Kellie is wicked cool

Posted on by
1

One last hurrah for Halloween:

It’s the ever-talented Kellie again – I think we need to get that girl her own blog!  She’s kinda busy though, and she’s generous enough to let me share her artwork with you.  This is the Fancy Favor Bigz die for the Sizzix Big Shot.  She put vellum windows on either side and stamped them with the bats and spider web from the Wicked Cool stamp set.  One of those little battery operated tea lights would be just the thing inside this luminaria, don’t you think?

She shared one more card with me, too:

This is Cajun Crazy card stock with the Wicked Fun Specialty paper.  Those folds are such an easy technique but boy do they make this card pop!

Have lots of fun and stay safe this Halloween night!

Smoochin’ Santa

Posted on by
1

I’m determined to get my personal Christmas cards done early this year.  (OK, STOP IT!  I hear you laughing.  Get off the floor and back up onto your chair!!)  I have excellent intentions but seldom seem to accomplish getting things finished ahead of schedule, and I’ve set a personal goal to make this one happen.

As a result, you’re going to see a LOT of Christmas card designs as I work through my options.  This one is actually one of Crystal’s designs, and we offered it last weekend at Anne and Crystal’s Annual Christmas Card Extravaganza (ACACCE).  This was a popular card, as everyone loved painting Santa’s beard with Stampin’ Up!’s new Smooch® Illuminate Top Coat Pearlized Accent Ink (wow – say that 3 times really quickly!!):

Smoochin' Santa

  • Holiday Hoopla and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Old Olive,  and Cherry Cobbler card stock
  • Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper
  • Chocolate Chip, River Rock and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
  • Blush Blossom Stampin’ Write marker
  • Smooch® Illuminate Top Coat Pearlized Accent Ink
  • Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

I’m very fond of the little whirly-deal on the top of Santa’s hat – I think it’s just the right touch.

Decorating Jack

Posted on by
Reply

I have fond memories of carving Jack-O-Lanterns with my three kids.  We always selected “interesting” pumpkins and carefully drew faces with markers on them before we began the cutting to be sure we liked our choices.  The children were never terribly enthusiastic about sticking their hands inside and scooping out the gooey stuff, but my oldest daughter would always ask to set the seeds aside for roasting.

Now that there’s only a very busy 16 year old man-child in the house, carving pumpkins doesn’t generate the interest it did in the past.  It helps to understand that the carving had to be done on Halloween afternoon, because here on Maui a pumpkin that’s been cut more than 24 hours gets fuzzy very quickly.  My favorite Halloweens have been the ones that fell the night before trash pick-up, because I could dump all that soggy mess into the trash late on the 31st and it would be gone before the local insect population came to visit.

This year, when I saw the Decor Elements demonstrated on pumpkins at convention, I knew my problems had been solved:

Decor Elements Jack O Lantern - Trick

I wish I had a snazzy camera and lens that would show you Jack’s whole face in one shot, but for now you get to see his Trick side and his Treat side in two parts:

Decor Elements Halloween Pumpkin - Treat

 

This Jack is already sitting on my front porch – that in and of itself is an amazing thing.  Decor Elements, you rock.

Cookin’ with Cherry Cobbler

Posted on by
3

Cherry Cobbler has won me over.  When I first saw it, I thought it was too dark.  Silly me.

Cherry Cobbler Peaceful Wishes

  • Peaceful Season stamp set
  • Naturals Ivory, Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke card stock
  • Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke Classic ink pads
  • Champagne Mist shimmer paint
  • Always Artichoke Seam Binding; Linen thread; Deck the Halls buttons
  • Piercing tool and mat

This was one of the cards we did at Anne and Crystal’s Annual Christmas Card Extravaganza.  I know some of the ladies grumbled because my assembly instructions were to sew on the button – one lady even asked for the “Glue Boogers”.  But those big ‘ole buttons are gonna take an elephant trunk full of glue boogers to stay on, and if you pre-punch your stitching holes with the piercing tool and mat the sewing is as easy as pie.

If you missed the card class, we still have a couple of spots in the afternoon session of the Bag and Tag Extravaganza – send me an email for details.

 

Adding Texture with Embossing Folders

Posted on by
10

I was a little late jumping on the Big Shot Textured Impressions Embossing Folders bandwagon.  My “gonna be hot” intuition isn’t especially well-tuned and I actually get it wrong quite often.  I’ll see something – of course, it’s going to be something that I absolutely love – and I’ll be convinced that the rest of the world (read here “My Customers”) will be crazy about it.  Case in point:  there was a hostess set a couple of years ago with a gorgeous rooster.  The less said about that stamp set, the better.

