Thank yous after the gifts

Posted on December 29, 2013 by mauistamper

I was so busy making Christmas crafts this month that I completely forgot about thank you notes. Yesterday I sat down to write a few and realized I didn’t have any cards made! (Well, there were a couple – but they were boring.)

One of my orders this month included some Crumb Cake Note Card envelopes, sized for 3 1/2″ x 5″ note cards. Oh, Crumb Cake, you are such a versatile neutral! (Don’t tell on me, but I still call it Kraft. It’s the Stubborn Girl inside.)

Too Kind and Four You stamp sets
Naturals White, Primrose Petals and Crumb Cake card stock
Blushing Bride, Primrose Petals and Crumb Cake FFIP (Firm Foam Ink Pads)
Two Way Glue Pen
Dazzling Diamonds (don’t tell Mr. Maui Stamper!!)

That “grass” is just the stem image turned upside down and stamped all katty-wompus.

These flowers NEEDED the sparkle that you can only get from Dazzling Diamonds. So much Christmas sparkle is floating around our house that I’m pretty sure he won’t notice this extra bit. Christmas cards, ornaments, packages – all kinds of contraband covered in glitter has been sneaking into our house!

How about turning 180 degrees? Crumb Cake goes from flowers to grunge!

Gorgeous Grunge, Off the Grid and Hip Notes (sneak peek!) stamp sets
Very Vanilla, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake card stock
Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso FFIP
Linen Thread
Epic Day This n That Washi tape
Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi tape (another sneak peek!)
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Stampin’ Sponges

Flags are still hot, washi is very hot, and washi flags are easy as can be. Stampin’ Up! washi tape is sold in coordinating packages of 3, saving you money and time.

Speaking of saving yourself time and money, don’t forget to order your DIY calendar kit for 2014. $8 with easel, $5 without.

Complete details are HERE.

Something RemARKably Different

Posted on September 14, 2013 by mauistamper

Welcome to the September RemARKable 25th Anniversary Blog tour! This month I’m working WAY outside of my usual comfort zone!

Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who went to Convention 2013 might have seen Carrie Cudney’s presentation on Living a Creative Life. She showed us three mixed media canvases, and I was inspired to try my own. Talk about a learning experience!! And photographing this was a challenge. I’ve got some detailed pictures to help you get a better feeling of what this really looks like.

Here’s a closer look at my cat wearing the Sorting Hat from the Best of Halloween stamp set. The cat was based on the Frightening Feline MDS image and was sketched onto Witches Brew DSP and cut out.

Linen thread whiskers were dragged through Basic Black ink, and Rhinestone Jewels were colored with a Sharpie® marker.

The background DSP is also from Witches Brew, and I masked a circle to create a full moon. One of the things I learned is that if you apply Mod Podge before you add in your color, the color doesn’t sink into the paper (DUH). Although it would dry, as soon as I tried to add anything over it the color would move. My background ended up being darker than I would have liked, but I learned something!

That’s Witches Brew Washi tape in the top left corner.

I took the spiderweb idea straight from Carrie’s project. I used a black marker for the lines, then added Black Stampin’ Glitter (which did not photograph well at all, so imagine lots of sparkle here!)

The bats are already on the DSP, the lines and blotches are from Gorgeous Grunge, and Trick or Treat is from the Best of Halloween.

The pumpkin uses the Extra Large Oval punch, the Bird punch (the wing is the leaf) and LOTS of sponging. The orange glitter is kind of everywhere, but at least it shows in the photo! And btw, Mr. Maui Stamper has seen this project and neither he nor I have mentioned said glitter. If you don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t exist.

This corner photo gives you a better idea for the feeling of the whole project – and a good look at that spooky tree from Best of Halloween.

Here’s the cat’s tail and a view of the haunted house. I used white chalk – classroom type – to outline the cat in hopes of giving it more definition. This photo also gives you an idea of the way the ink moved around when I put the final coat of Mod Podge on – very annoying. I won’t make that mistake twice!

This stamp set is especially well suited to tags!

I used one of the Bitty Label punches to create a little interest around the opening for the ribbon. Did you know that gorgeous black and grey striped ribbon from last year is now available as part of the Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit? I was VERY happy to see that!

One last look at the tag…and it’s time to head over to Trinity Design Studios to see what Robin has up her sleeve! The tour logo below will take you there, or click on the link in the list of blogs at the bottom of the post. Thanks for stopping by!

