@love

October 21, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Not everyone shares the same view of love, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful to them. Easy words to say, but not always easy to follow. Sometimes we just need to look at it from a different perspective.

This card is much larger than my normal projects. It measures 7 1/4″ x 4 1/4″. That will definitely require a custom envelope. Won’t this one be fun to get in the mail though.

I lined my wonderful huge alphabet stamps up on a long block and got to work. I had planned on a clean background, but liked how my practice stamping looked as I stamped off ink. There you go. I added the @ symbol afterwards using silver Encore ink. Thought it gave it the perfect touch and made it have a bit more meaning, to me at least. Several strands wrapped around the bottom with my ever favorite metallic thread and this lovely card was all done.

I almost forgot to mention, but I am sure you can see it, I echo stamped the entire phrase inside super light. You can see it, but there will be no problem writing over it without confusing your message or the image. Just right.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Grateful

August 23, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

It isn’t very often you get to design a special card like this one. Tomorrow will be me and my husbands 25th wedding anniversary and I feel truly grateful for every day we have loved together.

I didn’t want to use a traditional ‘anniversary’ stamp or theme. That isn’t how I feel. I feel gratitude. Having a lasting marriage isn’t the norm these days and I feel very fortunate to be among those who get to celebrate like this. Hence the grateful sentiment.

This card was made with the ever so lovely heavy weight whisper white cardstock. I love that stuff like crazy. Especially when embossed. It handles the embossing folders so much better. Look at that texture! The flowers are my favorite, like always. They were attached with glue dots and given a basic rhinestone center. Just right. Now, about the grateful phrase. That thinlit will be available for order on September 1st, but since I am a demonstrator I got to get in on the pre-order during August. Such a fun perk. So, you can get to it too, soon.

I wanted it to be dimensional a bit, so I used glue dots on it too. I rolled a glue dot up a bit and stuck it on thicker parts of the word. I ended up using four dots all together and it turned out great.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Yippee-Skippee in Love!

May 22, 2015May 22, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

There are times when how I feel just saturates what I create. Today’s project set is a perfect example of that.

Last night I finished a lovely book in a series I had previously enjoyed. I am a middle school librarian, so I have the perfect excuse to revel in young adult literature. Who am I kidding, I would read it regardless. I have always enjoyed reading what my children do and visa versa.

Love, true love, is an obvious theme here. Even though the series continues and I have to wait for the next novel, I was left all emotional and girlie and super in love. Hence, the color choices and such.

I used a whole sheet of 12 x 12 silver foil velum here. Two card fronts and a lovely bag. I poured out the chevron ribbon, because I love it so, and added a few elegant embellishments. I knew these cards could be for a variety of occasions, so I left the sentiment off the front. I will stamp the inside with just the right thing when I put them to work.

I might have to fill the bag with truffles or something lovely and give it to my husband. That sounds just right.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Birthday Dash with Box Buddy

May 8, 2015May 8, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Someone you know having a birthday and need a card right away? Why not make a card with a matching box buddy? It may look like it took a lot of time, but it was super quick. Enough said.

I used one sheet of sahara sand to base both of these projects. I cut a 6 x 6 portion first and used the remaining for the card. It came together really nice actually.

When you have paper as beautiful as the birthday bash set, you really want to showcase it. I usually don’t cover it, but I felt the need to play with this awesome ribbon! It is huge, soft, and full of color. Too much fun.

The card is a bit off normal size, but only a 1/2 inch shorter. Yes, it will fit perfectly in my regular envelopes, no need to make a custom one. The bit of extra space allows for that huge ribbon. Perfect!

Get out your pretty paper and put it to work for you. This paper won’t be around much longer, retiring and all. I might have to get a bit more, it makes such wonderful birthday cards.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Guy Greetings Thank You

May 2, 2015May 2, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

How do you say thank you to a man with a card? Just like this. Simple, a bit of elegance, and a touch of humor, but just a touch.

