Category Archives: Stampin' Up!

Perfect for any Occasion

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There was a time when Robbie maintained that she wasn’t creative.  If that was true back then, it certainly isn’t true any longer.  Look at this card she brought for our shoebox swap:

Baby Blossoms by Robbie

She used the Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper – which she told us was so much fun to use that she was heading home to order more – and paired it with the coordinating Baby Blossoms stamp set.  Look at how the tiny polka dots in the DSP coordinate with the tiny polka dots on the frame?  Get out the accordian and Roll Out the Barrel!!  (Beer Barrel Polka?  Get it?  Yeah, kind of a stretch – must be late!)

Hijack alert:  For many years, our church here in South Maui had a wonderful Polish priest.  He’s now retired and ministering to the good folks on the Big Island, but back in the day, a St. Theresa potluck was never complete until Father Jack pulled out his accordian.  He knew all the oldies but goodies, and would lead everyone in a sing-along.  Every time I hear an accordian, I’m reminded of Father Jack.  Music triggers such vivid memories!

(Ed Sullivan voice:) And now back to our show!

Sew Suite by Cheryl

Cheryl is one of our “rookies” and a quilter – can you tell?  Look at the details she thought of!  I love the eyelet border, and she told us that tape measure is last year’s Crushed Curry – a perfect color match for the real thing, and still available in the Clearance Rack!  She used textured paper to give the tape measure and the thread an authentic look.

Her images are all from the Sew Suite stamp set in the Occasions Mini catalog.   Not a rookie card at all!  I was very proud of her work. 🙂

A little more Sale-a-bratin’

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Would you like to see a couple more cards from our team meeting on Tuesday night?  I hope so:

Bliss by Kellie

Kellie designed this gorgeous bird-themed card.  The XL Two Step Bird punch worked perfectly with the Bliss set from Sale-a-bration.  The images in that set are awesome collage elements!  I tore my paper with such a strong angle that it makes the card look off-square, but that’s hand-made for you!

Sweet Summer by Crystal

Crystal chose some of my absolute favorite colors for this Sweet Summer Sale-a-bration card;  Baja Breeze and Pear Pizazz.  She colored the images with markers – did you notice that she used two different colors on the leaves?  And that Baja Breeze Seam Binding?   Simply gorgeous!

Sale-a-bration isn’t just about earning free stamps and other goodies – it’s about becoming part of the Stampin’ Up! family, too.  The Demonstrator kit is a bargain any day of the week, but during Sale-a-bration it’s 15% off PLUS Stampin’ Up! is throwing in a bundle of extra goodies worth $50.  Wouldn’t you like to be a Maui Stamper?

Here’s the Starter Kit – and you can customize it to suit yourself:

Stampin Up! 2011 Starter Kit

The extra goodies can be customized too – choose a punch and the Simply Sent products that work for you:

 

Sale-a-bration Starter kit bonus 2011

Ah, choices, choices, choices.  What will you choose?

Another peek at Sale-a-bration

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We had a Maui Stampers team meeting on Tuesday night:

Maui Stampers

This was taken before the Stampin’ Frenzy started.  I think we made 8 projects that night!  We did conduct a wee bit ‘o business, but for us, the important business is the stamping.  I’m not going to list all the details, but here are a couple of Sale-a-bration projects to inspire you:

Punch Bunch valentine

Robbie brought us this Punch Bunch (SAB) Valentine to put together.  Look closely and you’ll see the texture from the Sizzix Texturz Plates on the Bashful Blue panel.  I’d forgotten about them, and I’m going to have to pull mine out again.  And how about that Glimmer paper?!?  Can’t begin to tell you why I don’t have it yet – I mean, I’m a demonstrator, for heaven’s sake!  That problem will be fixed pronto.

So Happy For You

This card is a CASE of a So Happy For You (SAB) card that I will gladly credit…just as soon as I can find it!  It was a larger card but the focal point was the same – I scaled it down to a 3 x 3 card and changed the colors.  The little stars are stamped once on the Whisper White card stock, then stamped again on a scrap and cut out, then sprayed with a bit of Shimmer Paint mixed with rubbing alcohol.  (No Dazzling Diamonds in my house.  Gotta keep Mr. Maui Stamper a Happy Camper.)  They’re attached with Mini Glue Dots because Stampin’ Dimensionals are just too big!    So Happy For You has loads of cute little images to mix and match, and a charming font to express all sorts of wishes.

Chocolate, specifically Hershey Drops

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Enough pink and red for a bit…how about some Chocolate?