Nancy Amato http://stampinallnight.blogspot.com
Melissa Bolinger                 http://www.stampinup.net/blog/2089191
Jackie Bottomley    http://www.jackiebottomley.blogspot.com
Susan Carlson    http://stampinmomoffour.blogspot.com
Tamra Davis http://www.thecardladies.com
Sherri Eddleblute                http://www.sweetestdesigns.blogspot.com/
Kathy Hamrick http://www.countryroads.typepad.com/
Crystal Kondo    http://www.card-ed.com
Deb Lehigh    http://thestampinhut.typepad.com/
Anne Matasci                    http://www.MauiStamper.wordpress.com      YOU ARE HERE!!!
Robin Merriman http://www.trinitydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Maria Pane    http://www.stampinandscrappinwithriri.blogspot.com
Andi Potler    http://www.absolutekreations.com
Michele Reynolds    http://www.inspirationink.typepad.com
Sharon Tisdale      http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/coveredbridgesstamper/blog
Janet Wakeland   http://www.remarkablycreated.com

The Sorting Hat

Posted on September 12, 2013 by mauistamper

If the Sorting Hat were Elegant Eggplant it would look like this:

Best of Halloween and Gorgeous Grunge stamp sets
Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla card stock
Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant and Pumpkin Pie FFIP
Silver Encore Ink pad
Extra-Large Oval punch
Rhinestone jewels

This Best of Halloween 25th Anniversary stamp set is AWESOME! Be sure you check back on Sunday for the RemARKable 25th Anniversary Blog tour – because we are featuring this set!

It’s a RemARKable Autumn

Posted on September 7, 2013 by mauistamper

Trick or Treat!

Halloween goodies – or a bag full of Creepy Crawlies? I’m hoping for treats, not tricks.

The Halloween Bash stamp set has fun images to play with, and I thought these tickets were just the thing to add to the top of my tag. They’ve got a little sparkle courtesy of Vanilla Smooch spritz. And the hole for that gorgeous ribbon at the top is made with the small ticket punch – it makes a generous opening. I’ve used the beautiful black and grey striped ribbon that’s available again as part of the Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory kit.

I stamped the main image once in Tangerine Tango, then again in Black Staz-on. I cut out the word “CRAWLY” in black, snipped the ends, and added Basic Black card stock extensions to the ends. The black rhinestone gems at the bottom are colored with the black Sharpie® marker that NEVER leaves my desk!

The tag can stand alone without the bag, but we do love those Tag a Bags! Don’t miss the textural stamping on the Tangerine Tango tag base courtesy of Gorgeous Grunge, the stamp set that does everything – even the dishes!! (ok, I’m KIDDING there…)

It’s a challenge for me to get in the mood for a true Autumn card, but I think the muse was working for this one:

Magnificent Maple is a single stamp and it is truly a magnificent rendition of a leaf. I’ve masked and stamped it in Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze and Old Olive. I chose Naturals Ivory card stock for the card base, but I used Very Vanilla for the tag – the Naturals papers have just enough texture to them that a bold image such as that tag doesn’t come out with enough definition to please me.

I used the Tags for You stamp and punch bundle and popped the label up on a dimensional. “So Grateful” is from Apothecary Art, and the spatters are from Gorgeous Grunge. (If I keep using that stamp set it’s gonna get a Maui Stamper Abbreviated Name, but for now I’ll spell it out.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Stamp-of-the-Month projects and I encourage you to take the full tour to see what everyone is sharing. Robin is up next and I KNOW she’ll have a treat in store for you! All the blogs on the tour are available below in case you want to re-visit a favorite or just take the tour in your own quirky way. I encourage that kind of behavior 🙂

Two Pineapples

Posted on August 22, 2013 by mauistamper

I inked up my Undefined Pineapple:

Undefined hand carved Pineapple
The Good Life stamps, May 2013 My Paper Pumpkin
Gorgeous Grunge and Yippee Skippee stamp sets
Old Olive, Baked Brown Sugar, Crushed Curry and Whisper White card stock
Old Olive, Crushed Curry and Baked Brown Sugar FFIP
Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Crushed Curry and Baked Brown Sugar Stampin’ Write markers
Natural Trim ribbon
2 1/2 inch circle punch
Big Shot and Thinlets Circle Flip card die
Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die
Honeycomb TIEF
Stamp-a-ma-jig
Sticky Strip
Stampin’ Sponge

Yeah, I kinda pulled out everything in the stamp studio for this one 🙂

The pineapples are inked with markers and masked. I carved just one pineapple, and I carved it in a hurry! It has a folksy, rustic look to it.

