A Cozy Christmas (not a Maui Christmas)

We don’t have scenes like this on Maui at all, but it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them:

Maui Stamper Cozy Christmas Hearth and HomeAt convention, one of the presenters showed us how you could make little pin-point dots on a piece of card stock with our new Fine Tip Glue Pen and add Dazzling Diamonds (don’t tell) for this snowfall effect.

Maui Stamper Cozy Christmas Hearth and HomeI took it a step further and added snow on the roof, the trees, and the windowsill.

Maui Stamper Cozy Christmas Hearth and HomeI tried the same card again using Basic Black and some of our retired Silver Encore card stock, but I still felt that the sponging for the sky needed to be deep blue – this is Isand Indigo and Night Of Navy.

Maui Stamper Cozy Christmas Hearth and HomeThe second time around I liked my drifting snow much more.

I’m ambivalent – do you have a preference?  One thing I’m sure of:  the Hearth and Home Window frame Thinlits are a big hit!

Sparkle and Shine for Christmas

Forgive me if I bypass Halloween and Thanksgiving for a bit…I’ll be back, but the Holiday catalog has such beautiful Christmas things:

Maui Stamper Home for the Holidays Christmas Greetings

  • Stamps:  None!!
  • Color Palette:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, GOLD
  • Accessories:  Big Shot, Precision Base Plate, Christmas Greetings Thinlits, Very Vanilla 1 1/4″ Subtle Stripes Vanilla Ribbon, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Home for Christmas DSP, Banner Triple Punch, Glimmer Paper, 2 1/2″ Circle Punch

Yes I fussy-cut the poinsettia.  It’s very forgiving.

Maui Stamper Home for the Holidays Christmas GreetingsLet me tell you about cutting out these words with the Christmas Greetings Thinlits and the Precision Base plate.  The words pop right out of the Thinlit.  There are no funny bumps from the holes meant to help you poke them out.  The skinny bits don’t get twisted and pulled out of shape.  You need this.  I certainly do!

Shop HERE.

Christmas Crafting on Maui

I’m delighted to announce that we’re crafting in AIR CONDITIONED SPLENDOR this year!

FOUR great projects to choose:

Four gorgeous one-of-a-kind cards – $12 (pictures to come)

Three Shaker Christmas cards from the to You and Yours Kit – $9

Maui Stamper Christmas Crafting November 14, 2015Four noteworthy Gift Card (or small gift) holders $12 (pictures to come)

Ten unique tags from the Oh What Fun kit $12

Maui Stamper Christmas Crafting November 14, 2015

All projects are BYO adhesive – I’m happy to provide recommendations.

  • Saturday, November 14th
  • 9am until 2pm Open House Style – come when you can, leave when you must
  • Kihei Charter High School

I do hope you’ll join us!

DSP to the Rescue

When I’m looking for a quick pop for a project I turn to Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper (DSP).  The vintage-inspired designs in Home For Christmas are a perfect example:

Maui Stamper Magic of the Season

  • Stamps:  Cozy Christmas
  • Color Palette:  Real Red, Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede
  • Accessories:  Big Shot, Softly Falling TIEF, On Film Framelits (retired), Home for Christmas Designer Buttons, Metallic Gold Baker’s Twine, Home for Christmas DSP

Yes – that dear little deer is trimmed from DSP!  Worth the time to fussy cut, too, because I’m not sure I could ever color an image that well!

Maui Stamper Magic of the SeasonAnd if you are looking for one more “perfect touch” check out these buttons.  (Confession:  It was something of a pain in the you-know-what to thread this Thick Baker’s Twine through the button, but I didn’t have my new Gold Cord yet so I persevered.)

Maui Stamper Cozy ChristmasAnother example – same song, second verse!  The entire focal point on this card was a mini-make-and-take we did at Convention.  The regular Baker’s Twine is much easier to thread through the button.  And that wide Vanilla Ribbon is luxurious.

Maui Stamper Cozy ChristmasChristmas is still a ways off, but Christmas crafting is in full swing.  Take a peek at the Holiday catalog for your inspiration!

If you’re on Maui, I’m placing an order this afternoon – Thursday – and would be happy to add to it for you.  Happy shopping!

Coloring Stamps with Markers and the Weekly Deals

Maui Stamper Give Thanks Treat BagI’m captivated with these treat bags made from glassine sheets – it’s such a distinctive look!  Left alone, they look old-fashioned, but when you run them through a TIEF they are right on trend.

Maui Stamper Give Thanks Treat BagI used Stampin’ Write markers to color the image.  I wouldn’t want to do 50 of them this way, but it’s enjoyable to do a few.  The Rich Razzleberry ribbon from the Holiday Catalog is soft and has a lovely heft and it will stay in place.