Eat Chocolate

  • Eat Chocolate stamp set
  • Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad; Marina Mist and Pear Pizazz Stampin’ Write markers
  • Whisper White, Marina Mist and Chocolate Chip card stock
  • Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper
  • Marina Mist 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon
  • Scallop trim border, 1 3/4 inch circle and 2 3/8 inc scallop circle punches
  • Crop-a-dile, Sponge Dauber, Sticky Strip and Crystal Effects
  • Hershey’s Drops

Oh, Becky Roberts, did you have to introduce me to Hershey Drops?   I didn’t need to know about them, but I saw your post and then found these little demons at Costco!  You know what that means – not one package, not two packages, but an abundance of King Size packages!  Can’t you just taste them?  So shiny, so smooth, so…Chocolate!!

Eat Chocolate

We used these at the Maui Stamper team meeting on Tuesday night, so some of those packages are already out of my house.  Chocolate calls my name so loudly!

{FULL DISCLOSURE:  I am a Weight Watchers® Leader, and as such I feel an obligation to report that this 2.1 oz King Size package has a Points Plus value of 9!}

Here are a few construction hints:

  • Make your band a little smaller than your package when it’s a “squishy” package
  • Use Sticky Strip to provide a secure hold on the band
  • A Sponge Dauber works best when applying ink to a bold image like the chocolate
  • Assemble the entire project, then apply the Crystal Effects and set everything aside to dry

Speaking of our Maui Stamper team meeting, we had a great time doing Sale-a-bration and Occasions Mini shoe-box swaps.  You’ll be seeing a lot of great projects in the next few days as we were in a stampin’ frenzy!

 

 

And an Owl in a Heart Tree

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Ho man…this card…the title…it just gets dopier and dopier:

I {Heart} Hearts

  • I {Heart} Hearts and All Holidays stamp set
  • Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Pear Pizazz, Chocolate Chip and Daffodil Delight card stock
  • A random scrap of Real Red Designer Series Paper
  • Real Red Classic ink pad; Pear Pizazz Stampin’ Write marker
  • XL Two Step Owl, XL Two Step Bird, and XL Blossoms Petal punches
  • Full Heart and Heart to Heart punches
  • Whisper White 3/8 inch taffeta and Real Red 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
  • Big Shot and Lattice Textured Impressions folder

Do you want my honest opinion?  This one needs to go back to the drawing board.  I was thinking of the Partridge in the Pear tree (yes, I have a Christmas Carol hangover) and a goofy owl in a tree/bush made from hearts came to mind.  I think it was cuter in my head.

The Owl’s little “thought bubble” is the wing from the XL Bird punch.

Dopey, dopey, dopey!

 

 

 

A first look at Sale-a-bration

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Lisa’s on the Mainland (crazy girl – it’s snowing there!) and she let me play with some of her Sale-a-bration sets:

Sale-a-bration Sweet Summer

  • Sweet Summer and So Happy for You stamp sets (SAB)
  • Pear Pizazz, Marina Mist, Regal Rose and Whisper White card stock
  • Pear Pizazz, Marina Mist and Regal Rose Classic ink pads
  • Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write marker; Aquapainter
  • Scallop Trim border punch
  • Paper piercing tool and Mat
  • Brights Designer Buttons; Linen Thread (yay!)

First, let me say that I have promised myself never-never-ever to run out of Linen Thread again!

Now, I have to confess that when I saw Sweet Summer I thought it was cute but I didn’t think I’d be all wonky-crazy about it.  Think again!  I love these flowers, and not to be big-headed or anything but I think they love me too.  That long “wheel-y” looking panel was just randomly stamped, but I think it’s very effective.  And yes, I may be  starting to sound like Jan Tink and “Yes I Love Myself (YILM)”, except that I will never be so audacious as to compare myself to Jan Tink.

Sale-a-bration starts January 25th and my calendar is filling up.  Do you have your event scheduled yet?

 

A card so nice, I made it twice

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If this layout looks familiar, you’re very observant:

Filled with Love

  • Filled with Love stamp set
  • Whisper White, Real Red and Pretty in Pink card stock
  • Real Red and Pretty in Pink Designer Series Papers (from Filled with Love promotion bundle)
  • Real Red Classic ink pad and Whisper White craft ink pad
  • White embossing powder and heat tool
  • 5/8 inch White Satin ribbon; Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Full Heart and Heart to Heart punches

I used the same layout for the LOVE card and today’s card…matter of fact, the LOVE card started out with these panels.  It took me a while to figure out that the reason I didn’t like how the card was progressing was that the color balance was off, and once I swapped out the colors I was much happier.  I still needed to find something to do with those two panels that were matted and ready to go, and this is the result.

