Christmas Stocking Card Specs

I've had a couple of requests for the dimensions I used on my August and September holiday card posts, so here they are:

Punch stockings first using scraps of holiday DSP; assemble with glue pen and allow to dry.  Add a loop of baker's twine to back of stocking using clear tape.

Card base:  5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches Very Vanilla, scored and folded as a standard greeting card.
DSP:  Well Worn, cut 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches; adhere to front of Very Vanilla card base.
Cut black card stock 3 7/8 x 3 inches.  Center over DSP, aligning bottom edge of black with bottom edge of DSP.
Top of card - two pieces of Early Espresso.  One cut 1 x 4 1/4 inches and sponged with Early Espresso ink along bottom and side edges only (adhere directly to DSP layer, aligning top edge).  Other is cut 5/8 x 4 1/4 inches and sponged along top, bottom and side edges.  Add silver brads at 1 3/8 and 2 7/8 from left edge of this strip.  Before pushing brads all the way through, add loop of stocking over brad.  Pop up Early Espresso with dimensionals along top edge of card.  Add dimensionals to back of stocking and adhere to card.

Bottom of card:  4 1/4 x 7/16 inches, sponged in Early Espresso along all sides.  Pop up with stampin' dimensionals.

Make the fire using the bird punch (wing) - Daffodill Delight card stock.  Two of the flames curve left with the other curving right.  Sponge with Pumpkin Pie ink.  Glue together with glue pen, allow to dry.  Make logs with word window punch and Early Espresso card stock.  Sponge edges with Early Espresso ink and glue together.  Glue flames to top edge of logs.  Pop up with stampin' dimensionals and place on card just above hearth that is popped up.

I hope that all makes sense - have fun making these super easy cards!  To save some time, you could choose to not sponge the Early Espresso except for on the fire.

September Set of Christmas Cards

As promised, here's my set of Christmas cards for September.  There are seven this time around, using scraps of Ski Slope designer series paper.  I wasn't sure about getting the stocking punch, but now I'm really glad I did.  I hope my stampers will love making this card at an upcoming stamp camp.  I got the matching stamp set, so they'll be able to just punch from DSP or stamp and then punch.

 

Have a fabulous day - I hope it involves doing something fun and creative!

August Set of Christmas Cards

Here's my batch of Christmas cards for my August quota.  I used the cute new stocking punch, word window punch, and bird punch to create my card.  I made six of these using scraps of probably my favorite holiday designer series paper, the retired Holiday Treasures.  The early espresso card stock edges were sponged with espresso ink, and the top of the mantle, hearth, fire, and stockings are all popped up.  I really like how they turned out.  I ended up doing another seven, this time with scraps of another favorite holiday paper, the retired Ski Slope.  I'll share those with you tomorrow.

I'm already above the number of cards I had hoped to make for 2011, so it will be nice to have some extras for a change!

Last Page and Cover of Maui Album

Today will be the last post of my Maui digital scrapbook album.  The first page is a shot of the crescent moon over the palm trees in front of the condo we rented in Kihei, with a little glow of the sunset left.

For my back cover, I took the image of Arianne's footprints on Kahana Beach and flipped it.  If I have an option for the color of the spine when I upload my album, I'll go with the Creamy Caramel which borders the image.

I thought it was a fitting end to my album.  It was a wonderful vacation.  We've been to Maui so many times now it almost feels like coming home in a sense.  When we retire, I hope to make that a true statement, as my DH and I would like to live there for a year before trying out some other areas of our country, a year at a time.  He's lived in our hometown all but one year of his life, so he wants to see what other regions of our country are like.  Can't say I blame him.

Thanks again for visiting my blog - I hope to have some Christmas cards and swaps to share with you soon!

