A Housewarming Giftcard

Posted on May 10, 2014 by mauistamper

I feel really blessed to have lots of young couples in my life. It’s a joy to watch them settle into their marriages, and lately that has included moving into new spaces. Mr. Maui Stamper and I were invited to a celebration last weekend; he couldn’t attend as he was busy surprising his sister for her birthday, but I went and had a fabulous time.

Being a practical sort of mama, I thought the perfect gift was a gift card to a home improvement store. Being a Maui Stamper, it needed a little dressing up:

Stamps: Oh Hello, On the Grid, Yippee Skippee and Day to Day (Project Life®)
Color Palette: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Antique Brads, Gold Clothespin, Big Shot and Polka Dots TIEF, Fringe Scissors, Circles Framelits, Word Window punch, Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder, Piercing templates, Chevron Gift Bags, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Older-than-the-hills-retired Ribbon.

Here’s the note card that fits in the back of the bag. I grunged it up a bit with On the Grid and the piercing template – just a double line of dots.

Sometimes the best things happen when you make a “mistake”. I originally stamped the word “happy” in ink, but it needed some oomph so I decided to emboss it. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig (TOTALLY ESSENTIAL TOOL, friends) to stamp “happy” again in Versamark ink and must have jiggled it, because it was offset just a bit. I think it’s PERFECT.

Gotta make it personal. Don’t know what I would do without all my Stampin’ Write markers. I am addicted to coordination.

Needless to say, this was presented in a clear envelope. Who would want to cover it up?

A Glorious Birthday Card in a Box

Posted on May 3, 2014 by mauistamper

I love that word – Glorious. It’s one of Crystal‘s favorites 🙂 And it’s very appropriate for this card:

Yes, it’s full of Sale-a-bration product that you can no longer get…and I’m sorry. But for those of you who have leftover Sweet Sorbet paper, you need some ideas, right?

I had a fabulous time with this one – there’s a lot crammed into a little space. I used the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die (so sad this is retiring!!) to help stabilize the folds. In my excitement I scored them a leetle bit too hard and they were thinking about breaking, so that Calypso Coral scallop actually folds and adheres inside the wall of the box to give it strength.

Lots of flowers – Petal Parade from SAB but also Petite Petals and the little scallop from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack (also retiring). That gorgeous Happy Birthday is from the retiring stamp set You’re Amazing – and is only available now in wood.

Some of the flowers and cut and layered for extra dimension, and you can just see the window sheet strip that allows that Petite Petal to fly.

There’s a cupcake with a single candle right in the middle!

I even made a coordinating envelope. Hope you enjoy!

Shorebirds

Posted on May 1, 2014 by mauistamper

I’m going to be very happy every morning in May to walk into my kitchen and see this month’s little Easel Calendar:

I love this Wetlands stamp set, especially these little shorebirds. I used my Aquapainter to add a little Basic Gray around the waterline. I sponged a little crumb cake below and Pool Party above that line to create a sense of the sand and the sea. The sun is the circle that was in the middle of one the Daydream Medallians stamps – I have a DVD case for all the funny bits that I think would make interesting stamps.

Take just another minute to pop on over and see what Crystal and Cheryl have done for their calendars this month. We hope you’re inspired!

Silly Rabbit…Part 2

Posted on April 13, 2014 by mauistamper

I’ve seen these little bunny treat holders all over the place, but that didn’t stop me from making some of my own:

These are cute and easy – the hardest part is putting the M&M’s into the bunnies and NOT into the Maui Stamper.

This is punch art at its simplest. You’ll need the 1 3/4″ circle, 2 1/2″ circle, large oval, and Bitty Punch Pack (currently available as a Weekly Deal – hurry, just til Monday April 14th!) You’ll also need the Circle Treat Holders and a bag of pom poms – the ones I had were kinda big but they give my Bunnies character.