Denali requested a special manly thank you card for her prom dates father. He is doing all of the driving for the two of them, neither one have a license, even as seniors, so they need a little help. Hence, the thank you. I thought that was adorable.

Also, it works for sharing with you today! This set doesn’t seem to be carrying over to next year, so we have to say goodbye. So sad, because it is a great manly set. Well, I won’t stop using it.

This is a quick project day, because it is prom day! When you have a young lady going to her first and only prom, you want to make it special. There are still some things that have to be dealt with, like sharing some joy and some basic chores. Other than that, we are all about getting pretty. Nails and hair are already done, so just enjoying the fun of makeup. The next photos I take will be filled with a lovely young lady and her good friend. Wheeeeee!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Mixed Bunches of Sassy Salutations

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Well Good Morning! Isn’t this just a huge ray of sunshine? Bright, happy, sunny, and they make me smile. What a great combo!

There is something about huge polka dots that just makes me smile. After adding a smattering of flowers and an adorable greeting, all you need is someone wonderful to share them with.

Out of this set, what is retiring? The paper of course. Such a versatile set, I will miss it. The angled tag topper punch. I am glad it have it. I love the curled and pretty ones, but sometimes you don’t want that. And of course the flower stamp used. It is from a set of designed flowers that also have center round stamps for layering and extra fun. I make backgrounds out of those all of the time. There is a coordinating punch for the flower that I didn’t use on this one. I didn’t have crushed curry ribbon, but the hello honey was just right. This particular ribbon is retiring, but the color will be with us for another year. It is hard to tell in my photo, but the ribbon is just a shade or two darker. And I love it!

These went together really fast. The perfect example of simple stamping with coordinating products to give it the professional look we all love.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Ray of Sunshine with Perfect Pennants

April 20, 2015April 20, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Color, color, and more color. I obviously had color on the mind. I have been wanting to make a card that felt like a sunrise. This fit the need nicely.

It wasn’t easy for me to leave it alone with just ink and a sentiment, but I managed. I have coordinating ribbon, but didn’t want to break up the colors. My supporting committee backed me up and here they are.

A friend of mine recently had an adorable little girl and I couldn’t wait to use this stamp for a baby card. It feels like a warm cuddle, just like a baby. Yummy.

I took my inks and sponges and went to work. I started at the bottom with crushed curry and sponged and swirled away. I progressed across the card with the four different colors ending with night of navy on the top. After the ink dried I stamped my sentiment where I wanted it to sit and embossed it with black powder. I headed to the big shot and cut out my image. Yes, that left a hole in my background piece. But with my framed bit also done in night of navy, it was all covered up. I just popped that up on dimensionals and called it done. A great technique on both fronts.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Flowering Flourishes with French?

April 18, 2015April 18, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Saturday is usually my day to go all out with some totally extravagant project. But today is workshop, so making sure I have everything just right takes priority. I couldn’t not do something though.

Clean and simple cards may not be my strength, but I totally nailed this one! I started out with the idea of stamping my background paper. After the first two stamps up one side I fell in love. I added one little flower in the top corner and stopped. Such an interesting feeling.

I knew I needed a tiny sentiment, so I went on the prowl. I came across a retired hostess set called Good Greetings. I had earned a couple of free sets and put the wrong code in for one of them. That was the french set. But I couldn’t bring myself to exchange it. And doesn’t it fit perfectly? You know it does.

How did I choose these colors? Well, I recently made an order to take advantage of that no shipping sale and stocked up on paper. The heavy stuff for sure. I added a few spools of cotton ribbon. You guessed it. Whisper white, blushing bride and island indigo. There they sat it the box just telling me to do it. Done.

Have a creative day!

Moana

So Much Joy

April 16, 2015April 16, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

There is so much joy in every day life, why not in our cards and paper projects too?

When I saw this weeks specials on the Stampin’Up! site I knew I had to break out some tools and make something special with them together. Both framelits shown here plus the large pansy punch are all on sale. Plus a few other goodies that I don’t have, yet. I love a good sale!

