Exploring the new catalog: Wild About Flowers

Posted on June 17, 2015 by mauistamper

I’ve found a lot of beautiful stamp sets in the new Stampin’ Up! annual catalog:

Stamps: Wild About Flowers
Color Palette: Whisper White, Pear Pizazz, Watermelon Wonder, Tip Top Taupe
Accessories: Boho Chic TIEF, 2 1/2″ circle punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Wild About Flowers features Two-Step Stampin’ making it simple to use multiple colors – and it’s a photopolymer, so it’s easy to line up. It also includes sentiments that are a little out of the ordinary, but are really nice to have.

Wild About Flowers 12 photopolymer stamps #138728 $21.00 US

Our new 2015-2017 In Colors are great new shades that mix well with our existing color palette. I’ve used Tip Top Taupe and Watermelon Wonder with Pear Pizazz – love the pop in that Watermelon Wonder! And you can’t tell from the photo, but my card base is our new heavy weight Whisper White card stock. I have been asking, pleading, begging Stampin’ Up! for this and I am thrilled with it!

What’s your favorite new stamp set?

Happy Happy Birthday

Posted on May 31, 2015 by mauistamper

A friend celebrated a special birthday recently:

Stamps: Amazing Birthday
Color Palette: Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Park Lane DSP, Mellow Moss ribbon, Stampin’ Trimmer, Stampin’ Dimensionals

The technique is a very simple one, but there are nearly endless options. I cut rectangles of DSP at 4″ x 1 1/2″ and then used my paper trimmer to cut them diagonally from corner to corner, creating a series of triangles. At that point, it’s just a matter of assembling them in a pleasing pattern.

I kept the sentiment and embellishment simple, as this is a Manly Card. The stamp from Amazing Birthday was inked in 3 colors and then cut into pieces with paper snips to create texture and color for the sentiment.

Just a couple of days until the new catalog goes live! June 2nd is the first day to order, and it’s going to be a busy day. Order early in the day – the system is supposed to open at 2am Mountain time, which is 10pm on June 1st Hawaii time. You can place your order HERE.

Banner Blessings

Posted on May 17, 2015 by mauistamper

It’s hard to keep track of all the great stamp sets we have!

This is Banner Blessings, a photopolymer set that was released in November. You won’t find it in a catalog, but it does appear in the Online Store under Stamps > Photopolymer.

It’s product #136720, and the price is $15.95. Sometimes you have to do a little looking around to find these gems!

It’s RemARKably hard to say GOODBYE

Posted on May 14, 2015 by mauistamper

Welcome to the May 2015 RemARKable Blog tour, where we explore all things GOODBYE. I’ve chosen to focus on the Stampin’ Up! 2014-2015 catalog retiring list, and I’ve based my projects around one of my favorite all-around stamp sets, For the Birds:

This is a (sort of) Clean and Simple card. There’s just one image, and there are no sentiments, but there are multiple layers. It’s a very quick card to assemble and employs one of my favorite card-making tricks: have plenty of cards on hand with NO SENTIMENT.

I could add Miss You, Sorry, Love You, Thinking of You, even Happy Birthday – or Happy New Baby in a real pinch! (It’s a nest – get it?)

If you’re lucky enough to have Blendbilities, For the Birds is a great choice because of the detail and variety, but today I chose to use colored pencils. If you’ve ever had a kid in grade school, you more than likely have colored pencils in your house. Even if there are no kids, colored pencils are inexpensive and working with them is easy and generally trouble free.

With this much magnification, you can see the shading, but the general effect is much more subtle. If you see a few fuzzy bits in that top left corner, your birdie-eye has spotted bits of the white jute ribbon cut apart and tucked behind the image.

For the Birds Clear #126407 $24.95 Wood #132001 $32.95

I must confess that when I spotted this DSP from the Back to Black (retiring) collection I did a little happy dance around my studio. FEATHERS. Need I say more?

Look closely and you’ll realize that I am no rock-star-pencil-colorist. But I do find it relaxing and enjoyable to play with shading and color, and this stamp set is a great all-around addition to your stamping birdhouse!

Enjoy the tour – I love the unique manner with which everyone interprets the theme – and I’ll see you here next month. Head over to see what Heather Mathiesen has created!

Love my birdies!

Posted on May 11, 2015 by mauistamper

Tomorrow is the RemARKable Blog Tour. I’m featuring For the Birds, and I have a little sneak peek for you today:

Stamps: For the Birds, Dictionary (both retiring)
Color Palette: Night of Navy, Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black
Accessories: Colored Pencils (non-SU), All is Calm Washi (Clearance Rack), Stampin’ Dimensionals

This image is intentionally a little stark – I think it adds to the feeling of missing someone. That washi tape was serendipitous, as in my mind it looks quite USPS-y. (That’s a word because I wrote it out and that makes it so.)

