Happy Birthday, Sara

Posted on June 19, 2011 by mauistamper

My Sara turned 21 last month…in Spain. I’m sure it was wonderful, although not quite the thrill it is to turn 21 in the U.S. It was a little challenging for her dad and me since we didn’t feel confident sending her birthday gift through the mail – a 21st birthday present should be something to remember, and entrusting such a gift to the Spanish postal system made me nervous. So Sara has to wait until she’s back in the U.S. before she gets her gift, and we sent this card to let her know we were thinking of her:

Bliss (SAB 2011), Charming and Well Scripted (retired mini) stamp sets
Whisper White, Pear Pizazz and Baja Breeze card stock
Pear Pizazz, Marina Mist and Night of Navy Classic ink pads
Vanilla Smooch Spritz; Stampin’ Sponges
Pear Pizazz Seam Binding
Pearl jewels

My little point-and-push doesn’t pick up the Smooch Spritz but trust me when I say it’s there. I’ve discovered that if you want a nice, even Spritz you need to press the plunger with complete authority. No hesitation here, my friends. If you hesitate, you get blobs. This isn’t such a big problem with Vanilla but it doesn’t work for me with Gold and Log Cabin. Bloppy. Blech.

The flourish stamp was inked in Marina Mist, then sponged with Night of Navy around the edges. The butterfly is cut out and attached with a glue dot for just the tiniest bit of lift. Yes, you guessed it; this is a One Stamp Card. When the stamp costs $.98 (International rate) one should be enough – and we don’t want to give the Spanish post office any excuses for delaying these birthday greetings.

Peggy’s slippers

Posted on May 29, 2011 by mauistamper

OK, I need to explain something right off the bat. In Hawaii, they’re called slippers. Rubber slippers, to be more precise, and pronounced Rubbah Slippah. Not thong, zori, flip-flop, sandal, or anything else. There, got that off my chest.

Peggy made this card for me, and I know the cardstock is Whisper White and Poppy Parade, and the slippers are from the Sunny Fun stamp set in the Summer Mini. She embossed them with our new Wild Wasabi embossing powder, and I have to tell you that this stuff is awesome. It’s a fine, detail powder and the color just pops! (Be SURE to use your embossing buddy!!) She used Stampin’ Write markers to color in the details on the slippers, and the embossing makes it much easier to stay inside the lines.

The standard slippah is black, plain black. It’s what kids in school prefer and Longs Drug Store has an entire aisle with black slippahs in every possible size, teeny baby foot to big daddy foot. When you walk in rubbah slippahs, you don’t slap them against your heel, you let them drag just a little bit. And if you’re feeling sullen or tired or just real mellow, you let them drag a lot so that they almost shuffle along the ground by themselves. Old surfers put their names or initials on their slippahs so they don’t get grabbed by mistake from the pile by the door.

These, however, are not standard slippahs. These are Lah Dee Dah, Look at Me, (dare I say it) Mainland slippers. You could even let these slippers slap your heel.

White flowers, tall grass

Posted on May 27, 2011 by mauistamper

I really hope the Inspired by Nature stamp set remains in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog:

Inspired by Nature stamp set
Whisper White, Shimmer White, Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery card stock
Certainly Celery Classic ink pad
XL 5 Petal flower, XL Boho Blossom and Eyelet Border punches
Baja Breeze seam binding
Stampin’ Dimensionals, Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive)
Pearl Jewels, Bone folder

I’ve made these flowers before, but with much brighter colors. I actually started out with the card base, the eyelet panel, and the seam binding ribbon – kind of a backwards construction process. I just sat there staring at the blank card – do you ever do that? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. If I could figure out why inspiration flows so beautifully on one day and so hideously another I would be thrilled. At least I would know which days to stamp and which days to do all the other Stuff that has to be done! There’s nothing quite so discouraging as thinking you’re going to have time to work on something fun soon, in just a little while, as soon as this is finished…and then suddenly you realize it’s bedtime. If I knew the 3rd Tuesday of every month was super-mojo-day you can bet I would clear out my calendar for 3rd Tuesdays!

Enough dreaming…these flowers are very simple and fun to play with. The 5 point flower is scored through the petal and creased. I line my ruler up with the tip of one petal and the valley between the two opposite petals in a straight line and use my bone folder to create the crease. I keep a short 6 inch ruler on my craft table for just this sort of thing because some days I just can’t seem to manage a full 12 inches of ruler. When all the petals are scored I press each one together on the score line not quite to the center of the flower. Stick a Stampin’ Dimensional in the center of the flower and put one of the big Boho Punch flowers on top of the dimensional. Snip between the petals of the Boho 6 petal flower (the middle size one) and bend them up a little, then use a dot of Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive) to adhere them to the stack. Drop on a little pearl or bling and your flower is ready to go!

Although these flowers have a little bit of dimension, since the bow is Seam Binding the card is flat enough to be a One Stamp Card – woo hoo! This card fits into the Stampin’ Up! Small Open-End envelope.