I grabbed a piece of paper from the birthday bash set to set the color stage and gave it some friends with crushed curry and tangelo twist. Good friends. I knew I wanted to make a gate fold card and decided to anchor the fold with a flower. Since it was going to be layered, I knew it needed some strength.

Enter the awesome huge designer vintage faceted buttons. They are so fabulous! Just when you think you couldn’t possibly use a button that large, bam! The perfect choice!

So Much Joy

Lots of sponging, some glue dots, and a few dimensionals and here is another great set! I love it when everything comes together to create beauty like this.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Crazy About You With Elegance

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

“When you feel terrible, can you still create something beautiful?” That is what I asked myself last night. I had an endodontist appointment yesterday that I thought was headed one way and took another. So, I wasn’t feeling very creative.

Or so I thought. I knew black was my base, I had been wanting to make something with black for several days. But the flower I wanted to stamp with I had just used and didn’t want to just create another card in another color. I pulled the Crazy About You set out and picked this flower out of it.

I was reaching for my momento tuxedo black ink when I saw the silver. I thought it could be cool to layer the stamping. Was I right or what?

I love how this turned out. I did learn, and please trust me on this one, that you have to clean your stamp after each layering stamp. I stamped in silver first and let them dry for a while. I went back in with the black, but it was picking up silver and then I was putting it back into the pad and getting silver in it. Not fun. So I ended up cleaning the stamp after each black flower was stamped. Not too tiring, but necessary. And yes, my ink pad survived nicely.

I placed just a few of the large basic rhinestones in the centers of the black flowers. It is kind of hard to tell with my photos, but they are the perfect touch. I added a touch of ribbon and left the sentiment out of it. They turned out very elegant. My matching gift bag has an angled purse look to it, and I absolutely love it.

Sorry for the long post, I was apparently feeling a bit chatty.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Hello There Vivid Vases

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Good Morning! Saturdays are busy, so I don’t always get to post first thing. But it is still technically morning, so it counts. And what a lovely morning it has been.

I had an itching to water color. The vivid vases stamp is simple, but gives a lot of opportunity to play. And play I did. I actually had out seven different inks if you can image it. I love color! Especially when it is subtle like in this project.

I just got my colors out and an aqua painter. Enough said. I stamped my image in stazon on water color paper and then got painting. I used soft sky as my main color because it was the color of the water in my vases. It turned out so lovely.

I had some extra paper from the sheet I cut into, so I turned it into a matching sour cream treat container. Just right for sure.

I also got to showcase the lovely lace embossing folder. Isn’t it so beautiful? I finished off both projects with coordinating seam binding ribbon. I love that stuff. I think I actually have all of the colors. That is unusual for me, I am more selective than that.

Have a super creative day!

Moana

Yippee-Skippee! for Sale-a-bration!

March 31, 2015March 31, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Today is the last day of Sale-a-bration. So sad, but happy because of all of the beautiful and fun products I have been able to enjoy. I thought I would celebrate by giving myself a gift.

I started out with this gift bag in mind. I took a whole sheet of Irresistibly Yours DSP and sponged it like crazy with blushing bride. It was so beautiful just sitting there on my desk. When I cut the large pieces I needed for the bag I had a good portion left.

So, of course I had to make a set of cards to go along. The Yippee-Skipee! stamp set is chuck full of wonderful sayings, six all together. A great set to have, really. I have used it like crazy.

All I knew when I sat down is the color scheme and the designer paper. I was more than pleased when they all came together. The cards all fit so nicely inside the gift bag.

My Denali said that set spoke of lovely rich chocolate. So perhaps I will have to find just the right one to complete it. I really love this set. I love that I do this!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Kinda Eclectic Ray of Sunshine

March 21, 2015March 21, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Eclectic is the true nature of this card. A little bit of everything coming together to create something beautiful. With these colors, stamped images, punches, and a perfect Walt Whitman quote, how could you go wrong?