Views from the Kihei Surfside

Being isolated on a rocky bluff, the Kihei Surfside provided some interesting landscapes to check out.  The resort is located adjacent to the Kihei Boat Ramp, so we saw several small boats, rafts, and kayaks launched from the ramp.  The curved breakwater there made for a nice backdrop to some of the photographs my husband shot.  Every day we'd see someone fishing from the rocks out in front of the condo or from the breakwater when we'd trek over there.  There was so much to look at, with the island of Kaho'olawe to the left of the resort (and Molokini Crater in front of it), the island of Lana'i straight out in front of our unit, and the West Maui mountains to the right.  Spectacular views there, all around.

I thank you for letting me share my Maui vacation with you.  I have one last post from our trip scheduled for tomorrow where I'll share our final sunset on Maui and the back cover of my album.  I'll return to card making after this for a bit as I've got some swaps to make as well as my August allotment of Christmas cards.  See you soon!

Kihei Sunsets

Although I love the Kahana area of West Maui, I have to admit that I really liked the sunsets from the condo in Kihei better.  The grounds of the Kihei Surfside provide many different photo opportunities for sunset pictures.  Today I'm sharing with you a four page spread of the gorgeous sunsets we viewed from Kihei.  The sun sets behind the island of Lana'i from our vantage point, with West Maui to the right.  Over to the left of Lana'i is the island of Kaho'olawe and in the foreground, Molokini Crater, which can be seen in a smaller image at the bottom left of the third page of this spread.

One more regular spread to go, then I'll share with you the last page and back cover of my album.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Maui Rainbows

We were treated to a few rainbows during our stay on Maui, so I put together a page to share them.

 

Not as many rainbows as we've seen in previous years, but they were beautiful!  The top left and bottom images were shot by our youngest.

Views from the Royal Kahana

One thing I love about the Royal Kahana is the view of the neighboring property and out across the ocean towards the islands of Lana'i and Moloka'i.  If I ever win the lottery (yeah, right), I'd consider buying one of the oceanfront units at the RK.  I love the location - it's typically a few degrees cooler there than if you head down into Lahaina.

I finished my album on August 7, so now it's just a matter of looking back over it a few more times to see what needs to be tweaked before I uploaded to the Stampin' Up! print services.  I'm so excited - I can't remember the last time I did so much scrapbooking!

Big Beach

We made it home safely but only to find out that our favorite coffee shop, Jazz 'n Java, closed it's doors while we were gone.  Word has it that the property recently got a new landlord, who stupidly decided to increase the rent (In this economy?  Hello... especially with two of the four units of the property having been empty for more than a year before finally getting new tennants this spring and summer).  The owner of Jazz 'n Java also owns three other coffee shops (Sips), and even though this one was more successful than the others, he decided to close it instead of pay the higher rent.  Pretty sad!  The double blow in all this is that with Borders closing, my DH has lost his two favorite coffee places in the same month - he really liked the Seattle's Best coffee inside the bookstore as their coffee was consistently good.  Not sure what we're going to do - we can go up the street to the Sips coffee there, but the ambiance just isn't the same.

Ok, time for today's scrapbook pages.  One of my favorite places to go on Maui is to Big Beach just south of Makena in South Maui.  I just love this huge, golden sand beach!  The surf can be rough here so not many are brave enough to venture out for a swim.  The main attraction are the body surfers and boogie boarders, and this visit to Big Beach found about a dozen boogie boarders trying to catch some air.  This set of pages came together quickly as I can now use my desktop system and boy, is it MUCH faster than my netbook!

Thanks for stopping by today - I still have more pictures to scrapbook, so I should have more pages soon!

Tide Pools

We've had a fantastic view from the condo we rented in Kihei.  The Kihei Surfside is up on a small bluff above a rocky ledge.  There are many tide pools created by the surf, and the girls enjoyed checking them out.

While I was working on the title for this spread, I had originally planned to just extend the Island Indigo tasteful trim punch across to the right panel with 'tide' on the left panel of the spread and 'pools' on the right.  I created the entire title on the left panel and was about to move the right half part over when our oldest suggested that I leave the 'sqwiggly lines' where they were and put a picture in between them.  I liked her idea, so I duplicated the page, popped in two similar pictures, and just moved 'pools' to the right panel.  Does that make any sense at all?  I love the image on the right with my girls in there - I couldn't have planned that one better than if I'd tried!

