Author Archives: mauistamper

The Clearance Rack

Posted on by
Reply

You know, I’m in the same boat as all of you when it comes to the Clearance Rack.  Stampin’ Up! doesn’t let the demonstrators know when they put new goodies up in the Rack for sale, and over the weekend it occurred to me that I hadn’t shopped there for a while.  Oh boy, was that ever a mistake!  Some of my favorite retired items were there…including the tiny square and rectangular glassine envelopes.  Naturally, I had to find a project for them:

ABC Bitty Note with Square Glassine Envelope

  • Cute by the Inch Stamp set
  • Early Espresso Classic ink pad; Melon Mambo Stampin’ Write marker
  • Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo and Whisper White card stock
  • Vellum card stock; scrap retired Designer Series Paper
  • Scallop Square, XL Two Step Owl and Bitty Punch
  • Square glassine envelopes $1.99 for 20

I used the Bitty Circle to make a little Peek-a-boo window through the vellum for “hi”.

And another…

Batty Note with Rectangle Glassine Envelope

  • Teeny Tiny Wishes and Elements of Style stamp sets
  • Basic Black Classic ink pad
  • Whisper White, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie card stock
  • White Gel pen; Champagne Mist Shimmer paint
  • Bat punch; rectangle glassine envelopes $2.49 for 20

Get these envelopes while they last at my Online Store!

Just little tags…

Posted on by
Reply

The convention Make-and-Takes always include some sort of 3-D project… Stampin’ Up! likes to keep us well-rounded.  This year was no exception.  We made a charming pouch style package that was quick and easy:

Just Believe pouch with tags

  • Just Believe stamp set
  • Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White card stock
  • Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso Classic ink pads
  • Versamark ink pad
  • Word Window and 1 1/4 inch circle punches
  • Crop-a-dile and Early Espresso striped grosgrain
  • Small flat cello bag and Sticky Strip adhesive

This is a simple project that would make a great gift and can be easily re-interpreted to suit any color scheme or season.  When you open the pouch you can see the bag inside all ready for the little tags:

Just Believe pouch open

Look how cute those tags look in the cello bag – and they just jumped right in there!  The bag is attached to the pouch with some Sticky Strip so you can take the tags out one at a time – the top stays open.

That ribbon is cracking me up.  You can’t begin to imagine how many times I positioned and re-positioned it while I was taking the photos, and every time it made me think of a handlebar moustache.  Maybe the ribbon is just too long, but more likely my brain is just too weird.

Whoo’s watching?

Posted on by
1

Look at these eyes:

An Owl in a Cage

  • Aviary and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • So Saffron, Whisper White, Pear Pizazz and Night of Navy card stock
  • Greenhouse Gala Designer Series paper
  • Basic Grey and Night of Navy Classic ink pads; Basic Gray Stampin’ Write marker
  • 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 inch circle, Scallop Trim, Word Window and Modern Label punches
  • Night of Navy 1/4 inch grosgrain (retired) and Rhinestone Jewels

I finally put a bird inside the cage…the owl, to be exact.  There’s something about leaving him inside that makes me sort of sad.   After all, shouldn’t an owl be flying around outside?  I’m imagining that he’s been hurt and someone is lovingly caring for him until he can be released.  He’s really quite happy there – he feels secure.

A Paisley Pumpkin, Just for You

Posted on by
Reply

One last convention sample for you…I told you I’d overlooked a few!  Actually, I felt badly about posting too many sneak peaks from the Holiday Mini before the products were available so I’ve saved them for this first week.  Wasn’t that thoughtful of me??

Convention Paisley Pumpkin

  • Paisley Prints and Just Believe stamp sets; Paisley Party wheel
  • Old Olive and Whisper White card stock
  • Old Olive Classic ink pad; Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze Stampin’ Write markers
  • Pumpkin Pie 5/8 inch grosgrain and Linen thread
  • Brights Designer buttons
  • Sticky Strip and Glue dots

Look at that gorgeous ribbon and that button!  The perfect color coordination of all the Stampin’ Up! products was the thing that sealed the deal for me when I saw my first catalog.  It’s so hard to find things that really match, especially on a small island 2500 miles out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.   I love our stamps, but it’s the details that make the project and our coordinating accessories really make my day.  Go ahead, Stampin’ Up!

