Happy Father’s Day, Dad

Posted on June 20, 2010 by mauistamper

I won’t be spending Father’s Day with my dad this year…most years I don’t. We’re on the road, mid-way between a week of total R&R in Door County, Wisconsin and conference-plus-Big-City-fun in Chicago. My dad’s on the West Coast, and though I’m not there, I’ll be sending my son to spend a couple of weeks with him and my mom when we leave Chicago. It’s a fabulous time for everyone – Grandma and Grandpa enjoy my son a great deal, and my son is a big fan of his grandfather’s very specific diet: Ice cream daily, twice if you can get it. My dad and my son are a well-matched pair.

Sense of Time, Sentimental Journey and All Holidays Stamp sets
Very Vanilla, Dusty Durango and Handsome Hunter card stock
Dusty Durango and Handsome Hunter Classic ink pads
Dusty Durango polka dot ribbon; Stampin’ Dimensionals

This card is simple to make. I stamped the big clock face image first, then just filled in with the images from Sense of Time and Sentimental Journey. Some of them I stamped off (ink, stamp once on scrap paper, then stamp on project) and some I used “full strength”. The “Happy Father’s Day” image is stamped onto a scrap of Very Vanilla and trimmed to fit – trying to stamp that squared image perfectly on a piece of cardstock would make me crazy. (OK. Crazier.) That image is lifted on Stampin’ Dimensionals to help it to clear the ribbon and to add some, well, dimension.

Whenever I make a card base with a deep color like Handsome Hunter, I always cut a panel of light cardstock to insert on the inside. If my card is 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ I cut my panel to 4″ x 5 1/4″ – you get the idea.

Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads out there.

Travel Time Collage

Posted on June 1, 2010 by mauistamper

It’s a busy day for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators. Last night (or early this morning, depending on where you live) the new catalog Sneak Peak products were released. There was a frenzy of posting on various forums as we waited for the new information to load on the demonstrator site. Since Hawaii is four hours behind Riverton, Utah (where Stampin’ Up! is located) I was doing my waiting at a very respectable 8pm. Demonstrators east of Riverton were not so fortunate!

I’ve ordered some new goodies, and though we’re not allowed to show you any pictures of actual products until they are released, we ARE allowed to show you things we MAKE with those products. Watch for some exciting new images hitting this blog soon!

Today I have a card that is entirely different from anything I’ve ever done:

Sentimental Journey, Sense of Time and French Script Stamp sets
Kraft (soon to be Crumb Cake) card stock
Chocolate Chip Classic ink pad

Are you shocked? I’m still trying to decide if I like it. I’ve admired other stampers collage work, and these sets seemed to fit together well for the purpose. Some of the images were stamped with fresh ink and others were stamped off before I put them to the card. Three stamp sets, one paper, one ink. That’s it. The whole enchilada.

I masked the large clock before I stamped the large background French Script stamp. I like the way it makes the clock face take center stage, although sometimes I wish the clock wasn’t such a priority in life. Many years ago, my husband and I drove across the country and we packed away our watches and covered up the dashboard clock. It was a wonderful trip.

I couldn’t stamp this way all of the time – it would bore me to tears. Once in a while, though, it’s nice to do something different.

Going places with double pockets

Posted on May 14, 2010 by mauistamper

Travel is the ultimate educational experience. Getting outside of my comfortable routine and familiar environment exposes me to other ways of thinking and living and I find that really stimulating – at least for a while. We’ve been fortunate to be able to travel as a family to some pretty interesting places. Those times together have given us a lot of fond memories as well as no small amount of ammunition in the battle of the minds.

The new Sentimental Journey stamp set in the Summer Mini catalog calls to mind those family vacations. The excitement of arrival in a new place, the chaos of unanticipated situations, and the adventure of exploration are evoked in the images in this set. A pocket card seemed like a great way to package the possibilities:

Sentimental Journey, En Francais, Wings of Friendship and Whimsical Words stamps
Naturals Ivory, Sage Shadow, Soft Suede and Ruby Red card stock
Sage Shadow, Soft Suede and Ruby Red classic ink pads
Soft Suede Stampin’ Write marker, Vintage Brads, and Crop-a-dile
Soft Suede polka dot ribbon, Horizontal Slot and Tag Corner punches
1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ square punches

Wouldn’t this be a fabulous way to present your graduate with that trip of a lifetime? Ah well…in my house, the trip of a lifetime is called University Tuition. But here are the tags I put inside:

Makes you want to pack your bags, doesn’t it? Even when I live in a wonderful place like Maui, travel beckons. And when the travel is done, well, there’s no place like home.