Gimme a break…

Posted on September 9, 2009 by mauistamper

Doesn’t seem like that long ago when September and early October were all about costumes. There were a number of years when the costume had to come from Disney du jour. There were sessions with the tape measure, trips to the fabric store, and hours spent behind the sewing machine. As the kids got older, their costumes needed to reflect their growing maturity and the home-made Disney costumes became a thing of the past. Sweet memories.

The Pocahontas Ensembles

Now the sweets come from packages. My kids’ candy never looked this good! It’s simple, though I’m not sure I would have done this for 3 classes of 25 kids!

Gimme a break...Gimme a break...

Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar!

Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie card stock
Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie classic ink
Holiday Best Level One Hostess and Itty Bitty Backgrounds Stamps
Black Gingham ribbon

Trick or treat!!

One thing leads to another…

Posted on September 8, 2009 by mauistamper

These crazy bees! There’s something a little psycho about them. They’re sort of, I dunno, too happy. Especially for creatures who exist to work, work, work. All the same, they crack me up and I have made a LOT of cards using this stamp set. These bees started out as components of the Thursday Sketch Challenge at Stampin’ Addicts but by the time I added all the layers (including over-the-top scallops) these bees were too fat to go side-by-side on a card. I pushed them to the side of my stamping space to languish in the heap of “stuff to make something out of”. The muse was feeling generous, though, and before I finished for the night, the bees had been given a home.

Get Well Bees

Just Buzzin’ By and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry and Old Olive cardstock
Chocolate Chip Classic ink and Colored Pencils (just like the ones you had in grade school
Big Shot, SU Little Leaves Sizzlet, and SU Perfect Details Texturz Plate
Old Olive Ribbon from Elementary Ribbon Originals
Small and Large oval , 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″ and scallop circle punches
Stampin’ Sponge

Have you noticed that almost every card I make uses the Teeny Tiny Wishes (115370, $36.95) stamp set? I know, I know, it’s an expensive set. But seriously, it covers almost everything. An excellent value. Don’t say I didn’t tell you.

There’s one thing that bugs me (get it, bugs me???) about this card. The bees are facing the wrong direction. The two on the bottom have their backs to each other and need to be switched. However, I used Tombo Multi Purpose Adhesive (my absolute all time favorite) and if you know Tombo, you know I’m gonna tear this card to smithereens if I try to switch these two. But it bugs me all the same.

I guess I’ll just have to get over it.

Cheerful Flowers Part Two

Posted on September 7, 2009 by mauistamper

I felt so much better today…lots of texts from my college student made it seem like she wasn’t really 5,000 miles away. I started playing with the layout from the Stampin’ Addicts Thursday Sketch Challenge and after a couple of false starts, came up with a card that made me happy.

Sweet Stems

Sweet Stems and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, and Regal Rose cardstock
Certainly Celery Designer Series Paper (this pattern is retired, but new patterns are available)
1 1/4″ and 1″ Circle punches, Scallop Edge punch
Bermuda Bay, Certainly Celery, and Regal Rose ink
Regal Rose Ribbon

I usually start by choosing a stamp set, then a principal color. Sometimes I stick with those choices, sometimes I don’t. This time, I reached first for the Bermuda Bay, then Certainly Celery, and finally (hey, these are flowers, you can’t have just blue and green) added the Regal Rose. This isn’t a sketch I would have designed on my own, but it’s fun to stretch yourself with the challenges. The end result is whimsical and fairly simple.

Sweet Stems (113726, $16.95) is currently on the Dormant List from Stampin’ Up! That means it’s not in the catalog, but it’s still available for purchase. You can order it directly through me or through my Stampin’ Up! website.

I’ve spent too much time this morning reading WordPress tutorials, playing with watermarks, and studying other people’s blogs! Time to quit laboring and get outside on this Labor Day holiday.

Daffodils to bring a smile

Posted on September 6, 2009 by mauistamper

: Buzzin by Daffodils Ikebana style

We took Sara to the airport last night…she’s headed back to Boston. I know she’s ready and I know she’ll be happy but it was still a sad good-bye. Even though we’ll see her in October. Even though she’s been home all summer. Especially because she’s been home all summer! I’m gonna miss that girl…

To cheer myself up, I went looking for flowers – and not just any flowers – I needed Daffodils. So what if they’re out of season! Daffodils are the cheeriest flowers I could think of and that’s what the doctor ordered. I borrowed a concept from InkingAddict and used the ornament from Delightful Decorations to make a vase. My stems didn’t line up so instead of a nice narrow necked vase I used the small oval punch to make mine more of a bowl. Think Ikebana. OK, Ikebana without the style. I call it creative license.

Just Buzzin’ By stamp set
Delightful Decorations tamp set
Ornament Punch
Small Oval Punch
Whisper White, Bermuda Breeze, and Barely Banana cardstock
Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper
Soft Suede polka dotted ribbon
Soft Suede, Barely Banana and Bermuda Breeze Classic ink
Aquapainter and Stampin’ Dimensionals (gotta love ’em!)

Looking for inspiration?

Posted on September 4, 2009 by mauistamper

The Stampin' Up! Build a Bear

I’m always looking for new sources of inspiration.

Stampin’ Addicts is a relatively new forum with a focus on Stampin’ Up! products…you can visit my gallery under the screen name Hianna.

To celebrate the release of the Stampin’ Up! Build-A-Bear Workshop collection, Stampin Addicts dot com is giving away an exclusive Build-A-Bear teddy bear that was only available at the 2009 Stampin’ Up! convention. To enter all you have to do is write about it and join the Stampin Addicts forum.

Let’s get it started…

Posted on September 4, 2009 by mauistamper

Let’s begin at the beginning. I’ve thought about a blog for months, but many things – not the least being fear – have kept me from publishing. About 2 weeks ago I logged onto wordpress and signed up…and within 24 hours, I’d gotten a call asking if our family would be interested in hosting an exchange student for the school year. Oh, and by the way, could we let them know today? The young lady is waiting…

Our answer was yes, and what followed was an insane amount of activity based on one fact: our new daughter is allergic to cats. If you know me, you know that we’ve got a cat, and he has the run of the house. Further, he sheds a ridiculous amount of hair. After a week of vacuuming, carpet shampooing, laundering, and vigorous cat brushing, we felt as though we’d done our best.

The Feline Hair Machine

To all of our relief, Kseniya and the cat are co-existing well.

But this isn’t the point of this post…it’s an excuse for its belated debut.

One of my primary purposes is to share my paper crafts. My first love is card-making, but I do some 3-D and some scrapping. The card I want to share today is a simple one, and it’s inspired by a sample in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini catalog.

Bird in a Berry Christmas Wreath

Real Red, Always Artichoke, Brushed Gold and Very Vanilla cardstock
Berry Christmas and Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp sets
Stampin’ Up! Perfect Details Texturz plate, Stampin’ Up! Merry Details, and the Big Shot
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Rhinestone from clear Rhinestone Brads
Black Stampin’ Write Journaler
White Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen
Stamp-a-ma-jig

I don’t promise to blog every day although I do have a goal of regular posting. I also don’t promise to stick to one topic or another. It may take me a while to find my voice here. What I do promise is variety, whimsicality, and the occasional moment of lunacy. Pretty much the way I live my life.