Bloomin’ June

Posted on June 1, 2014 by mauistamper

Although parts of the country were extremely dry this year, we had more rain than usual on the Valley Isle. As a result, it seems that anything that could bloom is blooming. That includes my June calendar:

I’ve been slightly obsessed with birds recently. This one is looking for a little snack beneath the flower bed.

I used Petite Petals and Everything Eleanor for this calendar page, and did a little bit of masking to create some dimension amongst the flowers. These calendars are fun precisely because the area to embellish is small, and it’s more of a challenge than you might think to get the image balance right. A little sparkle makes it all work out…

You may be wondering where I’ve been…it’s been a while since I’ve posted. My family is literally spread across the world from Western Australia to Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Maui Stamper and I got it into our heads that we should have a reunion, and that a nice middle spot would be in England. We had a fabulous time with the family, including loads of sight-seeing, great food, and of course photos. My son was tremendously amused when I tried to take a selfie with the Tower Bridge in the background, and once he started taking pictures of me taking pictures of myself…well, it was pretty hopeless:

At least I ended up with a photo – or three – of myself with the Tower Bridge in the background.

There are three of us posting these little calendar pages today – take a look and see what Cheryl and Crystal have done with their calendars this month. I’m pretty sure they’re not posting selfies.

the May Paper Pumpkin

Posted on May 20, 2014 by mauistamper

Have you tried My Paper Pumpkin?

I had some fun with the kit for May:

Love the stamps that come with these kits! They’re so fresh and fun. And I couldn’t resist making it REALLY 3-D:

I wanted to play with that chubby bird from Betsy’s Blooms. I haven’t used that set much lately but I’m fond of that goofy birds. Actually, I’m fond of birds in general.

Im also going to miss those Lovely Words. I like the font and I like the words themselves. But it’s time to make room for new things.

Circles and lines

Posted on May 17, 2014 by mauistamper

I can’t remember much of high school geometry – I was good at math, but I didn’t enjoy it – but I do love playing with shapes.

Stamps: Oh Hello (retiring)
Color Palette: Basic Black, Whisper White and Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: 1/8 inch Black Taffeta ribbon, Cute Clips, Kaleidoscope DSP, the Big Shot and Circles Framelits, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I love using Basic Black and Whisper White (or Basic Black and Very Vanilla) as a foundation for my color palette. Change out the contrasting bright color and change the feeling of the project! This DSP is from Kaleidoscope, which is retiring, as is the Black/Vanilla combination in Modern Medley – my favorite 2013-2014 DSP.

I used a Post-it® note to mask the words and stamped that fabulous chevron image from Oh Hello above and below them. Don’t try to do both sides at once. Trust me.

Now that’s geometry I can love.

Friends across the miles

Posted on May 13, 2014 by mauistamper

One of my absolute FAVORITE things about blogging is the sweet serendipity of making new friends. My post on May first inspired a Maui Stamper reader to share a photo with me, and one thing led to another…

Cheryl Hasson gave her permission for me to share this photo. Here’s what she said:

I was born in 1947 in Wailuku and this pic was taken on Lei Day in Keokea at an Hawaiian school where my mother was teaching (now the site of an Episcopal church.) I woke up this morning wishing I was in Maui on Lei Day.

I love the sweetness that this photo represents. Someone lovingly made all those flower petal skirs complete with greenery sashes. The circle on the grass is almost surely flour, and the teacher (Kumu) is watching carefully in the background. May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii (are you hearing the melody?) and there are still celebrations in schools across the islands on or around the first of May.

After we corresponded a bit, Cheryl sent me one more photo of a May Day celebration:

I’ll have to dig back into the Stamper Family archives…I have a few May Day program photos that are a little more recent 🙂

Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing your beautiful photos! Aloha…

A Housewarming Giftcard

Posted on May 10, 2014 by mauistamper

I feel really blessed to have lots of young couples in my life. It’s a joy to watch them settle into their marriages, and lately that has included moving into new spaces. Mr. Maui Stamper and I were invited to a celebration last weekend; he couldn’t attend as he was busy surprising his sister for her birthday, but I went and had a fabulous time.

Being a practical sort of mama, I thought the perfect gift was a gift card to a home improvement store. Being a Maui Stamper, it needed a little dressing up:

Stamps: Oh Hello, On the Grid, Yippee Skippee and Day to Day (Project Life®)
Color Palette: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Antique Brads, Gold Clothespin, Big Shot and Polka Dots TIEF, Fringe Scissors, Circles Framelits, Word Window punch, Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder, Piercing templates, Chevron Gift Bags, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Older-than-the-hills-retired Ribbon.

Here’s the note card that fits in the back of the bag. I grunged it up a bit with On the Grid and the piercing template – just a double line of dots.

Sometimes the best things happen when you make a “mistake”. I originally stamped the word “happy” in ink, but it needed some oomph so I decided to emboss it. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig (TOTALLY ESSENTIAL TOOL, friends) to stamp “happy” again in Versamark ink and must have jiggled it, because it was offset just a bit. I think it’s PERFECT.

Gotta make it personal. Don’t know what I would do without all my Stampin’ Write markers. I am addicted to coordination.

Needless to say, this was presented in a clear envelope. Who would want to cover it up?

RemARKable Memory Keeping

Posted on May 8, 2014 by mauistamper

Welcome to the May edition of the RemARKable blog tour!

It’s National Scrapbooking month and that’s our topic for the tour. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve only completed one scrapbook – ever – and it was intended to be Volume I of 2 to document a two-part family vacation. While I love photos – and have boxes, bags and stacks of them – I struggle with putting them together.

