The second half of 2012

Posted on December 29, 2011 by mauistamper

I have such a good time designing these calendar pages. It’s sort of like designing inchies, except you have a little more space to work with – but not much! Here’s July done in Buttons:

For the August calendar, I pulled out an old set that I keep for special occasions – Classic Pickups:

And to round out the quarter, I did September without stamps – instead, I made pennants with the Pennant Builder Punch:

I just love that Spice Cake Designer Series paper, and if you love it too you’d better hustle yourself off to my Online Store and order # 124003 because it will turn into a pumpkin at the stroke of 11:50pm Mountain Standard Time on January 3, 2012!

My Paper Garden

Posted on September 25, 2011 by mauistamper

Look what’s growing in my garden:

Easy, too – Spice Cake Designer Series paper, buttons, ribbon, twine – and of course my Simply Scored!

Here are a few tricks:

Score the paper every 1/4 inch. I’ve tried scoring every half inch on one side, then flipping it over to score in the middle of each half inch on the other side (that creates every 1/4 inch alternating mountain and valley), but in my opininon it’s not worth the trouble.
Cardstock is harder to fan fold than Designer Series paper, so practice with the DSP – just be sure not to press so hard that you tear instead of score
Your paper doesn’t have to be tall – maybe 1 or 1 1/2 inches – but longer is better. If it’s too short, when you try to fold the fan around to make a circle the top edge has to stretch too much and it will “lampshade” on you. Mine are two pieces (8 1/2 inches) each stuck together with Sticky Strip.
To get a secure fan, I use my piercing tool and mat after I have scored to pierce a hole in the center of EACH panel at the bottom edge of the strip. Then I use a big needle threaded with Linen Thread and stitch through the holes. I leave the holes on either end for the last step: when all the other holes are threaded, I attach the two ends of the paper strip with Sticky Strip and thread the Linen Thread through that last hole. Then I can cinch up the fan and tie it off.

I know, I know, it sounds complicated. The first one feels complicated. After that, they are mindless. Trust me. I have a basket with pieces of these fan-fold flowers in varying states of completion, and when I have a couple of minutes I’ll work on them. They are a perfect finishing touch!

Un-marked cards

Posted on September 22, 2011 by mauistamper

Are you sick of Spice Cake yet?

How could you be? Honestly…

This is a very simple card that will go into my stash of “un-marked cards”. It’s nice to have a few cards without any sentiment for that moment when you realize you need a special card and NOW. I’m sure I’m the only disorganized person out there. I think Stampin’ Up! made a “Happy Belated Birthday” stamp just for me.

Did you want to see the whole thing? There really isn’t much more to it: