Category Archives: cards

Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder

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Have you used our colored embossing powder?

Warmest Wishes for Fall

  • Gently Falling and Warmest of Wishes (Hostess) stamp set
  • Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red and Pumpkin Pie card stock
  • More Mustard Textured card stock
  • More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Riding Hoot Red and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pads
  • Versamark ink pad
  • More Mustard polka dot scallop ribbon
  • Cherry Cobbler Embossing powder
  • Embossing Buddy and Heat Tool
  • Aquapainter
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals

The Aquapainter got dragged across the leaves to blur the lines and add just a hint of color.  And if you saw the Versamark pad I use to do my embossing you would be horrified – it’s almost a charcoal grey color, it’s so dirty.  I only use it for colored embossing – I have a pretty, clean, “virgin” Versamark pad for Versamarkin’.  Don’t you?

 

 

A special card for a special couple

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We have some dear friends who were married this month, and they needed a special card:

Brooke and Jeff

  • Sweetly Said and Creative Elements stamp sets
  • Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Pear Pizazz, Shimmer White and Whisper White card stock
  • Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush Classic ink pads
  • Blossom Builder and XL 2 Step Bird punches
  • Big Shot and Fun Flowers L die
  • Stampin’ Sponges
  • Vanilla Smooch Spritz
  • Champagne Mist Shimmer paint mixed with rubbing alcohol in a spray mist bottle
  • A retired brad (oops, my bad)
  • Mini Glue dots and Tombo the wonder adhesive

I love making these flowers (I know – surprise, surprise).  But they really add something special to a project!  They’re a leeeetle bit tricky to get into an envelope, but I’ve even mailed them using a larger padded envelope (#116911, #2.95 for 3).  This was a hand-delivered card, so I put it in a Medium envelope and gently closed the flap.

I really love that Creative Elements stamp set too.  It always seems to supply the right image when I’m looking for something…you know, that kind of looking when you don’t know WHAT you’re looking for but you know you’ll recognize it when you find it?  That kind of looking.

The paper in this flower has been mashed into a completely new substance.  It almost feels like raw silk when I’m done mashing it.  Once I get it like that, I mist it with the Champagne Spray until it’s pretty damp, then shape it and set it aside to dry.  When it’s dry, it stiffens up a bit and holds its shape.  I don’t know how that works, I just know it happens.

 

Un-marked cards

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Are you sick of Spice Cake yet?

A Spice Cake Rosette

How could you be?  Honestly…

This is a very simple card that will go into my stash of “un-marked cards”.  It’s nice to have a few cards without any sentiment for that moment when you realize you need a special card and NOW.  I’m sure I’m the only disorganized person out there.  I think Stampin’ Up! made a “Happy Belated Birthday” stamp just for me.

Did you want to see the whole thing?  There really isn’t much more to it:

Spice Cake Rosette

  • Pear Pizazz, Pool Party and Early Espresso card stock
  • Spice Cake Designer Series Paper
  • Simply Scored
  • In Color Designer Printed Brads
  • Big Shot and Floral Fusion Sizzlet

It really IS very simple!

Grateful for Spice Cake

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I need more Spice Cake Designer Series paper already – my package is just about used up:

Spice Cake celebrate gratitude

  • Fabulous Phrases and Gently Falling stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Pool Party and Early Espresso card stock
  • Spice Cake Designer Series paper
  • More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Early Espresso Classic ink pads
  • Big Shot and a retired Sizzlet – you could use Floral Fusion
  • In Color Designer Printed brads
  • Stampin’ Sponges
  • Stamp-a-ma-jig

This paper and these colors are my absolute fall favorites!  I’ve never been a big fan of More Mustard but I am now reformed, and even though Cajun Craze doesn’t appear (officially anyway) in the paper, I think it’s a great addition.  I’ve been really inspired by these colors and I love the patterns in the paper.

Here is the truth about the banner:  it took me multiple attempts to get those words lined up JUST the way I wanted them.  The first couple of attempts I made without the Stamp-a-ma-jig, and clearly I was operating under some sort of fantasy there.  Once I pulled out the SAMJ my words lined up just the way I wanted them.  Duh.

Spice Cake Celebrate Gratitude up close

Gratitude is an attribute I am constantly seeking.  It seems that no matter how well things are going, I can find something to complain about (and yes, it often involves people who have the nerve to be driving at the same time I want to be driving on MY ROAD –  and this would refer to any road on which I am currently traveling.)   The sentiment to “Celebrate Gratitude” could be my theme song.

Time for a little bit of singing.

