25 Years with Stampin’ Up: Best of Birthdays

What a fabulous start to the 25 Years of Stampin’ Up! celebration!  This Best of Birthdays set ($14.95!!)  is a great selection of birthday images and I immediately saw the potential for favors:

Maui Stamper Best of Birthdays Anniversary Blog TourOf course, this is a Stampin’ Up! birthday, so the favors have to be Stampin’ Up! favors!  And the Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper (DSP) is such a great bundle of designs and colors that I knew it would be a perfect choice for birthday fun.

Maui Stamper Best of Birthdays Anniversary Blog TourHow about a rosette for your birthday cake – or your cupcakes – or your centerpieces – or your flowers?  This rosette was a snap with the Designer Rosette Bigz XL die.  I cut the DSP about 1 1/2 inches wide and used two 12 inch strips.  A little Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive) attached the ends into a circle, and some hot glue on our Silicon Craft sheet secured the rosette quickly and easily.

The images are embossed in White and Tangerine Tango for an extra pop, and those curly ribbons are from the Sale-a-bration Sycamore Street ribbon and button bundle.  I’ve tried curling our ribbon before with limited luck, but I had an idea this time:  I wrapped the ribbon around a skewer and taped it down (and by the way, I consider a fistful of skewers an essential tool on my craft desk).  Then I spritzed it with a little hair spray – yep! – and gave it a shot with my heat tool.  I let it cool down and success!!  I had curls 🙂

Maui Stamper Best of Birthdays Anniversary Blog TourI love the Petite Pocket die for favors.  It’s a fun size and shape for anything from pencils and crayons to Pixie Stix or even Stampin’ Spritzers!  This image is also embossed to make it easier to color with markers – I’m a messy, outside-the-lines artist.  A few quick accents and these little pockets are done – with our beautiful, two-sided DSP this is an easy project to mass produce.

Maui Stamper Best of Birthdays Anniversary Blog TourAnd here’s my current favorite favor – the Petal Cone die!  It just takes one die cut folded over on itself to make this cute ice cream cone shape, and then a pair of fun DSP scalloped half-circles (also on the die) to dress up that cone.  Our super-soft seam binding is supple enough to thread through the buttonholes, so that button is tied right onto the favor.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this stop on the tour!  There’s much much more to come – skedalddle on over to see what Robin Merriman at http://www.TrinityDesignStudio.com has created or click on the link below to send you over.  And check back next month for the Best of Love 25th Anniversary Blog tour!

Maui Stamper Best of Birthdays Anniversary Blog Tour

Hello, February!

This is the month everyone in my family has been waiting for!!  Not just Valentines’ Day, but a wedding day.  I’ll be floating all month…

Maui Stamper February 2013 calendar

  • Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder card stock
  • Red Glimmer Paper (I hope you stocked up!!)
  • Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder Bakers Twine
  • Itty Bitty punch pack

This would make a sweet card – matter of fact, it did.  I CASEd it from Heather Summers. and you have NO IDEA HOW PROUD I AM that I can link back to this card.  Don’t thank me, thank Pinterest.

 

Pool Party Favor

Love the colors in the More Amore Designer Series paper.  I have a hard time loving a lot of pink and red, although I like each color on its own well enough.  Add in some Pool Party and I am a happy stamper!

Maui Stamper More Amore Petal Cone Valentine

  • Love Single Stamp (retired)
  • Pool Party, Whisper White and Real Red card stock
  • More Amore DSP
  • Real Red FFIP
  • Full Heart Punch
  • Petal Cone Bigz die and Big Shot
  • Sticky Strip
  • Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon
  • Valentine Candy 🙂

Of course you could substitute something else for the Valentine candy, but why would you want to do that??

This is just one section of the Petal Cone die, folded in half and secured with Sticky Strip.  When you NEED it to stay put, Sticky Strip is your adhesive!  The scallop half circle is cut from More Amore and attached to the top of the Petal, and another Petal is cut from the same More Amore sheet but used in reverse below the opening.  Super fast – you could make a classroom full of these in no time!

