Category Archives: Stampin' Up!

Renovation Update

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It’s too dark to take photos, but Builder Dan has been packed up for a week and things are slowly but surely returning to normal.  There are no longer extraneous pieces of furniture in my living room, the Room Formerly Known as Carol’s Room now contains a bed complete with bedding, and my gorgeous stamping space is orderly enough that I can once again create without saying bad words.

A few things are MIA, most importantly my “handmade by Anne Matasci” stamp.  I’m sure it will turn up eventually, but tonight I ordered a new one as I’m not willing to waste any more time searching for the old one.  Of course, since I’ve placed the order, the old one will miraculously appear in front of my face.  Never fails.

My son thinks my stamping room and its beautiful, broad work space are a perfect place for doing homework.  The first night he worked up there he asked if it would be okay, but since then he just disappears and pretends he doesn’t hear me when I come into the room.  He has a desk, mind you, it’s just piled with so much, um, STUFF that he can’t sit there.  So be it.  I can share for now.

I do have a project to share:

Easter Petal Cone with leaves

  • Texture Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheel
  • Peach Parfait, Old Olive, and Pumpkin Pie card stock
  • Peach Parfait Classic ink pad
  • Big Shot and Petal Cone Bigz die
  • 2 Step XL Bird punch; Boho Blossoms punch
  • Pearl Jewels; Crop-a-dile; Tombo the Wonder Adhesive
  • Old Olive 1/4 inch grosgrain and Linen thread

I made a series of Petal Cones that were supposed to be “carrot-like” but in my opinion they failed to look like any vegetable whatsoever.  I still like the way they turned out, I just don’t think they have any resemblance to carrots!  This one is pretty simple – I rolled the card stock with the wheel, assembled the cone, and attached miles and miles of little green stems and a whole bunch of Pumpkin Pie Blossoms using Tombo (whatever did we do before Tombo??).   The “carrot top” is 8 pieces of grosgrain folded over, with one piece measured double the length and folded twice to make a loop.  I wrapped the whole thing with one more piece of grosgrain and tied a tight knot, then used Linen Thread to attach it to the top of the Petal Cone die.   Somehow it works as most of the grosgrain stands upright, but the pieces closest to the outside of the bunch flop over.  Not a very sophisticated description, is it?

One last thought…because this renovation involved so many rooms in our house, I had to empty closets that hadn’t seen the light of day in a while.  Who knew that I had collected so much memorabilia?  I’ve had the best intentions to scrapbook so many things…trips, milestones, family photos…you know what I’m talking about.  All of those boxes are carefully stacked in the guest room, and beginning next week I will sort through SOMETHING every day.  My goal is to sift through and keep the meaningful mementos, then give myself the freedom to discard the junk.  I’ll keep you posted.

 

 

Little Red Truck

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I’m a little worried that this truck may not make it into the next Idea Book and Catalog:

Masculine Birthday Truck

  • Loads of Love and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Naturals Ivory, Basic Black, Real Red and Going Grey card stock
  • First Edition Designer Series Paper
  • Staz-on Black ink pad
  • Watercolor pencils and the Aquapainter
  • Real Red and Basic Black 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon

This little truck has been around for a long time, and although I know some people think it has outgrown its usefulness (you know who you are!) I still love it.  I like the rounded edges and the slightly chubby look of the fenders, and though I didn’t use them this time I also love the accessory images that come with it.

I’m also pretty crazy about that First Edition DSP.  Yes, I know I could tear up book pages and get the same look, but the paper quality isn’t the same and I’m a book lover and I just can’t bring myself to tear up a perfectly good book.  And no, I don’t have a Kindle…at least not yet.  My husband and son both have one and love them, and I suspect I’ll succumb to the convenience of an e-reader, but for now I really love the tactile experience of a book.

Did you notice I chose the Kangaroo pages, Carol??  Just for you, honey.  But this isn’t your birthday card.

 

Manly cards – collage

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My Frou-Frou-Ribbon card got me started playing with collage, and when I edited out the ribbon and switched up the colors a bit I thought it was a worthy Man-Card:

Manly Time

  • Sense of Time and Charming stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Pacific Point and Garden Green card stock
  • Garden Green Patterns Designer Series Paper
  • Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Pacific Point and Garden Green Classic ink pads
  • Square Punch (just about any one will do, I used 1 1/4 inch)
  • Mini Library Clips

I’m not quite certain that a stamp set named “Charming” belongs on a Manly card, but I guess we’ll just have to imagine that the name refers to the Prince.  The images from the Bliss set didn’t have the right look.

Let me tell  you a secret about cutting out that clock face.  I didn’t want to struggle with lining up a die cut, or even with the Circle Scissors Plus, so I just cut it out free hand.  I did a decent but not fabulous job, because I had a plan:  I was going to distress the edges.  It’s a sneaky little trick, but it hides every imperfection and adds texture to boot.

The pennant edge is really simple – just cut your cardstock to the width you want, stamp your sentiment, and use a corner of the square punch to create a perfect little pair of points.

So…masculine colors, no ribbon, rough edges and a pair of easy techniques…surely it’s a Man Card.

A Frou Frou ribbon

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This card didn’t make the Manly card cut – the ribbon was too Frou-Frou:

Blissful Sense of Time collage

  • Sense of Time, Bliss (SAB) and Sincere Salutations stamp sets
  • Naturals White, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizazz and Night of Navy card stock
  • Baja Breeze, Pear Pizazz and Night of Navy Classic ink pads
  • Large oval and Decorative Label punches
  • Baja Breeze seam binding and Sticky Strip
  • Piercing tool, mat and template
  • Stampin’ Sponges

Collage is such fun.  I have to remind myself not to get too fussy with it, but to just let it flow and be happy with the results.  Doesn’t that sound like a good way to live your life?

That ruffled ribbon is VERY easy – just brush the cut edges of the seam binding until you can grab a couple of threads in the middle – I use tweezers – and pull.  When the ribbon is bunched up halfway, turn it around and do the same thing from the other end.  Don’t trim the ends too much – stick those long strings on some sticky strip and then press the ruffled ribbon down and Voila! – it will be fabulous, dahling.

A Majestic Tree

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This tree is my favorite.  I still love the retired set Branch Out and I don’t know if I’ll ever get rid of mine, but the tree from Thoughts and Prayers is really majestic.  I confess to being something of a tree hugger, and though I love all types of trees I am especially fond of trees with a big, umbrella shaped canopy – just like this one:

Manly Thoughts and Prayers

  • Thoughts and Prayers and Thank You Kindly stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy and River Rock card stock
  • Always Artichoke and Not Quite Navy Classic ink pads
  • River Rock Stampin’ Write marker and a Blender Pen
  • Big Shot and Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing folder
  • Jumbo brads in Pewter and Vanilla 3/8 inch taffeta ribbon

This card also uses my VERY favorite color combination – blue and green.  We re-painted a number of rooms in our home as part of The Renovation, and almost every can of paint was blue or green.  As a matter of fact, our bedroom is now River Rock with an accent wall in Not Quite Navy.  Seriously.

This was another card in the Manly Card series, and though I did sneak in a little smidgen of ribbon you’ll notice there’s no sissy bow.  It’s a manly Tie Your Tie sort of knot.  The tree is easy to stamp in two colors if you use an ink pad to color the leaves and then remove excess ink from the branches with a Blender pen and color the trunk and branches with a marker.

I am still putting things away in my fabulous new crafting space, and am discovering that I have kept a lot of STUFF.  Getting rid of things you don’t need any more is a wonderful feeling.  Crafting in this room is a total joy, and sometimes I stop mid-project just to look around me.  It’s pretty sweet.

Keeping it simple for the guys

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When I think of masculine cards, I think simple.  I’m not saying men are simple; rather, they appreciate simplicity.  Perhaps there would be an exception for home theater systems, but when it comes to cards I think we’re safe with a pared down style:

Masculine birthday woodgrain

  • Punch Bunch (Sale-a-bration) and Woodgrain stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso card stock
  • A scrap of Early Espresso Designer Series Paper
  • Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
  • Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding
  • Scallop Square punch and Stampin’ Dimensionals

If you look closely, you can see I used the ink pad directly on the Espresso card stock to create a little visual texture.  An embossing folder and the Big Shot would create a stronger contrast, but I was striving for super-simple on this card and I think I found it.  It took longer to cut the paper than it did to put the card together!

Builder Dan pulled up this afternoon and I just about fainted.  I have been putting things back where they belong and cleaning up like a mad woman for the past few days and I told him he couldn’t run his big saw-dusty-saw in my driveway ANY MORE.  He just laughed.  He was stopping by to see how things were looking and to drop off some paperwork.  Truth be told, I missed those three guys yesterday morning – you could set your watch by them.   It’s ok, though – I’ll cope.

 

 

Manly cards – Extreme Guitar

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I don’t know why I’ve allowed myself to believe that masculine cards are difficult to create.  I love ribbons and flowers and lace as much as the next girl, but once I shifted my mind set I discovered I liked making Manly Cards:

Manly birthday guitar

  • Extreme Elements, Friends Rock and Extreme Guitar stamp sets
  • More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Night of Navy and Whisper White card stock
  • More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Night of Navy Classic ink pads
  • Oval punch; Metallic eyelets; Hemp twine; Stampin’ Sponge

I borrowed Extreme Elements from Kellie for my Manly 2-5-10 class and I was shocked.  How have I overlooked this stamp set?  These fabulous images work incredibly well together!!  Oh.  Well, duh.  It’s a Stampin’ Up! stamp set.  But still…how did I miss this?

You could emboss the Guitar Guy and stamp right on top of him…or change him to Skateboard Guy…or get out some markers and draw a moustache on him!  That would be kind of mean, wouldn’t it?  Maybe we should just stick to changing the color scheme, because there are dozens of combinations that would work.  This one came straight from the new Color Coach.

