Simple Circles

Posted on September 3, 2010 by mauistamper

I brought home a lot of great samples from convention. They’ve been a source of inspiration for classes and workshops, and this card is a double dipper. There were two different cards that used the “circle-as-flower” technique, and I adapted it even further:

Circle Circus and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
Sahara Sand, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock
Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
Big Shot and Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
XL Two Step Bird and Modern Label punches; 1 3/4, 1 1/4 and 3/4 inch circle punches

This is about as easy as it gets. Stamp 3 circles, punch 3 circles, add 3 little scraps for stems and 3 little leaves (do you recognize the wing and a leaf from the XL Two Step Bird punch?) Sahara Sand is such a neutral color that it takes what could be a very femine card and makes it relatively neutral. If you wanted it to be masculine, you’d need to pull out your Shades-of-Blue stamp pads but that wouldn’t be so difficult, would it?

Spooky things

Posted on September 1, 2010 by mauistamper

If you’re like me, a new Stampin’ Up! catalog makes your heart beat faster. One of the (many!) perks of being a demonstrator is seeing the new catalogs before they are released – and getting to order many of those products a month ahead of time.

The Holiday Mini catalog this year practically had me reaching for the oxygen. Not only are there forays into fabulous new product lines – you’ve certainly heard that we have FABRIC – but there are awesome products for cards, scrapbooking, decorating, and just about any kind of crafting you can imagine for ALL the winter holidays (ok, time to cool it on the caps, I know.) We saw a lot of great projects at convention using Holiday Mini products, but this was one of my favorites:

Don’t you love it?? This is a perfect solution to my Halloween dilemma. I know that most of you mainland folks buy your pumpkins and carve them days, maybe even a week before Halloween, and that they last beautifully out on your frosty front porches. It doesn’t quite work that way here…we usually carve our pumpkins Halloween afternoon. By the time they’ve spent a couple of hours Halloween evening on the front lanai with a tea light candle burning in them, they are already looking sort of sad. The morning after is always depressing – there have been years when my pumpkins were already growing things at 8am on November 1. If the trash man isn’t coming soon those pumpkins need to be well-wrapped before they get the heave-ho! Ugh. It grosses me out just to think about it.

Back to the fun stuff – the Home Office Genius Department had to paint orange pumpkins white – just couldn’t find white pumpkins in July – but I think these are just smashing! (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) Take some pumpkins and add a few pieces from the Spooky Things Decor Elements (120909 black, 122296 dark grey, $14.95), some Black Flourish Designer Jewels (123987, $4.95) and black ribbon (lots of choices there!) and you have instant Halloween. They may not last months and months in the tropics, but they’ll at least make it through the week.

We also saw luminarias done with the same Decor Elements:

And one last spectacular project – the Haunted House:

It was worth the entire cost of convention to see this project put together on stage. Suffice it to say that the folks that work in the Stampin’ Up! Home Office have an enormous dose of creativity and the gift of entertainment. This house is a Decor Accents Design-a-House (120911, $5.95) – it comes in white all ready for your own creative blast.

Time to put in a Holiday Mini catalog order! Click on the image and the whole glorious catalog will open in a pdf.

Remembering when

Posted on August 30, 2010 by mauistamper

The two beautiful little girls in this photo are big grown up girls now. I was inspired to put this page together when I created a card with a similar theme, and I spent a wonderful afternoon sorting through old photos. It’s so much easier for me to choose pictures when this much time has gone by. I don’t have the same emotional attachment to every single event I thought was worthy of documenting and it’s easier to edit and choose the memories that really stand out.

Word Play, Elements of Style and Wonderful Favorites stamp sets
Whisper White, Pirouette Pink, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive card stock
Retired Designer Series Papers
Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad and Versamark pad
Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink Stampin’ Write Markers
XL Two Step Owl, XL Bird, Scallop Trim Border and Corner punches
Big Shot and Top Note and Serif Essentials Bigz dies
Timeless Type and Birds and Blooms Sizzlets

This page could be an 8 1/2 x 11 page (the pink section) if you prefer that size, but most of my pages are 12 x 12. I’m notorious for not completing scrapbooks but I’m inspired now. Besides, I really enjoyed looking through those photos. The memories are sweet, and help me feel better when I miss having my girls at home. The good news is that I’ll see them soon as we are celebrating a special family birthday next month together in California. I’m counting the days!

