Jewel bird

Posted on July 23, 2010 by mauistamper

I love these deep, rich colors – Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo – colors to dream in. This last swap was the most fun just because the largest Simply Adorned charm holds a 1 1/2″ x 2″ insert so there’s more room to work. I love all the new floral stamps we have in the 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog, and I’m especially fond of that hummingbird. It made me really happy to bring them all together in one creation:

This is the style I really enjoy. I’m not sure what to call it, but I like all of the layers and the jewel tones. It almost became a contest with myself to see how many different stamp sets I could incorporate! If you really want to know what I used, leave a comment. I’ll do my best to update these after I get home, but it could be a little while.

Amazing Inspiration

Posted on July 22, 2010 by mauistamper

Don’t know how but I think I just deleted my last convention post. If you saw something different a while ago you’re not crazy!

We are having a great time. The day is full of fun, learning and inspiration. There are so many things to tell but I have just a couple of minutes to share some of the incredible product sample boards. I’ll try to add more later. No fancy formatting just the pix, ok?

Sparkling Simply Adorned

Posted on July 22, 2010 by mauistamper

These inserts are for the 1″ x 1 1/4″ Simply Adorned charms. I designed these straight from a card I found in the catalog and cased here on this blog. They should really have rhinestone gems on each of the flowers, but I used up most of the small ones on another swap and had to stretch out the ones I had! I can’t wait to see the swaps I get in return for these – that’s really the fun of participating. (And here you thought I loved pulling out my hair until all hours of the night finishing these things.)

The flowers are punched with our new Bitty Punches and sprayed with Smooch Spritz – and I challenge you to say that five times as quickly as you can! You get a beautiful shine on something small with the Spritz. I’m pretty sure it’s not intended for skin, but it’s awfully tempting. (I’m sure that statement should be accompanied by all sorts of legal caveats and “DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME” kinds of statements. So don’t try it, ok??)

This was our time

Posted on July 21, 2010 by mauistamper

We went to a 70’s party tonite at convention. We didn’t have the best costume but we were pretty fine. There were a lot of far out women having a groovy time and we were right there. The music was awesome. We knew every song, and yes, we sang along.

Check out this attitude:

One Square Inch

Posted on July 21, 2010 by mauistamper

I can start to show you some swaps now, because I’ve started swappin’ them. Oh yeah, I love the auto-post feature! Not a lot of info here, just some fun stuff to see. I’ll have more details for you next week (that is, if I don’t end up being selected for the Jury Pool. That would be a fine welcome home from convention!)

These are inserts for the 1″ x 1″ Simply Adorned charms. They are so much fun – since they’re small, you can spend a little more time coloring stamps and cutting things out. I love that kind of detail and it’s easy to do in such a tiny format. The butterfly image is meant to be worn on the back side of the charm but you could wear them either way. I just love that goofy owl!

A Really Big Deal

Posted on July 19, 2010 by mauistamper

I have been cranking in the stamp room the past week or two. I had a new catalog Open House last weekend, two classes this week, and a sack full of swaps to get ready for the Stampin’ Up! convention this week in Salt Lake City. Imagine throngs of stampers, mostly women but accompanied by a few brave men, sharing inspiration, laughter, and swaps – for four days! I leave tonight on the red-eye and I am pumped up. Packed? Well, no, not yet…

Isn’t this fabulous?? My dear friend Kellie made it for me. Since I’m not packed, you’ll have to forgive me but the list of supplies will have to be an addendum later on.

Better than wallpaper

Posted on July 15, 2010 by mauistamper

We built our home 11 years ago, and when it was time to paint we chose a gorgeous, soothing shade called Antique Linen. We have a lot of windows and beautiful tropical light and we wanted a wall color that would allow our environment to take center stage. My husband and I loved it, but our children complained that it was boring. One of my daughters gave me a cartoon of a sad little man saying “Beige sucks the life out of you”. A couple of years ago, we finally painted one wall in the master bedroom and the kids applauded. We even did a wall in the living room, but I have to admit that I still love Antique Linen.

There’s a tiny little powder room on the first floor that I kept thinking about. I considered wallpaper, but my husband and I have wallpapered in the past. (Translation: I chose the paper and he put it up. He’s an engineer and if things like that aren’t done well, it drives him crazy.) Wallpapering is not Life Giving in terms of our relationship, if you get my drift. I thought about paint but couldn’t settle on a color. Then I got the new Stampin’ Up! Decor Elements catalog.