Of course I had to layer in the 1/8th” fashion as is my thing these days. But it makes me happy, even if it seems a bit wasteful. I often punch or cut out underneath anyway, so it isn’t too bad. I didn’t think I would notice if I inked the edges or not in such a narrow border, but you totally do. It looked almost plain otherwise with this combo. Interesting.

When I stamped inside I used just the corner of the sunburst, it was just right. It made me think of a quilt block I have never been brave enough to try. I think I have seen it called New York beauty and it involves paper piecing to keep those points just so. Beautiful, but daunting. Maybe someday.

Well, today is workshop day, so I had to keep it brief. No time for a second variation of the card and a matching bag. I still have to get to the store before I go!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Guy Greetings

March 18, 2015March 18, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Can this set get any more masculine? I didn’t think so. I have to admit, I bought this stamp set entirely for these three stamps. Which is a bit excessive, but I loved them so much it didn’t matter. The rest of the set is super as well, but these are my favorites.

I know this has a Father’s Day look to it, but that isn’t who I had in mind when I made them. Actually, it was my husband. I did learn a lot from my dad, but when it comes to working with tools, that would be my husband. He has taught me so much and is endlessly patient with my questions. So fun.

I kept these pretty darn simple. I did like how when I put the sentiment on point they reminded me of caution signs. I wanted the tangerine tango more narrow to match the narrow background boarder, so I tried something out. After I cut out the tangerine tango square, I put it back on the cutting plate, and put the framelit on again but shifted it up at a diagonal. So I was cutting an L shape away. It worked out the first time. I could have done more to match the 1/8th” boarder, but went with it.

I used some dimensionals on the almost artichoke one and left the tangerine tango flat. Just some variety there. Of course I had to stamp on the inside and distress it all the way around. Tools aren’t tidy after all.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Cheerful Critters with Snuggles & Smooches

March 5, 2015March 5, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Working with pretty paper is always a ton of fun. I decided to pick out a sheet of designer series paper and go for it.

This paper is from the Sweet Taffy set. The whole pack is really fun, exciting, and full of bold color. You are seeing both sides of one sheet today.

That is probably my greatest frustration with some of the paper packs. Which side do you love more? Well, today I used both. I made a card for each side. Aren’t they fun?

The stamping was pretty basic and the layering was simple too. Sometimes that is just all you need. I really wanted to enjoy the paper though.

Of course, if you know me well, you know that orange is my favorite color. When I get asked that question I always clarify with, “Yes, orange, like a pumpkin orange.” Too much fun there!

Have a creative day!

Moana

For the New Two

February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 ~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I love an opportunity to use something beautiful. I loved nearly everything in this particular suite. The background stamp, Something Lacy, has quickly found its place in my heart. I have used it so many times. This could be project three for workshop, you think?

A good friend recently got married and I needed a card of course. I used the inspiration from the Stampin’Up! Spring Catalog. Denali wanted the flowers to be blue though. She thought it appropriate with the idea of ‘something borrowed, something blue’.

Of course the designer series paper we are using for the thank you cards is actually called Something Borrowed. She didn’t even know it. Guess that means blue is perfect.

I stamped with white Stazon on vellum cardstock then colored select items from the back side with blendabilities. I could have done quite a bit more, but wanted the focus to be on the sentiment.

It is all about the bride and the groom after all. And this couple sure is wonderful!

Have a creative day!

Moana

studio824

Creativity for all seasons and reasons.

Anniversary

@love

Grateful

Yippee-Skippee in Love!

Birthday Dash with Box Buddy

Guy Greetings Thank You

Mixed Bunches of Sassy Salutations

Ray of Sunshine with Perfect Pennants

Flowering Flourishes with French?

So Much Joy

Crazy About You With Elegance

Hello There Vivid Vases

Yippee-Skippee! for Sale-a-bration!

Kinda Eclectic Ray of Sunshine

Guy Greetings

Cheerful Critters with Snuggles & Smooches

For the New Two