Punch the 1 3/4″ circle FIRST. Place the 2 1/2″ circle over the 1 3/4″ circle opening and cut a ring that is 2 1/2″ wide with a 1 3/4″ circle opening centered in the middle. Then cut two large ovals and snip off about 1/2″ from one end of each oval, creating a flat spot. Cut one more 2 1/2″ circle that is “whole” – no “hole” in the middle.

Put a little Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive) on the TOP of the treat cup rim. Place the two ovals, flat side to the inside, together on the rim. Add a dot of Tombo to the top of each oval and slide the ring (2 1/2″ wide with a 1 3/4″ opening) over the top.

Flip the cup over and fill it up with treats. (A treat for bunny, a treat for me…a treat for bunny, a treat for me…) Remove the liner from the self-stick adhesive on the treat holder and put the “whole” 2 1/2″ circle over the back. Yes, they are going to have to destroy the treat holder to get to the candies. It’s ok. It’s only paper.

Punch a flower with the Bitty Punch pack and adhere it between the ears with Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive) or a Glue Dot (my new BFF). Add a rhinestone or a pearl. Adhere the pom pom to the top of the treat cup – my poms were so big I used Sticky strip, but if you found smaller ones I’m sure a Glue Dot would hold.

Repeat and repeat!! They’re bunnies, aren’t they? They’re supposed to multiply 🙂

RemARKable Flowers

Posted on April 10, 2014 by mauistamper

It’s another RemARKable Pinworthy blog tour – and this time we are focusing on flowers. I think most crafters LOVE flowers, and I’m no exception. One of my favorite new flower products is the Sizzix Spiral Flower Originals die, and I thought I would tackle something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’m pretty pleased with my first attempt:

I have been imagining crafting with our new Sizzix Spiral Flower Originals Die with fabric for weeks! I have SO MANY ideas for these flowers…but I’m getting ahead of myself. These are made from denim (specifically, an old pair of torn, destroyed jeans) and tulle (leftover from my bridal ensemble – really!)

My first idea was a wristlet:

I didn’t even get to the embellishment stage. This idea has potential, but the problem here is that I’m a Bash-and-Crash kinda girl, and this little confection wouldn’t make it through the first day on my wrist.

Cute idea – for someone else’s wrist. It was back to the drawing board.

I used two denim spirals and two tulle spirals for the flower on the right. The one on the left has one denim spiral and two tulle spirals – the tulle is very lightweight and soft, not the stiff variety.

The “double denim” flower is in the center – it’s definitely larger – with a single denim layer flower on either side.

I did learn a few tricks in the process of assembling these. If I were working with fabric only (no tulle) it would be fairly simple to roll first and hot glue second. However, the tulle is wispy and stubborn, and I found it easier to roll a little, hot glue a little, and roll a little more. Also, when you are working with paper, it’s very easy to adjust the tightness of the rolled flower once you’re done. With fabric (even if you haven’t hot glued it together already!) there’s too much friction in the layers and they don’t want to loosen up. I found I got the best results by practicing once or twice before I began to assemble with the hot glue.

Now that I have a few of these under my belt, I can’t wait to add Spiral Flower embellishments to…well, you’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, go see what the rest of the RemARKables have come up with – I’m certain you’ll be inspired!

Head on over to Audra Monk at the Crafty Yogi to continue the tour!

Walkin’ on the beach…

Posted on April 1, 2014 by mauistamper

Happy April Fool’s Day! No foolin’ here today…just an April walk on the beach:

Have I mentioned how much I love making these simple little calendar pages? There isn’t a lot of fanfare, and the embellishment is minimal if there at all. It’s just the dates and a suggestion of a theme for the month.

Stamps: By the Seashore and Gorgeous Grunge
Color Palette: Whisper White, Pool Party and Crumb Cake

This soothing page will remind me to get out the door and take my beach walk every morning…not that I need a lot of encouragement. It’s one of my favorite indulgences and it’s something I never take for granted.