Perseverance

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Bless you all for your perseverance!  Over the past few weeks, as I’ve found a minute or two to sit in front of the computer, I’ve been amazed to see the stats that tell me you are STILL checking in on the Maui Stamper!  Of course, I’ve gotten some odd spam-comments during the same time period.  My favorite was “check it out, Bro”.  Gotta love it.

How about we get straight to the card?

Birthday Owl

  • Sock Monkey accessories and Vintage Vogue stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Real Red, Early Espresso, So Saffron and Crumb Cake card stock
  • Real Red patterns Designer Series Paper
  • Early Espresso Classic ink pad; Real Red Stampin’ Write marker
  • Two Step Owl XL and 2 1/2 inch circle punches
  • Big Shot, Petal Cone Bigz die, Backgrounds Texturz plates
  • Piercing tool and mat; Linen thread

I’ve been on a Manly Card kick lately.  You’ll see more over the next week or so, as we did Manly cards at this month’s 2-5-10 card class.  This particular card was for my son’s birthday, and the owl was meant to convey wisdom as he was taking the SAT for the first time a couple of days after his birthday.   I decided to hand write the sentiment because I wanted it to fit Just So.  And yes, I pierced holes for the linen thread so I could tie the bow directly on the card.  And if you like the “DSP” on the center pennant, it’s the leaves from Vintage Vogue with little red berries added with my Stampin’ Write marker.

Renovation has been just short of complete insanity but I think we’re finally on the road back to normalcy (or what passes for normal in my life).  Perseverance in the face of adversity is one of my headstrong traits – some people might call it stubbornnes..

Builder Dan started making “I think we’re gonna wrap up this week” noises on Wednesday but I told him I’d heard that before.  Was I ever surprised on Friday when they packed up all their stuff and moved out!  I have to say that Dan, Les and Rick were truly a Dream Team.  They did a beautiful job and if you can believe it, I never heard a bad word from any of them!

Mr. Maui Stamper and I still have a lot of rearranging to do before everything will be 100% but it’s lookin’ good around here.  We have a new family room – although the guys were referring to it as the Media and Entertainment room.  Truth is, it’s a Man Cave, but it won’t be finished until the GINORMOUS flat screen TV arrives.  We are going to have life sized NFL players bashing their heads together in the Media and Entertainment room this fall; won’t that be exciting?!

I’ve started to move into the Maui Stamper Studio (please, help me find a better name than that) but it’s taking longer than I thought.  I’ve discovered that I keep way too much junk, so as I move across the hall from the Room Formerly Known as Carol’s Bedroom into the Room Formerly Known as Sara’s Bedroom I am getting rid of ridiculous stuff I am embarassed to admit I have kept (and I have no intention of embarassing myself by telling you!).  The space is luscious, though:

Big Shot storage

A Cupboard of its Own.  Can you believe it?  I’m going to need a different system for storing those dies, and fortunately the Stampin’ Up! catalog has just the thing.

Time to get going…there’s still work to do.

 

 

Soft and simple

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Cheryl sent me a thank you note the other day and as soon as I pulled it out of the envelope I knew I would be making a bunch of these for my own use:

Cheryls thank you in Blush Blossom

  • Sincere Salutations stamp set
  • Early Espresso Classic ink pad
  • Blushing Bride, Whisper White and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • Prints Pack Designer Series Paper (Hostess Level I) and Vellum cardstock
  • Scallop Trim Border and 5 petal flower punches
  • Jewel pearls and Stampin’ Dimensionals

This card is simple but oh, so elegant.  When I see a card like this I always do a headpalm because really, I could have thought of that!!  Coulda woulda shoulda.  I’m going to go make some of these Right Now.

 

Shabby Chic two ways

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It’s funny…as much as I’m not a “Brights” kind of person, I’m not really a Shabby Chic girl either.  I like elements of the look, but the rough, unfinished edges look kind of, well, unfinished to me.  I’m an organizer at heart, so unfinished makes me a little uneasy.  Here’s as close as I get to Shabby Chic:

Vintage Bliss

  • Bliss (SAB) stamp set
  • Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze and Rose Red card stock
  • First Edition Specialty and Springtime Vintage Designer Series Papers
  • Baja Breeze and Pear Pizazz Classic ink pads
  • Blender pen and Rose Red Stampin’ Write marker
  • Springtime Vintage Designer Buttons
  • Vintage Lace and Linen Thread
  • Big Shot and Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die
  • Log Cabin Smooch Spritz

The Vintage Suite products from the Occasions mini are a perfect compliment to the Bliss stamp set – and you would love that “Bliss” image if you could see it.    I must have been in la la land when I put that  button on the front of this card!  I made a second card, changed up the colors, and flipped the papers just because I could:

Vintage Newlyweds

I used a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes for this card, and squeezed in the script words from Charming with some Soft Suede ink, but best of all I didn’t cover up the sentiment with the doggone button!  Sometimes I amaze myself.