Views of Haleakala

After viewing the sunrise, we stuck around for a bit to take in the sights of Haleakala.  I think this is my DH and my fourth trip to the summit, second trip for our girls.  Such an anazing landscape!  I just wish I'd stopped to take close-ups of some of the silversword plants that are found in the garden area in the middle of the parking lot up at the summit.

 

I'm blogging this on our last day on Maui.  I'm going to miss being here - having the ocean right out your living room window sure spoils you!

Haleakala Sunrise

Did something on this trip to Maui that we've never done before - finally made it up the volcano to view the sunrise.  It was something that Alyssa wanted to do on this trip, and she got her wish on the morning of August 2.  So glad now we decided to get up early (2:15 am) to make it up to the summit (10,023 feet) to view the glorious sunrise.  Yes, I did a lot of journaling on this one, as I wanted to remember the story of our ride up to document our adventure.  I used one of the techniques I learned at Yearbook Tech for my first page in the spread - breaking long amounts of text into multiple columns instead of just one - the reader is more likely to read the story if it's broken up than if it's in one monotonous paragraph.  Makes for a more visually appealing page, too!

Sunset from Lahaina

Well, today we're on our way home after a wonderful 17-day visit to Maui.  Although the view from the condo we rented in Kihei for our last 7 days was nice, I have got to say that I really do prefer the Kahana area of west Maui.  Next time we visit, we'll return there.  I hate to leave as I love hearing the waves every night - it's going to sound too quiet when we get home!  Once we get home, we'll have one last week of summer vacation before heading back to work.

Today I'm sharing with you some of the sunset pictures we took on our trip into Lahaina on July 31.  That's one thing Maui isn't short on - great sunsets!

 

I hope to finish scrapbooking our trip by the end of the weekend after we get home - should go a bit faster by using my desktop at home, and then I can send it off to be printed through the Stampin' Up! printing services.  I'll share with you a spread a day until I have shared them all.  I hope you have been enjoying the views of our Maui vacation!

The Banyan Tree

To escape the windiness of Kihei on July 31, we decided to head into Lahaina to run an errand and then for dinner.  We hadn't walked all the way down to the Banyan Tree when we were last in Lahaina, so we made sure to do it while we were in town this time.  It was about an hour before sunset when we got to the tree, so many of the weekend craft vendors had already packed up, making it easier to see more of the tree.  Here are the pages I created to document our visit:

Although it was worth trying another part of the island to stay on this year's trip, my DH and I both agreed while walking down to the tree on Front Street that the Lahaina/Ka'anapali area of west Maui is our favorite area and we'll return to this area on our next stay on Maui.

Haleakala Horseback Ride

We started out our first full day in Kihei with a morning horseback ride upcountry on Haleakala Ranch.  After researching the various rides available, I sat down with my DH and narrowed it down, finally deciding to ride again with Pony Express.  Back in 2003 (?), the two of us took a ride with them down into the crater.  That was a long ride - four hours in the saddle, 7.5 miles total.  This time we opted for their two hour ride.  After an early wake up call, we left the condo at 6:45 am to make the trip from Kihei up to Kula.  We made it there in just about an hour, so we backtracked to a cafe a couple of miles below the Pony Express office so Randall could get a coffee.  It started misting on our way up the volcano, but had pretty much stopped by the time our 8:00 am check-in rolled around.  We had a fabulous guide - Melissa.  She was funny, knowledgeable, and made the ride a pure pleasure.  The scenery was great as we rode the eucalyptus trees out onto the pasture land of Haleakala Ranch.  I've scrapbook seven pages as I took 267 pictures during our ride!  Don't worry - I'm just going to share three of the pages with you.

Thanks for stopping by and tomorrow I have another three page layout of the Banyan Tree over in Lahaina.