So where was I?  Ah yes…Embossing Folders.  I wasn’t quite sure if I would use them.   (Sorry, did you just snort your morning coffee all over your monitor?  Yeah, me too.)  I should hasten to add that once I got my hands on those folders I quickly realized the error of my ways.    But last fall when the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder came out in the Holiday Mini I didn’t buy it.   I did borrow it from my upline, and I ran a bunch of quarter sheets through my Big Shot in holiday colors.  Let’s define “a bunch” as WAY more than I needed, ok?  So when I saw a project this fall that would use multiple quarter sheets, you can bet I paid attention:

Santa and the Kleenex

  • Jolly Old St Nick and Peaceful Season stamp sets
  • Real Red and Whisper White card stock
  • Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive and Always Artichoke Classic ink pads
  • Real Red Stampin’ Write marker; Stampin’ Sponges
  • Blushing Bride ink refill and an Aquapainter;  Gold ink
  • Real Red satin ribbon; Linen thread; Deck the Halls Buttons
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals and Sticky Strip

There’s a great tutorial for this project at Splitcoaststampers and it was very easy to follow.  I want to point out that when I say Kleenex box, that is what I mean:  this is the genuine article, not Brand X.  The tutorial dimensions are for a Kleenex brand box, so if you use another brand be sure to check your dimensions.  And pay attention when the instructions tell you to sponge the edges of the box and across the embossing – it matters.

Here’s the top:

 

The top of the Santa Tissue box

Just imagine how dull this would be without all of that Textured Impressions Embossing.  What WAS I thinking??

Getting ready for Trick or Treat

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve got a little more Halloween fun to share, but it isn’t actually mine.  I’m really more about the chocolate than the decorations when it comes to Halloween, but fortunately Kellie has been busy with her Wicked Cool stamps and paper!!

Spooky Box

Who would have thought that PURPLE (ok, ok, Rich Razzleberry, but it’s purple already!) would work so well as a Halloween color?  Go figure!

Wanna see what’s inside?

Spooky Box open

Kellie stamped her images on tissue paper, put them in place on the tea lights, then used her heat tool to melt the wax over the tissue.  Wicked cool, wouldn’t you say?  And please notice that she stamped those psycho little bats along the side of the box too – that girl thinks of everything!

For the finishing touch, how about a card that says it all:

Wicked Hat

If this doesn’t say Wicked Witch of the West to you, well then I don’t know what would!  I’m not going to attempt a product list because I would surely make a mess of it, but Kellie did point out something very clever.  She doesn’t have the biggest scallop circle, so she punched two XL Fancy Flowers and offset them behind the witches feet.  Absolutely brilliant!

Thanks, Kellie, for the inspiration.

 

Yellow and Black

Posted on by
Reply

One of my favorite color combinations isn’t really a color combination at all.  I love black and white paired with a bold color, and the other day I decided to pair it with yellow.

Black and White and Yellow All Over

  • Silhouette Sentiments (Level I Hostess) stamp set
  • Basic Black Classic ink pad; Blender pen; Real Red Stampin’ Write marker
  • Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black and Daffodil Delight card stock
  • Black Lace trim; 1/8 inch Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon
  • Big Shot and Vintage Wallpaper Textured Embossing folder
  • Basic Pearls
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals

I didn’t intend to include red when I began this card, but it just fell into place as I was putting things together.  I like the way the black lace trim looks like a skirt  under the skinny Daffodil ribbon – I’m finding a lot of use for that skinny ribbon.  I need more colors – I only have 3 of them.  (I know.  What a whiner.)

I won’t put a sentiment on this card until I’m ready to send it.  I like having a few “ace in the hole” cards like this.

Kangaroo Boo

Posted on by
1

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Build-a-roo stamp set.  To be honest, that spot encompasses all things Australian since my daughter moved there in February.  She and her boyfriend were with us for almost three glorious weeks recently, and I loved every moment of it.  I’m missing them both:

a Jack-o-roo

  • Build-a-Roo, All Holidays, Vintage Vogue and Sock Monkey Accessories stamp sets
  • Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla card stock
  • Early Espresso, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie classic ink pads
  • Jumbo brad, Crop-a-dile and Aquapainter
  • 1 1/4 inch Old Olive striped grosgrain ribbon
  • Stamp-a-ma-jig

Kind of a silly card, isn’t it?