I need some of you “Bow Geniuses” to tell me what I’m doing wrong, because I can’t seem to make these big bows work.  And please don’t judge the quality of  Stampin’ Up! white embossing powder by this sample – I think the humidity from the enormous storm we had last week has spelled doom for my jar.

Did you know that you can purchase JUST the Real Red and Pretty in Pink Designer Series papers during the Filled with Love promotion?  You’ll get 12 pages, 6 of each color, and 2 sets of designs for each color for $9.95  (#124156).  If you’re a local customer, I’m putting in an order on Sunday and will be happy to include the paper or the bundle for you – please give me a call.  Promotion ends January 24th so skeedaddle!

 

Hearts and Flowers

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I’m a little late to the party over the Filled with Love promotion.  With everything that’s been going on, it took a little extra time for me to transition from The Holidays to oh, say, Valentines Day.  Now that it’s a month away,  hearts and flowers have made it to front and center:

Filled with Love

  • Filled with Love stamp set
  • Whisper White, Real Red, and Brushed Silver card stock
  • Designer Series Papers in Real Red
  • Basic Grey and Real Red Classic ink pads
  • Filled with Love Promotion Bundle with Clear Stamps (#124381)
  • Real Red 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon; Grid Paper
  • Bitty Heart, 3/4 inch circle, and scallop border punches
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals; Love Impressions rub ons

Don’t know what my problem was, but I’m glad I’m over it!  I LOVE this group of products for Valentines’ Day!  Love the images, love the papers, love the rub ons…guess you could just say I’m really feelin’ the LOVE!

These little heart-flowers were easy to line up with clear stamps.  I did it first on my grid paper – used the grid lines to space the images evening (3 lines between each one) and make them stand up straight on the panel.  The big polka dot scallops underneath are just circles punched and lined up on the grid paper.  I put a line of SNAIL across the bottom of the panel and placed it right on top of that row of circles.

Love that Grid Paper too!  Check the button on the right panel to get the 4-1-1 on the Filled with Love promotion, but do it by January 24th or it will be gone.

 

 

Moving forward

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Yesterday I put this gorgeous girl on the plane back to Boston:

I’m going to miss her happy voice, her fashion-companion advice, and her company.  She’s back in Boston for a couple of days and then traveling on to Spain for a semester in Sevilla.  We’re excited for her, of course, but it’s always hard for me to say good-bye.  The chocolate-espresso cupcakes with peanut butter fluff frosting at 10pm I can live without!

I found myself in a creative frenzy late last night.  It’s been a while since I could dedicate some time to stamping and I think my mojo was bottled up and ready to fly:

Filled with Love

I’m in a rush this morning – I’ll edit the details later – but this uses the Filled with Love promotion, some rub-ons, and Espresso Taffeta Ribbon.

Be back soon with more!

Time for a new tissue box

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Time for a new tissue box cover!  Santa doesn’t quite fit the decor any more.  The tree is down, the decorations are put away, and it’s time to think Valentine’s Day:

Valentine Tissue box

  • Punch Potpourri Level I Hostess Set
  • Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink Classic ink pads; Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write marker
  • Big Shot, Clearlits Scallop Rectangle and Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions folder
  • Bitty Pack, XL Two Step Bird, Blossoms Petal, and XL Full Heart  punches
  • Stampin’ Sponges, Sponge Daubers, and Pearl Jewels

I’m not so sure about all the sponging on this project – I think it worked better with the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing folders where the images were more uniform.  I’m happy with the little bird and all the flower images though.  I should have added the Boho Blossoms punch to the supply list, except I DON’T HAVE IT.  How can this be?  What was I thinking?  I had to cut those flowers out by hand.  Humph.  Next order.

Here’s a better look at the top:

Valentine Tissue Box top

I was very clever (pardon me while I reach around and pat myself on the back) when I centered the Scallop Square in the  top layers.  There are two panels, one on top of the other, so I had to be very, very clever:

Sizzix Scallop Rectangle Clearlit

I carefully measured and marked the center of my Clearlit with a dot of Sharpie ink, then marked the center of each of the top panels with a pencil.  With a little attention to detail as I ran the panels through the Big Shot, I positioned the rectangles just where I wanted them.  And yes, I am very pleased with myself.

If you’d like to make one of these, there is a great tutorial at Splitcoast stampers and I have no intention of recreating the wheel.

This does not mean I intend to get a cold, or that anyone in my household is permitted to catch a cold.  This is Home Decor, not an invitation to any germs that may be lurking out there.  Germs can scram!!