Category Archives: Stampin' Up!

The Wonder of Wisteria

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Wisteria Wonder was the first 2011-2012 In Color selection featured in my Getting to Know the In Colors class series.  I had one of those happy moments when I held it up and everyone ooohed and aahhhed:

  • Just Believe and Bella Toile stamp sets
  • Crumb Cake Classic ink pad
  • Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush Stampin’ Write markers
  • Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Concord Crush card stock
  • Wisteria Wonder Patterns Prints Designer Series Paper (In Color collection)
  • Wisteria Wonder 3/8 inch ruffled ribbon
  • Blender pen
  • Pearl Jewels

It’s a very simple card, but I love the combination of colors, and I love that Just Believe stamp set.   Someone in class asked if that was an “old” stamp set – it was brand new LAST year!  It doesn’t seem old to me, because I always find new ways to use the images in the set.

The main image in this card is inked with Crumb Cake ink, and the ink is removed from the flower portions of the image with a Blender Pen.  We used the Wisteria Wonder Stampin’ Write marker to add color back to the flowers, and then used the flat edge of the Concord Crush marker to accent the centers of the flowers before we stamped the image.

I’ve seen many cards using Wisteria Wonder and neutrals.  That seems to be a really popular pairing, especially Wisteria Wonder and Crumb Cake.   (hijack:  I know Stampin’ Up! likes colors to have two-word, alliterative names, but really, what was wrong with Kraft??)  I like that look myself, but enough is enough.  We did some projects with other color combinations too. (stay tuned)

Here’s the inside of the card:

Just Believe In Wisteria Wonder inside

Oh dear, my title is going to create havoc with Google searches by gardeners in love with a vine.  My bad 🙂

 

 

Composition Books the Maui Stamper Way

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I love to write, and I’m addicted to notebooks of all sorts…but I prefer it when they’re interesting (I was going to say “pretty” but that sounds like an 8 year old girl.)

Last weekend I made a very quick trip to Portland, Oregon for some training with Weight Watchers.  I was meeting three other Hawaii WW staff there, and I wanted to bring them a little “something”.  What could be better than some “interesting” composition books?

Katie's composition book

This one was for Katie – and of course, there had to be a coordinating pen.

Shawndra's composition book

I love this page of Designer Series Paper, but you can see that Shawndra’s scallops got a little mashed in my suitcase.  They’ll be fine with a smidgen of Tombo.

Kim's composition book

Blue and green for Kim – my favorite color combination!

Anne's composition book

Well, yes – yes, I did make one for myself!

These all use the Pocketful of Posies Designer Series paper.  I have loads of gorgeous papers right now because DSP is  Buy 3 get one Free!   You can get some too, but just through August 31 (I just did the knuckle trick to be sure that was right!)

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?

A special order

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Last week I was asked to design pocket cards to coordinate with an internal promotion a local business was doing for its sales staff.  The manager at the store wanted something that would set this promotion apart, and she gave me a sample of the card that her employees would receive.

I had a fabulous time playing with this project!  The sample that I received was trendy but very classy – much like the merchandise in this store.  The employees are all female, so I was free to encourage my feminine muse.  Here’s the result:

Marina Mist flower card holder

Because this project is sized to hold the equivalent of a business card, I was able to make it stand up.   It’s like a greeting card that opens from the top instead of the side, but there’s a pocket on the front to hold the card.  It looked GREAT with the enclosure inside – but I can’t share that with you.  This was such a fun More Is More project!

I used the Creative Elements stamp set with Shimmer White, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Marina Mist as the color palette, and I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

Here’s the flower embellishment up close:

Marina Mist Flower Embellishment

I heard they were a big hit with the staff – that feedback was music to my ears.  It’s one thing to love what you do, but when you create something for someone else and they love it too, that’s incredibly satisfying.

Come back tomorrow for another adaptation of this project!

Peggy’s Village

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Peggy came to visit one day last week and brought her version of the Village of Cuteness:

Peggy's Village of Cuteness

Can you stand it?  She decided to interpret her Village as a Christmas Village, with wreaths on the front doors, a string of lights, a palm tree, and – be still my heart – two little blow-up Santa Village People!!!!

Look at her Christmas Hale:

Peggy's Christmas Hale

Don’t you love that palm tree, and the bouganvilla spilling over the window box at top?  I may have to do another village.

And in case you are wondering, that’s not “hale” (rhymes with whale), it’s “hah’ ley”, kinda rhymes with trolley (if you said it tra-ley!)  It’s the Hawaiian word for house.

Something special for the hostesses

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I brought back Convention tote bags for the members of my hostess club:

Convention Tote bags

I loved the prints and colors – which are now available as My Digital Studio downloads – but I knew I would need to find a way to tell them apart.  The solution, of course, is a tag:

Hostess tag up close

These tags are made with coordinating Designer Series Paper (On sale – do I need to say it again?? – buy 3 get one free!) with an initial and a paper flower.  I love making these paper flowers because they involve smushing.  Smushing is a very scientific term for beating-the-stuffing-out-of-a-wad-of-paper.  Don’t you have days when a little smushing would do you a world of good?

My Workshop hostesses in August and September will also get one of these exclusive tote bags – call me if you’d like to put together a special event for a few of your friends.

Saving my change…

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There are many people who contribute to my growth and success as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, and one who has made a big impact is Janet Wakeland.  I met her a year ago at convention and was encouraged and inspired by her energy and strong business.  After convention this year, she encouraged us to start saving for next year right away – a brilliant idea.  She suggested a change jar, and I came up with this:

Change Is Good

I used Paisley Petals Designer Series papers on the jar (on sale, buy 3 get one free!) and a bunch of new stamps from the 2011-2012 Idea Book and catalog to collage a couple of tags.  I LOVE the font on my new Alphabet – the Spencerian Alphabet Lower – and the fact that it’s a Clear Mount set made stamping the words a breeze even WITHOUT the Stamp-a-ma-jig!    I’ll confess that I did each letter twice on two separate tags just in case, but using the Clear Mount stamps was so easy that I ended up with two sets of tags 🙂

Goodies on the Change Jar tag

A Trinket Key, a Clear Bauble and some ribbon finished up my jar and it’s ready to be fed.  This one is designed to coordinate with the colors in my bedroom, but I’m going to make another one for the laundry room.  It’s my opinion that any and all cash (coin or bills) found in the laundry belongs to She-Who-Washes-The-Clothes.  I consider it tip money.

At a minimum, I’ll need it to be able to pay the second-checked-bag fee next year.

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.