Didja break down and get the Thinlets Flip Card die yet? I confess that if I hadn’t seen them in person at convention I might not have been so anxious, but I did and I was so I ordered them on August 1st – the first day I could. The 5 chevron pieces are one of the accent dies that accompany the Circle Flip die.

I stamped this sentiment from Yippee Skippee three times in three colors of ink and cut them up. There’s a strip of Crushed Curry card stock stamped with the diagonal lines from Gorgeous Grunge behind the words to serve as an anchor. Lining that up was definitely a job for the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

If you stretch the entire card out, this is what the first side looks like. You’re seeing the front of the card, the back of the flip, and the inside of the card. The Baked Brown Sugar panel was run through the Honeycomb TIEF before I adhered it to the Old Olive card base. I added a strip of white card stock (more details HERE) to the inside for additional writing space, and I put a Crushed Curry 2 1/2″ circle behind the flip to give it a finished look. I might write an additional note here, or I might add a photo. And yes, this is an extended card. Patty Bennett has made an excellent tutorial – see it HERE.

Turn the card over to see the second side. If you look closely at the Natural Trim ribbon you’ll see that I butted the edges on the diagonal to create a finished edge – I didn’t want a knot or a bow. It also creates a more finished look over the scallop trim from the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die. I used a full-height piece of Sticky Strip to secure the trim.

This card looks a lot more complicated than it is – you could surely make one yourself.

Stampin’ with the Maui Stampers!

Posted on August 12, 2013 by mauistamper

Maui Stampers is my blog, and it’s also my Stampin’ Up! group name!

Crystal and I came back from convention loaded with ideas, inspiration and most of all, SWAPS! We wanted to share as much as we could, as quickly as we could, with the Maui Stampers who were unable to make the trip to Salt Lake. We put together a wild and crazy Stamp-a-palooza. I’ve shared a few of the projects but there are just too many to keep posting one at a time, and they’re all pretty simple since we were in production mode. Here are the rest, in no particular order:

I’m just giving quickie info on these – this one is Zoo Babies in Gumball Green, Calypso Coral and Coastal Cabana, with a bit of Epic Day Washi Tape along the back.

This is Toil and Trouble with Teeny Tiny Wishes – it’s hard to see, but the black card base is embossed with the Stripes Embossing folder. That Vintage Button is filled with Black Glitter from the Holiday catalog and I am telling you, that stuff is GLITTERY!!! Mr. Maui Stamper woulda had a fit if I’d brought this out at home, but we were Some Where Else. Thank goodness.

I am IN LOVE with You’re My Hero! It’s not just for kids, either – I have some things to share in another week or so that I think you’re gonna love.

Simply Sketched is a hostess set, and I think it’s a bit of a sleeper. The images are beautiful line art and the sentiments are things you need. I chose Pear Pizazz and Baked Brown Sugar for this sympathy card.

Gorgeous Grunge is another catalog sleeper – and it is SO MUCH FUN!! Just slap on that ink, baby!! There’s a little Witches Brew Washi on this card – Washi is translucent so you can get extra dimension by layering it over a stamped image. The greeting is Label Love – don’t miss the savings on that bundle! And yes, I hand-cut the sentiment to layer it. It’s not that hard 🙂

This last card uses Too Kind, one of the first sets I purchased from the new catalog. I’ve used it for so many things – those big, free form flowers are so versatile and easy to stamp. I do NOT use the Stamp-a-ma-jig on them, much as I love it – these are just Bash and Stamp images! Love that new Tags 4 You set in the Holiday catalog – you’ll see more of that, too. Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe are the perfect tone-on-tone combo.

And just for fun, here we are:

Stampers and guests! These are brave women – it was a little bit touch-and-go as Ms. Hurricane Flossie tried to rain on our parade. But neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Or stamping.

The Maui Stamper

papercrafts, my stories, and the occasional insight

Tag Archives: Gorgeous Grunge

Thank yous after the gifts

Something RemARKably Different

The Sorting Hat

It’s a RemARKable Autumn

Two Pineapples

Stampin’ with the Maui Stampers!

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