Family | The Maui Stamper

I’ve neglected the Maui Stamper all month, and sorry, but I’m not sorry. Our family celebrated a wedding last weekend and the past few weeks have been abundant with love and joy. The last of the family is headed back to the mainland today, and I am trying my best to re-enter my version of the real world.

Let’s go back to the beginning – at least the Maui Stamper beginning! Here’s the Save-the-Date I collaboratively created for my daughter Sara and her fiancé Ben:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Ben and Sara Save the Date

Stamps: Tropical Chic, Botanical Blooms (retired)
Color Palette: Whisper White, Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist (retired In Color), Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Tropical Dies, Botanical Blooms dies (retired), die cutting machine, Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue (the wonder adhesive), Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

I’m not going to tell you how many of these I made, but I will tell you that my die cutting machine and my dies may never be the same and my fingers were WORN OUT. But it was worth it – I loved how they turned out, and so did Sara and Ben.

Next project was an invitation:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Ben and Sara Invitation

Stamps: Climbing Orchid (retired), Beauty Abounds, Wonderful Romance (retired)
Color Palette: Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Orchid Builder framelits (retired), Die cutting machine, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

In both cases I printed the text onto Whisper White card stock, formatting with Microsoft Publisher. There was an additional card included with the invitation with a few more details, and it was cut to to the size of the interior panel. The Save-the-Date measures 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and the Invitation is 5″ x 7″. We ordered yellow envelopes that coordinated well, since Stampin’ Up! doesn’t sell that size.

I sent Sara and Ben a sample of EVERY color of Stampin’ Up! card stock, as well as some samples of embellishments and embossing folders. Most of our design work was done via text and photo, with a couple of FaceTime sessions as we narrowed things down. It was such an enjoyable process, and an honor for me to make the invitations.

Fast forward to last weekend:

The ceremony was at Olowalu Plantation House, and despite some iffy weather earlier in January, the day was spectacularly gorgeous. Everything went smoothly, and the whales provided a nice touch as they spouted, breached, and showed their tales all afternoon. The flowers were amazing, done by Dellables and of exceptional quality. Look at the bride’s bouquet three days AFTER the ceremony:

There are advantages to being Mother of the Bride at a destination wedding – Mr. Maui Stamper and I brought home a lot of beautiful flowers!

Speaking of The Mister, he’s a craftsman in his own right. He created an extraordinary marker for the event: a redwood sign with the home town and distance of every wedding guest on arrows:

That’s the beautiful Maid of Honor, our oldest daughter Carol, with her wonderful partner, Shanti. There are more home towns and distances on the other side of the sign, and as an engineer, Mr. Maui Stamper made sure that each arrow pointed correctly towards its destination (within 22°). He also made quite precise measurements, and used the appropriate unit of measurement for the country. This sign was a big attraction!

A late addition to the décor was a set of table numbers and escort cards to help the guests find their seats. There wasn’t a set seating chart, but guests were grouped at their tables so that family and friends would be able to sit together.

I can’t say enough about White Orchid Weddings and my dear friend, Jackie Ishikawa. I’ve known her since our kids were in grade school together, and when it came time to find a wedding coordinator there was no question about who to ask. Jackie did a fabulous job of guiding Sara and Ben through the process, and made sure that on the day of the celebration we were all guests at the party!

The bride and groom kicked off the festivities and the celebration was one to remember. My family is spread across the globe, and having an occasion like this to gather made my heart sing.

Years ago, when it became apparent that my grandmother could no longer live in her home, my sister and I made the arrangements to settle her in a new living situation and then turned our attention on the home she had lived in for nearly 50 years. What we found could fill a book, but this time of year I’m always grateful for Gramsie’s elf.

He pre-dates the whole “Elf on a Shelf” phenomenon by decades, although I don’t know exactly how old he is. His feet are weighted with lead, and his body feels as though he has a wire frame. Because of those weights, he doesn’t sit on the shelf very well, but he always comes out for Christmas in my house and finds a comfy place to watch all the proceedings.

This isn’t his usual spot, but there was too much light on the glass shelf where he has been sitting this year for me to capture his charm. I’m kind of grateful that we bypassed the Elf on the Shelf tradition, because December with three children was always so busy that I’m sure I would have failed the test.

This charming fellow reminds me of my grandmother, and when I catch sight of him throughout the month I think of all the different family celebrations I’ve been privileged to share. I didn’t have a large extended family growing up, and our celebrations were always rich in tradition but relatively quiet. I vividly remember my first Christmas with Mr. Maui Stamper. He comes from an enormous extended family and there was a lot of laughter, teasing, hugging, and pandemonium. It was a big change for me, but I learned to love it just as much as the traditions I had grown up with.

When we moved to Hawaii, our celebrations involved just our immediate family. Once there were three little stampers running around on Christmas Eve, we parents were desperate to get them to bed so that we could finish all the wrapping, assembling and staging. There were a number of years where it seemed we had barely put our heads on the pillow before we were awakened by excited little voices proclaiming that Santa had come. Our oldest daughter figured out how to brew a pot of coffee, and one memorable year the three children appeared pre-dawn with fresh java – who could resist that?

This year the newlyweds are spending Christmas with his family in Mauritius. We have our middle daughter and our son at home, and our traditions are changing again. They’ve decided we should exchange our gifts of Christmas Eve so that we won’t be in such a rush to get to Mass in the morning. I’ve got my fingers crossed that there will still be a fresh pot of coffee.

Merry Christmas, and if you celebrate something else, Merry That to you too.