I hadn’t tried the pleating technique with the ribbon and was happy to find it to be very simple.  There’s a line of Sticky Strip underneath the ribbon, and there are Glue Dots under the folds.  I’m a visual person (I know, and you thought I was the Queen of Words) so you may just have to play with it to get it.  Trust me:  it’s really easy.

Versamark goodness

Posted on by
Reply

I was going back through some old posts and discovered to my great chagrin that I had repeated a post.  Auwe!  And no, I’m not going to tell you which one it was.  As we used to taunt each other when I was a kid (back in the day before there was dirt) “That’s for me to know and for you to find out!”

On the flip side, I discovered that I hadn’t posted everything I’d intended.  This should give you a little insight into the moderately organized chaos that is my life.  I really work hard at being organized, but I’m far from perfect.

Pasley Prints Heart from convention 2010

  • Paisley Prints and So Many Thanks stamp sets
  • Soft Suede,  Whisper White, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizazz and Pretty in Pink card stock
  • Versamark ink pad; Soft Suede classic in pad
  • Heart, Jewelry tag and Bitty punches
  • Piercing tool, template and mat
  • Linen Thread; Pearl jewels

Sometimes I forget how easy it is to work with the Versamark pad.  When I first started stamping, it was my best friend in the world – any color, any time.  Now I take it for granted unless I want to emboss something and need that sticky Versa-Goodness.

Don’t miss that little sticky pearl on the Bitty Bit.  Those sheets of pearls and rhinestones last so long I think they’re doing the “socks in the laundry” trick.  Every time I go to get another one it looks like they’ve invited friends over.  Maybe I need to put up a video camera in the craft room….oooh, there’s a scary thought!

My Desk-top Make-over

Posted on by
2

I’m an office supplies dork.  I love nice pens and Post-it® notes and crisp pads of paper and colored push pins and highlighters and Sharpies®.  You can imagine my reaction when I saw the matching file folders and envelopes in the Family Organization Suite.  Those big bold flowers and that goofy owl are a great starting place for a desk-top make-over:

Play Date Class projects

I’m offering a class this month to get the make-over started.  We’ll make the jumbo paper clip book mark, the Post-It® note holder and the clipboard plus a coordinating card (that missed the photo) for $15.  Class will be Thursday morning September 16 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am and Tuesday evening September 21 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.  Take a 10% discount on any of the Family Organization suite products on pages 92 and 93 of the Idea Book and Catalog with your paid class attendance – a few of those items are pictured below.  I hope you can join us!

Play Date Family Organization Suite

Simple Circles

Posted on by
Reply

I brought home a lot of great samples from convention.  They’ve been a source of inspiration for classes and workshops, and this card is a double dipper.  There were two different cards that used the “circle-as-flower” technique, and I adapted it even further:

Circle Circus Flowers

  • Circle Circus and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Sahara Sand, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock
  • Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
  • Big Shot and Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
  • XL Two Step Bird  and Modern Label punches;  1 3/4, 1 1/4 and 3/4 inch circle punches

This is about as easy as it gets.  Stamp 3 circles,  punch 3 circles, add 3 little scraps for stems and 3 little leaves (do you recognize the wing and a leaf from the XL Two Step Bird punch?)  Sahara Sand is such a neutral color that it takes what could be a very femine card and makes it relatively neutral.  If you wanted it to be masculine, you’d need to pull out your Shades-of-Blue stamp pads but that wouldn’t be so difficult, would it?

Spooky things

Posted on by
Reply

If you’re like me, a new Stampin’ Up! catalog makes your heart beat faster.  One of the (many!) perks of being a demonstrator is seeing the new catalogs before they are released – and getting to order many of those products a month ahead of time.

