Category Archives: cards

Wow cards: Tre

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This final WOW card is based on a swap I received from Sacha Wilson at convention:

Bird house card

  • Woodgrain and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • River Rock, Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie card stock
  • River Rock and Soft Suede classic ink pads
  • XL 2 Step Bird, Medium Jewelry Tag, Bitty Flower, Wide oval and Scallop Border Trim punches
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals and Mini Glue dots
  • Stampin’ Sponges and Rhinestone jewels
  • Basic Black and Riding Hood Red Stampin’ Write markers
  • Unibal Signo White Gel pen
  • Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon

We all got a little giddy with this card.  Cheryl said she was going to make this for her Christmas card, but Robbie and I convinced her that she should just make two – one for each of us.  We all started telling stories about the cards we had made that nearly drove us insane…Denny had us all cracking up about the Santa card with the bazillion little HAND CUT pieces.  What on earth makes us think we want to make dozens of cards like that?  I’ve done it too!

How could you not love this little bird at Christmas??

Bird house bird

Not gonna do it.  Nope.  Cheryl, I’m passing on the torch.

Wow cards: Due

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For our second Wow card, I cased one of my own recent favorite projects:

Wisteria Best Friends

  • Best Friends and Perfectly Penned stamp sets
  • Naturals White, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • Wisteria Wonder and  Concord Crush Classic ink pads
  • Vanilla Smooch Spritz
  • Big Shot and Fun Flowers Bigz L die
  • XL Two Step Bird, Boho  and Flower Builder punches
  • Neutrals buttons and White Bakers Twine

I loved that big distressed flower and brought it back in a new color scheme.  To get that look, you REALLY have to smush the individual die cuts a lot, then stack them and secure them with a button or brad, and then mist them.  The misting process softens the paper even more, and so when you do your final crush and fluff your petals crumple naturally.  The paper also holds its shape best if it has been misted and allowed to dry in place.

We had a pretty good time smushing those flowers.   It’s an excellent way to take out a little aggression, because the paper really benefits from some serious twisting and crumpling.  Once you’ve really worked it over and you start to assemble the flower, all of that crankiness seems to melt away as your blossom takes shape.  Who could be angry with a flower?

I think I’ll cut some Fun Flower shapes to have on hand for emergencies.

 

Wow Cards: Uno

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I liked the little card so well, I turned it into a full sized card for my WOW class:

Marina flower full card

It’s almost exactly the same – except there isn’t a pocket on the front.  This card still opens from the top, and the inside has a lovely panel but I forgot to take a photo of that.  Honestly, I must be sniffin’ the Tombo these days because I seem to forget more than I remember!!

I tried something a little different last week – a WOW card class.  In the past when I’ve done card classes I’ve tried to have something for everyone, but I’ve learned it’s pretty difficult to please all of the people, all of the time.  The people who like simple cards don’t want to fuss with detailed cards, and vice versa. This time we focused on details – lots and lots of details!  Cheryl said she had to stand up to get it right.

Cheryl the Stand Up Stamper

Her hands were flyin’!  I took 3 different photos and her hands are a blur in every one!  I have to confess that when I really get into a project I stand up too.  I just can’t seem to concentrate if I’m sitting down, or maybe it’s just that I have to get my whole body into the process.

Hmmm.  I wonder if Weight Watchers will assign a Points Plus activity value for aerobic card making and paper crafting?

Stamp theory

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In theory, you only need a couple of stamp sets – change up your colors and your layout, and you have a completely different card:

It's Raining Concord Crush Flowers

  • Raining Flowers and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Melon Mambo and Concord Crush card stock
  • Melon Mambo, Always Artichoke, Daffodil Delight and Concord Crush Classic ink pads
  • Eyelet border punch
  • Piercing tool, template and mat
  • Always Artichoke Seam Binding
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Big Shot and Fun Flowers Bigz L die
  • Crystal Effects

In THEORY, I said – after all, we all know there is no such thing as too many stamps.  Not enough room to store your stamps, yes, this is possible.

If you look closely and compare today’s card with the previous Raining Flowers card, you’ll see many of the same elements – the Fun Flowers Bigz L die, Crystal Effects, and Two-Step Stampin’ – but these are very different cards.  Of course, there are no pancakes in this post, so this card suffers by comparison, but that’s just the way the Ricotta and Mango Stuffed pancake crumbles.

