Category Archives: 3-D

Inspiration in unlikely places

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I was standing in line in the post office, of all places, when I saw a card that inspired this:

Bliss Birthday Wishes

  • Bliss (Sale-a-bration) and Sincere Salutations stamp sets
  • Naturals White, Always Artichoke and River Rock card stock
  • Always Artichoke and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pads
  • Always Artichoke seam binding; Sponge Daubers
  • Sticky Strip and Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Pearl Jewels and large Oval punch

That fluorish from the Bliss set is GORGEOUS.  It lines up well with itself to create a repeating pattern, but it’s also strong enough to stand alone.  The seam binding has been gathered with needle and thread and pressed onto some Sticky Strip, but you could skip that step – I prefer the evenness of hand-gathering.

I surprised myself when I added Rich Razzleberry.  I didn’t think I would like it, but there it sat on my messy table, looking hopefully at me, so I gave it a chance.  It pays to take a risk when colors beg to be used like that!

Ah, Saturday

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Saturday is always a welcome sight on the calendar.  With a little bit of luck, there’s nothing pressing to do first thing in the morning and we can sleep in a little.  It means a more leisurely breakfast sharing the newspaper and coffee, and talking about what the day holds.  Lately, it also means the absence of hammers, saws and power tools.  Captain Stupidhead likes Saturday too, because he can lounge around in the few spots downstairs that aren’t either torn up or covered with the stuff that used to be in the room that is now torn up.  We love Builder Dan and all of his crew, but after 5 days it’s nice to have a little respite.

I’ve hardly had time to cruise through my favorite blogs this week, but I did spot this little gem at Inking Idaho a while back.  Becky saw this at Leadership and created her version, and I fell in love as soon as I saw it:

Petal Cone Bigz die

  • Thank You Kindly stamp set
  • Rose Red, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight cardstock; Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper
  • Rose Red Classic ink pad
  • Springtime Vintage Designer Buttons; Linen thread; Scallop border punch
  • Big Shot, Petal Cone Bigz die, Fun Flowers Bigz die

I made some 3×3 gift cards to fit inside the pocket:

Same supplies as above plus:

  • Punch Bunch, Button Button and A to Z stamp sets
  • Peach Parfait, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock
  • 2 Step XL Owl, Scallop Circle, and various circle punches
  • Crystal Effects and Daffodil Delight 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon

These were very simple to assemble and I made quite a few in an afternoon.  Love those Sale-a-bration products!

Here’s the renovation update – the family room is being prepped for new lighting and the electrical foundation for TV, stereo etc:

There was a day last week when they put something on the floor and it had to dry overnight.  Not such a big deal, except that I’ve had to move the computer into the laundry room and the only way into the laundry room is through the family room – or from the garage.  Psssht.

Here’s the update for upstairs:

There’s room for my file cabine on the left, and you can see Builder Dan is making sure I won’t have to crawl underneath the counter every time I want to plug something in.  The adjacent wall looks like this:

I’m excited about this!  My middle daughter is perhaps not so excited, as this used to be her bedroom.  Her older sister has known that feeling for quite a while, as I took over her room for a craft room after she left for university.  We’ve decided to switch the two rooms, so there will be a place for the girls – ALWAYS – no matter what.  But there will also be a little slice of heaven upstairs for Mama’s creative projects.   This will be worth the wait and the disruption.

Adding my own Ink and Stamps

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It’s been wild and crazy around the Maui Stamper household.  What we lack in snow to shovel, we create for ourselves with renovations.  The end result will be a fabulous new family room where we can watch Life Size NFL players crack heads (I swear, that’s what’s going on with Mr. Maui Stamper’s new TV).  The bonus result will be that the cabinets where our dinosaur TV has been living will be re-installed upstairs, creating Maui Stamper Heaven.  I can live with the chaos when I’m looking at that kind of reward!

It’s been a little tricky to find time and space for paper crafts, but when I saw Lisa Young’s Valentine Box there could be no more excuses.  Here is what she inspired:

Petal Cone Heart box

  • Fabulous Phrases, Baroque Motif and Build-a-Roo stamp sets
  • Real Red, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink and Early Espresso card stock
  • Designer Series Papers Prints Pack; Glimmer Paper
  • Real Red and Pirouette Pink Classic ink pads
  • Pretty in Pink 3/8 inch taffeta and Real Red 1 inch stitched grosgrain ribbon
  • XL 2 step Bird Punch; Crop-a-dile; Stamp-a-ma-jig
  • Big Shot;  Scallops #2 Bigz die; Petal Cone Bigz die; Elegant Lines embossing folder
  • Flowers Designer Brad; Stampin’ Dimensionals

Doesn’t that Glimmer paper wing make you want to SHOUT!??!  Actually, the whole thing makes me want to jump and shout and laugh out loud!  This was one of those projects that started out slowly and built momentum once I got to a certain point.  My dilemma was what to put on the box and heart once I had them cut out – I didn’t want to copy Lisa but I loved her idea.  That medium size scallop circle with the Baroque Motifs swirl was the secret ingredient.