The Holiday Mini catalog this year practically had me reaching for the oxygen.  Not only are there forays into fabulous new product lines – you’ve certainly heard that we have FABRIC – but there are awesome products for cards, scrapbooking, decorating, and just about any kind of crafting you can imagine for ALL the winter holidays (ok, time to cool it on the caps, I know.)  We saw a lot of great projects at convention using Holiday Mini products, but this was one of my favorites:

Spooky Things Decor Elements

Don’t you love it?? This is a perfect solution to my Halloween dilemma.  I know that most of you mainland folks buy your pumpkins and carve them days, maybe even a week before Halloween, and that they last beautifully out on your frosty front porches.  It doesn’t quite work that way here…we usually carve our pumpkins Halloween afternoon.  By the time they’ve spent a couple of hours Halloween evening on the front lanai with a tea light candle burning in them, they are already looking sort of sad.  The morning after is always depressing – there have been years when my pumpkins were already growing things at 8am on November 1.  If the trash man isn’t coming soon those pumpkins need to be well-wrapped before they get the heave-ho!  Ugh.  It grosses me out just to think about it.

Back to the fun stuff – the Home Office Genius Department had to paint orange pumpkins white – just couldn’t find white pumpkins in July – but I think these are just smashing!  (sorry, I couldn’t resist!)  Take some pumpkins and add a  few pieces from the Spooky Things Decor Elements (120909 black, 122296 dark grey, $14.95), some Black Flourish Designer Jewels (123987, $4.95) and black ribbon (lots of choices there!) and you have instant Halloween.   They may not last months and months in the tropics, but they’ll at least make it through the week.

We also saw luminarias done with the same Decor Elements:

Spooky Things luminarias

And one last spectacular project – the Haunted House:

Decor Accents Design-a-House Stampin Up!

It was worth the entire cost of convention to see this project put together on stage.  Suffice it to say that the folks that work in the Stampin’ Up! Home Office have  an enormous dose of creativity and the gift of entertainment.  This house is a Decor Accents Design-a-House (120911, $5.95) – it comes in white all ready for your own creative blast.

Time to put in a Holiday Mini catalog order!  Click on the image and the whole glorious catalog will open in a pdf.

Stampin' Up! 2010 Holiday Mini catalog

Remembering when

Posted on by
2

The two beautiful little girls in this photo are big grown up girls now.  I was inspired to put this page together when I created a card with a similar theme, and I spent a wonderful afternoon sorting through old photos.  It’s so much easier for me to choose pictures when this much time has gone by.  I don’t have the same emotional attachment to every single event I thought was worthy of documenting and it’s easier to edit and choose the memories that really stand out.

Carol and Sara - Worth the Wait

  • Word Play, Elements of Style and Wonderful Favorites stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Pirouette Pink, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive card stock
  • Retired Designer Series Papers
  • Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad and Versamark pad
  • Chocolate Chip and  Pretty in Pink Stampin’ Write Markers
  • XL Two Step Owl, XL Bird, Scallop Trim Border and Corner punches
  • Big Shot and Top Note and Serif Essentials Bigz dies
  • Timeless Type and Birds and Blooms Sizzlets

This page could be an 8 1/2 x 11 page (the pink section) if you prefer that size, but most of my pages are 12 x 12.  I’m notorious for not completing scrapbooks but I’m inspired now.  Besides, I really enjoyed looking through those photos.  The memories are sweet, and help me feel better when I miss having my girls at home.  The good news is that I’ll see them soon as we are celebrating a special family birthday next month together in California.  I’m counting the days!

The Season of Friendship…In Color

Posted on by
2

Our leaves don’t change color in the fall, at least not significantly.  There aren’t even that many deciduous trees in Hawaii.  Sure, the plumeria tree’s leaves thin out quite a bit in the winter, but you seldom see that bare-branch look you get on the Mainland.  I recall flying through Dallas-Fort Worth airport one year, and looking out the window as we took off I thought there must have been some sort of blight that caused all the trees to die.  It took me half the flight to figure out that it was just winter.  And yes, I grew up on the mainland and I even did my share of raking leaves once I became a homeowner.

Last autumn my husband and I were in New Hampshire and we really enjoyed the beautiful colors despite the fact that it snowed on us MULTIPLE times in October (and yes, I am still taking that personally).  We won’t be flying to the East Coast this year – it’s a very long flight – so any leaf colors I’ll see will be on my craft table:

Season of Friendship In Color

  • Season of Friendship and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizazz Classic ink pads
  • Crop-a-dile and Jumbo brads
  • Pear Pizazz ribbon and Hemp Twine

I love our In Colors for 2010-2011.  They’re such distinct, unique colors but they have an intensity that works really well together.