The Season of Friendship…In Color

Posted on August 29, 2010 by mauistamper

Our leaves don’t change color in the fall, at least not significantly. There aren’t even that many deciduous trees in Hawaii. Sure, the plumeria tree’s leaves thin out quite a bit in the winter, but you seldom see that bare-branch look you get on the Mainland. I recall flying through Dallas-Fort Worth airport one year, and looking out the window as we took off I thought there must have been some sort of blight that caused all the trees to die. It took me half the flight to figure out that it was just winter. And yes, I grew up on the mainland and I even did my share of raking leaves once I became a homeowner.

Last autumn my husband and I were in New Hampshire and we really enjoyed the beautiful colors despite the fact that it snowed on us MULTIPLE times in October (and yes, I am still taking that personally). We won’t be flying to the East Coast this year – it’s a very long flight – so any leaf colors I’ll see will be on my craft table:

Season of Friendship and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizazz card stock
Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizazz Classic ink pads
Crop-a-dile and Jumbo brads
Pear Pizazz ribbon and Hemp Twine

I love our In Colors for 2010-2011. They’re such distinct, unique colors but they have an intensity that works really well together.

Stamping and other wonderful things

Posted on August 28, 2010 by mauistamper

There’s a group of stampers that meets at my house once a month…well, we call ourselves a stamping group and we definitely do stamp, but we also have a very good time. We are a really diverse group but the things we all share are a love of crafting and a love of people. There’s always a little teasing, a little story-telling, and a lot of laughing. We met last night and here’s one of the cards we made:

Vintage Vogue stamp set
Very Vanilla, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso card stock
Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso Classic Ink pads and Stampin’ Write markers
Real Red 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon, Rhinestone Jewels, Blender pen and Stampin’ Dimensionals
Big Shot and Top Note Bigz die

This card is really simple to make and a nice change of pace from a standard card. Use a quarter sheet of cardstock for the base and layer on a piece of cardstock that measures 1/4″ less in both length and width. Before you attach the two pieces together, insert the two flaps one on each side between the layers and you’ve got the basic idea.

I didn’t include it in the list of supplies, but the Espresso circle in the center of the Real Red flower is an Owlie Bit.

Do you love to stamp? Can you get to Maui once a month? We’d love to have you join us…

A Happy Birthday Lei

Posted on August 26, 2010 by mauistamper

Women of a certain age don’t tell their ages anymore, but we still celebrate our birthdays. First of all, we’re worth it, and second of all, considering the alternative we’re happy to be around to have those birthdays!!

Today is Robbie’s birthday and I made her a special lei. What you may not realize is that I don’t have the Candy Wrapper die – yep, you guessed it – it’s hers and I borrowed it. But I came up with this goofy idea all by myself (you can certainly tell, can’t you?) It was actually one of the first things I thought of when I saw the little box.

As you can imagine, lei are a very important here in Hawaii. There are many beautiful and more traditional lei made from plants and flowers, shell, or feathers, each invested with cultural significance. This is not one of those lei. This is a crazy-cousin-who-really-doesn’t-quite-belong-in-the-family-but-we-love-him-anyway lei. We have many variations on that too – some time I’ll have to do a post on some of the more creative versions. This one is made from Melon Mambo cardstock rolled with the cupcakes wheel, spritzed with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint spray and embellished with words from the Fabulous Phrases set. The boxes are attached to one another with some retired ribbon. I know, I know…maybe next week when my schedule frees up I’ll post another Un-Tutorial.

If you look closely you’ll see a couple of slightly amusing things in this photo. The first is Owlie Eyeballs drying on the side of my desk. The second is my pathetically warped cutting pad from the Ribbon Flower episode (And yes, I’ve gotten my hands on some Sticky Pages and I intend to try again. But first I need a 2×4 to hold the ribbon securely so I don’t melt anything else in my craft room.)

Don’t tell her…I’m counting on her being too busy to look…but I had to post this photo – her outfit coordinated with the lei!! Happy 29th birthday, my friend.

Putting your heart on paper

Posted on August 24, 2010 by mauistamper

My brother and his wife had to make the painful decision to put their dog to sleep last month. Anyone who has had a pet knows how agonizing that process is, and the thought that your fur friend is depending on you to do the right thing makes it that much harder. I never met Ghostrider, but we loved her from the photos and stories and know that Don and Theresa are missing her. It took me a while to get the feeling right, but I finally finished the card that’s been in my heart:

Just Believe and Silhouette Sentiments stamp sets
Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, River Rock, Whisper White and Melon Mambo card stock
Crumb Cake, River Rock and Melon Mambo Classic ink pads
Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo and Rose Red Stampin’ Write markers
Antique brads, Linen thread and Stampin’ Dimensionals

That Melon Mambo panel has a fluorescent pink cast – trust me, it’s our lovely Mambo pink.