Maui Stamper Give Thanks Treat BagYou could put this tag on a card, on a gift package, around a bottle or jar, or even tuck it into a lunch box or briefcase.

To shop for the supplies, visit the Online Store.

Products used:

  • Big Shot with Woodland TIEF, Mini Treat Bag Thinlets and Tags and Labels framelits
  • Glassine Sheets
  • Whisper White Thick Card stock
  • Stampin’ Write Markers:  Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry and Tangerine Tango
  • Thankful Forest Friends Stamp set
  • Hand-held Stapler and 3/8″ Rich Razzleberry Cotton Ribbon

Ah…and here are the Weekly Deals for September 8 to 14th!

Maui Stamper Weekly Deals September 8 to 14, 2015

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Saving with RemARKable Bundles

This month the RemARKable Blog tour is focusing on the great savings you can enjoy with the many bundles offered from Stampin’ Up!

The Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing folder was at the top of my Holiday Catalog must-have-list so it was easy for me to choose that bundle – the TIEF plus the Among the Branches photopolymer stamp set.

Maui Stamper Remarkable Blog Tour Among the Branches

The Mini Treat Bag is perfectly sized for Halloween treats and this great image fits perfectly in the Spider Web doilies.

Maui Stamper Remarkable Blog Tour Among the Branches The Woodland TIEF is a great background and shows up beautifully when the treat bag is made from the glassine sheets.  A couple of tiny pearls colored with permanent black marker add the final touch.

Maui Stamper Remarkable Blog Tour Among the Branches

Same stamps and accessories, but now there’s an Autumn feeling.  The message underneath “To You From Me” is “and tasty dishes” – but I wanted to use this for a birthday, thinking of you, or other message.

Maui Stamper Remarkable Blog Tour Among the BranchesIf you look closely, you’ll note that I ran the TIEF through with the trees being de-bossed.  If you really like that concept it’s as simple as turning your card inside out.

Maui Stamper Remarkable Blog Tour Among the BranchesI love the elegance of this look, with the sparkle of the glimmer paper, the soft Mint Macaron color, and the shimmer on the trees added with white craft ink and Dazzling Diamonds.

Maui Stamper Remarkable Blog Tour Among the BranchesI hope you’ve enjoyed today’s tour – check out the beautiful work of the other RemARKables!  Head on over to see what Heather Mathieson is doing next.

RemARKable Blog Tour September 2015

Here’s the full tour list:

Nancy Amato

Melissa Bollinger

Tamra Davis

Arden Dougan

Tracie Langley

Anne Matasci   <— YOU ARE HERE

Heather Mathieson

Ann Monhollen

Audra Monk

Maria Pane

Michele Reynolds

Pam Staples

Janet Wakeland

A remarkable friend

If you’re lucky, you have a remarkable friend.  She is generous, thoughtful, and knows just when to send you a really DUMB meme that will make you laugh until you…well, you know.  I needed a card for a remarkable friend, and Stampin’ Up! heard me loud and clear:

Maui Stamper Remarkable Friend

  • Stamps:  Remarkable You, Gorgeous Grunge
  • Color Palette:  Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Gold
  • Tools:  Aquapainter, Lost Lagoon satin ribbon (retired), Winter Wonderland DSP (Holiday 2015), Gold Washi (retired), Island Indigo Baker’s Twine (retired, other colors available), Iced Rhinestone Embellishments (Holiday 2015)

Maui Stamper Remarkable FriendI’ve used just a tiny piece of the Winter Wonderland DSP (Designer Series Paper) but every sheet in that assortment is gorgeous.  There’s new gold washi in the Holiday 2015 catalog too, but I had this on hand.  And check out the Iced Rhinestone Embellishments!!  Can I get a chorus of “More is MORE!!” here please??

Pool Party and Island Indigo are one of my favorite color combinations.  I can use it all year without feeling out of season – maybe that’s why I like it so well!

Happy birthday, my Remarkable Friend!

What does the Minion say?

As a counterpoint to the Angry Birds card, we created a Minion card.

Maui Stamper Minion Circle Flip card

  • Stamps:  None  (GASP!!)
  • Color Palette:  Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Basic Black, Smoky Slate
  • Accessories:  Thinlits Circle card and the Big Shot; 2 1/2″, 2″ and  3/4″ circle punches; Owl Builder punch; Stampin’ Dimensionals; Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive); Fringe Scissors

This is an easy card, but it takes a little time, and your fingers will likely get all Tombo-ee (yes, that is a word.)

