Brightly Gleaming Coffee Carrier

Posted on October 9, 2020 by mauistamper

The ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Brightly Gleaming Designer Series paper was so popular last year that it’s making a “Hana Hou” (one more time!) appearance this year. Those metallic accents work beautifully with the kraft composition of our charming Mini Coffee Carrier.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Brightly Gleaming Mini Coffee Carrier gift packaging

Stamps: Christmas Gleaming
Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Poppy Parade, Pretty Peacock, Night of Navy
Accessories: Mini Coffee Carrier, Scalloped Tag Topper punch, Brightly Gleaming Designer Series paper, Copper Foil, Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Write markers, Paper Snips, Old Olive/Pretty Peacock reversible ribbon, Star Designer Elements, Stampin’ Dimensionals

This tag makes me happy.

I love the play of colors, the gleam of the copper, the tonality of the Stampin’ Blends and the slightly-off-tradition combination of Poppy Parade and Pretty Peacock.

I choose to cut the DSP into four panels rather than try to wrap it around in one piece. It’s really hard to get it even when you wrap it! My pieces are all 2 1/4″ high: the long side is 5 5/8″ and the short side is 2 5/8″. The fit is tight, which is what I wanted.

Our printed gusseted cello bags are a perfect fit to hold candies or other small treats, and of course our coordinating Mini Coffee Cups are a perfect fit. A bottle of hand soap or moisturizer fits well, and a 3″ candle is a perfect fit too. At $5 for a package of 8 carriers, this is an economical way to beautifully package small holiday gifts!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up 2020 Designer Series paper sale

Don’t miss our DSP sale this month! Buy as few or as many packages you want at great savings. There are 15 papers included in this promotion, including 5 holiday assortments and some beautiful neutrals as well. See all the details and stock up HERE.

October 2020 DIY: Stitched Triangles (and a DSP sale!)

Posted on October 1, 2020 by mauistamper

I visited two Maui State Parks and a National Park last week, and big trees were on my mind when I started thinking about my October DIY Easel calendar. Stampin’ Up! has Designer Series paper on SALE this month, and the Stitched Triangles dies gave me a way to tie it all together:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up October 2020 DIY Easel Calendar Stitched Triangles

Stamps: None
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Just Jade, Pretty Peacock, Shaded Spruce, Soft Sea Foam, Seaside Spray
Accessories: Stamp Cut & Emboss, Stitched Triangle dies, Forever Greenery Designer Series paper, Stampin’ Sponge

I used a Stampin’ Sponge and Seaside Spray and Soft Sea Foam ink pads to create a light color wash on the calendar page. I cut a bunch of tiny triangles (our new Stamp Cut & Emboss machine is a dream!) and started arranging them on the sponged page..and arranging them…and arranging them.

Eventually I settled on this arrangement, but honestly, any of them would have worked!

Visit Cheryl and Crystal to see what they’ve done for October.

The Forever Greenery DSP is my absolute favorite this year, and it’s one of many on sale in October! Check the list HERE, and shop HERE to see the gorgeous designs included in the sale.

Finally, here are a few pictures from our adventures last week:

Maui Stamper Pīpīwai Trail Kīpahulu District Haleakalā National Park — Waimoku Falls at the top of the Pīpīwai Trail in Haleakalā National Park (Kīpahulu District)

Maui Stamper Wai'ānapanapa State Park — The Black Sand Beach at Wai’ānapanapa State Park

Maui Stamper Redwood Trail Polipoli State Park — The Maui Stamper – with Mr. Maui Stamper – on the Redwood Trail at Polipoli State Park

Hope you enjoy! We certainly did – one of the small pleasures of the pandemic has been how calm the island has been. Tourism is our lifeblood, but we have enjoyed this little silver lining in the Covid Cloud.

If you’d like to make your own DIY Easel calendar, click on Contact the Maui Stamper above and send me your email. The pdf is just $5 and you can make as many as you’d like!

No trick – oh, what a TREAT!

Posted on September 30, 2020 by mauistamper

You know that friend…the one who always knows? I have a friend like that, and she’s in one of my regular stamping groups. She always has little favors for every holiday, but since we’ve been meeting and stamping on Zoom she hasn’t been able to share them. Yesterday I found a package in my mailbox:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up No Tricks Just Treats

Oh, da cute!!! Some is current, some is retired, but there are just so many goodies and so much detail. LOOK:

LOOK. AT. THE. TIC. TACS.

