Spooky Nights

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I don’t have kids at home any more, and there aren’t too many kids in my neighborhood. As a result, my Halloween decorating and crafting has dwindled to just a few projects. My dear friend Robbie absolutely LOVES Halloween, and in her honor we did some spooky themed projects at our monthly meeting.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Spooky Suites Night Owl Holiday 2018

I loved how this one turned out. It’s a little more grown up than a typical Halloween card, and the Galvanized Metallic Paper really sets that tone. It has a gorgeous matte gleam, and I used my first package up so quickly that I immediately ordered several more. If I were you, I would do the same! This is going to have lots of uses.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Spooky Suites Night Owl Holiday 2018

Spooky Suites and the Spooky Bats punch are available in a discounted bundle. I love that there are such great punches available in the Holiday and Annual catalog this year – punches are a quick and easy solution.

The gorgeous branches from the Night Owl Thinlits are dramatic and lend themselves to a variety of uses. When we were making this particular card, everyone kept referring to them as antlers.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Spooky Suites Night Owl Holiday 2018

That little tag is the happy result of double cutting. It’s a nice long thinlit, about twice that size. If you stamp your image and cut it out with the words justified to one end, it’s really easy to place the thinlit on the opposite end and run the tag through a second time, cutting it down.

What else would you do with that gorgeous starry night DSP? I might have stocked up on that when I placed my order for “several” packages of the Galvanized paper. Need a little for yourself? Shop HERE.

Colour INKspiration 43: In Colours!

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Maui Stamper ColourINKspiration Banner

Welcome to Colour INKspiration Challenge #43! I’m honoured to have been chosen to join the talented Colour INKspiration Crew as a Guest Designer for this celebration of the Stampin’ Up! 2018-2020 In Colour Collection.

The guidelines are to choose 1, 2, 3, 4, or all In Colours plus any Basics for your design.

Maui Stamper Colour INKspiration 43

This In Colour Collection is BOLD! Individually, the colours are beautiful, intense hues, and together, they are dominant. As I contemplated my options for this challenge, I considered – and discarded – a lot of combinations. I don’t often use really strong colour palettes, and the first card I created for this challenge was well outside of my comfort zone. I’ll share that one later in the challenge, because I came up with the one I’m sharing today that sits squarely in the center of what I love:

Maui Stamper Colour INKspiration 43 Wishing You Well Pineapple Punch

I’ve been shopping for new accent pillows, and variations on yellow and gray are everywhere. As I thought about the challenge, I decided to focus on the neutral tones and let that punchy Pineapple be the accent.

Maui Stamper Colour INKspiration 43 Wishing You Well Pineapple Punch

I added a bit of Stella to the leaves to echo the silver edge of the ribbon, and I used a Stampin’ Write marker to add a bit more Pineapple Punch to the simple bunch of stems. I didn’t try to add the Pineapple Punch directly to the stamp, but layered it on top of the Smoky Slate – faster, and combined with the underlying Slate, stronger.

I also discovered a trick with the bow from the Wishing You Well set. Some colors are prone to blotchiness with this image, and I had that problem with Pineapple Punch. I was determined to make it work, and after a bit of exploration, found that applying the ink with a Sponge Dauber evened the colour out and avoided the problem. Give it a try!

Maui Stamper Colour INKspiration 43 Next Blog

The talented, creative, delightful Lou Kitzelman is your next stop on the blog tour. Enjoy!

 

 

Tricks? Treats? All through October!

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Seasonal Chums is a bit of a sleeper. It was featured in last year’s Holiday catalog, and to my surprise and delight was continued in the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog. The images are presented in pairs, front and back, and the coordinating framelits let you cut them out to create tags. The jack-o-lantern is an absolute classic!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Seasonal Chums DIY Easel Calendar October 2018

 

 

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Seasonal Chums DIY Easel Calendar October 2018

How could you NOT love that face? I wanted to add a few more leaves behind it, and after a very thorough search of my stamps, I spotted the leaves in Petal Palette. They’re surrounding the blossoms images, and even had a thinlit to cut them out. I was pretty pleased when I found them!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Seasonal Chums Stamps

The bats are from the Seasonal Tags Framelits and are the perfect accent to this not-so-spooky October calendar. There are lots of great little embellishments there – I’m telling you, these stamps and framelits should see more limelight!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Seasonal Chums DIY Easel Calendar October 2018

If you’d like to make your own DIY Easel Calendar, this year I have permission to sell the PDF.  It includes  the12 months of 2019, a 2019 cover page, and cutting instructions.  The calendars are quick to stamp since the format is 3 1/2″ square, making them ideal gifts. The easels are available online as well as in most brick-and-mortar craft stores, and an easel plus calendar pages fit perfectly in the Stampin’ Up! Acetate Card Boxes.