The message I’m sending is simple – I’m so sorry. As much as I love words, I’ve never found any more profound than that when someone has lost a loved one.

While we’re on the subject of Halloween…

Posted on August 23, 2010 by mauistamper

This was one of those projects that sits around for a while and gathers dust while I decide what to do with it. The final touch was the tree and since my favorite Branch Out stamp set is RETIRED, of all things, I had to wait for Crystal to come by with Season of Friendship so I could use that tree:

Aviary, Season of Friendship, Wonderfully Worn and Paisley Prints stamp sets
Paisley Party Stampin’ Around Wheel
Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Whisper White and Shimmer White card stock
Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, River Rock and Early Espresso classic ink pads
Cajun Craze and Old Olive Stampin’ Write marker
Linen Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Sponges and 1 1/4 inch circle punch

The moon is Shimmer paper sponged with Old Olive…or it might have been River Rock, I can’t exactly remember. I added the tree after the card was all finished, and I was terrified to stamp directly on the card even WITH a Stamp-a-ma-jig. I ended up stamping the image on a piece of scrap copy paper (it needs to be thin paper) and cutting the image out carefully. That left me with a negative image of the tree that I temporarily put in place over the card with Dotto repositionable adhesive. I very carefully sponged through the copy paper template to put the tree exactly where I wanted it. Pretty sneaky, huh?

I have to try a couple more like this. I really like the effeect of that sponged tree. In all honesty, there’s no way I would have been able to do this with those gorgeous spidery branches on my Branch Out tree. Season of Friendship finally wins.

Whoooo are you waiting for?

Posted on August 22, 2010 by mauistamper

These owls make me giddy. I have a bunch of little jars on my craft table with Owl Bits in them…bodies, vesties, and eyeballs. I punched out a bunch of the medium circles in white and the bitty eyeballs in Espresso and Chocolate and Black. I discovered if I put that part together in a big batch that it saved a lot of trouble when it was time to finish my owls – I just reached into the eyeball jar and poof! there they were. Now when I finish a project I check the scraps of paper before I brush them into the trash – anything big enough for Owl Bits gets punched and put in the jars.

Word Play and Wood Grain stamp sets
Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and So Saffron card stock; Playdate Designer Series Paper
Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake Classic ink pads
Old Olive Stampin’ Write marker
Two-Step Owl and Bird XL punches; Large oval punch
Big Shot and Top Note Bigz die

There are a couple of little punchy tricks in this card that you might not notice. One owl is sitting on branches that come from the Bird punch, but if you look carefully, the other owl is sitting on a little green patch that happens to be the wing from that Bird punch. I’m sure all of you are much smarter than me and had this figured out already, but I recently discovered that the little heart that you get from the Owl punch makes a great owl-beak. I’ll bet the punch geniuses did that on purpose.

You could make this card over and over again in so many colors…just keep an Owl Bits jar on your craft table and you’ll have Owls-in-a-Flash!

Maui Stampers Brainstorming Goes Batty

Posted on August 21, 2010 by mauistamper

The Maui Stampers met Friday morning for our monthly team meeting (wouldn’t you love to be one of us? You can, you know – email me!). We mostly gab and stamp and then at the end we try to eat healthy stuff because we’re all watching our girlish figures. Crystal brought Isaac – she was only going to drop off some stuff and run home but we persuaded her to stay. I had a senior photo moment and didn’t take one picture of him, but he was very happy sitting next to Auntie Kellie.

We were playing with Halloween stuff (most of it was Robbie’s, and she had to work) and came up with a concept that we thought needed work but had great potential. I have faith in all of you and your creative abilities so take a look and then leave a comment on how to spiff this baby up:

Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black card stock
Early Espresso Classic ink pad
Big Shot and Candy Wrapper Bigz L die; small oval punch
Stampin’ Sponges, Window Sheets and Tombo the Wonder Adhesive

We punched out the bats and used the negative image as a template to sponge bats all over the cardstock. We tried adding ribbon to the ends but it didn’t work for us. To make the bat stand up, we punched a small oval from a window sheet and cut it in a spiral to make something that spproximated a spring. The oval worked best because of the shape of the bat.

We all think it needs more/another color – some white somewhere to catch your eye? Can’t wait to hear what you think.

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