Maui Stamper Minion Circle Flip cardBegin with the Circle Thinlet card in Daffodil Delight.  You’ll need 2 pieces of Pacific Point (mine were 1 1/2″ tall) for the overalls, plus narrow strips to make the straps.  The “button” on the straps is from the Owl Builder – a real button would have made this card too thick for standard postage.

I used a 3/4″ strip of Basic Black for the bands near the eye (what the heck are they for, anyway??)   And you’ll need to punch 2 Whisper White 2 1/2″ circles, a 2″ Daffodil circle (that you’ll cut in half), and a 3/4″ Black circle for the eyeball.  The glasses? goggle? monocle? is created by punching a 2″ Smoky Slate circle, then centering the round opening in the 2 1/2″ circle punch to cut out a ring.  I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to give it some height over the eye.

Maui Stamper Minion Circle Flip card

This is what the card looks like laid out flat.  There’s a plain Whisper White circle on the back of the eye to write a message, but here’s where I got stuck.  What does the minion say?  No idea.

Maui Stamper Minion Circle Flip cardHere’s the back side, laid flat.  Note that the “hair” is angled off to the side – otherwise it gets smushed (also a word) when the card is closed.

My card is CASED from THIS version, but there are many other versions in the CraftyWeb.  Have a blast creating your own!!

Stars for a star-swept couple

My niece was married in May, and I was delighted that she asked for my help with the favors for her wedding.  Their theme was Starry Starry Night, and they carried it out beautifully.  She had wine charms for her favors, and late one night we texted back and forth a dozen times until we came up with a plan:

Maui Stamper Starry Starry Night FavorsI’ve done enough mass production to know that you have to break it up into smaller tasks. I want to enjoy the process, and production isn’t my favorite thing to do.  It’s a gift that I can give, and I want to give it joyfully!

Maui Stamper Starry Starry Night FavorsThe first thing that I did was borrow another set of Star Framelits so that I would have two.  By carefully planning and cutting the card stock into strips, I could cut eight stars at a time…two pieces of card stock at time.  It’s not the recommended procedure, but if your shape is simple enough it works!  Having 2 sets meant I could put 4 framelits through at a time.

Maui Stamper Starry Starry Night FavorsI’ve also learned to work in stacks.  It helps me to keep track of my progress, and also helps avoid the inevitable shortage of one piece or another.

Maui Stamper Starry Starry Night Favors

Tools help too!  The piercing mat was a lifesaver 🙂  The stars are Night of Navy and Soft Suede, and I stamped one side with a star pattern from a retired Project Life set called Point and Click.  The other side had their names and wedding date printed – I confess that was mostly by trial and error using MS Word.  Print first, cut with framelits second!

Maui Stamper Starry Starry Night FavorsIt was a great feeling to get them all finished and ready to send off.  I confess that putting them in a Priority Mail package and sending them off across the ocean made me feel a little nervous, and I was quite happy to get that arrival email!  The Post Office has been good to me, and I am a big fan.

Maui Stamper Starry Starry Night Favors

We used to carry a fabulous product called Champagne Mist Shimmer paint, and I have a stash of it that I keep for very special projects.  Every star was sprayed front and back with Shimmer Spray, and it was a perfect finishing touch.

Finally, my card for the happy couple carried out the theme too:

Maui Stamper Shine Like Stars

The entire event was a glorious celebration of love, commitment and family.  Congratulations and many happy years together, Liz and Mark!

 

A Manly Convention Swap

I only signed up for one organized swap this year at Convention.  If you’re only going to do one, you think it through pretty carefully – and when I thought it through, I made the decision to go Manly.  Manly cards are a challenge, especially with a catalog full of flowers and butterflies.  Don’t get me wrong – I love flowers and butterflies – but sometimes a girl needs a Manly card, and I was looking for inspiration.

Maui Stamper Manly Happy Birthday Everyone Masculine Card

  • Stamps:  World Map, Happy Birthday Everyone, Be the Star
  • Color Palette:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Cucumber Crush
  • Accessories:  Star framelits, Black Baker’s Twine, Stampin’ Dimensionals, White Craft Ink, White Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Heat Tool, Rhinestone Jewels

I wanted to incorporate one of our 2015-2017 In Colors, and was pleased to find that Cucumber Crush would work.  I’ll be honest:  that’s the In Color I am having the greatest challenge using.  When Christmas comes, it will get better, I’m sure.

Maui Stamper Manly Happy Birthday Everyone Masculine Card

I used the embossing buddy like mad, yet some of the cards still had some tiny white flecks.  I think my embossing powder is suffering from life in the tropics – humidity is not a friend to embossing powder!  If you’re having “stray bit” problems, try a new batch of EP and see if that helps.  You can get some HERE!