The Maui Stampers run an itty-bitty blog tour the first of the month. I hope you’ll spend a little time April-foolin’ around and check out what Crystal and Cheryl have done for their calendars this month. Thanks for stopping by!

Bring on the candles

Posted on March 29, 2014 by mauistamper

My son turned 20 earlier this month. His birthday coincided with the start of a fabulous spring break trip sponsored by the university, so he has only seen his card recently. I’m pretty sure he’s not a regular reader, but I didn’t want to spoil the surprise in the rare event he checked in.

I got a little carried away…yes, there are 20 candles.

I hope you like my candle flames! They’re cut from the end of the stem from the Bird Builder punch. The candles themselves were hand-cut and are primarily Soho Subway DSP with a little Early Espresso and Island Indigo thrown in for contrast.

The cakes are floating on sheets of Window Strips. They’re hand cut, too. This was for my son, after all!

I made little packages and put them on the side of the card with dimensionals. Honestly, I go through a LOT of dimensionals. I quit worrying about it a long time ago – about the time I figured out they cost just over a penny apiece. Seriously.

The other side has balloons:

The “strings” are held in place with Glue Dots. If you decide to make one of these cards (and I hope you do) trust me in this, you need Glue Dots. Just open up a fresh box and knock yourself out. I use a pokey doodle to pull them off the roll, but a bamboo bbq skewer works really well too.

Since my handsome son is away at school, I had to mail this card, and it required a custom envelope. I used to dread making custom envelopes, but not any more. The Envelope Punch Board is my BFF.

I didn’t use any bulky embellishments (such as buttons) so I just needed a little extra postage for the weight of all the extra card stock. I made the envelope on the roomy side since the card is thicker than usual.

Stamps: Make a Cake, You’re My Hero, Perfect Pennants
Color Palette: Island Indigo, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Oval Framelits, Window Sheets, Bird Builder, Small Oval, Corner Rounder, and 1/2 inch circle punches, Early Espresso 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon, Island Indigo Bakers Twine, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Soft and Subtle Collaged Tags

Posted on March 20, 2014 by mauistamper

I have wonderful neighbors. One of them loves to bake, and she is very generous with her goodies. She knows I love – and therefore have to control – my sweets, so she regularly drops by a little parcel with just a few goodies for Mr. Maui Stamper and me. A couple of weeks ago I decided to make her a little thank you gift:

Stamps: Flower Shop, Fabulous Phrases, Mosaic Madness and the Music Notes Wheel
Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Scallop Tag Topper Punch, Pansy Punch, Corner Rounder, Stampin’ Sponges, Linen Thread, Vintage Buttons

The sponging adds softness and depth and you really can’t over-do it.

I made two of each design and then packaged them up.

There might be a couple more stamps in the background – I lost track. I cut the tags and then started layering images until I was happy. Looking at them now, I think I could add more! When I gave them to my neighbor, I cut twine to size for her to use to tie the tags to her packages.

You can’t go wrong with the Fabulous Phrases stamp set. There are so many choices that I had a hard time narrowing it down, although the width of my tag was a factor.

I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the package of them all together. I used one of our Chevron printed Tag a Bag gift bags with some ribbon and a tag of its own.

Gotta have a Happy Birthday tag to round out the set! It made a small gift with a heartfelt message of appreciation.

Did you appreciate a My Paper Pumpkin kit and wish you had the supplies to make additional projects? Stampin’ Up! announced three new refill items today, and there are also four past issues available for purchase as the full kits – click HERE for details. This offer is available only to CURRENT My Paper Pumpkin subscribers. Not subscriber? That’s easy enough to remedy – click HERE! Please select me – Anne Matasci, zip code 96753 – as your demonstrator. And thanks!

Silly Rabbit….

Posted on March 15, 2014 by mauistamper

Can you stand another box card?

Cheryl and I got together last week to work on samples for our Step Into Spring class – today is the early bird deadline for all you Maui Crafters! We wanted to have an Easter Bunny option and she came up with this Silly Rabbit.