I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig (most brilliant concept ever) to line up the words in that gorgeous Fabulous Phrases font, and scoured all my stamps until I found the little open heart in Build-a-Roo.  The box is a sheet of 9.5 by 8.5  inch cardstock scored at 1.5 inches from the sides down the 8.5 inch edge, and scored at 4 and 5.5 inches on the 9.5 inch edge.  It makes a box that is 5.5 inches wide and 4 inches tall, and if I had paid a little more attention I would have made it just a hair larger so that it would hold cards and envelopes.  Next time.

How about a closer look at the layers?

Petal Cone Heart Box close up

It was a little tricky embossing the front of the box – I was only able to do the front, as running it through the Big Shot a second time for the back would have flattened out the front.  I folded one of the side tabs in and was able to get the front into an Impressions Folder.

And yes, I know that ribbon is retired.  I bought it a short time ago on the Clearance Rack, but I just checked and it’s gone.  There’s still the red ribbon with the white polka dots though, and I think that would be just as cute!

Please go tell Lisa how brilliant she is…and if you like this, I wouldn’t mind if you told me so either!

 

Cone you be mine?

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Didja notice the new Bigz die in the Occasions Mini Catalog?  Didja???

Sweet Valentine Petal Cone

  • Teeny Tiny Wishes and Silhouette Sentiments (Level I Hostess) stamp sets
  • Pretty in Pink and Real Red Classic ink pads
  • Pretty in Pink and Real Red card stock
  • Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
  • Real Red 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
  • Big Shot and Petal Cone Bigz Die
  • Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions folder
  • 1 3/4 inch Scallop and 2 1/2 inch Circle punches; 1 3/4 inch oval punch
  • Piercing Mat and tool (aka Pokie Doodle)

This Petal Cone die has been languishing (is that an awesome vocabulary word OR WHAT?) on my shelf while I worked on other projects.  It cuts out those scallop semi-circles and that fabulous banner, too.  The 2 1/2 inch circle punch makes perfect semi-circles to fit inside the scallops.

Sweet Valentine Petal Cone

We made these in Club the other night.  I made mine with the Happy Valentine’s Day sentiment, but Margie had a better idea.  She used the Sweet Treats sentiment – duh!  What’s going to go inside of the cone?  Treats!

Here’s a hint:  when you want to emboss die-cut pieces that have score marks on them, crease them with your bone folder before you run them through the Textured Impressions folder.  If you skip this little step, the score marks will be gone and you will be stuck trying to guess where they were.  Trust me.  I know this.

I think you need this die.  What?  You don’t have a Big Shot?  There’s no better time than Sale-a-bration to get it!

Don’t give up!

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I might be just a little bit stubborn… Just a teeny, tiny bit.  It’s something of a family trait.  I have vivid memories of my grandmother on my dad’s side doing jigsaw puzzles with us.  It was our tradition to set one up on a card table at Christmas time, and as you passed by you’d stop and stare and fill in a piece or two.  My grandmother would find a piece that “fit” and then work until she got it into place.  My dad would say “Mom, that doesn’t go there” but she was bound and determined that it did and there was no telling her otherwise.

I’m not THAT stubborn, of course.  I work very hard at not beating my head against the wall, at taking lemons and making lemonade, at going with the flow.  But every now and then I come up against something I’m not willing to relinquish.  Sadly enough, it usually involves something petty, like trying to find my scallop border punch.  I know it’s there!  It has to be there!!  But I have looked for weeks and I can’t find it, so last night I ordered a new one.  It’s not quitting, it’s being realistic. 🙂

Cheryl made these and you’ll never guess what she put inside:

Fancy Favor Chocolate Valentines

  • Eat Chocolate stamp set
  • Whisper White and Pretty in Pink card stock
  • Designer Series Paper patterns pack
  • Real Red and Chocolate Chip Classic ink pads
  • Big Shot and Fancy Favor die
  • Decorative Label XL punch; corner rounder
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pearl Jewels, and Crystal Effects
  • Retired Chocolate Chip stitched ribbon (substitute Espresso Striped or solid grosgrain)

Don’t you love the shine from the Crystal Effects?  It takes a while to dry here in our humid climate so I always finish all assembly completely before I apply it.  Once I’ve Crystal-Effected my project, I set it aside overnight to dry.

Ah, and now you’ve figured it out.  That long-winded story about my grandmother is really just an excuse to eat chocolate, isn’t it?  And yes, for all of you Weight Watchers out there, I do track those points!

Chocolate, specifically Hershey Drops

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Enough pink and red for a bit…how about some Chocolate?

Eat Chocolate

  • Eat Chocolate stamp set
  • Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad; Marina Mist and Pear Pizazz Stampin’ Write markers
  • Whisper White, Marina Mist and Chocolate Chip card stock
  • Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper
  • Marina Mist 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon
  • Scallop trim border, 1 3/4 inch circle and 2 3/8 inc scallop circle punches
  • Crop-a-dile, Sponge Dauber, Sticky Strip and Crystal Effects
  • Hershey’s Drops

Oh, Becky Roberts, did you have to introduce me to Hershey Drops?   I didn’t need to know about them, but I saw your post and then found these little demons at Costco!  You know what that means – not one package, not two packages, but an abundance of King Size packages!  Can’t you just taste them?  So shiny, so smooth, so…Chocolate!!