Don’t be afraid of coloring pencils – they’re very easy to use and the colors are very forgiving. Plus there’s always an eraser. Really, I should use pencil more often.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow afternoon for the RemARKable tour!

So Happy Together, Reprise

Posted on May 9, 2015 by mauistamper

There are weddings coming up!

Stamps: A Dozen Thoughts, I Like You (Host)
Color Palette: Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Blush Blossom, Rose Red
Accessories: Something Borrowed DSP, White Jute ribbon, Deco Labels framelits, Big Shot, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pearls

The Something Borrowed DSP is a bit of a sleeper. The designs are subtle and understated, and there are 6 designs, with 4 sheets of each design combination – still a total of 12 pages. Don’t miss it – it’s beautiful and very versatile.

The flowers are colored with Stampin’ Write markers. They are well suited for this sort of small, detailed coloring, and it goes quickly. Take another look at this host set, I Like You. Personally, I think the name is dumb and does the set an injustice, but I’m not in charge (and yes, we are all very happy about that.) There are just a few more days to earn this set as a free Host Benefit. Shop HERE.

Happy (Sparkly) Birthday

Posted on May 7, 2015 by mauistamper

If I were in charge (and you should be glad this is not the case) I would not retire Perfect Pennants:

I would also not retire Back to Black DSP, unless of course I had a brand new, Black and White/Vanilla DSP waiting in the wings (that would blow my socks off). Just sayin’ Stampin’ Up!

This bold, masculine font does the trick for Manly birthday cards. It goes into my permanent archives.

Maybe I should get a couple more packages of Back to Black…

Sheltering Tree: You Warm My Heart

Posted on April 29, 2015 by mauistamper

I’m slightly obsessed with Sheltering Tree:

This idea came from Alison Stachera – you can see her card HERE. Her concept was to show the transition from winter to spring. On Maui, that takes a different form, so I chose to soften the colors. (I’m not going to talk about how much I will miss the 2013-2015 In Color collection since it is largely unavailable, but still.)

Will you cross your fingers with me and hope that Sheltering Tree makes it into the 2015-2016 Annual Catalog? I am not finished with this stamp set.

Allison’s card was also constructed differently – I chose to allow the heart to be open to the inside. The two trees are aligned with the Stamp-a-ma-jig, an essential tool for lining up images. I don’t often use it, but when I do, nothing else will serve the purpose.

If you’re not a gambler, then I would hustle on over to the Online Store and order this stamp set now. Because if it DOESN’T make it into the next catalog, you could be very sad to have missed it.

This card also uses the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (still available) and the Hearts Framelits (retired and sold out).

Sweet and simple thanks

Posted on April 27, 2015 by mauistamper

Some friends came over a couple of weeks ago. We usually meet once a month, and they asked a while ago if I would show them how to make a card. Of course I would:

Stamps: Bordering Blooms, Four You (retiring)
Color Palette: Whisper White, Pear Pizazz, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Linen Thread, Rhinestone Jewels, Corner Rounder punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

It’s a very simple design – these were all Stampin’ Newbies – but they had a good time. I loved the end result, as every card was a little (or a lot!) different!

We stamped the inside and the envelope too. That’s one of those small things that has a big WOW factor, at least in my book. I also add a Whisper White (or Very Vanilla) liner to the inside of every card made with colored card stock. It creates a finished look and I like the attention to detail.

Enjoy – and shop now for your best selection of retiring products at Anne’s Online Store.

Inspired by Washi

Posted on April 3, 2015 by mauistamper

A lovely friend surprised me with a gorgeous roll of washi tape:

Stamps: Butterfly Basics, Gorgeous Grunge
Color Palette: Real Red, Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Flower Frenzy Bigz die, Big Shot, Rhinestone jewels, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Washi tape (non-Stampin’ Up!)

I drew the colors for this card directly from the lush floral design. I’ve seen a lot of pink with red lately, and gave that trend a little nod.

I haven’t played with stamped textures like this for a while and it was very satisfying. I especially love that honeycomb/chickenwire stamp. Definitely need to use that again.

The Maui Stamper

papercrafts, my stories, and the occasional insight

Category Archives: cards

Exploring the new catalog: Wild About Flowers

Happy Happy Birthday

Banner Blessings

It’s RemARKably hard to say GOODBYE

Love my birdies!

So Happy Together, Reprise

Happy (Sparkly) Birthday

Sheltering Tree: You Warm My Heart

Sweet and simple thanks

Inspired by Washi

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