It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Posted on October 1, 2009 by mauistamper

Look familiar? I wanted to take the same images and do a simpler layout. I love these flowers, whatever they are. They have to be wildflowers – they just have that La Dee Dah look about them. Bloom where you’re planted and all that. Clearly for the First of October they had to be pink.

Pink Wildflowers for October

Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Whisper White, and Kraft cardstock
Soft Suede, Always Artichoke, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Summer Sun Classic ink
Wonderful Watercolors stamp set
Big Shot and Texturz plate
Stampin’ Dimensionals, Aquapainter, and Dazzling Diamonds

I love to watercolor. It’s relaxing to me and for some odd reason I can let go of my otherwise obsessive need for perfection. Perhaps that’s because I really don’t know anything about the technique, and so I just dive in with my aquapainter and my ink refills and play. We should all play more.

One more thing: it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Check your breasts. Do it once a month. Don’t make excuses.

Happy Watercolors

Posted on September 30, 2009 by mauistamper

Have I mentioned that I don’t understand the Dormant List?

This is a happy card. It’s a happy birthday card. It’s a sunny yellow card. And it’s a Dazzling-Diamonds-sparkle-your-heart-out card. How could it not be happy?

Working with the various shades of Stampin’ Up! yellows – Barely Banana, So Saffron, Summer Sun, even (once in a great while) Yo Yo Yellow always lifts my heart. This year we even have Crushed Curry, an intense, saturated, Smell The Spices kind of yellow! A card like this shouldn’t wait to be sent. It needs to be on its way in a hurry.

Sunny Banana Watercolors

Naturals White, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Soft Suede and Barely Banana cardstock
Soft Suede, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, and Barely Banana Classic ink
Wonderful Watercolors, Teeny Tiny Wishes and En Francais stamps; Textures Wheel
Aquapainter, Dazzling Diamonds, Stampin’ Dimensionals, and Stamp-a-ma-jig

I fought this layout for a while – it’s a Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge. I couldn’t figure out what to use for the back panel – everything was too dark or too light – nothing was Just Right. The Texture wheel by itself was too light, but when I grabbed the paper and sponged the dickens out of it I decided it would work. The cardfront also has the Texture wheel, but you may have to trust me on that.

Why don’t you pick up some yellow and brighten your day?

Cheerful Flowers Part Two

Posted on September 7, 2009 by mauistamper

I felt so much better today…lots of texts from my college student made it seem like she wasn’t really 5,000 miles away. I started playing with the layout from the Stampin’ Addicts Thursday Sketch Challenge and after a couple of false starts, came up with a card that made me happy.

Sweet Stems

Sweet Stems and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, and Regal Rose cardstock
Certainly Celery Designer Series Paper (this pattern is retired, but new patterns are available)
1 1/4″ and 1″ Circle punches, Scallop Edge punch
Bermuda Bay, Certainly Celery, and Regal Rose ink
Regal Rose Ribbon

I usually start by choosing a stamp set, then a principal color. Sometimes I stick with those choices, sometimes I don’t. This time, I reached first for the Bermuda Bay, then Certainly Celery, and finally (hey, these are flowers, you can’t have just blue and green) added the Regal Rose. This isn’t a sketch I would have designed on my own, but it’s fun to stretch yourself with the challenges. The end result is whimsical and fairly simple.

Sweet Stems (113726, $16.95) is currently on the Dormant List from Stampin’ Up! That means it’s not in the catalog, but it’s still available for purchase. You can order it directly through me or through my Stampin’ Up! website.

I’ve spent too much time this morning reading WordPress tutorials, playing with watermarks, and studying other people’s blogs! Time to quit laboring and get outside on this Labor Day holiday.