A most important birthday

Posted on December 16, 2010 by mauistamper

My favorite person in the world celebrated his birthday last weekend.

Morning Cup and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
Whisper White, Riding Hood Red and Early Espresso card stock
Chocolate Prints Designer Series Paper (retired)
Riding Hood Red and Early Espresso Classic ink pads
Riding Hood Red Stampin’ Write marker
Stampin’ Sponge and Hemp Twine
Latte Buttons and Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain (both retired)

This might seem like an odd birthday card, but it makes sense to us. My husband makes our coffee every morning. Actually, it’s more than that – we have an espresso machine, and he makes my cappucino every morning. He’s a morning person and I am always very grateful for that steaming hot cup.

He is also the Fix-It man in our house and that made him the Christmas Tree Hero this year. He fixed the Charlie Brown Christmas tree! You can imagine how happy I was to be able to straighten out my neck. Every day he provides another reason for me to love him more and more. Happy Birthday to my very best friend.

Button Parade

Posted on December 12, 2010 by mauistamper

I’ve had the new Button, Button stamp set from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog for a couple of weeks, but Christmas projects kept it off my work table. Last weekend I had some new members of the Maui Stampers team come by and we made this Clean and Simple (CAS) card:

Button Button and Fabulous Phrases stamp sets
Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze Classic ink pads
Whisper White card stock

Ta da! That’s it!! It doesn’t get much simpler than that. We had a great time lining up those clear mount button stamps on the blocks and playing with the patterns. I considered adding a little bit of ribbon to this card but finally decided to leave it simple. This is not to say I won’t try it again with more embellishment!

It was my husband’s birthday this weekend. I used to tell my beloved Mother-in-Law that she did EVERYTHING right with him…except for the day she gave birth. With three children, many of my husband’s birthdays have involved Christmas programs, holiday parties, or watching one of the kids at a sporting event. This was no different – our son had a soccer game on Saturday afternoon – and it POURED rain on Friday.

We have a lot of micro-climates in Hawaii, and some areas get a lot of rain, but we live on the dry side. South Maui typically gets about 11 inches of rain a year, so when a big wet storm comes through we notice it! It was nice to hear the rain coming down and to have all the dust washed off the plans in the garden, but the Captain said he’d had enough after a couple of hours and went to sleep on my desk.

Neither the weather or the game dampened our spirits (oh, I do crack myself up sometimes!!) and we had a lovely weekend together. Ray was in Guam all last week so I was just happy to have him home. His birthday gives us a little family oasis in the midst of all the holiday preparations. Hmmm… Berna, maybe you did it just right.

The amazing Jackie Topa

Posted on December 11, 2010 by mauistamper

If you’re a Stampin’ blog reader, chances are you’ve encountered Jackie Topa. She has an unmistakeable style and is extraordinarily creative, envisioning things that no one else seems capable of seeing. I can’t tell you how many cards I’ve admired that have either turned out to be hers, or are inspired by her work. There are designs named after her – the Jackie Topa fireplace, the Jackie Topa Stationary Box – and she specializes in punch art. If you’ve never visited her blog, set aside a little time to be inspired and stop by. Be sure you leave her a comment or two — hard-working bloggers really appreciate your comments!

Today’s card is taken directly from one of her designs:

Medallion and Peaceful Season stamp sets
Naturals Ivory and Old Olive card stock
Old Olive and Real Red Classic ink pads
Real Red Stampin’ Write marker
Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with 70% isopropyl in a spray bottle
Big Shot and Circles #2 Originals die
Real Red 5/8″ Satin Ribbon

I’d like to blame the issues I have with this photograph on the camera, but I think it’s classic Operator Error. There’s a lovely shimmer around the outside of the wreath on the Naturals Ivory cardstock. The circle that I used to create the effect of the wreath is the largest circle from the Circles #2 Originals die, but it is the same size as the new 2 1/2″ circle punch from Stampin’ Up! – and said punch is currently in a brown box with my name on it somewhere between Utah and my front door!

