makes me want to jump and shout and laugh out loud!  This was one of those projects that started out slowly and built momentum once I got to a certain point.  My dilemma was what to put on the box and heart once I had them cut out – I didn’t want to copy Lisa but I loved her idea.  That medium size scallop circle with the Baroque Motifs swirl was the secret ingredient.

I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig (most brilliant concept ever) to line up the words in that gorgeous Fabulous Phrases font, and scoured all my stamps until I found the little open heart in Build-a-Roo.  The box is a sheet of 9.5 by 8.5  inch cardstock scored at 1.5 inches from the sides down the 8.5 inch edge, and scored at 4 and 5.5 inches on the 9.5 inch edge.  It makes a box that is 5.5 inches wide and 4 inches tall, and if I had paid a little more attention I would have made it just a hair larger so that it would hold cards and envelopes.  Next time.

How about a closer look at the layers?

Petal Cone Heart Box close up

It was a little tricky embossing the front of the box – I was only able to do the front, as running it through the Big Shot a second time for the back would have flattened out the front.  I folded one of the side tabs in and was able to get the front into an Impressions Folder.

And yes, I know that ribbon is retired.  I bought it a short time ago on the Clearance Rack, but I just checked and it’s gone.  There’s still the red ribbon with the white polka dots though, and I think that would be just as cute!

Please go tell Lisa how brilliant she is…and if you like this, I wouldn’t mind if you told me so either!

 

Baby, Baby, Baby

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A friend had a baby girl recently.  We worked together to come up with a birth announcement, and it was one of the most enjoyable collaborations I’ve done.  It was clear from the outset that this wasn’t going to be a pinky-frou-frou announcement, and so we experimented with a lot of color combinations.  In the end, my friend came up with Rich Razzleberry and Pear Pizazz with just a touch of Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight.  I would never in a million years have made those choices, but I was delighted with the way the colors worked together.

I made a samples in her color choices with all sorts of stamps.  When it came down to it, she couldn’t choose just one – so I made three different announcements:

Eastern Blooms baby

Baby announcement #1 uses the Eastern Elegance stamp set with the Bitty Punch pack and a 1/8 inch circle punch…

Cheep Talk Baby

Announcement #2 uses the Cheep Talk stamp set…

I {Heart} Hearts Baby

and Announcement #3 uses I {Heart} Hearts.

Hope you enjoy!

Cone you be mine?

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Didja notice the new Bigz die in the Occasions Mini Catalog?  Didja???

Sweet Valentine Petal Cone

  • Teeny Tiny Wishes and Silhouette Sentiments (Level I Hostess) stamp sets
  • Pretty in Pink and Real Red Classic ink pads
  • Pretty in Pink and Real Red card stock
  • Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
  • Real Red 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
  • Big Shot and Petal Cone Bigz Die
  • Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions folder
  • 1 3/4 inch Scallop and 2 1/2 inch Circle punches; 1 3/4 inch oval punch
  • Piercing Mat and tool (aka Pokie Doodle)

This Petal Cone die has been languishing (is that an awesome vocabulary word OR WHAT?) on my shelf while I worked on other projects.  It cuts out those scallop semi-circles and that fabulous banner, too.  The 2 1/2 inch circle punch makes perfect semi-circles to fit inside the scallops.

Sweet Valentine Petal Cone

We made these in Club the other night.  I made mine with the Happy Valentine’s Day sentiment, but Margie had a better idea.  She used the Sweet Treats sentiment – duh!  What’s going to go inside of the cone?  Treats!

Here’s a hint:  when you want to emboss die-cut pieces that have score marks on them, crease them with your bone folder before you run them through the Textured Impressions folder.  If you skip this little step, the score marks will be gone and you will be stuck trying to guess where they were.  Trust me.  I know this.

I think you need this die.  What?  You don’t have a Big Shot?  There’s no better time than Sale-a-bration to get it!