Cost for the PDF is $5. If you’ve purchased Calendar Kits or Refills from me in the past, I have your email on file and you can just leave a comment to let me know you’d like the PDF.  You can also leave your email in the comments, or email me directly at AnneMatasci@gmail.com to let me know you want in on the deal.  I’ll send you an invoice via Square, and once you’ve paid I’ll email your PDF. You don’t need an account to pay via Square. It’s easy as can be!

Just a note…this is the honor system. $5 is a very reasonable price for this PDF, and there are no limitations on your personal use. If your friends admire your calendars, please direct them to this post to purchase their own PDF. It would be easy to forward the PDF, but it’s not right.

Cheryl and Crystal have created delightful October calendars to inspire you – I hope you’ll visit both of them. If you’re ready to add Seasonal Chums to your holiday stamp choices, shop HERE.

 

Brusho Experiments 2.0

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A couple of weeks ago I shared the first card I made with my inaugural Brusho experiments, and today I have another. There’s a strong similarity between the cards – the major difference lies in the embellishment.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Petal Palette with Brusho

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Petal Palette with Brusho

I’m thrilled to have brads back in the catalog. They’re charming, and even better, so functional! And if you’ve missed the Corrugated Elements, look again. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Petal Palette with Brusho

Remember, our goal was to focus on watercolor techniques with Brusho. I’m really pleased with the results, as Brusho gives much more variety than ink refills (not that I don’t love ink refills, I do – but for this technique, I’ll put my money on Brusho!)

Ready to shop? Visit the store HERE.

Making my own Bokeh

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The bokeh technique has been a very hot look for quite a while, and I wanted to try to create it on my own. Stampin’ Up! does have a stamp that creates this technique, but it’s not quite a full card size and I’m stubborn about things like that.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Dandelion Wishes Bokeh Technique

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Dandelion Wishes Bokeh Technique

I punched a number of circles from scrap card stock and put some SNAIL on the back of them. (You could cut them with framelits, but punches are faster. I recommend card stock over sticky notes because you’re going to accumulate ink on them, and the sticky notes get saturated.) Then I tapped the SNAIL with my fingers so it wouldn’t stick fast, but would be tacky and hold in place. Then it was sponge, sponge, move the circles, repeat!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Dandelion Wishes Bokeh Technique

You can do this with multiple colors, but I chose to stay monochromatic. I embossed the image and sentiment with Black Embossing Powder to make it pop a little. (When was the last time you re-inked your Versamark Ink Pad? Seriously…it makes a HUGE difference!)  Since I chose to make this into a sympathy card, I kept it very, very plain. (Maybe too plain. I’m still debating.)

Want to play with your own version? Shop HERE.

 

A CASE of a VASE with a lot of variations

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I am certain I CASEd this card just about verbatim, but I can’t find the source. If this is your card, A) Please let me know and I’ll give you credit, and B) I hope you’re flattered, because I really love this design! I’ve searched high and low through my files and on Google, and if Google can’t find it, well, I give up.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Varied Vases Mango Medley

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Varied Vases Mango Medley

 

The original version used the Birthday Wishes sentiment from Varied Vases, but as I started to recreate this card, I got tired of masking off the sentiment to place it on either side of the vases.  You could still stamp Happy Birthday on the inside – Thankful for You is a great birthday sentiment!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Varied Vases Melon Mambo

I started playing with color combinations and got a teeny tiny bit carried away – this is Lovely Lipstick.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Varied Vases Grapefruit Grove

I did this version in Flirty Flamingo, which I really love paired with Basic Gray.

As a completely irrelevant but fascinating aside, apparently Granny Apple Green gets translated to Little Green Frog in the European market. SERIOUSLY. I would MUCH prefer to have Little Green Frog in my color palette!  Granny Apple Green is a mouthful (sorry for the terrible pun) but even worse, I find myself abbreviating it GAG.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Varied Vases Highland Heather

This version is done in Highland Heather, and I think would work well for an expression of sympathy.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Varied Vases Poppy Parade

Last but not least, I created a version in Poppy Parade. I am thrilled to have Poppy Parade back in our color palette and I think it’s a stunner with GAG.

Which one was your favorite combination? I’m asking for a friend <wink>

Ready to add Varied Vases, the Vases Builder punch, or the bundle to your crafting options? Shop HERE.