A glimpse of good things to come

Sale-a-bration is on the way…

Maui Stamper 2013 Sale-a-bration Patterned Occasions

  • Patterned Occasions Sale-a-bration (SAB) stamp set
  • Sycamore Street Sale-a-bration Designer Series paper (DSP)
  • Sycamore Street Sale-a-bration Ribbon and Button bundle
  • Tangerine Tango, Island Indigo and Whisper White card stock
  • Tangerine Tango Firm Foam Ink Pads (FFIP)
  • Stamp-a-ma-jig (SAMJ)
  • Big Shot and Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (TIEF)

Whoever said the military has a corner on the acronym market?  I use some of these so often that I have begun to feel guilty, and decided I’d better clear up any questions.  Feel free to print this page and keep it for reference!!

This card is one of the cards we’ll make on Saturday, January 12 (9 am) at 2-5-10:  2 hours, 5 cards, $10.  Leave a comment to RSVP.

I am THRILLED with all of the SAB options this year.  Stampin’ Up! has done an outstanding job of creating coordinated but wonderfully varied options and each SAB offering is FREE with a $50 product order.  Plan your purchases now, and stay tuned – over the next few weeks I’ll be offering some suggestions to Get to Fifty.

Welcome, 2013

As clichéd as it may sound, I love the fresh start that a new year brings.  In my wildest dreams, January First begins not only with a fabulous, champagne-sparkled celebration with my most loved family and friends, but also dawns on an immaculate house with every object impeccably in place.

I was close on part one, still dreaming about part two.

There was champagne, along with Mr. Maui Stamper and Son of Stamper (home from Notre Dame).  My two beautiful daughters were in their respective homes halfway around the world, but they will be here soon to celebrate the wedding of my firstborn.  Knowing that we will all be together in such a short time made their absence over the holidays bearable.

Maui Stamper January 2013 calendar

Crystal and I have made these calendars in the past, purchasing the template online.  This year she got together with her BRILLIANT sister and they have created an eternal template for us.  You could also make your templates through MDS, and if I were more brilliant I would have thought of that before I printed these out.

  • Happy Hour stamp set
  • Wild Wasabi FFIP
  • Primrose Petals, Wild Wasabi and Pink Pirouette Stampin’ Write markers
  • Whisper White and Primrose Petals card stock

Many blessings to you and yours in the new year!

 

 

Beautiful AND useful? A double win

Cheryl made these beautiful hangers for a gift exchange that didn’t happen, and I  happened to be in the right place at the right time:

Maui Stamper Deck the Halls with Beautiful Hangers

Aren’t they gorgeous?  I haven’t decided what outfit is worthy of these fabulous, cushy hangers – lovingly hand-made!  (My floor looks pretty good too – I made sure it was clean before I put them down.)

Cheryl stamped a gorgeous bag for the gift exchange:

Maui Stamper Flower bag

I love how she used Soft Suede and Regal Rose with the Watercolor Winter stamp set, but I pointed out to her that I am NOT naughty.  At least, not most of the time.

Look at the detail on these hangers:

Maui Stamper hand made embellished clothes hanger

It takes a lot of patience to thread that Scalloped Polka Dot ribbon through button holes!!

Maui Stamper hand made embellished clothes hanger

There’s a Spring Catalog sneak peak on this one – that big beautiful flower embellishment will be available as part of a special Artisan’s Embellishment package.  My customers should be receiving their Spring Catalog in the mail any day now – don’t mix it up with yet another Christmas catalog!

Thanks, Cheryl – I love these!!

A host of little packages from the Hostess Club

I’m part of a group that meets once a month to stamp, share stories, and laugh.  It’s my job to bring the projects; they bring the orders and take turns sharing the benefits that Stampin’ Up! offers to hostesses.  The core of the group has remained the same for years, and members rotate in and out.

We met early last week so that we could have a little Holy Spirit potluck before we stamped.  (That’s what I call it – it’s real potluck – bring what the Holy Spirit inspires!)  There were quite a few little goodies that appeared as well, and I thought I would share them in case you were looking for a little last minute inspiration:

Maui Stamper Gen's Noel tag

Gen’s cute tag embellished a bag of Princess Tea Cakes.  I’ve heard them called a lot of other things, but usually it’s after the fact:  they never last long around this Cookie Monster.

Maui Stamper Vicki's Ornament Flower box Vicki's Ornament Flower box

Vicki covered this box with DSP and made a flower with the Ornament Framelits and Boho punch.  She had amazing home made chocolates inside the box.  They lasted about an hour longer than the Princess Tea Cookies.