I’ve gotta stop thinking about those pancakes.

It’s Raining Flowers

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What a perfect name for a stamp set!


It's Raining Mambo Flowers

  • Raining Flowers and Fabulous Phrases stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Melon Mambo and Early Espresso card stock
  • Pocketful of Posies Designer Series Paper
  • Baha Breeze, Melon Mambo and Early Espresso Classic ink pads
  • Medium Jewelry Tag punch
  • Big Shot; Two Tags Bigz and Fun Flowers Bigz L dies
  • Early Espresso 1/8 inch taffeta and Rose Red Seam Binding ribbons
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Sponges
  • Crystal Effects

Don’t forget – Designer Series Papers are on sale this month – buy 3 packages and get one free!

Speaking of free, Raining Flowers was one of the many free stamp sets I brought home from convention (talk about excess baggage – next year I’m bringing an extra suitcase!).  It’s a Two-Step Stampin’ set, but even better, the various pieces coordinate and layer really well together.  It’s almost like Stampin’ Up! MEANT TO DO THAT!!  (I know.  What a concept.)

Speaking of things I’ve been meaning to do, I finally got my two bites (ok, three) of pancakes.  My son has been on the mainland for a month and he flew home yesterday.  To celebrate his return home, the two of us had breakfast at Longhi’s this morning.  A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Maui Stamper and I had breakfast there, and he rejected my suggestion that he order Longhi’s famous and perhaps even more fabulous Ricotta and Mango Stuffed Pancakes.  Mr. Maui Stamper cares about his health, and I care about my waistline, and neither one of us could justify an entire plate full of such decadence.  But I wanted some of those pancakes, so I convinced my son that we should go out to breakfast this morning since his dad is now away.  Of course, I would be happy to order for him.

I have been anticipating those pancakes for two weeks, and when our server told us we had JUST (by 3 minutes) missed breakfast I was in shock.  I told him how much I’d been looking forward to those TWO BITES of pancakes, and he returned in a couple of minutes to say the chef wouldn’t mind making us an order of Ricotta and Mango Stuffed Pancakes.  WOW!  Did that ever make my day!

Would you like to see the pancakes?

Longhis Ricotta and Mango Stuffed pancakes

Look carefully…there are two forks.

I had exactly 3 bites and my son polished off the rest no problem.  They were DIVINE.

Color you can learn to love

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Some things just need a little time to grow on you:

Best Friends Forever in More Mustard

  • Best Friends Forever and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Whisper White, More Mustard, Lucky Limeade and Island Indigo card stock
  • More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black Classic ink pads
  • Timeless Portrait fabric
  • Lace Ribbon Border punch
  • Linen thread
  • Regals Designer Buttons

I didn’t like the colors when I first saw this Make and Take card at convention – I’m not a real fan of More Mustard – and I wasn’t sure if I liked that fabric “flag”.  I didn’t finish it in Salt Lake, but brought it home to put together in the relative sanity of my studio.  As I looked at the separate pieces, and then started to put them together, I decided I not only liked the card but I loved the color combination.

Isn’t that life?  I try very hard to be open-minded, but I often struggle with snap judgement.  Mr Maui Stamper, on the other hand,  seldom makes quick judgements.  I think that’s why we’re so fabulously compatible.  We’ll come home from an evening out together and have completely different perspectives on who we’ve seen and what we’ve heard.  It’s not as though we were at two different events, but we have different insights.

Marriage is a lot of work, but it’s a wonderful thing.  You can learn to love it, too.

 

Stampinella

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This summer has been so busy that I haven’t been able to set aside playing around time in my studio for a while.  However, the stars lined up and today was the day.

Mr. Maui Stamper likes to come by and see how “Stampinella” is doing.  It always cracks me up when he calls me that – I’m not sure if it’s because I’m covered in ink, or because my studio looks like the wicked Stepsisters came crashing through, tossing bits of paper everywhere.  What I really need are those cute little mice and birds from Cinderella that come in and finish her dress for her (they would clean up for me, thank you), but what I end up getting is an orange tabby with a shedding problem who wants to spread across my workspace.