Tags for your packages

Posted on by
1

I was on a roll with these tags…if I’d had more time I would have kept on going.  They’re generously sized for tags so you can put a mushy note on them to make your teenaged son roll his eyes.  Since I gave all of these away for the Water for People auction, I’ll have to make some more for my family to use later on.  (Famous last words.  I am so last minute it’s embarassing.)

Treats of the Season tag

Sweet Season and Snow Swirled stamp sets, Riding Hood Red and Always Artichoke classic ink pads, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red and Always Artichoke card stock, Scallop Circle, 1 1/4 inch and 1 3/8 inch circle punches, and retired Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon.

These tags have are stamped with “To” and “From” on the back and they are perfect to hang from the lid of a jar or around a package of home made goodies for the holidays.

I also did a set of tags with non-traditional Christmas colors.  Since I crossed over to the retired product side anyway, I decided I might as well break out the Bermuda Bay.  You know, I love being a demonstrator, and I am thrilled with our new Color Renovation, but it is really difficult for me to let go of certain things.  Riding Hood Red ribbon is definitely in that category.  So are Bermuda Bay and Soft Sky.  Sigh.

Tags for Christmas snowman

Tags for Christmas stamp set, Bermuda Bay and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pad, Wisper White and Rich Razzleberry card stock, Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Write marker, 1 3/4 inch circle and 2 3/8 inch scallop circle punches, Vanilla Shinmmer Smooch Spritz, and retired Bermuda Bay ribbon.

 

A whole row of Snowman tags

Don’t they look cute all lined up?  There’s something about seeing them together that makes me want to smile.  Yeah, I know.  Dork.

Where HAS that Maui Stamper been?

Posted on by
1

Oh, but it’s been a busy couple of weeks.  It’s a long and complicated story, but the condensed version is that at the end of September we flew to Northern California to celebrate a very special 85th surprise birthday party for my husband’s aunt .  We came home for a few days and then turned around and flew back to the Bay Area for a week split between SanFrancisco and the Northern Sonoma Coast.  It was a wonderful time – the birthday party was really a family reunion of sorts, and best of all, I had all of my kids together.  My middle daughter was able to fly in from Boston – thank you, United Mileage Plus – and my oldest daughter and her boyfriend came in from Perth.  YES!!  It was a whirlwind of huggin’, kissin’ and eatin’ for 3 crazy days, but it was worth everything it took to share that time together.  Even my mom and dad were able to drive up from Santa Barbara to be with us.   Needless to say, Ray’s aunt was VERY surprised.  Our second California week was all about fun and relaxation, sight-seeing in San Francisco, reading books and hiking on the Sonoma Coast, and of course eating and drinking lots of good food.  Our Aussies have become excellent cooks and I was delighted to turn over the hot mitt and let them be in charge.

Mr and Mrs Maui Stamper

Such fun and adventure has a price, of course, and I came home to mountains of laundry and mail in addition to the regular routine.  I think I’m through the worst of it and hope things will feel normal again soon, although you might be hard-pressed to define normal in my world.

One of my immediate projects this week was to make some tags for a silent auction to raise money for Water for People.  This organization works on many levels to bring safe, clean water to under-developed communities throughout the world.  My tags were packaged in sets of 5 and I gave myself permission to pull out a few retired products to put them togethre.  To my immense delight, some of those retired products are now available on the Clearance Rack at FABULOUS prices, so if you haven’t taken a look, wait no longer – for example, that gorgeous striped Riding Hood Red ribbon is now $1.99!!  The Clearance Rack blitz will end on October 18, and supplies are limited.

Now, how about some tags:

Peaceful Season tags

Peaceful Season stamp set, Old Olive and Riding Hood Red ink, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake cardstock, Smooch Spritz, Champagne Mist Shimmer paint, Riding Hood Red grosgrain, Linen thread, and a retired button.

Peaceful Season tags

 

This post is getting long, so I’ll share one more set of tags today and leave the rest for tomorrow.  Shoot, you all know the truth – I’m not all that organized yet and I need to get hustling!

Do Not Open Til Christmas tag

Cute, eh?  This polka dotted ribbon is also $1.99.  I bought a bunch to use on Christmas packages – at that price, you can’t beat it!  Here’s the set of tags:

More Do Not Open tags

Tags til Christmas and Snow Swirled stamp sets, Real Red and Garden Green Classic ink pads, Whisper White card stock, Ornament Punch, Gold Brad, and Real Red polka dot ribbon.

Hurry on over to that Online Store and be sure you select me as your demonstrator – orders through demonstrators get preferred pricing and shipping!