Oh. Emm. Gee. They’re just adorable!

Way before Covid and Pandemics and Masks and ALL THAT, Robbie was the Queen of the little bitty hand sanitizer. I’m sure she must have had to stand in line for hours, days maybe, to get these for all of us. But that’s the kind of friend she is, and you’d better believe I will be using this gift!

Inspired to send a little box of hand-made love? Find all the crafty supplies you need right HERE.

Split Circles

Posted on September 28, 2020 by mauistamper

Playing with shapes – circles, squares, triangles – yields great graphic images. Well, maybe not every single time, but when it happens, it pops! I’ve seen this Split Circle Technique and spent a couple of afternoons with a desk full of circles.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Split Circle Technique

Stamps: None!
Color Palette: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede
Accessories: Stamp Cut & Emboss, Layering Circles Dies, Well Written Dies, Subtle Embossing Folder, Tombo Multipurpose Glue

Now you can see the texture – there’s a reason it’s called Subtle! Note that the Daffodil Delight strip that runs across the width of the card is actually two layers glued together. Because there are 3 layers of circles, it looks odd if that strip is only one layer thick.

Same concept, different colors and embossing folder. This is the Old World Paper Embossing Folder with Just Jade, Daffodil Delight, and Rich Razzleberry.

If you look closely, you’ll see a subtle difference in these two cards. The Poppy/Daffodil/Suede circles are reversed to create a color flow. Notice that the top largest circle is Daffodil, and its edge aligns with the smallest circle on the bottom. The reverse happens with the smallest circle on the top and the largest on the bottom.

In the second card, all circle pairs are the same color, so the only place where you see a “flow” from top to bottom is in the center set of circles.

Here’s one more alternative! This is the Scripty Embossing folder with Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White, and Poppy Parade circles, and the word Thanks. I’ve used 4 circles here and worked small to large from the outside in.

You can see how I ended up with heaps and heaps of circles on my craft desk – it was hard to stop once I got going! If you’re one of those people who keeps odd die cut bits, pull out the circles and get to work. These cards go together really quickly.

Get your Layering Circles and Well Written dies HERE.

ONE DAY STAMP SALE!

Posted on September 22, 2020 by mauistamper

Stampin’ Friends, get ready! The One Day Stamp Sale starts at midnight tonight Mountain time – and that’s 8 pm Hawaii time! Check out all the fabulous images, words and backgrounds you can choose at 15% off!

Visit my Online Store beginning at 8pm tonight HST/midnight MST – check out with Host Code 3VMBKDTG unless you’re spending $150 – then you should earn your own host rewards!

Open this file to see a list of all stamps, page numbers, product numbers and sale prices!

us-market_24-hour-stamp-sale-alphabetical-order-1 Download

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Beautiful Friendship — One of my absolute favorite sets – Beautiful Friendship – is on sale!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Waterfront Picture Perfect Birthday — Another favorite and island essential is Waterfront

But whatever you do, don’t delay! This sale is 24 hours only, and stamps have been allocated for this special pricing. If they get to the end of the allocation, the price goes back up!

Shop HERE.

Rooted in Nature with the Acrylic Block Technique

Posted on September 16, 2020 by mauistamper

I’m at it again with the Acrylic Block Technique, and I’m very pleased with this version. This is a single layer card with very limited embellishment, but the background technique catches your eye:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Rooted in Nature Acrylic Block Technique

Stamps: Rooted in Nature, Beautiful Friendship, Forever Fern
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party
Accessories: Rhinestone jewel, Water brush, Acrylic Block H, Wink of Stella, Stampin’ Write Markers, Stampin’ Spritzer

The technique is simple. Scribble on an acrylic block with Stampin’ Write markers. If you place the block on a piece of white paper, you can see your color distribution and coverage. Mist the inky block with as little or as much water as you’d like – the amount you choose will impact the look you get – and press the block firmly into a Whisper White card stock panel. Lift and admire!