 

 

Imagining fall color

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Fall color in Hawaii…wellll, let’s just say it looks a lot like summer color, spring color, even winter color.  I’ve said it before – we do have seasons.   There’s mango season, whale season…we used to have tourist season but it seems that runs 365 days a year!   There’s a lot to see as our islands have so many micro-climates.  If you were to drive around any of the islands, you would see a great deal of change – rainforest, lava flow, broad agricultural fields, and of course beautiful sandy beaches.   Here on Maui, it doesn’t take that long to drive anywhere to see this variety (although I’ve been known – often – to complain about a 35 or 40 minute drive.  Call me spoiled.)

However, I’ve lived other places in my life, and I’ve certainly experienced seasons.  Each fall, when Stampin’ Up! introduces beautiful autumn-based stamp sets, I take a little trip down memory lane.  This year’s Spice Cake Designer Series Paper and fabrics are beautiful and brought back a lot of really fond memories.  This suite is just my kind of design, and I couldn’t resist the stamps, paper and fabric.

For club this week, I chose the leaf image from Gently Falling that most closely resembled leaves we see here.  It looks like the jatropha in my yard or the wili wili trees that line so many roadsides.  We had to stretch our imaginations a little, but no one seemed to mind:

Spice Cake thanks

  • Gently Falling and Pretty Postage stamp sets
  • Whisper White, More Mustard, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze and Pool Party card stock
  • Early Espresso, Cajun Craze and More Mustard Classic ink pads
  • Spice Cake Designer Series Paper
  • Early Espresso 1/8″ taffeta ribbon
  • 2 1/2 inch circle, Postage stamp, and 1 inch square stamps
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Dazzling Details

It’s a simple card with a simple layout.  The unexpected brightness of Pool Party in the Spice Cake suite is reminds me of a clear sky on a perfect fall afternoon.  It makes you happy to be outside and grateful for the sunshine.  Little things…I try to be grateful for little things.

Speaking of little things…let me show you a little bit of sparkly detail:

Spice Cake thanks Dazzling Details

Thank you, Stampin’ Up!, for Dazzling Details!!!  Yet another form of sparkle on the Approved List for Mr. Maui Stamper.  I love bling, but it’s not allowed to run free in my house.  I’m okay with a little compromise – I get my sparkle, he gets sparkle-free laundry.

The orange cat hair I can’t do anything about.

A little mermaid

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Today it’s yet another Convention 2011 WOW Swap CASE.  Honestly, I need to get crackin’ and come up with some original cards, don’t you think?  Jeri Holm of Overland Park, Kansas made this irresistable card and honestly, I didn’t change much.  It was an enormous hit at our class over the weekend, even if it was the most detailed card we made.  Not hard!!  DETAILED.

Jeri Holm's Mermaid Side Step card

  • Word Play stamp set
  • Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron and Blushing Bride card stock
  • Sahara Sand textured card stock
  • Paisley Prints Designer Series Paper
  • Simply Scored
  • Not Quite Navy and So Saffron Classic ink pads
  • Oval, Small oval, 1 inch circle, 1 3/4 inch circle, 5 petal flower, Scallop Circle, Triple heart and Scallop Border punches
  • Scallop and heart Bitty punches
  • Champagne Mist Shimmer paint
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Stampin’ Sponges
  • Pearl Jewels
  • Big Shot and Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing folder
  • Googlie Eyes (non-SU)
  • Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write markers

I got a little carried away with the Champagne Mist Shimmer paint.  Initially I used it mixed with rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle to mist the card and give everything a little sparkle, but then I got the brilliant idea of dusting her little mermaid face and her “shells” with the paint.  The shells, not so bad.  The face, well, it looks like a 5 o’clock shadow to me.  Next time we’ll leave it off.  In class, we used the Shimmer Mist for the whole card but the new Dazzling Details glitter glue to give her shells some pizazz.  Perfect!

One of the questions everyone had putting this together concerned crumpling the little flower stack for her hair.  I used a bamboo skewer (the kind you use for kebabs) but the point of a pencil or even your snips would work – just poke a point into the center of the flowers and fold everything up around it.  The only trick is to be sure you don’t press so hard that you punch a hole in the flowers.

There are loads of tutorials on the Side Step card.  It’s a fun, it’s unusual, and it meets the “one-44-cent-stamp” criteria.  That’s a plus in my book!

Making it simple

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I’ve been playing around with my new Simply Scored tool and I’m very pleased with it:

Love You Step Ladder card

  • Simply Soft (Hostess) and Fabulous Phrases stamp sets
  • Naturals Ivory, Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Old Olive card stock
  • Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Old Olive Classic ink pads
  • More Mustard 1/2 inch scallop dots ribbon
  • Simply Scored

These specialty folds cards with all of the little score marks are enormously simplified with the Simply Scored tool.   It’s so much easier to leave the paper in once place, and I really appreciate having the scoring lines every 1/8 inch.  Those little pegs for marking your spot are really helpful, too!   I think I’m going to have to break down and take some photos in the next couple of days, but that will require an archeological expedition.  Things are a tad messy in the ol’ stamp studio right now.  Creative process and all that.

The beautiful Monk Seal that was on Keawakapu Beach last week decided to find another spot to sunbathe.  I’ve kept my eye out as I walk on the beach each morning, but I haven’t seen any sign of her.  As much as I enjoyed watching her, I’m glad she’s a wild thing.

 

 

Happy thoughts

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Here is another light-hearted card from this month’s Hostess Club:

Sending love

  • Sending Love stamp set
  • Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Whisper White card stock
  • Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper
  • Basic Black Classic ink pad
  • Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Marina Mist Stampin’ Write markers
  • 1 1/4 inch circle and scallop border punches
  • Marina Mist polka dot ribbon
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals

I based this card on Kelly’s convention swap, and I’m sorry to say I don’t have a photo of her card to share with you.  We helped her put together the last few of them sitting at a table at convention, but we were too busy to take photos at that point – people were literally walking up and asking to swap as we were working on them, and each card was snapped up as soon as it was finished.

My beautiful middle daughter is home this week, and we are having a lovely time doing not-so-much.  Last night was sunset picnic basket at the beach night with Mom and Dad (while brother went to a meeting), followed with Ono Gelato (brother’s meeting was done and he was very happy to meet us there).   Today I think we’re going to see if we can’t get pedicures.

I’m thrilled that both of my daughters are confident and successful, but not so thrilled that they live a bazillion miles from  me.  Fortunately, Mom and Dad have chosen a pretty nice place to live, so it’s not too hard to persuade them to come and visit.

Inking up the butterflies

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Flight of the Butterfly has been collecting a little dust on my shelves.  Another gorgeous WOW swap inspired me to brush it off, and I must confess that I cased this creation almost exactly:

Dawn's Butterfly Easel card

  • Flight of the Butterfly and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette and Early Espresso card stock
  • Melon Mambo, Early Espresso and Pink Pirouette Classic ink pads
  • Butterfly punch
  • Pearl Jewels
  • Flower Designer brads
  • Whisper White 5/8 inch satin ribbon
  • Big Shot and Scallop Circle die

Now that I’ve gotten my hands on a few samples of easel cards, I’m having a lot of fun putting them together.  It’s a perfect format for an announcement – like a baby announcement – when you would like to feature a photo.

This is one of the cards we’ll make at the specialty folds card class next weekend (September 4th) at Ramona’s house in Wailuku.  Space is limited, so check the calendar at the Online Store or contact me directly to hold your place.

I’d like to give credit to the demonstrator who designed the original card.  Her name is Dawn Shearer, and she’s a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator in Canada –  and a very talented one at that!

All in Good Fun

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I received so many incredible cards at Joan Cristo’s WOW swap at convention this year.  Honestly, I could spend an entire year creating new projects based on these beautiful cards.  I made 130 cards to swap, and yes, that was insane.  I don’t like production, and even though I made 2 different designs (so that I “only” had to create 65 of each) I found myself grumbling through the process.  Then I would remind myself of the rewards and start humming, thinking about the possibilities.

There’s something about holding a design in your hand – versus seeing a photograph of it – that inspires me.  If you’ve never participated in a swap, I highly recommend you give it a try.  There are swaps of all shapes and sizes in a variety of forums online, or your stamp club or demo team might be willing to give it a try.  Not every card will be to your taste or liking, but every card contains a possibility!

Last night at hostess club I worked from a design that I received in 3 or 4 different versions.  It’s a relatively simple design, and I’ve seen it referred to as a telescoping card.  We made our version in the bright, happy colors of the Big Top Birthday Designer Series Paper:

Telescoping Big Top Birthday

  • Perfectly Penned, Ain’t Love Grand, Pennant Parade and Crazy for Cupcakes stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight and Real Red card stock
  • Big Top Birthday Designer Series paper
  • Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, and Real Red Classic ink pads
  • Daffodil Delight and Real Red Stampin’ Write markers
  • Aquapainter
  • Unibal Signo White gel pen
  • Stampin’ Sponges
  • Piercing tool, template and mat
  • Petite Pennants Builder punch
  • Silver brads 
  • Real Red 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
  • Big Shot and ALL the Scallop Circle and Circle Bigz and Originals dies

There must have been some fumes coming off those ink pads last night!  The Piercing Tool, formerly known as the Pokey Doodle, suddenly became the Stabber.  We had balloons  and Stampin’ Sponges flying every which way, and I think we disturbed the concentration required to watch Sports Center in the other room 🙂  Ah well, all in the name of good fun and good times.