Author Archives: mauistamper

Getting ready for some Jolly Holidays

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The Simply Amazing Recruiting Promotion that Stampin’ Up! offered for 2 weeks in November yielded a number of new Maui Stampers, and we got together over the weekend to go over a few demonstrator “nuts and bolts”.  I couldn’t let them leave without a little something, now, could I?

Jolly Holiday Notepads

Jolly Holiday Junior Legal Notepads

 

These are very simple to create, and you’ll make a bunch of these in a flash when you visit Melissa, the Stamp Doc and watch her tutorial.  I made a slight modification – I cut my paper to 8 1/2″ instead of 8″ to give me a smidgen more room.

Here’s just one to give you a better idea of how it looks:

Jolly Holiday Notepad

  • Tags for Christmas, Jolly Old St Nick and Play on Words stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler cardstock
  • Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper
  • Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Classic ink pads
  • Old Olive 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon; Linen Thread
  • Sticky Strip
  • Large Decorator Buttons in Deck the Halls
  • Ornament Punch (currently backordered due to manufacturing problems)
  • Scallop Trim Border punch

I stock up on the Pentel RSVP pens during back-to-school sales.  Maui isn’t very big, and things tend to sell out kind of quickly, so I’ve raised a few eyebrows when I hit the checkstand.  The DSP isn’t as sturdy as cardstock, but since this is a Christmas Season pattern it doesn’t have to hold up for more than a month or so.  The Sticky Strip is used to hold the pleats of the grosgrain down – once you’ve done it once or twice you can do it in your sleep.  Trust me on that; I’m a late night crafter and sometimes when I’m finishing up I really am working in my sleep.

Time to get going.  I need a few more of these – good thing they go together so quickly.

 

 

October, November and December

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And how the year has flown by!  These little pages will be a pleasure to enjoy every month.  Here are the last three Pretty Darn Cute calendar pages:

October 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Wicked Cool

November 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Vintage Vogue

December 2011

 

Featured Stamp Sets:  Northern Hearts (Level I Hostess) and All Holidays

July, August and September

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And the year flies by – here’s the third quarter of the Pretty Darn Cute calendar:

 

Featured Stamp Sets:   Circle Circus and Playful Pieces (Hostess Level III)

 

August 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Travel Time (retired, I’m so sorry to say)

 

September 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Fast and Fabulous (Level II Hostess)

April, May and June

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Here’s the second quarter of the Pretty Darn Cute calendar:

April 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Cheep Talk


May 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Flight of the Butterfly

 

June 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Just Buzzin’ By

 


 

 

Pretty Darn Cute

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I detest shopping in crowds.  You can imagine how I feel about Black Friday.  I slept in and went for a long walk on the beach with my husband – it was a luxurious day.  In the afternoon I finished my preparations for my Easel Calendar class, and bright and early on Saturday morning a group of stampers made some Pretty Darn Cute little desktop calendars.  Here’s the first quarter of 2011:

January 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Thoughts and Prayers

 

February 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  I {Heart} Hearts

March 2011

Featured Stamp Set:  Elements of Style

 

Yeah, I know….pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

A very dear, very kind, very wonderful friend

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I had lunch with a very dear friend today.  It’s her birthday, and she’s one of those people that prefers a quiet celebration, so the two of us went to a little bistro in town.  We talked about our families and our Thanksgiving celebrations and the special dishes that make that holiday unique to each family.  As we walked back to her office, I gave her this card:

Happy Birthday Iris

  • Fast and Fabulous and All Holidays Stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Blush Blossom and Concord Crush card stock
  • Concord Crush Classic ink pad
  • Frost White Shimmer paint; Aquapainter
  • Concord Crush Stitched poly and Whisper White taffeta ribbon
  • Flower Designer brads
  • Big Shot and Vintage Wallpaper Textured Embossing folder

I gathered the Whisper White ribbon with a running stitch along one edge and tied it together to make…hmmm…to make it that round ruffly thing for the brad.  I didn’t expect the Concord Crush ink’s reaction with the Aquapainter.  As the Aquapainter diluted the ink I could see the blue tones more than than red tones in the purple.

That isn’t really making any sense so you are just going to have to get out your own Aquapainter and try it for yourself.   If you can explain it any better than I can, please leave a comment.  And if you don’t have an Aquapainter you’d better tell Santa to leave a couple in your stocking.  I know you’ve been good this year.

 

Care for a little Espresso with that?

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What could be more delicious than Cherry Cobbler combined with a little Espresso?