You need very sharp eyes to see the sparkle, but I painted the little splooshes stamp from Forever Fern with Wink of Stella and stamped it directly onto the card. It’s quite lovely in person, but challenging to photograph.

I also used our Water Painter and a bit of Pool Party ink to make very soft shadows underneath the trees.

This could just as easily have been a Christmas card, or a birthday card, or any other type of card. I originally intended to post it without the sentiment, as I often leave that step for the moment I need a card. Having a variety of cards without sentiments allows me more flexibility when I need something at the very last minute. But this one looked forlorn, and I’m very glad I added the linear element of this wish.

Don’t you agree? It’s more versatile to keep it this way but it’s much better with the sentiment (and my sentiment hides that little black bit that doesn’t belong!)

These is my favorite set of tonal colors: Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, and Pool Party. Add them to your stash and see how happy they can make you! Shop HERE.

Mix and Match: Birds and Leaves

Posted on September 12, 2020 by mauistamper

Every now and then I get in one of those “CLEAR THE SHELVES I’M USING IT ALL” moods. Today’s card was the result of a recent episode – I used Free as a Bird stamps, Love of Leaves stamps and dies, and the Well Written dies.

Stamps: Free as a Bird, Love of Leaves
Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Bumble Bee, Shaded Spruce, Gold
Accessories: Stampin Cut and Emboss machine, Stitched Leaves dies, Well Written dies, Gold Hoops Embellishments, Gold Foil, Stampin’ Blends and Color Lifter, Paper Snips, Bumble Bee Gingham Ribbon, All Purpose Glue, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I used the Color Lifter quite a bit to shade the bird. Even when I used both the light and dark Shaded Spruce blends, the colors were too strong for my eye. The color lifter allows you to shade and adjust tones almost infinitely.

Construction note: Use multipurpose glue to adhere your Gold Hoop Embellishment to your project. The sides of the hoop are flat, and if you put tiny dabs around the entire perimeter of the hoop, it will stay good and stuck!

Don’t you love those stitched lines I used in the background? They give the paper a lot of dimension without being too distracting. And look where else they fit:

I had to make two passes through the Cut & Emboss machine to cover the back flap but I’m pretty doggone pleased with the result.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Get&Go September 2020 join the team

Wish your Stampin’ Budget went a little further? Become a demonstrator and you’ll make EVERY SINGLE purchase at a discount – clearance rack, pre-release products, all of it! This month you’ll also get an additional bonus when you join the team: two beautiful stamp sets and the supplies to make two sets of cards for yourself or as a project with your friends. I’m here to help you achieve whatever goals you set – message me with questions or click HERE to learn more.

Ready to shop? The Online Store is open 24/7!

September 2020 DIY: Love of Leaves

Posted on September 1, 2020 by mauistamper

Are you as stunned to discover it is September as I am? My sense of time is completely disoriented, and that makes me really grateful for calendars. I have the feeling that I need a big board in my kitchen that says TODAY IS TUESDAY. IT IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2020. And then it needs a big picture of, oh, LEAVES:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar September 2020 Love of Leaves

Stamps: Love of Leaves
Color Palette: Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody
Accessories: Stampin’ Cut and Emboss (available TODAY!), Stitched Leaves dies, Watercolor paper, Ink Refills, Stampin’ Spritzer, 2020-2022 In Color Enamel dots, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Yes, I’m still smitten with the Love of Leaves bundle. If you follow that link and add it to your shopping cart and wait for it to arrive on that big Brown Truck, you’ll be smitten too, I promise you!

I got my Watercolor paper pretty wet with the Stampin’ Spritzer and added color from the Ink Refills. The design was pretty random, but I enjoyed moving the Stitched Leaves dies around the paper to visualize how best to use it. (Prepare yourself, it’s pretty bold!)

When I looked at this result I was pretty skeptical. But I Kept Calm and Cut and Embossed On, and was pleased with the end result.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves bundle

That long strip die is what I used to create the background on the paper. It works on the flap of an envelope, tooo. Each leaf can be cut out, leaving a stitched leaf-shaped opening behind, and the solid dies create the stitched vein pattern in the leaves. This set has covered ALL the bases!

September…wow…hard to believe we are here! I have the 2021 pdf available for just $5 if you’d like to create your own calendar. Click Contact the Maui Stamper at the top of the page and send me your email, and we’ll get you started!

