Share what you love

Posted on August 15, 2010 by mauistamper

At the Stampin’ Up! annual convention every year, demonstrators are invited to a place called “Memento Mall”. The Home Office comes up with all sorts of merchandise unavailable in the catalog (or for that matter anyplace else) to entice us to spend our stamp money. You would think we would hold onto that stamp money pretty carefully, but then maybe you haven’t seen Memento Mall:

This photo is blurry because no one stands still in Memento Mall. Demonstrators rush in and pounce on every display, grabbing merchandise and trying to figure out how much it costs and whether or not there is a purchase limit. It’s a stampers’ feeding frenzy!

One of my favorite Memento Mall purchases is this stamp:

I’m not going to give you a recipe, because the stamp was only available at the Stampin’ Up! Convention and some of the papers are retired. These are little Post-It note holders (courtesy of the amazing Becky Roberts – I could CASE her all day) and they are gifts for workshop guests who bring a friend.

The heart of stamping – and Stampin’ Up! – is sharing and I hope you enjoy what I share with you.

I believe this is my favorite…

Posted on August 2, 2010 by mauistamper

It’s a gorgeous day today and it started in the best possible way with Irene’s gentle yoga class at Kihei Community Yoga. Everything gets put in the right place when I make the time for that class, and it helps me be energized and centered. It’s a perfect start for a busy week.

Today I’m sharing my absolute favorite Make-and-Take from convention. If you’ve read my last post you won’t be at all surprised to find we used Just Believe (wood mount #116948 $33.95, clear mount #120453 $25.95) for this project. Honestly, you need this stamp set!

Just Believe stamp set
Not Quite Navy and Bashful Blue card stock; Watercolor paper
Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Old Olive and Pear Pizazz Stampin’ Write markers
Old Olive Satin ribbon; Brights Designer Buttons; Linen thread
Color Spritzer tool; small spray bottle filled with water

I’m thrilled with the look of this card. The image is colored with markers and then lightly spritzed with water before being stamped on watercolor paper. Everyone at my table got different results depending on how they used the markers and how they spritzed the stamp, but each card was uniquely beautiful. I still struggle with tearing – I’m too particular by nature to just give it a cavalier rip and let it go at that. One of these days I’m just gonna let go and let ‘er rip and it will surprise us all!!

If you’re ready to let ‘er rip and put Just Believe on your craft desk, head on over to my Online Store and click that Shop Now button. It will be one of the most versatile, well-used, beloved stamp sets you own.

Just Believe

Posted on July 30, 2010 by mauistamper

One of the free stamp sets we received at convention was Just Believe. I have to tell you that I had mixed feelings when I saw the notice on the Demonstrator Website that told us that set would be part of our convention package. Part of me was really excited because I fell in love with that stamp set the first time I laid eyes on it, and part of me was terribly disappointed because I fell in love with that stamp set the first time I laid eyes on it and I didn’t want to wait until almost the end of JULY to get to stamp with it!

The set is worth the wait, believe me. (Get it? Believe? Ok, I know, you get it.) We did some beautiful projects during our Make and Take session at convention, and since then I’ve continued to experiement with this set. If you like this style at all, this set should be your very next purchase because you will reach for it over and over until it’s paid for itself ten-fold.

Here’s the swap we did:

This is a simple, one layer 3 x 3 card and envelope. We used the negative image from the Sizzix Originals Circles #2 die as a reverse mask to sponge the circle, then stemped the two images in Early Espresso. I decided to step it up just a little for one of my hostess club projects this week:

Just Believe stamp set
Pear Pizazz, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock
Pear Pizazz, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight Classic ink pads
Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Hemp twine, Designer Brights Buttons
Stampin’ Sponges, Hobby blade

The ribbon is threaded through a slit in the side of the card so that I could wrap it all the way around. The Chocolate Chip ribbon is retired, but you should use the Early Espresso ribbon, ink and cardstock because that new color is absolutely gorgeous. Never mind that coffee is my nectar of life…that deep dark brown is luscious.

I can’t wait to spend some more time with this set.

Embarassing the kids from 2,440 miles away

Posted on July 29, 2010 by mauistamper

You know that feeling when you’re on information overload and your brain is bouncing ideas and pictures and emotions around the inside of your head like countless superballs ricocheting around? That’s what my head has been like this week. It’s an exciting, crazy, even frightening place…but of course the inside of my head is almost always in one of those states. Having all three co-existing at once is…well…exciting, crazy and even frightening!

Convention was an amazing, inspiring and highly memorable experience on many levels. Personally, I had a wonderful time meeting so many other talented demonstrators and spending time with my friend Robbie. You learn a great deal about someone when you travel with her. We laughed and explored and learned and celebrated and ate and drank and fell into bed exhausted every night, only to jump up early the next day in order to do it all over again. I took her on some mis-guided adventures – she kindly referred to them as “walkabouts” – and we made the best of a miserable airline delay on the way home. Better than that, we found our alter-egos. Yes, we were children of the 70’s and the Stampin’ Up! Flower Power party was one groovy blast from the past. I even managed to embarass my son from 2,440 miles away.

Every day there was new inspiration. Our fellow demonstrators submitted astonishing artwork for display, the Stampin’ Up! Creative Genius department had ideas that knocked our socks off, and we swapped with some of the most talented and innovative paper-crafters in the world. That’s a lot of inspiration! I’m hoping to share with you some of the incredible swaps I received at convention, but I won’t publish them here until I have the permission of the artist. In the meantime, I can share with you some of the Make-and-Takes we did at convention. Our M&T session wasn’t until the morning of the third day of convention, and by then you’d better believe my hands were itchin’ to stamp!

This uses the single stamp So Many Thanks with Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight and Real Red cardstock and ink. The little package tied with ribbon is an envelop for a 6×6 card folded in half and made into a portfolio for the cards. Quick and easy and very cute…this is a project I’ll do again with a variety of colors. Wouldn’t you like to be my hostess and receive a hostess gift like this? Call me and we can make it happen!