Mice, birds, and cats aside, here’s one of the projects I finished today:

Best Friends Forever Crumb Cake

  • Best Friends Forever and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Naturals White and Soft Suede card stock
  • Crumb Cake, Marina Mist and Soft Suede Classic ink pads
  • Log Cabin Smooch Spritz
  • Antique Brads
  • Stampin’ Sponges
  • Big Shot and Fun Flowers Bigz L dies
  • XL Two Step Bird Punch

I am quickly falling in love with that Best Friends Forever stamp set, one of the sets we received in our convention bags.  I initially thought it would be more of a teen set with that “BFF” image but THOSE LEAVES.  Oh my goodness.  I love those leaves.  I put them on EVERYTHING.   I hope you like them because you are going to see a lot of them.

I wanted a more bronzed Antique brad but this was all that was left.  There are more on the way, but I didn’t feel like waiting.  Maybe I’ll change it out and maybe I won’t.   Sometimes the serendipity of the moment is just the thing, and I’m a big believer in Carpe Diem – Sieze the Day.  If I waited, who knows what those Stepsisters would be up to?  Letting the mice and birds in to torment the cat, that’s what they would do.

And how about that Smooch?  It’s been sitting on the side of my desktop just waiting to be noticed.  Good thing I looked.

 

In Color 2011-2012 and a wonderful friend

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I became a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator for a lot of reasons.  One of the best reasons was a woman who has become a wonderful friend – Crystal Kondo.  She came by just before my Open House and brought gifts – she always brings gifts.  This time she brought me 5 cards made with the 5 In Colors for 2011-2012, each paired with Crumb Cake card stock, and each made with the Hostess stamp set Simply Soft:

Crumb Cake and Wisteria Wonder

Crumb Cake and Wisteria Wonder

Crumb Cake and Pool Party

Crumb Cake and Pool Party

Crumb Cake and Lucky Limeade

Crumb Cake and Lucky Limeade

Crumb Cake and Island Indigo

Crumb Cake and Island Indigo

 

Crumb Cake and Calypso Coral

Crumb Cake and Calypso Coral

I just LOVE that girl.  And oh my goodness, does she make me laugh!  But that’s another story for another day.

Put a little ink in your day

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Cheryl participated in a 3×3 card swap at Convention.  I’ve always liked that gift card size (and yes, we DO have envelopes – $7.50 for 40 Whisper White envelopes, #107309) but the quality of her swaps was mind boggling!  How could you get so much bang for the buck in such a tiny format?  I decided to put a little effort into finding out:

BFF It's Your Day 3x3

  • BFF and It’s Your Day stamp sets
  • Whisper White card stock
  • Riding Hood Red and Pear Pizazz Classic Ink Pads
  • Heart to Heart punch
  • Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon
  • Rhinestone Jewels
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals and Mini Glue Dots

The heart in the BFF set isn’t the exact shape of the hearts in the punch, but the middle-sized punch shape fits in the stamped image.  Everyone knows punching is preferable to hand cutting!!  And that little bit of ribbon is just folded in half with a mini glue dot sandwiched in the middle, and then stuck onto the card with another MGD (ha, and no, I was NOT drinking beer!)  The Stampin’ Dimensional does double duty; it gives the heart a little lift, and it creates a little space for the ribbon.

Making this card gave my heart a little lift too.  How about putting a little ink in your day today?

Just right

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I love over-the-top, More Is More cards, but there’s something to be said for simplicity:

Easy Events in Calypso Coral

  • Easy Events Stamp set
  • Very Vanilla and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • In Color Designer Series Patterns Paper
  • Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad
  • Pear Pizazz and Calypso Coral Stampin’ Write Markers
  • Big Shot and Framed Tulips Textured Embossing Folder
  • Rhinestone Jewels
  • Chocolate Chip Scallop Dots ribbon

Easy Events was one of the many (7) free stamp sets I brought home from Convention.  I have to be completely honest – when I read the announcement that it was one of the Convention sets I thought I wouldn’t use it.  It seemed too simplistic, too (dare I say it??) beginner.   I know.  Stampin’ Snobbery at its worst.

I have reformed my thinking.

I really like the images in this set, and the sentiments – included with the images for quick and easy stampin’ – are just right, Goldilocks.  Not too silly, not too sweet, not too stuffy, but just right.  Add a little bit of bling, a little bit of Big Shot Embossin’, and you have a card that is…well, I think it’s just right!