This is the largest size of Wildflower Bouquet. To say I love it would be an understatement. It’s nearly four feet tall and it fits this space so perfectly you would think it was a custom design. This Chocolate Chip vinyl is a deep, rich tone and it has the perfect amount of sheen. My photo doesn’t do it justice!

I will admit that this largest size takes some patience to install. It comes in four pieces, and there are very clear and specific installation instructions. One of the instructions is to take your time, and I took that to heart. You do have to be patient when you are matching up all the pieces, but the application went smoothly and I am very pleased with the final result.

These vinyl pieces are designed to stay securely on the wall until you are ready to remove them. When it’s time for a change of scenery, so to speak, you just peel them off and your wall is ready for the next adventure. If you’ve ever peeled wallpaper from a wall (and scraped, and scrubbed, and washed, and said naughty words) you’ll appreciate the way Decor Elements come right off without leaving any marks. They’re perfect for a rental or a dorm room too.

Time to go shopping! Visit my Online Store and click on Shop Now to view the complete line of Home Decor items.

Owl Love You Forever

Posted on July 11, 2010 by mauistamper

Is it me, or has this whole stamping business gone to the birds?

Woodgrain, Cheep Talk and Whimsical Words (retired 2010 SAB) stamp sets
Whisper White, Crumb Cake (Kraft), Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip and Shimmer White card stock
A scrap of retired Riding Hood Red Designer Series Prints Pattern paper
Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip Classic ink pads
Two-Step Owl XL punch; Curly Label punch
Big Shot; Scallop Circles #2 die; Movers & Shapers Curly Label XL Bigz die
Crop-a-dile and Kraft taffeta ribbon (retired)

This Two-Step Owl punch is hilarious and addictive. I sat in my craft room the other night with a basket full of scraps and started punching out bits and pieces. This is something you could play with for a very long time, mixing and matching colors and crossing and uncrossing the eyes. Oh, yeah – you better believe I played with those eyes! (Note to self: tweezers are required for those itty bitty eye-bubs that go in the middle.) And it wasn’t until I got everything all put together that I realized you could use the bottom of the heart for a little beak.

The mat on the Curly Label punch is the piece that is cut out when you use the Movers & Shapers XL die with the Curly Label insert. It works the same way with all the other magnetic inserts – isn’t that tricky? I made the hole for the taffeta ribbon with the Crop-a-dile since my favorite double rectangle punch is now retired. I am TRYING to be a good demo and use only current supplies, but I’m tellin’ you, it’s not easy! Take that kraft ribbon as an example. Stampin’ Up! is an awesome company and I’m thrilled with the Color Renovation and all the cool new goodies we’ve seen added to the catalog, but what was wrong with leaving us a little bit of Kraft Taffeta ribbon? They could even re-name it Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon – that would be OK. There’s a little stash in the ribbon drawer, so you may see it from time to time.

You’ll be seeing more of these owls, too.

Lots of Bitty Birds

Posted on July 10, 2010 by mauistamper

This was the set that made my eyes roll back in my head the first time I looked through the new 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog. I immediately thought of my friend Cheryl and her mud room. She used to live 5 minutes from my house, but this past spring she moved 50 minutes away. One of her projects in her new house was an entry room with a gorgeous saltillo tile floor and not much else. She wanted to make it into the Bird Room, and she hostessed a pretty awesome workshop last spring so that she could earn the Level III Bird Cage Decor Elements Hostess gift.

Aviary and On a Pedestal stamp sets
Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Poppy Parade, and Whisper White card stock
Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Poppy Parade and Basic Grey Classic ink pads
Big Shot and Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Stamp-a-ma-jig, Stampin’ Dimensionals and Mini Library clips

I made a mask using a Post-It note of the bird with the shortest legs and the top part of the bird cage. I stamped the bird first, then masked it and stamped the cage part. I left the bird mask in place and added the mask for the cage before I stamped the stand. The “legs” on that stand are really long! I didn’t need such a tall bird cage.

That new Elegant Lines Embossing folder is really gorgeous. I hated to cover it up with the image, but I’m not quite ready to post a card with nothing but a little embossing on it. That’s Clean and Simple style to the extreme! I’ll be honest, though, I think it would make a gorgeous card. Well, you might have to give it a little sparkle with some Shimmer Paint.

Our new Color Families are helping me to see color in completely new ways. Tempting Turquoise hasn’t been much of a favorite for me, but when I see it grouped with the other colors in the Brights Collection it inspires me. It’s refreshing to see something familiar with new eyes, and I like the energy I’m experiencing when I look through our new Color Collection.