Our collaboration with Project Life inspired me, and I decided to drag out a photo collage frame that’s been gathering dust and pair it with some of the Project Life by Stampin’ Up! products to see what would happen:

To say I’m thrilled would be an understatement! I love the journaling cards, I love the embellishments, I love the colors, and I love the stamps! (I know, that’s a lotta lovin’). This went together REALLY quickly.

The card on the right is straight out of the box, matted and stuck into the opening. The red word bubble and the little red heart are from the Point and Click photopolymer stamp set.

Stamps, stickers, cards…it went together in about a half an hour. SERIOUSLY.

I took all the words and mashed them up for a simple embellishment – and then I had an inspiration. I took all the pieces OUT of the frames…

I know it’s hard to see, but these are the Project Life 12×12 photo pages. I did the happy dance when I realized I had finally found a solution for my bags, boxes and stacks!

I had to play with one more set of photos – these are pretty special to me:

It’s been almost a year and a half since our oldest daughter was married. These photos will slip out of the frame and right into Project Life pages – you have no idea how this delights me!

The wedding invitations were hand-stamped – SURPRISE! – and I had a few extra inserts left over.

I also had a bit of lace and some tulle from my daughter’s dress that will tuck into the pages. A few stamped images (and oh, will I miss Loving Thoughts) and this was done.

What I love about the Project Life concept is that it’s so flexible. It can be anything you need it to be! The objective is to record the memories in a way that can be shared – or re-visited – to keep the emotion of the moment alive.

Enjoy the rest of the tour – Audra Monk is next, but the rest of the tour is at the bottom of the post in case you want to go your own way! Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy Amato
Missy Bolinger
Tamra Davis
Sherri Eddleblute
Anne Matasci     YOU ARE HERE
Audra Monk
Maria Pane
Andi Potler
Michele Reynolds
Pam Staples

Weekly Deals May 6 to 12

Posted on May 6, 2014 by mauistamper

Check out this week’s DEALS – retiring products are selling out quickly!

Shop for these HERE – and if you haven’t treated yourself to our 1 1/4″ Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, this is your chance to fall in love at a discount!

Digital Crafters, there’s something for you too:

Download these gorgeous new images HERE!

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Glorious Birthday Card in a Box

Posted on May 3, 2014 by mauistamper

I love that word – Glorious. It’s one of Crystal‘s favorites 🙂 And it’s very appropriate for this card:

Yes, it’s full of Sale-a-bration product that you can no longer get…and I’m sorry. But for those of you who have leftover Sweet Sorbet paper, you need some ideas, right?

I had a fabulous time with this one – there’s a lot crammed into a little space. I used the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die (so sad this is retiring!!) to help stabilize the folds. In my excitement I scored them a leetle bit too hard and they were thinking about breaking, so that Calypso Coral scallop actually folds and adheres inside the wall of the box to give it strength.

Lots of flowers – Petal Parade from SAB but also Petite Petals and the little scallop from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack (also retiring). That gorgeous Happy Birthday is from the retiring stamp set You’re Amazing – and is only available now in wood.

Some of the flowers and cut and layered for extra dimension, and you can just see the window sheet strip that allows that Petite Petal to fly.

There’s a cupcake with a single candle right in the middle!

I even made a coordinating envelope. Hope you enjoy!

Introducing Project Life by Stampin’ Up!

Posted on May 2, 2014 by mauistamper

I am SO excited to share this with you!

If you’re anything like me, you have (embarrassing) collections of mementos and photos from school days, family events, and trips tucked away in closets, drawers and cupboards. I come across them from time to time and mutter “I really need to…” and then shove them back where they were! THIS IS OUR SOLUTION.

Stampin’ Up! has collaborated with Becky Higgins, a rock star in the memory-keeping universe, to create a line of exclusive products that helps busy people (and who do you know that isn’t?) document life with photos and journaling quickly, simply and with fabulous results.

Becky says “It’s called Project LIFE because it’s about YOUR LIFE. Whatever your life is. Whatever your stage of life. Whatever your family circumstances. Whatever your lifestyle. Project Life is designed to help anyone and everyone get their pictures into a book.

It means spending more time making memories and less time scrapbooking them.

You can now order an introductory selection of exclusive Stampin’ Up! Project Life products. This is a teaser – more will be coming soon in the new annual catalog. Presenting:

I’ve just received my order – yes, I hit the “I Want It All” button – and I am delighted! Everything coordinates beautifully, of course. The paper quality it excellent and I am really happy with the designs – these are images I will absolutely use. It’s nicely packaged as well; the photopolymer stamps are now in our own dvd-style cases, and the Card Collection comes in a gorgeous, sturdy divided box with plenty of room for the journaling pens and accessory pack.

Oh, this is going to be amazing.

Order HERE!

Shorebirds

Posted on May 1, 2014 by mauistamper

I’m going to be very happy every morning in May to walk into my kitchen and see this month’s little Easel Calendar:

I love this Wetlands stamp set, especially these little shorebirds. I used my Aquapainter to add a little Basic Gray around the waterline. I sponged a little crumb cake below and Pool Party above that line to create a sense of the sand and the sea. The sun is the circle that was in the middle of one the Daydream Medallians stamps – I have a DVD case for all the funny bits that I think would make interesting stamps.

Take just another minute to pop on over and see what Crystal and Cheryl have done for their calendars this month. We hope you’re inspired!

The Maui Stamper

papercrafts, my stories, and the occasional insight

Bloomin’ June

the May Paper Pumpkin

Circles and lines

Friends across the miles

A Housewarming Giftcard

RemARKable Memory Keeping

Weekly Deals May 6 to 12

A Glorious Birthday Card in a Box

Introducing Project Life by Stampin’ Up!

Shorebirds

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