Eat Chocolate

We used these at the Maui Stamper team meeting on Tuesday night, so some of those packages are already out of my house.  Chocolate calls my name so loudly!

{FULL DISCLOSURE:  I am a Weight Watchers® Leader, and as such I feel an obligation to report that this 2.1 oz King Size package has a Points Plus value of 9!}

Here are a few construction hints:

  • Make your band a little smaller than your package when it’s a “squishy” package
  • Use Sticky Strip to provide a secure hold on the band
  • A Sponge Dauber works best when applying ink to a bold image like the chocolate
  • Assemble the entire project, then apply the Crystal Effects and set everything aside to dry

Speaking of our Maui Stamper team meeting, we had a great time doing Sale-a-bration and Occasions Mini shoe-box swaps.  You’ll be seeing a lot of great projects in the next few days as we were in a stampin’ frenzy!

 

 

Time for a new tissue box

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Time for a new tissue box cover!  Santa doesn’t quite fit the decor any more.  The tree is down, the decorations are put away, and it’s time to think Valentine’s Day:

Valentine Tissue box

  • Punch Potpourri Level I Hostess Set
  • Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink Classic ink pads; Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write marker
  • Big Shot, Clearlits Scallop Rectangle and Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions folder
  • Bitty Pack, XL Two Step Bird, Blossoms Petal, and XL Full Heart  punches
  • Stampin’ Sponges, Sponge Daubers, and Pearl Jewels

I’m not so sure about all the sponging on this project – I think it worked better with the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing folders where the images were more uniform.  I’m happy with the little bird and all the flower images though.  I should have added the Boho Blossoms punch to the supply list, except I DON’T HAVE IT.  How can this be?  What was I thinking?  I had to cut those flowers out by hand.  Humph.  Next order.

Here’s a better look at the top:

Valentine Tissue Box top

I was very clever (pardon me while I reach around and pat myself on the back) when I centered the Scallop Square in the  top layers.  There are two panels, one on top of the other, so I had to be very, very clever:

Sizzix Scallop Rectangle Clearlit

I carefully measured and marked the center of my Clearlit with a dot of Sharpie ink, then marked the center of each of the top panels with a pencil.  With a little attention to detail as I ran the panels through the Big Shot, I positioned the rectangles just where I wanted them.  And yes, I am very pleased with myself.

If you’d like to make one of these, there is a great tutorial at Splitcoast stampers and I have no intention of recreating the wheel.

This does not mean I intend to get a cold, or that anyone in my household is permitted to catch a cold.  This is Home Decor, not an invitation to any germs that may be lurking out there.  Germs can scram!!

A quick Valentines box

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This time of year it’s important for me to step back and enjoy my family and the holidays we celebrate.  I’ve been creative over the past couple of weeks, but mostly with lots of good food.  Today it was time to get my hands into some ink and rubber:

3 Red Boxes

Candy Countdown Calendar Kit, #120926 ($19.95)

These little boxes from the Holiday Mini are perfect for all sorts of goodies and treats – and they are the perfect color for Valentines Day!  Run, don’t walk, to the Online Store and get these ordered before 11:50pm Mountain time on Monday, January 3, 2011 or you will miss out!  There are 25 little boxes all ready for you to decorate, plus Real Red ribbon, 5 yards of twined rope and 25 of the cutest little wooden clothes pin you’ve ever laid eyes on.

Want to see the tops?  One is plain, but the other two are dressed up:

3 Red Box Tops

I used one of the Candy Cane Christmas panels that are included in the kit for the front of the box on the left, but it’s just as easy to cut your own cardstock and choose your own images.  What are you waiting for?

Grey skies and happy Santas

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Well didn’t I just push my luck?

No rain at my house today, but plenty of grey skies.  Other parts of Kihei weren’t as lucky as the front page of the Maui News reports, but by any account it’s not much of a beach day.  Just as well…I have lots of loose ends to pick up here.

I had good intentions of sharing this project with you last week, but perhaps you’re one of those “head start on next year” people and this is just the inspiration you need:

Kellie made these happy Santas and brought them over for me to put up.  They look really cute above the door into my kitchen, but if I took a photograph of them that included the door you wouldn’t be able to see their happy faces very well at all.  You WOULD see my dirty kitchen floor, however, and that is so not going to happen!

I know Kellie CASE-d these from someone online, and I know she checks my posts from time to time – so Kellie, will you please add a comment with the name of the creator of this project?  How’s that for lazy – I could just call her!  But Kellie’s oldest is home from college, and my middle daughter is home too, so all the happy mamas are keeping out of each other’s hair for now.  Later in January when all our young academics return to school we’ll get together with photos, stories and hankies and share our memories of good times.

Carpe diem.

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.