Maui Stamper Peggy's Treat bag

Peggy created these cute little treat bags with the Festival of Prints paper and filled them with Hershey Nuggets.  She always has such attention to detail!

Maui Stamper Peggy's Treat Bag

I still have a stash of those little jingle bells too, but I’m not sharing…

Maui Stamper Robbie's Punch Art Santa

Robbie made this adorable punch art Santa topper for our skinny treat bags and filled them with red and green m&m candies.  I don’t know about you, but if I had made these I would be unable to account for all of the yellow, orange, blue and brown m&ms that may or may not have been in the bag.  And I would definitely not have the patience to stack them all in such perfect order.

Maui Stamper Hershey Nuggets Naughty and Nice

Rumor has it that Peggy slipped these in too – I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  I’m impressed with people who can keep all of that chocolate in their stamp room and actually have some left to create a project.

If you’re looking for a last minute idea, I hope this gives you a little inspiration!

A cold is NOT good for Mojo

I went and saw the good Doctor today for help with my various and sundry symptoms…since it’s a cold there’s not much he can do, but he did give me a couple of magic potions.  It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this lethargic!

blogtour-stampmonth-Dec

The RemARKable Blog Tour is rolling around again this weekend – check in on Sunday for loads of inspiration using the Affection Collection stamp set! The RemARKable stampers are an amazingly talented lot.
Maui Stamper Affection CollectionSince I’ve been under the weather and without my mojo, I’m sharing a couple of projects  from my tag class:

Maui Stamper Merry and Bright Bottle Tag

Very simple almost one layer tag using the ornaments image from Merry and Type.  I stamped in Midnight Muse, stamped separately a second time in Marina Mist and cut out that second image to pop up on a dimensional.  Yes, CUT OUT – sorry, no framelit for this one!  I am getting spoiled.

Each ornament has a few strokes of Champagne Mist Shimmer paint, and the Marina Mist popped up ornament has an inset cut (again!!) from the Silver Glimmer paper.  The tab on the top is designed to go over the neck of a bottle – very easy!

Maui Stamper Sensational Seasons Gingerbread Man tag

This is my favorite “Go To” tag from the Two Tags Bigz die – just a scallop circle and a gingerbread man – a few pearls – and you’re done!

These tags are part of my tag class next week – let me know if you would like to join us!

THE Ornament – made easy!

Did you admire the ornament on the front of the Holiday catalog?  I certainly did – but my efforts at duplicating it were less than stellar.  I got distracted before I made enough pieces, and it needed more glitter than I could justify in the Glitter Free Zone (GFZ) imposed by Mr. Maui Stamper.

Ornamental_Elegance_Banner(1)However, there’s help!  Stampin’ Up! has packaged a kit to make 10 beautiful ornaments – enough for a tree-full, or perhaps an office full of gift bags – for $14.95.  All you need to add is adhesive (and if you don’t live in a GFZ) Dazzling Diamonds or Glass Glitter.  Skip on over to the Online store because these are in limited supply!

  • Ornamental Elegance kit #132832  $14.95
  • Anywhere Glue sticks #104045  $3.95
  • Dazzling Diamonds #102023  $4.50
  • Glass Glitter Champagne #120997 $3.95
  • Glass Glitter Silver #120995 $3.95
  • Coordinating Stamp Set Keepsake Ornaments wood #128048 $34.95
  • Coordinating Stamp Set Keepsake Ornaments clear #128051 $25.95

{EDIT:  You only need the Ornamental Elegance kit and some adhesive to create the ornament – the rest of the products are suggestions if you want to take the “More is More” road!)

If you are using Glitter I recommend Tombo the Wonder Adhesive #110755 $3.95

I was on the North Shore Oahu for the weekend for an event with Mr Maui Stamper and his co-workers.  It was a GORGEOUS location but I was allergic to something in bloom and by yesterday I knew I was going to pay the price.  Got up this morning with an outrageous cold and have spent the better part of the day in bed doing nothing.  Captain Stupidhead is pleased that I have finally seen the light.

Quick tags

This time of year I have a lot of fun making tags.  I always need a bunch of them, they can be just about any shape and size, and they generally go together pretty quickly.  Here are a couple of the tags we’ll be making in class next week:

GiftcardTagMaui Stamper Watercolor Winter tagBoth of these tags used the Two Tags Bigz die.  Want to join us making tags?  Contact me to register for class Sunday December 9 or Monday December 10.