I’ll be using this concept again but I can’t show you that one yet…I need to get them in the mail first. Ah, December…

A Jolly Holiday tree

Posted on December 10, 2010 by mauistamper

Crystal sent me an email the other day that started out “Look at this!” I knew it would be good:

Word Play stamp set
Whisper White, Soft Suede, Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler card stock
Jolly Holiday Designer Series paper
Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint; Aquapainter
Big Designer Series buttons; Linen Thread
Big Shot and Petals-a-Plenty Textured Embossing folder

The concept comes from Connie Babbert who was generous enough to include a template for folding the tree. I made a few changes although I really LOVED the card she did – but it wouldn’t do for me to copy it exactly and then post it for you now, would it?

I wish I could say that the tree in my house looked this pretty. Well, it is a pretty tree…pretty crooked! And it’s ARTIFICIAL!! I thought when you bought a sustainable (fake) Christmas tree you were making an ecologically friendly statement and would at least avoid the Charlie Brown Tree syndrome. Apparently I managed to select the box (and by box, I mean coffin – these trees come in ginormous boxes) that had a tree with a bent top. When I called Costco to ask them what they suggested, they told me they were out of those trees, but I could return it and get my money back or keep it til next year and exchange it for a new one at that time. (And by the way, that is pretty fine customer service!) Since my husband is currently off-island and I have no intention of wrasslin’ a coffin-sized box by myself, we are opting for Plan B. I just hope Ray can bend the top portion enough that I don’t get a permanent crick in my neck from looking at my beautifully lit, 7 1/2 foot tall Kirkland Charlie Brown tree.

Getting ready for some Jolly Holidays

Posted on December 8, 2010 by mauistamper

The Simply Amazing Recruiting Promotion that Stampin’ Up! offered for 2 weeks in November yielded a number of new Maui Stampers, and we got together over the weekend to go over a few demonstrator “nuts and bolts”. I couldn’t let them leave without a little something, now, could I?

Jolly Holiday Junior Legal Notepads

These are very simple to create, and you’ll make a bunch of these in a flash when you visit Melissa, the Stamp Doc and watch her tutorial. I made a slight modification – I cut my paper to 8 1/2″ instead of 8″ to give me a smidgen more room.

Here’s just one to give you a better idea of how it looks:

Tags for Christmas, Jolly Old St Nick and Play on Words stamp sets
Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler cardstock
Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper
Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Classic ink pads
Old Olive 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon; Linen Thread
Sticky Strip
Large Decorator Buttons in Deck the Halls
Ornament Punch (currently backordered due to manufacturing problems)
Scallop Trim Border punch

I stock up on the Pentel RSVP pens during back-to-school sales. Maui isn’t very big, and things tend to sell out kind of quickly, so I’ve raised a few eyebrows when I hit the checkstand. The DSP isn’t as sturdy as cardstock, but since this is a Christmas Season pattern it doesn’t have to hold up for more than a month or so. The Sticky Strip is used to hold the pleats of the grosgrain down – once you’ve done it once or twice you can do it in your sleep. Trust me on that; I’m a late night crafter and sometimes when I’m finishing up I really am working in my sleep.

Time to get going. I need a few more of these – good thing they go together so quickly.

October, November and December

Posted on December 6, 2010 by mauistamper

And how the year has flown by! These little pages will be a pleasure to enjoy every month. Here are the last three Pretty Darn Cute calendar pages:

Featured Stamp Set: Wicked Cool

Featured Stamp Set: Vintage Vogue

Featured Stamp Sets: Northern Hearts (Level I Hostess) and All Holidays

July, August and September

Posted on December 5, 2010 by mauistamper

And the year flies by – here’s the third quarter of the Pretty Darn Cute calendar:

Featured Stamp Sets: Circle Circus and Playful Pieces (Hostess Level III)

Featured Stamp Set: Travel Time (retired, I’m so sorry to say)

Featured Stamp Set: Fast and Fabulous (Level II Hostess)

April, May and June

Posted on December 4, 2010 by mauistamper

Here’s the second quarter of the Pretty Darn Cute calendar:

Featured Stamp Set: Cheep Talk

Featured Stamp Set: Flight of the Butterfly

Featured Stamp Set: Just Buzzin’ By

Pretty Darn Cute

Posted on December 3, 2010 by mauistamper

I detest shopping in crowds. You can imagine how I feel about Black Friday. I slept in and went for a long walk on the beach with my husband – it was a luxurious day. In the afternoon I finished my preparations for my Easel Calendar class, and bright and early on Saturday morning a group of stampers made some Pretty Darn Cute little desktop calendars. Here’s the first quarter of 2011: