Cheery Ellies for a Grey Day

Posted on January 27, 2014 by mauistamper

Crushed Curry is a perfect antidote for grey!

Stamps: Zoo Babies and Happy Hour
Color palette: Crushed Curry, Basic Grey, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Stampin’ Dimensionals, Basic Grey Striped Ribbon (Clearance Rack!), Kaleidoscope DSP

Yes, even on the Valley Isle we have the occasional grey day. The cheerful Kaleidoscope Designer Series Paper was the inspiration for this card, and the super-simple layout encouraged me to take an extra step with the elephants.

The two background Ellies are stamped using the “stamping off” technique – ink your rubber, stamp lightly on scrap paper, and then stamp onto your project. The featured Ellie is stamped with all the glory that a Firm Foam Ink Pad (FFIP) offers, then trimmed out with my paper snips and lifted up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I stamped the ear a second time with Crushed Curry, trimmed it out and adhered it to the card with another Dimensional. Dimensionals are like Magic Wands!! They make all sorts of fabulous things happen. However, this ear looked a little funny flying off Ellie’s head.

The solution was a super-thin line of Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive) to make the front side of the ear stick to Ellie’s head just as God intended!

If you had told me when I began stamping that I would absolutely NEED all of these different adhesives I would have probably laughed in your face. What did I know then? Adhesives make the paper crafting world go round.

Hope your day is sunny and bright!

June Paper Pumpkin: Hello to You

Posted on July 9, 2013 by mauistamper

Did you get your Paper Pumpkin for June? If you haven’t signed up, tomorrow (July 10) is the last day for the July Pumpkin – go HERE and say Yes to the Red Box!!

I confess that I added a smidge of ribbon, but otherwise this is the card as designed. Oh. Well, not quite. The example showed it as a landscape card, but I turned it on the side to make it portrait.

The stamps included the Hello to You sentiment (nice masculine font – we don’t see too many of those!) plus the little heart and a big square zig zag (I guess the trendy term is chevron) background stamp used to create the Soft Suede hexagons. (Once a nerd, always a nerd. You can call them honeycomb.)

Initially I thought I would make all the cards the same, but then I started looking at those pukas (that’s Hawaiian for holes) and I realized how much fun it would be to put different things in the openings. Flowers seemed like a natural.

Then I started to get silly. Yeah, goes without saying – it was late:

Don’t look too closely at the lion, I smudged his face and had to give him a makeover.

This last one is my favorite:

OH YEAH!!! Now that’s a card I would love to get in the mail!

Dear Maui Stamper,

Please come for cocktails. Now would be nice.

Sincerely,

Your Friend.

I mean, SERIOUSLY.

It’s Happy Hour Somewhere!

Posted on June 10, 2013 by mauistamper

It was my daughter’s birthday last month, and I wanted just the right card for her:

Happy Hour Stamp set
Whisper White and Crisp Canteloupe card stock
Print Patterns DSP (old style)
Crisp Canteloupe FFIP
Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze Stampin’ Write markers
Calypso Coral baker’s twine
Big Shot and Perfect Polka Dots TIEF
Large Delicate Doilies Sizzlet
Circles #2 Originals Die
1 3/4 inch circle punch
Paper Snips
Stampin’ Dimensionals

DID YOU NOTICE THE STRAW? Please scroll back up and look at my straw because I am very proud of it. For one thing, it was a tricky bugger to cut out. (You really need the Stampin’ Up! paper snips to do the job.) Not only is the straw cut out, it has stripes, and they are amazing, wouldn’t you say? They were such fun to do.

I CASEd this design from Dawn Olchefske. She used a very bold color combination that really popped, but I wanted something different for Sara and chose this monochromatic scheme. I love the combination of Canteloupe and Coral! This year’s In Color selections really work well with the existing colors, and yes, you do need them all! Besides, you can buy the ink pads in a bundle and Stampin’ Up! throws in the paper assortment for free! (#131204, $29.95) This is offered every year and you can get this offer for both the 2013-2015 and 2012-2014 collections – what a deal!

Welcome, 2013

Posted on January 2, 2013 by mauistamper

As clichéd as it may sound, I love the fresh start that a new year brings. In my wildest dreams, January First begins not only with a fabulous, champagne-sparkled celebration with my most loved family and friends, but also dawns on an immaculate house with every object impeccably in place.

I was close on part one, still dreaming about part two.

There was champagne, along with Mr. Maui Stamper and Son of Stamper (home from Notre Dame). My two beautiful daughters were in their respective homes halfway around the world, but they will be here soon to celebrate the wedding of my firstborn. Knowing that we will all be together in such a short time made their absence over the holidays bearable.

Crystal and I have made these calendars in the past, purchasing the template online. This year she got together with her BRILLIANT sister and they have created an eternal template for us. You could also make your templates through MDS, and if I were more brilliant I would have thought of that before I printed these out.

Happy Hour stamp set
Wild Wasabi FFIP
Primrose Petals, Wild Wasabi and Pink Pirouette Stampin’ Write markers
Whisper White and Primrose Petals card stock

Many blessings to you and yours in the new year!

It’s Happy Hour…

Posted on July 12, 2012 by mauistamper

It’s always Happy Hour somewhere…

Happy Hour stamp set
Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise FFIP
Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise Stampin’ Write markers
Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise and Lucky Limeade card stock
Summer Smooches Designer Series paper
Daffodil Delight 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon

These were so easy to make – and I couldn’t stop once I got started!

Doesn’t everybody deserve a cheer of their own once in a while – or two of them – or even three?

I put a little bit of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint on the cocktail glasses with a dauber, but it doesn’t show well. What it needs is Dazzling Diamonds, but Mr. Maui Stamper has a significant aversion to GLITTER. He doesn’t ask much, so I keep my bling as much under control as possible.

These are fun and fast and there are loads of sentiments in this set – good for any happy occasion!