Fast and Fabulous with Aviary

  • Fast and Fabulous, Aviary, Vintage Vogue and Fabulous Phrases stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler card stock
  • Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
  • Cherry Cobbler ink refill and the Aqua Painter
  • Whisper White Taffeta and Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding
  • Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint

The photo doesn’t pick up the shimmer paint, but it’s applied over the little red bird in the cage.  You just can’t beat shimmer paint for quick and easy sparkle that doesn’t violate the No Glitter Here Treaty.  I’m big on quick and easy, although I’ve been known to do some kind of ridiculous detailing from time to time.   This time of year the focus is on completion!

Speaking of completion, today is The Last Day of the Stampin’ Up! Online Spectacular.  If you haven’t placed your order yet – and saved up to 50% on some very cool products – head on over to my Online Store and check out the savings!  Everything goes back to regular prices on December First – and Hawaii folks, pay attention – that’s December First Mountain Standard Time!  Get your orders in by 8pm locally to be safe.

Online Spectacular

 

 

Two-Steppin’

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If you don’t mind, I’m taking a little break from holiday cards.  The holidays are a wonderful time to make and send cards, but enough is enough already – too much of the same thing makes the Maui Stamper a dull girl.

Fast and Fabulous Cherry Cobbler

  • Fast and Fabulous, Charming, Just Believe and Wonderfully Worn stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy card stock
  • Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy Classic ink pads; Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write marker
  • XL Decorative Label punch
  • Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Fast and Fabulous is a Level II hostess set, and I recently added it to my stamp library.  (Doesn’t that sound glorious?  So much better than heap.)   It’s a two-step stamp, which I consider a double dip because you can use the two step technique when you want a fast card, or you can just use the outline and then watercolor when you have more time.  It’s almost December first – any question about which technique I’ll be using??

I made a 3×3 note card with this same design just because I could:

Fast and Fabulous 3x3

Remember, these photos were from my “Not Using This Again” photo set-up, so they look kinda wonky.  I don’t know how you can take a perfectly square card and make it look this distorted, but if it takes talent then I am the Distortion Queen.   Trust me when I tell you this card is perfectly square in real life.

Tomorrow is the last day of the fabulous $87.50 Demonstrator Kit Special, so if you’d like to become a card carryin’ Stampin’ Up! demonstrator skedaddle yourself to www.AnneMatasci.StampinUp.net and sign up pronto!  My card-carryin’-demonstrator password is themauistamper.

Thankful

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And a very belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all:

Happy Thanksgiving

  • Just Believe and Thankful For stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait and Chocolate Chip card stock
  • Early Espresso, Peach Parfait and Cajun Craze Classic ink pads
  • Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon (retired)
  • Big Shot, Top Note Bigz die and Beautiful Wings Embosslit

The problem with taking an extended blogging leave of absence is that when I return I have WAY too much to tell you in one post, plus there’s always the extraneous blather I ladle over the top.  It’s sort of like a Thanksgiving dinner plate, overloaded with food and drowned in gravy.

I feel obliged to begin by saying that I took a number of photos using a new set up and I don’t much care for the results.  I am too lazy to go back and re-take the photographs, so I ask your indulgence and hope you’ll forgive the odd tint these photos share.  I don’t want you to get the impression that my “set-up” is anything sophisticated.  It consists of a couple of sheets of foam core (which have just about reached the end of their useful lives) and my much-abused Casio point-and-push camera.  I normally take the photos in the morning downstairs in my kitchen, because the light is absolutely gorgeous.  For some unfathomable reason I decided to change something that wasn’t broken and tried taking them upstairs at night in my stamp studio with the Ott light.  Bad decision.  If it’s not broken…and all that.  I’ll go back to the kitchen.

And back to the kitchen is what I really want to talk about.  I’ve worked and sat and talked in a lot of kitchens in my life.  They’ve been places to cook, eat, talk, confess, cry, laugh and make memories.  This past Thanksgiving I shared a kitchen with two wonderful friends and can’t wait to repeat the experience.  I’ve been the Thanksgiving Executive Chef for most of the past 20 years we’ve lived in Hawaii, and it was a tremendous joy to share the responsibilities this year.  Three talented cooks joining forces yielded one fabulous meal – and we were all relaxed and able to enjoy the meal.  I know – what a concept!

Meanwhile, a quarter of the way around the world my firstborn was preparing her first solo Thanksgiving feast.  We held a number of consultations online and on the phone as we tried to compensate for her lack of resources – some due to finances and being in that “just starting out” stage of life, and some due to location.  Her 11 pound Thanksgiving turkey cost $85 – in Perth, Australia!  The one store that carried canned pumpkin (at $8 a can) was sold out, and the frozen cranberries had seeds.  A little Yankee ingenuity and shared effort throughout her international community of friends yielded marvelous results, and I’m looking forward to seeing the photos (hint, hint, Carol!)

I hope your Thanksgiving kitchen was rich in love and memories.