Cheryl and Crystal create these fun little calendars too, and I hope you’ll stop by and see what they’ve done for September. If you’re ready to browse, SHOP HERE.

Hope Changes Everything: Love of Leaves

Posted on August 30, 2020 by mauistamper

This past week I’ve had a number of friends and family members experience changes in their relationship with the Big C: Cancer. It’s such an insidious disease, and when you add in the uncertainty of life caused by the pandemic, things can get a little uncomfortable. I’ve been leaning pretty heavily on HOPE, and made this card yesterday to send to someone dear to me:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING Love of Leaves

Stamps: Love of Leaves
Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral, So Saffron
Accessories: Stampin’ Cut & Emboss (available September 1, 2020), Stitched Leaves Dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Old World Paper Embossing Folder, Metallic Pearls, Cinnamon Cider ribbon, Gold trim (Forever Greenery Combo Pack), Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I’ve had the Love of Leaves bundle on my desk a lot recently. We don’t really have autumn leaves here in Hawaii, but some trees do experience an autumn change of color. I love these beautiful shapes and the way they work so well together (it’s what Stampin’ Up! does best!).

I made a huge mess of my ink pads creating this project. I kept pressing stamps with dark ink into the light ink pads without cleaning them – I was really into the process! I’ve found if you use a paper towel to blot the place in an ink pad where the “stain” has appeared, you can generally pull out most of the offending ink. A quick re-ink and the pad is *almost* as good as new.

I was inspired by a card shared on Instagram by the Stampin’ Up! concept artists @stampinup. This color palette is similar to theirs, but not the same. I’d love to see it in shades of pale greens for spring, or even reds and burgundies for December. I guess it’s back to the drawing board!

If you’ve got fall leaves – or a heart filled with hope – on your mind, shop HERE.

Watercolor Backgrounds on Blocks

Posted on August 27, 2020 by mauistamper

You know how some techniques look simple but just don’t turn out right? I’ve always felt that way about the watercolor background. I watch the videos, I study the instructions, and STILL…

If you’re anything like me, you will LOVE this technique (sorry, the Mister and I are still staying at home and I find myself shouting quite a bit when I have the chance to talk to someone else). Anyway…I started using blocks to apply color to paper and discovered to my delight that I could make it work!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves

Stamps: Love of Leaves
Color Palette: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Cinnamon Cider, Sahara Sand
Accessories: H Acrylic block, Stampin’ Spritzer, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Write markers

The technique is just about fail-proof. Choose your colors, scribble on an acrylic block, spritz with water and stamp. Voila! If you add color to the block while it’s on a piece of white paper, it’s easy to see where you’ve added color and where the block is blank.

You can see that I created pretty regular color patches. I’ve since experimented a little more (stay tuned!) and found larger, less regular patches and more water give more “watercolored” results. I thought the way this one turned out was interesting as it reminded me of granite. Do you see that, or am I imagining things? (This would not be the first time.)

The font used in this set is something a little different for Stampin’ Up! and it reminds me of a printing style I used when I was in school. This particular sentiment is one I will use over and over. In fact, it may be my theme song for 2020.

There are coordinating dies for this set but I chose to keep it super simple and stamp that leaf – maybe a Hawthorne? – directly on the card. I can’t remember the last time I made a one-layer card.

Could you please help me with something? In the past I’ve added a direct link to the store for every product I’ve used. It takes a little extra time, and I’m wondering if I should continue investing my time that way. If you use those links, I’d love your feedback. And if you don’t, well, you can tell me that, too!

In the meantime, you can shop my beautiful, new, easier-to-navigate Online Store here.

The Maui Stamper

papercrafts, my stories, and the occasional insight

Author Archives: mauistamper

Brightly Gleaming Coffee Carrier

October 2020 DIY: Stitched Triangles (and a DSP sale!)

No trick – oh, what a TREAT!

Split Circles

ONE DAY STAMP SALE!

Rooted in Nature with the Acrylic Block Technique

Mix and Match: Birds and Leaves

September 2020 DIY: Love of Leaves

Hope Changes Everything: Love of Leaves

Watercolor Backgrounds on Blocks

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