It’s amazing what you can do with a few punches!

Our class is Sunday afternoon, March 30, 2014 at the Kahului Masonic Lodge. Cost is $20 if you register today, $23 if you register tomorrow. All supplies are provided including your very own full box of Glue Dots – and you are going to love using Glue Dots when you put together a Card in a Box! The class projects will feature the Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper.

We’re also making an embellished Tag a Bag box perfectly sized for chocolate eggs or other treats, and a charming single-treat holder made with the Scallop Tag Topper punch:

Here’s the “publicity shot” of all 3 original samples:

I hope you’ll join us!

RemARKably Egg-stra Creative!

Posted on March 13, 2014 by mauistamper

Welcome to the RemARKable Pinworthy Blog tour for March! I’m glad you’ve joined us and I’m sure you’ll be inspired. Let’s dive right in:

Lately I’ve been hooked on the Card-in-a-Box concept. The possibilities are endless, and this particular process really suits my “More is More” mentality – it seems like you can add bits and pieces forever! The colors in the Eastern Elegance Designer Series paper really inspired me.

Stamps: Flower Shop, Petite Petals, Petal Parade, Best of Butterflies and Delightful Dozen
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Grey, Smokey Slate, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry
Accessories: Eastern Elegance DSP, Pansy and Petite Petals punches, Corner Rounder punch, Little Leaves Sizzlet and the Big Shot, Rhinestone jewels, Simply Scored tool, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Window Sheets

There are lots of ways to assemble this card, but here’s a tip: You need a BRAND NEW, full box of Glue Dots. I use a bamboo BBQ skewer to lift them off the roll and place them on my project. (I use those skewers for tons of things – rolling paper into curls, reaching elusive spots, dabbing Tombo, placing glue dots and jewels – the list is endless. And when it gets all sticky with Tombo the Wonder Adhesive I just pitch it.)

The card folds flat for mailing, too, although with all that extra card stock embellishment, you’re going to need a little extra postage. It’s worth it 🙂

I was on a roll with these colors, so I carried the theme over to a Tag-a-Bag Box. There’s no way this was going in an envelope, so I had more room to play.

Stamps: None
Color Palette: Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Basic Grey, Smokey Slate, Coastal Cabana
Accessories: Big Shot, Spiral Flower Originals Die and Lattice TIEF, Little Leaves Sizzlet, Tag-a-bag Box, Paper lace doily, Eastern Elegance DSP

The doily is cut in half and smooshed (yes, that is the authentic, technical, paper-crafting term for it). I used Sticky Strip to hold it in place under the belly band since it would be sliding back and forth as the box opened and closed. When something Absolutely, Positively has to stick, you need Sticky Strip.

A Textured Impressions Embossing Folder on the Spiral Flower Originals die helps to soften the card stock so it will roll more easily. The Lattice TIEF does an especially good job of this, although I still smoosh the card stock before I roll the flowers.

I also use those odd crafty tweezers that pinch when you let go (instead of having to be squeezed) when I roll up my roses. They make it easy to hold onto the center of the flower while you’re rolling.

These colors make a gorgeous Easter color scheme, and I was delighted to find plastic eggs in Coastal Cabana! Maybe you’ll choose a different DSP, but I hope you’ll have some fun playing with new ideas for Easter this year.

Time to move on and see what Audra has in store. Thanks for stopping by!

(If the link doesn’t work for you, cut and paste this link into a browser window: http://thecraftyyogi.blogspot.com/2014/03/eggstra-creative-ideas-for-easter.html)

The Maui Stamper

papercrafts, my stories, and the occasional insight

Category Archives: 3-D

A Housewarming Giftcard

A Glorious Birthday Card in a Box

Shorebirds

Silly Rabbit…Part 2

RemARKable Flowers

Walkin’ on the beach…

Bring on the candles

Soft and Subtle Collaged Tags

Silly Rabbit….

RemARKably Egg-stra Creative!

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